Mahomet

Front matter

LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 412 Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius

Charles J. Finger

TEN CENT POCKET SERIES NO. 412 Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius

Foreword

FOREWORD

This little sketch, setting forth not only the life of Mahomet, but the events that followed fast on his death, is built up from a series of notes taken at different times, some while attending a course of lectures given by Edward Spencer Beesley, M.A., Professor of History in University College, London, others when reading the books here listed: Mahometan Theories of Taxation, by Nicholas P. Achnides; Ibrahim Pascha, by H. D. Jenkins, Ph.D.; The Spirit of Islam, by Syed Ayeer Ali; Life of Mahomet, by Sir W. Muir and Irving's Mahomet. Where dates are given, I have taken those as given in the pages of Haydn's Dictionary of Dates.

I have tried to avoid throwing a haze around my subject, presenting Mahomet neither as a half-god nor as a vulgar adventurer, for of the man's sincerity in his early days there can be no shadow of a doubt; but, naturally, as his religion passed into the sphere of practical politics, there had to be a trimming and a resorting to expediences.

The writing and publishing of this book shall hot have been in vain, if, through it, some come to realize that the Turk is not the unintelligent person that many would try to make us believe, nor is his civilization one of primitive simplicity. It is important to realize that in these days, when all nations share in the general malaise of Europe and Asia.

Charles J. Finger

Mahomet

MAHOMET

A vein of rich interest is tapped when one commences to read of Mahomet and the work of his followers. It is like a tale from the Arabian Nights, a tale full.of wonder and color, of glittering palaces and great battles, of a people sweeping north, and east, and west, and south, with the irresistibility of a vast storm: of strange practical wisdom and fantastic dreams. There are, interwoven with the history, legends of magic armor, of hidden treasure, of strange creatures supposed to live in the bowels of the earth and fly through the air, of heaven upon heaven through, which the faithful and the brave will pass, of beasts, and birds, and strange things of the sea. And, as you look at the world and its swiftly moving changes from century to century, you see the onward march of the Saracen checked, and Charles Martel at Tours winning his victory that saved Europe from the domination of the crescent; you see, again, vast floods of armed men pouring east in the strange madness of the crusades, you see bands of children wandering across Europe led to death by madmen moved with the idea of taking the cross into the land of the followers of Mahomet, and you come down to today, when in the ancient battle grounds of Asia Minor, things are still unsettled and European nations are at daggers drawn, wishful to carve out new empires, and seize fresh lands for exploitation, not daring to draw the sword lest the millions who owe allegiance to the True Prophet again arise in their might ready to die, because of all men they hold life light as compared with their faith.

There is a probability that if Charles Martel had not defeated the Mahometans at Tours, there would have been a mosque in London instead of St. Paul's cathedral. And if that had been the case, it is logical to hold that we would have been taught, and would today be busy instilling into our children the story of Mahomet's revolt against the praying to many gods. You can figure the way things would be, the books that would be written about the story of the camel driver; the tale of his revolt against the three hundred and sixty odd gods set up for worship; the tale of the stone that fell from Paradise when Adam was cast out; the legend of the wonderful stone that rose and sank, serving as a movable floor for father Abraham as he built the temple walls; the celestial light that flooded the world when the child Mahomet was born; the quenching of the sacred flame of Zoroaster that had burned for a thousand years when Mahomet first saw the light. Instead of the "Golden Legend" of Longfellow, we might have had a legend telling of the child Mahomet who could run about when he was seven months old, and at ten months could hold his own with bow and arrow against any child; who at nine months could not only talk, but was so filled with wisdom as to confound all who heard him. There would be poems on the visit of the angels who took the three year old child, laid him on a couch and took out his heart, wringing from it the one black drop of original sin inherited from Adam, and returned it, filled with high resolve. For legends about Mahomet, and the prophets before him, are many, and the men of the desert, like other dreamers, have made fables sometimes fair and sometimes grotesque.

Still, in some ways and respects, the guiding rules for daily conduct would have been much the same as now. The shining thread of fair play is not confined to those of the Christian religion, and it has been well said that there is not a single noble sentiment or lofty aspiration in the New Testament that cannot be paralleled in one or another of the other scriptures of the world. For instance, take the Christian sentiments on brotherhood, you find, in the Mohammedan, as equally of value, this: "Be good to thy neighbor whether he be of your own people or a stranger." Take again the beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart," and compare it with the Mahommedan "A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world." Or in the matter of intellectual honesty we have in the Christian teaching, the injunction that we should "Put away living, speak every man the truth with his neighbor," while the Mahommedan bids us, "Hide not the truth when you know it, clothe it not with falsehood."

There are others in plenty, commandments and adjurations, which are guides to conduct in every way satisfactory. Thus:

"Whatever is thy religion, associate with men who think differently from thee. If thou canst mix with them freely and are not angered at hearing them, thou hast attained peace and art a master of creation."

"Temperance is a tree which has contentment for its root and peace for its fruit."

"There is no safer guardian than Justice, no stronger sword than Right, no better ruler than Reason, no surer ally than Truth."

"When a man dies, his neighbors ask what property has he left behind him, but angels ask what good deeds has he sent on before him."

"If a man strike thee and in striking drop his staff, pick it up and hand it to him again. Let us be like trees which yield their fruit to those who throw stones at them."

Like so many strange geniuses, Mahomet was an epileptic. After a fit, he had visions, and after an apparition, he was a prey to melancholy. "An angel appears to me in human form; he speaks to me. Often, I hear, as it were, the sound of cats, of rabbits, of bells, then I suffer much." From Le Journal des Savants, October, 1863, we gain the information that after prophesying, he fell into a state of despondency. "Three suras of the Koran," he said to Abou-Bekr, "have been enough to whiten my hair." Said the writer, Morkos, "On Mahomet, the most contradictory verdicts may be pronounced, for it is impossible to deny his great excellence, while, at the same time there is no disguising the fact that we find in him the most signal artifices of imposture, the grossest ignorance, and the greatest imprudence." Others have found it significant that in the Koran, there is no single chapter which has any connection with another, and in the course of a single sura, the ideas are often interrupted. But men of genius who have been subject to epilepsy in one form or another are by no means rare, and it is unsafe to base any theory on the latent forms of neurosis in genius. Consider Mozart, Paginini, Pascal, Handel, Flaubert, Petrarch, Dr. Johnson, Buffon, Caesar. Names of men similarly afflicted come thick and fast. So to the man's works.

The father of the lad died before his child's birth and his mother lived until Mahomet was seven years old. The grandfather, Abd-al-Muttalib, took charge of the orphan, but he too died a year later, upon which the boy was adopted by an uncle, Abu-Talib. The uncle was a poor man, and the boy had little or no education, spending the days herding sheep and tending camels. So things went quite uninterestingly until Mahomet was twenty-six years of age, when a wealthy widow named Khadija, fifteen years his senior, fell in love with the young man, and they were married. She bore him five children, (see appendix) was a sensible, business-like kind of woman who did not understand him perhaps, but nevertheless aided her strange husband, and to her Mahomet owed quite as much in the way of advancement and opportunity as Napoleon owed to his first wife. Certainly, in the days of Mahomet as in our own time, wealth made all the difference, and the words of Mahomet, the camel driver, were much less effective than the words of Mahomet the husband of one of the most wealthy women in the place. For a time Mahomet made himself useful in his wife's business, becoming a kind of produce dealer, but it would seem that his trading abilities were not of the best, and the family fortune showed signs of diminishing rather than increasing.

Doubtless, there was a great deal of dreaming and ruminating on Mahomet's part, and he gained much curious information from his wife's cousin, one Waraka, who had translated parts of the old and the new testament into Arabic. Waraka, born a Jew, had turned Christian, and he was deeply interested in astrology and mysticism, even dabbled a little in the occult. Between Waraka and Mahomet, there grew up the idea that as time went on, religion became corrupted, became a mere outward form, and, here and there, figures arose who set themselves to restore it to its ancient purity. Pondering thus, Mahomet came to believe that the time was ripe for a purification: that the people had fallen from the worship of the one, true God, to idolatry. Long pondering had its effect. He became a solitary, indulging in fasting and prayer, and, at last, retired to the desert quiet in the holy month of the Arabs. Then, when he was forty years of age, came what he considered the great revelation. It was in the cave of Mount Hara. The angel Gabriel appeared before him, proclaiming him as Mahomet, the prophet of God, and showing him a silken cloth on which was written the decree from heaven which formed the foundation of the Koran. You can imagine him often talking the affair over with Kadijah, she, with the eye of faith, accepting her husband as the chosen one. Then there was consultation with Waraka, the mystic, who was only too ready to believe. So there were three, and a new religion was born.

Zeid, a slave in the Mahomet household, was the first convert, and accepting his master as the true prophet of God, he gained his freedom. At the end of three years, there were forty converts, mostly young people and slaves, and the meetings were held in private, in households, or secretly in caves. Of course, there was persecution, without which no religion can grow, and meetings were broken up. In one rough and tumble fight, Saad, an armor maker, became the champion of the cause, wounding one of the rioters.

True to the wonder-seeking habits of humanity, there were calls for miracles. Some Moslem writers tell tales of magic: of the earth opening and jars of wine and honey coming forth, of doves dropping from heaven to whisper in Mahomet's ear, and of a bull coming to him in the presence of a multitude, bearing, in its horns a scroll. But it is more likely that Mahomet never descended to tricks, and depended in the beginning upon reason tor the promulgation of his teachings. Probably, a single manifestation of magic would have ended his career, for certainly there were not wanting those who had it in mind to do away with the heretic. There was once when the Koreishites, who were his bitterest enemies, made an attack upon him and he was roughly handled. Then there were threats leveled at his family. So came the first flight, (or Hegira) when a little band of Mahometans, consisting of eleven men and four women, crossed to Abyssinia to take refuge with the Nestorian Christians. Others followed later, until, in the fifth year of Mahomet's mission there were eighty-three men, eighteen women and many children belonging to them, overseas, spreading the new evangel. Meanwhile, the Koreishites passed a law banishing all who chose to embrace the new religion. Mahomet, like a wise man, hid from the storm that he could in no wise control, and his seclusion lent a new charm, the charm of secrecy, to his teaching, so that converts went to him from all parts of Arabia. Persecution Was an asset, as it ever is.

We pass over minor incidents, tales of how this one and that pledged to persecute or kill Mahomet were converted to the faith, how the decree of banishment against the Mahometans mysteriously disappeared and of how Mahomet returned to Mecca, to come to the death of Kadijah in her sixty-fifth year. A month later he was bethrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven years of age, the marriage being postponed for two years. To avoid loneliness during the years of the education of the child Ayesha, he married Sawda, the widow of one of his followers. Many other wives had Mahomet afterwards, but Ayesha remained the favorite, the only one, said Mahomet, who came a pure unspotted virgin to his arms.

But Mahomet's enemies were not idle, and so hot they pressed, that the prophet was forced to retire to the desert of Naklah. There, in his solitude, he had a strange vision, referred to in the seventy-second chapter of the Koran. The vision was of the genii, mighty beings sometimes evil, sometimes good: sometimes invisible, sometimes visible. Genii, according to the legend, were made from fire without smoke, as men were made from earth, and angels from precious stones. In the world of fantasy, there are no imaginary creatures more fascinating, and readers of the Arabian Nights will recall dozens of droll tales connected with them. Mahomet then, in his desert solitude was reading the Koran when he was overheard by a party of genii, who paused in their flight to listen. "Give ear," said one, and Mahomet continued to read. "Verily," said another, "we have heard an admirable discourse, which directeth unto the right institution; wherefore we believe therein." Thenceforth, Mahomet had it in mind to convert not only men, but genii as well. So there are references to the genii in the Koran in two passages, one to be found in the forty-sixth, and the other in the seventy-second chapter. (See appendix.)

The vision of the genii was followed by the traditional journey to the seventh heaven, in the course of which he was taken by the angel Gabriel to the presence of Allah and placed within two bow-shots of the Diety. (See Life of Mahomet, by Gagnier.) From Allah he re- ceived instructions which were duly set down in the Koran.

But while things spiritually went very well with him, materially and politically the clouds were dark. Pilgrims from the town of Yathreb, afterwards Medina, who had heard Jews talk of the expected Messiah, took an interest in the strange figure in Mecca who preached on the hill Al-Akaba and he found many new followers. His new converts invited him to their city, and, pressure from his enemies at home being great, Mahomet made a pact, by the terms of which the people of Medina were to worship the one true God and be subject to Mahomet, His prophet, and in return, the prophet would make his home among them. But the enemies of the new religion were not idle and a plot to murder the heretic was hatched. The murderers surrounded the house where Mahomet lived, entered and made for the bed where he was known to be, to find, instead of Mahomet, his loyal supporter Ali. The myth-makers have had it that while the would-be murderers were at the door, Mahomet threw dust into the air, and, by a miracle, his enemies were blinded. To quote the thirtieth chapter of the Koran, "We have thrown blindness upon them that they shall not see." And again in the eighth chapter, "And call to mind how the unbelievers plotted against thee, that they might either detain thee in bonds or put thee to death, or expel thee from the city." The probability is that Mahomet slipped out of the back door after being warned. At any rate, Mahomet fled and reached Medina in safety on what would correspond with the date of Sept. 20, 622, was received with joy by the citizens, and, a few days later, was joined by Ayesha. The flight is known as the Second Hegira, an outstanding feast in the Moslem year. Within the city, where the camel on which Mahomet rode first knelt, was built Mosjed al Nebi, the Mosque of the Prophet, at first a structure plain to severity, but later added to and adorned, until it became one of the famous buildings of the world, for its associations if not for its architectural splendor. As Islamism acknowledged Christ as one of the prophets, many Christians enrolled themselves under the banner of Mahomet.

II. THE FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY

It has been seen that one of the early precepts of Mahomet was the adjuration, "It is good to overcome evil with good. and it is evil to resist evil with evil." That is strikingly like the doctrine of nonresistance in the Christian, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good," and "Do good to them that hate you." It is oddly at variance with the later Mahometan manifesto given at Medina, the world challenge which ran: "I the last of the prophets am sent with the sword. Let those who promulgate my faith enter into no argument or discussion, but slay all who refuse obedience to the law. Whoever fights for the true faith, whether he fall or conquer, will assuredly receive a glorious reward." And again, "The sword is the key of heaven and hell; all who draw it in the cause of faith will be rewarded with temporal advantages; every drop shed of their blood, every hardship and peril endured by them, will be registered on high as more meritorious than even fasting or prayer. If they fall in battle their sins will at once be blotted out, and they will be transported to paradise, there to revel in eternal pleasures in the arms of black-eyed houris."

The change of front may possibly be attributed to Mahomet's pondering upon the dozen or more of years of ill-treatment accorded to him in Mecca. He saw a way of revenge, and he saw in his new allies the germ of a powerful force. The saint had passed into the warrior and the man whose head had been in the clouds, at last found his feet on the solid earth. Power was within his grasp and it was not long before he used it. Being the specially appointed spokesman of Allah, made things so much easier.

His first act of violence rocked the boat dangerously. By custom, in the holy month of Radjab, the desert might be traveled in safety, and pilgrims were safe from rapine and violence. A caravan of several camels laden with merchandise was attacked by one Abdallah under orders from Mahomet and the booty taken and blood shed. The act was a scandal that shook all Medina. No such desecration of the holy month had ever been heard of, nor was it until divine sanction was adduced from the Koran that Mahomet again sat secure. As a clever stroke of policy, though one extremely childlike, Mahomet for a time pretended to be angered at his lieutenant Abdallah, but it was plainly a pretense. Still, the passage from the Koran was as oil on troubled waters, and it must be plain to the most careless that Allah was very specific. Judge for yourself:

"They will ask thee concerning the sacred month, whether they may make war therein. Answer: To war therein is grievous; but to deny God, to bar the path of God against his people, to drive true believers from his holy temple, and to worship idols, are sins far more grievous than to kill in the holy months."

It was now, in a fashion, Mecca against Medina—Mahomet versus his arch foe, Abu Sofian, and a chance for revenge and enrichment offered when Abu was known to be conducting a caravan of a thousand camels with a troop of thirty horsemen. So forth went the men of Mahomet three hundred and fourteen strong and they camped in a fertile valley by the brook Beder. Somehow, Abu Sofian got wind of the projected surprise and sent word to summon relief from Mecca. There was a wild drumming, and shouting, and calling, and in a short while a force of a hundred horses and seven hundred camels was under way. Meanwhile, the caravan changed its course. Down on Mahomet and his men swept the men from Mecca, and contrary to all expectation, the superior force was defeated, and the leader, Aby Jahl, slain. Looked at in soberness, one finds cause for the unexpected result in the fact that the men from Mecca had crossed a desert, and animals, as well as men, were weary and athirst, while the force of Mahomet was well rested. and refreshed. But it is curious to note that, as in the case of many fights waged for a religious cause as well as in some waged for mere national supremacy, there were heavenly hosts warring for one side. The fantastic story of the vision of Mons must be fresh in every reader's mind, and those who have found interest in the story of Jeanne d'Arc will recall the angelic knights arrayed with the Maid's army. So in the battle of Beder, three thousand celestial warriors mounted on white and black horses, swept like a whirlwind into the battle to the aid of Mahomet. There is reference to the incident in the third chapter of the Koran (see appendix). Tradesmen of lies there have been in all ages and in all climes, men who made a way by pretending mastery over mysterious powers that lured and wrought for good, and demoniac powers that worked evil in subtle manner.

The people of Medina were speedily won to fresh faith in Mahomet when the booty gained in the battle arrived, and new converts were many. Before long, an incident occurred that bred bad blood between Moslem and Jew, and led to the confiscation of Jewish owned property in Medina to the enrichment of the Mahometans. Taken by itself. it was a trivial incident, probably an act of rowdyism, but acts of rowdyism have often been made the excuse for far-reaching wrongs inflicted by the power- ful on the weak. In the case in point, an Arab girl selling milk, her face veiled, as was the custom, was asked to unveil her face by a young Israelite. She, of course, refused, and the insult was as gross a one in the Arab eye as that would be were a young woman of our own place and time asked to unveil her breasts. As she sat, surrounded by her tormentors, a young merchant fastened the end of her veil to the bench, so that when she arose, her veil was torn off and her face revealed. Instantly, a fiery Moslem ran his sword through the young Jew. Then there was an uproar, men running from all quarters and taking sides, until what had been a foolish piece of impudence, turned into a town riot. Hearing of the tumult, down came Mahomet and his guards, the Jews were put to flight and ordered to embrace the Moslem faith or have their goods confiscated. The treasure that poured into the Mahometan coffers was considerable, and helped to defray the costs of many future little wars. The incident is another proof of the truth of the saying that there is no record of any party possessing power without abusing it.

Meanwhile, the people of Mecca were not idle. The memory of the Beder affair was active, and before long an armed force of three thousand were led forth by Abu Sofian. Somehow, Mahomet got wind of the affair and, hastily rallying some seven hundred men, he marched out of Medina to the hill of Ohod. It Was probably a rough and tumble affair, with- out order or effective discipline, and the troops of Mahomet were routed and fled to Medina. The Meccans did not follow up their victory and the only result was a truce for a year. Mahomet, losing in war for the first time, made up for it by winning in love, and took to himself another wife, his fifth. (See appendix.) Hend, his new spouse, was a widow of twenty-eight years of age. His fourth wife, to loop back a little, he had married after the affair resulting in the confiscation of the Jewish property. She, whose name was Hafza, was entrusted with the coffer containing the Koran writings as they were revealed to Mahomet from time to time.

To keep the people of Medina well content, there were raids from time to time on neighboring villages, and the booty was the cause of much discussion, probably due to the habit of gambling among the soldiery. So there was a revelation from heaven, and a new law was given for incorporation in the Koran, so that the use of wine and the playing of games of chance became forever prohibited.

Another revelation came very a propos in the case of Mahomet's next marriage, which followed hard on the heels of the union with Hend. Chancing to enter the house of his adopted son, Zeid, the prophet saw Zeinab, his son's newly wed wife, uncovered. At once he fell in love with the lady and declared his passion. The husband returning, was told what had passed, and, knowing the amorous nature of his foster father, he immediately divorced Zeinab, who became the wife of Mahomet. Then arose much scandal and talk of incestuous unions, nor were the faithful contented until that revelation which forms the thirty-third chapter of the Koran was made public, when, learning that it was the desire of Allah that relatives by adoption should be sharply distinguished from relatives by blood, there was again quiet in the camp. The men who followed Mahomet were well trained to observe obedience to authority and must have been overwhelmed at the ease with which Mahomet made himself acquainted with the Divine will.

The eighth wife of Mahomet was met when he sallied against the tribe of Beni Mostalek and shortly after the marriage an unfortunate domestic affair was settled by an other revelation. It was in this wise. On a journey, Mahomet had taken Ayesha to bear him company, and, one evening, when encamping, it was found that the litter which was supposed to hold Ayesha was empty. Investigation showed that she had been left behind at the last camping place, and that a handsome young camel driver was also missing. Ayesha being found, told a story of having gone to look for a necklace at the moment of departure and being left behind by sheer misadventure. But whispering tongues can poison truth and things were said. The rumors reached the ears of Mahomet who consulted with his friend Ali. But Ali was something of a Job's comforter, telling Mahomet that such a misfortune was but the common lot of men. However, Ayesha seems to have been wise in her generation,and, after the prophet had avoided her for a month, there was a meeting and a reconciliation. As for those who had suspected the innocence of Ayesha, for them there were fourscore scourges laid on their naked backs in a manner far from light, for the new revelation held that whoso accused a female of adultery without being able to produce four witnesses to testify to the fact, should be thus scourged. Had it not been for the revelation, the incident might well have proved a distressing calamity for Ayesha.

Abu Sofian was by no means an ordinary man. During the year of truce, he formed a confederacy of the Arab tribes, welding with them the Jews expelled by Mahomet, and his gathered army numbered no less than ten thousand. With this force, he proposed to march on Medina. In the meantime, a converted Persian had taught Mahomet what to him was a new trick in warfare, and trenches were made. To the followers of Abu Sofian, trench warfare caused as much consternation as did the use of poison gas in the world war. To hide behind a trench seemed the essence of cowardice and so the two armies faced one another, neither daring to attack, flinging back and forth insults and challenges. In the end there was no bloodshed to speak of. A few minor assaults took place, but the would-be invaders eventually retired and Mahomet was left free to pursue his course.