peaceable miniftry, was by no means greater than what, with thefe advantages, and with the additional and fingular circumftance of their being no established religion at Mecca at that time to contend with, might reafonably have been expected. How foon his primitive adherents were let into the fecret of his views of empire, or in what ftage of his undertaking thefe views first opened themselves to his own mind, it is not now eafy to deter mine. The event however was, that these his firft profelytes all ultimately attained to riches and honours, to the command of armies, and the government of kingdoms.a 3. The Arabs deduced their defcent from Abraham through the line of Ifhmael. The inhabitants of Mecca, in common probably with the other Arabian tribes, acknowledged, as I think may clearly be collected from the Koran, one fupreme Deity, but had affociated with him many objects of idolatrous worship. The great doctrine, with which Mahomet fet out, was the ftri&t and exclufivé unity of God. Abraham, he told them, their illuf trious ancestor; Ifhmael, the father of their nation; Mofes, the law-giver of the Jews; and Jefus, the author of Christianity, had all afferted the fame thing; that, their followers had univerfally corrupted the truth, and that he was now commiffioned to reftore it to the world. Was it to be wondered at, that a doctrine fo fpecious, and authorifed by names, fome or other of which were holden in the highest veneration by every defcription of his heaters, fhould, in the hands of a popular miffionary, prevail to the extent in which Mahomet fucceeded by his pacific ministry? 4. Of the inftitution which Mahomet joined with this fundamental doctrine, and of the Koran in which that inftitution is delivered, we difcover, I think, two purposes that pervade the whole, viz. to make converts, and to make his converts foldiers. The following particulars, amongst others, may be confidered as pretty evident indications of these designs: 1. When Mahomet began to preach, his addrefs to the Jews, the Chriftians, and to the Pagan Arabs, was, that the religion which he taught, was no other than what had been originally their own. "We believe in God, and that which hath been fent down unto us, and that which hath been fent down unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Ifaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was delivered unto Mofes and Jefus, and that which a Gib, vol. IX. p. 244. was delivered unto the prophets from their Lord; we make no diftinction between any of them."a "He hath ordained you the religion which he commanded Noah, and which we have revealed unto thee, Ọ Mohammed, and which we commanded Abraham and Mofes and Jefus, faying, Obferve this religion, and be not divided therein." "He hath chofen you, and hath not impofed on you any difficulty in the religion which he hath given you, the religion of your father Abraham."c 2. The author of the Koran never ceafes from defcribing the future anguifh of unbelievers, their defpair, regret, penitence and torment. It is the point which he labours above all others. And thefe defcriptions are conceived in terms, which will appear in no small degree impreflive, even to the modern reader of an English tranflation. Doubtlefs they would operate with much greater force upon the minds of thofe to whom they were immediately directed. The terror which they feem well calculated to infpire, would be to many tempers a powerful ap plication. 3. On the other hand, his voluptuous paradife; his robes of filk, his palaces of marble, his rivers and fhades, his groves and couches, his wines, his dainties; and, above all, his feventy-two virgins affigned to each of the faithful, of refplendent beauty and eternal youth; intoxicated the imaginations, and feized the paffions of his Eaftern followers. 4. But Mahomet's higheft heaven was referved for those, who fought his battles, or expended their fortunes in his caufe. "Thofe believers who fit ftill at home, not having any hurt, and thofe who employ their fortunes and their perfons for the religion of God, fhall not be held equal. God hath preferred thofe who employ their fortunes and their perfons in that caufe, to a degree above thofe who fit at home. God hath indeed promifed every one paradife, but God hath preferred thofe who fight for the faith, before those who fit ftill, by adding unto them a great reward; by degrees of honour conferred upon them from him, and by granting them forgivenefs and mercy." d Again, "Do ye reckon the giving drink to the pilgrims, and the vifiting of the holy temple, to be actions as meritorious as those performed by him who believeth in God and the laft day, and a Sale's Koran,c. ii. p. 17. bib. c. xlii. p. 393- fighteth for the religion of God? they fhall not be held equal with God. They who have believed, and fled their country, and employed their fubftance and their perfons in the defence of God's true religion, fhall be in the highest degree of honour with God; and these are they who fhall be happy. The Lord fendeth them good tidings of mercy from him, and good will, and of gardens wherein they fhall enjoy lafting pleasures. They fhall continue therein forever, for with God is a great reward." And, once more, "Verily God hath purchased of the true believers their fouls and their substance, promising them the enjoyment of paradife, on condition that they fight for the caufe of God, whether they flay or be flain, the promise for the fame is affuredly due by the law and the gospel and the Ko ran. 5. His doctrine of predeftination was applicable, and was applied by him, to the fame purpose of fortifying and of exalting the courage of his adherents. "If any thing of the mat-. ter had happened unto us, we had not been flain here. Answer, if ye had been in your houses, verily they would have gone forth to fight, whofe flaughter was decreed to the places where they died."d 6. In warm regions, the appetite of the fexes is ardent, the paffion for inebriating liquors moderate. In compliance with this diftinction, although Mahomet laid a restraint upon the drinking of wine, in the use of women he allowed an almost unbounded indulgence. Four wives, with the liberty of changing them at pleasure, together with the perfons of all his captives, was an irrefiftible bribe to an Arabian warrior. "God is minded," fays he, fpeaking of this very fubject, "to make his relig ion light unto you, for man was created weak." How different this from the unaccommodating purity of the gospel? How would Mahomet have fucceeded with the Christian lesson in his mouth, "Whofoever looketh on a woman to luft after her, c "The fword (faith Mahomet) is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood fhed in the caufe of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fafting or prayer. Whofoever falls in battle, his fins are forgiven at the day of judgment; his wounds fhall be refplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as mufk, and the lofs of his limbs fhall be fupplied by the wings of angels and cherubim." Gibb, vol. IX. p. 256. f Gibb. p. 255. d C. iii. p. 54. c C. iv. p. 63. hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." It must be added, that Mahomet did not venture upon the prohi bition of wine, till the fourth year of the Hegira, or the seventeenth of his miffion, when his military fucceffes had completely established his authority. The fame obfervation holds of the faft of the Ramadan, and of the most laborious part of his inftitution, the pilgrimage to Mecca.c What has hitherto been collected from the records of the Muffulman hiftory, relates to the twelve or thirteen years of Mahomet's peacable preaching, which part alone of his life and enterprise admits of the smallest comparison with the origin of Christianity. A new fcene is now unfolded. The city of Medina, diftant about ten days journey from Mecca, was at that time diftracted by the hereditary contentions of two hostile tribes. These feuds were exafperated by the mutual perfecutions of the Jews and Chriftians, and of the different Chriftian fects by which the city was inhabited. The religion of Mahomet prefented, in fome measure, a point of union or compromife to thefe divided opinions. It embraced the principles which were common to them all. Each party faw in it an honourable acknowledgment of the fundamental truth of their own system. To the Pagan Arab, fomewhat imbued with the fentiments and knowledge of his Jewifh or Chriftian fellow-citizen, it offered no offenfive or very improbable theology. This recommendation procured to Mahometanifm a more favourable reception at Medina, than its author had been able, by twelve years' painful endeavours, to obtain for it at Mecca. Yet, after all, the progrefs of the religion was inconfiderable. His miffionary could only collect a congregation of forty perfons. It was not a religious, but a political affociation, which ultimately introduced Mahomet into Medina. Haraffed, as it fhould feem, and difgufted by the long continuance of factions and difputes, the inhabitants of that city faw in the admiffion of the prophet's authority, a rest from the miseries which they had fuffered, and b Ib. p. 112. a Mod. Un. Hist. vol. I. p. 126. This latter, however, already prevailed amongst the Arabs, and had grown out of their exceffive veneration for the Caaba. Mahomet's law, in this refpect, was rather a compliance than an innovation.* d Mod. Un. Hift. vol. I. p. 100. с c Ib. p. 85. a fuppreffion of the violence and fury which they had learnt to condemn. After an embaffy therefore, compofed of believers and unbelievers, and of perfons of both tribes, with whom a treaty was concluded of ftrict alliance and fupport, Mahomet made his public entry, and was received as the fovereign of Medina. From this time, or foon after this time, the impoftor changed his language and his conduct. Having now a town at his command, where to arin his party, and to head them with security, he enters upon new counfels. He now pretends that a divine commiffion is given to him to attack the infidels, to deftroy idolatry, and to set up the true faith by the fword." An early victory over a very fuperior force, achieved by conduct and bravery, established the renown of his arms, and of his perfonal character. Every year after this was marked by battles or affaffinations. The nature and activity of Mahomet's future exertions may be estimated from the computation, that, in the nine following years of his life, he commanded his army in perfon in eight general engagements, and undertook, by himself or his lieutenants, fifty military enterprifes. From this time we have nothing left to account for, but that Mahomet should collect an army, that his army should conquer, and that his religion fhould proceed together with bis conquefts. The ordinary experience of human affairs, leaves us little to wonder at, in any of thefe effects; and they were likewife each affifted by peculiar facilities. From all fides, the roving Arabs crowded around the standard of religion and plunder, of freedom and victory, of arms and rapine. Befide the highly painted joys of a carnal paradife, Mahomet rewarded his followers in this world with a liberal divifion of the fpoils and with the perfons of their female captives. The condition of Arabia, occupied by fmall independent tribes, expofed it to the impreffion, and yielded to the progrefs of a firm and refolute army. After the reduction of his native peninfula, the weaknefs alfo of the Foman provinces on the North and the Weft, as well as the distracted state of the Perfian empire on the Eaft, facilitated the fuccefsful invafion of neighbouring countries. That Mahomet's conquefts fhould carry his religion along b lb. P 88. a Ib. p. 85. Victory of Bedr. ib. P. e Gibb. vol. IX. p. 255. |