Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-11-05
THE RELIGION OF MAuOMET.

In the reign oe Omar, the second Khalifa.
about the ilejyran year twenty, according to the
historian Ben S!Iohnah) an Arab prince named
.Iiabaiall, Chief of the Pagan tribe of Ghassani-
ia, who wandered over the plains of Syria pro-
tossed desire to renounce idoatry. With that
intention he visited the court of Omar To whom
lac d,d homage as his liege, and was initiated in
the law. The khaliia, feeling interest in the
voluntary sacrifice his guest had made, con-
ceiyed partially for the prince, and took him
with him on the pilgrimage 10 Mecca, with in
tention to instruct him in the rites and mystic
res incumbent upon devotees. In running the
tour OF the temple, conforInably to custom it
happened that pilgrim of ordinary rank took
the prince by his sleeve and pulled him on one
SIDE III order 10 pass himself at which nciyiiity
Jiabalab was SD enraged that he struck the in
truder violent blow, and, not satisfied with the
vengeance Inc had taken, continued a strain of
vehement aouse, in which he rcproached the
man with insolent conduct towards person of
his quaitty Omar, noticing the ilnnoieratc
anger of the prince and that he reiterated me-
naces and i'll usage against man whom he had
already punished and turned out of the ranks
said to hm Calm your transports, otherwise
shall cause that man to return the blow YOU
gave him, for you ought TO know that Islam has
rendered you both equal; and the prince and the
Save, when IN the exercise of their worship, or
acts of piety, such as the functions OF the pill
grllnage, are but as men equal 10 all their pre-
negatives" Jiabalah, stung to the quick by the
words oil the kbalifa, conceived so great a dis
gust, that he promptly gave up his newly adopt
ed faith, and retired to Constantinople, where
he became Christian.
"A circumstance which occurred during my
residence at the Court of Morocco, i'm the wear
1911, is also illustrative ofthis point. The Sui
tan Mulai Soliman, conformabIy to his usual
DrlCtICe visited tho puilif, of "
slf ON certain Friday, but, being little after
time, the area was crowded with the Worship
Pers to the very portlco. 1t happened, also,
that the congregation were in the act of adora
uot1 I'm PROSTATE posture,) and the Sultan
could barely find room for the ceremony, by
squeezing his body amidst a motley group who
occupied the threshold, and that with great in
convenience, for his head, in lieu of touching
the ground, repeatedly came in contact with the
heels OF slave who occupied the space before
him. This man, finding himself nolested. left
OIL ms devotion to inquire into the occasion of
1T, but instantly recognising the features of the
sovereign, he started upon his feet, and would
have retired on one side, had he not been re-
strained by the forcible grasp with which the
Sultan held his baylS, and again dragged him in
voluntarily into the posture lie had Quilted.
When prayers were over, Mua Soiman de-
sired the attendance Of the slaves master, whom
tOi HOt iDCUCaIlnG INTO tiic
mind Of his yassal true knowledge of the s.Iarv
of God" To the slave hc said, ''Mark these
words, which have relation in common TO the
class you belong to: on the throne, in the pa
lace, in the city, or in the field you shall! know
me for the sovereign commander of the faithful
by day or night; but in the mosque. or at dcvo.
tons, you shall not know me as xho am nei
ther shall you know your own master, for. be-
fore God, the prince and the slave are equal.
and must meet judgment according 10 their &C.
vcral actions, without distinction of rank.D
Thus the religion Of Islam, as it is properly
styled, whoever il prevails, whether at Tie spIeB-
did Courts, of Constaninople, Delhi, and Mo
rocco, or in the less ostentatious governments
of interior Ethiopia, is uniform, as well in prac
tice as in its influence upon the minds of men.
Oupms' Journal az .1Shaatee.
The subsequent morsel OF cutting irony is ex-
tractcd from an English paper, in which it was
published anterior to the demise Of his late Sand