The Osceola times., 1877-06-23
MAIIOMET'S FAITH.
Origin, Growth aud spread Of Mohsnme.
dantsm.

Origtu, CROWN nuO Spreau Of WOnanmse.
danisn.
The probability that Mohammedan
nations will come to the support of Tur.
key in case the sultan makes the appeal
by uniurling the flag OF the prophet" !"
makes the relations that these nations
sustain to Christian nations, and the
characteristic or special features of the
Mohammedan religion, questions of pres
ent and vital interest. The people at
large have always held vague notions as
to the real character of Mohammed, the
founder of Islamism, and have hesitated
TO admit that the religion was anything
more than idolatry, or that the Moslems
were ever more than an ignorant and
superstitious people. In both cases the
opposite is true. Mohammedanism has
always been the inveterate foe Of idola-
try, and Moslem learning and art had at
one time great influence in Europe.
Mohammed, Mahomet, the founder Of
the Mussulman religion, was born in
Mecca, Arabia, November 10, $40, and
died at Medina, June 8, go. His family
belonged to the distinguished tribe of
Koreish, who claimed TO be directly de-
scended from Abraham by his son lsh-
msel Before he was twelve years old
the boy Mohammed made journeys
through Syria and other countries and
became acquainted with Christian monks
He also Travelled extensively in Arabia
Al the age of twenty-five he married,
and for ten years he lived a quiet, com
monrlace life.
When thirty.fve or ferty years of age,
Monammed gave himself up to religious
contemplation. He was in the habit of
retiring TO cave OF Mt Hare, and there
amid spasmodic commissions he had, ac-
cording to the Mohammodan story, his
first vision. The angel Gabriel appeared
and commanded him to recte what he
(the angeD said. He was much troubled
about this, and on consultation with an
old Arab, who knew the scriptures of the
Jews and Christians, he was informed
that Good had chosen him to be the
prophet of his people" The revelations
continued from that time to the end of
his life, were committed to memory by
his adherents, and after his death col.
lected and written down.
Ills ITst CouNtIb WdN blS Wlits nv tuV
end of three years his adherents num-
bered only forty. When he declared his
mission as the prophet of God his own
tribe outlawed him, and for some years
he was prosecuted. He fled from Mecca
in six hundred and sixty-two (the date
of the Hegira, the beginning of the
Moslem era, } to Medina, and established
his religion.
In the succeeding years he returned to
Mecca, overcame the Koreishites, and
WAS acknowledged as sovereign and
prophet, and in lew years subjected
Arabia to his rule. In the ninth year OF
the Hegira he proclaimed his first hely
war against the Byzantine or Greek en-
pire. This was complete failure. The
next year he made his celebrated pill
grimage to Mecca, at the head of forty
thousand pilgrims, Three months after
his return to Medina he was taken seri-
ously i'll. lie announced bis own death
in the mosque, and prayed that God
might support him in the agony of death,
He left only one child, Fatima, who be.
came the wife of Ali.
Students of Moslem literature concede
that Mohammed was a man OF great
power. He was acquainted with the
doctrines of both Jews and Christians,
but in his lectures to his followers misre-
presented both. His visions were re-
ceived in state similar to that made 10
familiar by clairvoyants and spiritualists,
The spasmodic convulsions which at
tended every manifestation of revelation,
as described in the records were very
similar to the phenomena connected with
clairvoyant speaking, etc. He an
nounced himself as the restorer of the
pure religion revealed by God to Abra
ham. He required Pagans to leave theil
idols and worship the one true God
required Jews to exchange the law o
Moses for what he claimed was the new
and final revelation given to him, ant
required Christians to cease worshippinl
Christ as God, claiming that this wa
inconsistent with the doctrine taught by
Christ himself. Many trace the religion
of Mohammed to the forms of judaism
and Christianity existing in Arabia al
the time, which he intermingled with the
traditions and allegories of his race.
The fundamental doctrine of ths
Koran, or of Mohammedanism, y this
"There il but one God, and Nc 'mmec
is his Prophet" This idea of doe
not differ in matter of pointfl
held by Christians, except Il