LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

be paid to his sayings, as his followers have since done; and seeing he all along disclaimed any power of performing miracles, it seems rather to have been a fetch of policy to raise his reputation, by pretending to have actually conversing with GOD in heaven, as Moses had heretofore done in the mount, and to have received several institutions immediately from him, whereas before he contented himself with persuading them that he had all by the ministry of Gabriel. However, this story seemed so absurd and incredible, that several of his followers left him upon it, and it had probably ruined the whole design, had not Abu Becr vouched for his veracity, and declared that if Mohammed affirmed it to be true, he verily believed the whole. Which happy incident not only retrieved the prophet's credit, but increased it to such a degree, that he was secure of being able to make his disciples swallow whatever he pleased to impose on them for the future. And I am apt to think this fiction, notwithstanding its extravagance, was one of the most artful contrivances Mohammed ever put in practice, and what chiefly contributed to the raising of his reputation to that great height to which it afterwards arrived. In this year, called by the Mohammedans the accepted year, twelve men of Yathreb or Medina, of whom ten were of the tribe of Khazraj, and the other two of that of Aws, came to Mecca, and took an oath of fidelity to Mohammed at al Akaba, a hill on the north of that city. This oath was called the women's oath, not that any women were pre-

      2 Ebn Shohnah. 3 See the notes on the 17th chapter of the Korân. 4 Life o Mahomet, p. 41, 51, &c.

      sent at this time, but because a man was not thereby obliged to take up arms in defence of Mohammed or his religion; it being the same oath that was afterwards exacted of the women, the form of which we have in the Korân,1 and is to this effect, viz.: "That they should renounce all idolatry; that they should not steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children (as the pagan Arabs used to do when they apprehended they should not be able to maintain them2), nor forge calumnies; and that they should obey the prophet in all things that were reasonable." When they had solemnly engaged to do all this, Mohammed sent one of his disciples, named Masáb Ebn Omair, home with them, to instruct them more fully in the grounds and ceremonies of his new religion. Masáb, being arrived at Medina, by the assistance of those who had been formerly converted, gained several proselytes, particularly Osaid Ebn Hodeira, a chief man of the city, and Saad Ebn Moâdh, prince of the tribe of Aws; Mohammedism spreading so fast, that there was scarce a house wherein there were not some who had embraced it. The next year, being the thirteenth of Mohammed's mission, Masáh returned to Mecca, accompanied by seventy-three men and two women of Medina, who had professed Islamism, besides some others who were as yet unbelievers. On their arrival, they immediately sent to Mohammed, and offered him their assistance, of which he was now in great need, for his adversaries were by this time grown so powerful in Mecca, that he could not stay there much longer without imminent danger. Wherefore he accepted their proposal, and met them one night, by appointment, at al Akaba above mentioned, attended by his uncle al Abbas, who, though he was not then a believer, wished his nephew well, and made a speech to those of Medina, wherein he told them, that as Mohammed was obliged to quit his native city, and seek an asylum elsewhere, and they had offered him their protection, they would do well not to deceive him; and that if they were not firmly resolved to defend and not betray him, they had better declare their minds, and let him provide for his safety in some other manner. Upon their protesting their sincerity, Mohammed swore to be faithful to them, on condition that they should protect him against all insults, as heartily as they would their own wives and families. They then asked him what recompense they were to expect if they should happen to be killed in his quarrel; he answered, Paradise. Whereupon they pledged their faith to him, and so returned home;3 after Mohammed had chosen twelve out of their number, who were to have the same authority among them as the twelve apostles of Christ had among his disciples.4 Hitherto Mohammed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the whole success of his enterprise, before his flight to Medina, must be attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For before this second oath of fealty or inauguration at al Akaba, he had no permission to use any force at all; and in several places of the Korân, which he pretended were revealed during his stay at Mecca,

      1 Cap. 60. 2 Vide Kor. c. 6. 3 Abulfeda. Vit. Moham. p. 40, &c. 4 Ebn Ishâk.

      he declares his business was only to preach and admonish; that he had no authority to compel any person to embrace his religion; and that whether people believed, or not, was none of his concern, but belonged solely unto GOD. And he was so far from allowing his followers to use force, that he exhorted them to bear patiently those injuries which were offered them on account of their faith; and when persecuted himself, chose rather to quit the place of his birth and retire to Medina, than to make any resistance. But this great passiveness and moderation seems entirely owing to his want of power, and the great superiority of his opposers for the first twelve years of his mission; for no sooner was he enabled, by the assistance of those of Medina, to make head against his enemies, than he gave out, that GOD had allowed him and his followers to defend themselves against the infidels; and at length as his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine leave even to attack them, and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the sword; finding by experience that his designs would otherwise proceed very slowly, if they were not utterly overthrown, and knowing on the other hand that innovators, when they depend solely on their own strength, and can compel, seldom run any risk; from whence, the politician observes, it follows, that all the armed prophets have succeeded, and the unarmed ones have failed. Moses, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus would not have been able to establish the observance of their institutions for any length of time had they not been armed.1 The first passage of the Korân which gave Mohammed the permission of defending himself by arms, is said to have been that in the twenty-second chapter; after which a great number to the same purpose were revealed. That Mohammed had a right to take up arms for his own defence against his unjust persecutors, may perhaps be allowed; but whether he ought afterwards to have made use of that means for the establishing of his religion is a question I will not here determine. How far the secular power may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature, mankind are not agreed. The method of converting by the sword, gives no very favourable idea of the faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by everybody in those of another religion, though the same persons are willing to admit of it for the advancement of their own; supposing that though a false religion ought not to be established by authority, yet a true one may; and accordingly force is almost as constantly employed in these cases by those who have the power in their hands, as it is constantly complained of by those who suffer the violence. It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mohammedism was no other than human invention, that it owed its progress and establishment almost entirely to the sword; and it is one of the strongest demonstrations of the divine original of Christianity, that it prevailed against all the forces and powers of the world by the mere dint of its own truth, after having stood the assaults of all manner of persecutions, as well as other oppositions, for 300 years together and at length made the Roman emperors themselves submit thereto;2 after which time, indeed, this proof seems to fail, Christianity being

      1 Machiavelli, Princ. c. 6. 2 See Prideaux's Letter to the Deists, p. 220, &c.

      then established and Paganism abolished by public authority, which has had great influence in the propagation of the one and destruction of the other ever since.1 But to return. Mohammed having provided for the security of his companions as well as his own, by the league offensive and defensive which he had now concluded with those of Medina, directed them to repair thither, which they accordingly did; but himself with Abu Becr and Ali stayed behind, having not yet received the divine permission, as he pretended, to leave Mecca. The Koreish, fearing the consequence of this new alliance, began to think it absolutely necessary to prevent Mohammed's escape to Medina, and having held a council thereon, after several milder expedients had been rejected, they came to a resolution that he should be killed; and agreed that a man should be chosen out of every tribe for the execution of this design, and that each man should have a blow at him with his sword, that the guilt of his blood might fall equally on all the tribes, to whose united power the Hashemites were much inferior, and therefore durst not attempt to revenge their kinsman's death. This conspiracy was scarce formed when by some means or other it came to Mohammed knowledge, and he gave out that it was revealed to him the angel Gabriel, who had now ordered him to retire to Medina. Whereupon, to amuse his enemies, he directed Ali to lie down in his place and

Скачать книгу