Huntsville gazette., 1882-09-09
Mohammed's Success.

The causes which led to Mohammed's IS
success will be best understood by TAX
ing rapid glance at the conditinnrof
Arabia about the time of his birth. 1t
must be borne In mind that a vague be-
liefiin one God existed among the Arab
tribes long before that event. Nor must
it be forgotten that the Arabs and Jews
were kindred races, speaking kindred.
languages, and having kindred customs,
practices and prejudices. Driven out of
their own land at successive epochs bv
Assyrians, Greeks and Romans, many
Jewish tribes settled in Arabia; aud
when the Roman Empire became Chris
tanned, colonies of Christians also
scattered everywhere, found their way
into the Arabian peninsula, causing
much mutual attrition and interchange
of Thought between Jews, Christians
and ,Arabians. Occasionally Arab tribes
were thus converted to the faith of the
colonists. Unhappily both the Judaism
and Christianity imported in this way
into the country were of debased
character. They were not very much
better than the forms of religion already
prevalent among the Arab tribes. Even
the doctrines of Gods unity had been
tampered with and corrupted. No creed
worthy of the name of religion existed
anywhere in Arabia. sTritheism, poly
theism, Sabaism, alteration of the sun
and planets, idolatry, fetishism, animal-
worship. plant-worship, stone worship,
superstitions of the grossest kinds, were
rife in various ways among various
tribes. Nowhere, except in the hearts
of few of the more intelligent and
thoughtful, were any true ideas of God
still cherished. 1t was under such cir
cumstances, and amid such surround
ings, that Mohammed, ssthe praised
one'' Gas Shame signities), was born
at Mecca about A. D.l570..a His father,
sAbdullah, died before his birth, and his
mother, Animal, when he was six years
old. $780,. .-..s~.............- -t.
Yet he enjoyed one great advantage,
notwithstanding his orphaned condi-
ton. He had not to waste time and
energy in pushing his way upward from
obscurity. His grandfather, Abdul
Muttalib, who adopted him, belonged to
the Arabian aristocracy. He was of the
noble family of Hashim, of the Kuresh
tribe, and was the appointed guardian
of the Ka'bah, or sacred temple atMec-
cab, a small, tube-shaped stone building
which had existed as a sacred editice for
many centuries previously. The guar
dianship of this temple was regarded as
the highest honor to which any family
could aspire, the belief being that it was
originally erected by Abraham over the
spot where he was about to sacrifice
Ishmael. On the death of the grand
fathe. of Mohammed, while he was still
a boy, his uncle, Abu Talib, became
his guardian, and during all his difficult
ties never deserted him His family,
though noble, was poor, and the boy
Mohammed was obliged to earn his
livelihood by tending sheep in the will
derness, thus from his earliest years
resembling his great prototype, Moses,
who had to act as shepherd to his faith
er-in-law, Jethro. 1t was not until Mo-
hammed was twenty-five years of age
that he married his rich kinswoman
Khadijah. She was widow lady who
had acquired great wealth by trading
transactions, and was fifteen years his
senior. She had intrusted the manage
ment of her affairs to Mohammed, and,
having found him eminently trustworthy,
gave proof of her gratitude by offering
him her hand. 1t is remarkable that he
remained faithful to Khadijah until her
death, which did not occur until he was
in his ffty-first year. Nineteenth Cen
tury. tAi%" I1.1