Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-03-01

Itdeserves passing notice, that
Islam is OneOf the three great mono
theistic religiOnstof the world which
claim to be founded by God himself
through inspiration, and also that
the professors Of Islam are now esti-
mated at POO, 900, 900 Of souls, cover
ing a larger area i'm Asia, Africa aud
Europe than the Christians.
THE FOUNDER or ISLAM.
Mohammed, the founder of Islam
and the authUr Of the holy book,
Al Koran, was born in Mecca in
April, 81 a, d. He belonged to
the tribe horlish and TO the family
Of Hasaem, who had the title OK
princes of Mecca" and hereditary
iguardians OF the Eaaba. All this
notwithstanding, hlohammed was
poor, and after the death of his
father, Abiallak, was handed over
To a BedOuin nurse, with whom he
remained for two years in the will
derness. The boy was, however,
afflicted with sickness. he had
sometimes fits, which were Thought
to be caused by evil spirits. In
order TO come out of the reach of
these he was again brought to
Mecca. In the year 571 his mother,
Amina, died, and the little Moham-
med was nov conveyed first TO his
grandfather, Abd-el-Mut alb. and
then, when this worthy gentleman
died, to his uncle, Abu Talib. This
last one he sometimes ACCOMPANIED
on his travels, and at other times he
earned n living as q cowboy or
shepherd in the vicinity Of Mecca.
But fate smiled upon him. He
obtained employment from
wealthy widow named Chidja, " no
| conducted the business left by
her husband. In his new position
the future prophet had oppOrtuni-
ties to make business trips 10 Syria
and the southern parts Of Arabia:
and 81 well did he acquit himself Of
his work, that the widow rewarded
him with her hand and heart. and
everything pertaining thereto. Thus
Mohammed became at once wealthy
and occupied a respected position in
Mecca.
Like many a great genius, Nc
manned was Of melancholy dispo-
sition. He loved solitude and re-
tired very often TO a place where he
could mediate and contemplate. a
cave in the mountain Hira, near
Mecca, was often visited by him for
such purposes. Here he began TO
receive visions and revelations.
which were often accompanied by l
paralytic fits, a weakness which 4
never left the prophet during his /
lifetime. Here he conceived the .
grand idea Of reforming the religion .
of his countrymen and Of cleansing
it from gross errors.
The inhabitants Of the Arabian .
peninsula, the Arabs, are descend !
ants of Ishmael, Abraham's son
with Hagar. Without doubt, their
religion was originally nearly iden-
teal with that Of the great patriarch,
but at the time Of Mohammed the
people had almost entirely forgotten
the traditions once handed down
from Hagar and Ishmael. Sabnism
1.-THE worshipping of the stars) and
even lower forms Of idolatry had
found their way among the people,
and lad their centrum in Mecca.
Here was the sanctuary, the kaaha,
which according to tradition had
been founded by Ishmnei himself.
Hundreds Of idols had seats Of honor
in this tOwer-like building:and here
was the mysterious black stone
which is still an object Of the great
est reverence, as Mohammed had
wisdom enough not to interfere with
this building any further than TO
cleanse 1t from its idols. Hence
Mecca, with its Kaaba and black
stone lffadJ0r dlosDdd) is yet the (
central point Of Islam.
Mohammed was forty years old
when he first publicly announced
his new principles. Ii was his idea :
TO cleanse the religious rites and !
prevalent among the
Arabs, and TO leave them
l religion in every respect
Identical with that Of Abraham. I
His object was certainly so far good. '
md this explains perhaps why Islam |
n so many respects resembles Juda- 1
Sun and Christianity. Some have '
the founder with deliberate c
raud in mixing Christianity and a
Judaism together with his own ideas.
n order to be able TO produce n new 5
eligious system. Nothing, however. Z
ubstandates this suppOsition. 1t {
vas as far from Mohamned;s mind y
o produce something as 1t was from a
suther's. He wanted. like the real h
eformers, to bring forth again the il
Id, long forgotten standards of per- h
ection. This was his real aim. II v
e failed, il his opus became n mir e
nm coDlpOztliDl, well, which of the 5
sformers was not more or less a
allure? VI
1t speaks well for Mohammed. for T
Is moral character and sincerity, n
lat among his first faithful follow n,
5 was his wife, Chadidia, and le
hers who best knew his private 50
fe. That he, Is little as ether re- 81
rmers went free from persecu- pI
ons show that human nature is an
lie same everywhere in the shade NJ
the wingsof the blessed American "
gle and on tire burning sands Of so
rabia. ri
More than once his enemies laid 10
ans to take his life, and he found su
mself under the necessity Of to a
e a modern expression-stakiug So
e underground But while in "a
lie he labored faithfully in the op
ork before him, and among the on
lgrims who yearly came to Mecca W,
found many followers, particu- up
rly among the Inhabitants of Me- ma
na, and these finally prevailed de
on him 20 come and take IN his Pa
sidenee in their midst. This flight Ia,
Medina the so-cllled Hedjrah Tor be
.gira) took place on July 18th, a {
Z, and from this event the Mos Va
ms count the commencement of mi
eir religion and the commence fea
mt Of the Mohammedan era. tat
m Medin Mohammed organized ella
followers and built the first ito
'sque, and from now on the CITY no
S par eroeUsace, the capital of the ina
)phet and the centrum of Islam. on,
ignity which sgain, a little later. int
5 returned to Mecca. per
from Medina, Islam spread yery are
Ickly. 1t was announced as
from God that this Ar
igion should bespread by the help Oh
he sword; In blood and flame the tn
'rd should be given to men. an
cca was first besieged, and, after his
eral struggles, conquered. The seu
Is were now destroyed. but the alw
aba was declared to be the tie,
ctuary Of the one God and the VIII
faith. An attempted invasion lea,
Persia Resulted in total defeat, upo
in other directions the sword vi Vol
BANNED was victorious, and at dir.