Soon afterwards he turned his attention to his native city, which had rejected him and driven him out; and feeling himself now sufficiently strong to take the offensive, he began to preach the Holy War. After some petty raids upon the enemies’ caravans an event happened which brought the Muslim and the infidel armies for the first time into open collision. In January, 624 A.D., a large caravan from Mecca, which had in the autumn of the previous year escaped an attack by the Muslims, was returning from Syria laden with valuable merchandise, and Mohammed determined to capture it. His intention, however, reached the ears of Abu Sufiyan, who sent a messenger to Mecca to ask for troops for his protection, while he himself followed a different route along the coast of the Red Sea. Mohammed, without waiting for the return of his spies, marched out in the c2
XXXVI THE QuR’AN.
hopes of surprising Abu Sufiy4n at Bedr, where the caravan usually halted, but the Meccan had been too much upon his guard, pressed on with all possible haste, and was soon out of danger. The caravan comprised most of the chief men of Mecca, besides its rich freight. Abu Sufiyan’s message, therefore, asking for succour, caused a complete panic in the city. An army of nearly 1,000 men was immediately equipped and marched forth to the rescue, but on the way met a second messenger from Abu Sufiyan with the news that all danger was passed. On this 300 of them returned to Mecca, whilst others hurried to join the caravan. Mohammed was still advancing, in hopes of surprising the caravan, when he was informed of the approach of the Meccan army. After a council of war it was decided to advance and meet the enemy first, as, in the event of victory, they could afterwards pursue the caravan. Arrived at Bedr, the Muslims took up such a position that their foes could not approach the wells, and during the night the rain fell with such violence that the Meccans could scarcely march upon the sodden soil. In the morning these latter were at a great disadvantage, wearied by the state of the ground, and harassed by the blinding sun which shone straight in their faces; but Mohammed, whose numbers were far inferior, awaited the issue of the combat with no little anxiety. During the first part of the engagement the Muslims, by Mohammed’s order, stood firm to their posts, whilst he encouraged them by promising the immediate reward of Paradise to those who should fall martyrs in the cause: whilst a fierce winter storm of wind which was blowing at the time, and which added to the discomfort and embarrassment of the enemy, he called the work of Gabriel with a thousand angels fighting for the faith. At length Mohammed gave the expected signal; taking up a handful he threw it towards the Meccans, and exclaimed, ‘ May their faces be covered with shame! Muslims to the attack!’ The condition of the ground so hampered the movements of the Meccans that they were soon completely routed. Several
At length Mohammed gave the expected signal; taking up a handful he threw it towards the Meccans, and exclaimed, ‘ May their faces be covered with shame! Muslims to the attack!’ The condition of the ground so hampered the movements of the Meccans that they were soon completely routed. Several
INTRODUCTION. XXXVII
of Mohammed’s bitterest enemies were slain, and a number of prisoners and much booty taken. Of the captives, six were executed by the prophet’s order, some embraced Islam, and others were ransomed by their compatriots. This victory was so important for the cause that Mohammed himself regarded it as brought about by a special miracle, and as such it is spoken of in the Qur’dn, Chap. III, ver. 20.
Mohammed’s military as well as religious supremacy was now assured in Medinah, and he lost no time in making his enemies there feel his power. The Jews first experienced the full weight of his wrath; a woman of that persuasion, who had incited her fellow-townsmen against him before the battle of Bedr, was put to death, and not long after the Benu Qainuq4h, a Jewish tribe, who had risen against his authority, dwelling in a suburb of Medinah, were attacked, their property confiscated, and themselves sent into exile.
The war between Mecca and Medinah in the meantime continued.
Abu Sufiy4n invaded the territory of Medinah, and the Muslims, on the other hand, captured a caravan belonging to the Qurais.
The Meccans, determined to revenge the defeat of Bedr, had devoted the profits of the caravan that had been the cause of the conflict to the equipment of a large army, and in January, 625 A.D., three thousand men marched on to Medinah with Abu Sufiyan at their head. The latter was accompanied by his wife Hind, who had lost her father, brother, and uncle at the battle, and longed for vengeance. They established their camp near Mount Ohod, on the road between the two cities. The Muslims were divided in opinion, whether to await the invaders in the city, or to make a sortie and attack them where they were ; and at length, in spite of Mohammed’s advice to the contrary, the latter plan was decided on.
They marched forth to the number of a thousand, and of these three hundred belonged to the Hypocrites, or
XXXVIii THE QUR'AN.
disaffected party who deserted before the battle commenced.
Mohammed had disposed his forces so that his best trained archers covered the only vulnerable part of his army, the left flank, and these he bade keep to their posts, no matter what happened. The battle commenced with a few single combats and slight skirmishes, in which the Muslims had the advantage, and a few of the latter having reached and pillaged the enemies’ camp, the archers, thinking the day already won, forgot their orders and joined in the loot. ‘alid, who commanded the Meccan cavalry,
‘alid, who commanded the Meccan cavalry,
‘ seized the opportunity thus afforded, and took the Muslims on the flank and completely routed them. Mohammed himself was wounded in the mouth and narrowly escaped with his life, and ‘Hamzah, his uncle, surnamed the Lion of God, was slain. ‘
The Meccans did not pursue their victory, but believing Mohammed, whom they had seen fall, to be dead, returned to their own city.
The defeat placed Mohammed in a very critical position, and he kad great difficulty in restoring confidence to his followers 1.
About the beginning of the year 627 A.D. the Muslims were in great jeopardy. 4,000 Meccans and 1,000 men, gathered from the neighbouring tribes, marched upon Medinah, being instigated thereto by the Jews who had been expelled from that city.
Mohammed was only apprised of the ‘movement at the last moment, but he at once took measures for the defence. On the advice of Salman, a Persian captive, he caused a deep trench to be dug round the city, and earthworks to be raised in those parts where it was undefended, and behind the trench he posted his army, numbering 3,000 men.
The invading Meccans were completely checked by this mode of defence, and although the Beni Qurdidhah, a Jewish tribe, deserted to them from Mohammed’s side and
1 See Chapter III, vers, 115-168.
INTRODUCTION. XXXik
rendered them every assistance, their attacks were unsuccessful. At length one cold winter’s night a violent storm of wind and rain arose, and a complete panic took place in the camp of the Meccans, who broke up and precipitately retired to their homes. This was the siege of the Confederates alluded to in the Qur'an},
The enemy having disappeared, Mohammed at once marched against the traitorous tribe of Qurdidhah, and besieged them in their fortress, about six miles south-west of Medinah. Being quite unprepared, these were obliged to surrender after fourteen days, which they did on condition that the Benu Aus, their allies in Medinah, should decide their fate. Mohammed chose for arbitrator one of the chiefs of the Aus tribe, named Saad ibn Moddf, a fierce soldier, who was at the time dying of the wounds which he had received in the attack upon the fortress. He ordained that the men should be beheaded one and all, the women and children sold as slaves, and the property divided amongst the soldiers. This terrible sentence was promptly executed, and the men, to the number of 800, were beheaded, and the women and children bartered to the Bedawin in exchange for arms and horses.
_ Mohammed’s power and influence was now extending every day.
This terrible sentence was promptly executed, and the men, to the number of 800, were beheaded, and the women and children bartered to the Bedawin in exchange for arms and horses.
_ Mohammed’s power and influence was now extending every day.
For six years neither he nor his followers had visited the Kaabah, or performed the sacred rites of the pilgrimage, and in the year 628 A.D. he resolved to attempt it. The time chosen was inthe sacred month of DHw'l Qa’hdah, when the Lesser Pilgrimage was wont to be performed, rather than Duu’l ‘Higgeh, that of the Greater Pilgrimage, as less likely to lead to a collision with the other tribes. Fifteen hundred men only accompanied Mohammed, bearing no other arms than those usually allowed to pilgrims, a sheathed sword for each.
The Meccans contemplated Mohammed’s advance with no small apprehension, and not believing in his pacific
1 Chapter XXXII.
xl THE QUR'AN.
intentions, resolved to bar his progress) Mohammed, thus checked, turned aside towards ‘Hudaibiyeh, on the frontier of the sacred territory.
Here, after some negotiations, a treaty was concluded in which a truce of ten years was agreed upon; any of the Meccans who pleased should be at liberty to join Mohammed, and vice versa, any of the Muslims who chose might enter the Meccan ranks; only those who were clients of powerful chiefs were not to be allowed to become Muslims without the consent of their patrons. Mohammed and his followers were not to enter Mecca that year, but the next year they were to be permitted to do so and to remain for three days.
This was, in reality, a great triumph for Mohammed, as it recognised his position as an independent prince, while the ten years’ truce not only enabled him without hindrance to propagate his doctrines at Mecca, but, by removing the constant danger in which he stood from that city, gave him the opportunity of turning his attention elsewhere.
He now not only endeavoured: to reduce the Bedawin tribes to submission, but wrote letters to the great kings and emperors of the world, to the Persian Khosrou, to the Byzantine Emperor, and to the Abyssinian Nagg4si, peremptorily bidding them embrace the faith and submit to his rule. The replies that he received were not flattering to his pride, but he or his immediate successors were, ere long, to repeat the summons in a form that admitted neither of denial nor of delay.
One potentate only, the governor of Egypt, Maqauqas, xeturned, a favourable answer, and he sent amongst other presents two slave girls, one of whom, a Coptic girl named Mary, Mohammed took to himself, and by so doing estranged his numerous wives, and was only reconciled by a revelation 1.
In 629 A.D., in the month of DHu’l Qa’hdah (February),
1 See Chapter LXVI.
INTRODUCTION. xli
the long-expected pilgrimage took place. With two thousand followers the prophet entered the Holy City, and the Meccans having retired to the neighbouring hills, all passed off quietly.
In 629 A.D., in the month of DHu’l Qa’hdah (February),
1 See Chapter LXVI.
INTRODUCTION. xli
the long-expected pilgrimage took place. With two thousand followers the prophet entered the Holy City, and the Meccans having retired to the neighbouring hills, all passed off quietly.
In the course of the short three days’ sojourn in Mecca the Muslim ranks were strengthened by the accession of two influential personages, ‘//alid, who had conquered them at Ohod, and ‘Amr, the future conqueror of Egypt.
In this year the Muslim army experienced a terrible defeat at Mata on the Syrian frontier, in which the prophet’s friend Zaid was slain. His prestige, however, was soon re-established by fresh successors and the accession of numerous border tribes.
Two years after the truce of “‘Hud4ibiyeh, a tribe who were under the protection of Mohammed, were attacked unawares by another tribe in alliance with the Meccans, and some Meccans in disguise were recognised amongst the assailants. This was a violation of the treaty, and Mohammed, on being appealed to by the sufferers, was nothing loth to take advantage of the opportunity afforded him for recommencing hostilities. The Meccans sent Abu Sufiyan to Medinah to offer explanations and procure a renewal of the truce, but without success. Mohammed began to make preparations for an expedition against Mecca, but concealed his plans even from his immediate followers; his Bedawin allies were ordered either to join him at Medinah, or to meet him at certain appointed places on the route, but it was not until the last moment that his troops knew that their destination was the Holy City. While they were encamped in the immediate neighbourhood, and before the Meccans had any certain knowledge of their approach, the camp was visited at night by Abu Sufiyan, who was introduced to Mohammed by his uncle “Abbas, the latter having become converted to Isl4m now that he saw that its cause must certainly triumph. Mohammed promised Abu Sufiy4n that all those inhabitants of Mecca who should take refuge in his house or in the Kaabah or even in private houses, provided the doors were closed, should be xlii THE QuR’AN.
Mohammed promised Abu Sufiy4n that all those inhabitants of Mecca who should take refuge in his house or in the Kaabah or even in private houses, provided the doors were closed, should be xlii THE QuR’AN.
unmolested, and dismissed him to carry this news to his fellow-citizens, not however before he and ‘Abbas had persuaded the Meccan chief to become a Muslim, which he somewhat unwillingly consented to do. There is good reason to suppose that the whole affair was arranged between Mohammed, “Abbds, and Abu Sufiy4n, and that the meeting by night at the camp with the somewhat theatrical details with which the historians relate it, and the sudden conversion of the two hitherto irreconcilable chiefs, were part of a plan designed to save Mecca from unnecessary bloodshed now that Mohammed’s increased power and the overwhelming numbers he brought with him made a capture of the city inevitable. At any rate it had this effect, the Muslim army entered Mecca almost without resistance, only a few Bedawin under the command of ‘HAlid being assailed with arrows by some of Mohammed’s bitterest opponents, whom he quickly dispersed. Mohammed, seeing him in pursuit of his assailants, was excessively angry until it was explained to him that ‘H4lid’s action was unavoidable and only in self-defence.
Mohammed was at length master of the capital of Arabia ; his first act was to repair to the Kaabah, and after making the circuit seven times and respectfully saluting the black stone with his staff, he entered the building and caused the idols to be destroyed. Actuated both by sound policy and by the strong feeling of attachment to his own tribe, which is inherent in every Arab’s breast, he proclaimed a general amnesty, and the Meccans readily embraced Islim and marched under its banner, hoping for the reward of Paradise, and sure of rich booty here on earth. The Bedawin tribes in the neighbourhood gave him more trouble, but these too were brought into at least nominal subjection; the tribe of the THaqif at 7@if still held out, and Mohammed attacked them in the valley of “Honein, where they were surprised by the enemy in a narrow defile, and were in imminent danger of a defeat, had not Mohammed rallied them by appealing to them as ‘Ye men of the “Sarah of the Heifer!” Ye men of the “Tree of Fealty!”’
INTRODUCTION. xliii
xliii reminding them of the first portion of the Qur’an revealed at Medinah, and of the oath of fealty which they had sworn as he sat beneath a tree at ‘Hudaibtyeh. On this occasion he took a rich booty, and in order to conciliate the Meccan chiefs he gave them more than their fair share at the division of the spoils. This was particularly displeasing to his Medinah followers, who were only appeased by his declaring his regard for them, and promising never to desert their city or again take up his residence at Mecca. These events are alluded to in the Qur’4n, Chap. IX. After the battle of ‘Honein, Mohammed laid siege to Ta#if, and though he was unable to reduce the place, he so devastated the country around that ambassadors were sent to propose terms of capitulation; they offered to embrace Islam, provided that their territory should be considered sacred, that they should be excused the more onerous duties of the creed, and should be allowed to retain their favourite idol Allat for at least a year. To these conditions Mohammed was at first inclined to accede, but after a night’s reflection, and indignant remonstrance addressed by the fiery Omar to the THaqdjfite messengers, they were definitely refused, and the tribe surrendered unconditionally.
The ninth year after the flight is known as the ‘ Year of Deputations,’ the Bedawin tribes one after another sending in their adhesion to his cause and acknowledging his spiritual and temporal supremacy.
In the same year Mohammed conducted the expedition against Tabak, which was undertaken with a view to reduce the Syrian tribes to submission, they having been induced by Byzantine influence to rise in insurrection upon the frontier. Sdrah IX contains a violent denunciation of those who on various false pretences held back on the occasion. This was the last military enterprise conducted by Mohammed in person.
The Arabs, with their well-known fickleness, did not continue for long in their allegiance to Islam and its prophet ; even in Mohammed’s lifetime, tribe after tribe raised the xliv THE QUR’AN, standard of revolt, and the repression of these insurrections occupied much of his time and attention during the last years of his life. With true political sagacity he saw that the only way to prevent the newly established kingdom from becoming hopelessly disintegrated was to give its members some common interest and ambition. For this reason he never relinquished his designs upon Syria, where the turbulent tribes might find scope for their warlike propensities, and where a rich booty might be gained. It was to this common bond of unity, the desire for plunder and the love of making border raids, as much as to the religious idea, that the triumph of El Islam was due.
It was to this common bond of unity, the desire for plunder and the love of making border raids, as much as to the religious idea, that the triumph of El Islam was due.
In March, 632 A.D., he made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, the ‘ Farewell Pilgrimage,’ as Muslims call it, and standing upon Mount Arafat he addressed the assembled multitude, —more than forty thousand of pilgrims,—bade them stand firm by the faith that he had taught them, and called God to witness that he had delivered his message and fulfilled his mission.
In June he fell sick, and himself perceived that his end was drawing nigh.
On Monday, June 8, feeling better, he went to the Mosque of Medinah, where Abu Bekr was conducting the prayers before a crowded congregation who had flocked there to hear news of the prophet. Mohammed’s entry was quite unexpected, but in spite of the weakness evident from his faltering gait, his countenance was bright, and his voicé as clear and commanding as ever. Mounting the lower steps of the pulpit he said a few last words to the people, and having given some parting injunctions to Osama, whom he had entrusted with the command of an army to Syria, Mohammed returned to his house and lay down to rest in ‘Ayesha’s chamber. Here, resting his head upon her bosom, the prophet of Arabia fell asleep.
The question naturally arises, how could a comparatively obscure citizen of a small Arabian town bring about results of such magnitude as Mohammed undoubtedly did?
The secret of his success was, primarily, enthusiasm com-
INTRODUCTION. xlv
bined with patriotism. Whether he believed to the full in his divine mission and revelations or not, matters but little ; but it is certain that he did believe in himself as working for the good of his fellow-countrymen. He took the political and religious institutions of his country as he found them, and he strove to eradicate what was bad and to develop what was good. He knew that so long as the various tribes wasted their strength in internecine war there was no hope of their ever becoming a power; but he knew their character and temperament well enough to perceive that any scheme for bringing about national unity must fail if it involved the necessity of their submitting to any master whatever. He therefore sought to bind them together by what we may call their common religious feeling, but which really meant, as it too often does, common interests, common customs, and common superstitions. At Mecca all was ready to his hand: the Kaabah contained all the gods of the different tribes; the annual fairs and eisteddfodau (to borrow a Welsh name that exactly expresses the character of these gatherings) were held in the territory, and it was here that the historical and religious traditions of the race were circulated and kept alive. All the elements of centralisation were there, and it only wanted such a master-spirit as Mohammed's to turn their thoughts towards the common idea which should induce them to unite.
All the elements of centralisation were there, and it only wanted such a master-spirit as Mohammed's to turn their thoughts towards the common idea which should induce them to unite.
A prophet who starts in his career with no better stockin-trade than visionary enthusiasm or deliberate imposture has but a poor chance. Musdilimah, Mohammed's rival, has left nothing behind him but his sobriquet of El KeDHDH4b, ‘the liar,’ and a few bitterly satirical parodies on some verses of the Qur’4n, which are still occasionally quoted by the less reverential of Muslims. El Mukanna’, the ‘ veiled prophet of Khorassan,’ earned no more immortality than an occasional mention in Persian poetry, and the honour of being the hero of an English popular poem. Mutanebbi, ‘the would-be prophet,’ as his name signifies, who flourished in the tenth century of our era, was an Arab of the Arabs, xlvi THE QUR'AN.
and one of the greatest poets of his age. He, too, set up as a prophet, but with so little success that he had to retire from the business at an early period of his career. It was probably his wonderful facility in language that induced him to imitate Mohammed’s example, and rely upon the ‘miraculous’ eloquence of his language in support of his pretensions to inspiration. He, however, missed the opportunities which Mohammed had; he was no great reformer himself, and there was no urgent need of a reform at the time. Moreover, he was entirely destitute of religious feeling, and, even in his earliest poems, so blasphemes and sneers at holy names that his most devoted commentators are frequently at a loss to find excuses for him.
In forming our estimate of Mohammed’s character, therefore, and of the religion which we are accustomed to call by his name, we must put aside the theories of imposture and enthusiasm, as well as that of divine inspiration. Even the theory of his being a great political reformer does not contain the whole truth; and although it is certain that his personal character exercised a most important influence on his doctrine, yet it is not by any means evident that it even moulded it into its present shape.
The enthusiasm which he himself inspired, and the readiness with which such men as Abu Bekr and Omar, Arabs of the noblest birth, ranged themselves amongst his followers, who consisted for the most part of men of the lowest rank, slaves, freedmen, and the like, prove that he could have been no mere impostor.
The early portions of the Qur’dn are the genuine rhapsodies of an enthusiast who believed himself inspired, and Mohammed himself points to them in the later Sirahs as irrefragable proofs of the divine origin of his mission. In his later history, however, there are evidences of that tendency to pious fraud which the profession of a prophet necessarily involves. Although commenced in ‘perfect good faith, such a profession must place the enthusiast at last in an embarrassing position, and the very desire to prove the truth of what he himself believes may reduce him to
INTRODUCTION. xl vii
the alternative of resorting to a pious fraud or of relinquishing all the results which he has previously attained.
At the outset of his career he turned to the Jews, imagining that, as he claimed to restore the original religion of Abraham, and appealed to the Jewish scriptures for confirmation of his teaching, they would support him. Disappointed in this quarter, he treated them with more bitter hostility than any other of his opponents.
In the latter part of his career he took but little notice either of the Jews or Christians, and when he does mention the latter it is without any of the conciliatory spirit which he at first displayed to them, and they are not only sharply reproved for their errors, but are included in the general mass of infidels against whom the true believers are to fight.
Mohammed styles himself in the Quran En Nebiy el’ummiy (Chap. VII, vers. 156 and 158), which may be interpreted either ‘the illiterate prophet’ or ‘the prophet of the Gentiles,’ as the word 7Ummiydin in Chap. II, ver. 73 means rather ‘those who have no scriptures.’
Mohammedans themselves differ very much as to whether the prophet could read or write, the Sunnis denying it and the Shi‘ahs declaring that he was able to do both. The evidence of the fact, though, is very untrustworthy, and in the traditional accounts of the occasions on which he is said to have written, the words may mean nothing more than that he dictated the documents in question. In the Qur'an, XXIX, 47, it is merely said that he never ‘recited a book before this,’ and the passages in Chap. XCVI, vers. 1-6, which begin ‘ Read,’ and in which the angel Gabriel is supposed to exhibit the Umm al Kitab (see p. 2, note 2), and to command him to read it, the act implied may be nothing more than an intuitive perception of the contents of the book thus mysteriously shown to him.
It is probable that he could neither read nor write, and it is almost certain that he could not have done so sufficiently to have made use of any of the Jewish or Christian scriptures.
The oral Jewish and Christian traditions incorporated in the Qur'an were, no doubt, current among the Jewish and xl viii THE QUR'AN.
The oral Jewish and Christian traditions incorporated in the Qur'an were, no doubt, current among the Jewish and xl viii THE QUR'AN.
Christian tribes ; there is not the least evidence in support of the accusation made against Mohammed by Christian writers, that the greater part of his revelations were due to the suggestions of a Christian monk. The person referred to in the Qur’4n, Chapter XVI, ver. 105, is probably Salman the Persian ; the Persian legends being in the Arab mind the very archetype of those ‘old folks’ tales’ to which his revelations were so often compared by his contemporaries.
Other stories, such as those of ‘Ad and Thamid; the legends of their great forefather Abraham; of the Seil al ‘Arim, or the bursting of the dyke at Marab, were all commonplaces of the folk lore of the country.
He, however, told them over again with the additional particulars which he had derived from Jewish and Christian sources, and appealed to this additional information in proof of the divine origin of his version.
The city of YaTHrib, better known afterwards as El Medinah, ‘the city,’ contained many Jewish inhabitants, and Mecca itself was no doubt also frequented by Jewish Arabs, and the influence of their beliefs and superstitions is apparent throughout the Qur'an.
Christianity too, as we have seen, contributed considerably to the new religion, though not to so great an extent as Judaism.
It is clear, however, that Mohammed was not acquainted with the originals themselves, either of the Jewish or Christian scriptures. The only passage of the Old Testament quoted in the Qur’4n is in Chapter X XI, vers. 104, 105, ‘And already have we written in the Psalms after the reminder that “the earth my righteous servants shall inherit,”’ which is an Arabic paraphrase of Psalm xxxvii, ver. 29, ‘ The righteous shall inherit the land.’ The well-known exclusiveness of the Jews and their unwillingness that any Gentile hand should touch their holy Book, renders it extremely improbable that even this sentence was borrowed direct from the scriptures themselves, even if Mohammed could have understood the language in which they are written,
INTRODUCTION, xlix
The Qur'an appeals several times to the prophecies concerning Mohammed which are alleged to exist in the New and Old Testaments: thus in Chap. II, 141, ‘Those to whom we have given the Book know him as they know their own sons, although a sect of them do surely hide the truth, the while they know ;’ and again, VI, 20, ‘Those to whom we have brought the Book know him as they know their sons,—those who lose their souls do not believe.’
II, 141, ‘Those to whom we have given the Book know him as they know their own sons, although a sect of them do surely hide the truth, the while they know ;’ and again, VI, 20, ‘Those to whom we have brought the Book know him as they know their sons,—those who lose their souls do not believe.’
The allusion is said to be to the promise of the Paraclete in John xvi. 7, the suggestion being that the word mapdxAnros in the Greek has been substituted for mepixAurés, which would be exactly translated by the name A‘hmed, or Mohammed. Mohammed, however, certainly had not access to the Greek Testament, and it is doubtful whether an Arabic version even existed at the time, Syriac only being the ecclesiastical language of the Christians of the day: it is more probable that Mohammed may have received the suggestion from some of his Christian friends.
The monotheistic idea, which is the key-word to El Isl4m, was not new to the Arabs, but it was distasteful, and particularly so to the Qurdis, whose supremacy over the other tribes, and whose worldly prosperity arose from the fact that they were the hereditary guardians of the national collection of idols kept in the sanctuary at Mecca. Mohammed’s message, therefore, sounded like a revolutionary watchword, a radical party-cry, which the conservative Meccans could not afford to despise, and which they combated very energetically. The prophet, therefore, in the first place, met with but little success. ‘Hadigah accepted her husband’s mission without hesitation, so did - her cousin Waraqah; and Zaid, ‘the enquirer,’ a man who had spent his life in seeking for the truth, and in fighting against this same idolatry that was so repugnant to Mohammed’s ideas, at once gave in his adherence to the new doctrine. For three years, however, only fourteen converts were added to the Muslim church.
The mission of Mohammed, then, appealed forcibly to the Arabs on many grounds. Compared with the prevalent
[6]
1 THE QuR’AN.
For three years, however, only fourteen converts were added to the Muslim church.
The mission of Mohammed, then, appealed forcibly to the Arabs on many grounds. Compared with the prevalent
[6]
1 THE QuR’AN.
idolatry of the time, the idea as presented was so grand, so simple, and so true, that reason could scarcely hesitate between the two systems, unless, as in the case of the Qurais, self-interest were thrown into the scale. Side by side with the religion of the Jews and Christians, as practised in Arabia at least, it appeared more spiritual and more divine, and presented the truths of both religions without the blemishes, It harmonized with the traditional Semitic belief, Arab as well as Jewish, of the coming of a Messiah, or at least of a prophet, who should reveal the truth at last, and set right the order of things which had spiritually and temporally gone so wrong. And lastly, it made no call .on their credulity; it only asked them to believe what they might well accept as self-evident, and it only laid claim to one miracle, that of the marvellous eloquence of its delivery, and this neither friends nor foes could deny. It must not be forgotten that this claim of the Qur’4n to miraculous eloquence, however absurd it may sound to Western ears, was and is to the Arab incontrovertible.
In order to understand the immense influence which the Qur’4n has always exercised upon the Arab mind, it is necessary to remember that it consists not merely of the enthusiastic utterances of an individual, but of the popular sayings, choice pieces of eloquence, and favourite legends current among the desert tribes for ages before his time. Arabic authors speak frequently of the celebrity attained by the ancient Arabic orators, such as Shaib4n Wéil, but unfortunately no specimen of their works have come down to us. The Qur'an, however, enables us to judge of the nature of the speeches which took so strong a hold upon their countrymen.
The essence of Mohammedanism is its assertion of the unity of God, as opposed to polytheism and even to trinitarianism. And this central truth was, we repeat, nothing new ; it was, as Mohammed said of it, the ancient faith of Abraham, and it was upon that faith that the greatness of the Jewish nation was founded ; nay, it was the truth which Christ himself made more fully known and understood.
INTRODUCTION. li
And this central truth was, we repeat, nothing new ; it was, as Mohammed said of it, the ancient faith of Abraham, and it was upon that faith that the greatness of the Jewish nation was founded ; nay, it was the truth which Christ himself made more fully known and understood.
INTRODUCTION. li
One great difference between Judaism and Isl4m is that the former is not a proselytising religion, while the latter emphatically is so. All the laws and ordinances of the Pentateuch, all the revelations of the Old Testament, are for the Jew alone, and the Gentile was excluded with jealous care from the enjoyment of any of the divine privileges until Christianity proclaimed that revelation was for the world at large. The Arab, on the contrary, was enjoined to propagate his religion. ‘There is no god but God,’ and man must be ‘resigned to His will,’ and if he will not, he must be made to; this is what Islim or ‘resignation’ really means.
But, it may be asked, why, if Mohammed preached nothing more than the central truth of Judaism and Christianity, did he not rather accept one or other of these creeds, than found a new one? To answer this question, we must regard Judaism and Christianity not as they are understood now, but as they existed in Arabia in Mohammed’s time. Judaism was effete, Christianity corrupt. The Hebrew nation had fallen, and Magian superstitions and Rabbinic inventions had obscured the primeval simplicity of the Hebrew faith and marred the grandeur of its law. The Christians were forgetful alike of the old revelation and of the new, and neglecting the teachings of their Master, were split up into numerous sects—‘ Homoousians and Homoiousians, Monothelites and Monophysites, Jacobites and Eutychians, and the like—who had little in common but the name of Christians, and the cordial hatred with which they regarded each other.
Mohammed certainly wished his religion to be looked upon as a further fulfilment of Christianity, just as Christianity is the fulfilment of Judaism. He regards our Lord with particular veneration, and even goes so far as to call Him the ‘ Spirit’ and ‘Word’ of God; ‘the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, is but the apostle of God and His Word, which He cast into Mary and a spirit from Him’ (Sarah IV, 169). The reservation, ‘is but the apostle,’ &c., is directed against the misconception of the Christian’doctrine which d2 li THE QUR'AN.
was then prevalent in Arabia, and which was the only one with which Mohammed was acquainted. With the Arab Christian, the Trinity meant nothing more nor less than tritheism, and these three the Father, Virgin-Mother, and Son.
was then prevalent in Arabia, and which was the only one with which Mohammed was acquainted. With the Arab Christian, the Trinity meant nothing more nor less than tritheism, and these three the Father, Virgin-Mother, and Son.
The doctrine of the unity of God, as preached by Mohammed, was a protest against the dualism of Persia as well as the degenerate Christianity of the time and the polytheism of the Arabs who were his contemporaries. Thus the Chapter of Cattle (VI) commences with the words, ‘Praise belongs to God who created the heavens and the earth, and brought into being the darkness and the light,’ which negatives the Manichzxan theory that the two principles of light and darkness were uncreate and eternal, and by their admixture or antagonism gave birth to the material universe.
As for the angelism and demonology of the Qur'an, they are a mixture of local superstitions, Persian and Jewish tradition. The system was certainly not due to Mohammed’s invention, but was evolved out of what he had heard from Jewish, Christian, and other sources, and regarded as revelation, and coloured by his individual local beliefs.
It is a curious thing that the rite of circumcision is not mentioned in the Qur’4n; but there is no doubt that Mohammed insisted upon it as a compromise for more cruel and dangerous practices}.
The Quran itself is not a formal and consistent code either of morals, laws, or ceremonies.
Revealed ‘piecemeal,’ particular passages being often promulgated to decide particular cases, it cannot fail to contain many things that are at variance with, or flatly contradict others,
It has, however, a certain unity notwithstanding; for Mohammed had his doctrine of the unity of God, according to the ‘Hanifite conception, always before his mind: he had the immemorial customs of his country and their tribal
} See note to vol. ii, p. 110, of Burton’s ‘Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca.’
ee TS. a ote
INTRODUCTION. liii
ii, p. 110, of Burton’s ‘Pilgrimage to El Medina and Mecca.’
ee TS. a ote
INTRODUCTION. liii
usages to guide him in his decisions, only instead of being bound by these usages he was able, by virtue of his office of prophet, to alter or abrogate such as appeared to him not to conduce to the welfare of society. The religious observances and ceremonies he retained were also to a great extent forced upon him; the injunctions to prayer and fasting were necessary to keep alive the religious fervour of the converts, and, indeed, to give the character of a religion to the movement and distinguish it from a mere political reform. The ceremonies of the pilgrimage could not be entirely done away with. The universal reverence of the Arab for the Kaabah was too favourable and obvious a means for uniting all the tribes into one confederation with one common purpose in view. The traditions of Abraham, the father of their race and the founder of Mohammed’s own religion, as he always declared him to be, no doubt gave the ancient temple a peculiar sanctity in the prophet’s eyes, and although he had at first settled upon Jerusalem as his Qiblah, he afterwards reverted to the Kaabah itself. Here, then, Mohammed found a shrine to which, as well as at which, devotion had been paid from time immemorial : it was the one thing which the scattered Arabian nation had in common—the one thing which gave them even the shadow of a national feeling; and to have dreamed of abolishing it, or even of diminishing the honours paid to it, would have been madness and ruin to his enterprise. He therefore did the next best thing, he cleared it of idols and dedicated it to the service of God. Again, the ‘Hagg was the occasion on which the tribes assembled at Mecca and, therefore, not only the cause of trading and mutual profit amongst themselves, but upon it depended entirely the commercial prosperity of the Qurdis.
It has been objected to Isl4m that neither its doctrines nor its rites are original. No religion, certainly no sacred books of a religion, ever possessed entire originality. The great principles of morality, and the noble thoughts which are common to humanity, must find their way into the Scriptures, if these are to have any hold upon men; and liv THE QUR'AN. -
No religion, certainly no sacred books of a religion, ever possessed entire originality. The great principles of morality, and the noble thoughts which are common to humanity, must find their way into the Scriptures, if these are to have any hold upon men; and liv THE QUR'AN. - it would, indeed, be strange if the writers, however inspired, left no trace in their writings of what they had seen, heard, or read. The New Testament, it is well known, contains much that is not original. Many of the parables &c., as a late eminent Orientalist once pointed out, are to be found in the Talmud. We know that St. Paul drew upon classic Greek sources for many of his most striking utterances, not even disdaining to quote the worldly wisdom of the comedian Menander ; and there is at least a curious coincidence between the words used in describing the blindness that fell on the apostle just before his conversion, and its subsequent cure, with the description given by Stesichorus in his ‘ Palinodia’ of a similar incident connected with his own conversion to the worship of the Dioscuri. Even the most divine sentiment in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,’ is expressed almost in so many words in the advice given by Nestor to the angered Achilles in the first book of Homer’s Iliad.
Judged then by the standard which we apply to other creeds, Mohammed’s religion stands forth as something strikingly new and original, since it sets before his countrymen, for the first time, the grand conception of one God, which was, as he asserted, the faith of their father Abraham, but which their fetishism had so long obscured.
The Arabs made use of a rhymed and rhythmical prose, the origin of which it is not difficult to imagine. The Arabic language consists for the most part of triliteral roots, i.e. the single words expressing individual ideas consist generally of three consonants each, and the derivative forms expressing modifications of the original idea are not made by affixes and terminations alone, but also by the insertion of letters in the root. Thus garaba means ‘he struck, and qatala, ‘he killed,’ while mazrib and maqtdl signify ‘one struck’ and ‘one killed.’ A sentence, therefore, consists of a series of words which would each require to be expressed in clauses of several words in other languages, and it is easy to see
INTRODUCTION. lv
how a next following sentence, explanatory of or completing the first, would be much more clear and forcible if it consisted of words of a similar shape and implying similar modifications of other ideas. It follows then that the two sentences would be necessarily symmetrical, and the presence of rhythm would not only please the ear but contribute to the better understanding of the sense, while the rhyme would mark the pause in the sense and emphasize the proposition.
It follows then that the two sentences would be necessarily symmetrical, and the presence of rhythm would not only please the ear but contribute to the better understanding of the sense, while the rhyme would mark the pause in the sense and emphasize the proposition.
The Qur’4n is written in this rhetorical style, in which the clauses are rhythmical though not symmetrically so, and for the most part end in the same rhyme throughout the chapter.
The Arabic language lends itself very readily to this species of composition, and the Arabs of the desert in the present day employ it to a great extent in their more formal orations, while the literary men of the towns adopt it as the recognised correct style, deliberately imitating the Qur'an.
That the best of Arab writers has never succeeded in producing anything equal in merit to the Qur'an itself is not surprising. In the first place, they have agreed beforehand that it is unapproachable, and they have adopted its style as the perfect standard; any deviation from it therefore must of necessity be a defect. Again, with them this style is not spontaneous as with Mohammed and his contemporaries, but is as artificial as though Englishmen should still continue to follow Chaucer as their model, in spite of the changes which their language has undergone. With the prophet the style was natural, and the words were those used in every-day ordinary life, while with the later Arabic authors the style is imitative and the ancient words are introduced as a literary embellishment. The natural consequence is that their attempts look laboured and unreal by the side of his impromptu and forcible eloquence.
That Mohammed, though, should have been able to challenge even his contemporaries to produce anything like the Qur’4n, ‘And if ye are in doubt of what we have revealed
Ivi THE QUR'AN.
unto our servant, then bring a chapter like it... But if ye do it not, and ye surely shall do it not, &c.,’ is at first sight surprising, but, as Néldeke?! has pointed out, this challenge really refers much more to the subject than to the mere style, —to the originality of the conception of the unity of God and of a revelation supposed to be couched in God’s own words. Any attempt at such a work must of necessity have had all the weakness and want of prestige which attaches to an imitation. This idea is by no means foreign to the genius of the old Arabs ; thus the learned grammarian and rhetorician ‘Hariri excuses himself in the preface to his celebrated ‘Assemblies’ for any shortcomings, which might possibly be detected in a composition professedly modelled on that of another, by quoting an ancient poem:
“’'Twas this affected me, that while I lay
Snatching a breath of sleep for drowsiness,
There wept a dove upon the Aikah bough
Trilling her weeping forth with sweetest notes:
Ah, had I wept—ere she began to weep—
For Sauda’s love, my soul had found relief!
But ’twas her weeping that excited mine,
But ’twas her weeping that excited mine,
And he who comes first must be always best!’
Amongst a people who believed firmly in witchcraft and soothsaying and who, though passionately fond of poetry, believed that every poet had his familiar spirit who inspired his utterances, it was no wonder that the prophet should be taken for ‘a soothsayer,’ for ‘one possessed with an evil spirit, or for ‘an infatuated poet 2.’
Each chapter of the Qur’4n is called in Arabic a sfirah, a word which signifies a course of bricks in a wall, and is generally used in the body of the work for any connected or continuous portion complete in itself.
1 Geschichte des Qordns, p. 43. ? Mohammed may well have repudiated the charge of being a poet, for he is only credited with one verse, and that an involuntary one: Ana ‘nnabiyu 14 Kapuib; Ana ’bnu ‘Abd el Muésalib. ‘I am the prophet who lies not; I am the son of Abd el Mussalib.’
INTRODUCTION. Ivii
The word Qur’dn, ‘a reading,’ comes from the verb qara’a, ‘to read,’ though some lexicographers derive it from qarana, ‘to join, and interpret it as meaning the ‘collected whole.’
It is also called El] Forq4n, ‘the discrimination,’ a word borrowed from the Hebrew and also applied in the Qur’4n to divine inspiration generally.
The individual portions of the Qur’4n were not always written down immediately after their revelation, as we find that Mohammed often repeated them several times until he had learnt them by heart, and the book itself shows that he occasionally forgot them and even altered and supplemented them: ‘Whatever verse we may annul or cause thee to forget, we will bring a better one than it, or one like it’ (Chapter II, ver. 100). On other occasions he employed an amanuensis, as, for instance, Abdallah ibn Sa’hd ibn Abi Sar‘h (see Part I, p. 126, note 2) and Zaid ibn THAbit ; and tradition relates that he would frequently direct in which Sarah the passage dictated was to be placed. That the Qur’4n was, or that even the individual Sfrahs were, however, arranged in the present order by the prophet himself is impossible, both from internal evidence and that of tradition.
That the Qur’4n was, or that even the individual Sfrahs were, however, arranged in the present order by the prophet himself is impossible, both from internal evidence and that of tradition.
At the prophet’s death no collected edition of the Qur’4n existed. Scattered fragments were in the possession of certain of his followers, written down at different times and on the most heterogeneous materials, but by far the greater portion was preserved only in the memories of men whom death might at any moment carry off. The death of many Muslim warriors at the battle of Yemamah opened the eyes of the early Caliphs to the danger that the ‘Book of God’ might be, ere long, irrevocably lost: they accordingly provided, to the best of their power, against such a contingency. Abu Bekr,—or rather Omar, during his reign,—was the first to take the matter in hand, and employed Zaid ibn THAbit the Ans4ri, a native of Medinah, who had acted as amanuensis to Mohammed, to collect and arrange the text. This he did from ‘ palm-leaves, skins, blade-bones, and the hearts of men,’ and presented to the Caliph a copy
Iviii THE QUR'AN, of the Qur’An, which did not probably differ greatly from that which we now possess. As we have already seen, the whole was strung together without any reference to the chronological order, and with very little regard to the logical connection of various passages. The longer Sdrahs were placed at the beginning and the short ones at the end, although the order of their revelation was for the most part just the reverse. And, lastly, many odd verses appear to have been inserted into various Sfrahs for no other reason than that they suit the rhyme.
The text was so far fixed by Zaid, but not the reading of it. In the first place, the vowel points, which make often a very great difference in the meaning of a word, were probably hardly ever, if at all, used; again, many persons were still alive who themselves remembered portions of the Qur’4n by heart, but who did not agree as to individual words, or who remembering the sense only substituted some of the locutions of their own tribe for the actual words of Mohammed.
These tribal dialects often differed diametrically in the use of particular words; thus i‘/fa’un means ‘to conceal’ in the dialect of one tribe and ‘to display’ in that of another; when such words occurred, as they often do, in the Qur'an, they could not fail to give rise to disputes as to their interpretation.
In the present recension of the Qur’4n there are comparatively few various readings recognised, but it is clear that great variations existed from the very first. On more than one occasion Mohammed himself dictated the same passage to different persons with different readings; and the ‘traditional saying’ ascribed to him, that ‘the Qur’an was revealed according to seven modes of reading,’ shows what latitute he himself allowed. The other interpretation of this tradition, namely, that ‘the Qur’4n may be read according to the seven Arabic dialects,’ was obviously invented to check the tendency to perversion of the text according to individual fancy, and is plainly refuted by the fact that the persons to whom the saying was uttered,
INTRODUCTION. lix
and who had appealed to the prophet to decide upon the reading of a certain text, were both of the tribe of Qurais.
At length, some twenty years afterwards, the Caliph Othman, alarmed at the bitter feelings and open quarrels which these differences of reading and interpretation had already engendered, determined to prevent the Muslims from differing amongst themselves in their way of reading the word of God as the Jews and Christians did. He accordingly appointed a commission, consisting of Zaid, the original editor, with three men of the Qurdis (Mohammed’s own tribe), to decide, once for all, upon the text and to fix the reading definitely according to the pure Qurais idiom.
When this edition was completed, Othm4n sent copies to all the principal cities in the empire, and caused all the previous copies to be burned. These copies were perhaps not themselves free from small discrepances ; the few slight various readings which have, as I have shown, crept in, are most of them mere matters of orthography, and the rest are unimportant to the general sense. The last named will be found mentioned in the notes to the passages in which they occur in the course of the following translation.
Othmén’s recension has remained the authorised text, and has been adopted by all schools of Mohammedan theologians from the time it was made (A.D. 660) until the present day.
In this no further attempt was made at chronological arrangement than in the preceding one. The individual Sfrahs have prefixed to them the name of the place, Mecca or Medinah, at which they were revealed; but this indication, though derived from authentic tradition, is not a sufficient guide, since in many places verses have been inserted in a Meccan Sfrah which were evidently revealed at Medinah, and vice versA. To clear away this difficulty, and to propose an intelligible chronological arrangement of the Sfrahs, has been the aim of scholars, both Arabic and European; but no one has treated the subject in so lx THE QUR’AN.
critical or masterly a manner as Noldeke, and his arrangement may be taken as the best which Arabic tradition, ‘combined with European criticism, can furnish.
critical or masterly a manner as Noldeke, and his arrangement may be taken as the best which Arabic tradition, ‘combined with European criticism, can furnish.
To arrive at a decision on this point we must consider first the historical event, if any, to which each text refers ; next, the style generally; and lastly, the individual expressions used. Thus, in addressing the Meccans the words yé aiyuha ’nnds, ‘O ye folk!’ occur, while the expression y4 aiyuha ‘llaDHin Amand is used in speaking to the people of Medinah; though sometimes the former phrase occurs in a verse of a Medinah Sarah.
The Sfrahs resolve themselves into two great classes, those revealed at Mecca and those revealed at Medinah after the flight; and these are easily distinguished both by their style and subject-matter. The earlier ones especially are grander in style, and testify in every verse to the mental exaltation of the prophet and the earnest belief which he certainly had at this time in the Teality and truth of his divine mission.
The Qur’an falls naturally into these two classes, which répresent, in fact, the first development of Mohammed's prophetic office at Mecca, and the later career as a leader and lawgiver after the flight at Medinah.
Sdrahs belonging to the first period of his career are therefore ascribed to Mecca, and those of the latter period .to Medinah, although the actual place at which they were delivered may be in certain cases doubtful.
One of the next earliest Sfrahs is that entitled Abu Laheb. Mohammed had at length called together his clansmen, the Bani Hashim, and bade them accept the new doctrine of Allah’s unity. Hereupon ‘Abd el ’Huzzah, surnamed Abu Laheb, ‘he of the flame,’ indignantly exclaimed, ‘ Perdition to you! is that what thou hast called — us for?? Mohammed then proclaimed the Sfrah bearing Abu Laheb’s name, in which he enunciates a terrible curse against him and his wife Umm Gemil, and made of him an irreconcilable foe.
The CVIth Sarah also belongs undoubtedly to an early
INTRODUCTION. Ixi
period. In it Mohammed bids the Qurdis ‘serve the Lord of this House,’ for the two trading caravans they yearly sent out in winter and summer respectively.
In the Meccan Sfrahs Mohammed’s one and steady purpose is to bring his hearers to a belief in the one only God; this he does by powerful rhetorical displays rather than logical arguments, by appealing to their feelings rather than their reason; by setting forth the manifestations of God in his works; by calling nature to witness to His presence ; and by proclaiming His vengeance against those who associate other gods with Him, or attribute offspring to Him. The appeal was strengthened by glowing pictures of the happiness in store for those who should believe, and by frightful descriptions of the everlasting torments prepared for the unbelievers.
The short Sfrah entitled ‘Unity’ is said, on the traditional authority of Mohammed himself, to be equivalent in value to two-thirds of the Qur’4n.
The short Sfrah entitled ‘Unity’ is said, on the traditional authority of Mohammed himself, to be equivalent in value to two-thirds of the Qur’4n.
‘ Say, “ He is God, one God the eternal. He begets not, and is not begotten; nor is there like unto Him, one.”’
This protest is not aimed at the Christian doctrines alone, for the Arab, as we have seen, asserted that their angels and deities were daughters of Allah, the supreme God.
In the earlier chapters, too, the prophetic inspiration, the earnest conviction of the truth of his mission, and the violent emotion which his sense of responsibility caused him are plainly shown.
The style is curt, grand, and often almost sublime; the expressions are full of poetical feeling, and the thoughts are earnest and passionate, though sometimes dim and confused, indicating the mental excitement and doubt through which they struggled to light.
In the second period of the Meccan Sfrahs, Mohammed appears to have conceived the idea of still further severing himself from the idolatry of his compatriots, and of giving to the supreme deity Allah another title, Ar-Rahman, ‘the merciful one.’
The Meccans, however, seem to have taken these for
Ixii THE QUR'AN.
the names of separate deities?, and the name is abandoned in the later chapters.
In the Sfrahs of the second Meccan period we first find the long stories of the prophets of olden time, especial stress being laid upon the punishment which fell upon their contemporaries for disbelief; the moral is always the same, namely, that Mohammed came under precisely similar circumstances, and that a denial of the truth of his mission would bring on his fellow-citizens the self-same retribution.
They also show the transition stage between the intense and poetical enthusiasm of the early Meccan chapters and the calm teaching of the later Medinah ones. This change is gradual, and even in the later and most prosaic we find occasionally passages in which the old prophetic fire flashes out once more,
The three periods again are marked by the oaths which occur throughout the Quran. In the first period they are very frequent and often long, the whole powers of nature being invoked to bear witness to the unity of God and the mission of His Apostle; in the second period they are shorter and of rarer occurrence; in the last period they are absent altogether.
To understand the Medinah Sirahs we must bear in mind Mohammed’s position with respect to the various parties in that city.
In Mecca he had been a prophet with little honour in his own country, looked on by some as a madman, and by others as an impostor, both equally grievous to him, while his following consisted only of the poorest and meanest of his fellow-townsmen.
His own clansmen, for the reason that they were his clansmen and for no other, resented the affronts against him.