The Hickman courier., 1877-06-29
MAHOMEYS FAITH.


nations will come TO the support OF 1uF-
key in case the sultan makes the appeal
by unfurling the flag OF the prophet,
makes the relations that these nations
sustain to Christian nations, ana 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 ldola-
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, o'U' ana
/ died at Medina, June S, Co., Iils iamlly
| belonged to the distinguished trlpe OF
! Koreish, who claimed to be directly de
| scended from Abraham by his son Ish-
mael. Before he was twelve years old |
/ the boy Mohammed made journeys .
/ through SYRIA and other countries and I
/ became acquainted with Christian monks.
! He also travelled extensively in Arabia. [
! At the ace of twenty-five he married, /
and for ten wears he lived a quiet, COM
monplace life
When thirtv-five or forty years of age, |
Monammed gave himself up to religious /
contemplation He was in the habit OF /
retiring to a cave OF Mt Hare, and there !
amid spaslnodic convulsions he had, ac-
cording to the Mohammedan story, his /
first vision The angel Gabriel appeared |
and commanded him to recite what he /
. I f.I. 4 10 81 tron
about this, and on consultation with an
old Arab, who knew the scriptures of the
Jews and Christians, he was informed
that q God had chOosen 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.
His first convert was his wife. At the
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 persecuted. He fed from Mecca
in six hundred and sixtv-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
p Mecca, overcane the KOreishites, and
was acknowledged rs sovereign and
prophet, and in a lew years subjected
Arabia to his rule. In the ninth year of
The Hegira he proclaimed his first holy
war against the Byzantine or Greek en-
p, pire This was a complete failure. The
= next year he made his celebrated pill
grimage to Mecca, at the head OF forty
, thousand pilgrims. Three months after
n his return to Medina he was taken seri-
L l.. I L. loot i,
p in the mosque, and prayed that God
might support him in the agony of death,
= He left only one child, Fatima, who be
n came the wife OF Ali.
Students of Moslem literature concede
- that Mohammed was man OF great
power He was acquainted with the
doctrines of both Jews and Christians,
r but in his lectures to his followers misre~
n presented both. His visions were re-
@ ceived in a state similar TO that made so
familiar by clairvoyants and spiritualists.
The spasmOdie cOnvulsiOns which at
II tended every manifestation of revelation,
as described in the records were very
K similar TO the phenomena connected with
clairvoyant speaking, etc He an
- nounced himself rs the restOrer of the
pure religion revealed by God to Abra-
? ham. He required Pagans to leave their
t. idols and worship the one true God
q required Jews to exchange the law OF
Moses for what he claimed was the new
and final revelation given to him. and
required Christians to cease worshipping
. Christ as God, claiming that this was
inconsistent with the doctrine taught by
ii Christ himself Many trace the religion
r of AIohammed 20 the forms of Judaism
Of and Christianity existing in Arabia at
d the time. whichhe intermingled with the
/ traditions and aHegories Of his race.
Rs The fundamental doctrine of the
e Koran, or Of Mohammedanism, Is this
- - There is but one God, and Mohammed
at is his Prophet" This idea of God does
OF not differ in matter Of points from that
le held by Christians, except that they
I'd reject entirely the doctrine Ofthe Trinity.
~ The Mohammcdans believe that Adam,
G. Noah, A braham. Moses, Jesus and Mo-
as hammed were divinely commissioned to
n proclaim new laws and dispensatiOns
h. thatto the prophets were revealed certain
Sc scriptures inspired by God that all those
of have perished except the Pentateuch,
is the Psalms, the Gospel and the Koran
le that the first three have been falsified
pa and mutilated, and that the Koran
st supersedes them all They.regard Christ
IN as next to Mehammed, but deny that he
es was the son of God, and THAT he wa,
I'd crucihed, believing that some other per
le son suffered in his place, W hiie he was
is, taken up to God. They believe in the
" second coming of Christ, as heralding the
rs approach of the last Judgment AS to
of future life, they believe that God will
~ Judge men by their acts in life; that the
r, time of resurrection Is known only to
ir God; that after Judgment all men must
I'd pass over a bridge finer than hair and
so sharper than a sword - the good passing
ee over easily, the wicked falling headlong
ne TO hell that all who believe in theunity
IN of God will finally be released from
punishment and enter paradise, while
idolaters and hypocrites suffer eternally.
The AIohammedans observe strictly
the outward forms of their religion, re-
le garding the Koran as the rule of their
IS religious civil and social life The Koran
to forbids gambling, intemperance and
i usury; urges charity, and provides for
le the punishment of crimes condemns
9, pride, avarice debauchery, and insists on
; submission to the will of God on for
cd bearancc, love of peace, sincerity, truth
of fulness and benevolence. 1t restricts
n but does not prohibit polygamy, and pre-
y, sents a sensual idea of heaven
as After the death of Mohammed the
n promulgation of his doctrines spread
o, with amazing rapidity. The Moslems
to conquered Syria (making Jerusalem one
I'd of their holy cities), Persia, Assyria and
I'd all of northern Africa before the begin
OF ming of the eighth century. Then they
al crossed into Spain, conquered province
le after province then into Gaul, where
a they met their first great defeat near
a. Tours, in 732. They advanced into
ut China, swept over Judea, establishing
Y; graf empires, and mastering portion
al ofitbe Greek empire. Then they We're
Y ia. turn everr@n by the Tarter tribes,
I'd led by the Turks, but these adopted
I'd the religion of the people they
ne conquered and become its cham
ne pions, and in 1913 they captured
Constantinople. This was the golden age
of Mohammedanism, and the Ottoman
:. empire was at the zenith of its power.
" Forty years afterward the Mohamme-
W dams were forced out of western Europe,
i and there has been gradual decline ever
since. There comes dissensions IN then
IA own ranks, and they divided INTO two
~ ~ great sects, the Sunnites and Shiahs
'o m Instead of the wonderful unity and en-