Mohammed and his Religion.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3353, 20 September 1879, Page 3

Mohammed and his Religion.

tribe, the Koreisb, which occupied Mecca and kept the sacred Kaaba, the link \ which connect* together the old heathenism of Arabia Mad the reformed I religion of which Mohammed becafllft the I legislator. A relic of pre-histcrie times, ! it it still the one central shrine 6f Islam. , In accordance with the custom of the , better classes, the infant Mohammed was sent into tbe country to be nursed by a woman of a Bedouin tribe. Five: years he spent in the desert; then lie was given back to his mother; bnt in a year's time she fell sick.and died, leaving the child doubly an orphan. His aged grandfather , took charge of him, bnt in two years he also died. These bereavements were very bitter to the tender and affectionate disposition of Mohammed; but he again fell I into kindly hands, being consigned to the core of an ancle, Aba Talib, with whom, he was a great favorite^ - At the age of I twelve he is said to have accompanied his | nnele on a mercantile journey to Syria* 1 where he would come into contact with a general Christian profession and Christian worship. All the records of Mohammed's early life concur in giving him the highest character for simplicity, integrity, parity, and thoughtfalness. He used to tend sheep and goats in the neighbourhood of Mecca, and he would in after life compare himself with Moses and David, and say "Verily there hath been no prophet raised up, who performed.not the work of a shepherd." His loyal nature wof for himlthe title of Al Amim (" the faithful"). When he was twenty years chL he took part in a movement promoted by one his uncles, which was intended td provide some remedy for the disorder prevailing amongst the Arab tribes. The principal Eoreishite families. bound themselves by a mutual, engagement, and swore by the avenging Deity, that they would take the • part of the oppressed,, and see his. claim fulfilled,.so long as a ( drop of water, remained in the ocean, or that they would satisfy it from their own resources. "I would not," Mohammed used in after years to say, " exchange for the choicest camel in all Arabia the remembrance of being present at the oath which we took in the house of Abdallah, when we swore that we would stand by the oppressed."

When he had reached the age of twenty-fire he was engaged, at the suggestion of his uncle Abu Talib, to assist in the charge of a caravan, which was despatched with merchandise to Syria by a rich Arab widow named Xhadijah, whom he afterwards married. She had been twice married already,' land was forty years of age; but notwithstanding; the difference of their ages, the marriage prored a peculiarly happy one. Nothing does more honour to Mohammed than his relations with Ehadijah. For twenty-fire year* he was faithful to her,'and'though the custom of Mecca allowed polygamy— a license of which in later years he availed himself' of freelt—he a\Med no second wife; during her.life. Long after when his young wife Ayesba asked if he did not lore her better than he had lored the widow who bad lost the charms of her youth, he answered, " No, by Allah!, She beliered in me when none else would beliere. In the whole world I had but one friend, and she was that!" Jfhadijah. it was clear, gave her husband the full rererenco of her heart. He did not openly assume the character of a prophet till he was forty years old. Previously he had been led,, in common ■ with meny others of his kindred and city, to despise the worship of idols,- which was the popular religion of the Arabs. He had opportunities of becoming acquainted with Judaism, and with Christianity, such as it was in that age and in, those Eastern countries: The traditions of the tribes mounted back to Ishmael and Abraham; and there were at Mecca inquirers before and in the time of Mohammed, who sought to,follow what was called " the religion of Abraham." And this, indeed, the rcligton.of Abraham, was what Mohammed as a prophet professed to restore- In the earlier years of his manhood, Mohammed used to # think and brood and converse on the subject of the true faith. He loved long periods of solitude, and used to go forth from the city to commune with the night, and the stars and the voices of his own heart. His favorite resort was a cave at the foot of Mount Hira, a lofty conical hill two or three miles north of Mecca, whither he would retire for days at a time/sometimes accompanied by his devoted wife. His lonj? vigils were followed by ccstacies and trances and convulsive fits, duo in part to an epileptic ; tendency of which symptoms had shown- themselves in early childhood. These alarmed his wife; and it may have been apprehension abont his health that caused her to share sometimes these retirements- with him. He > began to speak with solemnity to hisjfellowcilizens about a reformation of religion. By some he was mocked as one who was not quite in his right mind. Qthers would listen to him, but they would reply to this effect: "It is well for Jews and Christiana to follow the purer faith thou speakest of. They, we know, have had prophets bringing them a message of the will of God. Let us be content with the light our Maker has given us, and remain as we arc. If a prophet had been sent unto us, we should no doubt have followed bis directions, and been as devout and spiritual in our worship as the Jens and Christians." Language like this could hardly fail to produce aa, effect on a ! brooding mind like that of Mohammed. : He was waiting for a Divine commission, which should arm him with authority to i call the people out of error to the truth.

When about forty years of age he went to spend days and nights alone in the care of Mount Hira. There he gave himself to prayer and dcTOUt imaginations. After a time dreams came to him, and when he walked out of his care Ihc wild herbs on the mountain would seem to b*nd their heads, and the stones on the way would

Mohammed beyond all question, was one of the mont remarkable men that ever lived. He is the one great product of his native land. Except for Mohammed and Islam, Arabia, when, its immense siae and its situation are taken into account, must be considered one of the least interesting countries on the face of the earth. Always excepting that one supremely important movement, Arabia has done next to nothing in the world's history. But Mohammed was moat strictly a product of his country. The genus tody tbie character of the place, shaped his nature and life and work, and has adhered closely to his religion. Ha^wai born at Mecca, in the year of our Lord 570. Mecca derived what importance it had from being a station on a caravan toute. In the old days when travelling bj land was preferred to travelling by. sea, the merchandise of the East was carried up along the eastern side of the Bed Sea into Syria and Egypt, Mecca was s halting place on this line, and lies in a dry and barren region of sandy plain* and granite hills. Its great recommendation was that it was fairly supplied with water. Mohammed's ancestors belonged to the

cry, " Hail! 0 prophet of God!" Then he would fleo back in fear to his cavo. Suddenly in the middle of tbe night, a heavenly visitant carae to 'him, and he heard a voice " Cry!" A second and a third time the voice said " Cry !" Antl Mohammed answered, "What shall I cry ?" and the voice proceeded :—

" Cry! in the name of the Lord who crested ; Cry! for thy Lord is beneficent. It is He who hath taught with, the pen; Hath taught man that which he> knoweth not." * These are the earliest words of that revelation which, according to the Mussulman belief, ia given to man in the Koran. When the voice ceased Mahommed awoke from his trance and felt as if " a book " had been written in his heart. A great trembling came upon Mm, so that bis 1 whole body shook. He hastened home to his wife, and said, "OKhadijah! what has happened to me P " He lay down, and she watched by him. When he recovered lie laid, "O SLhadijah! ho of whom one would not hare believed it has .. become either a soothsayer or one- possessed." " Say not so 1" she replied ; " God will surely not let such a thing happen unto thee, for thou speakest the truth, dost not return evil for evil, keepest faith, art of, a good life, and kind to thy relations and friends. What has befallen thee ? Hast thou seen aught terrible ?" \ .Mahommed told her what he had seen. Whereupon she' answered, " Eejoice, 0 dear husband! and be of good cheer. He in whose hands stands Khadijah's life ia my witness that thou shalt be the ' prophet of his people." Then she went to Waraka, an aged man, who had been a warm friend to Mohammed, and who knew the Scriptures both of the Jews and the Christians. Waraka replied, " Holy, holy! This verily is the beginning of prophecy. And there shall come unto him the law, like unto the law of Moses. Wherefore charge him to be of good

heart." After this, we are told, Mohammed went through hours of mistrust and dejection, and was at times even tempted to destroj himself. But hy degrees he became confident that th<;re was no trickery or demoniac possession in his visions, and he broke forth into the following hymn:—"By the noonday brightness, and hy the night when it darkeneth! thy Lord has nofc forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased. And surely the future shall be better for thee than the past, and in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous unto thee, and thoa be satisfied. Did he did not find thee an orphan, and giro thee a home ? Found thee erriDg and guided thee! Tound thee needy and enriched thee ! As to the orphan, therefore, wrong thou him not; and as for him that asketh of thee, chide him not away! and as for the favours of the Lord, tell them abroad." And Mohammed accordingly began to preach. He now no longer bore witness as a private person against idolatry; he declared himself to be directly commissioned by the Almighty to call the people with promises and threats. The terrors of the Lord had a great place in his prophesying. , We can scarcely pass by the simple question, " Was Mohammed thus commissioned by the Almighty or not? Were these Toices from Heaven or not ? " It is a question easier to ask than to answer. We might put it, perhaps, in this form, " What ought a good and teachable person amongst the Arabs of Mecca to have thought of Mohammed and his announcements?" A mere story of wonderful Tisions would of itself carry no convictions with it. There are two simple tests of a prophet. Our Lord »aid, "Beware of false prophets. By their frvits ye shall biow them." The good Khadijah called to mmd the uprightness and other tried virtues of her husband. Such a man at least deserved to be listened to. The other test is, "Of what sort is the message he brings ? Is it a good message, one that brings light to the world?" Tried by these two tests, Mohammed, when he first began to speak with authority as a prophet, was one to be received as a true prophet, but we need not therefore approve of the whole of the Koran, or become followers of Mohammed. But on the other hand, the fact that much of what Mohammed believed, or persuaded himself that he believed, to be communicated to him by the angel Gabriel, justly repels us, and that Islam is not—though better than brutal idolatry—a good religion need not compel us to call Mohammed a self-seeking and vain imposter. One of our most solemn obligations is not to call good evil. And when he began to speak in God's name, Mohammed's life was good and hjs message good. It is not merely that he was not a bad man ; Mohammed's character was a singularly nobly and beautiful one. Loyal, affectionate, and ■unassuming in all his relations with those about him, a hater, of wrong-doing, overflowing with kindness to children and to slaves; he was also possessed by the simplest and deepest awe of the Divine Presence. His Creator had made him— thfe shepherd and camel driver of Mecca —a great poet, with an imaginative faculty nourished by solitude and great natural scenes, and the habit of living out of himself and thinking of his tribe and people. For such a man his visions and hh rhythmical utterances were the irresistible clothing of his inspired convicttions. But Mohammed did not remain to the cad as free from reproach as at the beginning of his prophetical career; there . were fundamental defects in his mind which spoiled his religion: and the position of a chief and leader of armies proved a too trying one for his moral constancy.

*** ■ * * The tenets of the religion adopted by the early conTerts were but few: That there was only one God, and that Mohamjned was His prophet; that a paradise of bliss awaited the faithful, and a terrible hell the ungodly; and that the faithful ought to be just, compassionate, and charitable. The traditional observances of the local religions, except the adoration of idols, remained undisturbed. # * r» * #

Idolatrous tribes, like those of Africa, are undoubtedly the better for becoming Mussulmans; but when they hare ,become Mussulmans, they seem to be the less likely to go up higher and become Christians. They are pledged to a contemp- . tuoua and mistaken view of Christianity. They are the followers of a great man who rejected it, and, as he fancied, rose above it. Ifc is a very difficult task for Christains to preach the _ Gospel to Mohammedans. But there is one thing in which we may be euro that we shall not be doinp wrong : that is in striving to be just and appreciative towards all that is good in Islam, and towards the:high, nualilies of its founder. J. LKBWJB&TH DaYIES.