MAHOMMEDANISM, the system of religion established by Mahommed, and still adhered to by his followers. (See Mahommed, and Koran.) Mahommedanism is professed by the Turks, Persians, and several nations amongst the Africans, and by many amongst the East Indians.

The Mahommedans divide their religion into two general parts, faith and practice. Of these, the first is divided into six distinct branches; belief in God, in his angels, in his Scriptures, in his prophets, in the resurrection and final judgment, and in God’s absolute decrees. The points relating to practice are, prayer with ablutions, alms, fasting, the pilgrimage to Mekka, and circumcision.

I. Of the Mahommedan faith. That both Mahommed and those amongst his followers who are reckoned orthodox, had and continue to have just and true notions of God and his attributes, appears so plain from the Koran itself, and all the Mahommedan divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the God of Mahommed[7:14:33] to be different from the true God, and only a fictitious deity or idol of his own creation.

The existence of angels, and their purity, are absolutely required to be believed in the Koran; and he is reckoned an infidel who denies that there are such beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes amongst them. They believe them to have pure and subtile bodies, created of fire; that they neither eat nor drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various forms and offices, some adoring'God in different postures, and others singing praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold, that some of them are employed in writing down the actions of men; others in carrying the throne of God, and performing various services besides. The four angels whom they look on as more eminently in God’s favour, and often mention on account of the offices assigned them, arc, Gabriel, to whom they give several titles, particularly those of the Holy Spirit, and the Angel of Revelations, supposing him to be honoured by God with a greater confidence than any other, and to be employed in writing down the divine decrees; Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews; Az-rael, the angel of death, who separates men’s souls from their bodies; and Israsil, whose office it will be to sound the trumpet at the resurrection. The Mahommedans also believe that two guardian angels attend on every man, to observe and write down his actions; that they are changed every day, and therefore belong to al Moakkibat, or the angels who continually succeed one another. The devil, whom Mahommed names Eblis, from his despair, was once one of those angels who were nearest to God’s presence, being called Azazil; and he fell, according to the doctrine of the Koran, for refusing to pay homage to Adam at the command of God. Besides angels and devils, the Mahommedans are taught by the Koran to believe in an intermediate order of creatures, which they call jin or genii, created also of fire, but of a grosser fabric than angels, since they eat and drink, and propagate their species, and are subject to death. Some of these are supposed to be good’and others bad, and capable of future salvation or damnation, as men are; and henceMahommed pretended to be sent for the conversion of genii as well as for that of men.

As to the Scriptures, the Mahommedans are taught by the Koran, that God, in different ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several prophets, the whole and every one of which it is absolutely necessary for a good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books was, according to them, a hundred and four. Of these, ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus, and Mahommed; but the last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations are now closed, and are no more to be expected. All these divine books, except the four last, they admit to be now entirely lost, and their contents unknown; though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some of the antediluvian prophets. And of these four, the Pentateuch, Psalms, and Gospel have, according to them, undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that, though there may possibly be found therein some part of the true word of God, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians. The Mahommedans have also a gospel in Arabic, attributed to St Barnabas, in which the history of Jesus Christ is related in a manner very different from that in which we find it narrated in the true gospels, and corresponding to those traditions which Mahommed has followed in his Koran. Of this gospel the Moriscoes in Africa have a translation in Spanish; and there was, in the library of Prince Eugene of Savoy, a manuscript of some antiquity, containing an Italian translation of the same gospel, made, it is to be supposed, for the use of renegades. This book appears to be no original forgery of the Mahommedans; though they have, doubtless, interpolated and altered it since, the better to serve their purpose; and in particular, instead of the Paraclete, or Comforter, they have in this apocryphal gospel inserted the word Periclyte, meaning the “famous” or “illustrious,” by which they pretend their prophet was foretold by name, that being the signification of “Mohammed” in Arabic; and this they say to justify that passage of the Koran where Jesus Christ is formally asserted to have foretold his coming, under his other name of Ahmed, which is derived from the same root as “Mohammed,” and of the same import. From these, and some other forgeries of the same stamp, the Mahommedans quote several passages, of which there are not the least traces to be found in the New Testament.

The number of the prophets which have from time to time been sent by God into the world, amounts to no less than two hundred and twenty-four thousand according to one Mahommedan tradition, or to a hundred and twenty-four thousand according to another. Amongst these were three hundred and thirteen apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from infidelity and superstition; whilst six, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mahommed, introduced new laws or dispensations, which successively abrogated those that preceded them. All the prophets in general the Mahommedans believe to have been free from great sins and errors of consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is, Islamism, notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they may have observed. They allow of degrees amongst them, and hold some to be more excellent and honourable than others. The first place they give to the authors and founders of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles. In this great number of prophets, they not only reckon various patriarchs and persons named in Scripture, but not recorded to have been prophets, such as Adam, Seth, Lot, Ishmael, Nun, Joshua, and others, and introduce some of them under different names, as Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are called, in the Koran, Edris, Hud, and Shoaib; but likewise several others whose very names do not appear in Scripture, though they endeavour to find some persons there with whom to connect them, as Saleh, Khedr, Dhu’lkefl, and others.

The belief of a general resurrection and a future judgment forms part of the creed of Islamism. 7 When a corpse is laid in the grave, they say it is received by an angel, who gives notice of the coming of the two examiners, two black and livid angels, of a terrible appearance, named Manlier and Nahir. These order the dead person to sit upright, and then examine him concerning his faith as to the unity of God, and the mission of Mahommed. If he answer rightly, they suffer the body to rest in peace, and it is refreshed by the air of paradise; but if otherwise, they beat him on the temples with iron maces, till from anguish he roars out so loudly that he is heard by all from east to west, excepting men and genii. They then press the earth on the corpse, which is gnawed and stung till the resurrection, by ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each; or,as others say, their sins become venomous beasts, the more grievous ones stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents; circumstances which some understand in a figurative sense. As to the soul, they hold, that, when it is separated from the body by the angel of death, who performs his office with ease and gentleness towards the good, and with violence towards the wicked, it enters into that which they call al berzahlι, or the interval between death and the resurrection. If the departed person was a believer, they say two angels meet the soul, and convey it to heaven, that its place there may be assigned, according to its merit and degree. They distinguish the souls of the faithful into three classes; the first, those of prophets, whose [7:14:34]spirits are admitted into paradise immediately; the second, those of martyrs, whose spirits, according to a tradition of Mahommed, rest in the crops of green birds, which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers of paradise; and the third, those of other believers, concerning the state of whose souls before the resurrection there are various opinions.

Though some amongst the Mahommedans have thought that the resurrection will be merely spiritual, and no more than the returning of the soul to the place whence it first came, an opinion defended by Ebn Sina, and called by some the “opinion of the philosophers ;” and others, who allow man to consist of body only, allege that it will be merely corporeal; the received opinion is, that both body and soul will be raised, and their doctors argue strenuously for the possibility of the resurrection of the body, and dispute with great subtilty concerning the manner of it. But Mahommed.has taken care to preserve one part of the body, whatever becomes of the rest, to serve as a basis for the future edifice, or rather a leven for the mass which is to be joined to it. He taught that a man’s body was entirely consumed by the earth, excepting only the bone called al ajb, which we name the os coccygis i or rump-bone; and that, as it was the first formed in the human body, it will also remain uncorrupted till the last day, as a seed whence the whole is to be renewed; and this, he said, would be effected by a forty years’ rain, which God would send, and which would cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants. In this also Mahommed is beholden to the Jews, who say the same thing of the bone luz, excepting that what he attributes to a great rain will, according to them, be effected by a dew impregnating the dust of the earth.

The time of the resurrection the Mahommedans allow to be a perfect secret to all but to God alone; the angel Gabriel himself having acknowledged his ignorance on this point when Mahommed asked him about it. The approach of that day may, however, be known from certain signs which are to precede it. These signs are distinguished into two sorts, the lesser and the greater. The lesser signs are, the decay of faith amongst men; the advancing of the meanest persons to eminent dignity, a maid-servant becoming the mother of her mistress (or master), by which is meant, either that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality, or that the Mahommedans shall then take many captives; tumults and seditions; a war with the Turks; great distress in the world, so that a man, when he passes by another’s grave, shall say, Would to God that I were in his place; the provinces of Irak and Syria refusing to pay their tribute; and the buildings of Medina reaching even unto Yahab. Amongst the greater signs may be mentioned, the sun’s rising in the west, which some have imagined it originally did; and the appearance of the beast, which shall rise out of the earth, in the temple of Mekka, or on Mount Safa, or in the territory of Tayer, or in some other place. This beast, they say, is to be sixty cubits in height; though others, not satisfied with so small a size, will have her reach to the clouds and to heaven, when her head only is out, and that she will appear for three days, but show only a third part of her body. They describe this monster as, in respect of form, a compound of various species, having the head of a bull, the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the horns of a stag, the neck of an ostrich, the breast of a lion, the colour of a tiger, the back of a cat, the tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, and the voice of an ass. Some say that this beast is to appear three times in several places, and that she will bring with her the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon, and, being so swift that none can overtake or escape her, will with the first strike all the believers on the face, and mark them with the word mumen y or believer; and with the latter will likewise mark the unbelievers on the face with the word kiafir i or infidel, that every person may be known for what he really is. They add, that the same beast is to demonstrate the vanity of all religions except Islamism, and to speak Arabic. All this stuff seems to be the result of a confused idea of the beast in the Revelation. The third sign is, war with the Greeks, and the taking of Constantinople by seventy thousand of the posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls shall fall down whilst they cry out, “There is no God but God; God is most great.” As they are dividing the spoil, tidings will come to them of the appearance of Antichrist, upon which they shall leave all, and return to the place whence they came. The fourth sign is the coming of Antichrist, whom the Mahommedans call Ma-sib al Dajjal, that is, the false or lying Christ, and simply Al Dajjal. He is to be one-eyed, and marked on the forehead with the letters signifying kia t fir, or infidel. They say that the Jews give him the name of Messiah Ben David; and pretend that he is to come in the last days, and to be lord both of land and sea, and that he will restore to them the kingdom. The fifth sign is the descent of Jesus upon earth. They pretend that he is to descend near the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people are returned from the taking of Constantinople; that he is to embrace the Mahommedan religion, marry a wife, beget children, kill Antichrist, and at length to die after forty years’, or, according to others, twenty-four years’, continuance on earth. Under him, they say, there will be great security and plenty in the world; all hatred and malice will then be laid aside; lions and camels, bears and sheep, shall live in peace, and a child shall play with serpents unhurt. The sixth sign is, war with the Jews, of whom the Mahommedans are to make a prodigious slaughter; the very trees and stones discovering such of them as hide themselves, excepting only the tree called gharkad, which is the tree of the Jews. The seventh sign is the irruption of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called in the east. Yajuj and Majuj i of whom many things are related in the Koran and in the traditions of Mahommed. These barbarians, we are told, having passed the lake of Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army are to drink dry, will come to Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and his companions; until, at his request, God shall destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcasses, which, after some time, birds of prey will be sent to carry away at the prayers of Jesus and his followers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers, the Moslemins will burn for seven years together; and at last God will send a rain to cleanse the earth and to make it fertile. The eighth sign is to be a smoke which shall fill the whole earth. The ninth is an eclipse of the moon. Mahommed is reported to have said, that there would be three eclipses before the last hour; one to be seen in the east, another in the west, and a third in Arabia. The tenth sign is the returning of the Arabs to the worship of Allât and Al Uzza, and the rest of their ancient idols, after the decease of every one in whose heart there was faith equal to a grain of mustard seed, none but the very worst of men being left alive; for God, they say, will send a cold odoriferous wind, blowing from Syria Damascena, which shall sweep away the souls of all the faithful, and the Koran itself, so that men will remain in the grossest ignorance for a hundred years. The eleventh sign is the discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the retreating of the Euphrates, which will be the destruction of many; the twelfth is the demolition of the Kaaba, or temple of Mekka, by the Ethiopians; the thirteenth, the speaking of beasts and inanimate tilings; the fourteenth, the breaking out or fire in the province of Hedjaz, or, according to others, in Yemen; the fifteenth, the appearance of one of the descendants of Kahtan, who shall drive men before him by [7:14:35]means of his staff; the sixteenth, the coming of the Mohdi, or the Director, concerning whom Mahommed prophesied, that the world should not have an end till one of his own family should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own name, and whose father’s name should also be the same with his father’s name, and who should fill the earth with righteousness. This person the Shecites believe to be now alive, and concealed in some secret place till the time of his manifestation arrive; for they suppose him to be no other than the last of the twelve imams, named Mahommed Abu’lkasem, as their prophet was, and the son of Hassan al Askeri, the eleventh of that succession, having been born at Sermanrai, in the 255th year of the Hejira. From this tradition it is to be presumed that an opinion pretty current amongst the Christians took its rise, namely, that the Mahommedans are in expectation of their prophet’s return. The seventeenth sign is to be a wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign.

These are the greater signs, which, according to the doctrine of Islamism, are to precede the resurrection, but still leave the hour of it uncertain, for the immediate sign of its being come will be the first blast of the trumpet, which they believe will be sounded three times. The first they call the t’! blast of consternation,” at the hearing of which all creatures in heaven and earth shall be struck with terror, excepting those whom God shall please to exempt from it. The effects attributed to this first sound of the trumpet are very wonderful. It is believed that the earth will be shaken, and not only all buildings, but the very mountains levelled; that the heavens shall melt, the sun be darkened, the stars fall, upon the death of the angels who, as some imagine, hold them suspended between heaven and earth; and that the sea shall be troubled and dried up, or, according to others, turned into flames, the sun, moon, and stars being thrown into it. The Koran, to express the greatness of the terror of that day, adds, that women who give suck shall abandon the care of their infants, and that even the she-camels which have gone ten months with young (a most valuable part of the substance of that nation) shall be utterly neglected. A further effect of this blast will be that concourse of beasts mentioned in the Koran, although some doubt whether it is to precede or to follow the resurrection. They who suppose it will precede, think that all kinds of animals, forgetting their natural fierceness or timidity, will run together into one place, being terrified by the sound of the trumpet and the sudden shock of nature. The Mahommedans believe that this first blast will be followed by a second one, which they call the “blast of exinanition,” by which all creatures both in heaven and earth shall die or be annihilated, excepting those which God shall please to exempt from the common fate; and this, they say, shall happen in the twinkling of an eye, nay, in an instant, nothing surviving except God alone, with paradise and hell, and the inhabitants of those tw’O places, and the throne of glory. The last who shall die will be the angel of death. Forty years after this will be heard the “blast of resurrection,” when the trumpet shall be sounded for the third time by Israsil, who, together with Gabriel and Michael, will be previously restored to life, and, standing upon the rock of the temple of Jerusalem, shall, at God’s command, call together all the dry and rotten bones, and other dispersed parts of the bodies, and the very hairs, to judgment. This angel having, by the divine order, set the trumpet to his mouth, and called together all the souls from every part, will throw them into his trumpet, whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of God, they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so arise, according to a tradition of Mahommed, will be the prophet himself. For this birth the earth will be prepared by the rain above mentioned, which is to fall continually for forty years, and will resemble the seed of a man, and be supplied from the water under the throne of God, which is called “living water,” by the efficacy and virtue of which the dead bodies shall spring forth from their graves as they did in their mother’s womb, or as corn sprouts forth by common rain, until they become perfect; after which breath will be breathed into them, and they will sleep in their sepulchres till they are raised to life by the last trumpet.

When those who have risen shall have waited the limited time, the Mahommedans believe that God will at length appear to judge them; Mahommed undertaking the office of intercessor, after it shall have been declined by Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus, who shall beg deliverance only for their own souls. They say, that upon this solemn occasion God will come in the clouds surrounded by angels, and will produce the books in which the actions of every person are recorded by their guardian angels, and will command the prophets to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent. Then every one will be examined concerning all the words and actions uttered and done by him in this life; not as if God needed any information in these respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and acknowledgment of God’s justice. The particulars of which they are to give an account, as Mahommed himself enumerated them, are, 1st, of their time, how they spent it; 2d, of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how they' employed it; 3d, of their bodies, in what they exercised them; and, lastly, of their knowledge and learning, what use they made of them. To the questions we have mentioned each person shall answer, and make his defence in the best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by-casting the blame of his evil deeds upon others; so that a dispute shall arise even between the soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed. The soul will say, “O Lord, my body I received from thee; for thou createdst me without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to see with, or an understanding to apprehend with, till I came and entered into this body; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me.” The body', on the other side, will make this apology; “0 Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood, having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot that I could walk with, till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore punish it eternally, but deliver me.” But God will propound to them the parable of the blind man and the lame man. A certain king having a pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one of whom was blind, and the other lame; the former not being able to see the fruit, nor the latter to gather it. The lame man, however, seeing the fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders, and by that means he easily gathered the fruit, which they divided between them. The lord of the garden coming some time afterwards, and inquiring after his fruit, each began to excuse himself. The blind man said he had no eyes to see with; and the lame man, that he had no feet to approach the trees. But the king, ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished them both. And in the same manner will God deal with the body and the soul. As these apologies will not avail on that day, so it will be in vain for any one to deny his evil actions, since men and angels, and his own members, nay, the very earth itself, will be ready to bear witness against him.

At this examination, the Mahommedans also believe that [7:14:36]each person will have the book in which all the actions of his life are written delivered to him. These the righteous will receive into the right hand, and read with great pleasure and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take them, against their will, in their left, which will be bound at their back, their right hand being tied up to their necks.

To show the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, in which all things shall be weighed. It will be held by Gabriel; and it is of so vast a size that its two scales, one of which hangs over paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and hell. Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Koran concerning this balance allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of God’s equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is, that the words are to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves weighed, they say that the books in which they are written will be thrown into the scales, and according as those in which the good or evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given. Those whose balances laden with good works shall prove heavy, will be saved; but those whose balances are light, will be condemned. Nor will any one have cause to complain that God suffers good actions to pass unrewarded, because the wicked for the good they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.

This examination being ended, and every one’s works weighed in a just balance, that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature will take vengeance one upon another, or have satisfaction made them for the injuries which they have suffered. And since there will then be no other way of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by taking away a proportional part of the good works of him who offered the injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it. This being done, if the angels by whose ministry it is to be performed say, “Lord, we have given to every one his due, and there remaineth of this person’s good works so much as equalleth the weight of an ant,” God will, of his mercy, cause it be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, God will order that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will be the method of God’s dealing with mankind. As to brutes, after they shall have likewise taken vengeance upon one another, he shall command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to a more grievous punishment, so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence passed on the brutes, “Would to God that we were dust also.” As to the genii, many Mahommedans are of opinion that such of them as are true believers will undergo the same fate as the irrational animals, and have no other reward than the favour of being converted into dust; and for this they quote the authority of their prophet.

These trials being over, and the assembly dissolved, the Mahommedans hold that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right-hand way, and those who are destined to hell-fire will take the left; but both of them must first pass the bridge called in Arabic Al Sirat, which they say is laid over the midst of hell, and describe to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword, so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall be able to stand upon it; and, for this reason, most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable, though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this article. that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet. To add to the difficulty of the passage, he has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with briars and hooked thorns; which will, however, be no impediment to the good, for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning, or the wind, Mahommed and his Moslemins leading the way: whereas, from the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which directed the good to paradise, the wicked will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.

As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahommedans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned. The first, which they call Jehennam, will, according to them, be the receptacle of those who acknowledge one God, that is, the wicked Mahommedans, who, after having been there punished according to their demerits, will at length be released. The second, named Ladha,∙ they assign to the Jews; the third, named Al Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, named Al Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth, named Sakar, to the Magians; the sixth, named Al Jaliim, to the idolaters; and the seventh, or lowest and worst of all, which is called Al īīawyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but who in their hearts believed none. Over each of these apartments they believe that there will be set a guard of angels, nineteen in number, to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.

Mahommed, in his Koran and traditions, has been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer, both from intense heat and from excessive cold. We shall, however, enter into no detail respecting them here, but only observe, that the degrees of these pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to inhabit; and that he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the heat of which will cause his skull to boil like a cauldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called either life or death; and their misery will be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to the frequent expression of the Koran, “they shall remain therein for ever.” It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will be liable to eternal damnation; for the Moslemins, or those who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their sufferings. According to a tradition handed down from their prophet, the time during which these believers shall be detained there, will not be less than nine hundred years, nor more than seven thousand. And as to the manner of their delivery, they shall be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will therefore have no power; and that, being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the mercy of God, at the intercession of Mahommed and the blessed; upon which those who shall have been dead will be restored to life, and those whose bodies shall have contracted any filth from the flames and smoke of hell will be immersed in one of the rivers of paradise, called “the river of life,” the waters of which will wash them whiter than pearls.

The righteous, as the Mahommedans are taught to believe, having surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradise, [7:14:37]will be refreshed by drinking at the reservoir of the prophet, who describes it as an exact square of a month’s journey in compass; its water, which is supplied by two pipes from Al Cawthar, one of the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver, and more odoriferous than musk, with as many cups set around it as there are stars in the firmament, and of this water whoever drinks will thirst no more for ever. This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now approaching felicity. ∙

Though paradise be so frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is a dispute amongst the Mahommedans whether it be already created, or only to be created hereafter; the Motazalites and some other sectaries asserting that there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which the righteous will inhabit in the next life will be different from that which Adam was expelled from. However, the orthodox profess the contrary; maintain that it was created even before the world; and describe it from their prophet’s traditions. They say that it is situated above the seven heavens, or in the seventh heaven, and next under the throne of God; and to express the amenity of the place, they allege that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver; and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold, amongst which the most remarkable is the tree called Tuba, or the Tree of Happiness. Concerning this tree, they pretend that it stands in the palace of Mahommed, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer; and that it will be laden with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits, of surprising largeness, and of tastes unknown to mortals; so that if a man desire to eat of any particular kind, of fruit, it will be immediately presented to him; or, if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. They add, that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person, mounted on the fleetest horse, would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in a hundred years.

As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, particularly in a burning climate, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal ornament of that blessed place. Some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey, and all take their rise from the root of the tree Tuba. But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing damsels of paradise, called, from their large black eyes, Huτ-al-oyun, the enjoyment of whose society will be the principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk, being, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities, defects, and inconveniences incident to the sex, of the strictest modesty, and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that, as some traditions have it, one of them extends no less than four parasangs in length, and as many in breadth.

The name which the Mahommedans usually give to this happy mansion is Al Jannat, or the Garden; and sometimes they call it, with an addition, Jannat al Ferdaus, the Garden of Paradise; Jannat Aden, or the Garden of Eden (though they generally interpret the word Eden, not according to its acceptation in Hebrew, but according to its meaning in their own tongue, in which it signifies a settled or perpetual habitation); Jannat al Mawa, the Garden of Abode; Jannat al Naim, the Garden of Pleasure, and the like. By these several appellations some understand so many different gardens, or at least places of different degrees of felicity (for they reckon no less than a hundred of them in alD, the very meanest of which will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures and delights that one would conclude they must even sink under the enjoyment of them, had not Mahommed declared, that, in order to qualify the blessed for their happy state, God will give to every one the capabilities of enjoyment of a hundred men.

With regard to God’s absolute decree and predestination both of good and evil, the orthodox doctrine is, that whatever has or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or whether it be evil, proceeds entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table; God having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; a fate or predestination which it is not possible by any foresight or wisdom to avoid. Of this doctrine Mahommed makes great use in the Koran for the advancement of his designs; encouraging his followers to fight without fear, and even desperately, for the propagation of their faith, by representing to them, that all their caution cannot avert their inevitable destiny, or prolong their lives for a moment; and deterring them from disobeying or rejecting him as an impostor, by setting before them the danger they thereby incur of being, by the just judgment of God, abandoned to seduction, hardness of heart, and a reprobate mind, as a punishment for their obstinacy.

II. Of Religious Practice. In this the first point is Prayer, under which are also comprehended those legal washings or purifications which are necessary preparations thereto.

Of these purifications there are two degrees, one called ghost, being a total immersion or bathing of the body in water; and the other called wodu (by the Persians abdest’), which is the washing of the face, hands, and feet, after a certain manner. The first is required in some extraordinary cases only, as after having lain with a woman, or being polluted by emission of semen, or by approaching a dead body; women are also obliged to perform it after menstruation or childbirth. The latter is the ordinary ablution in common cases, and before prayer, and must necessarily be employed by every person before he can enter upon that duty. It is performed with certain formal ceremonies, which have been described by some writers, but which are much more easily apprehended by ocular observation, than by the best description.

That his followers might be more punctual in this duty, Mahommed is said to have declared, that “the practice of religion is founded on cleanliness,” which is the “one half of the faith,” and the “key of prayer,” without which it will not be heard by God. That these expressions may be the better understood, Al Ghazali reckons four degrees of purification; the first of which is the cleansing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements; the second, the cleansing of the members of the body from all wickedness and unjust actions; the third, the cleansing of the heart from all blameable inclinations and odious vices; and the fourth, the purging a man’s secret thoughts from all affections which may divert their attendance on God. The body, according to Him, is but as the outward shell, in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel.

Circumcision, though it be not once mentioned in the Koran, is yet held by the Mahommedans to be an ancient and.
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divine institution, confirmed by the religion of Islam, and, though not so absolutely necessary that it may not be dispensed with in some cases, yet highly proper and expedient. The Arabs used this rite for many ages before that of Mahommed, having probably learned it from Ishmael, though not only his descendants, but the Hamyarites and other tribes, practised the same rite. The Ishmaelites, we are told, used to circumcise their children, not on the eighth day, as is the custom of the Jews, but when about twelve or thirteen years old, at which age their father underwent that operation; and the Mahommedans imitate them so far as not to circumcise children before they are able distinctly to pronounce that profession of their faith, “There is no God but God, and Mahommed is the prophet of God but pitch on whatever age they please for the purpose, between six and sixteen or thereabouts.

Prayer was by Mahommed thought so necessary a duty, that he used to call it “the pillar of religion” and “the key of paradise and when the Thakifites, who dwelt at Tayer, sent, in the ninth year of the Hejira, to make their submission to the prophet, after the keeping of their favourite idol had been denied them, they begged at least that they might be allowed to dispense with saying the appointed prayers; but the prophet answered, that “There could be no good in that religion in which there was no prayer.”

That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Mahommed obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain stated times, viz. in the morning before sunrise; when noon is past, and the sun begins to decline from the meridian; in the afternoon before sunset; in the evening after sunset, and before the day be shut in; and after the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night. For this institution he pretended to have received a divine command from the throne of God himself, when he took his night journey to heaven; and the observation of the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Koran, though they be not particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid times, of which public notice is given by the Muezzins or Criers, from the steeples of the mosques, every conscientious Moslemin prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the mosque, or in any other place, provided it be clean, after a prescribed form, and with a certain number of praises or ejaculations, which the more scrupulous count by a string of beads, at the same time using certain postures of worship; all which have been particularly set down and described, and ought not to be abridged, unless in special circumstances, as on a journey, in preparing for battle, and other cases of a similar kind.

For the regular performance of the duty of prayer amongst the Mahommedans, besides the particulars above mentioned, it is also requisite that they should turn their faces, whilst they pray, towards the temple of Mekka, the quarter where the same is situated being for that reason pointed out within their mosques by a niche, which they call Al Mehrab, and without, by the situation of the doors opening into the galleries of the steeples. There are also tables calculated for the ready finding of the Keblah, or part towards which they ought to pray, in places where they have no visible direction to guide them.

Secondly, Alms are of two sorts, legal and voluntary. The legal alms are of indispensable obligation, being commanded by the law, which directs and determines both the portion to be given, and of what things it ought to be given; but the voluntary alms are left to every one’s choice, to give more or less as he shall think proper. The former kind of alms, some think, are properly called zacat, and the latter sadakat, though this last name be also frequently given to the legal alms. They are called zacat, either because they increase a man’s store by drawing down a blessing thereon, and produce in his soul the virtue of liberality, or because they purify the remaining part of one’s substance from pollution, and the soul from the filth of avarice; and sadakat, because they are a proof of a man’s sincerity in the worship of God. Some writers have called the legal alms tithes, but improperly, since in some cases they fall short, and in others exceed the proportion of a tenth part.

Thirdly, Fasting is a duty of so great moment, that Mahommed used to say it was “the gate of religion,” and that the “odour of the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to God than that of musk and Al Ghazali reckons fasting “one fourth part of the faith.” According to the Mahommedan divines, there are three degrees of fasting; 1st, the restraining the belly and other parts of the body from satisfying their lusts; i 2-dly, the restraining the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and other members, from sin; and, 3dly, the fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and restraining the thoughts from everything besides God.

lhe Mahommedans are obliged, by the express command of the Koran, to fast during the whole month of Ramadan, from the time that the new moon first appears till the appearance of the next new moon; during which period they must abstain from eating, drinking, and women, from daybreak till night or sunset. And this injunction they observe so strictly, that, whilst they fast, they suffer nothing to enter their mouths, or other parts of their body, esteeming the fast broken and null if they smell perfumes, take a clyster or injection, bathe, or even purposely swallow their spittle; some being so cautious that they will not open their mouths to speak, lest they should breathe the air too freely. The fast is also deemed void if a man kiss or touch a woman, or if he vomit designedly. But after sunset they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives till daybreak; though the more rigid begin the fast again at midnight. This fast is extremely rigorous and mortifying when the month of Ramadan happens to fall in summer (for the Arabian year being lunar, each month runs through all the different seasons in the course of thirty-three years); the length and heat of the days making the observance of it then much more difficult and uneasy than in winter. The reason given why the month of Ramadan was pitched on for this purpose is, that on that month the Koran was sent down from heaven. Some also pretend, that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, received their respective revelations in the same month.

Fourthly, The pilgrimage to Mekka is so necessary a point of practice, that, according to a tradition of Mahommed, he who dies without performing it may as well die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.

The temple of Mekka stands in the midst of the city, and is honoured with the title Alasjad al Elharam, “the sacred or inviolable Temple.” What is principally reverenced in this place, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a square stone building, denominated the Kaaba. To this temple every Mahommedan who has health and means sufficient ought, once in his life at least, to repair on a pilgrimage; nor are women excused from the performance of this duty. The pilgrims meet at different places near Mekka, according to the different parts whence they come, during the months of Shawal and Dhu’lkaada, being obliged to be there by the beginning of Dhu’lhajja, which, as its name imports, is peculiarly set apart for the celebration of this solemnity.

At the place above mentioned the pilgrims properly assume that character, when the men put on the lbram or sacred habit, which consists only of two woollen wrappers, one wrapped about the middle to cover their nakedness, and the other thrown over their shoulders, having their heads bare, and a kind of slippers which cover neither the heel nor the instep, and thus they enter the sacred territory in their way to [7:14:39]Mekka. Whilst they wear this habit they must neither hunt nor fowl, though they are allowed to fish; a precept which is so punctually observed, that they will not kill even vermin if they should find them on their bodies. There are some noxious animals, however, which they have permission to kill during their pilgrimage, as kites, ravens, scorpions, mice, and dogs given to bite. During the pilgrimage, it behoves a man to keep a constant guard upon his words and actions; to avoid all quarrelling or bad language, all converse with women, and all obscene discourse, and to apply his whole attention to the good work in which he is engaged.

The pilgrims, having arrived at Mekka, immediately visit the temple, and enter upon the performance of the prescribed ceremonies, which consist chiefly in going in procession round the Kaaba, in running between the Mounts Safa and Merwa, in making the station upon Mount Arafat, and slaying the victims and shaving their heads in the valley of Mina. In compassing the Kaaba, which they do seven times, beginning at the corner where the black stone is fixed, they use a short quick pace the first three times they go round it, and a grave ordinary pace the last four; a practice which, it is said, was ordered by Mahommed, that his followers might show themselves strong and active, to cut off the hopes of the infidels, who gave out that the immoderate heats of Medina had rendered them weak. The quick pace, however, they are not obliged to exert every time they perform this piece of devotion, but only at some particular times. As often as they pass by the black stone, they either kiss it, or touch it with their hand, and then kiss that member. The running between Safa and Merwa is also performed seven times, partly at a slow pace and partly with speed. They walk gravely till they come to a place between two pillars, and there they run, and afterwards walk again, sometimes looking back, and sometimes stooping, like one who had lost something, to represent Hagar seeking water for her son, the ceremony being said to be as ancient as her time.

On the ninth of Dhu’lhajja, after morning prayer, the pilgrims leave the valley of Mina, whither they had arrived the day before, and proceed in a tumultuous and rushing manner to Mount Arafat, where they stay to perform their devotions till sunset; then they go to Mozdalifa, an oratory between Arafat and Mina, and there spend the night in prayer and reading the Koran. The next morning by daybreak they visit Al Masher al Karam, or the Sacred Monument; and, departing thence before sunrise, hasten by Batn Mohasser to the valley of Mina, where they throw seven stones at three marks or pillars, in imitation of Abraham, who, meeting the devil in that place, and being by him disturbed in his devotions, or tempted to disobedience when he was going to sacrifice his son, was commanded by God to drive him away by throwing stones at him. But others pretend that this rite is as old as Adam, who also put the devil to flight in the same place, and by the same means. This ceremony being over, on the same day, the tenth of Dhu’lhajja, the pilgrims slay their victims in the valley of Mina; and of these they and their friends eat part, whilst the rest is given to the poor. The victims must be either sheep, goats, kine, or camels; males if of either of the two former kinds, and females if of either of the latter, and also of a proper age. When the sacrifices are ended, they shave their heads and cut their nails, after which the pilgrimage is looked upon as completed; though they again visit the Kaaba, in order to take their leave of that sacred building.

The rapid success which attended the propagation of this new religion was owing to causes which are sufficiently obvious, and must remove, or rather prevent, any surprise, when they are attentively considered. The terror of Mahommed’s arms, and the repeated victories gained by him and his successors, were no doubt the irresistible arguments which persuaded such multitudes to embrace his religion and submit to his dominion. Besides, his law was artfully adapted to the corrupt nature of man, more particularly to the manners and opinions of the eastern nations, and the vices to which they were naturally addicted; for the articles of faith which it proposed were few in number, and extremely simple, and the duties which it required were neither many nor difficult, nor such as were incompatible with the empire of appetites and passions. It may also be observed, that the gross ignorance under which the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greater part of the eastern nations, laboured at this time, rendered many an easy prey to the artifice and eloquence of this bold adventurer. To these causes may be added the bitter dissensions and cruel animosities which reigned amongst the Christian sects, particularly the Greeks, Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monophysites; dissensions which filled a great part of the East with carnage, assassinations, and other detestable enormities, which rendered the very name of Christianity odious. We may further add, that the Monophysites and Nestorians, full of resentment against the Greeks, from whom they had suffered the bitterest and most injurious treatment, assisted the Arabians in the conquest of several provinces, into which, of course, the religion of Mahommed was afterwards introduced. The contrast between Chtisrianity and Islamism is therefore abundantly striking.

The Christian religion is the religion of a civilized people, and is entirely spiritual; in it everything tends to mortify the senses, nothing to excite them. Islamism is the religion of a people in the infancy of civilization, and it appeals to the senses alone. Mahommed promised to his followers odoriferous baths, rivers of milk, black eyed houris, and groves of perpetual shade; and the Arab, thirsting for water, and parched by a burning sun, was ready to do any thing for such a recompence. The reward which Christ promised to the elect was that they should see God face to face. Hence it maybe justly said that the religion of Christ is a menace, whilst that of Mahommed is, on the other hand, a promise. The one seeks to mortify the senses and subdue the passions; the other to excite and inflame them by the promise of unlimited enjoyment. The essential difference of these religions is also strongly marked by the history of their respective establishment. The progress of Christianity was slow, and three or four centuries elapsed before it attained a firm footing in the world. It requires much time to destroy, by the mere influence of persuasion, a religion consecrated by time, and still more when the new faith neither appeals to any prejudices, nor kindles any passion, nor admits any temporal auxiliaries. The progress of Islamism was, on the other hand, rapid, and, even before the death of the prophet, it had established itself in the countries where it was first preached. Unlike Jesus Christ, who declared that his kingdom was not of this world, Mahommed became a king; and, having declared that the whole universe ought to be subjected to his sway, he ordered his followers to employ the sword to destroy idolaters and infidels. Hence, as soon as Islamism had triumphed at Mekka and Medina, it served as a rallying point to the different Arabic tribes; the idolaters of Arabia were soon converted or destroyed; the infidels in Asia, in Syria, and in Egypt, were attacked and conquered; and a whole nation, imbued with a fanatical spirit, precipitated itself upon its neighbours. Christianity proclaimed peace on earth, and good will to men. Islamism preached intolerance and the destruction of infidels. Accordingly, the one advanced slowly and imperceptibly; whilst the progress of the other was that of an overwhelming torrent, and the Arabian armies, impelled by fanaticism, at once attacked the Ilo- ,man empire and that of Persia. In the history of its diffusion, Christianity presents the most striking evidence of [7:14:40]its divine origin and the omnipotence of truth. But it is not so with Islamism, which, engendered in fanaticism, was propagated by the sword, and established by terror, by conquest, and by extermination.