History of the Moors of Spain

by Florian

THE LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND RELIGION OF THE ARABS;

AND THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MOHAMMEDANISM

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A

BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF THE

MOHAMMEDAN EMPIRE.

CHAPTER I.

Extent of the Arabian Empire.—Causes which led to that extent.—Continuance of Mohammedanism.—Decay of the Empire.—What led to it.—Spain revolts and sets up a separate Caliph.—Africa.—Egypt.—Bagdad.—Fall of the House of the Abbassides.

The first battle in which the Arabs tried their power against the disciplined forces of the Roman empire was the battle of Muta. Though on that occasion they were successful, the most sanguine could not have ventured to predict that, before the close of a century, their empire would become more extensive than any that had ever before existed. Yet such was the fact. It overthrew the power of the Romans, and rendered the successors of the Prophet the mightiest and most absolute sovereigns on earth.

Under the last monarch of the Ommiade race, {230} the Arabian empire, excepting only an obscure part of Africa, of little account, embraced a compact territory equal to six months' march of a caravan in length and four in breadth, with innumerable tributary and dependant states. In the exercise of their power, the caliphs were fettered neither by popular rights, the votes of a senate, nor constitutional laws: the Koran was, indeed, their professed rule of action; but, inasmuch as they alone were its interpreters, their will was in all cases law. The loss of Spain to the empire was more than made up by conquests in India, Tartary, and European Turkey. Samarcand and Timbuctoo studied with equal devotion the language and religion of the Koran, and at the temple of Mecca the Moor and the Indian met as brother pilgrims. Throughout the countries west of the Tigris, the language of Arabia became the vehicle of popular intercourse; and, although in Persia, Tartary, and Hindostan the native dialects continued in common use, the Arabic was also there the sacred tongue.

We will advert to some of the causes which led to this astonishing success. The leading article of the Mohammedan faith, the unity of God, harmonized with what Jews and Christians universally believed. Mohammed propounded this doctrine, by excluding the Deity of Jesus Christ, so as {231} to fall in with the views of the greater number of the Christian sectaries. He moreover enjoined practices which, in the then corrupt state of religion, were beginning widely to prevail. To the untutored mind of the desert wanderer, his doctrine would thus possess all the attractiveness he might have heard ascribed to Christianity, while his being of the same country would secure for him the greater attention. Systems in which truth and error have been combined are by no means unwillingly received, especially by those who are already superstitious and fanatical, and such was pre-eminently the character of the Arabians. Mohammed's religious, moral, and juridical system was in general accordance with Asiatic opinions; it provided a paradise exactly suited to the imagination and taste of the Orientals; and, as the superstitious are always more powerfully influenced by that which awakens apprehension and appeals to fear than by what enkindles hope, his hell contributed even more than his heaven to multiply disciples.

Still, had no resort been had to arms, the Mohammedan faith would in all probability have been confined to the deserts of Arabia. The whole of Asia was at that time in a state of unprecedented military inactivity, and opportunity was thus afforded for the success of his enterprise. Empires {232} were tottering and powerless; political wisdom had almost disappeared; and to military talents and courage the Arabs alone could make any pretensions. Previous contentions between the Persian and Byzantine empires had entirely destroyed what little remains of internal vigour those governments might otherwise have possessed. Civil revolts, tyranny, extortion, sensuality, and sloth, had annihilated the ambition of universal rule which the Greek and Roman governments had once cherished; and their provinces, neglected or oppressed, became an easy prey to the Moslem power.

The nations were the more rapidly subdued, since to the indomitable ferocity of the desert wanderer the Saracens added those other features which complete a warlike character. They despised death, and were self-denying and energetic to a degree far beyond the soldiers of civilized countries, while they were scarcely less familiar with the military art. The lieutenants of the caliphs soon vied with the Roman generals in skill; and it is by no means difficult to explain their almost uniform superiority, when we bear in mind the character of the armies they respectively commanded. Terror, moreover, is epidemic; and a force already successful commonly finds its victorious progress greatly aided by the prevailing notion of its prowess. Thus we have witnessed, {233} in the wars of more disciplined troops, the tremendous effect of a name alone.

It may be added, also, that the Saracen success is greatly attributable to that ardent and impetuous spirit of religious enthusiasm with which they fought. They deemed their cause the cause of God; heaven, they were persuaded, was engaged in their behalf; every one who fell in their wars was a martyr; and cowardice was tantamount to apostacy.

The religious ardour of the Crusaders, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to exterminate Mohammedanism, did not exceed, if it even equalled, that of the Arab soldiers by whom that system had been originally propagated. Whatever secular principles and ambition influenced them, they took credit for fighting in the support of truth and virtue. The sword and the Koran were equally the companions and the instruments of their wars. "The circumstance," says Paley, in his admirable exhibition of the Evidences of Christianity,[1] "that Mohammed's conquests should carry his religion along with them, will excite little surprise when we know the conditions which he proposed to the vanquished: death or conversion was the only choice offered to idolaters. To the Jews and Christians was left the somewhat milder {234} alternative of subjection and tribute if they persisted in their own religion, or of an equal participation of the rights and liberties, the honours and privileges of the faithful if they embraced the religion of their conquerors."

Literature, in the days of Mohammed, was as little regarded as was pure and practical Christianity. His followers everywhere met with an ignorant and easily deluded people. Both the monuments of science and the means of freedom had been abolished by the barbarians of the North. Philosophy and the liberal arts found no patrons among indolent and luxurious emperors and nobles. Superstition, therefore, naturally took possession of the minds of men, and, as neither fears nor hopes were moderated by knowledge, idle, preposterous, and unnecessary ceremonies easily obtained currency. Mohammed merely changed one set of ceremonies for another; and in this there was little difficulty, since, in the almost universal darkness of mankind, terror and credulity everywhere prevailed.

The continuance of the religion of Mohammed in countries after the Arab dominion over them had ceased, may be also easily accounted for. "Everything in Asia is a matter of regulation; and freedom of opinion being but little permitted or encouraged in the despotic governments of the {235} East, Mohammedanism, when once received, became stationary. The human code is mingled with the divine, and the ideas of change and profanation are inseparable. As the unsettling of the political and social fabric might ensue from a change of modes of faith, all classes of men are interested in preserving the national religion." [2] Besides this, in their own nature religious doctrines are more permanent in their hold than forms of civil government: it may be questioned, for in stance, whether, whatever civil changes Scotland might undergo, Presbyterianism would ever cease to be the prevalent faith of its inhabitants. A people may, with the overthrow of usurped civil power, return to their ancient religion, whatever it is: but when once a religion has become, so to speak, indigenous, it is likely to be permanent. Such is the religion of the Koran both in Asia and Africa.

The elements of political weakness and decay soon began to be developed in the chief seat of the Saracen empire. In the earliest days of the caliphate, after the accession of the Ommiade dynasty, the princes of Damascus were regarded as the heads of the Moslem faith; while the governors of Arabia successively obtained, as to civil rule, their independence. To this the widely-extended wars in which the caliphs were engaged no doubt {236} contributed. Other provinces followed the example; and, as the empire enlarged, the remoteness and degeneracy of the Syrian court encouraged the governors to assume to themselves everything except the name of king, and to render their dignities hereditary. All the provinces were nominally connected with the empire by the payment of tribute; but means were easily devised to withhold this, under pretence of prosecuting the wars of the caliph, though really to strengthen his rebellious deputies against him. If in this we discover a want of efficiency in the government, we need not be surprised: the systems of the Macedonian hero and of the Roman conquerors were equally defective; and perhaps we should attribute such deficiency to a wise and beneficent arrangement of Providence, which, that oppression may never become permanent and universal, permits not any empire for a very long time to hold dominion over countries dissimilar in their habits and character and independent of each other.

To the establishment of these separate states, the luxury and effeminacy of the court at Damascus in no small degree contributed. In the early periods of the caliphate, simplicity and charity chiefly distinguished their rulers; but, as the wealth and power of the Saracens increased, they imitated the splendour and magnificence of the monarchs of Persia {237} and Greece. Abulfeda says of the court in the year 917: "The Caliph Moctadi's whole army, both horse and foot, were under arms, which together made a body of one hundred and sixty thousand men. His state officers stood near him in the most splendid apparel, their belts shining with gold and gems. Near them were seven thousand black and white eunuchs. The porters or doorkeepers were in number seven hundred. Barges and boats, with the most superb decorations, were swimming on the Tigris. Nor was the palace itself less splendid, in which were hung thirty-eight thousand pieces of tapestry, twelve thousand five hundred of which were of silk embroidered with gold. The carpets on the floor were twenty-two thousand. A hundred lions were brought out, with a keeper to each lion. Among the other spectacles of rare and stupendous luxury was a tree of gold and silver, which opened itself into eighteen larger branches, upon which and the other smaller branches sat birds of every sort, made also of gold and silver. The tree glittered with leaves of the same metals; and while its branches, through machinery, appeared to move of themselves, the several birds upon them warbled their natural notes."

When, moreover, decline had once commenced, its progress was accelerated by the means taken {238} to arrest it. After the regular troops had been corrupted by faction, the caliphs, for the defence of their person and government, formed a militia; but the soldiers composing this force, not unfrequently foreigners, soon governed with a military despotism similar to that of the janizaries of Turkey, the Mamelukes of Egypt, or the praetorian guards of Rome; and, in addition to these causes of decay, a furious spirit of sectarianism tore asunder the very strength and heart of the empire. The colossal power of the successors of Mohammed, suddenly towering to its awful height, almost as suddenly fell, as if to yield more perfect confirmation of the truth, that all earthly things are destined to pass away, while the word of the living God abideth for ever.

Spain, as has been seen, was the first distant province of the Arabian empire which succeeded in separating itself and setting up an independent caliph. As this country had been brought under the Moslem yoke by means chiefly furnished from the northern states of Africa, its independence was likely to produce a corresponding effect upon those states. They were governed in the name of the Bagdad caliphs; but for nearly a century they had been growing into independence, under rulers usually known, from the name of their progenitor, as the Aglabite dynasty. Early in the ninth century, {239} the throne of Mauritania, Massilia, and Carthage was seized by Obeidollah, whose successors assumed the title of Mihidi, or directors of the faithful. The districts of Fez and Tangiers, which had been already wrested from the princes of Bagdad by the real or pretended posterity of Ali, were soon brought under his dominion; and, before the end of the tenth century, all acknowledgment of the Abbassidan rule was obliterated by the suppression of public prayers for the princes of that race. A succession of changes distracted the country for some five centuries afterward; but, about the year 1516, the descendants of Mohammed were raised to the throne of Morocco, which has been transmitted, without interruption, in the same line, to its present possessors. Moez, the last of the African princes of the house of Obeidollah, who seems to have depended for his dominion more on his prowess than on his supposed descent from Mohammed,[3] transferred his court to Grand Cairo, a city which he had built in Egypt after his conquest of that country. Africa was to be held as a fief of this new empire. Large tracts of Syria and the whole of Palestine acknowledged the {240} supremacy of his descendants, commonly known as Fatimites, from their supposed relationship to Ali, and to Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. They possessed also the sovereignty of the Holy Land; against them, therefore, the crusades of Europe were chiefly directed. During these formidable wars the caliphs of Egypt sought assistance from those of Bagdad; and Noureddin, a prince of that empire, protected them against their Western assailants. The weakness of Egypt, however, came thus to be known to the crafty and powerful caliphs of Bagdad, and in a short time its Asiatic dominions were seized upon by Noureddin and Saladin. As Adhed, the last caliph of Egypt, was dying in the mosque of Cairo, these generals proclaimed Morthadi, the thirty-third caliph of Bagdad, as his successor. Saladin, whose name, from his activity, courage, and success against the crusaders, is better known to the readers of European history than that of almost any other Mohammedan prince, soon made himself master of Egypt; but his successors could not maintain the power he had acquired. The country is now governed by the celebrated Mohammed Ali, nominally as viceroy of the Turkish emperor, though he is in reality a sovereign and independent prince.

The caliphs of the house of Abbas, having built the city of Bagdad soon after their accession to the {241} throne, transferred thither their court and the seat of power. For five centuries they reigned there with various degrees of authority; but foreign wars and domestic revolts gradually dissolved the empire, and their dominion at length passed away. Badhi, the twentieth caliph of the race, was "the last," says Abulfeda, "who harangued the people from the pulpit; who passed the cheerful hour of leisure with men of learning and taste; whose expenses, resources, and treasures, whose table and magnificence, had any resemblance to those of the ancient caliphs." "During the next three centuries," says a modern historian of the Arabian empire, "the successors of Mohammed swayed a feeble sceptre. Sometimes their state was so degraded that they were confined in their palaces like prisoners, and occasionally were almost reduced to the want of corporeal subsistence. The tragic scenes of fallen royalty at length were closed; for, towards the middle of the seventh century of the Hegira, the metropolis of Islamism fell into the hands of Houlagou Khan, the grandson of Zenghis Khan, and emperor of the Moguls and Tartars, who reigned at that period with absolute and unmixed despotism over every nation of the East. The caliph Mostasem, the thirty-seventh of his house, was murdered under circumstances of peculiar barbarity, and the caliphate of Bagdad {242} expired. Though the dignity and sovereignty of the caliphs were lost by this fatal event, and the soul which animated the form had fled, yet the name existed for three centuries longer in the eighteen descendants of Mostanser Billah, a son, or pretended son, of Daker, the last but one of this race of princes.

"Mostanser Billah and his successors, to the number of eighteen, were called the second dynasty of the Abbassides, and were spiritual chiefs of the Mohammedan religion, but without the slightest vestige of temporal authority. When Selim, emperor of the Turks, conquered Egypt and destroyed the power of the Mamelukes, he carried the caliph, whom he found there a prisoner, to Constantinople, and accepted from him a renunciation of his ecclesiastical supremacy. On the death of the caliph, the family of the Abbassides, once so illustrious, and which had borne the title of caliph for almost eight hundred years, sunk with him from obscurity into oblivion." [4]

[1] Vol. ii., Section 3.

[2] Mills, p. 179.

[3] When it was demanded of Moez from what branch of Mohammed's family he drew his title, "This," said he, showing his cimeter, "is my pedigree; and these," throwing gold among his soldiers, "are my children."

[4] Mill's History, 160.

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CHAPTER II.

Literature and Science of the Arabs.—Their Facilities for Literary and
Scientific Pursuits.—Patronage of Literature by the Princes of the
House of Abbas.—Almamoun.—Arabian Schools.—Eloquence.—Poetry.—The
Arabian Tales.—History.—Geography.—Speculative
Sciences.—Astrology.—Mathematical Knowledge of the
Arabs.—Astronomy.—Architecture.—The Fine
Arts.—Agriculture.—Medicine.—Chymistry.—Our obligations to Arab
Literature.

The early followers of the Arabian prophet were only enthusiastic military adventurers, subduing in their wide and rapid progress most of the nations of the then known world. The lust of power, and successful military enterprise, are commonly unfavourable to the cultivation of the liberal arts, so that a conquering people usually exhibit but little taste for science or literature. The Goths and the Huns, for instance, were among the most implacable foes of knowledge. Nor did the early Arabs regard it with more favour. Mohammed found his countrymen sunk in the deepest barbarism: he was incapable of any direct effort to raise them; and, from the ruthless destruction of the Alexandrean library by Omar, one of his earliest successors, they appear not to have been in a much {244} better condition after the close than at the commencement of his eventful career.

Their settlement in the countries they had subdued, the unlimited resources which their wide-spread conquests placed within their reach, and probably the leisure which their almost universal dominion afforded, speedily led to a change in their character in relation to literary pursuits, of which the more enlightened nations of the West are still reaping the advantage. It was about the middle of the seventh century that Omar committed the famous library of Alexandrea to the flames: before the end of the eighth, literature began to enjoy the munificent patronage of the caliphs of the Abbassidan race, who superinduced upon the stern fanaticism of the followers of the Prophet the softening influences of learning; and, by an anomaly in the history of mankind, the most valuable lessons in science and the arts have been received from a people who pursued with relentless hostility the religion and liberties of every other nation.

The Greeks were the most distinguished patrons of literature and science. Among them philosophy found its earliest home, and the arts are commonly supposed to have sprung up chiefly under their fostering care, though modern researches have shown that much of their knowledge was derived from still more ancient sources. Their {245} philosophy, though greatly improved by them, was borrowed from the mysteries of the Egyptian priests and the Persian magi. Their system of the universe, which made the nearest approach to the more correct discoveries of modern times, was previously known to the learned Hindus; and it may admit of question whether their whole mythology, allowing for the additions which a chastened and vivid imagination would make to it, had not its prototype in some Asiatic religio-philosophical system. A learned writer on the erudition of the Asiatics says, that the whole of the theology of the Greeks, and part of the philosophy of modern scientific research, may be found in the Hindu Vedas. He adds, "That most subtile spirit which Newton suspected to pervade natural bodies, and to lie concealed in them so as to cause attraction and repulsion, the emission, reflection, and refraction of light, electricity, calefaction, sensation, and muscular motion, is described by the Hindus as a fifth element, endued with those very powers; and the Vedas abound with allusions to a force universally attractive, which they chiefly attribute to the sun." The extension, therefore, of the Arabian victories over the Eastern world, and their entire command, after the overthrow of the Greek empire, of the resources possessed by that people, {246} gave them access to all the literary stores then in existence.

It has been said, and probably not without good reason, that Mohammed himself saw and felt the importance of literary distinction. Among the sayings attributed to him, the following has been considered as evincing his sense of the value of learning: "A mind without erudition is like a body without a soul. Glory consists not in wealth, but in knowledge;" and, as the Koran affords abundant proof, he was by no means unmindful of that mental cultivation, of which the means were within his reach. His immediate followers, occupied only with the ideas of conquest and conversion, despised equally the religion and learning of the nations they subdued; but when the age of rapine and violence yielded at length to comparative security and quiet, and the fair and splendid city of the Oriental caliphs arose, the Muses were courted from their ancient temples, and by the milder and more graceful achievements of literature and science, efforts were made to expiate the guilt of former conquest, and to shed a purer lustre over the Mohammedan name.

Almansor, the second of the dynasty of the Abbassides, whose reign commenced A.D. 754, and lasted twenty-one years, was among the first of the Arab princes to foster learning and the arts. {247} Jurisprudence and astronomy were the principal subjects of his study, which, however, through the instruction of a Greek physician in his court, he extended to the art of healing, and probably to those kindred arts with which, in all ages and countries, medical science has been connected. What progress was made by himself or his subjects, we cannot now ascertain. His two immediate successors seem not to have trodden in his steps, though it is probable they did not undo what he had done; for the next caliph, Haroun al Raschid, is renowned as one of the most munificent patrons that literature ever enjoyed. He was fond of poetry and music: he is said to have constantly surrounded himself with a great number of learned men; and to him the Arabs were deeply indebted for the progress in knowledge which they were enabled to make. Every mosque in his dominions had a school attached to it by his order; and, as if his love of learning were superior even to his hereditary faith, he readily tolerated men of science who refused to yield to the bold pretensions of the Prophet. A Nestorian Christian presided over his schools, and directed the academical studies of his subjects. His successor imitated his wise and generous course; and thus knowledge extended from the capital to the most distant extremities of the empire.

{248}

But it was during the reign of Almamoun, the seventh of the Abbassidan princes, A.D. 813-833, that literature flourished most among the Arabs. Learned men, professors of the Christian faith, had multiplied at Bagdad under the tolerant reigns of his predecessors, and they were now liberally encouraged to unfold their ample stores of knowledge. The copious language of Arabia was employed to communicate whatever that of the Greeks had hitherto concealed, though, with a barbarism for which it is difficult to account, many of the original works were destroyed as soon as translations of them were made. Almamoun in his youth had associated with the most eminent scholars of Greece, Persia, and Chaldea; and he now invited them to his court. Bagdad was resorted to by poets, philosophers, and mathematicians, from every country and of every creed. Armenia, Syria, and Egypt were explored by his agents for literary treasures, which were amassed with infinite care, and presented at the foot of the throne as the richest and most acceptable tribute that conquered provinces could render. Camels, hitherto employed exclusively in traffic, were seen entering the royal city laden with Hebrew, Persian, and Grecian manuscripts. The court assumed the appearance rather of an academy than of a council guiding the affairs of a luxurious and warlike {249} government, and all classes were encouraged to apply themselves to the acquisition of knowledge with a zeal commensurate to the advantages thus afforded. "I chose," said Almamoun, when remonstrated with for appointing a learned Christian to an office of no small influence over the intellectual pursuits of his people, "I chose this learned man, not to be my guide in religious affairs, but to be my teacher of science; and it is well known that the wisest men are to be found among the Jews and Christians." [1]

Under such favourable auspices, it is not to be wondered at that the Saracens became a literary people. The caliphs of the West and of Africa imitated their brethren of the East. "At one period, six thousand professors and pupils cultivated liberal studies in the college of Bagdad. Twenty schools made Grand Cairo a chief seat of letters; and the talents of the students were exercised in the perusal of the royal library, which consisted of one hundred thousand manuscripts. The African writers dwell with pride and satisfaction on the literary institutions which adorned the towns on the northern coast of their sandy plain. The sun of science arose even in Africa, and the manners of the Moorish savage were softened by philosophy. {250} Their brethren in Europe amassed numerous and magnificent collections; two hundred and eighty thousand volumes were in Cordova, and more than seventy libraries were open to public curiosity in the kingdom of Andalusia."

We know but little of the internal government of the Arabian schools, or of the studies actually pursued. Aristotle, no doubt, was the great master to whom, in philosophy, all deference was paid. The Prophet had prescribed their religion. Their schools were of two kinds, or rather classes; the one comprehending the inferior institutions, in which elementary branches of instruction, such as reading, writing, and religious doctrine were chiefly attended to; the other, called Madras, mostly connected with the mosques, as were all the schools of the former class, included those institutions in which the higher departments of knowledge were explored. Here grammar, logic, theology, and jurisprudence were studied. The management of each school was confided to a principal of known ability, and not always, a Mohammedan. The professors lectured on the several sciences; and the pupils, if not in every department, of which there is some doubt, certainly in that of medicine, were publicly examined, and diplomas were given under the hand of the chief physician.

Of elegant composition, the Koran was {251} universally esteemed the model. Hence it was studied with the most diligent care by all who sought to distinguish themselves in the art of eloquence, one of the leading acquirements of Arab scholars. Subordinate to this pre-eminent composition, their schools of oratory boasted of models scarcely inferior to the celebrated orators of antiquity. Malek and Sharaif, the one for pathos, the other for brilliancy, are the chief of these. Horaiai was esteemed as the compeer of Demosthenes and Cicero. Bedreddin, of Grenada, was their "torch of eloquence;" and Sekaki obtained the honourable designation of the Arabian Quinctilian.

The ancient Arabs were much inclined to poetry. The wild, romantic scenery of the land they inhabited, the sacred recollections of their earliest history, the life they led, everything around them, contributed to poetic inspiration. After the revival of letters, this art was cultivated with enthusiasm. The heroic measures of Ferdousi, the didactic verses of Sadi, and the lyric strains of Hafiz, even through the medium of imperfect translations, discover animated descriptions, bold metaphors, and striking expressions, that at once delight and surprise us. In splendour, if not in strength, the poets of the courts of Haroun and Almamoun, or those of the Ommiades of Spain, have, perhaps, in no age been excelled. In this art, as among other {252} people, so among the Arabs, the fair sex have distinguished themselves. Valadata, Aysha, Labana, Safia, and others, have obtained the highest encomiums.

So great is the number of Arabian poets, that Abul Abbas, a son of Motassem, who wrote an abridgment of their lives in the ninth century, numbers one hundred and thirty. Other authors have occupied twenty-four, thirty, and one no less than fifty volumes, in recording their history.

The Arabs, however, are entirely without epic poetry, so important a department of the art; nor have they anything that may be properly ranked as dramatic composition. Sophocles, Euripides, Terence, and Seneca, the classic models of Greece and Rome, they despised as timid, constrained, and cold; and under whatever obligation to these ancient nations the Arabs may have been in other departments of literature, they owe them nothing, or next to nothing, in this. Their poetry was original and local; their figures and comparisons were strictly their own. To understand and properly appreciate them, we must have a knowledge of the productions of their country, and of the character, institutions, and manners of its inhabitants. The muse delights in illustrations and figures borrowed from pastoral life; that of Judea revels among the roses of Sharon, the verdant slopes of {253} Carmel, and the glory of Lebanon; while the Arab muse selects for her ornaments the pearls of Omar, the musk of Hadramaut, the groves and nightingales of Aden, and the spicy odours of Yemen. If these appear to us fantastic, it must be remembered they are borrowed from objects and scenes to which we are almost utter strangers.

Who is not familiar with the Alif lita wa lilin, or the thousand and one tales, commonly known as the Arabian Nights' Entertainment? Some have questioned whether they are an original work, or a translation from the Indian or Persian, made in the Augustan age of Arab literature: a doubt certainly not warranted by any want of exactness in their description of Arabian life and manners. They seem to have been originally the legends of itinerant story-tellers, a class of persons still very numerous in every part of the Mohammedan world. The scenes they unfold, true to nature; the simplicity displayed in their characters, their beauty and their moral instruction, appeal irresistibly to the hearts of all; while the learned concede to them the merit of more perfectly describing the manners of the singular people from whom they sprung, than the works of any traveller, however accomplished and indefatigable.

Of history the ancient Arabs were strangely negligent; but, by the more modern, this {254} department of knowledge has been cultivated with greater care and success. Annals, chronicles, and memoirs, almost numberless, are extant among them: kingdoms, provinces, and towns are described, and their history is narrated in volumes, a bare catalogue of which would extend to a wearisome length. They abound, however, more in the fanciful than in the substantial and correct. Of this, the titles of some of the most approved works of this kind may be taken as specimens: A Chronology of the Caliphs of Spain and Africa is denominated "A Silken Vest, embroidered with the Needle;" a History of Grenada, "A Specimen of the Full Moon;" Ibu Abbas and Abu Bakri are authors of historical collections, entitled respectively, "Mines of Silver," and "Pearls and picked-up Flowers." Yet some of their writers, as Ibn Katibi, are chiefly remarkable for the extent and accuracy of their historical knowledge; and some of their works are exceedingly voluminous. A full history of Spain occupied six authors in succession, and cost the labour of one hundred and fifteen years to complete. Their biography was not confined to men. Ibn Zaid and Abul Mondar wrote a genealogical history of distinguished horses; and Alasucco and Abdolmalec performed the same service for camels worthy of being had in remembrance. Encyclopaedias and gazetteers, {255} with dictionaries of the sciences and other similar works, occupied Arabian pens long before they came into vogue among more modern literati. Every species of composition, indeed, and almost every subject, in one age or another, have engaged the attention of learned Mohammedans.

Geography they did not so well understand, their means of acquiring knowledge on this subject being exceedingly limited. Yet their public libraries could boast of globes, voyages, and itineraries, the productions of men who travelled to acquire geographical information. With statistics and political economy they had but an imperfect acquaintance; yet so early as the reign of Omar II. we find a work devoted to these subjects, giving an account of the provinces and cities of Spain, with its rivers, ports, and harbours; of the climate, soil, mountains, plants, and minerals of that country; with its imports, and the manner in which its several productions, natural and artificial, might be manufactured and applied to the best advantage. Money, weights, and measures, with whatever else political economy may be understood to include, were also subjects which employed their ingenious speculations, and, in some cases, their laborious research.

The speculative sciences, scarcely less than polite literature, flourished among the Arabs. {256} Indeed, what superstitious, enthusiastic people has ever neglected these? Their ardour in the more dignified of these pursuits was badly regulated; subtleties were preferred to important practical truths; and, frequently, the more ingenious the sophism, constructed after the rules of Aristotle, the more welcome was it to men who rendered to that philosopher a homage almost idolatrous. The later Arabs, and the Turks of the present day, pay no little attention to astrology, though it is strongly prohibited by their Prophet. This science was universally employed by the idolaters, against whom his denunciations are scarcely less inveterate than are those of the inspired volume; and doubtless he apprehended that its prevalence would hazard the integrity, if not the very existence, of his own system of religion. For many ages, therefore, it was discountenanced; but, at length, the habit of consulting the stars on important public occasions became frequent, and was attended with as much anxiety and as many absurd ceremonies as disgraced the nations of antiquity. Among the modern Mohammedans, no dignity of state is conferred; no public edifice is founded, except at a time recommended by astrologers. These pretenders to knowledge are supported by persons of rank; and in vain do the more enlightened part of the community exclaim that astrology is a false {257} science. "Do not think," said a prime minister, who had been consulting a soothsayer as to the time of putting on a new dress, "that I am such a fool as to put faith in all this nonsense; but I must not make my family unhappy by refusing to comply with forms which some of them deem of consequence."

After these references to the polite literature of the Arabs, it will be expected that they should have paid attention to the natural sciences. They were not, indeed, discoverers and inventors, but they considerably improved upon what they acquired in their extensive intercourse with other nations; and, as forming the link which unites ancient and modern letters, they are entitled to our respect and gratitude. We derive our mathematics from them; and to them, also, we owe much of our astronomical knowledge. Almamoun, by a liberal reward, sought to engage in his service a famous mathematician of Constantinople; and Ibn Korrah enriched the stores of his country in this department with translations of Archimedes and the conics of Apollonius. Some have said that, on the revival of European literature in the fifteenth century, mathematical science was found nearly in the state in which it had been left by Euclid; and the justly celebrated Brucker contends, that the Arabs made no progress whatever in this {258} most important branch of knowledge; later writers, however, and particularly Montucia, the author of the Histoire des Mathematiques, have done ample justice to their researches. Numerical characters, without which our study of the exact sciences were almost in vain, beyond all doubt came to us from the Arabs: not that they invented them—it is probable they were originally words, perhaps Hindu words, expressing the quantities they respectively represent, but abbreviated and brought to their present convenient form by the followers of the Prophet. Trigonometry and algebra are both indebted to their genius. The sines of the one of these sciences instead of the more ancient chord, and the representatives of quantities in the other, descend through the Arabs to us, if they did not at first invent them. Original works on spherical trigonometry are among the productions of Ibn Musa and Geber, the former of whom is accounted the inventor of the solution of equations of the second degree. The University of Leyden still retains a manuscript treatise on the algebra of cubic equations, by Omar ibn Ibrahim; and Casiri, who, preserved and classed 1851 manuscripts, even after a fire had destroyed the magnificent collection or the Escurial, informs us, that the principles and praises of algebraic science were sung in an elaborate poem by Alcassem, a native of Grenada. {259} These departments of knowledge were studied by the Arabs as early as the eighth and ninth centuries.

Astronomy, the science of a pastoral people, and eminently so in regions with an almost cloudless sky, like the East, was studied with great eagerness by Arabian philosophers. Almamoun, who has been before mentioned, was ardently devoted to it: at his cost the necessary instruments of observation were provided, and a complete digest of the science was made. The land where, many ages before, this science had been successfully studied by the Chaldeans, was in his power, and upon its ample plains a degree of the earth's circle was repeatedly measured, so as to determine the whole circumference of the globe to be twenty-four thousand miles. The obliquity of the ecliptic they settled at twenty-three degrees and a half: the annual movement of the equinoxes and the duration of the tropical year were brought to within a very little of the exact observations of modern times, the slight error they admitted resulting from the preference they gave to the system of Ptolemy. Albathani, or, as his name has been Latinized, Albatenius, in the ninth century, after continuing his observations for forty years, drew up tables, known as the Sabean tables, which, though not now in very high repute because of more accurate calculations, {260} were for a long time justly esteemed. Other Arabian astronomers have rendered considerable service to this science. Mohammedanism did not, like ancient paganism, adore the stars; but its disciples studied them with a diligence, without which, perhaps, Newton, Flamstead, and Halley had observed and calculated almost in vain.

Architecture was an art in which the Arabs greatly excelled; their wide extension gave them command of whatever was worthy of observation, and their vast revenues afforded the most abundant means of indulging a taste thus called into exercise. The history of Arabian architecture comprises a period of about eight centuries, including its rise, progress, and decay: their building materials were mostly obtained from the ruined structures and cities that fell into their hands; and if no one particular style was followed by them, it was because they successfully studied most of the styles then known. On their buildings but little external art was bestowed; all their pains were exhausted on the interior, where no expense wag spared that could promote luxurious ease and personal comfort. Their walls and ceilings were highly embellished, and the light was mostly admitted in such manner as, by excluding all external objects, to confine the admiration of the spectator to the beauties produced within. With the art {261} of preserving their structures from decay they must have had an adequate acquaintance. Their stucco composition may still be found as hard as stone, without a crack or flaw: the floors and ceilings of the Alhambra, the ancient palace of Grenada, have been comparatively uninjured by the neglect and dilapidation of nearly seven centuries; while their paint retains its colour so bright and rich as to be occasionally mistaken for mother-of-pearl. Sir Christopher Wren derives the Gothic architecture from the Mohammedans; and the crescent arch, a symbol of one of the deities anciently worshipped throughout the heathen world, was first adopted by the Arabs of Syria, and invariably used in all the edifices erected during the supremacy of the Ommiades. The succeeding dynasty declined following this model; but, during the reign of the house of Moawiyah, in Spain, it was imitated from the Atlantic to the Pyrenees.

The fine arts, painting, and sculpture, were not so much cultivated among the early Mohammedans: they were thought to involve a breach of the divine law. In this particular they agreed with the Jews. Subsequently, however, these scruples were, by degrees, overcome; that style of embellishment denominated Arabesque, which rejects figures of men and animals, being first adopted, and afterward sculpture, more nearly resembling {262} that of modern times. The Alhambra, or palace of that suburb, had its lions, its ornamented tiles, and its paintings. Abdalrahman III. placed a statue of his favourite mistress over the palace he erected for her abode. Music was ardently cultivated. At first, in the desert, its strains were rude and simple; subsequently, the professors of the art were as much cherished, honoured, and rewarded, as were the poets in the courts of the Arab sovereigns. Many were celebrated for their skill in this art, especially Isaac Almouseli. Al Farabi has been denominated the Arabian Orpheus: by his astonishing command of the lute, he could produce laughter, or tears, or sleep in his auditors at pleasure. He wrote a considerable work on music, which is preserved in the Escurial. Abul Faragi is also a famous writer among the Mohammedans on this subject. To them we are indebted for the invention of the lute, which they accounted more perfect than any other instrument; the use, also, of many of our modern instruments, as the organ, flute, harp, tabor, and mandoline, was common among them. Some say that the national instrument of the Scottish highlander is taken from them.

In many of the useful arts of modern days the Arabs were proficients; as agriculture, gardening, metallurgy, and the preparing of leather. The {263} names Morocco and Cordovan are still applied, in this latter art, to leather prepared after the Arabian method. They manufactured and dyed silk and cotton, made paper, were acquainted with the use of gunpowder, and have claims to the honour of inventing the mariner's compass. But perhaps there is no art in which their knowledge is so much a subject of curious inquiry as medicine. Their country was salubrious, their habits simple, and their indulgences few; so that large opportunities of practically studying the art, at least among the Arabs of earlier date, would not occur. Anatomy, except that of the brute creation, was shut up from their study by the prejudices of their creed; yet they excelled in medical skill. Hareth ibn Kaldar, an eminent practitioner settled at Mecca, was honoured with the conversation and applause of Mohammed. Honain was an eminent Arab physician in the middle of the sixth century; Messue, the celebrated preceptor of Almamoun, belonged to this profession; and a host of others adorn the early annals of the Saracens. Al Rhagi, or Ullages, as commonly called, and Abdallah ibn Sina, or Avicenna, are names to which, for centuries, deference was paid by professors of the healing art throughout Europe, though it would not be difficult to show that their doctrines and practice must have been beyond measure absurd. They {264} administered gold, and silver, and precious stones to purify the blood.

Of chymistry, so far as it relates to medicine, the Arabs may be considered as the inventors; and botany, in the same connexion, they cultivated with great success. Geber, in the eighth century, is known as their principal chymical writer; he is said to have composed five hundred volumes, almost every one of which is lost. The early nomenclature of the science indicates how much it owes to this people. Alcohol, alembic, alkali, aludel, and other similar terms, are evidently of Arabic origin; nor should it be forgotten that the characters used for drugs, essences, extracts, and medicines, the import of which is now almost entirely unknown (and which are consequently invested, in vulgar estimation, with occult powers), are all to be traced to the same source.

It may be impossible now to estimate accurately the extent of our obligations to Arabian literature. An empire so widely spread, by the encouragement it gave to letters, must have had a beneficial influence on almost every country. Europeans, whether subject to its sway or only contemplating it from a distance, copied or emulated the example. Gerbert, who subsequently occupied the papal chair as Silvester II., acquired the Arabic method of computation during his travels in Spain, {265} previously to his elevation. Leonardo, a Pisan merchant, obtained a knowledge of the same art in his intercourse with the Mohammedans on the coast of Africa; and by him it was introduced into his own native republic, from whence it was soon communicated to the Western World. In the city of Salernum, a port of Italy, Mussulmans and Christians so intermixed as to communicate insensibly the literature of the Saracens to the Italians, and in the schools of that city students were collected from every quarter of Europe. Arabic books, by command of Charlemagne, were translated into Latin for the use of learned men throughout his vast empire; and, without exaggerating the merits of the followers of the Prophet, it may be admitted that we are indebted to them for the revival of the exact and physical sciences, and for many of those useful arts and inventions that have totally changed the aspect of European literature, and are still contributing to the civilization, freedom, and best interests of man.

[1] Abulferage, p. 160.

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CHAPTER III.

The present Condition of Mohammedanism.—In Turkey.—The Doctrines
believed there.—Their Forms of
Devotion.—Lustrations.—Prayer.—Mohammedan Sabbath.—Fast of
Ramadan.—Meccan Pilgrimage.—Proselytism.—Mohammedan
Hierarchy.—Islamism in Tartary.—In Hindustan.—In China.—In
Persia.—In Africa.—In the Indian Archipelago.—The Sooffees.—The
Wahabees.

The present condition of the Mohammedan faith, with some account of the standing it maintains in the world, will not be deemed an inappropriate subject for the closing pages of this volume. Its votaries have long ceased to spread alarm through the nations by their victorious and devastating progress; the fire of its fanaticism is almost extinct; nevertheless, its doctrines prevail over a larger number of mankind than any other system of false religion: they are professed in nations and countries remote from each other, and having no other mutual resemblance than that involved in their common superstition. In Spain, indeed, Christianity has triumphed over Islamism; and in the inhospitable regions of Siberia, a part of the ancient Tartary, its advance has been somewhat checked; but in middle and lower Asia, and in Africa, the {267} number of Mohammed's followers has increased. We cannot state with accuracy the number either of Mohammedan or of nominal Christians; but, looking at religion geographically, while Christianity has almost entire dominion in Europe, in Asia Islamism is the dominant faith: in America the cross is rapidly becoming the symbol of faith throughout both its vast continents; but in Africa the crescent waves to the almost entire exclusion of every other emblem.

It is in Turkey that Mohammedanism exists at the present day in its most perfect form. To this country, therefore, our attention shall be first directed.

Constantinople, anciently called Byzantium, and the countries over which the Greek emperors residing in that city reigned, were subdued by the powerful caliphs of Bagdad, while those of Spain and the West were endeavouring to push their conquests over the fairest portions of Europe. The situation of Constantinople and the surrounding empire lay especially open to the Eastern Mohammedans, whose warlike incursions were incessant. Tartars from Asia overran the empire. Othman, in the early part of the thirteenth century, laid the foundation of Turkish greatness. Orchan, Amurathi and Bajazet, his successors, amid both foreign and domestic wars, greatly contributed to its {268} establishment and increase. The children of the last of these conquerors threw the empire into a frightful state of distraction by their unnatural quarrels, till, at last, the youngest of them, named after the Prophet, restored its integrity, and established something like domestic tranquillity. Under a grandson of his, Mohammed II., whom Bayle describes as one of the greatest men recorded in history, the Morea was subjugated, and the Greek empire, so long shaken by internal dissensions, and tottering to dissolution by its luxury, was trampled in the dust by the Moslem conquerors. Constantinople at last yielded to their power, and a palace for the victor was erected on the very spot which Constantine had chosen for his magnificent abode.

From this time to that of Solyman the Magnificent, to whom the Turks owe their laws and police, the empire continued to prosper, but immediately afterward its decline commenced. Letters and science have made but little progress among that people, and their sultans have possessed none of the martial enterprise and energy of their early predecessors; still the faith of Mohammed has maintained, and down to this day continues to maintain, a hold which it enjoys in almost no other country.

The Turks generally repose the most implicit faith in the two leading articles of the Mohammedan {269} creed, that there is but one God, and that Mohammed is his Prophet; and since, in the opinion of the Moslems, a simple assent to these doctrines comprises all that is valuable in religion, and will be surely followed by the possession of heaven, either immediately or remotely, it is readily conceivable that infidelity will be exceedingly rare. In religious matters, the heart opposes not so much what is to be believed as what is to be done.

Minor points of their theology have been from time to time disputed, but these may be regarded as generally settled. Predestination is one of the chief dogmas on which the faith of the Turk is as firmly fixed as on the most momentous article in his creed. Fatalism was the great engine employed by Mohammed in establishing his religion; and among the Turks this doctrine is received as regulating their destiny, controlling all events, and determining the results of every individual's actions; thus unnerving the soul for generous and manly enterprise, and casting a lethargy on the whole nation. In everything the operations of reason are checked, and even made to wait for the imagined manifestations of Deity. According to the creed of the Turks, not only is everything foreknown to God, but everything is predetermined, and brought about by his direct and immediate agency.

{270}

The Turk is keen and wise in his ordinary transactions: in promoting his own interests, he knows how to exercise the powers of his mind, but, when difficulty or doubt overtakes him, he makes no effort. The thick cloud of his misfortunes is suffered to remain; his troubles are yielded to with sullen indifference; he considers it impious to oppose the determinations of the Most High. To all improvement, such a doctrine is a decided and invincible foe; in some circumstances, however, it appears to have its advantages. Does a Mohammedan suffer by calamity? Is he plundered or ruined? He does not fruitlessly bewail his lot. His answer to all murmuring suggestions is, "It was written;" and to the most unexpected transition from opulence to poverty, he submits without a sigh. The approach of death does not disturb his tranquillity; he makes his ablution, repeats his prayers, professes his belief in God and his Prophet, and in a last appeal to the aid of affection, he says to his child, "turn my head towards Mecca," and calmly expires.

A people's religion is traced in their established and common forms of devotion, and none are more attentive to these than the Turks. To neglect any ceremony which their religion prescribes, is deemed a mark either of inferior understanding or of depraved character. Public decorum is {271} everywhere observed; and though both moral and religious precepts are violated with impunity and without remorse, they are always spoken of with great respect. A Mohammedan is never ashamed to defend his faith; and of his sincerity and firmness, the earnestness of his vindication may be taken as sufficient proof: he not unfrequently interrupts the progress of conversation by repeating his religious formula. In the Turkish towns, travellers are incessantly met with the cry of Allah Ackbar; and by Mussulmans, who would be esteemed pious, the divine name is as frequently repeated as if reverent and devout thoughts were habitually uppermost in their minds.

Purifications are constantly, and with great strictness, performed by the Mussulmans of every country, but especially by those of Turkey. Their professed object is to render the body fit for the decorous performance of religious duties; no act being praiseworthy or acceptable, in their estimation, unless the person of the performer be in a condition of purity. Some have thought, but without sufficient grounds, that these external purifications are believed to supersede an inward cleansing of the heart. Fountains placed round their mosques, and numerous baths in every city, enable the devout to perform their five prayers daily, during which, if they chance to receive pollution {272} from anything accidentally coming in contact with them, their devotions are suspended till the offensive inconvenience is removed by water or other means.

At the appointed hour, the Maazeens or criers, with their faces towards Mecca, their eyes closed, and their hands upraised, pace the little galleries of the minarets or towers of the mosques, and proclaim in Arabic, the Moslem language of devotion, that the season of prayer has arrived. Instantly, every one, whatever may be his rank or employment, gives himself up to it. Ministers of state suspend the most important affairs, and prostrate themselves on the floor; the tradesman forgets his dealings, and transforms his shop into a place of devotion; and the student lays aside his books, to go through his accustomed supplications. "Never to fail in his prayers" is the highest commendation a Turk can receive; and so prejudicial is the suspicion of irreligion, that even libertines dare not disregard the notices of the Maazeen. The mosques, like chapels in Catholic countries, are always open, and two or three times every day prayers are offered within their walls. It has often been remarked, that the devotions of Christians might acquire something valuable from the gravity, the decorum, and the apparently intense occupation of mind in Turkish worship. The Jews trod {273} their holy place barefoot: the Turks, on the contrary, keep on their boots and shoes. Christians uncover their heads in prayer; the Moslems seldom lay aside their turbans; but for hours they will remain prostrate, or standing in one position, as if absorbed in the most intense abstraction. They have neither altars, pictures, nor statues in their places of worship. Verses of the Koran, the names and personal descriptions of their Prophet, of Ali and his two sons, Hassan and Hosein, with other Moslem saints, are sometimes inscribed in letters of gold on their walls. All distinctions of rank and profession are forgotten when they pray. Persons of every class, on the first sound of the accustomed cry, cast themselves on the ground, and thus declare their belief in the equality of mankind, in the sight of the great Father of all.

The Mohammedans of Turkey have a Sabbath, for which the Jewish or Christian may be supposed to have furnished the model. Friday is their day of rest, which commences on the preceding evening, when the illuminated minarets and colonnades of the mosques give to their cities the appearance of a festival. At noon, on Friday, all business is suspended, the mosques are filled, and prayers are read by the appointed officers, accompanied by the prostrations of the people. Discourses are likewise frequently delivered on {274} practical points in their theology; and sometimes, in the ardour of excitement, political corruption and courtly depravity are fiercely assailed. A voluptuous sultan has been known, under the effect of these discourses, to tear himself from the soft indulgences of his harem and court, to lead his martial subjects to war and victory on the plains of their enemies. As soon as the public religious services are concluded, all return to their ordinary pursuits; the day, however, is strictly observed by all classes in the manner prescribed by law, it being a received maxim that he who, without legitimate cause, absents himself from public devotion on three successive Fridays, abjures his religion. It is worthy of observation, that the prayers of the Turks consist chiefly of adoration, of confessions of the Divine attributes and the nothingness of man, and of homage and gratitude to the Supreme Being. A Turk must not pray for the frail and perishable blessings of this life; the health of the sultan, the prosperity of his country, and divisions and wars among the Christians alone excepted. The legitimate object of prayer they hold to be spiritual gifts, and happiness in a future state of being.

No one of their religious institutions is more strictly observed by the Turks than the fast of Ramadan. He who violates it is reckoned either {275} an infidel or an apostate; and if two witnesses establish his offence, he is deemed to have incurred the severest penalty of the law. Abstinence from food, and even from the use of perfumes, from sunrise to sunset, is enjoined. The rich pass the hours in meditation and prayer, the grandees sleep away their time, but the labouring man, pursuing his daily toil, most heavily feels its rigour. "When the month of Ramadan happens in the extremities of the seasons, the prescribed abstinence is almost intolerable, and is more severe than the practice of any moral duty, even to the most vicious and depraved of mankind." During the day all traffic is suspended; but in the evening, and till late at night, it is actively carried on in the streets, shops, and bazars, most splendidly illuminated. From sunset to sunrise, revelry and excess are indulged in. Every night there is a feast among the great officers of the court: the reserve of the Turkish character is laid aside, and friends and relations cement their union by mutual intercourse. Sumptuous banquets and convivial hilarity are universal; and, were not women everywhere excluded from the tables of the men, the pleasure of the festivals would amply compensate the rigorous self-denial of their fasts.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is with the Turks more a matter of form than of reality. Its {276} importance as a part of the Moslem ritual is admitted, and apparently felt, but the number of pilgrims annually decreases. The sultan, having dominion over the country through which the pilgrims must pass, preserves the public ways leading to the venerated city; the best soldiers of his empire are charged with the protection of the caravans, which are sometimes numerous; but of his own subjects, properly so called, few comparatively accompany them; they are made up of devotees from a greater distance. The sultan, no doubt, encourages the pilgrimage as much on commercial as on religious grounds. The Koran has determined it to be very proper to intermingle commerce and religion: "It shall be no crime in you," it says, "if ye seek an increase from your Lord by trading during the pilgrimage." Accordingly, articles of easy carriage and ready sale are brought by the pilgrims from every country. The productions and manufactures of India thus find their way into other parts of Asia and throughout Africa. The muslins and chintses of Bengal and the Deccan, the shawls of Cashmere, the pepper of Malabar, the diamonds of Golconda, the pearls of Kilkau, the cinnamon of Ceylon, and the spices of the Moluccas, are made to yield advantage to the Ottoman empire, and the luxury of its subjects is sustained by contributions from the most distant nations.

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Mohammedans of the present day, at least those of Turkey, are less anxious to make proselytes than were those of a former age. Those of India and Africa may, to some extent, still retain the sentiment, that to convert infidels is an ordinance of God, and must be observed by the faithful in all ages; but in Turkey little desire of this kind is felt, chiefly because, by a refinement of uncharitableness, the conversion of the world is deemed unworthy of their endeavours. Now and then a devout Moslem, instigated by zeal or personal attachment, may offer up this prayer for a Jew or a Christian: "Great God, enlighten this infidel, and graciously dispose his heart to embrace thy holy religion;" and perhaps to a youth, esteemed for his talents or knowledge, the language of persuasion may occasionally be addressed with an air of gentleness and urbanity; but the zeal of the missionary is in such cases commonly subject to what are conceived to be the rules of good breeding, and a vague reply or silence is regarded as an indication that the subject is disagreeable, and should not be continued. A Mussulman may pray for the conversion of infidels, but, till they are converted, no blessing may be supplicated in their behalf. "Their death is eternal, why pray for them?" is the language of the Mohammedan creed: do not {278} "defile your feet by passing over the graves of men who are enemies of God and of his Prophet."

Of the Mohammedan hierarchy, some idea may be obtained from the form it assumes in Turkey. The Koran is considered the treasure of all laws, divine and human, and the caliphs as the depositaries of this treasure; so that they are at once the pontiffs, legislators, and judges of the people, and their office combines all authority, whether sacerdotal, regal, or judicial. To the grand sultan titles are given, styling him the vicar, or the shadow of God. The several powers which pertain to him in this august capacity are delegated to a body of learned men, called the Oulema. In this body three descriptions of officers are included: the ministers of religion, called the Imams; the expounders of the law, called the Muftis; and the ministers of justice, called the Cadis. The ministers of religion are divided into chief and inferior, the former of whom only belong to the Oulema. Both classes are made up of Sheiks, or ordinary preachers; the Khatibs, readers or deacons; the Imams, a title comprising those who perform the service of the mosque on ordinary days, and those to whom pertain the ceremonies of circumcision, marriage, and burial; the Maazeens, or criers, who announce the hours of prayer; and the Cayuns, or common attendants of the mosque. The {279} idea of this classification was, perhaps, taken from the Mosaic priesthood; the Khatib being the Aaron, and the next four the several orders of the Levites, with their servants or helpers. The imperial temples have one Sheik, one Khatib, from two to four Imams, twelve Maazeens, and twenty Cayuns, among whom, except in a few of the chief mosques of Constantinople, the Khatibs have the pre-eminence. All these ministers are subject to the civil magistrate, who is looked upon as a sort of diocesan, and who may perform at any time all the sacerdotal functions. The ministers of religion are not distinguishable from other people; they mix in the same society, engage in similar pursuits, and affect no greater austerity than marks the behaviour of Mussulmans generally. Their influence depends entirely on their reputation for learning and talents, for gravity and correct moral conduct; their employment is, for the most part, very simple, as chanting aloud the public service, and performing such offices as every master of a family may discharge. As Mohammedanism acknowledges no sacrifices, it appoints no priests; the duties performed by the ministers of religion being seemingly devolved on them more as a matter of convenience than on account of any sacredness attaching to their order.

The vast country to which the general name of {280} Tartary has been given, is that from whence Mohammedanism has gone forth to the East, the West, and the South. In Thibet, the Grand Lama and various national idols hold divided empire with the Prophet; and in the inhospitable regions of Siberia, the churches of Greece and Russia have successfully promulgated the Christian doctrines; while the Circassians, with some other Tartar races, are almost without religion. In the Crimea, the people are Mussulmans, as rigid and devoted as the Turks; and over the vast tract called by modern geographers Independent Tartary, the crescent triumphantly waves. From these regions sprung, in the earlier ages of Mohammedan conquest, those vast empires which, in the East, comprise so large a number of the professors of the faith of Islam. The first sovereign of this country, to whom the title of sultan was awarded early in the tenth century, conducted several expeditions into Hindustan, and secured the homage of many of the cities. The ancient Indian superstition was in a great measure overturned by his victorious arms. Long and fierce contests ensued: the princes of the subdued provinces, often throwing off their forced allegiance, endeavoured to regain their independence and re-establish their ancient faith, till, at length, the great Timurlane, having overrun the country with his legions, received at Agra the title {281} of Emperor of Hindustan. Scarcely, however, had two centuries and a half rolled away, when his successors fell in their turn under the Persian power; and the empire he established was weakened, and ultimately destroyed. As the result of these conquests, Mohammedanism prevailed to a great extent, but rather nominally than really, among the millions of India: it was the religion of the court and government; but, either from indifference or timidity in the Moslem conquerors, the ancient idols still held extensive influence, and were at length gradually restored. In the twelfth century, Benares, the ancient seat of Brahminical learning and of Hindu idolatry, fell into the hands of the conqueror, who destroyed its numerous objects of popular adoration. Yet, soon afterward, the religious character of the place was restored, and the demolished idols were replaced by others, that were as eagerly resorted to as had been their predecessors. To this consecrated metropolis, a pilgrimage was regarded by the millions of India as imperatively commanded, and as necessary as was a visit to Mecca by the Mohammedans; and the weakness or the policy of its Moslem conquerors did not long withhold from them this valued privilege; the government of the city was committed to the Hindus, and their conquerors, in the plenitude of their bigotry, pride, and power, never {282} thought of suffering their own magistrates to exercise authority within its walls. Thus Mohammedanism is the religion, not of the ancient inhabitants of India, but of the descendants of the millions of Tartars, Persians, and Arabians who, at various periods, have left their native seats to participate in the riches of these far-famed plains. The north and northwestern parts are filled with them, and from thence they have wandered over the whole of that vast country. Perhaps their numbers may now amount to nearly twenty millions, among whom, however, though they are mostly of foreign extraction, are many converts from Hinduism. They form separate communities, amalgamating in some parts of the country, and living as sociably with Hindus as the differences in their respective faiths will permit. Hindu princes have at times paid their devotions at Mohammedan shrines, and observed their feasts; while Mohammedans have relaxed somewhat the strictness of their observances, and manifested an inclination to conform, as far as possible, to their Hindu neighbours. Some five centuries ago, the Borahs, a people who once occupied the kingdom of Guzerat, were converted en masse to Islamism. The Arab traders to the coasts of Malabar have always been exceedingly earnest in their endeavours to convert the natives, in which they have {283} been greatly aided by the facility with which they have been allowed to purchase the children of the poorer classes, to educate them in the principles of their faith, and also by the frequency with which the inhabitants of those districts lose caste. This badge of the Hindu faith is often forfeited by the people mixing with those of other countries, and when it is lost they easily become Moslems.

It has been maintained that the native inhabitants of India are absolutely unchangeable in their sacred, domestic, and political institutions, and, at first sight, there would appear to be much to warrant such an opinion; but the history of many of them, and especially of the Sikhs, who inhabit the provinces of the Panjab, between the rivers Jumna and Indus, may be alleged as proofs to the contrary. Still, in the religion of the Sikhs, Mohammedan fable and Hindu absurdity are mixed; its founder wishing to unite both these prevalent systems in one. He had been educated in a part of the country where these two religions appeared to touch each other, if not commingle, and he was no stranger to the violent animosity existing between their respective professors; he sought, therefore, to blend the jarring elements of both in peaceful union. The Hindu was required to abandon his idols, and to worship the one Supreme Deity whom his religion acknowledged; while the Mohammedan {284} was to abstain from such practices (especially the killing of cows) as were offensive to the superstition of the Hindus. This plan so far prevailed, that, without acknowledging the Prophet, the Sikhs became more Mohammedans than Hindus; and though the institutions of Brahma are not admitted among them, they insult and persecute true Moslems more fiercely and cruelly than any other people. They compel them to eat that which is forbidden by their law; animals which they account unclean are frequently thrown into their places of public assembly, and they are prohibited from proclaiming the hour of prayer to the faithful.

China is one of those countries to which Mohammedanism was carried by the hordes of Tartary. From the scrupulous jealousy with which this vast empire is guarded from observation, it is difficult to say to what extent the Mohammedan faith, or, indeed, any other, prevails among its numberless inhabitants; but, beyond question, it is tolerated.

The irruption of the Saracens into China under Walid can scarcely be termed a conquest. Subsequently, the successors of Zenghis Khan seated themselves on the throne of Pekin, and opened the country to an intercourse with all nations. The commercial Arabs had visited the ports and cities in the south of China; and, now that access to the {285} capital was unrestrained, multitudes of them repaired thither. They acquired the language, and adopted the dress and manners of the people, to whom also they rendered valuable aid in adjusting their chronology, and making the necessary calculations for their calendar. Intercourse with the Chinese made the Mohammedans desirous of effecting their conversion, the means adopted for which were both wise and humane. Deserted children were taken under their protection, and educated in Islamism; while in other ways they sought to commend themselves to confidence, and their religion to respect, by alleviating the wretchedness induced by a cruel superstition. The Mohammedans of China seem to partake of the mild and quiet character of the inhabitants generally, and are therefore tolerated; though there have been some exceptions to this encomium. About sixty years ago they were instrumental in promoting an unsuccessful rebellion, and the Emperor Kien Long, after suppressing it, ordered one hundred thousand of them to be put to death.

Persia, from an early period, has been almost entirely a Mohammedan country. On its conquest by the Saracens, the religion of Zoroaster, which had till then prevailed, was nearly abolished. Those who persevered in retaining it were obliged to flee to the mountains or to the western parts {286} of India, where their old forms of worship still linger. In the disputes which ensued on the death of Mohammed concerning the caliphate, the Persians espoused the cause of Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, and to his memory they are still attached. "May this arrow go to the heart of Omar," is a frequent expression among them in drawing a bow; and not long since, when Mr. Malcolm, during his travels in Persia, was praising Omar, the antagonist of Ali, as the greatest of the caliphs, a Persian, overcome by the justice of his observations, yet still adhering to his rooted prejudices, replied, "This is all very true, but he was a dog after all."

Here Mohammedanism exists in a less rigorous form than in Turkey. Its ceremonies are observed by those who are little disposed to practice its moral code: they say their prayers at the appointed season, and make a show of devotion to prevent their being suspected of irreligion; but the people generally are little concerned about the pilgrimage to Mecca, and other matters on which, in the Koran, much stress is laid. They choose rather to resort to the tomb of Ali, and to that of his son Hosein, whose name is reverenced among them with a feeling approaching to adoration.

In Africa, Mohammedanism has very widely prevailed. Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, all the northern parts of this continent, acknowledge its sway. {287} From Arabia and Egypt it spread west and south nearly to the great rivers. It is the established religion of Morocco; and in Western Barbary and several kingdoms of the interior the Arabic language is spoken, the Koran believed, and the Prophet almost worshipped. The Senegal, up to the small Moorish state of Gedumah, is the line of division between the Mohammedans and the Negroes: from thence the line passes eastward of north, through Nigritia and Nubia to the Nile. As yet, however, it is but indistinctly marked, it being doubtful whether Timbuctoo is a Mohammedan or Negro town. The courts of Bornou and Cassina are Mohammedan, but a majority of their subjects are pagans. Islamism in these vast territories is in an exceedingly degenerate state when compared with either its first development in the Arabian desert, or with what now obtains in Turkey. It is said that but little more than its exclusive persecuting spirit remains: the Oriental lustrations are almost unknown, Mohammedan temperance is neglected, and the great doctrine of the unity of God is confounded with, or supplanted by, the polytheism of the native inhabitants. The Mussulman is more depraved than the pagan; so that, while travellers frequently mention the hospitality they received from the latter, by the former they were constantly insulted and annoyed on account of {288} their religion. In no quarter of the world does the faith of the Prophet wear so frightful an aspect as in Africa.

The region from which Mohammedanism first sprung has not remained in all respects faithful to the precepts of the Prophet. In Mecca and Medina, indeed, his name and system are held in the profoundest veneration; and no wonder, since both these cities are mainly supported by the superstitious observances enjoined in the Koran; but the Bedouins are as licentious in their religion as in their policy and habits. On the Turkish frontiers they keep up an appearance of respect for the name of the Prophet and his doctrines; but, in answer to all reproaches for their unfaithfulness, they say in words worthy a better taught and more civilized race, "The religion of Mohammed could never have been intended for us. We have no water in the desert. How, then, can we make the prescribed ablutions? We have no money. How, then, can we give alms? The fast of Ramadan is a useless command to persons who fast all the year round; and, if God be everywhere, why should we go to Mecca to adore him?"

From the southernmost part of Hindustan, Mohammedanism made its way to the Malayan peninsula; to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Manillas, and the Celebes: Goram, one of the Spice Islands, is {289} its eastern boundary. In the interior of these islands it prevails less than on the shores. To these remote regions Islamism has been carried more by the commercial than the military enterprise of its votaries. What is its present condition there, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, accurately to ascertain. In Java it was the established religion; but, when the Dutch settled that island early in the seventeenth century, many of the natives were converted. Little respect is paid by the Javans of the present day either to their ancient paganism, or to Mohammedanism which took its place; though some of the forms of the latter are still in force, and its institutions are said to be gaining ground.

The reader of Mohammedan history will meet with the terms Sooffee and Wahabee, as designating certain divisions of the disciples of the religion of the Prophet. It will not, therefore, be inappropriate to close with a brief account of these respective sects.

Sooffee is a term originating in Persia, meaning enthusiasts or mystics, or persons distinguished by extraordinary sanctity. The object of the Sooffee is to attain a divine beatitude, which he describes as consisting in absorption into the essence of Deity. The soul, according to his doctrine, is an emanation from God, partaking of his nature; just {290} as the rays of light are emanations from the sun, and of the same nature with the source, from whence they are derived. The creature and the Creator are of one substance. No one can become a Sooffee without strictly conforming to the established religion, and practising every social virtue; and when, by this means, he has gained a habit of devotion, he may exchange what they style practical for spiritual worship, and abandon the observance of all religious forms and ceremonies. He at length becomes inspired, arrives at truth, drops his corporeal veil, and mixes again with that glorious essence from which he has been partially and for a time separated. The life of the Sooffees of Persia, though generally austere, is not rendered miserable, like that of the visionary devotees of Hinduism, by the practice of dreadful severities, their most celebrated teachers have been famed for knowledge and devotion. The Persians are a poetic people, and the very genius of Sooffeeism is poetry. Its raptures are the raptures of inspiration; its hopes are those of a highly sensitive and excited imagination; its writers in the sweetest strains celebrate the Divine love, which pervades all nature: everything, from the very highest to the lowest, seeking and tending towards union with Deity as its object of supreme desire. They inculcate forbearance, abstemiousness, and {291} universal benevolence. They are unqualified predestinarians. The emanating principle, or the soul, proceeding from God, can do nothing, they say, without his will, nor refuse to do anything which he instigates. Some of them, consequently, deny the existence of evil; and the doctrine of rewards and punishments is superseded by their idea of re-absorption into the Divine essence. The free opinions of this class of enthusiasts subvert the doctrines of Islamism, yet they pay an outward respect to them; they unsettle the existing belief, without providing an intelligible substitute; they admit the divine mission of the Prophet, but explain away the dogmas he uttered; and while they affect to yield him honour as a person raised up by God, to induce moral order in the world, they boast their own direct and familiar intercourse with Deity, and claim, on that account, unqualified obedience in all that relates to spiritual interests.

The similarity of Sooffeeism to the ancient Pythagorean and Platonic doctrines will occur to every one at all acquainted with the religion and philosophy of antiquity. It as closely resembles some of the distinguishing tenets of the Brahminical faith. In fact, it seems as if designed, in conjunction with the refined theology of ancient, and the sublime visions of modern idolaters, to teach us that, without Divine guidance, the loftiest human {292} conceptions on subjects connected with God and religion invariably err; the ignorant and the instructed are equally wrong; "the world by wisdom knows not God."

The Wahabees are a modern sect of Mohammedan reformers, whose efforts have considerably changed the aspect of the religion of the Prophet. Perhaps to them may be owing much of that rigid adherence to Mohammedan doctrine and practice which prevails in those parts where their influence has been felt. They are the followers of Abdol Wahab, who commenced his career in the region where, during the lifetime of the Prophet, Moseilama had threatened a considerable division among his followers. Wahab was an ambitious fanatic, who aimed, nevertheless, at reforming the national religion. He was aided by powerful princes of the province of Nejed; and, within a short time, the tenets he maintained spread throughout the peninsula. His fundamental principle, like that of Mohammed, was the unity of God. The Koran he regarded as divine, rejecting all the glosses which ignorance and infatuation had put upon it, and holding in utter contempt all the traditions and tales concerning its author, which the devout of every generation had eagerly received. The reverence, approaching to adoration, which the Arabs were wont to pay to the name of Mohammed, all visits to his tomb, and all {293} regard to the tombs and relics of Arab saints, he denounced; and the costly ornaments with which a mistaken piety had enriched these sacred spots, he thought might be appropriated to ordinary purposes. Wahab would not suffer the common oath of, by Mohammed, or by Ali, to be used among his followers, on the very rational ground that an oath is an appeal to a witness of our secret thoughts, and who can know these but God? The title of Lord, generally given to the Prophet by his followers, Wahab rejected as impious. He was commonly mentioned by this zealous reformer and his adherents by his simple name, without the addition of "our Lord, the Prophet of God." All who deviated in any degree from the plain sense of the Koran, either in belief or practice, were infidels in their esteem; upon whom, therefore, according to its directions, war might be made. Thus was the martial spirit of the early Saracens again called into exercise; and with the ardour that characterized the days of the immediate successors of the Prophet, they were prepared at once to assail the consciences and the property of men not exactly of their own faith.

At the call of their leader, they assembled first in the plain of Draaiya, some 400 miles east of Medina, armed and provided at their own expense for war. Bagdad and Mecca in vain attempted to {294} suppress them; the seraglio itself was filled with their formidable war-cry; the sultan trembled on his throne; and the caravans from Syria suspended their usual journeys. The imperial city suffered from their ravages in its usual supplies of coffee; and the terror of their name was widely spreading among devout Mohammedans of every country, for they had violated the shrines of saints, and levelled to the ground the chapels at Mecca, which devotion had consecrated to the memory of the Prophet and his family. At the commencement of the present century, however, Mecca was recovered from them by the Turkish arms, and the plague, with the smallpox, breaking out just at this time among the followers of Wahab, probably saved the mighty fabric of Islamism. These reverses did not quench, however, the ardour of the Wahabees. Their leader had been assassinated, but his son, already distinguished for his prudence and valour, succeeded him in the command. Medina fell beneath his power, and from thence to the Persian Gulf he seemed likely to reign lord paramount. In 1805 he was able to impose a heavy tax on the caravan of pilgrims from Damascus to the Holy City, and declared that thenceforth it should consist of pilgrims alone, without the pride and pomp of a religious procession. Soon afterward they again entered Mecca, and immediately threatened with destruction every {295} sacred relic; but they did not put their threats into execution. Various conflicts between them and the orthodox Mohammedans have since ensued, the general result of which has been to break the martial and fanatical spirit of the Wahabees, and to re-establish the power of the grand sultan in cities and districts where it had been placed in jeopardy. They are still, indeed, dreaded as plunderers, but no great national convulsion has resulted from their efforts.

Some writers regret the suppression of this once powerful sect of Mohammedans, believing that, if continued, they would have been instrumental in overthrowing the Moslem faith, and making way for a purer religion; but for ourselves, we see little occasion for these regrets. The Wahabees must not be supposed more favourable to a pure faith than are those by whom they have been overthrown. If they must be regarded as reformers, they only attempted to correct a few absurd and scandalous practices: the impious and abominable dogmas of the Koran they left untouched; or, if they touched them, it was only to enforce their observance with greater rigour. Their creed was even more sanguinary and intolerant than that of the ancient Mohammedans, and probably the continuance of their power would have been nothing more than the continuance of injustice, cruelty, and {296} persecution. We do not look for the overthrow of Mohammedanism by such means. One system of error may sometimes destroy another, but the pure faith, which blesses a miserable world by directing men in the path of safety, knowledge, and happiness, will extend only as the sacred volume is diffused, and as that holy influence from God accompanies it by which the understanding is illuminated and the heart renewed. Fanaticism is no auxiliary of the religion of the Bible; it neither prepares its way nor accelerates its progress. Violence and war are utterly rejected by this divine system, as alien from its spirit and character. "My kingdom," says its founder, "is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight; but now is my kingdom not from hence."