Mohammed.
Amongthe great changes which have been made in the world, not a few have been made by arch impostors, for there seem to be no boundaries to human credulity. Mohammed, the founder of the religion which bears his name, was one of these. Of his history I intend to give my young readers a few particulars, because I think they ought to know something of a man who has given a religion to nearly a third portion of the human race.
Mohammed began his reign A. D. 609, in the fortieth year of his age. He first shut himself up, and fasted and prayed for a considerable time. After this he pretended to have had communications with the angel Gabriel, the particulars of which he related to his wife. Astonished by his vehemence and the boldness of his pretensions, (for these two qualities sometimes completely overpower people,) she began to give out to her friends and neighbors that Mohammed was an apostle of God. Through her instrumentality her uncle or cousin, Wooaka, was gained, who is said to have been a Christian, and well acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. Mohammed’s servant next became a convert; and, a far more important person, his young nephew, Ali, called the Fiery, from the ardor of his temper.
Soon after this, Mohammed gained over Abubeker, a man of excellent character, who stood in high respect, and persuaded ten of the most considerable citizens of Mecca to follow his example. They were all instructed by Mohammed in the doctrine of the Islam, as he styled his new religion; and Mohammed gave from day to day, as from the angel Gabriel, the revelations he pretended to have received.
And now I wish my young readers to understand a fact—namely, that it was to an admixture of much good with his imposture that the importance of Mohammed succeeded. The religion of the people among whom he dwelt was that of an absurd and wicked Polytheism. They were either infidels or worshipped a number of bug-bears which they called gods. Mohammed taught the great truth upon which true religion rests—namely, that there was ONE GOD. He added, that Mohammed was his prophet; thus mixing truth and falsehood so artfully together that it was impossible for the weaker minded of his friends to separate them. Having believed that Mohammed was the prophet of God, they, of, course, believed everything else concerning him. And when he asserted that he put the moon in the sleeve of his dress, his disciples believed him. And at last the Mohammedan, although a profound mathematician and an excellent calculator, placed implicit faith in his pretended journey to heaven on the beast Alborak.
After a while Mohammed incited the members of his family and his followers to a grand feast, and openly announced to them his determination to found a new religion, and asked which of them would undertake the office of vizier. All were silent, till the youthful Ali declared his readiness to do so, and at the same time his determination to inflict vengeance upon all those who dared to oppose his master. How different was the conduct of our blessed Saviour, who, when Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest, said, “Put up thy sword into its sheath; they who take the sword shall perish by the sword.”
Mohammed, like all others who have wrought great changes in the opinions of men, had powerful opponents among those who obtained rank and profit from old errors. On several occasions Mohammed was attacked by the adherents of idolatry with open force, and compelledto change his residence, and often to flee for his life. But these persecutions had the effect, as all persecutions ever have, to spread the faith they were used to put down. Learn this, my young friends, that the more you tread on a mind full of enthusiasm, the more it turns and flies in your face.
At this time occurred Mohammed’s celebrated nocturnal journey to heaven, on the beast Alborak, under the guidance of the angel Gabriel. After this, great numbers of people flocked to him, and he began to have thoughts of founding his religion by the sword. Exasperated at seeing Mohammed and his followers gird themselves with weapons of offence, his enemies formed a conspiracy to murder him; but, warned of the imminent danger, he left Mecca, accompanied by Abubeker alone, and concealed himself in a cave not far distant. There he spent three days undiscovered; after which he arrived safely at Medina, though not without many narrow escapes for his life. This event, from which the Mohammedans commence their era, is known under the name of Hegira, which signifies flight.
In Medina, Mohammed met with the most honorable reception. Thither he was followed by many of his converts; and as the number of the faithful continued to increase, he began making preparations for war. Many of those who followed Mohammed did so for the sake of what they obtained from him; but when the hopes of booty were added to other inducements, thousands joined him. His first great military exploit was the spoiling of a rich caravan, led by Abu Sophian, the chief of the Koreishites. Mohammed surprised them, with an inferior force, in the valley of Beder, and inflicted on them a total defeat. He took a rich booty and numbers of prisoners.
Many other successful enterprises were now undertaken; but in the third year of the Hegira, Abu Sophian, with 3000 soldiers, attacked Mohammed with 950, on Mount Opud, not far from Medina, and a desperate conflict ensued, in which the Moslems were utterly beaten, and the wounded prophet with difficulty saved his life. Mohammed, with the craftiness common to impostors, attributed this defeat to the sins of the Moslems. He then promised Paradise to all that should for the future die in his cause, and announced that everybody had a fate; that it was of no use to endeavor to withstand it; that every one died at hisappointed hour, and if he did not die in battle, when the appointed hour came he would die nevertheless. This of course made the poor weak creatures who followed him ready to do anything.
In the following year, Abu Sophian appeared before Medina with 10,000 men; but, by a division among themselves, this army broke up, and Mohammed fell upon some bands of Jews who had united with them. These he cut to pieces, slaughtering nearly a thousand, and carried away the women and children into captivity.
The next act of the prophet was to offer up prayers to God. He then sent a summons to the principal neighboring princes, and also to those of the various districts of Arabia, to embrace the new revelation of the divine law made through him; and many of these princes embraced his doctrine.
But the city of Mecca was a sacred city, according to the religion of the Arabs, and Mohammed knew the importance of making his head quarters, if possible, at so celebrated a place. He craved permission to visit it and its temple as a pilgrim. While at his apparent devotions he converted two men of great renown among the Arabs, called Amru and Othman, and he in consequence became more powerful and raised a larger army. Having made war onthe city of Muta, in Palestine, he soon returned to Mecca with an army of 12,000 men; and, having defeated the Koreishites, compelled them, with the point of the sword at their throats, to embrace the Islam. The idols of the Kaba were demolished, and the sacred touch of the prophet made the black stone an object of greater veneration. The temple became the sanctuary of the religion of Mohammed, and its professors were allowed access alone to the holy city of Mecca.
Mohammed now destroyed all the idols he could lay his hands upon; and, going forward in the same course he had begun, and now at the head of 30,000 men, he marched into Syria, claiming homage from all he conquered, and soon became the master of the whole of Arabia. He forced his religion upon the inhabitants, but allowed the Christians free toleration.
In the tenth year of the Hegira, Mohammed took his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca; and on this occasion he was surrounded with the utmost splendor, and attended by 100,000 of his friends and followers. This was the last and most important event of his life; for, soon after his return to Medina, he died, in the eleventh year of the Hegira, and in the sixty-third year of his age.