Chapter 50, Part 3, of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 5. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 5, Chapter 50, Part 3. Arabia was free. The adjacent kingdoms were shaken by the storms of conquest and tyranny, and the persecuted sects fled to the happy land where they might profess what they thought and practice what they professed. The religion of the Sabians and the Magians of the Jews and Christians were disseminated from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. In a remote period of antiquity, Sabianism was diffused over Asia by the science of the Chaldeans and the arms of the Assyrians. From the observations of 2,000 years, the priests and astronomers of Babylon deduced the eternal laws of nature and providence. They adored the seven gods or angels who directed the course of the seven planets and shed their irresistible influence on the earth. The attributes of the seven planets, with the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twenty-four constellations of the northern and southern hemisphere, were represented by images and talismans. The seven days of the week were dedicated to the respective deities. The Sabians prayed thrice each day, and the Temple of the Moon at Heran was the term of their pilgrimage. But the flexible genius of their faith was always ready either to teach or to learn. In the tradition of the creation, the Deluge and the Patriarchs, they held a singular agreement with their Jewish capitives. They appealed to the secret books of Adam, Seth, and Enoch, and a slight diffusion of the Gospel has transformed the last remnant of the Polytheists and to the Christians of Saint John in the territory of Basra. The altars of Babylon were overturned by the Magians, but the injuries of the Sabians were revenged by the sword of Alexander. Persia groaned about five hundred years under a foreign yoke, and the purest disciples of Zoroaster escaped from the contagion of idolatry and breathed with their adversaries the freedom of the desert. Seven hundred years before the death of Muhammad, the Jews were settled in Arabia, and a far greater multitude was expelled from the Holy Land in the wars of Titus and Hadrian. The industrious exiles aspired to liberty and power. They erected synagogues in the cities and castles in the wilderness, and their Gentile converts were confounded with the children of Israel, whom they resembled in the outward mark of circumcision. The Christian missionaries were still more active and successful. The Catholics asserted their universal reign. The sects, whom they oppressed, successfully retired beyond the limits of the Roman Empire. The Martianites, the Manicheans, dispersed their fantastic opinions and apocryphal Gospels. The churches of Yemen and the princes of Hira and Ghassan were instructed in a pure creed by the Jacobite and Nestorian bishops. The liberty of choice was presented to the tribes. Each Arab was free to elect or to compose his private religion, and the rude superstition of his house was mingled with the sublime theology of saints and philosophers. A fundamental article of faith was inculcated by the consent of the learned strangers, the existence of one supreme God who was exalted above the powers of heaven and earth, but who has often revealed himself to mankind by the ministries of his angels and prophets, and whose grace or justice has interrupted by seasonable miracles the order of nature. The most rational of the Arabs acknowledged his power, though they neglected his worship, and it was habit rather than conviction which still attached them to the relics of idolatry. The Jews and Christians were the people of the book. The Bible was already translated into Arabic language, and the volume of the Old Testament was accepted by the concord of these implacable enemies. In the story of the Hebrew patriarchs, the Arabs were pleased to discover the fathers of their nation. They applauded the birth and promises of Ishmael, revered the faith and virtue of Abraham, traced his pedigree and their own to the creation of the first man, and imbibed with equal credulity the prodigies of the holy text and the dreams and traditions of the Jewish rabbis. The base and plebeian origin of Muhammad is an unskillful calamity of the Christians who exalt instead of degrading the merit of their adversary. His descent from Ishmael was a national privilege or fable, but if the first steps of the pedigree are dark and doubtful, he could produce many generations of pure and genuine nobility. He sprung from the tribe of Koreesh, and the family of Hashem, the most illustrious of the Arabs, the princes of Mecca, and the hereditary guardians of the Qaba. The grandfather of Muhammad was Abdul Matalb, the son of Hashem, a wealthy and generous citizen who relieved the distresses of famine with the supplies of commerce. Mecca, which had been fed by the liberality of the father, was saved by the courage of the son. The kingdom of Yemen was subject to the Christian princes of Abyssinia. Their vassal, Abraha, was provoked by an insult to avenge the honor of the cross, and the holy city was invested by a train of elephants and an army of Africans. A treaty was proposed, and in the first audience the grandfather of Muhammad demanded the restitution of his cattle. And why, said Abraha, do you not rather implore my clemency in favor of your temple, which I have threatened to destroy? Because, replied the intrepid chief, the cattle is my own, the Qaba belongs to the gods, and they will defend their house from injury and sacrilege. The want provisions, or the valor of the Koreesh, compelled the Abyssinians to a disgraceful retreat. Their disconfincher has been adorned with a miraculous flight of birds, who showered down stones on the heads of the infidels, and the deliverance was long commemorated by the era of the elephant. The glory of Abdul Matalib was crowned with domestic happiness. His life was prolonged to the age of 110 years, and he became the father of 6 daughters and 13 sons. His best beloved, Abdallah, was the most beautiful and modest of the Arabian youth. And in the first night, when he consummated his marriage with Amina of the noble race of the Zarites, 200 virgins are said to have expired of jealousy and despair. Muhammad, the only son of Abdallah and Amina, was born at Mecca, four years after the death of Justinian, and two months after the defeat of the Abyssinians, whose victory would have introduced into the Qaba, the religion of the Christians. In his early infancy he was deprived of his father, his mother, and his grandfather. His uncles were strong and numerous, and in the division of the inheritance, the orphaned share was reduced to five camels and an Ethiopian maidservant. At home and abroad, in peace and war, Abu Talib, the most respectable of his uncles, was the guide and guardian of his youth. In his 25th year he entered into the service of Khadijah, a rich and noble widow of Mecca, who soon rewarded his fidelity with the gift of her hand and fortune. The marriage contract, in the simple style of antiquity, recites the mutual love of Muhammad and Khadijah, describes him as the most accomplished of the tribe of Qorayesh, and stipulates a dowry of 12 ounces of gold and 20 camels, which was supplied by the liberality of his uncle. By this alliance the son of Abdallah was restored to the station of his ancestors, and the judicious matron was content with his domestic virtues, till, in the 40th year of his age, he assumed the title of a prophet and proclaimed the religion of the Quran. According to the tradition of his companions, Muhammad was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which a seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on his side the affections of a public or private audience. They applauded his commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted every sensation of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life, he scrupulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country. His respectful attention to the rich and powerful was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poorest citizens of Mecca. The frankness of his manner concealed the artifice of his views, and the habits of courtesy were imputed to personal friendship or universal benevolence. His memory was capacious and retentive, his wit easy and social, his imagination sublime, his judgment clear, rapid, and decisive. He possessed the courage both of thought and action, and although his designs might gradually expand with his success, the first idea which he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original and superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated in the bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect of Arabia, and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and seasonable silence. With these powers of eloquence, Muhammad was an illiterate barbarian. His youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading and writing. The common ignorance exempted him from shame or reproach, but he was reduced to a narrow circle of existence and deprived of those faithful mirrors which reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes. Yet the book of nature and of man was open to his view, and some fancy has been indulged in the political and philosophical observations which are inscribed to the Arabian traveler. He compares the nations and the religions of the earth, discovers the weaknesses of the Persian and Roman monarchies, beholds with pity and indignation the degeneracy of the times, and resolves to unite under one god and one king the invincible spirit and primitive virtues of the Arabs. Our more accurate inquiry will suggest that, instead of visiting the courts, the camps, the temples of the east, the two journeys of Muhammad into Syria were confined to the fairs of Bastra and Damascus, that he was only 13 years of age when he accompanied the caravan of his uncle, and that his duty compelled him to return as soon as he had disposed of the merchandise of Khadija. In these hasty and superficial excursions, the eye of genius might discern some objects invisible to his grosser companions, some seeds of knowledge might be cast upon a fruitful soil, but his ignorance of the Syriac language must have checked his curiosity, and I cannot perceive in the life or writings of Muhammad that his prospect was far extended beyond the limits of the Arabian world. From every region of that solitary world, the pilgrims of Mecca were annually assembled by the cause of devotion and commerce. In the free concourse of multitudes, a simple citizen in his native tongue might study the political state and characters of the tribes, the theory and the practice of the Jews and Christians. Some useful strangers might be tempted or forced to implore the rites of hospitality, and the enemies of Muhammad have named the Jew, the Persian, and the Syrian monk, whom they accused of lending their secret aid to the composition of the Quran. Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius, and the uniformity of a work denotes the hand of a single artist. From his earliest youth, Muhammad was addicted to religious contemplation. Each year, during the month of Ramadan, he withdrew from the world and from the arms of Khadija. In the cave of Hera, three miles from Mecca, he consulted the spirit of fraud or enthusiasm, whose abode is not in the heavens but in the mind of the Prophet. The faith which, under the name of Islam, he preached to his family and nation is compounded of an internal truth and a necessary fiction, that there is only one God and that Muhammad is the apostle of God. It is the boast of the Jewish apologists that, while the lower nations of antiquity were deluded by the fables of polytheism, they are simple ancestors of Palestine, preserve the knowledge and worship of the true God. The moral attributes of Jehovah may not easily be reconciled with the standard of human virtue. His metaphysical qualities are darkly expressed. But each page of the Pentateuch and the prophets is in evidence of his power. The unity of his name is inscribed on the first table of the law, and his sanctuary was never defiled by any visible image of the invisible essence. After the ruin of the temple, the faith of the Hebrew exiles was purified, fixed and enlightened by the spiritual devotion of the synagogue, and the authority of Muhammad will not justify his perpetual reproach that the Jews of Mecca or Medina adored Ezra as the son of God. But the children of Israel had ceased to be a people, and the religions of the world were guilty, at least in the eyes of the prophet, of giving sons or daughters or companions to the supreme God. In the rude idolatry of the Arabs, the crime is manifest and audacious. The Sabians are poorly excused by the preeminence of the first planet or intelligence in their celestial hierarchy, and the Magian system, the conflict of the two principles, betrays the imperfection of the conqueror. The Christians of the 7th century had insensibly relapsed into the semblance of paganism. Their private and public vows were addressed to the relics and images that disgraced the temples of the east. The throne of the Almighty was darkened by a cloud of martyrs and saints and angels, the objects of popular veneration, and the Caledrian heretics, who flourished in the fruitful sorrel of Arabia, invested the Virgin Mary with the name and honors of a goddess. The mysteries of the Trinity and incarnation appear to contradict the principle of the divine unity. In their obvious sense they introduced three equal deities and transformed the man Jesus into the substance of the son of God. An orthodox commentary will satisfy only a believing mind. Intemperate curiosity and zeal had torn the veil of the sanctuary, and each of the oriental sects was eager to confess that all, except themselves, deserved the reproach of idolatry and polytheism. The creed of Muhammad is free from suspicion or ambiguity, and the Quran is a glorious testimony to the unity of God. The prophet of Mecca rejected the worship of idols and men, of stars and planets, on the rational principle that whatever rises must set, that whatever is born must die, and that whatever is corruptible must decay and perish. In the author of the universe, his rational enthusiasm confessed and adored an infinite and eternal being without form or place, without issue or similitude, present to our most secret thoughts, existing by the necessity of his own nature, and deriving from himself all moral and intellectual perfection. These sublime truths, thus announced in the language of the prophet, are firmly held by his disciples and defined with metaphysical precision by the interpreters of the Quran. A philosophic theist might subscribe the popular theory of the Muhammad's, a creed to sublime perhaps for our present faculties. What object remains for the fancy, or even the understanding, when we have abstracted from the unknown substance all ideas of time and space, of motion and matter, of sensation and reflection? The first principle of reason and revelation was confirmed by the voice of Muhammad. His proselytites from India to Morocco are distinguished by the name of Unitarians, and the danger of idolatry has been prevented by the introduction of images. The doctrine of internal decrees and absolute predestination is strictly embraced by the Muhammadians. They struggle with the common difficulties, how to reconcile the prescience of God with the freedom and responsibility of man, how to explain the permission of evil under the reign of infinite power and infinite goodness. The God of nature has written his existence on all his works and his law in the heart of man. To restore the knowledge of the one and the practice of the other has been the real or pretended aim of the prophets of every age. The liberality of Muhammad allowed to his predecessors the same credit which he claimed for himself, and the chain of inspiration was prolonged after the fall of Adam to the promulgation of the Quran. During that period some rays of prophetic light had been imparted to 124,000 of the elect, discriminated by their respective measure of virtue and grace. 313 apostles were sent with a special commission to recall their country from idolatry and vice. 104 volumes have been dictated by the Holy Spirit, and six legislators of transcendent brightness have announced to mankind six successive revelations of various rites, but of one immutable religion. The authority and station of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ and Muhammad rise in just graduation above each other, but whosoever hates or rejects any of one of the prophets is numbered with the infidels. The writings of the patriarchs were extant only in the apocryphal copies of the Greeks and Syrians. The conduct of Adam had not entitled him to the gratitude or respect of his children. The seven precepts of Noah were observed by an inferior and imperfect class of the proselytites of the synagogue. The memory of Abraham was obscurely revered by the Sabians in his native land of Kaldia. Of the myriads of prophets, Moses and Christ alone lived and reigned, and the remnant of the inspired writings was comprised in the books of the Old and New Testament. The miraculous story of Moses is consecrated and embellished in the Quran, and the captive Jews enjoy the secret revenge of imposing their own belief on the nations whose recent creeds they deride. For the author of Christianity, the Muhammeds are taught by the Prophet to entertain a high and mysterious reverence. Verily, Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary, is the apostle of God, and his word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit proceeding from him, honorable in this world, and in the world to come, and one of those who were approached near to the presence of God. The wonders of the genuine and apocryphal Gospels are profusely heaped on his head, and the Latin Church has not disdained to borrow from the Quran the immaculate conception of his virgin mother. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal, and at the day of judgment his testimony will serve to condemn both the Jews who reject him as a prophet and the Christians who adore him as the Son of God. The malice of his enemies dispersed his reputation and conspired against his life, but their intention only was guilty. A phantom or criminal was substituted on the cross, and the innocent saint was translated to the seventh heaven. During six hundred years the Gospel was the way of truth and salvation, but the Christians insensibly forgot both the laws and example of their founder, and Muhammed was instructed by the Gnostics to accuse the Church as well as the synagogue of corrupting the integrity of the sacred text. The piety of Moses and of Christ rejoiced in the assurance of a future prophet, more illustrious than themselves. The evangelical promise of the Pericles or Holy Ghost was prefigured in the name and accomplished in the person of Muhammed, the greatest and last of the apostles of God. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume 5, Chapter 50, Part 4 The communication of ideas requires a solitude of thought and language. The discourse of a philosopher would vibrate without effect on the ear of a peasant. Yet how minute is the distance of their understandings if it be compared with the contact of an infinite and a finite mind, with the word of God expressed by the tongue or the pen of a mortal. The inspiration of the Hebrew prophets of the apostles and evangelists of Christ might not be incompatible with the exercise of their reason and memory, and the diversity of their genius is strongly marked in the style and composition of the books of the Old and New Testament. But Muhammed was content with the character more humble yet more sublime of a simple editor. The substance of the Quran, according to himself or his disciples, is uncreated and eternal, subsisting in the essence of the deity, inscribed with the pen of light on the table of his everlasting decrees. A paper copy, in the volume of silk and gems, was brought down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, who, under the Jewish economy, had indeed been dispatched on the most important errands, and this trustee messenger successively revealed the chapters and verses to the Arabian prophet. Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the Quran were produced at the discretion of Muhammed. Each revelation is suited to the emergencies of his policy or passion, and all contradiction is removed by the saving maxim that any text of scripture is abrogated or modified by any subsequent passage. The word of God and of the apostle was diligently recorded by his disciples on palm leaves and the shoulder bones of a mutton, and the pages, without order or connection, were cast into a domestic chest in the custody of one of his wives. Two years after the death of Muhammed, the sacred volume was collected and published by his friend and successor, Abu Bekir. The work was revised by the Caliph, Uthman, in the 30th year of the Hegira, and the various editions of the Quran assert the same miraculous privilege of a uniform and incorruptible text. In the spirit of enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet rests the truth of his mission on the merit of his book, audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the beauties of a single page, and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate this incomparable performance. This argument is most powerfully addressed to the devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to faith and rapture, whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds, and whose ignorance is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius. The harmony and copiousness of style will not reach, in a version, the European infidel. He will peruse within patience the endless, incoherent rhapsody of fable, and precept, and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea which sometimes crawls in the dust and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The divine attributes exalt the fancy of the Arabian missionary, but his loftiest strains must yield to the sublime simplicity of the Book of Job, composed in a remote age, in the same country, and in the same language. If the composition of the Quran exceeds the faculties of a man, to what superior intelligence should we ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes? In all religions, the life of the founder supplies the silence of his written revelation. The sayings of Muhammad were so many lessons of truth, his actions so many examples of virtue, and the public and private memorials were preserved by his wives and companions. At the end of 200 years, the Sana, or oral law, was fixed and consecrated by the labors of Al-Bukhari, who discriminated 7273 genuine traditions from a mass of 300,000 reports of a more doubtful or spurious character. Each day, the pious author prayed in the Temple of Mecca, and performed his ablutions with the water of Zimzim. The pages were successively deposited on the pulpit, and the sepulchre of the apostle, and the work has been approved by the four orthodox sects of the Sonites. The mission of the ancient prophets, of Moses and of Jesus, has been confirmed by many splendid prodigies, and Muhammad was repeatedly urged by the inhabitants of Mecca and Medina to produce a similar evidence of his divine legation, to call down from heaven the angel or the volume of his revelation, to create a garden in the desert or to kindle a conflagration in the unbelieving city. As often as he is pressed by the demands of the Qurayesh, he involves himself in the obscure boast of vision and prophecy, impeals to the internal proofs of his doctrine, and shields himself behind the providence of God, who refuses those signs and wonders that would deprecate the merit of faith and aggravate the guilt of infidelity. But the modest or angry tone of his apologies betrays his weakness and vexation, and these passages of scandal establish beyond suspicion the integrity of the Qur'an. The votaries of Muhammad are more assured than himself of his miraculous gifts, and their confidence and credulity increase as they are further removed from the time and place of his spiritual exploits. They believe, or affirm, that trees went forth to meet him, that he was saluted by stones, that water gushed from his fingers, that he fed the hungry, cured the sick, and raised the dead, that a beam groaned to him, that a camel complained to him, that a shoulder of mutton informed him of its being poisoned, and that both animate and inanimate nature were equally subject to the apostle of God. His dream of an nocturnal journey is seriously described as a real and corporal transaction. A mysterious animal, the borach, conveyed him from the Temple of Mecca to that of Jerusalem. With his companion, Gabriel, he successively ascended the seven heavens, and received and repaid the salutations of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the angels in their respective mansions. Beyond the seventh heaven, Muhammad alone was permitted to proceed. He passed the veil of unity, approached within two boshats of the throne, and felt a cold that pierced him to the heart when his shoulder was touched by the hand of God. After this familiar, though important conversation, he again descended to Jerusalem, remounted the borach, returned to Mecca, and performed in the tenth part of the night the journey of many thousand years. According to another legend, the apostle confounded, in a national assembly, the malicious charge of the courier, his resistless word split asunder the orb of the moon. The obedient planet stooped from her station in the sky, accomplished the seven revolutions around the kebab, saluted Muhammad in the Arabian tongue, and suddenly contracting her dimensions, entered at the collar, and issued forth through the sleeve of his shirt. The vulgar are amused with these marvelous tales, but the gravest of the Muslim and doctors imitate the modesty of their master and indulge a latitude of faith or interpretation. They might speciously allege that in preaching the religion it was needless to violate the harmony of nature, that a creed unclouded with mystery may be excused from miracles, and that the sort of Muhammad was not less potent than the rod of Moses. The polytheist is oppressed and distracted by the variety of superstition. A thousand rites of the Egyptian origin were interroven with the essence of the Mosaic law, and the spirit of the gospel had evaporated in the pageantry of the church. The prophet of Mecca was tempted by prejudice or policy or patriotism to sanctify the rites of the Arabians and the custom of visiting the holy stone of the kebab. But the precepts of Muhammad himself inculcate a more simple and rational piety. Prayer, fasting, and alms are the religious duties of a Muslim man. He is encouraged to hope that prayer will carry him half way to God, fasting will bring him to the door of his palace, and alms will gain him admittance. 1. According to the tradition of the nocturnal journey, the apostle, in his personal conference with the deity, was commanded to impose on his disciples the daily obligation of fifty prayers. By the advice of Moses he applied for an alleviation of this intolerable burden. The number was gradually reduced to five without any dispensation of business or pleasure or time or place. The devotion of the faithful is repeated at daybreak, at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening, and at the first watch of the night. And in the present decay of religious fervor, our travelers are edified by the profound humility and attention of the Turks and the Persians. Cleanliness is the key of prayer. The frequent lustration of the hands, the face, and the body, which was practiced of old by the Arabs, is solemnly enjoined by the Quran, and a permission is formally granted to supply with sand the scarcity of water. The words and attitudes of supplication, as it is performed either sitting or standing or prostrate on the ground, are prescribed by custom or authority. But the prayer is poured forth in short and fervent ejaculations. The measure of zeal is not exhausted by a tedious liturgy, and each Muslim for his own person is invested with the character of a priest. Among the theists who reject the use of images, it has been found necessary to restrain the wanderings of the fancy by directing the eye and the thought towards a kebla or visible point of the horizon. The prophet was at first inclined to gratify the Jews by the choice of Jerusalem, but he soon returned to a more natural partiality. In five times every day, the eyes of the nation, at Etrascan, at Fez, at Delhi, are devoutly turned to the holy temple of Mecca. Yet every spot for the service of God is equally pure. The Mohammedans indifferently pray in their chambers or in the street. As the distinction from the Jews and Christians, the Friday in each week is set apart for the useful institution of public worship. The people is assembled in their mosques, and the iman, some respectable elder, ascends the pulpit to begin the prayer and to pronounce the sermon. But the Mohammedan religion is destitute of priesthood or sacrifice, and the independent spirit of fanaticism looks down with contempt on the ministers and slaves of superstition. Two, the voluntary penance of the ascetics, the torment and the glory of their lives was odious to a prophet who censured in his companions a rash vow of estaining from flesh and women and sleep, and firmly declared that he would suffer no monks in his religion. Yet he instituted in each year a fast of thirty days, and strenuously recommended the observance as a discipline which purifies the soul and subdues the body. As a salutary exercise of obedience to the will of God and his apostle. During the month of Ramadan, from the rising to the setting of the sun, the Moslemans abstains from eating, and women and baths and perfumes, and from all nourishment that can restore his strength, from all pleasure that can gratify his senses. In the revolution of the lunar year, the Ramadan coincides by turns with the winter cold and the summer heat, and the patient martyr, without assuaging his thirst with a drop of water, must expect the clothes of a tedious and sultry day. The interdiction of wine, peculiar to some orders of the priests or hermits, is converted by Muhammad alone into a positive and general law, and a considerable portion of the globe has abjured, at his command, the use of that salutary, though dangerous, liquor. These painful restraints are doubtless infringed by the libertine, and eluded by the hypocrite, but the legislator, by whom they are enacted, cannot surely be accused of alluring his proselytites by the indulgence of their sensual appetites. Three, the charity of the Muhammadans descends to the animal creation, and the Quran repeatedly inculcates, not as a merit, but as a strict and indispensable duty, the relief of the indigent and unfortunate. Muhammad, perhaps, is the only law-giver who has defined the precise measure of charity. The standard may vary with the degree and nature of property, as it consists either in money or corn or cattle, in fruits or merchandise, but the Muslim man does not accomplish the law, unless he bestows a truth of his revenue, and if his consciousness accuses him of fraud or extortion, the tenth, under the idea of restitution, is enlarged to a fifth. Benevolence is the foundation of justice, since we are forbid to injure those whom we are bound to assist. A prophet may reveal the secrets of heaven and futurity, but in his moral precepts he can only repeat the lessons of his own hearts. The two articles of belief and the four practical duties of the Islam are guarded by rewards and punishments, and the faith of the Muslim man is devoutly fixed on the event of the judgment and the last day. The prophet has not presumed to determine the moment of that awful catastrophe, though he darkly announces the signs, both in heaven and earth, which will precede the universal dissolution, when life shall be destroyed and the order of creation shall be confounded in the primitive chaos. At the blast of the trumpet new worlds will start into being. Angels, genii, and men will arise from the dead, and the human soul will again be united to the body. The doctrine of resurrection was first entertained by the Egyptians, and their mummies were embalmed. Their pyramids were consecrated to preserve the ancient mansion of the souls during a period of 3,000 years. But the attempt is partial and unavailing, and it is with a more philosophic spirit that Muhammad relies on the omnipotence of the Creator, whose word can reanimate the breathless clay and collect the innumerable atoms which no longer retain their form or substance. The intermediate state of the soul it is hard to describe, and those who most firmly believe her immaterial nature are at a loss to understand how she can think or act without the agency of the organs of sense. The reunion of the soul and body will be followed by the final judgment of mankind, and in its copy of the Magian picture, the prophet has too faithfully represented the forms of proceeding, and even the slow and successive operations of an earthly tribunal. By his intolerant adversaries, he is upgraded for extending, even to themselves, the hope of salvation, for asserting the blackest heresy that every man who believes in God and accomplishes good works may expect in the last day a favorable sentence. Such rational indifference is ill-adapted to the character of a fanatic, nor is it probable that a messenger from heaven should deprecate the value and necessity of his own revelation. In the idiom of the Quran, the belief of God is inseparable from that of Muhammad. The good works are those which he has enjoined, and the two qualifications imply the profession of Islam, to which all nations and all sects are equally invited. Their spiritual blindness, though excused by ignorance and crowned with virtue, will be scourged with everlasting torments. In the tears which Muhammad shed over the tomb of his mother, for whom he was forbidden to pray, display a striking contrast of humanity and enthusiasm. The doom of the infidels is common. The measure of their guilt and punishment is determined by the degree of evidence which they have rejected, by the magnitude of the heirs which they have entertained. The internal mansions of the Christians, the Jews, the Sabians, the Magians, and the idolaters are sunk below each other in the abyss, and the lowest hell is reserved for the faithless hypocrites who have assumed the mask of religion. After the greater part of mankind has been condemned for their opinions, the true believers only will be judged by their actions. The good and evil of each musulman will be accurately weighed in a real or allegorical balance, and a singular mode of compensation will be allowed for the payment of injuries. The aggressor will be fund in equivalent of his own good actions for the benefit of the portion whom he has wronged. And if he should be destitute of any moral property, the weight of his sins will be loaded with an adequate share of the demerits of the sufferer. According, as the shares of guilt or virtue shall preponderate, the sentence will be pronounced, and all without distraction will pass over the sharp and perilous bridge of the abyss. But the innocent, treading in the footsteps of Muhammad, will gloriously enter the gates of paradise, while the guilty will fall into the first and mildest of the seven hells. The term of expiration will vary from 900 to 7000 years. But the prophet has judiciously promised that all his disciples, whatever may be their sins, shall be saved by their own faith and his intercession from internal damnation. It is not surprising that superstition should act more powerfully on the fears of her votaries, since the human fancy can paint with more energy the misery than the bliss of a future life. With the two simple elements of darkness and fire, we create a sensation of pain which may be aggravated to an infinite degree by the idea of endless duration. But the same idea operates with an opposite effect on the continuity of pleasure, and too much of our patient enjoyments is obtained from the relief, or the comparison of evil. It is natural enough that an Arabian prophet should dwell with rapture on the groves, the fountains, and the rivers of paradise, but instead of inspiring the blessed inhabitants with the liberal taste for harmony and science, conversation, and friendship, he idly celebrates the pearls and diamonds, the robes of silk, the palaces of marble, dishes of gold, rich wines, artificial dainties, numerous attendants, and the whole train of sensual and costly luxury, which becomes insipid to the owner even in the short period of this mortal life. Seventy-two horus or black-eyed girls of resplendent beauty, blooming youth, virgin purity, and exquisite sensibility will be created for the use of the meanest believer. A moment of pleasure will be prolonged to a thousand years, and his faculties will be increased a hundredfold to render him worthy of his felicity. Notwithstanding a vulgar prejudice, the gates of heaven will be open to both sexes, but Muhammad is not specified the male companions of the female elect, lest he should either alarm the jealousy of their former husbands or disturb the felicity by the suspicion of an everlasting marriage. This image of a carnal paradise has provoked the indignation, perhaps the envy of the monks. They declaim against the impure religion of Muhammad, and his modest apologists are driven to the poor excuse of figures and allegories. But the sounder and more consistent party adhere, without shame, to the literal interpretation of the Quran. The meaningless would be the resurrection of the body, unless it were restored to its possession and exercise of its worthiest faculties. And the union of sensual and intellectual enjoyment is requisite to complete the happiness of the double animal, the perfect man. Yet the joys of the Muhammadan paradise will not be combined to the indulgence of luxury and appetite, and the Prophet has expressly declared that all meaner happiness will be forgotten and despised by the saints and martyrs to the beatitude or the divine vision. The first and most ardent conquests of Muhammad were those of his wife, his servant, his pupil, and his friend, since he presented himself as a prophet to those who were most conversant with his infirmities as a man. Yet Khadija believed the words and cherished the glory of her husband. The obsequious and affectionate Zaid was tempted by the prospect of freedom. The illustrious Ali, the son of Abu Talib, embraced the sentiments of his cousin with the spirit of a youthful hero. In the wealth, the moderation, and veracity of Abu Bekir confirmed the religion of the Prophet whom he was destined to succeed. By his persuasion, ten of the most respectable citizens of Mecca were introduced to the private lessons of Islam. They yielded to the voice of reason and enthusiasm. They repeated the fundamental creed, there is but one God, and Muhammad is the apostle of God. In their faith, even in this life, was rewarded with riches and honors, with the command of armies and the government of kingdoms. Three years were silently employed in the conversion of fourteen proselytites, the first fruits of his mission, but in the fourth year he assumed the prophetic office and resolving to impart to his family the light of divine truth he prepared a banquet, a lamb it is said, and a bowl of milk for the entertainment of forty guests of the race of Hashim. Friends and kinsmen said Muhammad to the assembly, I offer you and I alone can offer the most precious of gifts, the treasures of this world and of the world to come. God has commanded me to call you to his service. Who among you will support my burden? Who among you will be my companion and my vizier? No answer was returned, till the silence of astonishment and doubt and contempt was at length broken by the impatient courage of Ali, a youth in the fourteenth year of his age. O prophet, I am the man, whosoever rises against me I will dash out his teeth, tear out his eyes, break his legs, rip up his belly. O prophet, I will be thy vizier over them. Muhammad accepted his offer with transport, and Abu Talib was ironically exhorted to respect the superior dignity of his son. In a more serious tone, the father of Ali advised his nephew to relinquish his impractical design. Spare your remonstrances," replied the intrepid fanatic to his uncle and benefactor. If they should place the son on my right hand and the moon on my left, they should not divert me from my course. He persevered ten years in the exercise of his mission and the religion, which has overspread the east and the west, advanced with his slow and painful progress within the walls of Mecca.  The number of proselytites may be esteemed by the absence of eighty-three men and eighteen women who retired to Ethiopia in the seventh year of his mission and his party was fortified by the timely conversion of his uncle Hamza and of the fiercest and inflexible Omar, who signalized in the cause of Islam the same zeal which he exerted for its destruction. Nor was the charity of Muhammad confined to the tribe of Qorayesh or the precinct of Mecca. On solemn festivals, in the days of pilgrimage he frequented the Qaba, accosted the strangers of every tribe and urged both in private converse and public discourse the belief and worship of a soul deity. Conscious of his reason and of his weakness he asserted the liberty of conscious and disclaimed the use of religious violence. But he called the Arabs to repentance and conjured them to remember the ancient idolaters of Ad and Thamud, whom the Divine Justice had swept away from the face of the earth. End of Chapter 50 Part 4 Chapter 50 Part 5 Part 5 of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 Chapter 50 Part 5 The people of Mecca were hardened in their unbelief by superstition and envy. The sons of the city, the uncles of the prophet, affected to despise the presumption of an orphan, the reformer of his country. The pious orations of Muhammad in the Qaba were answered by the clamors of Abu Talib. Citizens and pilgrims, listen not to the tempter. Harken not to his impious novelties. Stand fast in the worship of Al-Lata and Al-Uza. Yet the son of Abdallah was ever dear to the aged chief and person of his nephew against the assaults of the Koreyeshites who had long been jealous of the preeminence of the family of Hashem. Their malice was colored by the pretense of religion. In the age of Job, the crime of impiety was punished by the Arabian magistrate and Muhammad was guilty of deserting and denying the national deities. But so loose was the policy of Mecca that the leaders of the Koreyesh instead of accusing a criminal were compelled to employ the measures of violence. They repeatedly addressed Abu Talib in the style of reproach and menace. Thy nephew reviles our religion. He accuses our wise forefathers of ignorance and folly. Silence him quickly, lest he kindle tumult and discord in the city. If he perseveres we shall draw our swords against him and his adherents and that will be responsible for the blood of thy fellow citizens. The weight and moderation of Abu Talib alluded to the violence of religious faction. The most helpless or timid of the disciples retired to Ethiopia and the Prophet withdrew himself to various places of strength in the town and country. As he was still supported by his family the rest of the tribe of Koreyesh engaged themselves to renounce all intercourse with the children of Hashem. Neither to buy nor to sell nor to marry nor to give in marriage but to pursue them with implacable enmity till they should deliver the person of Muhammad to the justice of the gods. The decree was suspended in the Qaba before the eyes of the nation. The messengers of the Koreyesh pursued the muslimen exiles in the heart of Africa. They besieged the Prophet and his most faithful followers, intercepted their water and inflamed their mutual animosity by the retaliation of injuries and insults. A doubtful truce restored the appearances of Concord, told the death of Abu Talib abandoned to the power of his enemies at the moment when he was deprived of his domestic comforts by the loss of his faithful and generous Khadija. Abu Sofyan, the chief of the branch of Omia, seceded to the principality of the Republic of Mecca. A zealous votary of the idols, a mortal foe of the line of Hashem, he convened an assembly of the Koreyeshites and their allies to decide the fate of the apostle. His imprisonment might provoke the despair of Islam and the exile of an eloquent and popular fanatic would diffuse the mischief throughout the provinces of Arabia. His death was resolved and they agreed that a sword from each tribe should be buried in his heart to divide the guilt of his blood and baffle the vengeance of the Hashemites. An angel, or a spy, revealed their conspiracy and flight was the only resource of Muhammad. At the dead of night, accompanied by his friend Abu Beker, he silently escaped from his house. The assassins watched at the door, but they were deceived by the figure of Ali, who reposed on the bed and was covered with the green vestment of the apostle. The Koreyesh respected the piety of the heroic youth, but some verses of Ali, which are still extant, exhibit an interesting picture of his anxiety, his tenderness and his religious confidence. Three days Muhammad and his companion were concealed in the cave of Thor at the distance of a leak from Mecca and in the closes of each evening they received from the son and daughter of Abu Beker a secret supply of intelligence and food. The diligence of the Koreyesh explored every haunt in the neighborhood of the city. They arrived at the entrance of the cavern, but the providential deceit of a spider's web and a pigeon's nest is supposed to have convinced them that the place was solitary and inviolate. We are only two, said the trembling Abu Beker. There is a third, replied the prophet. It is God himself. No sooner was the pursuit abated than the two fugitives issued from the rock and mounted their camels. On the road to Medina they were overtaken by the emissaries of the Koreyesh. They redeemed themselves with prayers and promises from their hands. In this eventful moment the lands of an Arab might have changed the history of the world. The flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medina has fixed the memorable Gira, which, at the end of 12 centuries, still discriminates the lunar years of the Mohammedan nations. The religion of the Koran might have perished in its cradle, had not Medina embraced with faith and reverence the holy outcasts of Mecca. Medina, or the city, known under the name of Yathreb, before it was sanctified by the throne of the prophet, was divided between the tribes of the Keragites and the Awasites, whose military feud was rekindled by the slightest provocations. Two colonies of Jews who boasted a sacri-dotal race were their humble allies, and without converting the Arabs, they introduced the taste of science and religion which distinguished Medina as the city of the book. Some of her noblest citizens in a pilgrimage to the Qaba were converted by the preaching of Mohammed. On their return they diffused the belief of God and his prophet, and the new alliance was ratified in two secret and nocturnal interviews on a hill in the suburbs of Mecca. In the first, ten Keragites and two Awasites united in faith and love protested in the name of their wives, their children, and their absent brethren that they would forever profess the creed and observe the precepts of the Koran. The second was a political association, the first vital spark of the empire of the Saracens. Seventy-three men and two women of Medina held a solemn conference with Mohammed, his kinsmen and his disciples, and pledged themselves to each other by a mutual oath of fidelity. They promised, in the name of the city, that if he should be banished they would receive him as a confederate, obey him as a leader, and defend him to the last extremity, like their wives and children. But if you are recalled by your country, they asked with a flattering anxiety, will you not abandon your new allies? All things, replied Mohammed with a smile, are now common between us. Your blood is as my blood, your ruin as my ruin. We are bound to each other by the ties of honor and interest. I am your friend, and the enemy of your foes. But if we are killed in your service, what, exclaimed the deputies of Medina, will be our reward? Paradise, replied the prophet. Stretch forth thy hand, he stretched it forth, they reiterated the oath of allegiance and fidelity. Their treaty was ratified by the people, who unanimously embraced the profession of Islam. They rejoiced in the exile of the apostle, but they trembled for his safety, and impatiently expected his arrival. After a perilous and rapid journey along the sea coast, he halted at Koba, two miles from the city, and made his public entry into Medina, sixteen days after his flight from Mecca. Five hundred of the citizens advanced to meet him. He was hailed with acclamations of loyalty and devotion. Muhammad was mounted on a she-camel, an umbrella shaded his head, and a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard. His bravest disciples, who had been scattered by the storm, assembled round his person, and the equal, though various merits of the Muslims were distinguished by the name of Mohigarians and Ansars, the fugitives of Mecca and the refugees of Medina. To eradicate the seeds of jealousy, Muhammad judiciously coupled his principal followers with the rights and obligations of brethren, and when Ali found himself without a peer, the prophet tenderly declared that he would be the companion and brother of the noble youth. The expedient was crowned with success. The holy fraternity was respected in peace and war, and the two parties vied with each other in a generous emulation and fidelity. Only once the concord was slightly ruffled by an accidental quarrel. A patriot of Medina arraigned the insolence of the strangers, but the hint of their expulsion was heard with abhorrence, and his own son most eagerly offered to lay at the apostles' feet, the head of his father. From the establishment of Medina, Muhammad assumed the exercise of the regal and sacrodotal office, and it was impious to appeal from a judge that the trees were inspired by the divine wisdom. A small portion of ground, the patrimony of two orphans was acquired by gift or purchase. On that chosen spot he built a house and a mosque, more venerable in their rude simplicity than the palaces and temples of the Assyrian caliphs. His seal of gold or silver was inscribed with the apostolic title. When he prayed and preached in the weekly assembly, he leaned against the trunk of a palm tree. It was long before he indulged himself in the use of a chair or pulpit of rough timber. After a reign of six years, fifteen hundred Muslims in arms and in the field renewed their oath of allegiance, and their chief repeated the assurance of protection till the death of the last member or the final dissolution of the party. It was in the same camp that the deputy of Mecca was astonished by the attention of the faithful to the words and looks of the prophet, by the eagerness with which they collected his spittle, a hair that dropped on the ground, the refuse water of his lustrations, as if they participated in some degree of the prophetic virtue. I have seen, said he, the coseres of Persia and the Caesar of Rome, but never did I behold a king among his subjects like Mohammed among his companions. The devout fervor of enthusiasm acts with more energy and truth than the cold and formal civility of courts. In the state of nature, every man has a right to defend by force of arms his person and his possessions to repel or even to prevent the violence of his enemies and to extend his hostilities to a reasonable measure of satisfaction and retaliation. In the free society of the Arabs, the duties of subject and citizen imposed a feeble restraint, and Mohammed in the exercise of a peaceful and benevolent mission was called and banished by the injustice of his countrymen. The choice of an independent people had exalted the fugitive of Mecca to the rank of a sovereign. He was invested with the just prerogative of forming alliances and waging offensive or defensive war. The imperfection of human rights was supplied and armed by the plentitude of divine power. The prophet of Medina assumed in his new revelations a fiercer and more sanguinary tone but the former moderation was the effect of weakness. The means of persuasion had been tried. The season of forbearance was elapsed and he was now commanded to propagate his religion by the sword and to destroy the monuments of idolatry and without regarding the sanctity of days or months to pursue the unbelieving nations of the earth. The same bloody precepts so repeatedly inculcated in the Quran are ascribed by the author to the Pentateuch and the Gospel but the mild tenor of the evangelical style may explain an ambiguous text that Jesus did not bring peace on the earth but a sword. His patient and humble virtues should not be confounded with the intolerant zeal of the princes and bishops who have disgraced the name of his disciples. In the prosecution of religious war Muhammad might appeal with more propriety to the example of Moses of the judges and the kings of Israel. The military laws of the Hebrews are still more rigid than those of the Arabian legislator. The lord of hosts marched in person before the Jews if a city resisted their summons the males without distinction were put to the sword. The seven nations of Canaan were devoted to destruction and neither repentance nor conversion could shield them from the inevitable doom that no creature within their precinct should be left alive. The fair option of friendship or submission or battle was proposed by the enemies of Muhammad. If they professed the creed of Islam they were admitted to all the temporal and spiritual benefits of his primitive disciples and marched under the same banner to extend the religion which they had embraced. The clemency of the prophet was decided by his interest yet he seldom trampled on a prostrate enemy and he seems to promise that on the payment of a tribute the least guilty of his unbelieving subjects might be indulged in their worship or at least in their imperfect faith.  The martial apostle fought in person at nine battles or sieges and fifty enterprises of war were achieved in ten years by himself or his lieutenants. The Arab continued to unite the professions of a merchant and a robber and his petty excursions for the defense or the attack of a caravan and possibly prepared his troops for the conquest of Arabia. The distribution of the spoil was regulated by a divine law. The whole was faithfully collected in one common mass. A fifth of the gold and silver the prisoners and cattle the movables and immovable were reserved by the prophet for pious and charitable uses. The remainder was shared in adequate portions by the soldiers who had attained the victory or guarded the camp. The rewards of the slain and orphans and the increase of cavalry was encouraged by the allotment of a double share to the horse and to the man. From all sides the roving Arabs were allured to the standard of religion and plunder. The apostle sanctified the license of embracing the female captives as their wives or concubines and the enjoyment of wealth and beauty was a feeble type of the joys of paradise prepared for the valiant martyrs of the faith. The sword, says Muhammad, he of heaven and of hell a drop of blood shed in the cause of God a night spent in arms is a more avail than two months of fasting or prayer. Whosoever falls in battle his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion and odiferous as musk and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and the cherubim. The intrepid souls of the Arabs were fired with enthusiasm. The picture of the invisible world was strongly painted on their imagination and the death which they had always despised became an object of hope and desire. The Quran inculcates in the most absolute sense the tenets of fate and predestination which would extinguish both industry and virtue if the actions of man were governed by a speculative belief. Yet their influence in every age has exalted the courage of the Saracens and Turks. The first companions of Muhammad with a fearless confidence there is no danger where there is no chance they were ordained to perish in their beds or they were safe and invulnerable and missed the darts of the enemy. Perhaps the Qurayesh would have been content with the flight of Muhammad had they not been provoked and alarmed by the vengeance of an enemy who could intercept their Syrian trade as it passed and repassed through the territory of Medina. Abu Sofyan himself and his followers conducted a wealthy caravan of a thousand camels. The fortune or dexterity of his march escaped the virgins of Muhammad but the chief of the Qurayesh was informed that the holy robbers were placed and ambushed to await his return. He dispatched a messenger to his brethren of Mecca and they were aroused by the fear of losing their merchandise and their provisions unless they hastened to his relief with the military force of the city. The sacred band of Muhammad was formed by 113 Muslims of whom 77 refugitives and the rest auxiliaries. They mounted by turns a train of 70 camels. The camels of Yathrab were formidable in war but such was the poverty of his first disciples that only two could appear on horseback in the field. In the fertile and famous veil of Bedair, three stations from Medina he was informed by his scouts of the caravan that approached on one side of the Qurayesh and a hundred horse, 850 foot, who advanced on the other. After a short debate he sacrificed the prospect of wealth to the pursuit of glory and revenge and a slight entrenchment was formed to cover his troops and a stream of fresh water that glided through the valley. Oh God! he exclaimed as the numbers of the Qurayesh descended from the hills. Oh God! If these are destroyed, by whom will thou be worshiped on the earth?  At these words he placed himself with Abu Bekir on a throne or pulpit and instantly demanded the Sukkur of Gabriel and 3,000 angels. His eye was fixed on the field of battle, the Muslims fainted and pressed. In that decisive moment the prophet started from his throne, mounted his horse and cast a handful of sand into the air, let their faces be covered with confusion. Both armies heard the thunder of his voice. Their fancy beheld the angelic warriors. The Qurayesh trembled and fled. Seventy of their bravis were slain and seventy captives adorned the first victory of the faithful. The dead bodies of the Qurayesh were despoiled and insulted. Two of the most obnoxious prisoners were punished with death and the ransom of the others, 4,000 drachms of silver, compensated in some degree the escape of the caravan. But it was in vain that the camels of Abu Sofyan explored a new road through the desert and along the Euphrates. They were overtaken by the diligence of the Muslims and wealthy must have been the prize if 20,000 drachms could be set apart for the fifth of the apostle. The resentment of the public and private loss stimulated Abu Sofyan to collect a body of 3,000 men, 700 of whom were armed with curasses and 200 were mounted on horseback. 3,000 camels attended his march and his wife Henda, with 15 matrons of Mecca, incessantly sounded their timbrels to animate the troops and to magnify the greatness of Hobal, the most popular deity of the Qaba. The standard of God and Muhammad was upheld by 950 believers. The disproportion of numbers was not more alarming than in the field of better, and the presumption of victory prevailed in the divine and human sense of the apostle. The second battle was fought al-Mal-Ohud, 6 miles to the north of Medina. The Qurayesh advanced in the form of a crescent, and the right wing of the cavalry was led by Khalid, the fiercest and most successful of the Arabian warriors. The troops of Muhammad were skillfully posted on the declivity of the hill, and their rear was guarded by the attachment of 50 archers. The weight of their charge impelled and broke the center of the idolaters, but lost the advantage of their ground. The archers deserted their station. The Muslims were tempted by the spoil, disobeyed their general, and disordered their ranks.  He was indeed wounded in the face with the javelin. Two of his teeth were shattered with a stone. Yet in the midst of tumult and dismay he reproached the infidels with the murder of a prophet, and the hand that staunched the blood, and conveyed him to a place of safety. Seventy martyrs died for the sins of the people. They fell, said the apostle, in pairs, each brother embracing his lifeless companion. Their bodies were mangled by the inhuman females of Mecca, and the wife of Abu Sofyan tasted the entrails of Hamza, the uncle of Muhammad. They might applaud their superstition and satiate their fury, but the Muslims soon rallied in the field, and Koriash wanted strength or courage to undertake the siege of Medina. It was attacked the ensuing year by an army of 10,000 enemies, and this third expedition is variously named from the nations which marched under the matter of Abu Sofyan, from the ditch which was drawn before the city, and a camp of 3,000 Muslims. The prudence of Muhammad declined a general engagement. The valor of Ali was signalized in single combat, and the war attracted 20 days to the final separation of the Confederates. A tempest of wind, rain, and hail overturned their tents. Their private quarrels were fermented by an insidious adversary, and the Koriash, deserted by their allies, no longer hoped to subvert the throne or to check the conquests of their invincible exile. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The choice of Jerusalem for the first kebla of prayer discovers the early propensity of Muhammad in favor of the Jews, and happy would it have been their moral interest had they recognized in the Arabian prophet the hope of Israel and the promised Messiah. Their obstinacy converted his friendship into implacable hatred, with which he pursued that unfortunate people to the last moment of his life, and in the double character of an apostle and a conqueror, his persecution was extended to both worlds. The Kenoika, dwelt at Medina under the protection of the city, he seized the occasion of an immoral tumult and summoned them to embrace his religion, or contend with him in battle. Alas, replied the trembling Jews, we are ignorant of the use of arms, but we persevere in the faith and worship of our fathers. Why wilt thou reduce us to the necessity of a just defense? The unequal conflict was terminated in fifteen days, and it was with extreme reluctance that Muhammad yielded to the improprietunity of his allies, to spare the lives of the captives. But their riches were confiscated, their arms became more effectual in the hands of the Muslims, and a wretched colony of 700 exiles was driven with their wives and children to employ a refuge on the confines of Syria. The Nathorites were more guilty, since they conspired in a friendly interview to assassinate the prophet. He besieged their castle, three miles from Medina, in an honorable capitulation, and the garrison, sounding their trumpets and beating their drums, was permitted to depart with the honors of war. The Jews had excited and joined the war of the Khoriesh. No sooner had the nations retired from the ditch than Muhammad without laying aside his armor, marched on the same day to extirpate the hostile race of the children of Khoriata. After resistance of 25 days they surrendered at discretion. They were arrested to the intercession of their old allies of Medina. They could not be ignorant that fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity. A venerable elder to whose judgment they appealed pronounced the sentence of their death. 700 Jews were dragged in chains to the marketplace of the city. They descended alive into the grave prepared for their execution and burial. And the apostle beheld with an inflexible eye the slaughter of the people of Medina. The people of Medina, the sheep and camels were inherited by the Muslims. 300 curasses, 500 pikes, 1000 lances composed the most useful portion of the spoil. Six days journey to the northeast of Medina, the ancient and wealthy town of Kaibar was the seat of the Jewish power in Arabia. It was the event of impregnable strength. The forces of Muhammad consisted of 200 horses and 1400 foot. In the secession of eight regular and painful sieges they were exposed to danger and fatigue and hunger and the most undaunted chiefs disparate of the event. The apostle revived their faith encouraged by the example of Ali on whom he bestowed the surname of the lion of God. Perhaps we may believe that a Hebrew gigantic stanchor was cloven to the chest by his irresistible scimitar but we cannot praise the modesty of romance which represents him as tearing from its hinges the gate of a fortress and wielding the ponderous buckler in his left hand. After the reduction of the castles the town of Kaibar submitted to the yoke. The chief of the tribe was tortured in the presence of Muhammad to force a confession of his hidden treasure. The industry of the shepherds was rewarded with a precarious toleration. They were permitted so long as it should please the conqueror to improve their patrimony in equal shares for his a monument and their own. Under the reign of Omar the Jews of Kaibar were transplanted to Syria and the caliph alleged the injunction of his dying master that one and the true religion should be professed in his native land of Arabia. Five times each day the eyes of Muhammad returned towards Mecca and he was urged by the most sacred and powerful motives to revisit as a conqueror, the city and the temple from whence he had been driven as an exile. The Kaaba was present to his waking and sleeping fancy. An idle dream was translated into vision and prophecy. He unfurled the holy banner and a rash promise of success too hastily dropped from the lips of the apostle. He displayed the peaceful and solemn pomp of a pilgrimage. Seventy camels chosen and bedecked for sacrifice preceded the van. The sacred territory was respected and the captives were dismissed without ransom to proclaim his clemency and devotion. But no sooner did Muhammad descend into the plain within today's journey of the city than he exclaimed they have clothed themselves with the skin of tigers. The numbers and resolution of the courier of progress and the roving Arabs of the desert might desert or betray a leader whom they had followed for the hopes of spoil. The intrepid fanatics sunk into a cool and cautious politician. He waved in the treaty his title of apostle of God. He concluded with the Koreesh and their allies a truce of ten years, engaged to restore the fugitives of Mecca who should embrace his religion and stipulated only for the ensuing year the humble privilege of entering the city as a friend and of remaining three days to accomplish the rights of the pilgrimage. A cloud of shame and sorrow hung on the retreat of the Muslims and their disappointment might justly accuse the failure of a prophet who had so often appealed to the evidence of success. The faith and hope of the pilgrims were rekindled by the prospect of Mecca. Their swords were sheathed seven times in the footsteps of the apostle they encompassed the Qaba. The Koreesh had retired to the hills and Muhammad, after the customary sacrifice evacuated the city on the fourth day. The people was edified by his devotion. The hostile chiefs were awed or divided or seduced and both Khalid and Amru the future conquerors of Syria and Egypt most seasonably deserted the sinking cause of idolatry. The power of Muhammad was increased by the submission of the Arabian tribes. 10,000 soldiers were assembled for the conquest of Mecca and the idolaters, the weaker party were easily convicted of violating the truce. Enthusiasm and discipline impelled the march and preserved the secret till the blaze of 10,000 fires proclaimed to the astonished Koreesh the design, the approach and the irresistible force of the enemy. The Halti, Abu Sofyan presented the keys of the city admired the variety of arms and insines that passed before him in review and observed that the son of Abdullah had acquired a mighty kingdom and confessed under the cemetery of Omar that he was the apostle of the true god. The return of Marius and Sulla was stained with the blood of the Romans. The revenge on Muhammad was stimulated by religious zeal and his injured followers were eager to execute or to prevent the order of a massacre. Instead of indulging their passions and his own, the victorious exile overgave the guilt and united the factions of Mecca. His troops in three divisions marched into the city. Eight and twenty of the inhabitants were slain by the sort of Khalid. Eleven men and six women were prescribed by the sentence of Muhammad but he blamed the cruelty of his lieutenant and several of the most obnoxious victims were indebted for their lives to his clemency or contempt. The chiefs of the Qurayesh were prostrate at his feet. What mercy can you expect from the man whom you have wronged? We confide in the generosity of our kinsmen and you shall not confide in vain. Be gone, you are safe, you are free. The people of Mecca deserved their pardon by the profession of Islam and after an exile of seven years the fugitive missionary was enthroned as the prince for the benefit of his native country. But the three hundred and sixty idols of the Qaba were ignominiously broken. The house of God was purified and adorned as an example to future times. The apostle again fulfilled the duties of a pilgrim and a perpetual law was enacted that no unbeliever should dare set his foot on the territory of the holy city. The conquest of Mecca determined the faith and obedience of the Arabian tribes according to the vicissitudes of fortune had obeyed or disregarded the eloquence or the arms of the prophet. Indifference for rights and opinions still marks the character of the Bedouins and they might accept as loosely as they hold the doctrine of the Korat. The fugitives and auxiliaries complained that they who had borne the burden were neglected in the season of victory. Alas! replied their artful leader. Suffer me to conciliate these recent enemies, these doubtful proselytites by the gift of some perishable goods. To your guard I entrust my life and fortunes.  He was followed by the deputies of Taif, who dreaded the repetition of a siege. Grant us, O apostle of God, a truce of three years with the toleration of our ancient worship. Not a month, not an hour. Excuse us at least from the obligation of prayer. Without prayer religion is of no avail. They submitted in silence. Their temples were demolished and the same sentence was executed on all the idols of Arabia. His lieutenants on the shores of the Red Sea, the ocean and the Gulf of Persia were saluted by the acclamations of a faithful people and visitors who knelt before the throne of Medida were as numerous, says the Arabian proverb, as the dates that fall from the maturity of a palm tree. The nation submitted to the God and the scepter of Muhammad. The appropriate name of tribute was abolished. The spontaneous or reluctant ablations of alms and tithes were applied to the service of religion. And 114,000 Muslims accompanied the last pilgrimage of the apostle. When Heraclius returned in triumph from the Persian war he entertained at Amessa one of the ambassadors of Muhammad who invited the princes and nations of the earth to the profession of Islam. On this foundation the zeal of the Arabians has supposed the secret conversion of the Christian emperor. The vanity of the Greeks has feigned a personal visit of the prince of Medina who accepted from the royal bounty a rich domain and a secure retreat to the province of Syria. But the friendship of Heraclius and Muhammad was of short continuance. The new religion had inflamed rather than assuaged the rapacious spirit of the Saracens and the murder of an envoy afforded a decent pretense for invading with 3,000 soldiers the territory of Palestine that extends to the eastward of the Jordan. The holy banner was entrusted to Zaid and such was the discipline or enthusiasm of the rising sect that the noblest chief served without reluctance under the slave of the prophet. On the event of his decease Jafar and Abdullah were successively substituted to the command and if the three should perish in the war the troops were authorized to elect their general. The three leaders were slain in the battle of Muta the first military action which tried the valour of the Muslims against a foreign enemy. Zaid fell like a soldier in the foremost ranks the death of Jafar was heroic and memorable he lost his right hand he shifted the standard to his left the left was severed from his body he embraced the standard with his bleeding stumps till he was transfixed to the ground with 50 honourable wounds advance, cried Abdullah who stepped into the vanquan place advance with confidence either victory or paradise is our own the lands of a Roman decided the alternative but the falling standard was rescued by Khalid the proselytite of Mecca nine swords were broken in his hand and his valour withstood and repulsed the superior numbers of the Christians in the nocturnal council of the camp he was chosen to command his skillful evolutions of the ensuing day ensured either the victory or the retreat of the seresons and Khalid is renowned among his brethren and his enemies by the glorious appellation of the sword of god in the pulpit Muhammad described with prophetic rapture the crowns of the blessed martyrs but in private he betrayed the feelings of human nature he was surprised as he wept over the daughter of Zaid what do I see? said the astonished moterie UC replied the apostle a friend who was deploying the loss of his most faithful friend after the conquest of Mecca the sovereign of Arabia affected the hostile preparations of Heraclius and solemnly proclaimed war against the Romans without attempting to disguise the hardships and dangers of the enterprise the Muslims were discouraged they alleged the want of money of horses, of provisions the season of harvest and the intolerable heat of the summer hell is much hotter said the indignant prophet he disdained to compel their service but on his return he admonished the next communication of 50 days their desertion enhanced the merit of Abu Beker Othman and the faithful companions who devoted their lives and fortunes and Muhammad displayed his banner at the head of 10,000 horse and 20,000 foot painful indeed was the distress of the march lassitude and thirst were aggravated by the scorching and pestilential winds of the desert 10 men rode by turns on the same camel used to the shameful necessity of drinking the water from the belly of that useful animal in the midway 10 days journey from Medina to Damascus they were posed near the grove and fountain of Tabuk beyond that place Muhammad declined the prosecution of the war he declared himself satisfied with the peaceful intentions he was more probably daunted by the martial army of the emperor of the east but the active and intrepid Khalid and the terror of his name and the prophet received the submission of the tribes and cities from the Euphrates to Isla at the head of the Red Sea to his Christian subjects Muhammad readily granted the security of their persons the freedom of their trade the property of their goods and the toleration of their worship the weakness of their Arabian brethren had restrained them from opposing his ambition the disciples of Jesus were endeared to the enemy of the Jews and the conqueror to propose a fair capitulation to the most powerful religion of the earth till the age of 63 years the strength of Muhammad was equal to the temporal and spiritual fatigues of his mission his epileptic fits and a surd calumny of the Greeks would be an object of pity rather than abhorrence but he seriously believed that he was poisoned at Kaibar by the revenge of a Jewish female during four years the health of the prophet had declined his infirmities increased but his mortal disease was a fever of 14 days which deprived him by intervals of the use of reason as soon as he was conscious of his danger he edified his brethren by the humility of his virtue or penitence if there be any man said the apostle from the pulpit whom I have unjustly scourged I submit my own back to the lash of retaliation to the reputation of a musulman let him proclaim my faults in the face of the congregation has anyone been dispoiled of his goods the little that I possess shall compensate the principle and the interest of the debt yes replied a voice from the crowd I am entitled to three drachms of silver Muhammad heard the complaint satisfied the demand and thanked his creditor for accusing him in this world rather than at the day of judgment he beheld with temperate firmness the approach of death and franchised his slaves 17 men as they are named and 11 women minutely directed the order of his funeral and moderated the lamentations of his weeping friends on whom he bestowed the benediction of peace till the third day before his death he regularly performed the function of public prayer the choice of Abu Beker to supply his place to that ancient and faithful friend as his successor in the sacrodotal and regal office but he prudently declined the risk and envy of a more explicit nomination at a moment when his faculties were visibly impaired he called for pen and ink to write or more properly to dictate a divine book the sum and accomplishment of all his revelations a dispute arose in the chamber whether he should be allowed to supersede the authority of the Quran and the prophet was forced to reprove the indecent veniments of his disciples if the slightest credit may be afforded to the traditions of his wives and companions he maintained in the bosom of his family and at the last moments of his life the dignity of an apostle and the faith of an enthusiast described the visits of Gabriel who bid an everlasting farewell to the earth and expressed his lively confidence not only of the mercy but of the favor of the supreme being in a familiar discourse he had mentioned his special prerogative that the angel of death was not allowed to take his soul till he had respectfully asked the permission of the prophet the request was granted and Muhammad immediately fell into the agony of his dissolution his head was reclined on the lap of Aisha the best beloved of all his wives he fainted with the violence of pain recovering his spirits he raised his eyes towards the roof of the house and with a steady look though a faltering voice uttered the last broken though articulate words oh god pardon my sins yes I come among my fellow citizens on high and thus peacefully expired on a carpet spread upon the floor an expedition for the conquest of Syria was stopped by this mournful event the army halted at the gates of Medina the chiefs were assembled round their dying master the city, more especially the house of the prophet was a scene of clamorous sorrow or silent despair fanaticism alone could suggest array of hope and consolation how can he be dead our witness our intercessor, our mediator with god by god he is not dead like moses and jesus he is wrapped in a holy trance and speedily he will return to his faithful people the evidence of sense was disregarded and Omar, unsheathing his scimitar threatened to strike off the heads of the infidels who should dare to affirm that the prophet was no more the tumult was appeased by the weight and moderation of Abu Beker is it Muhammad said he to Omar and the multitude or the god of Muhammad whom you worship the god of Muhammad liveth forever but the apostle was immortal like ourselves and according to his own prediction he has experienced the common fate of mortality he was piously interred by the hands of his nearest kinsmen on the same spot on which he expired Medina has been sanctified by the death and the burial of Muhammad and the innumerable pilgrims of Mecca often turn aside from the way to bow in voluntary devotion before the simple tomb of the prophet at the conclusion of the life of Muhammad it may perhaps be expected that I should balance his faults and virtues that I should decide whether the title of enthusiast or imposter more properly belongs to that extraordinary man had I been intimately conversant with the son of Abdullah the task would still be difficult and the success uncertain at the distance of twelve centuries I darkly contemplate his shade through a cloud of religious incense and could I truly delineate the portrait of an hour the fleeting resemblance would not equally apply to the solitary of Mount Hera to the preacher of Mecca and to the conqueror of Arabia the author of a mighty revolution appears to have been endowed with a pious and contemplative disposition so soon his marriage had raised him above the pressure of want he avoided the paths of ambition and avarice until the age of 40 he lived with innocence the unity of God is an idea most congenial to nature and reason in a slight conversation with the Jews and Christians would teach him the despise and detest the idolatry of Mecca it was the duty of a man and a citizen to impart the doctrine of salvation to rescue his country from the dominion of sin and error the energy of a mind incessantly bent on the same object would convert a general obligation into a particular call the warm suggestions of the understanding or the fancy would be felt as the inspirations of heaven the labor of thought would expire in rapture and vision and the inward sensation the invisible monitor would be described with the form and attributes of an angel of God from enthusiasm to impostature the step is perilous and slippery the demon of Socrates affords a memorable instance how a wise man may deceive himself how a good man may deceive others how the conscious may slumber in a mixed and middle state between self-illusion and voluntary fraud charity may believe that the original motives of Muhammad were those of pure and genuine benevolence but a human missionary is incapable of cherishing the obstinate unbelievers who reject his claims despise his arguments and persecute his life he might forgive his personal adversaries he might lawfully hate the enemies of God the stern passions of pride and revenge were kindled in the bosom of Muhammad and he sighed like the prophet of Nineveh for the destruction of the rebels whom he had condemned the injustice of Mecca and the choice of Medina transformed the citizen into a prince the humble preacher into the leader of armies but his sword was consecrated by the example of the saints and the same God who afflicts the world with pestilence and earthquakes might inspire for their conversion or chastisement the valor of his servants in the exercise of political government he was compelled to abate of the stern rigor of fanaticism to comply in some measure with the prejudices and passions of his followers and to employ even the vices of mankind as the instruments of their salvation the use of fraud and perfidy of cruelty and injustice were often subservient to the propagation of the faith and Muhammad commanded or approved the assassination of the Jews and idolaters who had escaped from the field of battle by the repetition of such acts the character of Muhammad must have been gradually stained and the influence of such pernicious habits would be poorly compensated by the practice of the personal and social virtues which are necessary to maintain the reputation of a prophet among his sectaries and friends of his last years ambition was the ruling passion and a politician will suspect that he secretly smiled the victorious imposter at the enthusiasm of his youth and the credulity of his proselytites a philosopher will observe that their credulity and his success would tend more strongly to fortify the assurance of his divine mission that his interest and religion were inseparably connected and that his conscious would be soothed by the persuasion that he alone was absolved by the deity from the obligation of positive and moral laws if he retained any vestige of his native innocence the sins of Muhammad may be allowed as an evidence of his sincerity in the support of truth the arts of fraud and fiction may be deemed less criminal and he would have started at the foulness of the means had he not been satisfied of the importance and justice of the end even in a conqueror or a priest I can surprise a word or action of unaffected humanity in the decree of Muhammad that in the sale of captives the mothers should never be separated from their children may suspend or moderate the censure of the historian End of Chapter 50 Part 6 Chapter 50 Part 7 of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire Volume 5 Chapter 50 Part 7 The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty the apostle of God submitted and killed the fire swept the floor moped the ewes and mended with his own hands his shoes and his woollen garment distaining the penance and the merit of a hermit he observed without effort or vanity the epistemius diet of an Arab and a soldier on solemn occasions he feasted his companions with rustic and hospitable plenty but in his domestic life many weeks would elapse the prediction of wine was confirmed by his example his hunger was appeased with the sparing allowance of barley bread he delighted in the taste of milk and honey but his ordinary food consisted of dates and water perfumes and women were the two sensual enjoyments which his nature required and his religion did not forbid and Muhammad affirmed that the favor of his devotion was increased by these innocent pleasures inflames the blood of the Arabs and their libidness complexion has been noticed by the writers of antiquity their incontinence was regulated by the civil and religious laws of the Quran their incestuous alliances were blamed the boundless license of polygamy was reduced to four legitimate wives or concubines their rights both of bed and of dowry were equitably determined and the freedom of divorce was discouraged adultery was condemned capital offense and fornication in either sex was punished with a hundred stripes such were the calm and rational precepts of the legislator but in his private conduct Muhammad indulged the appetites of a man and abused the claims of a prophet a special revelation dispensed him from the laws which he had imposed on his nation the female sex without reserve was abandoned to his desires and this singular prerogative excited the envy and the scandal the veneration rather than the envy of the devout Muslims if we remember the 700 wives and 300 concubines of the wise Solomon we shall applaud the modesty of the Arabian who espoused no more than 17 or 15 wives 11 are enumerated who occupied at Medina their separate apartments around the house of the apostle and enjoyed in their turns the favor of his conjugal society what is singular enough that they were all widows accepting only Aisha the daughter of Abu Beker she was doubtless a virgin since Muhammad consummated his nuptials such as the premature ripeness of the climate when she was only nine years of age the youth the beauty and the spirit of Aisha gave her a superior ascendant she was beloved and trusted by the prophet and after his death the daughter of Abu Beker was long revered as the mother of the faithful her behavior has been ambiguous and indiscreet in an nocturnal march she was accidentally left behind and in the morning Aisha returned to the camp with a man the temper of Muhammad was inclined to jealousy but a divine revelation assured him of her innocence he chastised her accusers and published a law of domestic peace that no woman should be condemned unless four male witnesses had seen her in the act of adultery in his adventures with Zainab the wife of Zaid and with Mary in Egyptian captive the amorous prophet forgot the interests of his reputation at the house of Zaid his freedman and adopted son he beheld in a loose undress the beauty of Zainab and burst forth into an ejaculation of devotion and desire the servile or grateful freedman understood the hint and sought hesitation to the love of his benefactor but as the filial relation had excited some doubt and scandal the angel Gabriel descended from heaven to ratify the deed to annul the adoption and to gently reprove the apostle for distrusting the indulgence of his god one of his wives Hafna the daughter of Omar surprised him on her own bed in the embraces of his Egyptian captive she promised secrecy and forgiveness he swore that he would renounce the possession of Mary both parties forgot their engagements and Gabriel again descended with a chapter of the Quran to absolve him from his oath and to exhort him freely to enjoy his captives and concubines without listening to the clamors of his wives in a solitary retreat of 30 days he labored alone with Mary to fulfill the commands of the angel when his love and revenge were satiated he summoned to his presence his 11 wives reproached their disobedience and indiscretion and threatened them with a sentence of divorce both in this world and in the next a dreadful sentence since those who had ascended the bed of the prophet were forever excluded from the hope of a second marriage perhaps the incontinence of Muhammad may be palliated by the tradition of his nocturnal or pre-natural gifts he united the manly virtue of 30 of the children of Adam and the apostle might rival the 13th labor of the Grecian Hercules a more serious and decent excuse may be drawn from his fidelity to Khadija during the 24 years of their marriage her youthful husband abstained from the right of polygamy and the pride or tenderness of the venerable matron was never insulted by the society of a rival after her death he placed her in the rank of the four perfect women with the sister of Moses the mother of Jesus and Fatima the best beloved of his daughters was she not old said Aisha with the insolence of a blooming beauty has not God given you a better in her place no by God said Muhammad with an effusion of honest gratitude there can never be a better she believed in me when men despised me she relieved my once when I was poor in the world in the largest indulgence of polygamy the founder of a religion and empire might aspire to multiply the chances of a numerous posterity and a lineal secession the hopes of Muhammad were fatally disappointed the virgin Aisha and his ten widows of mature age and approved fertility were barren in his potent embraces the four sons of Khadija died in their infancy Mary his Egyptian concubine and dear to him by the birth of Ibrahim at the end of 15 months the prophet wept over his grave but he sustained with firmness the railway of his enemies and checked the adulation or credulity of the Muslims by the assurance that an eclipse of the son was not occasioned by the death of the infant Khadija had likewise given him four daughters who were married to the most faithful of his disciples the three eldest died before their father but Fatima who possessed his confidence and love became the wife of her cousin Ali and the mother of an illustrious progeny the merit and misfortunes of Ali and his descendants would lead me to anticipate in this place the series of the Saracen Caliphs a title which describes the commanders of the faithful as the vickers and the successors of the apostle of God the birth, the alliance the character of Ali which exalted him above the rest of his countrymen might justify his claim to the vacant throne of Arabia the son of Abu Talib was in his own right the chief of the family of Hashim and the hereditary prince or guardian of the city and temple of Mecca the light of prophecy was extinct but the husband of Fatima might expect the inheritance and the blessing of her father the Arabs had sometimes been patient of a female reign and the two grandsons of the prophet had been fondled in his lap he was known in the pulpit as the hope of his age and the chief of the youth of paradise the first of the true believers might aspire to march before them in this world and in the next and if some were of a more graver and more rigid caste the zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselytite he united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier and a saint his wisdom still breathes in a collection of righteous sayings and every antagonist in the combats of the tongue or the sword was subdued by his eloquence and valor from the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral the apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend whom he delighted to name his brother his vice regent and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses the son of Abu Talib was afterwards reproached for neglecting to secure his interest by a solemn declaration of his right which would have silenced all competition and sealed his secession by the decrees of heaven but the unsuspecting hero confided in himself the jealousy of empire and perhaps the fear of opposition might suspend the resolutions of Muhammad and the bed of sickness was besieged by the artful Aisha the daughter of Abu Beker and the enemy of Ali the silence and death of the prophet restored the liberty of the people and the family to deliberate on the choice of his successor the hereditary claim and the lofty spirit of Ali were offensive to an aristocracy of elders desirous of bestowing and resuming the scepter by a free and frequent election the courier could never be reconciled to the proud preeminence of the lion of Hashim the ancient discord of the tribes were rekindled the fugitives of Mecca and the auxiliaries of Medina asserted their respective merits and the rash proposal of choosing two independent caliphs would have crushed in their infancy the religion and the empire of the Saracens the tumult was appeased by the disinterested resolution of Omar who, suddenly renouncing his own pretensions stretched forth his hand and declared himself the first subject of the mild and venerable Abu Beker the urgency of the moment and the acquiescence of the people might excuse this illegal and precipitant measure but Omar himself confessed from the pulpit that if any musulman should hereafter presume to anticipate the suffrage of his brethren both the elector and the elected would be worthy of death after the simple inauguration of Abu Beker he was obeyed in Medina, Mecca and the provinces of Arabia the Hashimites alone declined the oath of fidelity and their chief in his own house maintained above six months a sullen and independent reserve without listening to the threats of Omar to consume with fire the habitation of the daughter of the apostle the death of Fatima and the decline of his party subdued the indignant spirit of Ali he condescended to salute the commander of the faithful and accepted his excuse of the necessity of preventing their common enemies and wisely rejected his courteous offer of abdicating the government of the Arabians after a reign of two years the aged Khalif was summoned by the angel of death in his testament with the tacit approbation of the companions he bequeathed deceptor to the firm an intrepid virtue of Omar I have no occasion said the modest candidate for the place but the place has occasion for you replied Abu Beker who expired with a fervent prayer that the god of Muhammad would ratify his choice and direct the musulmans in the way of concord and obedience the prayer was not ineffectual Ali himself, in a life of privacy and prayer professed to revere the superior worth and dignity of his rival who comforted him with the loss of empire by the most flattering marks of confidence and esteem in the twelfth year of his reign Omar received a mortal wound from the hand of an assassin he rejected with equal impartiality the names of his son and of Ali refused to load his conscience with the sins of his successor and evolved on six of the most respectable companions the arduous task of electing a commander of the faithful on this occasion Ali was again blamed by his friends for submitting his right to the judgment of men for recognizing their jurisdiction by accepting a place among the six electors he might have obtained their suffrage had he deigned to promise a strict and servile conformity not only to the Quran and the tradition but likewise to the determination of the two seniors with these limitations Othman, the secretary of Muhammad accepted the government nor was it till after the third Khalif 24 years after the death of the prophet that Ali was invested by the popular choice with the regal and sacerdotal office the manners of the Arabians retained their primitive simplicity and the son of Abu Talib despised the pop and vanity of this world at the hour of prayer he repaired to the mosque of Medina clothed in a thin cotton gown a coarse turban on his head his slippers in one hand his bow in the other instead of a walking staff the companions of the prophet and the chiefs of the tribe saluted their new sovereign and gave him their right hands as a sign of fealty and allegiance the mischiefs that flow from the conquests of ambition are usually confined to the times and countries in which they have been agitated but the religious discord of the friends and enemies of Ali have been renewed in every age of the Higheera and is still maintained in the immortal hatred of the Persians and Turks the former who are branded with the appellation of Shiites or sectaries have enriched the Muhammadin creed with a new article of faith and if Muhammad be the apostle his companion Ali is the vicar of God in their private concourse in their public worship they bitterly execrate the three usurpers who intercepted his indefeasable right to the dignity of Iman and Khalif and the name of Omar expresses in their tongue the perfect accomplishment of wickedness and impiety the sonites who are supported by the general consent and orthodox tradition of the Muslims entertain a more impartial or at least a more decent opinion they respect the memory of Abu Bakr Omar, Othman and Ali the holy and legitimate successors of the prophet but they assign the last and most humble place to the husband of Fatima in the persuasion that the order of succession was determined by the degrees of saintity an historian who balances the four Khalifs with a hand unshaken by superstition will calmly pronounce that their manners were alike pure and exemplary that their zeal was fervent and probably sincere and that in the midst of rishits therefore their lives were devoted to the practice of moral and religious duties but the public virtues of Abu Bakr and Omar the prudence of the first the severity of the second maintain the peace and prosperity of their reigns the feeble temper and declining age of Othman were incapable of sustaining the weight of conquest and empire he chose and was deceived he trusted and he was betrayed the most deserving of the faithful the most virtuous or hostile to his government and his lavish bounty was productive only of ingratitude and discontent the spirit of discord went forth in the provinces their deputies assembled at Medina and the charigates the desperate fanatics who disclaimed the yoke of subordination and reason were confounded among the freeborn Arabs who demanded the redress of their wrongs and the punishment of their oppressors from Kufa from Basra from Egypt from the tribes of the desert they rose in arms they camped about a league from Medina and dispatched a haughty mandate to their sovereign requiring him to execute justice or to descend from the throne his repentance began to disarm and disperse the insurgents but their fury was rekindled by the arts of his enemies and the forgery of a perfidious secretary was contrived to blast his reputation and precipitate his fall the caliph had lost the only guard of his predecessors the esteem and confidance of the Muslims during a siege of six weeks his water and provisions were intercepted and the feeble gates of the palace were protected only by the scruples of the more timorous rebels forsaken by those who had abused his simplicity the helpless and venerable caliph expected the approach of death the brother of Aisha marched at the head of the assassins and Uthman with the Quran in his lap was pierced with a multitude of wounds a tumultuous anarchy after five days was appeased by the inauguration of Ali his refusal would have provoked a general massacre in this painful situation he supported the becoming pride of the chief of the Hashemites declared that he'd rather serve than reign rebuked the presumption of the strangers and required the formal if not the voluntary assent of the chiefs of the nations he has never been accused of prompting the assassination of Omar though Persia indiscreetly celebrates the arrival of that holy martyr the quarrel between Uthman and his subjects was assuaged by the early mediation of Ali and Hassan the eldest of his sons was insulted and wounded in the defense of the caliph yet it is doubtful whether the father of Hassan was strenuous and sincere in his opposition to the rebels and it is certain that he enjoyed the benefit of their crime the temptation was indeed of such magnitude as might stagger and corrupt the ambitious candidate no more aspired to the baron scepter of Arabia the Saracens have been victorious in the east and west and the wealthy kingdoms of Persia Syria and Egypt were the patrimony of the commander of the faithful end of chapter 50 part 7