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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10163-0.txt b/10163-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c46f7d --- /dev/null +++ b/10163-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3600 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10163 *** + +_AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS_ + +SERIES OF 1914-1915 + + + + +Mohammedanism + +Lectures on Its Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, and Its Present +State + + + +by + + + +C. Snouck Hurgronje + +Professor of the Arabic Language in the University of Leiden, Holland + + + + +1916 + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT. + +The American Lectures on the History of Religions are delivered under +the auspices of the American Committee for Lectures on the History of +Religions. This Committee was organized in 1892, for the purpose of +instituting "popular courses in the History of Religions, somewhat after +the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered by the best +scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, +Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia." + +The terms of association under which the Committee exists are as follows: + +1.--The object of this Committee shall be to provide courses of lectures on +the history of religions, to be delivered in various cities. + +2.--The Committee shall be composed of delegates from the institutions +agreeing to co-operate, with such additional members as may be chosen by +these delegates. + +3.--These delegates--one from each institution, with the additional members +selected--shall constitute themselves a council under the name of the +"American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions." + +4.--The Committee shall elect out of its number a Chairman, a Secretary, +and a Treasurer. + +5.--All matters of local detail shall be left to the co-operating +institutions under whose auspices the lectures are to be delivered. + +6.--A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of religion, from +an historical point of view, or on a subject germane to the study of +religions, shall be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be +found practicable, in the different cities represented by this Committee. + +7.--The Committee (a) shall be charged with the selection of the lectures, +(b) shall have charge of the funds, (c) shall assign the time for the +lectures in each city, and perform such other functions as may be +necessary. + +8.--Polemical subjects, as well as polemics in the treatment of subjects, +shall be positively excluded. + +9.--The lectures shall be delivered in the various cities between the +months of September and June. + +10.--The copyright of the lectures shall be the property of the Committee. + +11.--The compensation of the lecturer shall be fixed in each case by the +Committee. + +12.--The lecturer shall be paid in installments after each course, until he +shall have received half of the entire compensation. Of the remaining half, +one half shall be paid to him upon delivery of the manuscript, properly +prepared for the press, and the second half on the publication of the +volume, less a deduction for corrections made by the author in the proofs. + +The Committee as now constituted is as follows: Prof. Crawford H. Toy, +Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass.; Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, +Treasurer, 227 W. 99th St., New York City; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., +Secretary, 248 So. 23d St., Philadelphia, Pa.; President Francis Brown, +Union Theological Seminary, New York City; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Columbia +University, New York City; Prof. Harry Pratt Judson, University of Chicago, +Chicago, Ill.; Prof. Paul Haupt, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; +Mr. Charles D. Atkins, Director, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; +Prof. E.W. Hopkins, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Prof. Edward Knox +Mitchell, Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Conn.; President F.K. +Sanders, Washburn College, Topeka, Kan.; Prof. H.P. Smith, Meadville +Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa.; Prof. W.J. Hinke, Auburn Theological +Seminary, Auburn, N.Y.; Prof. Kemper Fullerton, Oberlin Theological +Seminary, Oberlin, N.Y. + +The lecturers in the course of American Lectures on the History of +Religions and the titles of their volumes are as follows: + +1894-1895--Prof. T.W. Rhys-Davids, Ph.D.,--_Buddhism_. + +1896-1897--Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.--_Religions of Primitive +Peoples_. + +1897-1898--Rev. Prof. T.K. Cheyne, D.D.--_Jewish Religious Life after the +Exile_. + +1898-1899--Prof. Karl Budde, D.D.--_Religion of Israel to the Exile_. + +1904-1905--Prof. George Steindorff, Ph.D.--_The Religion of the Ancient +Egyptians_. + +1905-1906--Prof. George W. Knox, D.D., LL.D.--_The Development of Religion +in Japan_. + +1906-1907--Prof. Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of the +Veda_. + +1907-1908--Prof. A.V.W. Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of Persia_.[1] + +1909-1910--Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D.--_Aspects of Religious Belief +and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria_. + +1910-1911--Prof. J.J.M. DeGroot--_The Development of Religion in China_. + +1911-1912--Prof. Franz Cumont.[2]--_Astrology and Religion among the Greeks +and Romans_. + +[Footnote 1: This course was not published by the Committee, but will form +part of Prof. Jackson's volume on the Religion of Persia in the series of +_Handbooks on the History of Religions_, edited by Prof. Morris Jastrow, +Jr., and published by Messrs. Ginn & Company of Boston. Prof. Jastrow's +volume is, therefore, the eighth in the series.] + +[Footnote 2: Owing to special circumstances, Prof. Cumont's volume was +published before that of Prof. DeGroot. It is, therefore, the ninth in the +series and that of Prof. DeGroot the tenth.] + +The lecturer for 1914 was Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje. Born in +Oosterhout, Holland, in 1857, he studied Theology and Oriental Languages +at the University of Leiden and continued his studies at the University of +Strassburg. In 1880 he published his first important work _Het Mekkaansch +Feest_, having resolved to devote himself entirely to the study of +Mohammedanism in its widest aspects. After a few years' activity as +Lecturer on Mohammedan Law at the Seminary for Netherlands-India in Leiden, +he spent eight months (1884-5) in Mecca and Jidda. In 1888, he became +lecturer at the University of Leiden and in the same year was sent out +as Professor to Batavia in Netherlands-India, where he spent the years +1889-1906. Upon his return he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the +University of Leiden. Among his principal published works may be mentioned: +_Mekka_, The Hague, 1888-9; _De Beteekenis van den Islam voor zijne +Belijders in Oost Indïe_, Leiden, 1883; _Mekkanische Sprichwörter_, The +Hague, 1886; _De Atjehers_, Leiden, 1903-4, England tr. London, 1906; _Het +Gajôland en zijne Bezvoners_, Batavia, 1903, and _Nederland en de Islâm_, +Leiden, 1915. + +The lectures to be found in the present volume were delivered before +the following Institutions: Columbia University, Yale University, The +University of Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological Seminary, The University +of Chicago, The Lowell Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University. + +The Committee owes a debt of deep gratitude to Mr. Charles R. Crane for +having made possible the course of lectures for the year 1914. + +RICHARD GOTTHEIL + +CRAWFORD H. TOY + +_Committee on Publication_. + +April, 1916. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS + + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM. + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. + +ISLÂM AND MODERN THOUGHT. + +INDEX. + + + + + +Mohammedanism + + +I + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM + + +There are more than two hundred million people who call themselves after +the name of Mohammed, would not relinquish that name at any price, and +cannot imagine a greater blessing for the remainder of humanity than to be +incorporated into their communion. Their ideal is no less than that the +whole earth should join in the faith that there is no god but Allah and +that Mohammed is Allah's last and most perfect messenger, who brought the +latest and final revelation of Allah to humanity in Allah's own words. This +alone is enough to claim our special interest for the Prophet, who in the +seventh century stirred all Arabia into agitation and whose followers soon +after his death founded an empire extending from Morocco to China. + +Even those who--to my mind, not without gross exaggeration--would seek the +explanation of the mighty stream of humanity poured out by the Arabian +peninsula since 630 over Western and Middle Asia, Northern Africa, and +Southern Europe principally in geographic and economic causes, do not +ignore the fact that it was Mohammed who opened the sluice gates. It would +indeed be difficult to maintain that without his preaching the Arabs of the +seventh century would have been induced by circumstances to swallow up +the empire of the Sasanids and to rob the Byzantine Empire of some of its +richest provinces. However great a weight one may give to political and +economic factors, it was religion, Islâm, which in a certain sense united +the hitherto hopelessly divided Arabs, Islâm which enabled them to found +an enormous international community; it was Islâm which bound the speedily +converted nations together even after the shattering of its political +power, and which still binds them today when only a miserable remnant of +that power remains. + +The aggressive manner in which young Islâm immediately put itself in +opposition to the rest of the world had the natural consequence of +awakening an interest which was far from being of a friendly nature. +Moreover men were still very far from such a striving towards universal +peace as would have induced a patient study of the means of bringing the +different peoples into close spiritual relationship, and therefore from an +endeavour to understand the spiritual life of races different to their own. +The Christianity of that time was itself by no means averse to the +forcible extension of its faith, and in the community of Mohammedans which +systematically attempted to reduce the world to its authority by force of +arms, it saw only an enemy whose annihilation was, to its regret, beyond +its power. Such an enemy it could no more observe impartially than one +modern nation can another upon which it considers it necessary to make war. +Everything maintained or invented to the disadvantage of Islâm was greedily +absorbed by Europe; the picture which our forefathers in the Middle Ages +formed of Mohammed's religion appears to us a malignant caricature. The +rare theologians[1] who, before attacking the false faith, tried to form a +clear notion of it, were not listened to, and their merits have only become +appreciated in our own time. A vigorous combating of the prevalent fictions +concerning Islâm would have exposed a scholar to a similar treatment to +that which, fifteen years ago, fell to the lot of any Englishman who +maintained the cause of the Boers; he would have been as much of an outcast +as a modern inhabitant of Mecca who tried to convince his compatriots of +the virtues of European policy and social order. + +[Footnote 1: See for instance the reference to the exposition of the +Paderborn bishop Olivers (1227) in the Paderborn review _Theologie und +Glaube_, Jahrg. iv., p. 535, etc. (_Islâm_, iv., p. 186); also some of the +accounts mentioned in Güterbock, _Der Islâm im Lichte der byzantinischen +Polemik_, etc.] + +Two and a half centuries ago, a prominent Orientalist,[2] who wrote +an exposition of Mohammed's teaching, felt himself obliged to give an +elaborate justification of his undertaking in his "Dedicatio." He appeals +to one or two celebrated predecessors and to learned colleagues, who have +expressly instigated him to this work. Amongst other things he quotes +a letter from the Leiden professor, L'Empereur, in which he conjures +Breitinger by the bowels of Jesus Christ ("per viscera Jesu Christi") to +give the young man every opportunity to complete his study of the religion +of Mohammed, "which so far has only been treated in a senseless way." As a +fruit of this study L'Empereur thinks it necessary to mention in the first +place the better understanding of the (Christian) Holy Scriptures by the +extension of our knowledge of Oriental manners and customs. Besides such +promotion of Christian exegesis and apologetics and the improvement of the +works on general history, Hottinger himself contemplated a double +purpose in his _Historia Orientalis_. The Roman Catholics often vilified +Protestantism by comparing the Reformed doctrine to that of Mohammedanism; +this reproach of Crypto-mohammedanism Hottinger wished "talionis lege" to +fling back at the Catholics; and he devotes a whole chapter (Cap. 6) of his +book to the demonstration that Bellarminius' proofs of the truth of the +Church doctrine might have been copied from the Moslim dogma. In the second +place, conforming to the spirit of the times, he wished, just as Bibliander +had done in his refutation of the Qorân, to combine the combat against +Mohammedan unbelief with that against the Turkish Empire ("in oppugnationem +Mahometanae perfidiae et Turcici regni"). + +[Footnote 2: J.H. Hottinger, _Historia Orientalis_, Zürich, 1651 (2d. +edition 1660).] + +The Turks were feared by the Europe of that time, and the significance of +their religion for their worldly power was well known; thus the +political side of the question gave Hottinger's work a special claim to +consideration. Yet, in spite of all this, Hottinger feared that his labour +would be regarded as useless, or even wicked. Especially when he is obliged +to say anything favourable of Mohammed and his followers, he thinks it +necessary to protect himself against misconstruction by the addition of +some selected terms of abuse. When mentioning Mohammed's name, he says: +"at the mention of whom the mind shudders" ("ad cujus profecto mentionem +inhorrescere nobis debet animus"). The learned Abbé Maracci, who in 1698 +produced a Latin translation of the Qorân accompanied by an elaborate +refutation, was no less than Hottinger imbued with the necessity of +shuddering at every mention of the "false" Prophet, and Dr. Prideaux, +whose _Vie de Mahomet_ appeared in the same year in Amsterdam, abused and +shuddered with them, and held up his biography of Mohammed as a mirror to +"unbelievers, atheists, deists, and libertines." + +It was a Dutch scholar, H. Reland, the Utrecht professor of theology, who +in the beginning of the eighteenth century frankly and warmly recommended +the application of historical justice even towards the Mohammedan religion; +in his short Latin sketch of Islâm[1] he allowed the Mohammedan authorities +to speak for themselves. In his "Dedicatio" to his brother and in his +extensive preface he explains his then new method. Is it to be supposed, +he asks, that a religion as ridiculous as the Islâm described by Christian +authors should have found millions of devotees? Let the Moslims themselves +describe their own religion for us; just as the Jewish and Christian +religions are falsely represented by the heathen and Protestantism by +Catholics, so every religion is misrepresented by its antagonists. "We +are mortals, subject to error; especially where religious matters are +concerned, we often allow ourselves to be grossly misled by passion." +Although it may cause evil-minded readers to doubt the writer's orthodoxy +he continues to maintain that truth can only be served by combating her +opponents in an honourable way. + +[Footnote 1: _H. Relandi de religione Mohammedica libri duo_, Utrecht, 1704 +(2d ed. 1717).] + +"No religion," says Reland, "has been more calumniated than Islâm," +although the Abbé Maracci himself could give no better explanation of the +turning of many Jews and Christians to this religion than the fact that +it contains many elements of natural truth, evidently borrowed from the +Christian religion, "which seem to be in accordance with the law and the +light of nature" ("quae naturae legi ac lumini consentanea videntur"). +"More will be gained for Christianity by friendly intercourse with +Mohammedans than by slander; above all Christians who live in the East must +not, as is too often the case, give cause to one Turk to say to another +who suspects him of lying or deceit: 'Do you take me for a Christian?' +("putasne me Christianum esse"). In truth, the Mohammedans often put us to +shame by their virtues; and a better knowledge of Islâm can only help to +make our irrational pride give place to gratitude to God for the undeserved +mercy which He bestowed upon us in Christianity." Reland has no illusions +that his scientific justice will find acceptance in a wide circle "as he +becomes daily more and more convinced that the world wishes to be deceived +and is governed by prejudice" ("qui quotidie magis magisque experior mundum +decipi velle et praeconceptis opinionibus regi"). + +It was not long before the scale was turned in the opposite direction, +and Islâm was made by some people the object of panegyrics as devoid of +scientific foundation as the former calumnies. In 1730 appeared in London +the incomplete posthumous work of Count de Boulainvilliers, _Vie de +Mahomet,_ in which, amongst other things, he says of the Arabian Prophet +that "all that he has said concerning the essential religious dogmas is +true, but he has not said all that is true, and it is only therein that his +religion differs from ours." De Boulainvilliers tells us with particular +satisfaction that Mohammed, who respected the devotion of hermits and +monks, proceeded with the utmost severity against the official clergy, +condemning its members either to death or to the abjuration of their faith. +This _Vie de Mahomet_ was as a matter of fact an anti-clerical romance, the +material of which was supplied by a superficial knowledge of Islâm drawn +from secondary sources. That a work with such a tendency was sure to arouse +interest at that time, is shown by a letter from the publisher, Coderc, to +Professor Gagnier at Oxford, in which he writes: "He [de Boulainvilliers] +mixes up his history with many political reflections, which by their +newness and boldness are sure to be well received" ("Il mêle son Histoire +de plusieurs réflexions politiques, et qui par leur hardiesse ne manqueront +pas d'être très bien reçues"). + +Jean Gagnier however considered these bold novelties very dangerous and +endeavoured to combat them in another _Vie de Mahomet_, which appeared from +his hand in 1748 at Amsterdam. He strives after a "juste milieu" between +the too violent partisanship of Maracci and Prideaux and the ridiculous +acclamations of de Boulainvilliers. Yet this does not prevent him in his +preface from calling Mohammed the greatest villain of mankind and the most +mortal enemy of God ("le plus scélérat de tous les hommes et le plus mortel +ennemi de Dieu"). His desire to make his contemporaries proof against the +poison of de Boulainvilliers' dangerous book gains the mastery over the +pure love of truth for which Reland had so bravely striven. + +Although Sale in his "Preliminary Discourse" to his translation of the +Qorân endeavours to contribute to a fair estimation of Mohammed and his +work, of which his motto borrowed from Augustine, "There is no false +doctrine that does not contain some truth" ("nulla falsa doctrina est +quae non aliquid veri permisceat"), is proof, still the prejudicial view +remained for a considerable time the prevalent one. Mohammed was branded +as _imposteur_ even in circles where Christian fanaticism was out of the +question. Voltaire did not write his tragedy _Mahomet ou le fanatisme_ as +a historical study; he was aware that his fiction was in many respects at +variance with history. In writing his work he was, as he himself expresses +it, inspired by "l'amour du genre humain et l'horreur du fanatisme." He +wanted to put before the public an armed Tartufe and thought he might +lay the part upon Mohammed, for, says he, "is not the man, who makes war +against his own country and dares to do it in the name of God, capable of +any ill?" The dislike that Voltaire had conceived for the Qorân from a +superficial acquaintance with it, "ce livre inintelligible qui fait frémir +le sens commun à chaque page," probably increased his unfavourable opinion, +but the principal motive of his choice of a representative must have been +that the general public still regarded Mohammed as the incarnation of +fanaticism and priestcraft. + +Almost a century lies between Gagnier's biography of Mohammed and that of +the Heidelberg professor Weil (_Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben and seine +Lehre_, Stuttgart, 1843); and yet Weil did well to call Gagnier his last +independent predecessor. Weil's great merit is, that he is the first in his +field who instituted an extensive historico-critical investigation without +any preconceived opinion. His final opinion of Mohammed is, with the +necessary reservations: "In so far as he brought the most beautiful +teachings of the Old and the New Testament to a people which was not +illuminated by one ray of faith, he may be regarded, even by those who +are not Mohammedans, as a messenger of God." Four years later Caussin +de Perceval in his _Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes_, written quite +independently of Weil, expresses the same idea in these words: "It would be +an injustice to Mohammed to consider him as no more than a clever impostor, +an ambitious man of genius; he was in the first place a man convinced of +his vocation to deliver his nation from error and to regenerate it." + +About twenty years later the biography of Mohammed made an enormous advance +through the works of Muir, Sprenger, and Nôldeke. On the ground of much +wider and at the same time deeper study of the sources than had been +possible for Weil and Caussin de Perceval, each of these three scholars +gave in his own way an account of the origin of Islâm. Nôldeke was +much sharper and more cautious in his historical criticism than Muir or +Sprenger. While the biographies written by these two men have now +only historical value, Nôldeke's _History of the Qorân_ is still an +indispensable instrument of study more than half a century after its first +appearance. + +Numbers of more or less successful efforts to make Mohammed's life +understood by the nineteenth century intellect have followed these without +much permanent gain. Mohammed, who was represented to the public in turn as +deceiver, as a genius mislead by the Devil, as epileptic, as hysteric, and +as prophet, was obliged later on even to submit to playing on the one +hand the part of socialist and, on the other hand, that of a defender of +capitalism. These points of view were principally characteristic of the +temperament of the scholars who held them; they did not really advance our +understanding of the events that took place at Mecca and Medina between 610 +and 632 A.D., that prologue to a perplexing historical drama. + +The principal source from which all biographers started and to which they +always returned, was the Qorân, the collection of words of Allah spoken by +Mohammed in those twenty-two years. Hardly anyone, amongst the "faithful" +and the "unfaithful," doubts the generally authentic character of its +contents except the Parisian professor Casanova.[1] He tried to prove a +little while ago that Mohammed's revelations originally contained the +announcement that the HOUR, the final catastrophe, the Last judgment would +come during his life. When his death had therefore falsified this prophecy, +according to Casanova, the leaders of the young community found themselves +obliged to submit the revelations preserved in writing or memory to a +thorough revision, to add some which announced the mortality even of the +last prophet, and, finally to console the disappointed faithful with the +hope of Mohammed's return before the end of the world. This doctrine of the +return, mentioned neither in the Qorân nor in the eschatological tradition +of later times, according to Casanova was afterwards changed again into the +expectation of the Mahdî, the last of Mohammed's deputies, "a Guided of +God," who shall be descended from Mohammed, bear his name, resemble him +in appearance, and who shall fill the world once more before its end with +justice, as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny. + +[Footnote 1: Paul Casanova, _Mohammed et la fin du monde,_ Paris, 1911. +His hypotheses are founded upon Weil's doubts of the authenticity of a few +verses of the _Qorân_ (iii., 138; xxxix., 31, etc.), which doubts were +sufficiently refuted half a century ago by Nôldeke in his _Geschichte des +Qorâns_, 1st edition, p. 197, etc.] + +In our sceptical times there is very little that is above criticism, and +one day or other we may expect to hear that Mohammed never existed. The +arguments for this can hardly be weaker than those of Casanova against the +authenticity of the Qorân. Here we may acknowledge the great power of what +has been believed in all times, in all places, by all the members of the +community ("quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est"). For, +after the death of Mohammed there immediately arose a division which none +of the leading personalities were able to escape, and the opponents spared +each other no possible kind of insult, scorn, or calumny. The enemies of +the first leaders of the community could have wished for no more powerful +weapon for their attack than a well-founded accusation of falsifying the +word of God. Yet this accusation was never brought against the first +collectors of the scattered revelations; the only reproach that was made +against them in connexion with this labour being that verses in which +the Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) were mentioned with honour, and which, +therefore, would have served to support the claims of the Alids to the +succession of Mohammed, were suppressed by them. This was maintained by the +Shi'ites, who are unsurpassed in Islâm as falsifiers of history; and the +passages which, according to them, are omitted from the official Qorân +would involve precisely on account of their reference to the succession, +the mortality of Mohammed. + +All sects and parties have the same text of the Qorân. This may have its +errors and defects, but intentional alterations or mutilations of real +importance are not to blame for this. + +Now this rich authentic source--this collection of wild, poetic +representations of the Day of judgment; of striving against idolatry; of +stories from Sacred History; of exhortation to the practice of the cardinal +virtues of the Old and New Testament; of precepts to reform the individual, +domestic, and tribal life in the spirit of these virtues; of incantations +and forms of prayer and a hundred things besides--is not always +comprehensible to us. Even for the parts which we do understand, we are not +able to make out the chronological arrangement which is necessary to gain +an insight into Mohammed's personality and work. This is not only due to +the form of the oracles, which purposely differs from the usual tone +of mortals by its unctuousness and rhymed prose, but even more to the +circumstance that all that the hearers could know, is assumed to be known. +So the Qorân is full of references that are enigmatical to us. We therefore +need additional explanation, and this can only be derived from tradition +concerning the circumstances under which each revelation was delivered. + +And, truly, the sacred tradition of Islâm is not deficient in data of +this sort. In the canonical and half-canonical collections of tradition +concerning what the Prophet has said, done, and omitted to do, in +biographical works, an answer is given to every question which may arise in +the mind of the reader of the Qorân; and there are many Qorân-commentaries, +in which these answers are appended to the verses which they are supposed +to elucidate. Sometimes the explanations appear to us, even at first sight, +improbable and unacceptable; sometimes they contradict each other; a good +many seem quite reasonable. + +The critical biographers of Mohammed have therefore begun their work of +sifting by eliminating the improbable and by choosing between contradictory +data by means of critical comparison. Here the gradually increasing +knowledge of the spirit of the different parties in Islâm was an important +aid, as of course each group represented the facts in the way which best +served their own purposes. + +However cautiously and acutely Weil and his successors have proceeded, the +continual progress of the analysis of the legislative as well as of the +historical tradition of Islam since 1870 has necessitated a renewed +investigation. In the first place it has become ever more evident that the +thousands of traditions about Mohammed, which, together with the Qorân, +form the foundation upon which the doctrine and life of the community +are based, are for the most part the conventional expression of all the +opinions which prevailed amongst his followers during the first three +centuries after the Hijrah. The fiction originated a long time after +Mohammed's death; during the turbulent period of the great conquests there +was no leisure for such work. Our own conventional insincerities differ so +much--externally at least--from those of that date, that it is difficult +for us to realize a spiritual atmosphere where "pious fraud" was practised +on such a scale. Yet this is literally true: in the first centuries of +Islâm no one could have dreamt of any other way of gaining acceptance for a +doctrine or a precept than by circulating a tradition, according to which +Mohammed had preached the doctrine or dictated it or had lived according to +the precept. The whole individual, domestic, social, and political life +as it developed in the three centuries during which the simple Arabian +religion was adjusted to the complicated civilization of the great nations +of that time, that all life was theoretically justified by representing +it as the application of minute laws supposed to have been elaborated by +Mohammed by precept and example. + +Thus tradition gives invaluable material for the knowledge of the conflict +of opinions in the first centuries, a strife the sharpness of which has +been blunted in later times by a most resourceful harmonistic method. But, +it is vain to endeavour to construct the life and teaching of Mohammed from +such spurious accounts; they cannot even afford us a reliable illustration +of his life in the form of "table talk," as an English scholar rather +naïvely tried to derive from them. In a collection of this sort, supported +by good external evidence, there would be attributed to the Prophet of +Mecca sayings from the Old and New Testament, wise saws from classical and +Arabian antiquity, prescriptions of Roman law and many other things, each +text of which was as authentic as its fellows. + +Anyone who, warned by Goldziher and others, has realized how matters stand +in this respect, will be careful not to take the legislative tradition as +a direct instrument for the explanation of the Qorân. When, after a most +careful investigation of thousands of traditions which all appear equally +old, we have selected the oldest, then we shall see that we have before us +only witnesses of the first century of the Hijrah. The connecting threads +with the time of Mohammed must be supplied for a great part by imagination. + +The historical or biographical tradition in the proper sense of the word +has only lately been submitted to a keener examination. It was known for a +long time that here too, besides theological and legendary elements, +there were traditions originating from party motive, intended to give an +appearance of historical foundation to the particular interests of certain +persons or families; but it was thought that after some sifting there yet +remained enough to enable us to form a much clearer sketch of Mohammed's +life than that of any other of the founders of a universal religion. + +It is especially Prince Caetani and Father Lammens who have disturbed this +illusion. According to them, even the data which had been pretty generally +regarded as objective, rest chiefly upon tendentious fiction. The +generations that worked at the biography of the Prophet were too far +removed from his time to have true data or notions; and, moreover, it was +not their aim to know the past as it was, but to construct a picture of it +as it ought to have been according to their opinion. Upon the bare canvass +of verses of the Qorân that need explanation, the traditionists have +embroidered with great boldness scenes suitable to the desires or ideals of +their particular group; or, to use a favourite metaphor of Lammens, they +fill the empty spaces by a process of stereotyping which permits the +critical observer to recognize the origin of each picture. In the Sîrah +(biography), the distance of the first describers from their object is the +same as in the Hadîth (legislative tradition); in both we get images of +very distant things, perceived by means of fancy rather than by sight and +taking different shapes according to the inclinations of each circle of +describers. + +Now, it may be true that the latest judges have here and there examined the +Mohammedan traditions too sceptically and too suspiciously; nevertheless, +it remains certain that in the light of their research, the method of +examination cannot remain unchanged. We must endeavour to make our +explanations of the Qorân independent of tradition, and in respect to +portions where this is impossible, we must be suspicious of explanations, +however apparently plausible. + +During the last few years the accessible sources of information have +considerably increased, the study of them has become much deeper and more +methodical, and the result is that we can tell much less about the teaching +and the life of Mohammed than could our predecessors half a century ago. +This apparent loss is of course in reality nothing but gain. + +Those who do not take part in new discoveries, nevertheless, wish to know +now and then the results of the observations made with constantly improved +instruments. Let me endeavour, very briefly, to satisfy this curiosity. +That the report of the bookkeeping might make a somewhat different +impression if another accountant had examined it, goes without saying, and +sometimes I shall draw particular attention to my personal responsibility +in this respect. + +Of Mohammed's life before his appearance as the messenger of God, we know +extremely little; compared to the legendary biography as treasured by the +Faithful, practically nothing. Not to mention his pre-existence as a Light, +which was with God, and for the sake of which God created the world, the +Light, which as the principle of revelation, lived in all prophets from +Adam onwards, and the final revelation of which in Mohammed was prophesied +in the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians; not to mention the +wonderful and mysterious signs which announced the birth of the Seal of the +Prophets, and many other features which the later Sîrahs (biographies) and +Maulids (pious histories of his birth, most in rhymed prose or in poetic +metre) produce in imitation of the Gospels; even the elaborate discourses +of the older biographies on occurrences, which in themselves might quite +well come within the limits of sub-lunary possibility, do not belong to +history. Fiction plays such a great part in these stories, that we are +never sure of being on historical ground unless the Qorân gives us a firm +footing. + +The question, whether the family to which Mohammed belonged, was regarded +as noble amongst the Qoraishites, the ruling tribe in Mecca, is answered +in the affirmative by many; but by others this answer is questioned not +without good grounds. The matter is not of prime importance, as there is no +doubt that Mohammed grew up as a poor orphan and belonged to the needy and +the neglected. Even a long time after his first appearance the unbelievers +reproached him, according to the Qorân, with his insignificant worldly +position, which fitted ill with a heavenly message; the same scornful +reproach according to the Qorân was hurled at Mohammed's predecessors by +sceptics of earlier generations; and it is well known that the stories +of older times in the Qorân are principally reflections of what Mohammed +himself experienced. The legends of Mohammed's relations to various members +of his family are too closely connected with the pretensions of their +descendants to have any value for biographic purposes. He married late an +elderly woman, who, it is said, was able to lighten his material cares; she +gave him the only daughter by whom he had descendants; descendants, who, +from the Arabian point of view, do not count as such, as according to their +genealogical theories the line of descent cannot pass through a woman. +They have made an exception for the Prophet, as male offspring, the only +blessing of marriage appreciated by Arabs, was withheld from him. + +In the materialistic commercial town of Mecca, where lust of gain and usury +reigned supreme, where women, wine, and gambling filled up the leisure +time, where might was right, and widows, orphans, and the feeble were +treated as superfluous ballast, an unfortunate being like Mohammed, if his +constitution were sensitive, must have experienced most painful emotions. +In the intellectual advantages that the place offered he could find +no solace; the highly developed Arabian art of words, poetry with its +fictitious amourettes, its polished descriptions of portions of Arabian +nature, its venal vain praise and satire, might serve as dessert to a +well-filled dish; they were unable to compensate for the lack of material +prosperity. Mohammed felt his misery as a pain too great to be endured; in +some way or other he must be delivered from it. He desired to be more than +the greatest in his surroundings, and he knew that in that which they +counted for happiness he could never even equal them. Rather than envy them +regretfully, he preferred to despise their values of life, but on that very +account he had to oppose these values with better ones. + +It was not unknown in Mecca that elsewhere communities existed acquainted +with such high ideals of life, spiritual goods accessible to the poor, even +to them in particular. Apart from commerce, which brought the inhabitants +of Mecca into contact with Abyssinians, Syrians, and others, there were far +to the south and less far to the north and north-east of Mecca, Arabian +tribes who had embraced the Jewish or the Christian religion. Perhaps this +circumstance had helped to make the inhabitants of Mecca familiar with the +idea of a creator, Allah, but this had little significance in their lives, +as in the Maker of the Universe they did not see their Lawgiver and judge, +but held themselves dependent for their good and evil fortune upon all +manner of beings, which they rendered favourable or harmless by animistic +practices. Thoroughly conservative, they did not take great interest in +the conceptions of the "People of the Scripture," as they called the Jews, +Christians, and perhaps some other sects arisen from these communities. + +But Mohammed's deeply felt misery awakened his interest in them. Whether +this had been the case with a few others before him in the milieu of Mecca, +we need not consider, as it does not help to explain his actions. If wide +circles had been anxious to know more about the contents of the "Scripture" +Mohammed would not have felt in the dark in the way that he did. We shall +probably never know, by intercourse with whom it really was that Mohammed +at last gained some knowledge of the contents of the sacred books of +Judaism and Christianity; probably through various people, and over a +considerable length of time. It was not lettered men who satisfied his +awakened curiosity; otherwise the quite confused ideas, especially in the +beginning of the revelation, concerning the mutual relations between Jews +and Christians could not be explained. Confusions between Miryam, the +sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, between Saul and Gideon, +mistakes about the relationship of Abraham to Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, +might be put down to misconceptions of Mohammed himself, who could not all +at once master the strange material. But his representation of Judaism and +Christianity and a number of other forms of revelation, as almost identical +in their contents, differing only in the place where, the time wherein, and +the messenger of God by whom they came to man; this idea, which runs like +a crimson thread through all the revelations of the first twelve years +of Mohammed's prophecy, could not have existed if he had had an intimate +acquaintance with Jewish or Christian men of letters. Moreover, the many +post-biblical features and stories which the Qorân contains concerning the +past of mankind, indicate a vulgar origin, and especially as regards +the Christian legends, communications from people who lived outside the +communion of the great Christian churches; this is sufficiently proved by +the docetical representation of the death of Jesus and the many stories +about his life, taken from apocryphal sources or from popular oral legends. + +Mohammed's unlearned imagination worked all such material together into +a religious history of mankind, in which Adam's descendants had become +divided into innumerable groups of peoples differing in speech and place +of abode, whose aim in life at one period or another came to resemble +wonderfully that of the inhabitants of West- and Central-Arabia in the +seventh century A.D. Hereby they strayed from the true path, in strife with +the commands given by Allah. The whole of history, therefore, was for him +a long series of repetitions of the antithesis between the foolishness of +men, as this was now embodied in the social state of Mecca, and the wisdom +of God, as known to the "People of the Scripture." To bring the erring ones +back to the true path, it was Allah's plan to send them messengers from out +of their midst, who delivered His ritual and His moral directions to them +in His own words, who demanded the acknowledgment of Allah's omnipotence, +and if they refused to follow the true guidance, threatened them with +Allah's temporary or, even more, with His eternal punishment. + +The antithesis is always the same, from Adam to Jesus, and the enumeration +of the scenes is therefore rather monotonous; the only variety is in the +detail, borrowed from biblical and apocryphal legends. In all the thousands +of years the messengers of Allah play the same part as Mohammed finally saw +himself called upon to play towards his people. + +Mohammed's account of the past contains more elements of Jewish than of +Christian origin, and he ignores the principal dogmas of the Christian +Church. In spite of his supernatural birth, Jesus is only a prophet +like Moses and others; and although his miracles surpass those of other +messengers, Mohammed at a later period of his life is inclined to place +Abraham above Jesus in certain respects. Yet the influence of Christianity +upon Mohammed's vocation was very great; without the Christian idea of the +final scene of human history, of the Resurrection of the dead and the Last +Judgment, Mohammed's mission would have no meaning. It is true, monotheism, +in the Jewish sense, and after the contrast had become clear to Mohammed, +accompanied by an express rejection of the Son of God and of the Trinity, +has become one of the principal dogmas of Islâm. But in Mohammed's first +preaching, the announcement of the Day of judgment is much more prominent +than the Unity of God; and it was against his revelations concerning +Doomsday that his opponents directed their satire during the first twelve +years. It was not love of their half-dead gods but anger at the wretch who +was never tired of telling them, in the name of Allah, that all their +life was idle and despicable, that in the other world they would be the +outcasts, which opened the floodgates of irony and scorn against Mohammed. +And it was Mohammed's anxiety for his own lot and that of those who were +dear to him in that future life, that forced him to seek a solution of the +question: who shall bring my people out of the darkness of antithesis into +the light of obedience to Allah? + +We should, _a posteriori_, be inclined to imagine a simpler answer to the +question than that which Mohammed found; he might have become a missionary +of Judaism or of Christianity to the Meccans. However natural such +a conclusion may appear to us, from the premises with which we are +acquainted, it did not occur to Mohammed. He began--the Qorân tells us +expressly--by regarding the Arabs, or at all events _his_ Arabs, as +heretofore destitute of divine message[1]: "to whom We have sent no warner +before you." Moses and Jesus--not to mention any others--had not been sent +for the Arabs; and as Allah would not leave any section of mankind without +a revelation, their prophet must still be to come. Apparently Mohammed +regarded the Jewish and Christian tribes in Arabia as exceptions to the +rule that an ethnical group (_ummah_) was at the same time a religious +unity. He did not imagine that it could be in Allah's plan that the Arabs +were to conform to a revelation given in a foreign language. No; God must +speak to them in Arabic.[2] Through whose mouth? + +[Footnote 1: _Qorân_, xxxii., 2; xxxiv., 43; xxxvi., 5, etc.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., xii., 2; xiii., 37; XX., 112; XXVI., 195; xli., 44, +etc.] + +A long and severe crisis preceded Mohammed's call. He was convinced that, +if he were the man, mighty signs from Heaven must be revealed to him, for +his conception of revelation was mechanical; Allah Himself, or at least +angels, must speak to him. The time of waiting, the process of objectifying +the subjective, lived through by the help of an overstrained imagination, +all this laid great demands upon the psychical and physical constitution of +Mohammed. At length he saw and heard that which he thought he ought to hear +and see. In feverish dreams he found the form for the revelation, and he +did not in the least realize that the contents of his inspiration from +Heaven were nothing but the result of what he had himself absorbed. He +realized it so little, that the identity of what was revealed to him with +what he held to be the contents of the Scriptures of Jews and Christians +was a miracle to him, the only miracle upon which he relied for the support +of his mission. + +In the course of the twenty-three years of Mohammed's work as God's +messenger, the over-excited state, or inspiration, or whatever we may +call the peculiar spiritual condition in which his revelation was born, +gradually gave place to quiet reflection. Especially after the Hijrah, when +the prophet had to provide the state established by him at Medina with +inspired regulations, the words of God became in almost every respect +different from what they had been at first. Only the form was retained. In +connection with this evolution, some of our biographers of Mohammed, even +where they do not deny the obvious honesty of his first visions, represent +him in the second half of his work, as a sort of actor, who played with +that which had been most sacred to him. This accusation is, in my opinion, +unjust. + +Mohammed, who twelve years long, in spite of derision and contempt, +continued to inveigh in the name of Allah against the frivolous +conservatism of the heathens in Mecca, to preach Allah's omnipotence to +them, to hold up to them Allah's commands and His promises and threats +regarding the future life, "without asking any reward" for such exhausting +work, is really not another man than the acknowledged "Messenger of +Allah" in Medina, who saw his power gradually increase, who was taught by +experience the value and the use of the material means of extending it, +and who finally, by the force of arms compelled all Arabs to "obedience to +Allah and His messenger." + +In our own society, real enthusiasm in the propagation of an idea generally +considered as absurd, if crowned by success may, in the course of time, end +in cold, prosaic calculation without a trace of hypocrisy. Nowhere in +the life of Mohammed can a point of turning be shown; there is a gradual +changing of aims and a readjustment of the means of attaining them. From +the first the outcast felt himself superior to the well-to-do people who +looked down upon him; and with all his power he sought for a position from +which he could force them to acknowledge his superiority. This he found in +the next and better world, of which the Jews and Christians knew. After a +crisis, which some consider as psychopathologic, he knew himself to be sent +by Allah to call the materialistic community, which he hated and despised, +to the alternative, either in following him to find eternal blessedness, or +in denying him to be doomed to eternal fire. + +Powerless against the scepticism of his hearers, after twelve years of +preaching followed only by a few dozen, most of them outcasts like himself, +he hoped now and then that Allah would strike the recalcitrant multitude +with an earthly doom, as he knew from revelations had happened before. This +hope was also unfulfilled. As other messengers of God had done in similar +circumstances, he sought for a more fruitful field than that of his +birthplace; he set out on the Hijrah, _i.e._, emigration to Medina. Here +circumstances were more favourable to him: in a short time he became the +head of a considerable community. + +Allah, who had given him power, soon allowed him to use it for the +protection of the interests of the Faithful against the unbelievers. +Once become militant, Mohammed turned from the purely defensive to the +aggressive attitude, with such success that a great part of the Arab tribes +were compelled to accept Islâm, "obedience to Allah and His Messenger." The +rule formerly insisted upon: "No compulsion in religion," was sacrificed, +since experience taught him, that the truth was more easily forced upon +men by violence than by threats which would be fulfilled only after the +resurrection. Naturally, the religious value of the conversions sank in +proportion as their number increased. The Prophet of world renouncement +in Mecca wished to win souls for his faith; the Prophet-Prince in Medina +needed subjects and fighters for his army. Yet he was still the same +Mohammed. + +Parallel with his altered position towards the heathen Arabs went a +readjustment of his point of view towards the followers of Scripture. +Mohammed never pretended to preach a new religion; he demanded in the name +of Allah the same Islâm (submission) that Moses, Jesus, and former prophets +had demanded of their nations. In his earlier revelations he always points +out the identity of his "Qorâns" with the contents of the sacred books of +Jews and Christians, in the sure conviction that these will confirm his +assertion if asked. In Medina he was disillusioned by finding neither Jews +nor Christians prepared to acknowledge an Arabian prophet, not even for the +Arabs only; so he was led to distinguish between the _true_ contents of the +Bible and that which had been made of it by the falsification of later +Jews and Christians. He preferred now to connect his own revelations more +immediately with those of Abraham, no books of whom could be cited against +him, and who was acknowledged by Jews and Christians without being himself +either a Jew or a Christian. + +This turn, this particular connection of Islâm with Abraham, made it +possible for him, by means of an adaptation of the biblical legends +concerning Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael, to include in his religion a set of +religious customs of the Meccans, especially the hajj.[1] Thus Islâm became +more Arabian, and at the same time more independent of the other revealed +religions, whose degeneracy was demonstrated by their refusal to +acknowledge Mohammed. + +[Footnote 1: A complete explanation of the gradual development of the +Abraham legend in the Qorân can be found in my book _Het Mekkaansche Feest_ +(The Feast of Mecca), Leiden, 1880.] + +All this is to be explained without the supposition of conscious trickery +or dishonesty on the part of Mohammed. There was no other way for the +unlettered Prophet, whose belief in his mission was unshaken, to overcome +the difficulties entailed by his closer acquaintance with the tenets of +other religions. + +How, then, are we to explain the starting-point of it all--Mohammed's sense +of vocation? Was it a disease of the spirit, a kind of madness? At all +events, the data are insufficient upon which to form a serious diagnosis. +Some have called it epilepsy. Sprenger, with an exaggerated display of +certainty based upon his former medical studies, gave Mohammed's disorder +the name of hysteria. Others try to find a connection between Mohammed's +extraordinary interest in the fair sex and his prophetic consciousness. +But, after all, is it explaining the spiritual life of a man, who was +certainly unique, if we put a label upon him, and thus class him with +others, who at the most shared with him certain abnormalities? A normal man +Mohammed certainly was not. But as soon as we try to give a positive name +to this negative quality, then we do the same as the heathens of Mecca, who +were violently awakened by his thundering prophecies: "He is nothing but +one possessed, a poet, a soothsayer, a sorcerer," they said. Whether we say +with the old European biographers "impostor," or with the modern ones put +"epileptic," or "hysteric" in its place, makes little difference. The +Meccans ended by submitting to him, and conquering a world under the banner +of his faith. We, with the diffidence which true science implies, feel +obliged merely to call him Mohammed, and to seek in the Qorân, and with +great cautiousness in the Tradition, a few principal points of his life and +work, in order to see how in his mind the intense feeling of discontent +during the misery of his youth, together with a great self-reliance, a +feeling of spiritual superiority to his surroundings, developed into +a call, the form of which was largely decided by Jewish and Christian +influence. + +While being struck by various weaknesses which disfigured this great +personality and which he himself freely confessed, we must admire the +perseverance with which he retained his faith in his divine mission, not +discouraged by twelve years of humiliation, nor by the repudiation of the +"People of Scripture," upon whom he had relied as his principal witnesses, +nor yet by numbers of temporary rebuffs during his struggle for the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger, which he carried on through the whole +of Arabia. + +Was Mohammed conscious of the universality of his mission? In the beginning +he certainly conceived his work as merely the Arabian part of a universal +task, which, for other parts of the world, was laid upon other messengers. +In the Medina period he ever more decidedly chose the direction of "forcing +to comply." He was content only when the heathens perceived that further +resistance to Allah's hosts was useless; their understanding of his "clear +Arabic Qorân" was no longer the principal object of his striving. _Such_ +an Islâm could equally well be forced upon _non-Arabian_ heathens. And, +as regards the "People of Scripture," since Mohammed's endeavour to be +recognized by them had failed, he had taken up his position opposed to +them, even above them. With the rise of his power he became hard and cruel +to the Jews in North-Arabia, and from Jews and Christians alike in Arabia +he demanded submission to his authority, since it had proved impossible to +make them recognize his divine mission. This demand could quite logically +be extended to all Christians; in the first place to those of the Byzantine +Empire. But did Mohammed himself come to these conclusions in the last part +of his life? Are the words in which Allah spoke to him: "We have sent thee +to men in general,"[1] and a few expressions of the same sort, to be taken +in that sense, or does "humanity" here, as in many other places in the +Qorân, mean those with whom Mohammed had especially to do? Nôldeke is +strongly of opinion that the principal lines of the program of conquest +carried out after Mohammed's death, had been drawn by the Prophet himself. +Lammens and others deny with equal vigour, that Mohammed ever looked upon +the whole world as the field of his mission. This shows that the solution +is not evident.[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Qorân_, xxxiv., 27. The translation of this verse has +always been a subject of great difference of opinion. At the time of its +revelation--as fixed by Mohammedan as well as by western authorities--the +universal conception of Mohammed's mission was quite out of question.] + +[Footnote 2: Professor T.W. Arnold in the 2d edition (London, 1913) of +his valuable work _The Preaching of Islâm_ (especially pp. 28-31), warmly +endeavours to prove that Mohammed from the beginning considered his mission +as universal. He weakens his argument more than is necessary by placing the +Tradition upon an almost equal footing with the Qorân as a source, and by +ignoring the historical development which is obvious in the Qorân itself. +In this way he does not perceive the great importance of the history of the +Abraham legend in Mohammed's conception. Moreover, the translation of +the verses of the Qorân on p. 29 sometimes says more than the original. +_Lil-nâs_ is not "_to mankind_" but "_to men_," in the sense of "_to +everybody_." _Qorân_, xvi., 86, does not say: "One day we will raise up +a witness out of every nation," but: "On the day (_i.e._, the day of +resurrection) when we will raise up, etc.," which would seem to refer to +the theme so constantly repeated in the Qorân, that each nation will be +confronted on the Day of Judgment with the prophet sent to it. When the +Qorân is called an "admonition to the world (_'âlamîn_)" and Mohammed's +mission a "mercy to the world (_'âlamîn_)," then we must remember that +'âlamîn is one of the most misused rhymewords in the Qorân (e.g., _Qorân_, +xv., 70); and we should not therefore translate it emphatically as "all +created beings," unless the universality of Mohammed's mission is firmly +established by other proofs. And this is far from being the case.] + +In our valuation of Mohammed's sayings we cannot lay too much stress upon +his incapability of looking far ahead. The final aims which Mohammed set +himself were considered by sane persons as unattainable. His firm belief in +the realization of the vague picture of the future which he had conceived, +nay, which Allah held before him, drove him to the uttermost exertion of +his mental power in order to surmount the innumerable unexpected obstacles +which he encountered. Hence the variability of the practical directions +contained in the Qorân; they are constantly altered according to +circumstances. Allah's words during the last part of Mohammed's life: +"This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have I filled up +the measure of my favours towards you, and chosen Islâm for you as your +religion," have in no way the meaning of the exclamation: "It is finished," +of the dying Christ. They are only a cry of jubilation over the degradation +of the heathen Arabs by the triumph of Allah's weapons. At Mohammed's death +everything was still unstable; and the vital questions for Islâm were +subjects of contention between the leaders even before the Prophet had been +buried. + +The expedient of new revelations completing, altering, or abrogating former +ones had played an important part in the legislative work of Mohammed. Now, +he had never considered that by his death the spring would be stopped, +although completion was wanted in every respect. For, without doubt, +Mohammed felt his weakness in systematizing and his absence of clearness +of vision into the future, and therefore he postponed the promulgation of +divine decrees as long as possible, and he solved only such questions +of law as frequently recurred, when further hesitation would have been +dangerous to his authority and to the peace of the community. + +At Mohammed's death, all Arabs were not yet subdued to his authority. +The expeditions which he had undertaken or arranged beyond the northern +boundaries of Arabia, were directed against Arabs, although they were +likely to rouse conflict with the Byzantine and Persian empires. It would +have been contrary to Mohammed's usual methods if this had led him to form +a general definition of his attitude towards the world outside Arabia. + +As little as Mohammed, when he invoked the Meccans in wild poetic +inspirations to array themselves behind him to seek the blessedness of +future life, had dreamt of the possibility that twenty years later the +whole of Arabia would acknowledge his authority in this world, as little, +nay, much less, could he at the close of his life have had the faintest +premonition of the fabulous development which his state would reach half +a century later. The subjugation of the mighty Persia and of some of the +richest provinces of the Byzantine Empire, only to mention these, was never +a part of his program, although legend has it that he sent out written +challenges to the six princes of the world best known to him. Yet we +may say that Mohammed's successors in the guidance of his community, by +continuing their expansion towards the north, after the suppression of the +apostasy that followed his death, remained in Mohammed's line of action. +There is even more evident continuity in the development of the empire of +the Omayyads out of the state of Mohammed, than in the series of events +by which we see the dreaded Prince-Prophet of Medina grew out of the +"possessed one" of Mecca. But if Mohammed had been able to foresee how the +unity of Arabia, which he nearly accomplished, was to bring into being a +formidable international empire, we should expect some indubitable traces +of this in the Qorân; not a few verses of dubious interpretation, but +some certain sign that the Revelation, which had repeatedly, and with the +greatest emphasis, called itself a "plain Arabic Qorân" intended for those +"to whom no warner had yet been sent," should in future be valid for the +'Ajam, the Barbarians, as well as for the Arabs. + +Even if we ascribe to Mohammed something of the universal program, which +the later tradition makes him to have drawn up, he certainly could not +foresee the success of it. For this, in the first place, the economic and +political factors to which some scholars of our day would attribute the +entire explanation of the Islâm movement, must be taken into consideration. +Mohammed did to some extent prepare the universality of his religion and +make it possible. But that Islâm, which came into the world as the Arabian +form of the one, true religion, has actually become a universal religion, +is due to circumstances which had little to do with its origin.[1] This +extension of the domain to be subdued to its spiritual rule entailed +upon Islâm about three centuries of development and accommodation, of a +different sort, to be sure, but not less drastic in character than that of +the Christian Church. + +[Footnote 1: Sir William Muir was not wrong when he said: "From first to +last the summons was to Arabs and to none other... The seed of a universal +creed had indeed been sown; but that it ever germinated was due to +circumstances rather than design."] + + + +II + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM + + +We can hardly imagine a poorer, more miserable population than that of the +South-Arabian country Hadramaut. All moral and social progress is there +impeded by the continuance of the worst elements of Jâhiliyyah (Arabian +paganism), side by side with those of Islâm. A secular nobility is formed +by groups of people, who grudge each other their very lives and fight each +other according to the rules of retaliation unmitigated by any more humane +feelings. The religious nobility is represented by descendants of the +Prophet, arduous patrons of a most narrow-minded orthodoxy and of most +bigoted fanaticism. In a well-ordered society, making the most of all the +means offered by modern technical science, the dry barren soil might be +made to yield sufficient harvests to satisfy the wants of its members; but +among these inhabitants, paralysed by anarchy, chronic famine prevails. +Foreigners wisely avoid this miserable country, and if they did visit +it, would not be hospitably received. Hunger forces many Hadramites to +emigrate; throughout the centuries we find them in all the countries of +Islâm, in the sacred cities of Western-Arabia, in Syria, Egypt, India, +Indonesia, where they often occupy important positions. + +In the Dutch Indies, for instance, they live in the most important +commercial towns, and though the Government has never favoured them, and +though they have had to compete with Chinese and with Europeans, they have +succeeded in making their position sufficiently strong. Before European +influence prevailed, they even founded states in some of the larger islands +or they obtained political influence in existing native states. Under a +strong European government they are among the quietest, most industrious +subjects, all earning their own living and saving something for their poor +relations at home. They come penniless, and without any of that theoretical +knowledge or practical skill which we are apt to consider as indispensable +for a man who wishes to try his fortune in a complicated modern colonial +world. Yet I have known some who in twenty years' time have become +commercial potentates, and even millionaires. + +The strange spectacle of these latent talents and of the suppressed energy +of the people of Hadramaut that seem to be waiting only for transplantation +into a more favourable soil to develop with amazing rapidity, helps us +to understand the enormous consequences of the Arabian migration in the +seventh century. + +The spiritual goods, with which Islâm set out into the world, were far from +imposing. It preached a most simple monotheism: Allah, the Almighty Creator +and Ruler of heaven and earth, entirely self-sufficient, so that it were +ridiculous to suppose Him to have partners or sons and daughters to support +Him; who has created the angels that they might form His retinue, and +men and genii (jinn) that they might obediently serve Him; who decides +everything according to His incalculable will and is responsible to nobody, +as the Universe is His; of whom His creatures, if their minds be not led +astray, must therefore stand in respectful fear and awe. He has made His +will known to mankind, beginning at Adam, but the spreading of mankind over +the surface of the earth, its seduction by Satan and his emissaries have +caused most nations to become totally estranged from Him and His service. +Now and then, when He considered that the time was come, He caused a +prophet to arise from among a nation to be His messenger to summon people +to conversion, and to tell them what blessedness awaited them as a reward +of obedience, what punishments would be inflicted if they did not believe +his message. + +Sometimes the disobedient had been struck by earthly judgment (the flood, +the drowning of the Egyptians, etc.), and the faithful had been rescued +in a miraculous way and led to victory; but such things merely served +as indications of Allah's greatness. One day the whole world will be +overthrown and destroyed. Then the dead will be awakened and led before +Allah's tribunal. The faithful will have abodes appointed them in +well-watered, shady gardens, with fruit-trees richly laden, with luxurious +couches upon which they may lie and enjoy the delicious food, served by the +ministrants of Paradise. They may also freely indulge in sparkling wine +that does not intoxicate, and in intercourse with women, whose youth and +virginity do not fade. The unbelievers end their lives in Hell-fire; or, +rather, there is no end, for the punishment as well as the reward are +everlasting. + +Allah gives to each one his due. The actions of His creatures are all +accurately written down, and when judgment comes, the book is opened; +moreover, every creature carries the list of his own deeds and misdeeds; +the debit and credit sides are carefully weighed against each other in the +divine scales, and many witnesses are heard before judgment is pronounced. +Allah, however, is clement and merciful; He gladly forgives those sinners +who have believed in Him, who have sincerely accepted Islâm, that is to +say: who have acknowledged His absolute authority and have believed the +message of the prophet sent to them. These prophets have the privilege +of acting as mediators on behalf of their followers, not in the sense of +redeemers, but as advocates who receive gracious hearing. + +Naturally, Islâm, submission to the Lord of the Universe, ought to express +itself in deeds. Allah desires the homage of formal worship, which must be +performed several times a day by every individual, and on special occasions +by the assembled faithful, led by one of them. This. service, [s.]alât, +acquired its strictly binding rules only after Mohammed's time, but already +in his lifetime it consisted chiefly of the same elements as now: the +recital of sacred texts, especially taken from the Revelation, certain +postures of the body (standing, inclination, kneeling, prostration) with +the face towards Mecca. This last particular and the language of the +Revelation are the Arabian elements of the service, which is for the rest +an imitation of Jewish and Christian rituals, so far as Mohammed knew them. +There was no sacrament, consequently no priest to administer it; Islâm has +always been the lay religion _par excellence_. Teaching and exhortation are +the only spiritual help that the pious Mohammedan wants, and this simple +care of souls is exercised without any ordination or consecration. + +Fasting, for a month if possible, and longer if desired, was also an +integral part of religious life and, by showing disregard of earthly joys, +a proof of faith in Allah's promises for the world to come. Almsgiving, +recommended above all other virtues, was not only to be practised in +obedience to Allah's law and in faith in retribution, but it was to testify +contempt of all earthly possessions which might impede the striving after +eternal happiness. Later, Mohammed was compelled, by the need of a public +fund and the waning zeal of the faithful as their numbers increased, to +regulate the practice of this virtue and to exact certain minima as taxes +(_zakât_). + +When Mohammed, taking his stand as opposed to Judaism and Christianity, +had accentuated the Arabian character of his religion, the Meccan rites of +pagan origin were incorporated into Islâm; but only after the purification +required by monotheism. From that time forward the yearly celebration of +the Hajj was among the ritual duties of the Moslim community. + +In the first years of the strife yet another duty was most emphatically +impressed on the Faithful; _jihâd, i.e._, readiness to sacrifice life and +possessions for the defence of Islâm, understood, since the conquest of +Mecca in 630, as the extension by force of arms of the authority of the +Moslim state, first over the whole of Arabia, and soon after Mohammed's +death over the whole world, so far as Allah granted His hosts the victory. + +For the rest, the legislative revelations regulated only such points as had +become subjects of argument or contest in Mohammed's lifetime, or such as +were particularly suggested by that antithesis of paganism and revelation, +which had determined Mohammed's prophetical career. Gambling and wine were +forbidden, the latter after some hesitation between the inculcation of +temperance and that of abstinence. Usury, taken in the sense of requiring +any interest at all upon loans, was also forbidden. All tribal feuds with +their consequences had henceforward to be considered as non-existent, and +retaliation, provided that the offended party would not agree to accept +compensation, was put under the control of the head of the community. +Polygamy and intercourse of master and female slave were restricted; the +obligations arising from blood-relationship or ownership were regulated. +These points suffice to remind us of the nature of the Qorânic regulations. +Reference to certain subjects in this revealed law while others were +ignored, did not depend on their respective importance to the life of the +community, but rather on what happened to have been suggested by the events +in Mohammed's lifetime. For Mohammed knew too well how little qualified he +was for legislative work to undertake it unless absolutely necessary. + +This rough sketch of what Islâm meant when it set out to conquer the world, +is not very likely to create the impression that its incredibly rapid +extension was due to its superiority over the forms of civilization which +it supplanted. Lammens's assertion, that Islâm was the Jewish religion +simplified according to Arabic wants and amplified by some Christian and +Arabic traditions, contains a great deal of truth, if only we recognize the +central importance for Mohammed's vocation and preaching of the Christian +doctrine of Resurrection and judgment. This explains the large number of +weak points that the book of Mohammed's revelations, written down by his +first followers, offered to Jewish and Christian polemics. It was easy for +the theologians of those religions to point out numberless mistakes in the +work of the illiterate Arabian prophet, especially where he maintained that +he was repeating and confirming the contents of their Bible. The Qorânic +revelations about Allah's intercourse with men, taken from apocryphal +sources, from profane legends like that of Alexander the Great, sometimes +even created by Mohammed's own fancy--such as the story of the prophet +Sâlih, said to have lived in the north of Arabia, and that of the prophet +Hûd, supposed to have lived in the south; all this could not but give them +the impression of a clumsy caricature of true tradition. The principal +doctrines of Synagogue and Church had apparently been misunderstood, or +they were simply denied as corruptions. + +The conversion to Islâm, within a hundred years, of such nations as the +Egyptian, the Syrian, and the Persian, can hardly be attributed to anything +but the latent talents, the formerly suppressed energy of the Arabian race +having found a favourable soil for its development; talents and energy, +however, not of a missionary kind. If Islâm is said to have been from its +beginning down to the present day, a missionary religion,[1] then "mission" +is to be taken here in a quite peculiar sense, and special attention must +be given to the preparation of the missionary field by the Moslim armies, +related by history and considered as most important by the Mohammedans +themselves. + +[Footnote 1: With extraordinary talent this thesis has been defended by +Professor T.W. Arnold in the above quoted work, _The Preaching of Islam_, +which fully deserves the attention also of those who do not agree with the +writer's argument. Among the many objections that may be raised against +Prof. Arnold's conclusion, we point to the undeniable fact, that the Moslim +scholars of all ages hardly speak of "mission" at all, and always treat the +extension of the true faith by holy war as one of the principal duties of +the Moslim community.] + +Certainly, the nations conquered by the Arabs under the first khalîfs were +not obliged to choose between living as Moslims or dying as unbelievers. +The conquerors treated them as Mohammed had treated Jews and Christians in +Arabia towards the end of his life, and only exacted from them submission +to Moslim authority. They were allowed to adhere to their religion, +provided they helped with their taxes to fill the Moslim exchequer. This +rule was even extended to such religions as that of the Parsîs, although +they could not be considered as belonging to the "People of Scripture" +expressly recognized in the Qorân. But the social condition of these +subjects was gradually made so oppressive by the Mohammedan masters, that +rapid conversions in masses were a natural consequence; the more natural +because among the conquered nations intellectual culture was restricted to +a small circle, so that after the conquest their spiritual leaders lacked +freedom of movement. Besides, practically very little was required from the +new converts, so that it was very tempting to take the step that led to +full citizenship. + +No, those who in a short time subjected millions of non-Arabs to the state +founded by Mohammed, and thus prepared their conversion, were no apostles. +They were generals whose strategic talents would have remained hidden but +for Mohammed, political geniuses, especially from Mecca and Taif, who, +before Islâm, would have excelled only in the organization of commercial +operations or in establishing harmony between hostile families. Now they +proved capable of uniting the Arabs commanded by Allah, a unity still many +a time endangered during the first century by the old party spirit; and of +devising a division of labour between the rulers and the conquered which +made it possible for them to control the function of complicated machines +of state without any technical knowledge. + +Moreover, several circumstances favoured their work; both the large realms +which extended north of Arabia, were in a state of political decline; +the Christians inhabiting the provinces that were to be conquered first, +belonged, for the larger part, to heretical sects and were treated by the +orthodox Byzantines in such a way that other masters, if tolerant, might be +welcome. The Arabian armies consisted of hardened Bedouins with few wants, +whose longing for the treasures of the civilized world made them more ready +to endure the pressure of a discipline hitherto unknown to them. + +The use that the leaders made of the occasion commands our admiration; +although their plan was formed in the course and under the influence of +generally unforeseen events. Circumstances had changed Mohammed the Prophet +into Mohammed the Conqueror; and the leaders, who continued the conqueror's +work, though not driven by fanaticism or religious zeal, still prepared the +conversion of millions of men to Islâm. + +It was only natural that the new masters adopted, with certain +modifications, the administrative and fiscal systems of the conquered +countries. For similar reasons Islâm had to complete its spiritual store +from the well-ordered wealth of that of its new adherents. Recent research +shows most clearly, that Islâm, in after times so sharply opposed to other +religions and so strongly armed against foreign influence, in the first +century borrowed freely and simply from the "People of Scripture" whatever +was not evidently in contradiction to the Qorân. This was to be expected; +had not Mohammed from the very beginning referred to the "people of the +Book" as "those who know"? When painful experience induced him afterwards +to accuse them of corruption of their Scriptures, this attitude +necessitated a certain criticism but not rejection of their tradition. +The ritual, only provisionally regulated and continually liable to change +according to prophetic inspiration in Mohammed's lifetime, required +unalterable rules after his death. Recent studies[1] have shown in an +astounding way, that the Jewish ritual, together with the religious rites +of the Christians, strongly influenced the definite shape given to that of +Islâm, while indirect influence of the Parsî religion is at least probable. + +[Footnote 1: The studies of Professors C.H. Becker, E. Mittwoch, and +A.J. Wensinck, especially taken in connection with older ones of Ignaz +Goldziher, have thrown much light upon this subject.] + +So much for the rites of public worship and the ritual purity they require. +The method of fasting seems to follow the Jewish model, whereas the period +of obligatory fasting depends on the Christian usage. + +Mohammed's fragmentary and unsystematic accounts of sacred history were +freely drawn from Jewish and Christian sources and covered the whole period +from the creation of the world until the first centuries of the Christian +era. Of course, features shocking to the Moslim mind were dropped and the +whole adapted to the monotonous conception of the Qorân. With ever greater +boldness the story of Mohammed's own life was exalted to the sphere of +the supernatural; here the Gospel served as example. Though Mohammed had +repeatedly declared himself to be an ordinary man chosen by Allah as the +organ of His revelation, and whose only miracle was the Qorân, posterity +ascribed to him a whole series of wonders, evidently invented in emulation +of the wonders of Christ. The reason for this seems to have been the idea +that none of the older prophets, not even Jesus, of whom the Qorân tells +the greatest wonders, could have worked a miracle without Mohammed, the +Seal of the prophets, having rivalled or surpassed him in this respect. +Only Jesus was the Messiah; but this title did not exceed in value +different titles of other prophets, and Mohammed's special epithets were +of a higher order. A relative sinlessness Mohammed shared with Jesus; the +acceptance of this doctrine, contradictory to the original spirit of the +Qorân, had moreover a dogmatic motive: it was considered indispensable +to raise the text of the Qorân above all suspicion of corruption, which +suspicion would not be excluded if the organ of the Revelation were +fallible. + +This period of naively adopting institutions, doctrines, and traditions was +soon followed by an awakening to the consciousness that Islâm could not +well absorb any more of such foreign elements without endangering its +independent character. Then a sorting began; and the assimilation of the +vast amount of borrowed matter, that had already become an integral part of +Islâm, was completed by submitting the whole to a peculiar treatment. It +was carefully divested of all marks of origin and labelled _hadîth_,[1] +so that henceforth it was regarded as emanations from the wisdom of the +Arabian Prophet, for which his followers owed no thanks to foreigners. + +[Footnote 1: _Hadîth_, the Arabic word for record, story, has assumed +the technical meaning of "tradition" concerning the words and deeds of +Mohammed. It is used as well in the sense of a single record of this sort +as in that of the whole body of sacred traditions.] + +At first, it was only at Medina that some pious people occupied themselves +with registering, putting in order, and systematizing the spiritual +property of Islâm; afterwards similar circles were formed in other centres, +such as Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Misr (Cairo), and elsewhere. At the outset +the collection of divine sayings, the Qorân, was the only guide, the only +source of decisive decrees, the only touchstone of what was true or false, +allowed or forbidden. Reluctantly, but decidedly at last, it was conceded +that the foundations laid by Mohammed for the life of his community were +by no means all to be found in the Holy Book; rather, that Mohammed's +revelations without his explanation and practice would have remained an +enigma. It was understood now that the rules and laws of Islâm were founded +on God's word and on the Sunnah, _i.e._, the "way" pointed out by the +Prophet's word and example. Thus it had been from the moment that Allah had +caused His light to shine over Arabia, and thus it must remain, if human +error was not to corrupt Islâm. + +At the moment when this conservative instinct began to assert itself among +the spiritual leaders, so much foreign matter had already been incorporated +into Islâm, that the theory of the sufficiency of Qorân and Sunnah could +not have been maintained without the labelling operation which we have +alluded to. So it was assumed that as surely as Mohammed must have +surpassed his predecessors in perfection and in wonders, so surely must +all the principles and precepts necessary for his community have been +formulated by him. Thus, by a gigantic web of fiction, he became after his +death the organ of opinions, ideas, and interests, whose lawfulness was +recognized by every influential section of the Faithful. All that could not +be identified as part of the Prophet's Sunnah, received no recognition; on +the other hand, all that was accepted had, somehow, to be incorporated into +the Sunnah. + +It became a fundamental dogma of Islâm, that the Sunnah was the +indispensable completion of the Qorân, and that both together formed the +source of Mohammedan law and doctrine; so much so that every party assumed +the name of "People of the Sunnah" to express its pretension to orthodoxy. +The _contents_ of the Sunnah, however, was the subject of a great deal of +controversy; so that it came to be considered necessary to make the Prophet +pronounce his authoritative judgment on this difference of opinion. He +was said to have called it a proof of God's special mercy, that within +reasonable limits difference of opinion was allowed in his community. Of +that privilege Mohammedans have always amply availed themselves. + +When the difference touched on political questions, especially on the +succession of the Prophet in the government of the community, schism was +the inevitable consequence. Thus arose the party strifes of the first +century, which led to the establishment of the sects of the Shî'ites and +the Khârijites, separate communities, severed from the great whole, that +led their own lives, and therefore followed paths different from those of +the majority in matters of doctrine and law as well as in politics. The +sharpness of the political antithesis served to accentuate the importance +of the other differences in such cases and to debar their acceptance as the +legal consequence of the difference of opinion that God's mercy allowed. +That the political factor was indeed the great motive of separation, is +clearly shown in our own day, now that one Mohammedan state after the other +sees its political independence disappearing and efforts are being made +from all sides to re-establish the unity of the Mohammedan world by +stimulating the feeling of religious brotherhood. Among the most cultivated +Moslims of different countries an earnest endeavour is gaining ground to +admit Shî'ites, Khârijites, and others, formerly abused as heretics, into +the great community, now threatened by common foes, and to regard their +special tenets in the same way as the differences existing between the four +law schools: Hanafites, Mâlikites, Shâfi'ites and Hanbalites, which for +centuries have been considered equally orthodox. + +Although the differences that divide these schools at first caused great +excitement and gave rise to violent discussions, the strong catholic +instinct of Islâm always knew how to prevent schism. Each new generation +either found the golden mean between the extremes which had divided the +preceding one, or it recognized the right of both opinions. + +Though the dogmatic differences were not necessarily so dangerous to +unity as were political ones, yet they were more apt to cause schism than +discussions about the law. It was essential to put an end to dissension +concerning the theological roots of the whole system of Islâm. Mohammed had +never expressed any truth in dogmatic form; all systematic thinking was +foreign to his nature. It was again the non-Arabic Moslims, especially +those of Christian origin, who suggested such doctrinal questions. At first +they met with a vehement opposition that condemned all dogmatic discussion +as a novelty of the Devil. In the long run, however, the contest of the +conservatives against specially objectionable features of the dogmatists' +discussions forced them to borrow arms from the dogmatic arsenal. Hence a +method with a peculiar terminology came in vogue, to which even the boldest +imagination could not ascribe any connection with the Sunnah of Mohammed. +Yet some traditions ventured to put prophetic warnings on Mohammed's lips +against dogmatic innovations that were sure to arise, and to make him +pronounce the names of a couple of future sects. But no one dared to make +the Prophet preach an orthodox system of dogmatics resulting from the +controversies of several centuries, all the terms of which were foreign to +the Arabic speech of Mohammed's time. + +Indeed, all the subjects which had given rise to dogmatic controversy +in the Christian Church, except some too specifically Christian, were +discussed by the _mutakallims_, the dogmatists of Islâm. Free will or +predestination; God omnipotent, or first of all just and holy; God's word +created by Him, or sharing His eternity; God one in this sense, that His +being admitted of no plurality of qualities, or possessed of qualities, +which in all eternity are inherent in His being; in the world to come only +bliss and doom, or also an intermediate state for the neutral. We might +continue the enumeration and always show to the Christian church-historian +or theologian old acquaintances in Moslim garb. That is why Maracci and +Reland could understand Jews and Christians yielding to the temptation +of joining Islâm, and that also explains why Catholic and Protestant +dogmatists could accuse each other of Crypto-mohammedanism. + +Not until the beginning of the tenth century A.D. did the orthodox +Mohammedan dogma begin to emerge from the clash of opinions into its +definite shape. The Mu'tazilites had advocated man's free will; had given +prominence to justice and holiness in their conception of God, had denied +distinct qualities in God and the eternity of God's Word; had accepted a +place for the neutral between Paradise and Hell; and for some time the +favour of the powers in authority seemed to assure the victory of their +system. Al-Ash'arî contradicted all these points, and his system has in the +end been adopted by the great majority. The Mu'tazilite doctrines for a +long time still enthralled many minds, but they ended by taking refuge +in the political heresy of Shî'itism. In the most conservative circles, +opponents to all speculation were never wanting; but they were obliged +unconsciously to make large concessions to systematic thought; for in the +Moslim world as elsewhere religious belief without dogma had become as +impossible as breathing is without air. + +Thus, in Islâm, a whole system, which could not even pretend to draw its +authority from the Sunnah, had come to be accepted. It was not difficult +to justify this deviation from the orthodox abhorrence against novelties. +Islâm has always looked at the world in a pessimistic way, a view expressed +in numberless prophetic sayings. The world is bad and will become worse and +worse. Religion and morality will have to wage an ever more hopeless war +against unbelief, against heresy and ungodly ways of living. While this +is surely no reason for entering into any compromise with doctrines which +depart but a hair's breadth from Qorân and Sunnah, it necessitates methods +of defence against heresy as unknown in Mohammed's time as heresy itself. +"Necessity knows no law" is a principle fully accepted in Islam; and heresy +is an enemy of the faith that can only be defeated with dialectic weapons. +So the religious truths preached by Mohammed have not been altered in +any way; but under the stress of necessity they have been clad in modern +armour, which has somewhat changed their aspect. + +Moreover, Islâm has a theory, which alone is sufficient to justify the +whole later development of doctrine as well as of law. This theory, +whose importance for the system can hardly be overestimated, and which, +nevertheless, has until very recent times constantly been overlooked by +Western students of Islâm, finds its classical expression in the following +words, put into the mouth of Mohammed: "My community will never agree in an +error." In terms more familiar to us, this means that the Mohammedan Church +taken as a whole is infallible; that all the decisions on matters practical +or theoretical, on which it is agreed, are binding upon its members. +Nowhere else is the catholic instinct of Islâm more clearly expressed. + +A faithful Mohammedan student, after having struggled through a handbook of +law, may be vexed by a doubt as to whether these endless casuistic precepts +have been rightly deduced from the Qorân and the Sacred Tradition. His +doubt, however, will at once be silenced, if he bears in mind that Allah +speaks more plainly to him by this infallible Agreement (_Ijmâ'_) of the +Community than through Qorân and Tradition; nay, that the contents of both +those sacred sources, without this perfect intermediary, would be to a +great extent unintelligible to him. Even the differences between the +schools of law may be based on this theory of the Ijmâ'; for, does not the +infallible Agreement of the Community teach us that a certain diversity +of opinion is a merciful gift of God? It was through the Agreement that +dogmatic speculations as well as minute discussions about points of law +became legitimate. The stamp of Ijmâ' was essential to every rule of faith +and life, to all manners and customs. + +All sorts of religious ideas and practices, which could not possibly be +deduced from Mohammed's message, entered the Moslim world by the permission +of Ijmâ'. Here we need think only of mysticism and of the cult of saints. + +Some passages of the Qorân may perhaps be interpreted in such a way that we +hear the subtler strings of religious emotion vibrating in them. The chief +impression that Mohammed's Allah makes before the Hijrah is that of awful +majesty, at which men tremble from afar; they fear His punishment, dare +hardly be sure of His reward, and hope much from His mercy. This impression +is a lasting one; but, after the Hijrah, Allah is also heard quietly +reasoning with His obedient servants, giving them advice and commands, +which they have to follow in order to frustrate all resistance to His +authority and to deserve His satisfaction. He is always the Lord, the King +of the world, who speaks to His humble servants. But the lamp which Allah +had caused Mohammed to hold up to guide mankind with its light, was raised +higher and higher after the Prophet's death, in order to shed its light +over an ever increasing part of humanity. This was not possible, however, +without its reservoir being replenished with all the different kinds of oil +that had from time immemorial given light to those different nations. The +oil of mysticism came from Christian circles, and its Neo-Platonic origin +was quite unmistakable; Persia and India also contributed to it. There were +those who, by asceticism, by different methods of mortifying the flesh, +liberated the spirit that it might rise and become united with the origin +of all being; to such an extent, that with some the profession of faith +was reduced to the blasphemous exclamation: "I am Allah." Others tried to +become free from the sphere of the material and the temporal by certain +methods of thought, combined or not combined with asceticism. Here the +necessity of guidance was felt, and congregations came into existence, +whose purpose it was to permit large groups of people under the leadership +of their sheikhs, to participate simultaneously in the mystic union. The +influence which spread most widely was that of leaders like Ghazâlî, the +Father of the later Mohammedan Church, who recommended moral purification +of the soul as the only way by which men should come nearer to God. His +mysticism wished to avoid the danger of pantheism, to which so many others +were led by their contemplations, and which so often engendered disregard +of the revealed law, or even of morality. Some wanted to pass over the gap +between the Creator and the created along a bridge of contemplation; and +so, driven by the fire of sublime passion, precipitate themselves towards +the object of their love, in a kind of rapture, which poets compare with +intoxication. The evil world said that the impossibility to accomplish this +heavenly union often induced those people to imitate it for the time being +with the earthly means of wine and the indulgence in sensual love. + +Characteristic of all these sorts of mysticism is their esoteric pride. +All those emotions are meant only for a small number of chosen ones. Even +Ghazâlî's ethical mysticism is not for the multitude. The development of +Islâm as a whole, from the Hijrah on, has always been greater in breadth +than in depth; and, consequently, its pedagogics have remained defective. +Even some of the noblest minds in Islâm restrict true religious life to an +aristocracy, and accept the ignorance of the multitude as an irremediable +evil. + +Throughout the centuries pantheistic and animistic forms of mysticism have +found many adherents among the Mohammedans; but the infallible Agreement +has persisted in calling that heresy. Ethical mysticism, since Ghazâlî, has +been fully recognized; and, with law and dogma, it forms the sacred trio of +sciences of Islâm, to the study of which the Arabic humanistic arts +serve as preparatory instruments. All other sciences, however useful and +necessary, are of this world and have no value for the world to come. The +unfaithful appreciate and study them as well as do the Mohammedans; but, +on Mohammedan soil they must be coloured with a Mohammedan hue, and their +results may never clash with the three religious sciences. Physics, +astronomy, and philosophy have often found it difficult to observe this +restriction, and therefore they used to be at least slightly suspected in +pious circles. + +Mysticism did not only owe to Ijmâ' its place in the sacred trio, but it +succeeded, better than dogmatics, in confirming its right with words of +Allah and His Prophet. In Islâm mysticism and allegory are allied in the +usual way; for the _illuminati_ the words had quite a different meaning +than for common, every-day people. So the Qorân was made to speak the +language of mysticism; and mystic commentaries of the Holy Book exist, +which, with total disregard for philological and historical objections, +explain the verses of the Revelation as expressions of the profoundest soul +experiences. Clear utterances in this spirit were put into the Prophet's +mouth; and, like the canonists, the leaders on the mystic Way to God +boasted of a spiritual genealogy which went back to Mohammed. Thus the +Prophet is said to have declared void all knowledge and fulfillment of the +law which lacks mystic experience. + +Of course only "true" mysticism is justified by Ijmâ' and confirmed by the +evidence of Qorân and Sunnah; but, about the bounds between "true" and +"false" or heretical mysticism, there exists in a large measure the +well-known diversity of opinion allowed by God's grace. The ethical +mysticism of al-Ghazâlî is generally recognized as orthodox; and the +possibility of attaining to a higher spiritual sphere by means of methodic +asceticism and contemplation is doubted by few. The following opinion has +come to prevail in wide circles: the Law offers the bread of life to all +the faithful, the dogmatics are the arsenal from which the weapons must be +taken to defend the treasures of religion against unbelief and heresy, but +mysticism shows the earthly pilgrim the way to Heaven. + +It was a much lower need that assured the cult of saints a place in the +doctrine and practice of Islâm. As strange as is Mohammed's transformation +from an ordinary son of man, which he wanted to be, into the incarnation +of Divine Light, as the later biographers represent him, it is still more +astounding that the intercession of saints should have become indispensable +to the community of Mohammed, who, according to Tradition, cursed the Jews +and Christians because they worshipped the shrines of their prophets. +Almost every Moslim village has its patron saint; every country has its +national saints; every province of human life has its own human rulers, +who are intermediate between the Creator and common mortals. In no other +particular has Islâm more fully accommodated itself to the religions it +supplanted. The popular practice, which is in many cases hardly to be +distinguished from polytheism, was, to a great extent, favoured by the +theory of the intercession of the pious dead, of whose friendly assistance +people might assure themselves by doing good deeds in their names and to +their eternal advantage. + +The ordinary Moslim visitor of the graves of saints does not trouble +himself with this ingenious compromise between the severe monotheism of his +prophet and the polytheism of his ancestors. He is firmly convinced, that +the best way to obtain the satisfaction of his desire after earthly or +heavenly goods is to give the saint whose special care these are what he +likes best; and he confidently leaves it to the venerated one to settle the +matter with Allah, who is far too high above the ordinary mortal to allow +of direct contact. + +In support even of this startling deviation from the original, traditions +have been devised. Moreover, the veneration of human beings was favoured +by some forms of mysticism; for, like many saints, many mystics had their +eccentricities, and it was much to the advantage of mystic theologians if +the vulgar could be persuaded to accept their aberrations from normal +rules of life as peculiarities of holy men. But Ijmâ' did more even than +tradition and mysticism to make the veneration of legions of saints +possible in the temples of the very men who were obliged by their ritual +law to say to Allah several time daily: "Thee only do we worship and to +Thee alone do we cry for help." + +In the tenth century of our era Islâm's process of accommodation was +finished in all its essentials. From this time forward, if circumstances +were favourable, it could continue the execution of its world conquering +plans without being compelled to assimilate any more foreign elements. +Against each spiritual asset that another universal religion could boast, +it could now put forward something of a similar nature, but which still +showed characteristics of its own, and the superiority of which it could +sustain by arguments perfectly satisfactory to its followers. From that +time on, Islâm strove to distinguish itself ever more sharply from its most +important rivals. There was no absolute stagnation, the evolution was not +entirely stopped; but it moved at a much quieter pace, and its direction +was governed by internal motives, not by influences from outside. Moslim +catholicism had attained its full growth. + +We cannot within the small compass of these lectures consider the +excrescences of the normal Islâm, the Shî'itic ultras, who venerated +certain descendants of Mohammed as infallible rulers of the world, +Ishma'ilites, Qarmatians, Assassins; nor the modern bastards of Islâm, such +as the Sheikhites, the Bâbî's, the Behâ'îs--who have found some adherents +in America--and other sects, which indeed sprang up on Moslim soil, but +deliberately turned to non-Mohammedan sources for their inspirations. We +must draw attention, however, to protests raised by certain minorities +against some of the ideas and practices which had been definitely adopted +by the majority. + +In the midst of Mohammedan Catholicism there always lived and moved more or +less freely "protestant" elements. The comparison may even be continued, +with certain qualifications, and we may speak also of a conservative and +of a liberal protestantism in Islâm. The conservative Protestantism +is represented by the Hanbalitic school and kindred spirits, who most +emphatically preached that the Agreement (Ijmâ') of every period should be +based on that of the "pious ancestors." They therefore tested every dogma +and practice by the words and deeds of the Prophet, his contemporaries, and +the leaders of the Community in the first decades after Mohammed's death. +In their eyes the Church of later days had degenerated; and they declined +to consider the agreement of its doctors as justifying the penetration +into Islâm of ideas and usages of foreign origin. The cult of saints was +rejected by them as altogether contradictory to the Qorân and the genuine +tradition. These protestants of Islâm may be compared to those of +Christianity also in this respect, that they accepted the results of the +evolution and assimilation of the first three centuries of Islâm, but +rejected later additions as abuse and corruption. When on the verge of our +nineteenth century, they tried, as true Moslims, to force by material means +their religious conceptions on others, they were combated as heretics by +the authorities of catholic Islâm. Central and Western Arabia formed the +battlefield on which these zealots, called Wahhâbites after their leader, +were defeated by Mohammed Ali, the first Khedive, and his Egyptian army. +Since they have given up their efforts at violent reconstitution of what +they consider to be the original Islâm, they are left alone, and their +ideas have found adherents far outside Arabia, _e.g._, in British India and +in Northern and Central Africa. + +In still quite another way many Moslims who found their freedom of thought +or action impeded by the prevailing law and doctrine, have returned to the +origin of their religion. Too much attached to the traditions of their +faith, deliberately to disregard these impediments, they tried to find in +the Qorân and Tradition arguments in favour of what was dictated to them by +Reason; and they found those arguments as easily as former generations had +found the bases on which to erect their casuistry, their dogma, and their +mysticism. This implied an interpretation of the oldest sources independent +from the catholic development of Islâm, and in contradiction with the +general opinion of the canonists, according to whom, since the fourth or +fifth century of the Hijrah, no one is qualified for such free research. A +certain degree of independence of mind, together with a strong attachment +to their spiritual past, has given rise in the Moslim world to this sort +of liberal protestantism, which in our age has many adherents among the +Mohammedans who have come in contact with modern civilization. + +That the partisans of all these different conceptions could remain together +as the children of one spiritual family, is largely owing to the elastic +character of Ijmâ', the importance of which is to some extent acknowledged +by catholics and protestants, by moderns and conservatives. It has never +been contested that the community, whose agreement was the test of truth, +should not consist of the faithful masses, but of the expert elect. In +a Christian church we should have spoken of the clergy, with a further +definition of the organs through which it was to express itself synod, +council, or Pope. Islâm has no clergy, as we have seen; the qualification +of a man to have his own opinion depends entirely upon the scope of his +knowledge or rather of his erudition. There is no lack of standards, fixed +by Mohammedan authorities, in which the requirements for a scholar to +qualify him for Ijmâ' are detailed. The principal criterion is the +knowledge of the canon law; quite what we should expect from the history +of the evolution of Islâm. But, of course, dogmatists and mystics had also +their own "agreements" on the questions concerning them, and through the +compromise between Law, Dogma, and Mysticism, there could not fail to +come into existence a kind of mixed Ijmâ'. Moreover, the standards and +definitions could have only a certain theoretical value, as there never has +existed a body that could speak in the name of all. The decisions of Ijmâ' +were therefore to be ascertained only in a vague and general way. The +speakers were individuals whose own authority depended on Ijmâ', whereas +Ijmâ' should have been their collective decision. Thus it was possible for +innumerable shades of Catholicism and protestantism to live under one roof; +with a good deal of friction, it is true, but without definite breach or +schism, no one sect being able to eject another from the community. + +Moslim political authorities are bound not only to extend the domain of +Islâm, but also to keep the community in the right path in its life and +doctrine. This task they have always conceived in accordance with their +political interests; Islâm has had its religious persecutions but tolerance +was very usual, and even official favouring of heresy not quite exceptional +with Moslim rulers. Regular maintenance of religious discipline existed +nowhere. Thus in the bond of political obedience elements which might +otherwise have been scattered were held together. The political decay of +Islâm in our a day has done away with what had been left of official power +to settle religious differences and any organization of spiritual authority +never existed. Hence it is only natural that the diversity of opinion +allowed by the grace of Allah now shows itself on a greater scale than ever +before. + + + +III + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM + + +In the first period of Islâm, the functions of what we call Church and +what we call State were exercised by the same authority. Its political +development is therefore of great importance for the understanding of its +religious growth. + +The Prophet, when he spoke in the name of God, was the lawgiver of his +community, and it was rightly understood by the later Faithful that his +indispensable explanations of God's word had also legislative power. From +the time of the Hijrah the nature of the case made him the ruler, the +judge, and the military commander of his theocratic state. Moreover, Allah +expressly demanded of the Moslims that they should obey "the Messenger +of God, and those amongst them who have authority."[1] We see by this +expression that Mohammed shared his temporal authority with others. His +co-rulers were not appointed, their number was nowhere defined, they were +not a closed circle; they were the notables of the tribes or other groups +who had arrayed themselves under Mohammed's authority, and a few who had +gained influence by their personality. In their councils Mohammed's word +had no decisive power, except when he spoke in the name of Allah; and we +know how careful he was to give oracles only in cases of extreme need. + +[Footnote 1: Qorân, iv., 62.] + +In the last years of Mohammed's life his authority became extended over a +large part of Arabia; but he did very little in the way of centralization +of government. He sent _'âmils, i.e._, agents, to the conquered tribes +or villages, who had to see that, in the first place, the most important +regulations of the Qorân were followed, and, secondly, that the tax into +which the duty of almsgiving had been converted was promptly paid, and +that the portion of it intended for the central fund at Medina was duly +delivered. After the great conquests, the governors of provinces of the +Moslim Empire, who often exercised a despotic power, were called by the +same title of _'âmils_. The agents of Mohammed, however, did not possess +such unlimited authority. It was only gradually that the Arabs learned the +value of good discipline and submission to a strong guidance, and adopted +the forms of orderly government as they found them in the conquered lands. + +Through the death of Mohammed everything became uncertain. The combination +under one leadership of such a heterogeneous mass as that of his Arabs +would have been unthinkable a few years before. It became quite natural, +though, as soon as the Prophet's mouth was recognized as the organ of +Allah's voice. Must this monarchy be continued after Allah's mouthpiece had +ceased to exist? It was not at all certain. The force of circumstances and +the energy of some of Mohammed's counsellors soon led to the necessary +decisions. A number of the notables of the community succeeded in forcing +upon the hesitating or unwilling members the acceptance of the monarchy as +a permanent institution. There must be a khalîf, a deputy of the Prophet in +all his functions (except that of messenger of God), who would be ruler +and judge and leader of public worship, but above all _amîr al-mu'minîn_, +"Commander of the Faithful," in the struggle both against the apostate +Arabs and against the hostile tribes on the northern border. + +But for the military success of the first khalifs Islâm would never have +become a universal religion. Every exertion was made to keep the troops of +the Faithful complete. The leaders followed only Mohammed's example +when they represented fighting for Allah's cause as the most enviable +occupation. The duty of military service was constantly impressed upon the +Moslims; the lust of booty and the desire for martyrdom, to which the Qorân +assigned the highest reward, were excited to the utmost. At a later period, +it became necessary in the interests of order to temper the result of this +excitement by traditions in which those of the Faithful who died in the +exercise of a peaceful, honest profession were declared to be witnesses to +the Faith as well as those who were slain in battle against the enemies of +God,--traditions in which the real and greater holy war was described as +the struggle against evil passions. The necessity of such a mitigating +reaction, the spirit in which the chapters on holy war of Mohammedan +lawbooks are conceived, and the galvanizing power which down to our own day +is contained in a call to arms in the name of Allah, all this shows that +in the beginning of Islâm the love of battle had been instigated at the +expense of everything else. + +The institution of the Khalifate had hardly been agreed upon when the +question of who should occupy it became the subject of violent dissension. +The first four khalîfs, whose reigns occupied the first thirty years after +Mohammed's death, were Qoraishites, tribesmen of the Prophet, and moreover +men who had been his intimate friends. The sacred tradition relates a +saying of Mohammed: "The _imâms_ are from Qoraish," intended to confine the +Khalifate to men from that tribe. History, however, shows that this edict +was forged to give the stamp of legality to the results of a long political +struggle. For at Mohammed's death the Medinese began fiercely contesting +the claims of the Qoraishites; and during the reign of Alî, the fourth +Khalîf, the Khârijites rebelled, demanding, as democratic rigorists, the +free election of khalîfs without restriction to the tribe of Qoraish or to +any other descent. Their standard of requirements contained only religious +and moral qualities; and they claimed for the community the continual +control of the chosen leader's behaviour and the right of deposing him +as soon as they found him failing in the fulfilment of his duties. Their +anarchistic revolutions, which during more than a century occasionally gave +much trouble to the Khalifate, caused Islâm to accentuate the aristocratic +character of its monarchy. They were overcome and reduced to a sect, the +survivors of which still exist in South-Eastern Arabia, in Zanzibar, and in +Northern Africa; however, the actual life of these communities resembles +that of their spiritual forefathers to a very remote degree. + +Another democratic doctrine, still more radical than that of the +Khârijites, makes even non-Arabs eligible for the Khalifate. It must have +had a considerable number of adherents, for the tradition which makes the +Prophet responsible for it is to be found in the canonic collections. Later +generations, however, rendered it harmless by exegesis; they maintained +that in this text "commander" meant only subordinate chiefs, and not "the +Commander of the Faithful." It became a dogma in the orthodox Mohammedan +world, respected up to the sixteenth century, that only members of the +tribe of Qoraish could take the place of the Messenger of God. + +The chance of success was greater for the legitimists than for the +democratic party. The former wished to make the Khalifate the privilege +of Alî, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, and his descendants. At +first the community did not take much notice of that "House of Mohammed"; +and it did not occur to any one to give them a special part in the +direction of affairs. Alî and Fâtima themselves asked to be placed in +possession only of certain goods which had belonged to Mohammed, but which +the first khalîfs would not allow to be regarded as his personal property; +they maintained that the Prophet had had the disposal of them not as owner, +but as head of the state. This narrow greed and absence of political +insight seemed to be hereditary in the descendants of Ali and Fâtima; for +there was no lack of superstitious reverence for them in later times, and +if one of them had possessed something of the political talent of the best +Omayyads and Abbasids he would certainly have been able to supplant them. + +After the third Khalîf, Othmân, had been murdered by his political +opponents, Ali became his successor; but he was more remote than any of his +predecessors from enjoying general sympathy. At that time the Shî'ah, the +"Party" of the House of the Prophet, gradually arose, which maintained that +Ali should have been the first Khalîf, and that his descendants should +succeed him. The veneration felt for those descendants increased in the +same proportion as that for the Prophet himself; and moreover, there +were at all times malcontents, whose advantage would be in joining any +revolution against the existing government. Yet the Alids never succeeded +in accomplishing anything against the dynasties of the Omayyads, the +Abbasids, and the Ottomans, except in a few cases of transitory importance +only. + +The Fatimite dynasty, of rather doubtful descent, which ruled a part +of Northern Africa and Egypt in the tenth century A.D., was completely +suppressed after some two and a half centuries. The Sherîfs who have ruled +Morocco for more than 950 years were not chiefs of a party that considered +the legality of their leadership a dogma; they owe their local Khalifate +far more to the out-of-the-way position of their country which prevented +Abbasids and Turks from meddling with their affairs. Otherwise, they would +have been obliged at any rate to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Great +Lord of Constantinople. This was the case with the Sherîfs of Mecca, who +ever since the twelfth century have regarded the sacred territory as their +domain. Their principality arose out of the general political disturbance +and the division of the Mohammedan empire into a number of kingdoms, whose +mutual strife prevented them from undertaking military operations in the +desert. These Sherîfs raised no claim to the Khalifate; and the Shî'itic +tendencies they displayed in the Middle Ages had no political significance, +although they had intimate relations with the Zaidites of Southern Arabia. +As first Egypt and afterwards Turkey made their protectorate over the holy +cities more effective, the princes of Mecca became orthodox. + +The Zaidites, who settled in Yemen from the ninth century on, are really +Shî'ites, although of the most moderate kind. Without striving after +expansion outside Arabia, they firmly refuse to give up their own Khalifate +and to acknowledge the sovereignty of any non-Alid ruler; the efforts of +the Turks to subdue them or to make a compromise with them have had no +lasting results. This is the principal obstacle against their being +included in the orthodox community, although their admission is defended, +even under present circumstances, by many non-political Moslim scholars. +The Zaidites are the remnant of the original Arabian Shî'ah, which for +centuries has counted adherents in all parts of the Moslim world, and some +of whose tenets have penetrated Mohammedan orthodoxy. The almost general +veneration of the sayyids and sherîfs, as the descendants of Mohammed are +entitled, is due to this influence. + +The Shî'ah outside Arabia, whose adherents used to be persecuted by the +official authorities, not without good cause, became the receptacle of all +the revolutionary and heterodox ideas maintained by the converted peoples. +Alongside of the _visible_ political history of Islâm of the first +centuries, these circles built up their evolution of the _unseen_ +community, the only true one, guided by the Holy Family, and the reality +was to them a continuous denial of the postulates of religion. Their first +_imâm_ or successor of the Prophet was Alî, whose divine right had been +unjustly denied by the three usurpers, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othmân, and who +had exercised actual authority for a few years in constant strife with +Khârijites and Omayyads. The efforts of his legitimate successors to assert +their authority were constantly drowned in blood; until, at last, there +were no more candidates for the dangerous office. This prosaic fact was +converted by the adherents of the House of Mohammed into the romance, +that the last _imâm_ of a line of _seven_ according to some, and _twelve_ +according to others, had disappeared in a mysterious way, to return at the +end of days as Mahdî, the Guided One, who should restore the political +order which had been disturbed ever since Mohammed's death. Until his +reappearance there is nothing left for the community to do but to await +his advent, under the guidance of their secular rulers (e.g., the shâhs of +Persia) and enlightened by their authoritative scholars (_mujtahids_), who +explain faith and law to them from the tradition of the Sacred Family. +The great majority of Mohammedans, as they do not accept this legitimist +theory, are counted by the Shî'ah outside Arabia as unclean heretics, if +not as unbelievers. + +At the beginning of the fifteenth century this Shî'ah found its political +centre in Persia, and opposed itself fanatically to the Sultan of Turkey, +who at about the same time came to stand at the head of orthodox Islâm. +All differences of doctrine were now sharpened and embittered by political +passion, and the efforts of single enlightened princes or scholars to +induce the various peoples to extend to each other, across the political +barriers, the hand of brotherhood in the principles of faith, all failed. +It is only in the last few years that the general political distress of +Islâm has inclined the estranged relatives towards reconciliation. + +Besides the veneration of the Alids, orthodox Islâm has adopted another +Shîitic element, the expectation of the Mahdî, which we have just +mentioned. Most Sunnites expect that at the end of the world there will +come from the House of Mohammed a successor to him, guided by Allah, who +will maintain the revealed law as faithfully as the first four khalîfs did +according to the idealized history, and who will succeed with God's help in +making Islâm victorious over the whole world. That the chiliastic kingdom +of the Mahdî must in the end be destroyed by Anti-Christ, in order that +Jesus may be able once more to re-establish the holy order before the +Resurrection, was a necessary consequence of the amalgamation of the +political expectations formed under Shî'itic influence, with eschatological +conceptions formerly borrowed by Islâm from Christianity. + +The orthodox Mahdî differs from that of the Shî'ah in many ways. He is not +an _imâm_ returning after centuries of disappearance, but a descendant of +Mohammed, coming into the world in the ordinary way to fulfill the ideal of +the Khalifate. He does not re-establish the legitimate line of successors +of the Prophet; but he renews the glorious tradition of the Khalifate, +which after the first thirty years was dragged into the general +deterioration, common to all human things. The prophecies concerning his +appearance are sometimes of an equally supernatural kind as those of the +Shîites, so that the period of his coming has passed more and more +from the political sphere to which it originally belonged, into that of +eschatology. Yet, naturally, it is easier for a popular leader to make +himself regarded as the orthodox Mahdî than to play the part of the +returned _imâm_. Mohammedan rulers have had more trouble than they cared +for with candidates for the dignity of the Mahdî; and it is not surprising +that in official Turkish circles there is a tendency to simplify the +Messianic expectation by giving the fullest weight to this traditional +saying of Mohammed "There is no mahdî but Jesus," seeing that Jesus must +come from the clouds, whereas other mahdîs may arise from human society. + +In the orthodox expectation of the Mahdi the Moslim theory has most sharply +expressed its condemnation of the later political history of Islâm. In the +course of the first century after the Hijrah the Qorân scholars (_gârîs_) +arose; and these in turn were succeeded by the men of tradition (_ahl +al-hadîth_) and by the canonists (_faqîhs_) of later times. These learned +men (_ulamâ'_) would not endure any interference with their right to state +with authority what Islâm demanded of its leaders. They laid claim to an +interpretative authority concerning the divine law, which bordered upon +supreme legislative power; their agreement (Ijmâ') was that of the +infallible community. But just as beside this legislative agreement, a +dogmatic and a mystic agreement grew up, in the same way there was a +separate Ijmâ' regarding the political government, upon which the canonists +could exercise only an indirect influence. In other words since the +accession of the Omayyad khalîfs, the actual authority rested in the hands +of dynasties, and under the Abbasids government assumed even a despotic +character. This relation between the governors and governed, originally +alien to Islâm, was not changed by the transference of the actual power +into the hands of _wezîrs_ and officers of the bodyguard; nor yet by +the disintegration of the empire into a number of small despotisms, the +investiture of which by the khalîf became a mere formality. Dynastic and +political questions were settled in a comparatively small circle, by court +intrigue, stratagems, and force; and the canonists, like the people, were +bound to accept the results. Politically inclined interpreters of the law +might try to justify their compulsory assent to the facts by theories about +the Ijmâ' of the notables residing in the capital, who took the urgent +decisions about the succession, which decisions were subsequently confirmed +by general homage to the new prince; but they had no illusions about the +real influence of the community upon the choice of its leader. The most +independent scholars made no attempt to disguise the fact that the course +which political affairs had taken was the clearest proof of the moral +degeneration which had set in, and they pronounced an equally bold and +merciless criticism upon the government in all its departments. It became +a matter of course that a pious scholar must keep himself free from all +intercourse with state officials, on pain of losing his reputation. + +The bridge across the gulf that separated the spiritual from the temporal +authorities was formed by those state officials who, for the practice +of their office, needed a knowledge of the divine law, especially the +_qâdhîs_. It was originally the duty of these judges to decide all legal +differences between Mohammedans, or men of other creeds under Mohammedan +protection, who called for their decision. The actual division between the +rulers and the interpreters of the law caused an ever-increasing limitation +of the authority of the _qâdhîs_. The laws of marriage, family, and +inheritance remained, however, their inalienable territory; and a number +of other matters, in which too great a religious interest was involved to +leave them to the caprice of the governors or to the customary law outside +Islâm, were usually included. But as the _qâdhîs_ were appointed by the +governors, they were obliged in the exercise of their office to give due +consideration to the wishes of their constituents; and moreover they were +often tainted by what was regarded in Mohammedan countries as inseparable +from government employment: bribery. + +On this account, the canonists, although it was from their ranks that the +officials of the _qâdhî_ court were to be drawn, considered no words too +strong to express their contempt for the office of _qâdhî_. In handbooks +of the Law of all times, the _qâdhîs "of our time"_ are represented as +unscrupulous beings, whose unreliable judgments were chiefly dictated by +their greed. Such an opinion would not have acquired full force, if it +had not been ascribed to Mohammed; in fact, the Prophet, according to a +tradition, had said that out of three _qâdhîs_ two are destined to +Hell. Anecdotes of famous scholars who could not be prevailed upon +by imprisonment or castigation to accept the office of _qâdhîs_ are +innumerable. Those who succumbed to the temptation forfeited the respect of +the circle to which they had belonged. + +I once witnessed a case of this kind, and the former friends of the _qâdhî_ +did not spare him their bitter reproaches. He remarked that the judge, +whose duty it was to maintain the divine law, verily held a noble office. +They refuted this by saying that this defence was admissible only for +earlier and better times, but not for "the _qâdhîs_ of our time." To which +he cuttingly replied "And ye, are ye canonists of the better, the ancient +time?" In truth, the students of sacred science are just as much "of our +time" as the _qâdhîs_. Even in the eleventh century the great theologian +Ghazâlî counted them all equal.[1] Not a few of them give their +authoritative advice according to the wishes of the highest bidder or +of him who has the greatest influence, hustle for income from pious +institutions, and vie with each other in a revel of casuistic subtleties. +But among those scholars there are and always have been some who, in +poverty and simplicity, devote their life to the study of Allah's law with +the sole object of pleasing him; among the _qâdhîs_ such are not easily to +be found. Amongst the other state officials the title of _qâdhî_ may count +as a spiritual one, and the public may to a certain extent share this +reverence; but in the eyes of the pious and of the canonists such glory is +only reflected from the clerical robe, in which the worldling disguises +himself. + +[Footnote 1: Ghazâlî, _Ihya_, book i., ch. 6, quotes the words of a pious +scholar of the olden time: "The 'ulamâ' will (on the Day of judgment) +be gathered amongst the prophets, but the _qâdhîs_ amongst the temporal +rulers." Ghazâli adds "alike with these _qâdhîs_ are all those canonists +who make use of their learning for worldly purposes."] + +To the _muftî_ criticism is somewhat more favourable than to the _qâdhî_. A +muftî is not necessarily an official; every canonist who, at the request of +a layman, expounds to him the meaning of the law on any particular point +and gives a _fatwa_, acts as a _muftî_. Be the question in reference to the +behaviour of the individual towards God or towards man, with regard to his +position in a matter of litigation, in criticism of a state regulation or +of a sentence of a judge, or out of pure love of knowledge, the scholar is +morally obliged to the best of his knowledge to enlighten the enquirer. He +ought to do this for the love of God; but he must live, and the enquirer is +expected to give him a suitable present for his trouble. This again gives +rise to the danger that he who offers most is attended to first; and that +for the liberal rich man a dish is prepared from the casuistic store, as +far as possible according to his taste. The temptation is by no means so +great as that to which the _qâdhî_ is exposed; especially since the office +of judge has become an article of commerce, so that the very first step +towards the possession of it is in the direction of Hell. Moreover in +"these degenerate times"--which have existed for about ten centuries--the +acceptance of an appointment to the function of _qâdhî_ is not regarded as +a duty, while a competent scholar may only refuse to give a _fatwa_ under +exceptional circumstances. Still, an unusually strong character is needed +by the _muftî_, if he is not to fall into the snares of the world. + +Besides _qâdhîs_ who settle legal disputes of a certain kind according to +the revealed law, the state requires its own advisers who can explain +that law, i.e., official _muftîs_. Firstly, the government itself may be +involved in a litigation; moreover in some government regulations it may be +necessary to avoid giving offence to canonists and their strict disciples. +In such cases it is better to be armed beforehand with an expert opinion +than to be exposed to dangerous criticism which might find an echo in a +wide circle. The official _muftî_ must therefore be somewhat pliable, to +say the least. Moreover, any private person has the right to put questions +to the state _muftî_; and the _qâdhî_ court is bound to take his answers +into account in its decisions. In this way the _muftîs_ have absorbed a +part of the duties of the _qâdhîs_, and so their office is dragged along in +the degradation that the unofficial canonists denounce unweariedly in their +writings and in their teaching. + +The way in which the most important _muftî_ places are filled and above +all the position which the head-_muftî_ of the Turkish Empire, the +Sheikh-ul-Islâm, holds at any particular period, may well serve as a +touchstone of the influence of the canonists on public life. If this is +great, then even the most powerful sultan has only the possibility of +choice between a few great scholars, put forward or at all events not +disapproved of by their own guild, strengthened by public opinion. If, on +the other hand, there is no keen interest felt in the Sharî'ah (Divine +Law), then the temporal rulers can do pretty much what they like with these +representatives of the canon law. Under the tyrannical sway of Sultan +Abd-ul-Hamid, the Sheikh-ul-Islâm was little more than a tool for him and +his palace clique, and for their own reasons, the members of the Committee +of Union and Progress, who rule at Constantinople since 1908, made no +change in this: each new ministry had its own Sheikh-ul-Islâm, who had to +be, above everything, a faithful upholder of the constitutional theory +held by the Committee. The time is past when the Sultan and the Porte, +in framing even the most pressing reform, must first anxiously assure +themselves of the position that the _hojas, tolbas, softas_, the +theologians in a word, would take towards it, and of the influence that +the Sheikh-ul-Islâm could use in opposition to their plans. The political +authority makes its deference to the canonists dependent upon their strict +obedience. + +This important change is a natural consequence of the modernization of +Mohammedan political life, a movement through which the expounders of a +law which has endeavoured to remain stationary since the year 1000 must +necessarily get into straits. This explains also why the religious life of +Mohammedans is in some respects freer in countries under non-Mohammedan +authority, than under a Mohammedan government. Under English, Dutch, or +French rule the 'ulamâs are less interfered with in their teaching, the +_muftîs_ in their recommendations, and the _qâdhîs_ in their judgments of +questions of marriage and inheritance than in Turkey, where the life of +Islâm, as state religion, lies under official control. In indirectly +governed "native states" the relation of Mohammedan "Church and State" may +much more resemble that in Turkey, and this is sometimes to the advantage +of the sovereign ruler. Under the direct government of a modern state, the +Mohammedan group is treated as a religious community, whose particular life +has just the same claim to independence as that of other denominations. The +only justifiable limitation is that the program of the forcible reduction +of the world to Mohammedan authority be kept within the scholastic walls as +a point of eschatology, and not considered as a body of prescriptions, the +execution of which must be prepared. + +The extensive political program of Islâm, developed during the first +centuries of astounding expansion, has yet not prevented millions of +Mohammedans from resigning themselves to reversed conditions in which at +the present time many more Mohammedans live under foreign authority than +under their own. The acceptance of this change was facilitated by the +historical pessimism of Islâm, which makes the mind prepared for every +sort of decay, and by the true Moslim habit of resignation to painful +experiences, not through fatalism, but through reverence for Allah's +inscrutable will. At the same time, it would be a gross mistake to imagine +that the idea of universal conquest may be considered as obliterated. This +is the case with the intellectuals and with many practical commercial or +industrial men; but the canonists and the vulgar still live in the illusion +of the days of Islâm's greatness. + +The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual political +condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never to be allowed +to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the authority of +Islâm--the heathen by conversion, the adherents of acknowledged Scripture +by submission. Even if they admit the improbability of this at present, +they are comforted and encouraged by the recollection of the lengthy period +of humiliation that the Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah bestowed +victory upon his arms; and they fervently join with the Friday preacher, +when he pronounces the prayer, taken from the Qorân: "And lay not on us, O +our Lord, that for which we have not strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have pity upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the unbelievers!" And the common people are willingly taught by the +canonists and feed their hope of better days upon the innumerable legends +of the olden time and the equally innumerable apocalyptic prophecies about +the future. The political blows that fall upon Islâm make less impression +upon their simple minds than the senseless stories about the power of +the Sultan of Stambul, that would instantly be revealed if he were not +surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic tidings of the +miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia which are +inaccessible to the unfaithful. + +The conception of the Khalifate still exercises a fascinating influence, +regarded in the light of a central point of union against the unfaithful. +Apart from the _'âmils_, Mohammed's agents amongst the Arabian tribes, +the Khalifate was the only political institution which arose out of the +necessity of the Moslim community, without foreign influence. It rescued +Islâm from threatening destruction, and it led the Faithful to conquest. No +wonder that in historic legend the first four occupiers of that leadership, +who, from Medina, accomplished such great things, have been glorified into +saints, and are held up to all the following generations as examples to put +them to shame. In the Omayyads the ancient aristocracy of Mecca came to the +helm, and under them, the Mohammedan state was above all, as Wellhausen +styled it, "the Arabian Empire." The best khalîfs of this house had +the political wisdom to give the governors of the provinces sufficient +independence to prevent schism, and to secure to themselves the authority +in important matters. The reaction of the non-Arabian converts against the +suppression of their own culture by the Arabian conquerors found support in +the opposition parties, above all with the Shî'ah. The Abbasids, cleverer +politicians than the notoriously unskillful Alids, made use of the Alid +propaganda to secure the booty to themselves at the right moment. The means +which served the Alids for the establishment only of an invisible dynasty +of princes who died as martyrs, enabled the descendants of Mohammed's +uncle Abbas to overthrow the Omayyads, and to found their own Khalifate at +Bagdad, shining with the brilliance of an Eastern despotism. + +When it is said that the Abbasid Khalifate maintained itself from 750 till +the Mongol storm in the middle of the thirteenth century, that only refers +to external appearance. After a brief success, the actual power of these +khalîfs was transferred to the hands, first, of the captains of their +bodyguard, then of sultan-dynasties, whose forcibly acquired powers, were +legalized by a formal investiture. In the same way the large provinces +developed into independent kingdoms, whose rulers considered the +nomination-diplomas from Bagdad in the light of mere ornaments. Compared to +this irreparable disintegration of the empire, temporary schisms such as +the Omayyad Khalifate in Spain, the Fatimid Khalifate in Egypt, and here +and there an independent organization of the Khârijites were of little +significance. + +It seems strange that the Moslim peoples, although the theory of Islâm +never attributed an hereditary character to the Khalifate, attached so high +a value to the Abbasid name, that they continued unanimously to acknowledge +the Khalifate of Bagdad for centuries during which it possessed no +influence. But the idea of hereditary rulers was deeply rooted in most +of the peoples converted to Islâm, and the glorious period of the first +Abbasids so strongly impressed itself on the mind of the vulgar, that the +_appearance_ of continuation was easily taken for _reality_. Its voidness +would sooner have been realized, if lack of energy had not prevented the +later Abbasids from trying to recover the lost power by the sword, or if +amongst their rivals who could also boast of a popular tradition--e.g., +the Omayyads, or still more the Alids--a political genius had succeeded in +forming a powerful opposition. But the sultans who ruled the various states +did not want to place all that they possessed in the balance on the chance +of gaining the title of Khalîf. The Moslim world became accustomed to the +idea that the honoured House of the Prophet's uncle Abbas existed for the +purpose of lending an additional glory to Mohammedan princes by a diploma. +Even after the destruction of Bagdad by the Mongols in 1258, from which +only a few Abbasids escaped alive, Indian princes continued to value visits +or deeds of appointment granted them by some begging descendant of the +"Glorious House." The sultans of Egypt secured this luxury permanently for +themselves by taking a branch of the family under their protection, who +gave the glamour of their approval to every new result of the never-ending +quarrels of succession, until in the beginning of the sixteenth century +Egypt, together with so many other lands, was swallowed up by the Turkish +conqueror. + +These new rulers, who added the Byzantine Empire to Islâm, who with Egypt +brought Southern and Western Arabia with the Holy Cities also under their +authority, and caused all the neighbouring princes, Moslim and Christian +alike, to tremble on their thrones, thought it was time to abolish the +senseless survival of the Abbasid glory. The prestige of the Ottomans was +as great as that of the Khalifate in its most palmy days had been; and they +would not be withheld from the assumption of the title. There is a doubtful +tale of the abdication of the Abbasids in their favour, but the question +is of no importance. The Ottomans owed their Khalifate to their sword; and +this was the only argument used by such canonists as thought it worth their +while to bring such an incontestable fact into reconciliation with the law. +This was not strictly necessary, as they had been accustomed for eight +centuries to acquiesce in all sorts of unlawful acts which history +demonstrated to be the will of Allah. + +The sense of the tradition that established descent from the tribe of +Qoraish as necessary for the highest dignity in the community was capable +of being weakened by explanation; and, even without that, the leadership of +the irresistible Ottomans was of more value to Islâm than the chimerical +authority of a powerless Qoraishite. In our own time, you can hear +Qoraishites, and even Alids, warmly defend the claims of the Turkish +sultans to the Khalifate, as they regard these as the only Moslim princes +capable of championing the threatened rights of Islâm. + +Even the sultans of Stambul could not think of restoring the authority of +the Khalîf over the whole Mohammedan world. This was prevented not only +by the schismatic kingdoms, khalifates, or imâmates like Shî'itic Persia, +which was consolidated just in the sixteenth century, by the unceasing +opposition of the Imâms of Yemen, and Khârijite principalities at the +extremities of the Mohammedan world. Besides these, there were numerous +princes in Central Asia, in India, and in Central Africa, whom either the +Khalifate had always been obliged to leave to themselves, or who had become +so estranged from it that, unless they felt the power of the Turkish arms, +they preferred to remain as they were. Moreover, Islâm had extended itself +not only by political means, but also by trade and colonization into +countries even the existence of which was hardly known in the political +centres of Islâm, e.g., into Central Africa or the Far East of Asia. +Without thinking of rivalling the Abbasids or their successors, some of the +princes of such remote kingdoms, e.g., the sherîfs of Morocco, assumed the +title of Commander of the Faithful, bestowed upon them by their flatterers. +Today, there are petty princes in East India under Dutch sovereignty who +decorate themselves with the title of Khalîf, without suspecting that they +are thereby guilty of a sort of arrogant blasphemy. + +Such exaggeration is not supported by the canonists; but these have devised +a theory, which gives a foundation to the authority of Mohammedan princes, +who never had a real or fictitious connection with a real or fictitious +Khalifate. Authority there must be, everywhere and under all circumstances; +far from the centre this should be exercised, according to them, by the +one who has been able to gain it and who knows how to hold it; and all the +duties are laid upon him, which, in a normal condition, would be discharged +by the Khalîf or his representative. For this kind of authority the +legists have even invented a special name: "_shaukah,_" which means actual +influence, the authority which has spontaneously arisen in default of a +chief who in one form or another can be considered as a mandatary of the +Khalifate. + +Now, it is significant that many of those Mohammedan governors, who owe +their existence to wild growth in this way, seek, especially in our day, +for connection with the Khalifate, or, at least, wish to be regarded as +naturally connected with the centre. The same is true of such whose former +independence or adhesion to the Turkish Empire has been replaced by the +sovereignty of a Western state. Even amongst the Moslim peoples placed +under the direct government of European states a tendency prevails to be +considered in some way or another subjects of the Sultan-Khalîf. Some +scholars explain this phenomenon by the spiritual character which the +dignity of Khalîf is supposed to have acquired under the later Abbasids, +and retained since that time, until the Ottoman princes combined it again +with the temporal dignity of sultan. According to this view the later +Abbasids were a sort of popes of Islâm; while the temporal authority, in +the central districts as well as in the subordinate kingdoms, was in the +hands of various sultans. The sultans of Constantinople govern, then, under +this name, as much territory as the political vicissitudes allow them to +govern--_i.e._, the Turkish Empire; as khalîfs, they are the spiritual +heads of the whole of Sunnite Islâm. + +Though this view, through the ignorance of European statesmen and +diplomatists, may have found acceptance even by some of the great powers, +it is nevertheless entirely untrue; unless by "spiritual authority" we are +to understand the empty appearance of worldly authority. This appearance +was all that the later Abbasids retained after the loss of their temporal +power; spiritual authority of any kind they never possessed. + +The spiritual authority in catholic Islâm reposes in the legists, who in +this respect are called in a tradition the _"heirs of the prophets."_ Since +they could no longer regard the khalîfs as their leaders, because they +walked in worldly ways, they have constituted themselves independently +beside and even above them; and the rulers have been obliged to conclude a +silent contract with them, each party binding itself to remain within its +own limits.[1] If this contract be observed, the legists not only are ready +to acknowledge the bad rulers of the world, but even to preach loyalty +towards them to the laity. + +The most supremely popular part of the ideal of Islâm, the reduction of +the whole world to Moslim authority, can only be attempted by a political +power. Notwithstanding the destructive criticism of all Moslim princes and +state officials by the canonists, it was only from them that they could +expect measures to uphold and extend the power of Islâm; and on this +account they continually cherished the ideal of the Khalifate. + +[Footnote 1: That the Khalifate is in no way to be compared with the +Papacy, that Islâm has never regarded the Khalif as its spiritual head, I +have repeatedly explained since 1882 (in "Nieuwe Bijdragen tot de kennis +van den Islam," in _Bijdr. tot de Taal, Landen Volkenkunde van Nederl. +Indië_, Volgr. 4, Deel vi, in an article, "De Islam," in _De Gids_, May, +1886, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, 5me année, No. 106, +etc.). I am pleased to find the same views expressed by Prof. M. Hartmann +in _Die Welt des Islams_, Bd. i., pp. 147-8.] + +In the first centuries it was the duty of Mohammedans who had become +isolated, and who had for instance been conquered by "unbelievers," to do +_"hijrah," i.e._, emigration for Allah's sake, as the converted Arabs had +done in Mohammed's time by emigrating to Medina to strengthen the ranks of +the Faithful. This soon became impracticable, so that the legists relaxed +the prescription by concessions to "the force of necessity." Resignation +was thus permitted, even recommended; but the submission to non-Musulmans +was always to be regarded as temporary and abnormal. Although the _partes +infidelium_ have grown larger and larger, the eye must be kept fixed upon +the centre, the Khalifate, where every movement towards improvement must +begin. A Western state that admits any authority of a khalîf over its +Mohammedan subjects, thus acknowledges, _not_ the authority of a pope of +the Moslim Church, but in simple ignorance is feeding political programs, +which, however vain, always have the power of stirring Mohammedan masses to +confusion and excitement. + +Of late years Mohammedan statesmen in their intercourse with their Western +colleagues are glad to take the latter's point of view; and, in discussion, +accept the comparison of the Khalifate with the Papacy, because they are +aware that only in this form the Khalifate can be made acceptable to powers +who have Mohammedan subjects. But for these subjects the Khalif is then +their true prince, who is temporarily hindered in the exercise of his +government, but whose right is acknowledged even by their unbelieving +masters. + +In yet another respect the canonists need the aid of the temporal rulers. +An alert police is counted by them amongst the indispensable means of +securing purity of doctrine and life. They count it to the credit of +princes and governors that they enforced by violent measures seclusion and +veiling of the women, abstinence from drinking, and that they punished by +flogging the negligent with regard to fasting or attending public worship. +The political decay of Islâm, the increasing number of Mohammedans under +foreign rule, appears to them, therefore, doubly dangerous, as they have +little faith in the proof of Islam's spiritual goods against life in a +freedom which to them means license. + +They find that every political change, in these terrible times, is to the +prejudice of Islâm, one Moslim people after another losing its independent +existence; and they regard it as equally dangerous that Moslim princes are +induced to accommodate their policy and government to new international +ideas of individual freedom, which threaten the very life of Islâm. They +see the antagonism to all foreign ideas, formerly considered as a virtue +by every true Moslim, daily losing ground, and they are filled with +consternation by observing in their own ranks the contamination of +modernist ideas. The brilliant development of the system of Islâm followed +the establishment of its material power; so the rapid decline of that +political power which we are witnessing makes the question urgent, whether +Islâm has a spiritual essence able to survive the fall of such a material +support. It is certainly not the canonists who will detect the kernel; +"verily we are God's and verily to Him do we return," they cry in helpless +amazement, and their consolation is in the old prayer: "And lay not on us, +O our Lord, that for which we have no strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the Unbelievers!" + + + +IV + +ISLÂM AND MODERN THOUGHT + + +One of the most powerful factors of religious life in its higher forms is +the need of man to find in this world of changing things an imperishable +essence, to separate the eternal from the temporal and then to attach +himself to the former. Where the possibility of this operation is despaired +of, there may arise a pessimism, which finds no path of liberation from the +painful vicissitudes of life other than the annihilation of individuality. +A firm belief in a sphere of life freed from the category of time, together +with the conviction that the poetic images of that superior world current +among mankind are images and nothing else, is likely to give rise to +definitions of the Absolute by purely negative attributes and to mental +efforts having for their object the absorption of individual existence +in the indescribable infinite. Generally speaking, a high development of +intellectual life, especially an intimate acquaintance with different +religious systems, is not favourable to the continuance of elaborate +conceptions of things eternal; it will rather increase the tendency to +deprive the idea of the Transcendent of all colour and definiteness. + +The naïve ideas concerning the other world in the clear-cut form outlined +for them by previous generations are most likely to remain unchanged in a +religious community where intellectual intercourse is chiefly limited to +that between members of the community. There the belief is fostered that +things most appreciated and cherished in this fading world by mankind will +have an enduring existence in a world to come, and that the best of the +changing phenomena of life are eternal and will continue free from that +change, which is the principal cause of human misery. Material death will +be followed by awakening to a purer life, the idealized continuation of +life on earth, and for this reason already during this life the faithful +will find their delight in those things which they know to be everlasting. + +The less faith is submitted to the control of intellect, the more numerous +the objects will be to which durable value is attributed. This is true for +different individuals as well as for one religious community as compared to +another. There are Christians attached only to the spirit of the Gospel, +Mohammedans attached only to the spirit of the Qorân. Others give a place +in their world of imperishable things to a particular translation of the +Bible in its old-fashioned orthography or to a written Qorân in preference +to a printed one. Orthodox Judaism and orthodox Islâm have marked with the +stamp of eternity codes of law, whose influence has worked as an impediment +to the life of the adherents of those religions and to the free intercourse +of other people with them as well. So the Roman Catholic and many +Protestant Churches have in their organizations and in their dogmatic +systems eternalized institutions and ideas whose unchangeableness has come +to retard spiritual progress. + +Among all conservative factors of human life religion must necessarily be +the most conservative, were it only because its aim is precisely to store +up and keep under its guardianship the treasures destined for eternity to +which we have alluded. Now, every new period in the history of civilization +obliges a religious community to undertake a general revision of the +contents of its treasury. It is unavoidable that the guardians on such +occasions should be in a certain measure disappointed, for they find that +some of, the goods under their care have given way to the wasting influence +of time, whilst others are in a state which gives rise to serious doubt as +to their right of being classified with lasting treasures. In reality the +loss is only an apparent one; far from impoverishing the community, it +enhances the solidity of its possessions. What remains after the sifting +process may be less imposing to the inexperienced mind; gradually the +consideration gains ground that what has been rejected was nothing but +useless rubbish which had been wrongly valued. + +Sometimes it may happen that the general movement of spiritual progress +goes almost too fast, so that one revision of the stores of religion is +immediately followed by another. Then dissension is likely to arise among +the adherents of a religion; some of them come to the conclusion that there +must be an end of sifting and think it better to lock up the treasuries +once for all and to stop the dangerous enquiries; whereas others begin to +entertain doubt concerning the value even of such goods as do not yet show +any trace of decay. + +The treasuries of Islâm are excessively full of rubbish that has become +entirely useless; and for nine or ten centuries they have not been +submitted to a revision deserving that name. If we wish to understand the +whole or any important part of the system of Islâm, we must always begin by +transporting ourselves into the third or fourth century of the Hijrah, and +we must constantly bear in mind that from the Medina period downwards Islâm +has always been considered by its adherents as bound to regulate all the +details of their life by means of prescriptions emanating directly or +indirectly from God, and therefore incapable of being reformed. At the +time when these prescriptions acquired their definite form, Islâm ruled an +important portion of the world; it considered the conquest of the rest +as being only a question of time; and, therefore, felt itself quite +independent in the development of its law. There was little reason indeed +for the Moslim canonists to take into serious account the interests of men +not subject to Mohammedan authority or to care for the opinion of devotees +of other religions. Islâm might act, and did almost act, as if it were the +only power in the world; it did so in the way of a grand seigneur, showing +a great amount of generosity towards its subjugated enemies. The adherents +of other religions were or would become subjects of the Commander of the +Faithful; those subjects were given a full claim on Mohammedan protection +and justice; while the independent unbelievers were in general to be +treated as enemies until in submission. Their spiritual life deserved not +even so much attention as that of Islâm received from Abbé Maracci or +Doctor Prideaux. The false doctrines of other peoples were of no interest +whatever in themselves; and, since there was no fear of Mohammedans being +tainted by them, polemics against the abrogated religions were more of a +pastime than an indispensable part of theology. The Mohammedan community +being in a sense Allah's army, with the conquest of the world as its +object, apostasy deserved the punishment of death in no lesser degree than +desertion in the holy war, nay more so; for the latter might be the effect +of cowardice, whereas the former was an act of inexcusable treachery. + +In the attitude of Islâm towards other religions there is hardly one +feature that has not its counterpart in the practice of Christian states +during the Middle Ages. The great difference is that the Mohammedan +community erected this medieval custom into a system unalterable like all +prescriptions based on its infallible "Agreement" (Ijmâ'). Here lay the +great difficulty when the nineteenth and twentieth centuries placed the +Moslim world face to face with a civilization that had sprung up outside +its borders and without its collaboration, that was from a spiritual point +of view by far its superior and at the same time possessed of sufficient +material power to thrust the Mohammedans aside wherever they seemed to be +an impediment in its way. A long series of the most painful experiences, +meaning as many encroachments upon the political independence of Mohammedan +territories, ended by teaching Islâm that it had definitely to change its +lines of conduct. The times were gone when relations with the non-Musulman +world quite different from those foreseen by the mediaeval theory might +be considered as exceptions to the rule, as temporary concessions to +transitory necessities. In ever wider circles a thorough revision of the +system came to be considered as a requirement of the time. The fact that +the number of Mohammedans subject to foreign rule increased enormously, and +by far surpassed those of the citizens of independent Mohammedan states, +made the problem almost as interesting to Western nations as to the +Mohammedans themselves. Both parties are almost equally concerned in the +question, whether a way will be found to associate the Moslim world to +modern civilization, without obliging it to empty its spiritual treasury +altogether. Nobody can in earnest advocate the idea of leaving the solution +of the problem to rude force. The Moslim of yore, going through the world +with the Qorân in one hand, the sword in the other, giving unbelievers the +choice between conversion or death, is a creation of legendary fancy. We +can but hope that modern civilization will not be so fanatical against +Moslims, as the latter were unjustly said to have been during the period +of their power. If the modern world were only to offer the Mohammedans the +choice between giving up at once the traditions of their ancestors or being +treated as barbarians, there would be sure to ensue a struggle as bloody as +has ever been witnessed in the world. It is worth while indeed to examine +the system of Islâm from this special point of view, and to try to find the +terms on which a durable _modus vivendi_ might be established between Islâm +and modern thought. + +The purely dogmatic part is not of great importance. Some of us may admire +the tenets of the Mohammedan doctrine, others may as heartily despise them; +to the participation of Mohammedans in the civilized life of our days they +are as innoxious as any other mediaeval dogmatic system that counts its +millions of adherents among ourselves. The details of Mohammedan dogmatics +have long ceased to interest other circles than those of professional +theologians; the chief points arouse no discussion and the deviations in +popular superstition as well as in philosophical thought which in practice +meet with toleration are almost unlimited. The Mohammedan Hell claims +the souls of all heterodox people, it is true; but this does not prevent +benevolent intercourse in this world, and more enlightened Moslims are +inclined to enlarge their definition of the word "faithful" so as to +include their non-Mohammedan friends. The faith in a Mahdî, who will come +to regenerate the world, is apt to give rise to revolutionary movements led +by skilful demagogues pretending to act as the "Guided One," or, at least, +to prepare the way for his coming. Most of the European powers having +Mohammedan subjects have had their disagreeable experiences in this +respect. But Moslim chiefs of states have their obvious good reasons for +not liking such movements either; and even the majority of ordinary Moslims +look upon candidates for Mahdi-ship with suspicion. A contented prosperous +population offers such candidates little chance of success. + +The ritual laws of Islâm are a heavy burden to those who strictly observe +them; a man who has to perform worship five times a day in a state of +ritual purity and during a whole month in a year has to abstain from +food and drink and other enjoyments from daybreak until sunset, is at a +disadvantage when he has to enter into competition with non-Musulmans +for getting work of any kind. But since most of the Moslims have become +subjects of foreign powers and religious police has been practically +abolished in Mohammedan states, there is no external compulsion. The ever +smaller minority of strict practisers make use of a right which nobody can +contest. + +Drinking wine or other intoxicating drinks, taking interest on money, +gambling--including even insurance contracts according to the stricter +interpretation--are things which a Moslim may abstain from without +hindering non-Mohammedans; or which in our days he may do, notwithstanding +the prohibition of divine law, even without losing his good name. + +Those who want to accentuate the antithesis between Islâm and modern +civilization point rightly to the personal law; here is indeed a great +stumbling-block. The allowance of polygamy up to a maximum of four wives +is represented by Mohammedan authors as a progress if compared with the +irregularity of pagan Arabia and even with the acknowledgment of unlimited +polygamy during certain periods of Biblical history. The following subtle +argument is to be found in some schoolbooks on Mohammedan law: The law of +Moses was exceedingly benevolent to males by permitting them to have an +unlimited number of wives; then came the law of Jesus, extreme on the other +side by prescribing monogamy; at last Mohammed restored the equilibrium by +conceding one wife to each of the four humours which make up the male's +constitution. This theory, which leaves the question what the woman is +to do with three of her four humours undecided, will hardly find fervent +advocates among the present canonists. At the same time, very few of them +would venture to pronounce their preference for monogamy in a general way, +polygamy forming a part of the law that is to prevail, according to the +infallible Agreement of the Community, until the Day of Resurrection. + +On the other side polygamy, although _allowed_, is far from being +_recommended_ by the majority of theologians. Many of them even dissuade +men capable of mastering their passion from marriage in general, and +censure a man who takes two wives if he can live honestly with one. In some +Mohammedan countries social circumstances enforce practical monogamy. The +whole question lies in the education of women; when this has been raised to +a higher level, polygamy will necessarily come to an end. It is therefore +most satisfactory that among male Mohammedans the persuasion of the +necessity of a solid education for girls is daily gaining ground. This year +(1913), a young Egyptian took his doctor's degree at the Paris University +by sustaining a dissertation on the position of women in the Moslim world, +in which he told his co-religionists the full truth concerning this rather +delicate subject[1]. If social evolution takes the right course, the +practice of polygamy will be abolished; and the maintenance of its +lawfulness in canonical works will mainly be a survival of a bygone phase +of development. + +[Footnote 1: Mansour Fahmy, _La condition de la femme dans la tradition +et l'évolution de l'Islamisme_, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1913. The sometimes +imprudent form in which the young reformer enounced his ideas caused him to +be very badly treated by his compatriots at his return from Europe.] + +The facility with which a man can divorce his wife at his pleasure, +contrasted with her rights against him, is a still more serious impediment +to the development of family life than the institution of polygamy; more +serious, also, than veiling and seclusion of women. Where the general +opinion is favourable to the improvement of the position of women in +society, there is always found a way to secure it to them without +conflicting with the divine law; but a radical reform will remain most +difficult so long as that law which allows the man to repudiate his wife +without any reason, whereas it delivers the woman almost unarmed into the +power of her husband, is considered to be one of the permanent treasures of +Islâm. + +It is a pity indeed that thus far women vigorously striving for liberation +from those mediaeval institutions are rare exceptions in Mohammedan +countries. Were Mohammedan women capable of the violent tactics of +suffragettes, they would rather try to blow up the houses of feminists than +those of the patrons of the old régime. The ordinary Mohammedan woman looks +upon the endeavour of her husband to induce her to partake freely in public +life as a want of consideration; it makes on her about the same impression +as that which a respectable woman in our society would receive from her +husband encouraging her to visit places generally frequented by people of +bad reputation. It is the girls' school that will awaken those sleeping +ones and so, slowly and gradually, prepare a better future, when the Moslim +woman will be the worthy companion of her husband and the intelligent +educator of her children. This will be due, then, neither to the Prophet's +Sunnah nor to the infallible Agreement of the Community of the first +centuries of Islâm, but to the irresistible power of the evolution of human +society, which is merciless to laws even of divine origin and transfers +them, when their time is come, from the treasury of everlasting goods to a +museum of antiquities. + +Slavery, and in its consequence free intercourse of a man with his own +female slaves without any limitation as to their number, has also been +incorporated into the sacred law, and therefore has been placed on the +wrong side of the border that is to divide eternal things from temporal +ones. This should not be called a mediaeval institution; the most civilized +nations not having given it up before the middle of the nineteenth century. +The law of Islâm regulated the position of slaves with much equity, and +there is a great body of testimony from people who have spent a part of +their lives among Mohammedan nations which does justice to the benevolent +treatment which bondmen generally receive from their masters there. Besides +that, we are bound to state that in many Western countries or countries +under Western domination whole groups of the population live under +circumstances with which those of Mohammedan slavery may be compared to +advantage. + +The only legal cause of slavery in Islâm is prisonership of war or birth +from slave parents. The captivity of enemies of Islâm has not at all +necessarily the effect of enslaving them; for the competent authorities +may dispose of them in any other way, also in the way prescribed by modern +international law or custom. In proportion to the realization of the +political ideal of Islâm the number of its enemies must diminish and the +possibilities of enslaving men must consequently decrease. Setting slaves +free is one of the most meritorious pious works, and, at the same time, +the regular atonement for certain transgressions of the sacred law. So, +according to Mohammedan principles, slavery is an institution destined +to disappear. When, in the last century, Mohammedan princes signed +international treaties for the suppression of slavery, from their point of +view this was a premature anticipation of a future political and social +development--a step which they felt obliged to take out of consideration +for the great powers. In Arabia, every effort of the Turkish Government to +put such international agreements into execution has thus far given rise to +popular sedition against the Ottoman authority. Therefore, the promulgation +of decrees of abolition was stopped; and slavery continued to exist. The +import of slaves from Africa has, in fact, considerably diminished; but I +am not quite sure of the proportional increase of the liberty which the +natives of that continent enjoy at home. + +Slavery as well as polygamy is in a certain sense to Mohammedans a sacred +institution, being incorporated in their Holy Law; but the practice of +neither of the two institutions is indispensable to the integrity of Islâm. + +All those antiquated institutions, if considered from the point of view of +modern international intercourse, are only a trifle in comparison with the +legal prescriptions of Islâm concerning the attitude of the Mohammedan +community against the parts of the world not yet subject to its authority, +"the Abode of War" as they are technically called. It is a principal duty +of the Khalif, or of the chiefs considered as his substitutes in different +countries, to avail themselves of every opportunity to extend by force the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger. With unsubdued unbelievers _peace_ +is not _allowed_; a _truce_ for a period not exceeding ten years may be +concluded if the interest of Islâm requires it. + +The chapters of the Mohammedan law on holy war and on the conditions on +which the submission of the adherents of tolerated religions is to be +accepted seem to be a foolish pretension if we consider them by the light +of the actual division of political power in the world. But here, too, to +understand is better than to ridicule. In the centuries in which the system +of Islâm acquired its maturity, such an aspiration after universal dominion +was not at all ridiculous; and many Christian states of the time were +far from reaching the Mohammedan standard of tolerance against heterodox +creeds. The delicate point is this, that the petrification or at least the +process of stiffening that has attacked the whole spiritual life of Islâm +since about 1000 A.D. makes its accommodation to the requirements of modern +intercourse a most difficult problem. + +But it is not only the Mohammedan community that needed misfortune and +humiliation before it was able to appreciate liberty of conscience; or that +took a long time to digest those painful lessons of history. There +are still Christian Churches which accept religious liberty only in +circumstances that make supreme authority unattainable to them; and which, +elsewhere, would not disdain the use of material means to subdue spirits to +what they consider the absolute truth. + +To judge such things with equity, we must remember that every man possessed +of a firm conviction of any kind is more or less a missionary; and the +belief in the possibility of winning souls by violence has many adherents +everywhere. One of my friends among the young-Turkish state officials, +who wished to persuade me of the perfect religious tolerance of Turkey of +today, concluded his argument by the following reflection: "Formerly men +used to behead each other for difference of opinion about the Hereafter. +Nowadays, praise be to Allah, we are permitted to believe what we like; but +people continue to kill each other for political or social dissension. That +is most pitiful indeed; for the weapons in use being more terrible and more +costly than before, mankind lacks the peace necessary to enjoy the liberty +of conscience it has acquired." + +The truthful irony of these words need not prevent us from considering the +independence of spiritual life and the liberation of its development from +material compulsion as one of the greatest blessings of our civilization. +We feel urged by missionary zeal of the better kind to make the Mohammedan +world partake in its enjoyment. In the Turkish Empire, in Egypt, in many +Mohammedan countries under Western control, the progressive elements of +Moslim society spontaneously meet us half-way. But behind them are the +millions who firmly adhere to the old superstition and are supported by +the canonists, those faithful guardians of what the infallible Community +declared almost one thousand years ago to be the doctrine and rule of life +for all centuries to come. Will it ever prove possible to move in one +direction a body composed of such different elements, or will this body be +torn in pieces when the movement has become irresistible? + +We have more than once pointed to the catholic character of orthodox Islâm. +In fact, the diversity of spiritual tendencies is not less in the Moslim +world than within the sphere of Christian influence; but in Islâm, apart +from the political schisms of the first centuries, that diversity has not +given rise to anything like the division of Christianity into sects. There +is a prophetic saying, related by Tradition, which later generations have +generally misunderstood to mean that the Mohammedan community would be +split into seventy-three different sects. Moslim heresiologists have been +induced by this prediction to fill up their lists of seventy-three numbers +with all sorts of names, many of which represent nothing but individual +opinions of more or less famous scholars on subordinate points of doctrine +or law. Almost ninety-five per cent. of all Mohammedans are indeed bound +together by a spiritual unity that may be compared with that of the Roman +Catholic Church, within whose walls there is also room for religious and +intellectual life of very different origin and tendency. In the sense of +broadness, Islâm has this advantage, that there is no generally recognized +palpable authority able to stop now and then the progress of modernism or +similar deviations from the trodden path with an imperative "Halt!" There +is no lack indeed of mutual accusation of heresy; but this remains without +serious consequences because of the absence of a high ecclesiastical +council competent to decide once for all. The political authorities, who +might be induced by fanatical theologians to settle disputes by violent +inquisitorial means, have been prevented for a long time from such +interference by more pressing affairs. + +A knowledge alone of the orthodox system of Islâm, however complete, would +give us an even more inadequate idea of the actual world of catholic Islâm +than the notion we should acquire of the spiritual currents moving the +Roman Catholic world by merely studying the dogma and the canonical law of +the Church of Rome. + +Nevertheless, the unity of Islamic thought is by no means a word void of +sense. The ideas of Mohammedan philosophers, borrowed for a great part from +Neoplatonism, the pantheism and the emanation theory of Mohammedan mystics +are certainly still further distant from the simplicity of Qorânic +religion than the orthodox dogmatics; but all those conceptions alike show +indubitable marks of having grown up on Mohammedan soil. In the works even +of those mystics who efface the limits between things human and divine, +who put Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism on the same line with the +revelation of Mohammed, and who are therefore duly anathematized by the +whole orthodox world, almost every page testifies to the relation of the +ideas enounced with Mohammedan civilization. Most of the treatises on +science, arts, or law written by Egyptian students for their doctor's +degree at European universities make no exception to this rule; the manner +in which these authors conceive the problems and strive for their solution +is, in a certain sense, in the broadest sense of course, Mohammedan. Thus, +if we speak of Mohammedan thought, civilization, spirit, we have to bear in +mind the great importance of the system which, almost unchanged, has been +delivered for about one thousand years by one generation of doctors of +Islâm to the other, although it has become ever more unfit to meet the +needs of the Community, on whose infallible Agreement it rests. But, at the +same time, we ought to consider that beside the agreement of canonists, +of dogmatists, and of mystics, there are a dozen more agreements, social, +political, popular, philosophical, and so on, and that however great may be +the influence of the doctors, who pretend to monopolize infallibility for +the opinions on which they agree, the real Agreement of Islâm is the least +common measure of all the agreements of the groups which make up the +Community. + +It would require a large volume to review the principal currents of thought +pervading the Moslim world in our day; but a general notion may be acquired +by a rapid glance at two centres, geographically not far distant from each +other, but situated at the opposite poles of spiritual life: Mecca and +Cairo. + +In Mecca yearly two or three hundred thousand Moslims from all parts of the +world come together to celebrate the hajj, that curious set of ceremonies +of pagan Arabian origin which Mohammed has incorporated into his religion, +a durable survival that in Islâm makes an impression as singular as that +of jumping processions in Christianity. Mohammed never could have foreseen +that the consequence of his concession to deeply rooted Arabic custom +would be that in future centuries Chinese, Malays, Indians, Tatars, Turks, +Egyptians, Berbers, and negroes would meet on this barren desert soil and +carry home profound impressions of the international significance of Islâm. +Still more important is the fact that from all those countries young people +settle here for years to devote themselves to the study of the sacred +science. From the second to the tenth month of the Mohammedan lunar year, +the Haram, _i.e._, the mosque, which is an open place with the Ka'bah in +its midst and surrounded by large roofed galleries, has free room enough +between the hours of public service to allow of a dozen or more circles of +students sitting down around their professors to listen to as many lectures +on different subjects, generally delivered in a very loud voice. Arabic +grammar and style, prosody, logic, and other preparatory branches, the +sacred trivium; canonic law, dogmatics, and mysticism, and, for the more +advanced, exegesis of Qorân and Tradition and some other branches of +supererogation, are taught here in the mediaeval way from mediaeval +text-books or from more modern compilations reproducing their contents and +completing them more or less by treating modern questions according to the +same methods. + +It is now almost thirty years since I lived the life of a Meccan student +during one university year, after having become familiar with the matter +taught by the professors of the temple of Mecca, the Haram, by privately +studying it, so that I could freely use all my time in observing the +mentality of people learning those things not for curiosity, but in order +to acquire the only true direction for their life in this world and the +salvation of their souls in the world to come. For a modern man there could +hardly be a better opportunity imagined for getting a true vision of the +Middle Ages than is offered to the Orientalist by a few months' stay in +the Holy City of Islâm. In countries like China, Tibet, or India there +are spheres of spiritual life which present to us still more interesting +material for comparative study of religions than that of Mecca, because +they are so much more distant from our own; but, just on that account, +the Western student would not be able to adapt his mind to their mental +atmospheres as he may do in Mecca. No one would think for one moment of +considering Confucianism, Hinduism, or Buddhism as specially akin to +Christianity, whereas Islâm has been treated by some historians of the +Christian Church as belonging to the heretical offspring of the Christian +religion. In fact, if we are able to abstract ourselves for a moment from +all dogmatic prejudice and to become a Meccan with the Meccans, one of the +"neighbours of Allah," as they call themselves, we feel in their temple, +the Haram, as if we were conversing with our ancestors of five or six +centuries ago. Here scholasticism with a rabbinical tint forms the great +attraction to the minds of thousands of intellectually highly gifted men of +all ages. + +The most important lectures are delivered during the forenoon and in the +evening. A walk, at one of those hours, through the square and under the +colonnades of the mosque, with ears opened to all sides, will enable you to +get a general idea of the objects of mental exercise of this international +assembly. Here you may find a sheikh of pure Arab descent explaining to his +audience, composed of white Syrians or Circassians, of brown and yellow +Abyssinians and Egyptians, of negroes, Chinese, and Malays, the probable +and improbable legal consequences of marriage contracts, not excepting +those between men and genii; there a negro scholar is explaining the +ontological evidence of the existence of a Creator and the logical +necessity of His having twenty qualities, inseparable from, but not +identical with, His essence; in the midst of another circle a learned +_muftî_ of indeterminably mixed extraction demonstrates to his pupils from +the standard work of al-Ghazâlà the absolute vanity of law and doctrine to +those whose hearts are not purified from every attachment to the world. +Most of the branches of Mohammedan learning are represented within the +walls of this temple by more or less famous scholars; and still there are a +great number of private lectures delivered at home by professors who do not +like to be disturbed by the unavoidable noise in the mosque, which during +the whole day serves as a meeting place for friends or business men, as an +exercise hall for Qorân reciters, and even as a passage for people going +from one part of the town to the other. + +In order to complete your mediaeval dream with a scene from daily life, you +have only to leave the mosque by the Bâb Dereybah, one of its twenty-two +gates, where you may see human merchandise exhibited for sale by the +slave-brokers, and then to have a glance, outside the wall, at a camel +caravan, bringing firewood and vegetables into the town, led by Beduins +whose outward appearance has as little changed as their minds since the day +when Mohammed began here to preach the Word of Allah. + +To the greater part of the world represented by this international +exhibition of Islâm, as a modern Musulman writer calls it, our modern +world, with all its problems, its emotions, its learning and science, +hardly exists. On the other hand, the average modern man does not +understand much more of the mental life of the two hundred millions to whom +the barren Mecca has become the great centre. In former days, other centres +were much more important, although Mecca has always been the goal of +pilgrimage and the cherished abode of many learned men. Many capitals of +Islâm offered the students an easier life and better accommodations for +their studies; while in Mecca four months of the year are devoted to the +foreign guests of Allah, by attending to whose various needs all Meccans +gain their livelihood. For centuries Cairo has stood unrivalled as a seat +of Mohammedan learning of every kind; and even now the Uaram of Mecca is +not to be compared to the Azhar-mosque as regards the number and the fame +of its professors and the variety of branches cultivated. + +In the last half-century, however, the ancient repute of the Egyptian +metropolis has suffered a good deal from the enormous increase of European +influence in the land of the Pharaohs; the effects of which have made +themselves felt even in the Azhar. Modern programs and methods of +instruction have been adopted; and, what is still worse, modernism itself, +favoured by the late Muftî Muhammed Abduh, has made its entrance into the +sacred lecture-halls, which until a few years ago seemed inaccessible to +the slightest deviation from the decrees of the Infallible Agreement of the +Community. Strenuous efforts have been made by eminent scholars to liberate +Islâm from the chains of the authority of the past ages on the basis of +independent interpretation of the Qorân; not in the way of the Wahhâbî +reformers, who tried a century before to restore the institutions of +Mohammed's time in their original purity, but on the contrary with the +object of adapting Islâm by all means in their power to the requirements of +modern life. + +Official protection of the bold innovators prevented their conservative +opponents from casting them out of the Azhar, but the assent to their +doctrines was more enthusiastic outside its walls than inside. The ever +more numerous adherents of modern thought in Egypt do not generally proceed +from the ranks of the Azhar students, nor do they generally care very much +in their later life for reforming the methods prevailing there, although +they may be inclined to applaud the efforts of the modernists. To the +intellectuals of the higher classes the Azhar has ceased to offer great +attraction; if it were not for the important funds (_wagf_) for the +benefit of professors and students, the numbers of both classes would have +diminished much more than is already the case, and the faithful cultivators +of mediaeval Mohammedan science would prefer to live in Mecca, free from +Western influence and control. Even as it is, the predilection of foreign +students of law and theology is turning more and more towards Mecca. + +As one of the numerous interesting specimens of the mental development +effected in Egypt in the last years, I may mention a book that appeared in +Cairo two years ago[1], containing a description of the present Khedive's +pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, performed two years before. The author +evidently possesses a good deal of the scholastic learning to be gathered +in the Azhar and no European erudition in the stricter sense of the word. +In an introductory chapter he gives a summary of the geography and history +of the Arabian peninsula, describes the Hijâz in a more detailed manner, +and in his very elaborate account of the journey, on which he accompanied +his princely master, the topography of the holy cities, the peculiarities +of their inhabitants and of the foreign visitors, the political +institutions, and the social conditions are treated almost as fully and +accurately as we could desire from the hand of the most accomplished +European scholar. The work is illustrated by good maps and plans and by a +great number of excellent photographs expressly taken for this purpose by +the Khedive's order. The author intersperses his account with many witty +remarks as well as serious reflections on religious and political topics, +thus making it very readable to those of us who are familiar with the +Arabic language. He adorns his description of the holy places and of the +pilgrimage-rites with the unctuous phrases used in handbooks for the hajji, +and he does not disturb the mind of the pious reader by any historical +criticism of the traditions connected with the House of Allah, the Black +Stone, and the other sanctuaries, but he loses no opportunity to show his +dislike of all superstition; sometimes, as if to prevent Western readers +from indulging in mockery, he compares Meccan rites or customs with +superstitious practices current amongst Jews or Christians of today. + +[Footnote 1: _Ar-rihlah al-Hijaziyyah_, by Muhammed Labib al-Batanunf, 2d +edition, Cairo, 1329 Hijrah.] + +This book, at whose contents many a Meccan scholar of the old style will +shake his head and exclaim: "We seek refuge near Allah from Satan, the +cursed!" has been adopted by the Egyptian Department of Public Instruction +as a reading-book for the schools. + +What surprised me more than anything else was the author's quoting as his +predecessors in the description of Mecca and Medina, Burckhardt, Burton, +and myself, and his sending me, although personally unacquainted with him, +a presentation copy with a flattering dedication. This author and his book +would have been impossible in the Moslim world not more than thirty years +ago. In Egypt such a man is nowadays already considered as one of those +more conservative moderns, who prefer the rationalistic explanation of the +Azhar lore to putting it aside altogether. Within the Azhar, his book is +sure to meet with hearty approval from the followers of Muhammed Abduh, but +not less hearty disapproval from the opponents of modernism who make up the +majority of the professors as well as of the students. + +In these very last years a new progress of modern thought has manifested +itself in Cairo in the foundation, under the auspices of Fu'âd Pasha, an +uncle of the present Khedive, of the Egyptian University. Cairo has had for +a long time its schools of medicine and law, which could be turned easily +into university faculties; therefore, the founders of the university +thought it urgent to establish a faculty of arts, and, if this proved a +success, to add a faculty of science. In the meantime, gifted young men +were granted subsidies to learn at European universities what they needed +to know to be the professors of a coming generation, and, for the present, +Christian as well as Mohammedan natives of Egypt and European scholars +living in the country were appointed as lecturers; professors being +borrowed from the universities of Europe to deliver lectures in Arabic on +different subjects chosen more or less at random before an audience little +prepared to digest the lessons offered to them. + +The rather hasty start and the lack of a well-defined scheme have made +the Egyptian University a subject of severe criticism. Nevertheless, its +foundation is an unmistakable expression of the desire of intellectual +Egypt to translate modern thought into its own language, to adapt modern +higher instruction to its own needs. This same aim is pursued in a perhaps +more efficacious manner by the hundreds of Egyptian students of law, +science, and medicine at French, English, and some other European +universities. The Turks could not freely follow such examples before +the revolution of 1908; but they have shown since that time that their +abstention was not voluntary. England, France, Holland, and other countries +governing Mohammedan populations are all endeavouring to find the right way +to incorporate their Mohammedan subjects into their own civilization. Fully +recognizing that it was the material covetousness of past generations +that submitted those nations to their rule, the so-called colonial powers +consider it their duty now to secure for them in international intercourse +the place which their natural talent enables them to occupy. The question +whether it is better simply to leave the Moslims to Islâm as it was for +centuries is no longer an object of serious discussion, the reforming +process being at work everywhere--in some parts with surprising rapidity. +We can only try to prognosticate the solution which the near future +reserves for the problem, how the Moslim world is to be associated with +modern thought. + +In this problem the whole civilized world and the whole world of Islâm are +concerned. The ethnic difference between Indians, North-Africans, Malays, +etc., may necessitate a difference of method in detail; the Islâm problem +lies at the basis of the question for all of them. On the other hand, +the future development of Islâm does not only interest countries with +Mohammedan dominions, it claims as well the attention of all the nations +partaking in the international exchange of material and spiritual goods. +This would be more generally recognized if some knowledge of Islâm were +more widely spread amongst ourselves; if it were better realized that Islâm +is next akin to Christianity. + +It is the Christian mission that shows the deepest consciousness of this +state of things, and the greatest activity in promoting an association +of Mohammedan thought with that of Western nations. The solid mass of +experience due to the efforts of numerous missionaries is not of an +encouraging nature. There is no reasonable hope of the conversion +of important numbers of Mohammedans to any Christian denomination. +Broad-minded missionary societies have therefore given up the old fruitless +proselytizing methods and have turned to social improvement in the way of +education, medical treatment, and the like. It cannot be denied, that +what they want above all to bring to Mohammedans is just what these most +energetically decline to accept. On the other hand the advocates of a +purely civilizing mission are bound to acknowledge that, but for rare +exceptions, the desire of incorporating Mohammedan nations into our world +of thought does not rouse the devoted, self-denying enthusiasm inspired by +the vocation of propagating a religious belief. The ardour displayed by +some missionaries in establishing in the Dâr al-Islâm Christian centres +from which they distribute to the Mohammedans those elements of our +civilization which are acceptable to them deserves cordial praise; the more +so because they themselves entertain but little hope of attaining +their ultimate aim of conversion. Mohammedans who take any interest in +Christianity are taught by their own teachers that the revelation of Jesus, +after having suffered serious corruption by the Christians themselves, has +been purified and restored to its original simplicity by Mohammed, and are +therefore inaccessible to missionary arguments; nay, amongst uncivilized +pagans the lay mission of Islâm is the most formidable competitor of +clerical propagation of the Christian faith. + +People who take no active part in missionary work are not competent to +dissuade Christian missionaries from continuing their seemingly hopeless +labour among Mohammedans, nor to prescribe to them the methods they are +to adopt; their full autonomy is to be respected. But all agree that +Mohammedans, disinclined as they are to reject their own traditions of +thirteen centuries and to adopt a new religious faith, become ever better +disposed to associate their intellectual, social, and political life with +that of the modern world. Here lies the starting point for two divisions of +mankind which for centuries have lived their own lives separately in mutual +misunderstanding, from which to pursue their way arm in arm to the greater +advantage of both. We must leave it to the Mohammedans themselves to +reconcile the new ideas which they want with the old ones with which they +cannot dispense; but we can help them in adapting their educational system +to modern requirements and give them a good example by rejecting the +detestable identification of power and right in politics which lies at the +basis of their own canonical law on holy war as well as at the basis of the +political practice of modern Western states. This is a work in which we +all may collaborate, whatever our own religious conviction may be. The +principal condition for a fruitful friendly intercourse of this kind is +that we make the Moslim world an object of continual serious investigation +in our intellectual centres. + +Having spent a good deal of my life in seeking for the right method of +associating with modern thought the thirty-five millions of Mohammedans +whom history has placed under the guardianship of my own country, I could +not help drawing some practical conclusions from the lessons of history +which I have tried to reduce to their most abridged form. There is no lack +of pessimists, whose wisdom has found its poetic form in the words of +Kipling: + + East is East and West is West, + And never the twain shall meet. + +To me, with regard to the Moslim world, these words seem almost a +blasphemy. The experience acquired by adapting myself to the peculiarities +of Mohammedans, and by daily conversation with them for about twenty years, +has impressed me with the firm conviction that between Islâm and the modern +world an understanding _is_ to be attained, and that no period has offered +a better chance of furthering it than the time in which we are living. To +Kipling's poetical despair I think we have a right to prefer the words of +a broad-minded modern Hindu writer: "The pity is that men, led astray by +adventitious differences, miss the essential resemblances[1]." + +[Footnote 1: S.M. Mitra, _Anglo-Indian Studies_, London, Longmans, Green & +Co., 1913, P. 232.] + +It would be a great satisfaction to me if my lectures might cause some of +my hearers to consider the problem of Islâm as one of the most important of +our time, and its solution worthy of their interest and of a claim on their +exertion. + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbas (Mohammed's uncle) +Abbasids + government + Khalifate +Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan +Abduh, Muftî Muhammed +Abraham +Abu Bakr +Abyssinians +Africa +Africans +Agreement of the Community, _see_ 'Ijmâ' +Ahl al-hadîth (men of tradition) +'Ajam +Al-Ash'arî +Alexander the Great +Alî, the fourth Khalîf +Ali, Mohammed, the first Khedive +Alids +'âmils (agents) +Anti-Christ +Arabia +Arabian, view in regard to the line of descent through a woman + tribes + prophet + heathens + migration + race + armies + Shi'ah + conquerors + origin of hajj + peninsula +Arabic, traditions + speech + arts + custom + grammar + language +Arabs + the nations conquered by the + of Christian origin +Arnold, Professor T.W. +Asia +Assassins +Augustin +Azhar-mosque + + +B + +Bâb Dereybah +Bâbîs +Bagdad +Barbarians +Basra +Beduins +Behâ'îs +Bellarminius +Berber +Bible + _See_ Scriptures +Bibliander +Black Stone +Boulainvilliers, Count de +Breitinger +Buddhism +Burckhardt +Burton +Byzantine Empire +Byzantines + + +C + +Caetani, Prince +Cairo +Casanova, Professor of Paris +Caussin de Perceval +China +Chinese +Christian + religion + influence + rituals + traditions + model of obligatory fasting + princes + states + natives of Egypt + missions + demonstrations + centres in Dar al-Islam + faith and missionaries +Christian Church + Roman Catholic + Protestant +Christianity +Christians + religious rites of +Circassians +Coderc +Commander of the Faithful +Committee of Union and Progress +Confucianism +Constantinople +Crypto-Mohammedanism + + +D + +Dar al-Islâm +Day of judgment +Doomsday +Dutch, Indies + + +E + +Egypt +Egyptian, nation + students + Department of Public Instruction + university +Egyptians +England +English + university + + +F + +Faqihs (canonists) +Faithful +Fâtima +Fâtimite, dynasty + Khalifate +Fatwa +French + university +Fu'âd Pasha + + +G + +Ghazalà +Gideon +Goldziher +Gospels + _See_ Scriptures + + +H + +Hadith (legislative tradition) +Hadramaut +Hadramites +Hagar +Hajj (pilgrimage) +Hanafites +Hanbalites +Haram (mosque) +Hell +Hijâz +Hijrah, +Hinduism +Holy Cities + _See_ Mecca and Medina +Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) +Hottinger +Hûd, the prophet + + +I + +'Ijmâ' (Agreement of the Community) +Imâms + of Yemen +India +Indians, +Indonesia +Isaac +Ishmael +Ishma'ilites +Islâm + + +J + +Jacob +Jâhiliyyah (Arabian paganism) +Jesus Christ + as Mehdi +Jewish, religion + influence + rituals + model of fasting +Jews +Jihâd +Judaism + + +K + +Ka'bah +Khalîf, the first +Khalifate +Khalîfs, the first four +Khârijites, +Khedive +Kipling +Kufa + + +L + +Lammens, Father + + +M + +Mahdî +Malays +Mâlikites +Maracci, Abbé +Mary (mother of Jesus) +Maulid +Mecca +Meccans +Medina +Medinese +Messiah +Middle Ages +Misr, _see_ Cairo +Mohammedan, religion + masters + state + orthodox dogma + authorities + law books + countries + political life + church + princes + world + governors + subjects + masses + statesmen + protection + community + territories + dogmatics + Hell + authors + law + women + nations + slavery + principles + standard of tolerance + philosophers + mystics + thought + lunar year + learning + science + populations + dominions +Mohammedans + natives of Egypt +Mongols +Morocco +Moses +Moslim + princes + people + authority + church + canonists + world + chiefs of states + woman + society + heresiologists +Muftî +Muir +Mujtahids +Mutakallim +Mu'tazilites + + +N + +Neo-Platonic origin of mysticism +Neo-Platonism +Nöldeke +Non-Alids +Non-Arabian converts +Non-Arabic Moslims + + +O + +Omar +Omayyads +Othmân + authority +Ottoman princes +Ottomans + + +P + +Paganism +Papacy +Paradise +Parsîs +Persia +Persian Empire +Porte, the +Prideaux, Dr. +Protestantism + + +Q + +Qâdhîs +Qârîs (Qoran scholars) +Qarmatians +Qoraish +Qorân + scolars + reciters +Qorânic, revelations + religion + + +R + +Reland, H. +Resurrection +Roman Catholics + + +S + +Salât +Sale +Sâlih, the prophet +Sasanids +Saul +Sayyids +Scriptures + people of the +Shâfi'ites +Shâhs of Persia +Sharî'ah (Divine Law) +Shaukah (actual influence) +Sheikhites +Sheikh-ul-Islâm +Sherîfs +Sherîfs of Mecca +Sherîfs, rulers of Morocco +Shî'ah (the Party of the House) +Shî'ites +Sîrah (biography) +Spain +Sprenger +Stambul +Sultan +Sunnah +Sunnites +Syria +Syrians + + +T + +Taif +Tatars +Testament, _see_ Scriptures +Tibet +Tradition, _see_ Hadith +Trinity +Turkey + Sultan of +Turkish, Empire + circles + conqueror + Sultan + arms + government + state officials +Turks + + +U + +'Ulamâ' (learned men) + + +V + +Voltaire + + +W + +Wahhâbî reformers +Weil +Wellhausen +Wezîrs + + +Y + +Yemen + Imâms of + + +Z + +Zaidites +Zakât (taxes) +Zanzibar + + + + + +End of 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Snouck Hurgronje + +Release Date: November 21, 2003 [EBook #10163] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMEDANISM *** + + + + +Produced by Imran Ghory, Stan Goodman, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +_AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS_ + +SERIES OF 1914-1915 + + + + +Mohammedanism + +Lectures on Its Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, and Its Present +State + + + +by + + + +C. Snouck Hurgronje + +Professor of the Arabic Language in the University of Leiden, Holland + + + + +1916 + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT. + +The American Lectures on the History of Religions are delivered under +the auspices of the American Committee for Lectures on the History of +Religions. This Committee was organized in 1892, for the purpose of +instituting "popular courses in the History of Religions, somewhat after +the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered by the best +scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, +Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia." + +The terms of association under which the Committee exists are as follows: + +1.--The object of this Committee shall be to provide courses of lectures on +the history of religions, to be delivered in various cities. + +2.--The Committee shall be composed of delegates from the institutions +agreeing to co-operate, with such additional members as may be chosen by +these delegates. + +3.--These delegates--one from each institution, with the additional members +selected--shall constitute themselves a council under the name of the +"American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions." + +4.--The Committee shall elect out of its number a Chairman, a Secretary, +and a Treasurer. + +5.--All matters of local detail shall be left to the co-operating +institutions under whose auspices the lectures are to be delivered. + +6.--A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of religion, from +an historical point of view, or on a subject germane to the study of +religions, shall be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be +found practicable, in the different cities represented by this Committee. + +7.--The Committee (a) shall be charged with the selection of the lectures, +(b) shall have charge of the funds, (c) shall assign the time for the +lectures in each city, and perform such other functions as may be +necessary. + +8.--Polemical subjects, as well as polemics in the treatment of subjects, +shall be positively excluded. + +9.--The lectures shall be delivered in the various cities between the +months of September and June. + +10.--The copyright of the lectures shall be the property of the Committee. + +11.--The compensation of the lecturer shall be fixed in each case by the +Committee. + +12.--The lecturer shall be paid in installments after each course, until he +shall have received half of the entire compensation. Of the remaining half, +one half shall be paid to him upon delivery of the manuscript, properly +prepared for the press, and the second half on the publication of the +volume, less a deduction for corrections made by the author in the proofs. + +The Committee as now constituted is as follows: Prof. Crawford H. Toy, +Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass.; Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, +Treasurer, 227 W. 99th St., New York City; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., +Secretary, 248 So. 23d St., Philadelphia, Pa.; President Francis Brown, +Union Theological Seminary, New York City; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Columbia +University, New York City; Prof. Harry Pratt Judson, University of Chicago, +Chicago, Ill.; Prof. Paul Haupt, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; +Mr. Charles D. Atkins, Director, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; +Prof. E.W. Hopkins, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Prof. Edward Knox +Mitchell, Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Conn.; President F.K. +Sanders, Washburn College, Topeka, Kan.; Prof. H.P. Smith, Meadville +Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa.; Prof. W.J. Hinke, Auburn Theological +Seminary, Auburn, N.Y.; Prof. Kemper Fullerton, Oberlin Theological +Seminary, Oberlin, N.Y. + +The lecturers in the course of American Lectures on the History of +Religions and the titles of their volumes are as follows: + +1894-1895--Prof. T.W. Rhys-Davids, Ph.D.,--_Buddhism_. + +1896-1897--Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.--_Religions of Primitive +Peoples_. + +1897-1898--Rev. Prof. T.K. Cheyne, D.D.--_Jewish Religious Life after the +Exile_. + +1898-1899--Prof. Karl Budde, D.D.--_Religion of Israel to the Exile_. + +1904-1905--Prof. George Steindorff, Ph.D.--_The Religion of the Ancient +Egyptians_. + +1905-1906--Prof. George W. Knox, D.D., LL.D.--_The Development of Religion +in Japan_. + +1906-1907--Prof. Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of the +Veda_. + +1907-1908--Prof. A.V.W. Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of Persia_.[1] + +1909-1910--Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D.--_Aspects of Religious Belief +and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria_. + +1910-1911--Prof. J.J.M. DeGroot--_The Development of Religion in China_. + +1911-1912--Prof. Franz Cumont.[2]--_Astrology and Religion among the Greeks +and Romans_. + +[Footnote 1: This course was not published by the Committee, but will form +part of Prof. Jackson's volume on the Religion of Persia in the series of +_Handbooks on the History of Religions_, edited by Prof. Morris Jastrow, +Jr., and published by Messrs. Ginn & Company of Boston. Prof. Jastrow's +volume is, therefore, the eighth in the series.] + +[Footnote 2: Owing to special circumstances, Prof. Cumont's volume was +published before that of Prof. DeGroot. It is, therefore, the ninth in the +series and that of Prof. DeGroot the tenth.] + +The lecturer for 1914 was Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje. Born in +Oosterhout, Holland, in 1857, he studied Theology and Oriental Languages +at the University of Leiden and continued his studies at the University of +Strassburg. In 1880 he published his first important work _Het Mekkaansch +Feest_, having resolved to devote himself entirely to the study of +Mohammedanism in its widest aspects. After a few years' activity as +Lecturer on Mohammedan Law at the Seminary for Netherlands-India in Leiden, +he spent eight months (1884-5) in Mecca and Jidda. In 1888, he became +lecturer at the University of Leiden and in the same year was sent out +as Professor to Batavia in Netherlands-India, where he spent the years +1889-1906. Upon his return he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the +University of Leiden. Among his principal published works may be mentioned: +_Mekka_, The Hague, 1888-9; _De Beteekenis van den Islam voor zijne +Belijders in Oost Indïe_, Leiden, 1883; _Mekkanische Sprichwörter_, The +Hague, 1886; _De Atjehers_, Leiden, 1903-4, England tr. London, 1906; _Het +Gajôland en zijne Bezvoners_, Batavia, 1903, and _Nederland en de Islâm_, +Leiden, 1915. + +The lectures to be found in the present volume were delivered before +the following Institutions: Columbia University, Yale University, The +University of Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological Seminary, The University +of Chicago, The Lowell Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University. + +The Committee owes a debt of deep gratitude to Mr. Charles R. Crane for +having made possible the course of lectures for the year 1914. + +RICHARD GOTTHEIL + +CRAWFORD H. TOY + +_Committee on Publication_. + +April, 1916. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS + + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM. + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM. + +ISLÂM AND MODERN THOUGHT. + +INDEX. + + + + + +Mohammedanism + + +I + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLÂM + + +There are more than two hundred million people who call themselves after +the name of Mohammed, would not relinquish that name at any price, and +cannot imagine a greater blessing for the remainder of humanity than to be +incorporated into their communion. Their ideal is no less than that the +whole earth should join in the faith that there is no god but Allah and +that Mohammed is Allah's last and most perfect messenger, who brought the +latest and final revelation of Allah to humanity in Allah's own words. This +alone is enough to claim our special interest for the Prophet, who in the +seventh century stirred all Arabia into agitation and whose followers soon +after his death founded an empire extending from Morocco to China. + +Even those who--to my mind, not without gross exaggeration--would seek the +explanation of the mighty stream of humanity poured out by the Arabian +peninsula since 630 over Western and Middle Asia, Northern Africa, and +Southern Europe principally in geographic and economic causes, do not +ignore the fact that it was Mohammed who opened the sluice gates. It would +indeed be difficult to maintain that without his preaching the Arabs of the +seventh century would have been induced by circumstances to swallow up +the empire of the Sasanids and to rob the Byzantine Empire of some of its +richest provinces. However great a weight one may give to political and +economic factors, it was religion, Islâm, which in a certain sense united +the hitherto hopelessly divided Arabs, Islâm which enabled them to found +an enormous international community; it was Islâm which bound the speedily +converted nations together even after the shattering of its political +power, and which still binds them today when only a miserable remnant of +that power remains. + +The aggressive manner in which young Islâm immediately put itself in +opposition to the rest of the world had the natural consequence of +awakening an interest which was far from being of a friendly nature. +Moreover men were still very far from such a striving towards universal +peace as would have induced a patient study of the means of bringing the +different peoples into close spiritual relationship, and therefore from an +endeavour to understand the spiritual life of races different to their own. +The Christianity of that time was itself by no means averse to the +forcible extension of its faith, and in the community of Mohammedans which +systematically attempted to reduce the world to its authority by force of +arms, it saw only an enemy whose annihilation was, to its regret, beyond +its power. Such an enemy it could no more observe impartially than one +modern nation can another upon which it considers it necessary to make war. +Everything maintained or invented to the disadvantage of Islâm was greedily +absorbed by Europe; the picture which our forefathers in the Middle Ages +formed of Mohammed's religion appears to us a malignant caricature. The +rare theologians[1] who, before attacking the false faith, tried to form a +clear notion of it, were not listened to, and their merits have only become +appreciated in our own time. A vigorous combating of the prevalent fictions +concerning Islâm would have exposed a scholar to a similar treatment to +that which, fifteen years ago, fell to the lot of any Englishman who +maintained the cause of the Boers; he would have been as much of an outcast +as a modern inhabitant of Mecca who tried to convince his compatriots of +the virtues of European policy and social order. + +[Footnote 1: See for instance the reference to the exposition of the +Paderborn bishop Olivers (1227) in the Paderborn review _Theologie und +Glaube_, Jahrg. iv., p. 535, etc. (_Islâm_, iv., p. 186); also some of the +accounts mentioned in Güterbock, _Der Islâm im Lichte der byzantinischen +Polemik_, etc.] + +Two and a half centuries ago, a prominent Orientalist,[2] who wrote +an exposition of Mohammed's teaching, felt himself obliged to give an +elaborate justification of his undertaking in his "Dedicatio." He appeals +to one or two celebrated predecessors and to learned colleagues, who have +expressly instigated him to this work. Amongst other things he quotes +a letter from the Leiden professor, L'Empereur, in which he conjures +Breitinger by the bowels of Jesus Christ ("per viscera Jesu Christi") to +give the young man every opportunity to complete his study of the religion +of Mohammed, "which so far has only been treated in a senseless way." As a +fruit of this study L'Empereur thinks it necessary to mention in the first +place the better understanding of the (Christian) Holy Scriptures by the +extension of our knowledge of Oriental manners and customs. Besides such +promotion of Christian exegesis and apologetics and the improvement of the +works on general history, Hottinger himself contemplated a double +purpose in his _Historia Orientalis_. The Roman Catholics often vilified +Protestantism by comparing the Reformed doctrine to that of Mohammedanism; +this reproach of Crypto-mohammedanism Hottinger wished "talionis lege" to +fling back at the Catholics; and he devotes a whole chapter (Cap. 6) of his +book to the demonstration that Bellarminius' proofs of the truth of the +Church doctrine might have been copied from the Moslim dogma. In the second +place, conforming to the spirit of the times, he wished, just as Bibliander +had done in his refutation of the Qorân, to combine the combat against +Mohammedan unbelief with that against the Turkish Empire ("in oppugnationem +Mahometanae perfidiae et Turcici regni"). + +[Footnote 2: J.H. Hottinger, _Historia Orientalis_, Zürich, 1651 (2d. +edition 1660).] + +The Turks were feared by the Europe of that time, and the significance of +their religion for their worldly power was well known; thus the +political side of the question gave Hottinger's work a special claim to +consideration. Yet, in spite of all this, Hottinger feared that his labour +would be regarded as useless, or even wicked. Especially when he is obliged +to say anything favourable of Mohammed and his followers, he thinks it +necessary to protect himself against misconstruction by the addition of +some selected terms of abuse. When mentioning Mohammed's name, he says: +"at the mention of whom the mind shudders" ("ad cujus profecto mentionem +inhorrescere nobis debet animus"). The learned Abbé Maracci, who in 1698 +produced a Latin translation of the Qorân accompanied by an elaborate +refutation, was no less than Hottinger imbued with the necessity of +shuddering at every mention of the "false" Prophet, and Dr. Prideaux, +whose _Vie de Mahomet_ appeared in the same year in Amsterdam, abused and +shuddered with them, and held up his biography of Mohammed as a mirror to +"unbelievers, atheists, deists, and libertines." + +It was a Dutch scholar, H. Reland, the Utrecht professor of theology, who +in the beginning of the eighteenth century frankly and warmly recommended +the application of historical justice even towards the Mohammedan religion; +in his short Latin sketch of Islâm[1] he allowed the Mohammedan authorities +to speak for themselves. In his "Dedicatio" to his brother and in his +extensive preface he explains his then new method. Is it to be supposed, +he asks, that a religion as ridiculous as the Islâm described by Christian +authors should have found millions of devotees? Let the Moslims themselves +describe their own religion for us; just as the Jewish and Christian +religions are falsely represented by the heathen and Protestantism by +Catholics, so every religion is misrepresented by its antagonists. "We +are mortals, subject to error; especially where religious matters are +concerned, we often allow ourselves to be grossly misled by passion." +Although it may cause evil-minded readers to doubt the writer's orthodoxy +he continues to maintain that truth can only be served by combating her +opponents in an honourable way. + +[Footnote 1: _H. Relandi de religione Mohammedica libri duo_, Utrecht, 1704 +(2d ed. 1717).] + +"No religion," says Reland, "has been more calumniated than Islâm," +although the Abbé Maracci himself could give no better explanation of the +turning of many Jews and Christians to this religion than the fact that +it contains many elements of natural truth, evidently borrowed from the +Christian religion, "which seem to be in accordance with the law and the +light of nature" ("quae naturae legi ac lumini consentanea videntur"). +"More will be gained for Christianity by friendly intercourse with +Mohammedans than by slander; above all Christians who live in the East must +not, as is too often the case, give cause to one Turk to say to another +who suspects him of lying or deceit: 'Do you take me for a Christian?' +("putasne me Christianum esse"). In truth, the Mohammedans often put us to +shame by their virtues; and a better knowledge of Islâm can only help to +make our irrational pride give place to gratitude to God for the undeserved +mercy which He bestowed upon us in Christianity." Reland has no illusions +that his scientific justice will find acceptance in a wide circle "as he +becomes daily more and more convinced that the world wishes to be deceived +and is governed by prejudice" ("qui quotidie magis magisque experior mundum +decipi velle et praeconceptis opinionibus regi"). + +It was not long before the scale was turned in the opposite direction, +and Islâm was made by some people the object of panegyrics as devoid of +scientific foundation as the former calumnies. In 1730 appeared in London +the incomplete posthumous work of Count de Boulainvilliers, _Vie de +Mahomet,_ in which, amongst other things, he says of the Arabian Prophet +that "all that he has said concerning the essential religious dogmas is +true, but he has not said all that is true, and it is only therein that his +religion differs from ours." De Boulainvilliers tells us with particular +satisfaction that Mohammed, who respected the devotion of hermits and +monks, proceeded with the utmost severity against the official clergy, +condemning its members either to death or to the abjuration of their faith. +This _Vie de Mahomet_ was as a matter of fact an anti-clerical romance, the +material of which was supplied by a superficial knowledge of Islâm drawn +from secondary sources. That a work with such a tendency was sure to arouse +interest at that time, is shown by a letter from the publisher, Coderc, to +Professor Gagnier at Oxford, in which he writes: "He [de Boulainvilliers] +mixes up his history with many political reflections, which by their +newness and boldness are sure to be well received" ("Il mêle son Histoire +de plusieurs réflexions politiques, et qui par leur hardiesse ne manqueront +pas d'être très bien reçues"). + +Jean Gagnier however considered these bold novelties very dangerous and +endeavoured to combat them in another _Vie de Mahomet_, which appeared from +his hand in 1748 at Amsterdam. He strives after a "juste milieu" between +the too violent partisanship of Maracci and Prideaux and the ridiculous +acclamations of de Boulainvilliers. Yet this does not prevent him in his +preface from calling Mohammed the greatest villain of mankind and the most +mortal enemy of God ("le plus scélérat de tous les hommes et le plus mortel +ennemi de Dieu"). His desire to make his contemporaries proof against the +poison of de Boulainvilliers' dangerous book gains the mastery over the +pure love of truth for which Reland had so bravely striven. + +Although Sale in his "Preliminary Discourse" to his translation of the +Qorân endeavours to contribute to a fair estimation of Mohammed and his +work, of which his motto borrowed from Augustine, "There is no false +doctrine that does not contain some truth" ("nulla falsa doctrina est +quae non aliquid veri permisceat"), is proof, still the prejudicial view +remained for a considerable time the prevalent one. Mohammed was branded +as _imposteur_ even in circles where Christian fanaticism was out of the +question. Voltaire did not write his tragedy _Mahomet ou le fanatisme_ as +a historical study; he was aware that his fiction was in many respects at +variance with history. In writing his work he was, as he himself expresses +it, inspired by "l'amour du genre humain et l'horreur du fanatisme." He +wanted to put before the public an armed Tartufe and thought he might +lay the part upon Mohammed, for, says he, "is not the man, who makes war +against his own country and dares to do it in the name of God, capable of +any ill?" The dislike that Voltaire had conceived for the Qorân from a +superficial acquaintance with it, "ce livre inintelligible qui fait frémir +le sens commun à chaque page," probably increased his unfavourable opinion, +but the principal motive of his choice of a representative must have been +that the general public still regarded Mohammed as the incarnation of +fanaticism and priestcraft. + +Almost a century lies between Gagnier's biography of Mohammed and that of +the Heidelberg professor Weil (_Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben and seine +Lehre_, Stuttgart, 1843); and yet Weil did well to call Gagnier his last +independent predecessor. Weil's great merit is, that he is the first in his +field who instituted an extensive historico-critical investigation without +any preconceived opinion. His final opinion of Mohammed is, with the +necessary reservations: "In so far as he brought the most beautiful +teachings of the Old and the New Testament to a people which was not +illuminated by one ray of faith, he may be regarded, even by those who +are not Mohammedans, as a messenger of God." Four years later Caussin +de Perceval in his _Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes_, written quite +independently of Weil, expresses the same idea in these words: "It would be +an injustice to Mohammed to consider him as no more than a clever impostor, +an ambitious man of genius; he was in the first place a man convinced of +his vocation to deliver his nation from error and to regenerate it." + +About twenty years later the biography of Mohammed made an enormous advance +through the works of Muir, Sprenger, and Nôldeke. On the ground of much +wider and at the same time deeper study of the sources than had been +possible for Weil and Caussin de Perceval, each of these three scholars +gave in his own way an account of the origin of Islâm. Nôldeke was +much sharper and more cautious in his historical criticism than Muir or +Sprenger. While the biographies written by these two men have now +only historical value, Nôldeke's _History of the Qorân_ is still an +indispensable instrument of study more than half a century after its first +appearance. + +Numbers of more or less successful efforts to make Mohammed's life +understood by the nineteenth century intellect have followed these without +much permanent gain. Mohammed, who was represented to the public in turn as +deceiver, as a genius mislead by the Devil, as epileptic, as hysteric, and +as prophet, was obliged later on even to submit to playing on the one +hand the part of socialist and, on the other hand, that of a defender of +capitalism. These points of view were principally characteristic of the +temperament of the scholars who held them; they did not really advance our +understanding of the events that took place at Mecca and Medina between 610 +and 632 A.D., that prologue to a perplexing historical drama. + +The principal source from which all biographers started and to which they +always returned, was the Qorân, the collection of words of Allah spoken by +Mohammed in those twenty-two years. Hardly anyone, amongst the "faithful" +and the "unfaithful," doubts the generally authentic character of its +contents except the Parisian professor Casanova.[1] He tried to prove a +little while ago that Mohammed's revelations originally contained the +announcement that the HOUR, the final catastrophe, the Last judgment would +come during his life. When his death had therefore falsified this prophecy, +according to Casanova, the leaders of the young community found themselves +obliged to submit the revelations preserved in writing or memory to a +thorough revision, to add some which announced the mortality even of the +last prophet, and, finally to console the disappointed faithful with the +hope of Mohammed's return before the end of the world. This doctrine of the +return, mentioned neither in the Qorân nor in the eschatological tradition +of later times, according to Casanova was afterwards changed again into the +expectation of the Mahdî, the last of Mohammed's deputies, "a Guided of +God," who shall be descended from Mohammed, bear his name, resemble him +in appearance, and who shall fill the world once more before its end with +justice, as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny. + +[Footnote 1: Paul Casanova, _Mohammed et la fin du monde,_ Paris, 1911. +His hypotheses are founded upon Weil's doubts of the authenticity of a few +verses of the _Qorân_ (iii., 138; xxxix., 31, etc.), which doubts were +sufficiently refuted half a century ago by Nôldeke in his _Geschichte des +Qorâns_, 1st edition, p. 197, etc.] + +In our sceptical times there is very little that is above criticism, and +one day or other we may expect to hear that Mohammed never existed. The +arguments for this can hardly be weaker than those of Casanova against the +authenticity of the Qorân. Here we may acknowledge the great power of what +has been believed in all times, in all places, by all the members of the +community ("quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est"). For, +after the death of Mohammed there immediately arose a division which none +of the leading personalities were able to escape, and the opponents spared +each other no possible kind of insult, scorn, or calumny. The enemies of +the first leaders of the community could have wished for no more powerful +weapon for their attack than a well-founded accusation of falsifying the +word of God. Yet this accusation was never brought against the first +collectors of the scattered revelations; the only reproach that was made +against them in connexion with this labour being that verses in which +the Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) were mentioned with honour, and which, +therefore, would have served to support the claims of the Alids to the +succession of Mohammed, were suppressed by them. This was maintained by the +Shi'ites, who are unsurpassed in Islâm as falsifiers of history; and the +passages which, according to them, are omitted from the official Qorân +would involve precisely on account of their reference to the succession, +the mortality of Mohammed. + +All sects and parties have the same text of the Qorân. This may have its +errors and defects, but intentional alterations or mutilations of real +importance are not to blame for this. + +Now this rich authentic source--this collection of wild, poetic +representations of the Day of judgment; of striving against idolatry; of +stories from Sacred History; of exhortation to the practice of the cardinal +virtues of the Old and New Testament; of precepts to reform the individual, +domestic, and tribal life in the spirit of these virtues; of incantations +and forms of prayer and a hundred things besides--is not always +comprehensible to us. Even for the parts which we do understand, we are not +able to make out the chronological arrangement which is necessary to gain +an insight into Mohammed's personality and work. This is not only due to +the form of the oracles, which purposely differs from the usual tone +of mortals by its unctuousness and rhymed prose, but even more to the +circumstance that all that the hearers could know, is assumed to be known. +So the Qorân is full of references that are enigmatical to us. We therefore +need additional explanation, and this can only be derived from tradition +concerning the circumstances under which each revelation was delivered. + +And, truly, the sacred tradition of Islâm is not deficient in data of +this sort. In the canonical and half-canonical collections of tradition +concerning what the Prophet has said, done, and omitted to do, in +biographical works, an answer is given to every question which may arise in +the mind of the reader of the Qorân; and there are many Qorân-commentaries, +in which these answers are appended to the verses which they are supposed +to elucidate. Sometimes the explanations appear to us, even at first sight, +improbable and unacceptable; sometimes they contradict each other; a good +many seem quite reasonable. + +The critical biographers of Mohammed have therefore begun their work of +sifting by eliminating the improbable and by choosing between contradictory +data by means of critical comparison. Here the gradually increasing +knowledge of the spirit of the different parties in Islâm was an important +aid, as of course each group represented the facts in the way which best +served their own purposes. + +However cautiously and acutely Weil and his successors have proceeded, the +continual progress of the analysis of the legislative as well as of the +historical tradition of Islam since 1870 has necessitated a renewed +investigation. In the first place it has become ever more evident that the +thousands of traditions about Mohammed, which, together with the Qorân, +form the foundation upon which the doctrine and life of the community +are based, are for the most part the conventional expression of all the +opinions which prevailed amongst his followers during the first three +centuries after the Hijrah. The fiction originated a long time after +Mohammed's death; during the turbulent period of the great conquests there +was no leisure for such work. Our own conventional insincerities differ so +much--externally at least--from those of that date, that it is difficult +for us to realize a spiritual atmosphere where "pious fraud" was practised +on such a scale. Yet this is literally true: in the first centuries of +Islâm no one could have dreamt of any other way of gaining acceptance for a +doctrine or a precept than by circulating a tradition, according to which +Mohammed had preached the doctrine or dictated it or had lived according to +the precept. The whole individual, domestic, social, and political life +as it developed in the three centuries during which the simple Arabian +religion was adjusted to the complicated civilization of the great nations +of that time, that all life was theoretically justified by representing +it as the application of minute laws supposed to have been elaborated by +Mohammed by precept and example. + +Thus tradition gives invaluable material for the knowledge of the conflict +of opinions in the first centuries, a strife the sharpness of which has +been blunted in later times by a most resourceful harmonistic method. But, +it is vain to endeavour to construct the life and teaching of Mohammed from +such spurious accounts; they cannot even afford us a reliable illustration +of his life in the form of "table talk," as an English scholar rather +naïvely tried to derive from them. In a collection of this sort, supported +by good external evidence, there would be attributed to the Prophet of +Mecca sayings from the Old and New Testament, wise saws from classical and +Arabian antiquity, prescriptions of Roman law and many other things, each +text of which was as authentic as its fellows. + +Anyone who, warned by Goldziher and others, has realized how matters stand +in this respect, will be careful not to take the legislative tradition as +a direct instrument for the explanation of the Qorân. When, after a most +careful investigation of thousands of traditions which all appear equally +old, we have selected the oldest, then we shall see that we have before us +only witnesses of the first century of the Hijrah. The connecting threads +with the time of Mohammed must be supplied for a great part by imagination. + +The historical or biographical tradition in the proper sense of the word +has only lately been submitted to a keener examination. It was known for a +long time that here too, besides theological and legendary elements, +there were traditions originating from party motive, intended to give an +appearance of historical foundation to the particular interests of certain +persons or families; but it was thought that after some sifting there yet +remained enough to enable us to form a much clearer sketch of Mohammed's +life than that of any other of the founders of a universal religion. + +It is especially Prince Caetani and Father Lammens who have disturbed this +illusion. According to them, even the data which had been pretty generally +regarded as objective, rest chiefly upon tendentious fiction. The +generations that worked at the biography of the Prophet were too far +removed from his time to have true data or notions; and, moreover, it was +not their aim to know the past as it was, but to construct a picture of it +as it ought to have been according to their opinion. Upon the bare canvass +of verses of the Qorân that need explanation, the traditionists have +embroidered with great boldness scenes suitable to the desires or ideals of +their particular group; or, to use a favourite metaphor of Lammens, they +fill the empty spaces by a process of stereotyping which permits the +critical observer to recognize the origin of each picture. In the Sîrah +(biography), the distance of the first describers from their object is the +same as in the Hadîth (legislative tradition); in both we get images of +very distant things, perceived by means of fancy rather than by sight and +taking different shapes according to the inclinations of each circle of +describers. + +Now, it may be true that the latest judges have here and there examined the +Mohammedan traditions too sceptically and too suspiciously; nevertheless, +it remains certain that in the light of their research, the method of +examination cannot remain unchanged. We must endeavour to make our +explanations of the Qorân independent of tradition, and in respect to +portions where this is impossible, we must be suspicious of explanations, +however apparently plausible. + +During the last few years the accessible sources of information have +considerably increased, the study of them has become much deeper and more +methodical, and the result is that we can tell much less about the teaching +and the life of Mohammed than could our predecessors half a century ago. +This apparent loss is of course in reality nothing but gain. + +Those who do not take part in new discoveries, nevertheless, wish to know +now and then the results of the observations made with constantly improved +instruments. Let me endeavour, very briefly, to satisfy this curiosity. +That the report of the bookkeeping might make a somewhat different +impression if another accountant had examined it, goes without saying, and +sometimes I shall draw particular attention to my personal responsibility +in this respect. + +Of Mohammed's life before his appearance as the messenger of God, we know +extremely little; compared to the legendary biography as treasured by the +Faithful, practically nothing. Not to mention his pre-existence as a Light, +which was with God, and for the sake of which God created the world, the +Light, which as the principle of revelation, lived in all prophets from +Adam onwards, and the final revelation of which in Mohammed was prophesied +in the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians; not to mention the +wonderful and mysterious signs which announced the birth of the Seal of the +Prophets, and many other features which the later Sîrahs (biographies) and +Maulids (pious histories of his birth, most in rhymed prose or in poetic +metre) produce in imitation of the Gospels; even the elaborate discourses +of the older biographies on occurrences, which in themselves might quite +well come within the limits of sub-lunary possibility, do not belong to +history. Fiction plays such a great part in these stories, that we are +never sure of being on historical ground unless the Qorân gives us a firm +footing. + +The question, whether the family to which Mohammed belonged, was regarded +as noble amongst the Qoraishites, the ruling tribe in Mecca, is answered +in the affirmative by many; but by others this answer is questioned not +without good grounds. The matter is not of prime importance, as there is no +doubt that Mohammed grew up as a poor orphan and belonged to the needy and +the neglected. Even a long time after his first appearance the unbelievers +reproached him, according to the Qorân, with his insignificant worldly +position, which fitted ill with a heavenly message; the same scornful +reproach according to the Qorân was hurled at Mohammed's predecessors by +sceptics of earlier generations; and it is well known that the stories +of older times in the Qorân are principally reflections of what Mohammed +himself experienced. The legends of Mohammed's relations to various members +of his family are too closely connected with the pretensions of their +descendants to have any value for biographic purposes. He married late an +elderly woman, who, it is said, was able to lighten his material cares; she +gave him the only daughter by whom he had descendants; descendants, who, +from the Arabian point of view, do not count as such, as according to their +genealogical theories the line of descent cannot pass through a woman. +They have made an exception for the Prophet, as male offspring, the only +blessing of marriage appreciated by Arabs, was withheld from him. + +In the materialistic commercial town of Mecca, where lust of gain and usury +reigned supreme, where women, wine, and gambling filled up the leisure +time, where might was right, and widows, orphans, and the feeble were +treated as superfluous ballast, an unfortunate being like Mohammed, if his +constitution were sensitive, must have experienced most painful emotions. +In the intellectual advantages that the place offered he could find +no solace; the highly developed Arabian art of words, poetry with its +fictitious amourettes, its polished descriptions of portions of Arabian +nature, its venal vain praise and satire, might serve as dessert to a +well-filled dish; they were unable to compensate for the lack of material +prosperity. Mohammed felt his misery as a pain too great to be endured; in +some way or other he must be delivered from it. He desired to be more than +the greatest in his surroundings, and he knew that in that which they +counted for happiness he could never even equal them. Rather than envy them +regretfully, he preferred to despise their values of life, but on that very +account he had to oppose these values with better ones. + +It was not unknown in Mecca that elsewhere communities existed acquainted +with such high ideals of life, spiritual goods accessible to the poor, even +to them in particular. Apart from commerce, which brought the inhabitants +of Mecca into contact with Abyssinians, Syrians, and others, there were far +to the south and less far to the north and north-east of Mecca, Arabian +tribes who had embraced the Jewish or the Christian religion. Perhaps this +circumstance had helped to make the inhabitants of Mecca familiar with the +idea of a creator, Allah, but this had little significance in their lives, +as in the Maker of the Universe they did not see their Lawgiver and judge, +but held themselves dependent for their good and evil fortune upon all +manner of beings, which they rendered favourable or harmless by animistic +practices. Thoroughly conservative, they did not take great interest in +the conceptions of the "People of the Scripture," as they called the Jews, +Christians, and perhaps some other sects arisen from these communities. + +But Mohammed's deeply felt misery awakened his interest in them. Whether +this had been the case with a few others before him in the milieu of Mecca, +we need not consider, as it does not help to explain his actions. If wide +circles had been anxious to know more about the contents of the "Scripture" +Mohammed would not have felt in the dark in the way that he did. We shall +probably never know, by intercourse with whom it really was that Mohammed +at last gained some knowledge of the contents of the sacred books of +Judaism and Christianity; probably through various people, and over a +considerable length of time. It was not lettered men who satisfied his +awakened curiosity; otherwise the quite confused ideas, especially in the +beginning of the revelation, concerning the mutual relations between Jews +and Christians could not be explained. Confusions between Miryam, the +sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, between Saul and Gideon, +mistakes about the relationship of Abraham to Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, +might be put down to misconceptions of Mohammed himself, who could not all +at once master the strange material. But his representation of Judaism and +Christianity and a number of other forms of revelation, as almost identical +in their contents, differing only in the place where, the time wherein, and +the messenger of God by whom they came to man; this idea, which runs like +a crimson thread through all the revelations of the first twelve years +of Mohammed's prophecy, could not have existed if he had had an intimate +acquaintance with Jewish or Christian men of letters. Moreover, the many +post-biblical features and stories which the Qorân contains concerning the +past of mankind, indicate a vulgar origin, and especially as regards +the Christian legends, communications from people who lived outside the +communion of the great Christian churches; this is sufficiently proved by +the docetical representation of the death of Jesus and the many stories +about his life, taken from apocryphal sources or from popular oral legends. + +Mohammed's unlearned imagination worked all such material together into +a religious history of mankind, in which Adam's descendants had become +divided into innumerable groups of peoples differing in speech and place +of abode, whose aim in life at one period or another came to resemble +wonderfully that of the inhabitants of West- and Central-Arabia in the +seventh century A.D. Hereby they strayed from the true path, in strife with +the commands given by Allah. The whole of history, therefore, was for him +a long series of repetitions of the antithesis between the foolishness of +men, as this was now embodied in the social state of Mecca, and the wisdom +of God, as known to the "People of the Scripture." To bring the erring ones +back to the true path, it was Allah's plan to send them messengers from out +of their midst, who delivered His ritual and His moral directions to them +in His own words, who demanded the acknowledgment of Allah's omnipotence, +and if they refused to follow the true guidance, threatened them with +Allah's temporary or, even more, with His eternal punishment. + +The antithesis is always the same, from Adam to Jesus, and the enumeration +of the scenes is therefore rather monotonous; the only variety is in the +detail, borrowed from biblical and apocryphal legends. In all the thousands +of years the messengers of Allah play the same part as Mohammed finally saw +himself called upon to play towards his people. + +Mohammed's account of the past contains more elements of Jewish than of +Christian origin, and he ignores the principal dogmas of the Christian +Church. In spite of his supernatural birth, Jesus is only a prophet +like Moses and others; and although his miracles surpass those of other +messengers, Mohammed at a later period of his life is inclined to place +Abraham above Jesus in certain respects. Yet the influence of Christianity +upon Mohammed's vocation was very great; without the Christian idea of the +final scene of human history, of the Resurrection of the dead and the Last +Judgment, Mohammed's mission would have no meaning. It is true, monotheism, +in the Jewish sense, and after the contrast had become clear to Mohammed, +accompanied by an express rejection of the Son of God and of the Trinity, +has become one of the principal dogmas of Islâm. But in Mohammed's first +preaching, the announcement of the Day of judgment is much more prominent +than the Unity of God; and it was against his revelations concerning +Doomsday that his opponents directed their satire during the first twelve +years. It was not love of their half-dead gods but anger at the wretch who +was never tired of telling them, in the name of Allah, that all their +life was idle and despicable, that in the other world they would be the +outcasts, which opened the floodgates of irony and scorn against Mohammed. +And it was Mohammed's anxiety for his own lot and that of those who were +dear to him in that future life, that forced him to seek a solution of the +question: who shall bring my people out of the darkness of antithesis into +the light of obedience to Allah? + +We should, _a posteriori_, be inclined to imagine a simpler answer to the +question than that which Mohammed found; he might have become a missionary +of Judaism or of Christianity to the Meccans. However natural such +a conclusion may appear to us, from the premises with which we are +acquainted, it did not occur to Mohammed. He began--the Qorân tells us +expressly--by regarding the Arabs, or at all events _his_ Arabs, as +heretofore destitute of divine message[1]: "to whom We have sent no warner +before you." Moses and Jesus--not to mention any others--had not been sent +for the Arabs; and as Allah would not leave any section of mankind without +a revelation, their prophet must still be to come. Apparently Mohammed +regarded the Jewish and Christian tribes in Arabia as exceptions to the +rule that an ethnical group (_ummah_) was at the same time a religious +unity. He did not imagine that it could be in Allah's plan that the Arabs +were to conform to a revelation given in a foreign language. No; God must +speak to them in Arabic.[2] Through whose mouth? + +[Footnote 1: _Qorân_, xxxii., 2; xxxiv., 43; xxxvi., 5, etc.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., xii., 2; xiii., 37; XX., 112; XXVI., 195; xli., 44, +etc.] + +A long and severe crisis preceded Mohammed's call. He was convinced that, +if he were the man, mighty signs from Heaven must be revealed to him, for +his conception of revelation was mechanical; Allah Himself, or at least +angels, must speak to him. The time of waiting, the process of objectifying +the subjective, lived through by the help of an overstrained imagination, +all this laid great demands upon the psychical and physical constitution of +Mohammed. At length he saw and heard that which he thought he ought to hear +and see. In feverish dreams he found the form for the revelation, and he +did not in the least realize that the contents of his inspiration from +Heaven were nothing but the result of what he had himself absorbed. He +realized it so little, that the identity of what was revealed to him with +what he held to be the contents of the Scriptures of Jews and Christians +was a miracle to him, the only miracle upon which he relied for the support +of his mission. + +In the course of the twenty-three years of Mohammed's work as God's +messenger, the over-excited state, or inspiration, or whatever we may +call the peculiar spiritual condition in which his revelation was born, +gradually gave place to quiet reflection. Especially after the Hijrah, when +the prophet had to provide the state established by him at Medina with +inspired regulations, the words of God became in almost every respect +different from what they had been at first. Only the form was retained. In +connection with this evolution, some of our biographers of Mohammed, even +where they do not deny the obvious honesty of his first visions, represent +him in the second half of his work, as a sort of actor, who played with +that which had been most sacred to him. This accusation is, in my opinion, +unjust. + +Mohammed, who twelve years long, in spite of derision and contempt, +continued to inveigh in the name of Allah against the frivolous +conservatism of the heathens in Mecca, to preach Allah's omnipotence to +them, to hold up to them Allah's commands and His promises and threats +regarding the future life, "without asking any reward" for such exhausting +work, is really not another man than the acknowledged "Messenger of +Allah" in Medina, who saw his power gradually increase, who was taught by +experience the value and the use of the material means of extending it, +and who finally, by the force of arms compelled all Arabs to "obedience to +Allah and His messenger." + +In our own society, real enthusiasm in the propagation of an idea generally +considered as absurd, if crowned by success may, in the course of time, end +in cold, prosaic calculation without a trace of hypocrisy. Nowhere in +the life of Mohammed can a point of turning be shown; there is a gradual +changing of aims and a readjustment of the means of attaining them. From +the first the outcast felt himself superior to the well-to-do people who +looked down upon him; and with all his power he sought for a position from +which he could force them to acknowledge his superiority. This he found in +the next and better world, of which the Jews and Christians knew. After a +crisis, which some consider as psychopathologic, he knew himself to be sent +by Allah to call the materialistic community, which he hated and despised, +to the alternative, either in following him to find eternal blessedness, or +in denying him to be doomed to eternal fire. + +Powerless against the scepticism of his hearers, after twelve years of +preaching followed only by a few dozen, most of them outcasts like himself, +he hoped now and then that Allah would strike the recalcitrant multitude +with an earthly doom, as he knew from revelations had happened before. This +hope was also unfulfilled. As other messengers of God had done in similar +circumstances, he sought for a more fruitful field than that of his +birthplace; he set out on the Hijrah, _i.e._, emigration to Medina. Here +circumstances were more favourable to him: in a short time he became the +head of a considerable community. + +Allah, who had given him power, soon allowed him to use it for the +protection of the interests of the Faithful against the unbelievers. +Once become militant, Mohammed turned from the purely defensive to the +aggressive attitude, with such success that a great part of the Arab tribes +were compelled to accept Islâm, "obedience to Allah and His Messenger." The +rule formerly insisted upon: "No compulsion in religion," was sacrificed, +since experience taught him, that the truth was more easily forced upon +men by violence than by threats which would be fulfilled only after the +resurrection. Naturally, the religious value of the conversions sank in +proportion as their number increased. The Prophet of world renouncement +in Mecca wished to win souls for his faith; the Prophet-Prince in Medina +needed subjects and fighters for his army. Yet he was still the same +Mohammed. + +Parallel with his altered position towards the heathen Arabs went a +readjustment of his point of view towards the followers of Scripture. +Mohammed never pretended to preach a new religion; he demanded in the name +of Allah the same Islâm (submission) that Moses, Jesus, and former prophets +had demanded of their nations. In his earlier revelations he always points +out the identity of his "Qorâns" with the contents of the sacred books of +Jews and Christians, in the sure conviction that these will confirm his +assertion if asked. In Medina he was disillusioned by finding neither Jews +nor Christians prepared to acknowledge an Arabian prophet, not even for the +Arabs only; so he was led to distinguish between the _true_ contents of the +Bible and that which had been made of it by the falsification of later +Jews and Christians. He preferred now to connect his own revelations more +immediately with those of Abraham, no books of whom could be cited against +him, and who was acknowledged by Jews and Christians without being himself +either a Jew or a Christian. + +This turn, this particular connection of Islâm with Abraham, made it +possible for him, by means of an adaptation of the biblical legends +concerning Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael, to include in his religion a set of +religious customs of the Meccans, especially the hajj.[1] Thus Islâm became +more Arabian, and at the same time more independent of the other revealed +religions, whose degeneracy was demonstrated by their refusal to +acknowledge Mohammed. + +[Footnote 1: A complete explanation of the gradual development of the +Abraham legend in the Qorân can be found in my book _Het Mekkaansche Feest_ +(The Feast of Mecca), Leiden, 1880.] + +All this is to be explained without the supposition of conscious trickery +or dishonesty on the part of Mohammed. There was no other way for the +unlettered Prophet, whose belief in his mission was unshaken, to overcome +the difficulties entailed by his closer acquaintance with the tenets of +other religions. + +How, then, are we to explain the starting-point of it all--Mohammed's sense +of vocation? Was it a disease of the spirit, a kind of madness? At all +events, the data are insufficient upon which to form a serious diagnosis. +Some have called it epilepsy. Sprenger, with an exaggerated display of +certainty based upon his former medical studies, gave Mohammed's disorder +the name of hysteria. Others try to find a connection between Mohammed's +extraordinary interest in the fair sex and his prophetic consciousness. +But, after all, is it explaining the spiritual life of a man, who was +certainly unique, if we put a label upon him, and thus class him with +others, who at the most shared with him certain abnormalities? A normal man +Mohammed certainly was not. But as soon as we try to give a positive name +to this negative quality, then we do the same as the heathens of Mecca, who +were violently awakened by his thundering prophecies: "He is nothing but +one possessed, a poet, a soothsayer, a sorcerer," they said. Whether we say +with the old European biographers "impostor," or with the modern ones put +"epileptic," or "hysteric" in its place, makes little difference. The +Meccans ended by submitting to him, and conquering a world under the banner +of his faith. We, with the diffidence which true science implies, feel +obliged merely to call him Mohammed, and to seek in the Qorân, and with +great cautiousness in the Tradition, a few principal points of his life and +work, in order to see how in his mind the intense feeling of discontent +during the misery of his youth, together with a great self-reliance, a +feeling of spiritual superiority to his surroundings, developed into +a call, the form of which was largely decided by Jewish and Christian +influence. + +While being struck by various weaknesses which disfigured this great +personality and which he himself freely confessed, we must admire the +perseverance with which he retained his faith in his divine mission, not +discouraged by twelve years of humiliation, nor by the repudiation of the +"People of Scripture," upon whom he had relied as his principal witnesses, +nor yet by numbers of temporary rebuffs during his struggle for the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger, which he carried on through the whole +of Arabia. + +Was Mohammed conscious of the universality of his mission? In the beginning +he certainly conceived his work as merely the Arabian part of a universal +task, which, for other parts of the world, was laid upon other messengers. +In the Medina period he ever more decidedly chose the direction of "forcing +to comply." He was content only when the heathens perceived that further +resistance to Allah's hosts was useless; their understanding of his "clear +Arabic Qorân" was no longer the principal object of his striving. _Such_ +an Islâm could equally well be forced upon _non-Arabian_ heathens. And, +as regards the "People of Scripture," since Mohammed's endeavour to be +recognized by them had failed, he had taken up his position opposed to +them, even above them. With the rise of his power he became hard and cruel +to the Jews in North-Arabia, and from Jews and Christians alike in Arabia +he demanded submission to his authority, since it had proved impossible to +make them recognize his divine mission. This demand could quite logically +be extended to all Christians; in the first place to those of the Byzantine +Empire. But did Mohammed himself come to these conclusions in the last part +of his life? Are the words in which Allah spoke to him: "We have sent thee +to men in general,"[1] and a few expressions of the same sort, to be taken +in that sense, or does "humanity" here, as in many other places in the +Qorân, mean those with whom Mohammed had especially to do? Nôldeke is +strongly of opinion that the principal lines of the program of conquest +carried out after Mohammed's death, had been drawn by the Prophet himself. +Lammens and others deny with equal vigour, that Mohammed ever looked upon +the whole world as the field of his mission. This shows that the solution +is not evident.[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Qorân_, xxxiv., 27. The translation of this verse has +always been a subject of great difference of opinion. At the time of its +revelation--as fixed by Mohammedan as well as by western authorities--the +universal conception of Mohammed's mission was quite out of question.] + +[Footnote 2: Professor T.W. Arnold in the 2d edition (London, 1913) of +his valuable work _The Preaching of Islâm_ (especially pp. 28-31), warmly +endeavours to prove that Mohammed from the beginning considered his mission +as universal. He weakens his argument more than is necessary by placing the +Tradition upon an almost equal footing with the Qorân as a source, and by +ignoring the historical development which is obvious in the Qorân itself. +In this way he does not perceive the great importance of the history of the +Abraham legend in Mohammed's conception. Moreover, the translation of +the verses of the Qorân on p. 29 sometimes says more than the original. +_Lil-nâs_ is not "_to mankind_" but "_to men_," in the sense of "_to +everybody_." _Qorân_, xvi., 86, does not say: "One day we will raise up +a witness out of every nation," but: "On the day (_i.e._, the day of +resurrection) when we will raise up, etc.," which would seem to refer to +the theme so constantly repeated in the Qorân, that each nation will be +confronted on the Day of Judgment with the prophet sent to it. When the +Qorân is called an "admonition to the world (_'âlamîn_)" and Mohammed's +mission a "mercy to the world (_'âlamîn_)," then we must remember that +'âlamîn is one of the most misused rhymewords in the Qorân (e.g., _Qorân_, +xv., 70); and we should not therefore translate it emphatically as "all +created beings," unless the universality of Mohammed's mission is firmly +established by other proofs. And this is far from being the case.] + +In our valuation of Mohammed's sayings we cannot lay too much stress upon +his incapability of looking far ahead. The final aims which Mohammed set +himself were considered by sane persons as unattainable. His firm belief in +the realization of the vague picture of the future which he had conceived, +nay, which Allah held before him, drove him to the uttermost exertion of +his mental power in order to surmount the innumerable unexpected obstacles +which he encountered. Hence the variability of the practical directions +contained in the Qorân; they are constantly altered according to +circumstances. Allah's words during the last part of Mohammed's life: +"This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have I filled up +the measure of my favours towards you, and chosen Islâm for you as your +religion," have in no way the meaning of the exclamation: "It is finished," +of the dying Christ. They are only a cry of jubilation over the degradation +of the heathen Arabs by the triumph of Allah's weapons. At Mohammed's death +everything was still unstable; and the vital questions for Islâm were +subjects of contention between the leaders even before the Prophet had been +buried. + +The expedient of new revelations completing, altering, or abrogating former +ones had played an important part in the legislative work of Mohammed. Now, +he had never considered that by his death the spring would be stopped, +although completion was wanted in every respect. For, without doubt, +Mohammed felt his weakness in systematizing and his absence of clearness +of vision into the future, and therefore he postponed the promulgation of +divine decrees as long as possible, and he solved only such questions +of law as frequently recurred, when further hesitation would have been +dangerous to his authority and to the peace of the community. + +At Mohammed's death, all Arabs were not yet subdued to his authority. +The expeditions which he had undertaken or arranged beyond the northern +boundaries of Arabia, were directed against Arabs, although they were +likely to rouse conflict with the Byzantine and Persian empires. It would +have been contrary to Mohammed's usual methods if this had led him to form +a general definition of his attitude towards the world outside Arabia. + +As little as Mohammed, when he invoked the Meccans in wild poetic +inspirations to array themselves behind him to seek the blessedness of +future life, had dreamt of the possibility that twenty years later the +whole of Arabia would acknowledge his authority in this world, as little, +nay, much less, could he at the close of his life have had the faintest +premonition of the fabulous development which his state would reach half +a century later. The subjugation of the mighty Persia and of some of the +richest provinces of the Byzantine Empire, only to mention these, was never +a part of his program, although legend has it that he sent out written +challenges to the six princes of the world best known to him. Yet we +may say that Mohammed's successors in the guidance of his community, by +continuing their expansion towards the north, after the suppression of the +apostasy that followed his death, remained in Mohammed's line of action. +There is even more evident continuity in the development of the empire of +the Omayyads out of the state of Mohammed, than in the series of events +by which we see the dreaded Prince-Prophet of Medina grew out of the +"possessed one" of Mecca. But if Mohammed had been able to foresee how the +unity of Arabia, which he nearly accomplished, was to bring into being a +formidable international empire, we should expect some indubitable traces +of this in the Qorân; not a few verses of dubious interpretation, but +some certain sign that the Revelation, which had repeatedly, and with the +greatest emphasis, called itself a "plain Arabic Qorân" intended for those +"to whom no warner had yet been sent," should in future be valid for the +'Ajam, the Barbarians, as well as for the Arabs. + +Even if we ascribe to Mohammed something of the universal program, which +the later tradition makes him to have drawn up, he certainly could not +foresee the success of it. For this, in the first place, the economic and +political factors to which some scholars of our day would attribute the +entire explanation of the Islâm movement, must be taken into consideration. +Mohammed did to some extent prepare the universality of his religion and +make it possible. But that Islâm, which came into the world as the Arabian +form of the one, true religion, has actually become a universal religion, +is due to circumstances which had little to do with its origin.[1] This +extension of the domain to be subdued to its spiritual rule entailed +upon Islâm about three centuries of development and accommodation, of a +different sort, to be sure, but not less drastic in character than that of +the Christian Church. + +[Footnote 1: Sir William Muir was not wrong when he said: "From first to +last the summons was to Arabs and to none other... The seed of a universal +creed had indeed been sown; but that it ever germinated was due to +circumstances rather than design."] + + + +II + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM + + +We can hardly imagine a poorer, more miserable population than that of the +South-Arabian country Hadramaut. All moral and social progress is there +impeded by the continuance of the worst elements of Jâhiliyyah (Arabian +paganism), side by side with those of Islâm. A secular nobility is formed +by groups of people, who grudge each other their very lives and fight each +other according to the rules of retaliation unmitigated by any more humane +feelings. The religious nobility is represented by descendants of the +Prophet, arduous patrons of a most narrow-minded orthodoxy and of most +bigoted fanaticism. In a well-ordered society, making the most of all the +means offered by modern technical science, the dry barren soil might be +made to yield sufficient harvests to satisfy the wants of its members; but +among these inhabitants, paralysed by anarchy, chronic famine prevails. +Foreigners wisely avoid this miserable country, and if they did visit +it, would not be hospitably received. Hunger forces many Hadramites to +emigrate; throughout the centuries we find them in all the countries of +Islâm, in the sacred cities of Western-Arabia, in Syria, Egypt, India, +Indonesia, where they often occupy important positions. + +In the Dutch Indies, for instance, they live in the most important +commercial towns, and though the Government has never favoured them, and +though they have had to compete with Chinese and with Europeans, they have +succeeded in making their position sufficiently strong. Before European +influence prevailed, they even founded states in some of the larger islands +or they obtained political influence in existing native states. Under a +strong European government they are among the quietest, most industrious +subjects, all earning their own living and saving something for their poor +relations at home. They come penniless, and without any of that theoretical +knowledge or practical skill which we are apt to consider as indispensable +for a man who wishes to try his fortune in a complicated modern colonial +world. Yet I have known some who in twenty years' time have become +commercial potentates, and even millionaires. + +The strange spectacle of these latent talents and of the suppressed energy +of the people of Hadramaut that seem to be waiting only for transplantation +into a more favourable soil to develop with amazing rapidity, helps us +to understand the enormous consequences of the Arabian migration in the +seventh century. + +The spiritual goods, with which Islâm set out into the world, were far from +imposing. It preached a most simple monotheism: Allah, the Almighty Creator +and Ruler of heaven and earth, entirely self-sufficient, so that it were +ridiculous to suppose Him to have partners or sons and daughters to support +Him; who has created the angels that they might form His retinue, and +men and genii (jinn) that they might obediently serve Him; who decides +everything according to His incalculable will and is responsible to nobody, +as the Universe is His; of whom His creatures, if their minds be not led +astray, must therefore stand in respectful fear and awe. He has made His +will known to mankind, beginning at Adam, but the spreading of mankind over +the surface of the earth, its seduction by Satan and his emissaries have +caused most nations to become totally estranged from Him and His service. +Now and then, when He considered that the time was come, He caused a +prophet to arise from among a nation to be His messenger to summon people +to conversion, and to tell them what blessedness awaited them as a reward +of obedience, what punishments would be inflicted if they did not believe +his message. + +Sometimes the disobedient had been struck by earthly judgment (the flood, +the drowning of the Egyptians, etc.), and the faithful had been rescued +in a miraculous way and led to victory; but such things merely served +as indications of Allah's greatness. One day the whole world will be +overthrown and destroyed. Then the dead will be awakened and led before +Allah's tribunal. The faithful will have abodes appointed them in +well-watered, shady gardens, with fruit-trees richly laden, with luxurious +couches upon which they may lie and enjoy the delicious food, served by the +ministrants of Paradise. They may also freely indulge in sparkling wine +that does not intoxicate, and in intercourse with women, whose youth and +virginity do not fade. The unbelievers end their lives in Hell-fire; or, +rather, there is no end, for the punishment as well as the reward are +everlasting. + +Allah gives to each one his due. The actions of His creatures are all +accurately written down, and when judgment comes, the book is opened; +moreover, every creature carries the list of his own deeds and misdeeds; +the debit and credit sides are carefully weighed against each other in the +divine scales, and many witnesses are heard before judgment is pronounced. +Allah, however, is clement and merciful; He gladly forgives those sinners +who have believed in Him, who have sincerely accepted Islâm, that is to +say: who have acknowledged His absolute authority and have believed the +message of the prophet sent to them. These prophets have the privilege +of acting as mediators on behalf of their followers, not in the sense of +redeemers, but as advocates who receive gracious hearing. + +Naturally, Islâm, submission to the Lord of the Universe, ought to express +itself in deeds. Allah desires the homage of formal worship, which must be +performed several times a day by every individual, and on special occasions +by the assembled faithful, led by one of them. This. service, [s.]alât, +acquired its strictly binding rules only after Mohammed's time, but already +in his lifetime it consisted chiefly of the same elements as now: the +recital of sacred texts, especially taken from the Revelation, certain +postures of the body (standing, inclination, kneeling, prostration) with +the face towards Mecca. This last particular and the language of the +Revelation are the Arabian elements of the service, which is for the rest +an imitation of Jewish and Christian rituals, so far as Mohammed knew them. +There was no sacrament, consequently no priest to administer it; Islâm has +always been the lay religion _par excellence_. Teaching and exhortation are +the only spiritual help that the pious Mohammedan wants, and this simple +care of souls is exercised without any ordination or consecration. + +Fasting, for a month if possible, and longer if desired, was also an +integral part of religious life and, by showing disregard of earthly joys, +a proof of faith in Allah's promises for the world to come. Almsgiving, +recommended above all other virtues, was not only to be practised in +obedience to Allah's law and in faith in retribution, but it was to testify +contempt of all earthly possessions which might impede the striving after +eternal happiness. Later, Mohammed was compelled, by the need of a public +fund and the waning zeal of the faithful as their numbers increased, to +regulate the practice of this virtue and to exact certain minima as taxes +(_zakât_). + +When Mohammed, taking his stand as opposed to Judaism and Christianity, +had accentuated the Arabian character of his religion, the Meccan rites of +pagan origin were incorporated into Islâm; but only after the purification +required by monotheism. From that time forward the yearly celebration of +the Hajj was among the ritual duties of the Moslim community. + +In the first years of the strife yet another duty was most emphatically +impressed on the Faithful; _jihâd, i.e._, readiness to sacrifice life and +possessions for the defence of Islâm, understood, since the conquest of +Mecca in 630, as the extension by force of arms of the authority of the +Moslim state, first over the whole of Arabia, and soon after Mohammed's +death over the whole world, so far as Allah granted His hosts the victory. + +For the rest, the legislative revelations regulated only such points as had +become subjects of argument or contest in Mohammed's lifetime, or such as +were particularly suggested by that antithesis of paganism and revelation, +which had determined Mohammed's prophetical career. Gambling and wine were +forbidden, the latter after some hesitation between the inculcation of +temperance and that of abstinence. Usury, taken in the sense of requiring +any interest at all upon loans, was also forbidden. All tribal feuds with +their consequences had henceforward to be considered as non-existent, and +retaliation, provided that the offended party would not agree to accept +compensation, was put under the control of the head of the community. +Polygamy and intercourse of master and female slave were restricted; the +obligations arising from blood-relationship or ownership were regulated. +These points suffice to remind us of the nature of the Qorânic regulations. +Reference to certain subjects in this revealed law while others were +ignored, did not depend on their respective importance to the life of the +community, but rather on what happened to have been suggested by the events +in Mohammed's lifetime. For Mohammed knew too well how little qualified he +was for legislative work to undertake it unless absolutely necessary. + +This rough sketch of what Islâm meant when it set out to conquer the world, +is not very likely to create the impression that its incredibly rapid +extension was due to its superiority over the forms of civilization which +it supplanted. Lammens's assertion, that Islâm was the Jewish religion +simplified according to Arabic wants and amplified by some Christian and +Arabic traditions, contains a great deal of truth, if only we recognize the +central importance for Mohammed's vocation and preaching of the Christian +doctrine of Resurrection and judgment. This explains the large number of +weak points that the book of Mohammed's revelations, written down by his +first followers, offered to Jewish and Christian polemics. It was easy for +the theologians of those religions to point out numberless mistakes in the +work of the illiterate Arabian prophet, especially where he maintained that +he was repeating and confirming the contents of their Bible. The Qorânic +revelations about Allah's intercourse with men, taken from apocryphal +sources, from profane legends like that of Alexander the Great, sometimes +even created by Mohammed's own fancy--such as the story of the prophet +Sâlih, said to have lived in the north of Arabia, and that of the prophet +Hûd, supposed to have lived in the south; all this could not but give them +the impression of a clumsy caricature of true tradition. The principal +doctrines of Synagogue and Church had apparently been misunderstood, or +they were simply denied as corruptions. + +The conversion to Islâm, within a hundred years, of such nations as the +Egyptian, the Syrian, and the Persian, can hardly be attributed to anything +but the latent talents, the formerly suppressed energy of the Arabian race +having found a favourable soil for its development; talents and energy, +however, not of a missionary kind. If Islâm is said to have been from its +beginning down to the present day, a missionary religion,[1] then "mission" +is to be taken here in a quite peculiar sense, and special attention must +be given to the preparation of the missionary field by the Moslim armies, +related by history and considered as most important by the Mohammedans +themselves. + +[Footnote 1: With extraordinary talent this thesis has been defended by +Professor T.W. Arnold in the above quoted work, _The Preaching of Islam_, +which fully deserves the attention also of those who do not agree with the +writer's argument. Among the many objections that may be raised against +Prof. Arnold's conclusion, we point to the undeniable fact, that the Moslim +scholars of all ages hardly speak of "mission" at all, and always treat the +extension of the true faith by holy war as one of the principal duties of +the Moslim community.] + +Certainly, the nations conquered by the Arabs under the first khalîfs were +not obliged to choose between living as Moslims or dying as unbelievers. +The conquerors treated them as Mohammed had treated Jews and Christians in +Arabia towards the end of his life, and only exacted from them submission +to Moslim authority. They were allowed to adhere to their religion, +provided they helped with their taxes to fill the Moslim exchequer. This +rule was even extended to such religions as that of the Parsîs, although +they could not be considered as belonging to the "People of Scripture" +expressly recognized in the Qorân. But the social condition of these +subjects was gradually made so oppressive by the Mohammedan masters, that +rapid conversions in masses were a natural consequence; the more natural +because among the conquered nations intellectual culture was restricted to +a small circle, so that after the conquest their spiritual leaders lacked +freedom of movement. Besides, practically very little was required from the +new converts, so that it was very tempting to take the step that led to +full citizenship. + +No, those who in a short time subjected millions of non-Arabs to the state +founded by Mohammed, and thus prepared their conversion, were no apostles. +They were generals whose strategic talents would have remained hidden but +for Mohammed, political geniuses, especially from Mecca and Taif, who, +before Islâm, would have excelled only in the organization of commercial +operations or in establishing harmony between hostile families. Now they +proved capable of uniting the Arabs commanded by Allah, a unity still many +a time endangered during the first century by the old party spirit; and of +devising a division of labour between the rulers and the conquered which +made it possible for them to control the function of complicated machines +of state without any technical knowledge. + +Moreover, several circumstances favoured their work; both the large realms +which extended north of Arabia, were in a state of political decline; +the Christians inhabiting the provinces that were to be conquered first, +belonged, for the larger part, to heretical sects and were treated by the +orthodox Byzantines in such a way that other masters, if tolerant, might be +welcome. The Arabian armies consisted of hardened Bedouins with few wants, +whose longing for the treasures of the civilized world made them more ready +to endure the pressure of a discipline hitherto unknown to them. + +The use that the leaders made of the occasion commands our admiration; +although their plan was formed in the course and under the influence of +generally unforeseen events. Circumstances had changed Mohammed the Prophet +into Mohammed the Conqueror; and the leaders, who continued the conqueror's +work, though not driven by fanaticism or religious zeal, still prepared the +conversion of millions of men to Islâm. + +It was only natural that the new masters adopted, with certain +modifications, the administrative and fiscal systems of the conquered +countries. For similar reasons Islâm had to complete its spiritual store +from the well-ordered wealth of that of its new adherents. Recent research +shows most clearly, that Islâm, in after times so sharply opposed to other +religions and so strongly armed against foreign influence, in the first +century borrowed freely and simply from the "People of Scripture" whatever +was not evidently in contradiction to the Qorân. This was to be expected; +had not Mohammed from the very beginning referred to the "people of the +Book" as "those who know"? When painful experience induced him afterwards +to accuse them of corruption of their Scriptures, this attitude +necessitated a certain criticism but not rejection of their tradition. +The ritual, only provisionally regulated and continually liable to change +according to prophetic inspiration in Mohammed's lifetime, required +unalterable rules after his death. Recent studies[1] have shown in an +astounding way, that the Jewish ritual, together with the religious rites +of the Christians, strongly influenced the definite shape given to that of +Islâm, while indirect influence of the Parsî religion is at least probable. + +[Footnote 1: The studies of Professors C.H. Becker, E. Mittwoch, and +A.J. Wensinck, especially taken in connection with older ones of Ignaz +Goldziher, have thrown much light upon this subject.] + +So much for the rites of public worship and the ritual purity they require. +The method of fasting seems to follow the Jewish model, whereas the period +of obligatory fasting depends on the Christian usage. + +Mohammed's fragmentary and unsystematic accounts of sacred history were +freely drawn from Jewish and Christian sources and covered the whole period +from the creation of the world until the first centuries of the Christian +era. Of course, features shocking to the Moslim mind were dropped and the +whole adapted to the monotonous conception of the Qorân. With ever greater +boldness the story of Mohammed's own life was exalted to the sphere of +the supernatural; here the Gospel served as example. Though Mohammed had +repeatedly declared himself to be an ordinary man chosen by Allah as the +organ of His revelation, and whose only miracle was the Qorân, posterity +ascribed to him a whole series of wonders, evidently invented in emulation +of the wonders of Christ. The reason for this seems to have been the idea +that none of the older prophets, not even Jesus, of whom the Qorân tells +the greatest wonders, could have worked a miracle without Mohammed, the +Seal of the prophets, having rivalled or surpassed him in this respect. +Only Jesus was the Messiah; but this title did not exceed in value +different titles of other prophets, and Mohammed's special epithets were +of a higher order. A relative sinlessness Mohammed shared with Jesus; the +acceptance of this doctrine, contradictory to the original spirit of the +Qorân, had moreover a dogmatic motive: it was considered indispensable +to raise the text of the Qorân above all suspicion of corruption, which +suspicion would not be excluded if the organ of the Revelation were +fallible. + +This period of naively adopting institutions, doctrines, and traditions was +soon followed by an awakening to the consciousness that Islâm could not +well absorb any more of such foreign elements without endangering its +independent character. Then a sorting began; and the assimilation of the +vast amount of borrowed matter, that had already become an integral part of +Islâm, was completed by submitting the whole to a peculiar treatment. It +was carefully divested of all marks of origin and labelled _hadîth_,[1] +so that henceforth it was regarded as emanations from the wisdom of the +Arabian Prophet, for which his followers owed no thanks to foreigners. + +[Footnote 1: _Hadîth_, the Arabic word for record, story, has assumed +the technical meaning of "tradition" concerning the words and deeds of +Mohammed. It is used as well in the sense of a single record of this sort +as in that of the whole body of sacred traditions.] + +At first, it was only at Medina that some pious people occupied themselves +with registering, putting in order, and systematizing the spiritual +property of Islâm; afterwards similar circles were formed in other centres, +such as Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Misr (Cairo), and elsewhere. At the outset +the collection of divine sayings, the Qorân, was the only guide, the only +source of decisive decrees, the only touchstone of what was true or false, +allowed or forbidden. Reluctantly, but decidedly at last, it was conceded +that the foundations laid by Mohammed for the life of his community were +by no means all to be found in the Holy Book; rather, that Mohammed's +revelations without his explanation and practice would have remained an +enigma. It was understood now that the rules and laws of Islâm were founded +on God's word and on the Sunnah, _i.e._, the "way" pointed out by the +Prophet's word and example. Thus it had been from the moment that Allah had +caused His light to shine over Arabia, and thus it must remain, if human +error was not to corrupt Islâm. + +At the moment when this conservative instinct began to assert itself among +the spiritual leaders, so much foreign matter had already been incorporated +into Islâm, that the theory of the sufficiency of Qorân and Sunnah could +not have been maintained without the labelling operation which we have +alluded to. So it was assumed that as surely as Mohammed must have +surpassed his predecessors in perfection and in wonders, so surely must +all the principles and precepts necessary for his community have been +formulated by him. Thus, by a gigantic web of fiction, he became after his +death the organ of opinions, ideas, and interests, whose lawfulness was +recognized by every influential section of the Faithful. All that could not +be identified as part of the Prophet's Sunnah, received no recognition; on +the other hand, all that was accepted had, somehow, to be incorporated into +the Sunnah. + +It became a fundamental dogma of Islâm, that the Sunnah was the +indispensable completion of the Qorân, and that both together formed the +source of Mohammedan law and doctrine; so much so that every party assumed +the name of "People of the Sunnah" to express its pretension to orthodoxy. +The _contents_ of the Sunnah, however, was the subject of a great deal of +controversy; so that it came to be considered necessary to make the Prophet +pronounce his authoritative judgment on this difference of opinion. He +was said to have called it a proof of God's special mercy, that within +reasonable limits difference of opinion was allowed in his community. Of +that privilege Mohammedans have always amply availed themselves. + +When the difference touched on political questions, especially on the +succession of the Prophet in the government of the community, schism was +the inevitable consequence. Thus arose the party strifes of the first +century, which led to the establishment of the sects of the Shî'ites and +the Khârijites, separate communities, severed from the great whole, that +led their own lives, and therefore followed paths different from those of +the majority in matters of doctrine and law as well as in politics. The +sharpness of the political antithesis served to accentuate the importance +of the other differences in such cases and to debar their acceptance as the +legal consequence of the difference of opinion that God's mercy allowed. +That the political factor was indeed the great motive of separation, is +clearly shown in our own day, now that one Mohammedan state after the other +sees its political independence disappearing and efforts are being made +from all sides to re-establish the unity of the Mohammedan world by +stimulating the feeling of religious brotherhood. Among the most cultivated +Moslims of different countries an earnest endeavour is gaining ground to +admit Shî'ites, Khârijites, and others, formerly abused as heretics, into +the great community, now threatened by common foes, and to regard their +special tenets in the same way as the differences existing between the four +law schools: Hanafites, Mâlikites, Shâfi'ites and Hanbalites, which for +centuries have been considered equally orthodox. + +Although the differences that divide these schools at first caused great +excitement and gave rise to violent discussions, the strong catholic +instinct of Islâm always knew how to prevent schism. Each new generation +either found the golden mean between the extremes which had divided the +preceding one, or it recognized the right of both opinions. + +Though the dogmatic differences were not necessarily so dangerous to +unity as were political ones, yet they were more apt to cause schism than +discussions about the law. It was essential to put an end to dissension +concerning the theological roots of the whole system of Islâm. Mohammed had +never expressed any truth in dogmatic form; all systematic thinking was +foreign to his nature. It was again the non-Arabic Moslims, especially +those of Christian origin, who suggested such doctrinal questions. At first +they met with a vehement opposition that condemned all dogmatic discussion +as a novelty of the Devil. In the long run, however, the contest of the +conservatives against specially objectionable features of the dogmatists' +discussions forced them to borrow arms from the dogmatic arsenal. Hence a +method with a peculiar terminology came in vogue, to which even the boldest +imagination could not ascribe any connection with the Sunnah of Mohammed. +Yet some traditions ventured to put prophetic warnings on Mohammed's lips +against dogmatic innovations that were sure to arise, and to make him +pronounce the names of a couple of future sects. But no one dared to make +the Prophet preach an orthodox system of dogmatics resulting from the +controversies of several centuries, all the terms of which were foreign to +the Arabic speech of Mohammed's time. + +Indeed, all the subjects which had given rise to dogmatic controversy +in the Christian Church, except some too specifically Christian, were +discussed by the _mutakallims_, the dogmatists of Islâm. Free will or +predestination; God omnipotent, or first of all just and holy; God's word +created by Him, or sharing His eternity; God one in this sense, that His +being admitted of no plurality of qualities, or possessed of qualities, +which in all eternity are inherent in His being; in the world to come only +bliss and doom, or also an intermediate state for the neutral. We might +continue the enumeration and always show to the Christian church-historian +or theologian old acquaintances in Moslim garb. That is why Maracci and +Reland could understand Jews and Christians yielding to the temptation +of joining Islâm, and that also explains why Catholic and Protestant +dogmatists could accuse each other of Crypto-mohammedanism. + +Not until the beginning of the tenth century A.D. did the orthodox +Mohammedan dogma begin to emerge from the clash of opinions into its +definite shape. The Mu'tazilites had advocated man's free will; had given +prominence to justice and holiness in their conception of God, had denied +distinct qualities in God and the eternity of God's Word; had accepted a +place for the neutral between Paradise and Hell; and for some time the +favour of the powers in authority seemed to assure the victory of their +system. Al-Ash'arî contradicted all these points, and his system has in the +end been adopted by the great majority. The Mu'tazilite doctrines for a +long time still enthralled many minds, but they ended by taking refuge +in the political heresy of Shî'itism. In the most conservative circles, +opponents to all speculation were never wanting; but they were obliged +unconsciously to make large concessions to systematic thought; for in the +Moslim world as elsewhere religious belief without dogma had become as +impossible as breathing is without air. + +Thus, in Islâm, a whole system, which could not even pretend to draw its +authority from the Sunnah, had come to be accepted. It was not difficult +to justify this deviation from the orthodox abhorrence against novelties. +Islâm has always looked at the world in a pessimistic way, a view expressed +in numberless prophetic sayings. The world is bad and will become worse and +worse. Religion and morality will have to wage an ever more hopeless war +against unbelief, against heresy and ungodly ways of living. While this +is surely no reason for entering into any compromise with doctrines which +depart but a hair's breadth from Qorân and Sunnah, it necessitates methods +of defence against heresy as unknown in Mohammed's time as heresy itself. +"Necessity knows no law" is a principle fully accepted in Islam; and heresy +is an enemy of the faith that can only be defeated with dialectic weapons. +So the religious truths preached by Mohammed have not been altered in +any way; but under the stress of necessity they have been clad in modern +armour, which has somewhat changed their aspect. + +Moreover, Islâm has a theory, which alone is sufficient to justify the +whole later development of doctrine as well as of law. This theory, +whose importance for the system can hardly be overestimated, and which, +nevertheless, has until very recent times constantly been overlooked by +Western students of Islâm, finds its classical expression in the following +words, put into the mouth of Mohammed: "My community will never agree in an +error." In terms more familiar to us, this means that the Mohammedan Church +taken as a whole is infallible; that all the decisions on matters practical +or theoretical, on which it is agreed, are binding upon its members. +Nowhere else is the catholic instinct of Islâm more clearly expressed. + +A faithful Mohammedan student, after having struggled through a handbook of +law, may be vexed by a doubt as to whether these endless casuistic precepts +have been rightly deduced from the Qorân and the Sacred Tradition. His +doubt, however, will at once be silenced, if he bears in mind that Allah +speaks more plainly to him by this infallible Agreement (_Ijmâ'_) of the +Community than through Qorân and Tradition; nay, that the contents of both +those sacred sources, without this perfect intermediary, would be to a +great extent unintelligible to him. Even the differences between the +schools of law may be based on this theory of the Ijmâ'; for, does not the +infallible Agreement of the Community teach us that a certain diversity +of opinion is a merciful gift of God? It was through the Agreement that +dogmatic speculations as well as minute discussions about points of law +became legitimate. The stamp of Ijmâ' was essential to every rule of faith +and life, to all manners and customs. + +All sorts of religious ideas and practices, which could not possibly be +deduced from Mohammed's message, entered the Moslim world by the permission +of Ijmâ'. Here we need think only of mysticism and of the cult of saints. + +Some passages of the Qorân may perhaps be interpreted in such a way that we +hear the subtler strings of religious emotion vibrating in them. The chief +impression that Mohammed's Allah makes before the Hijrah is that of awful +majesty, at which men tremble from afar; they fear His punishment, dare +hardly be sure of His reward, and hope much from His mercy. This impression +is a lasting one; but, after the Hijrah, Allah is also heard quietly +reasoning with His obedient servants, giving them advice and commands, +which they have to follow in order to frustrate all resistance to His +authority and to deserve His satisfaction. He is always the Lord, the King +of the world, who speaks to His humble servants. But the lamp which Allah +had caused Mohammed to hold up to guide mankind with its light, was raised +higher and higher after the Prophet's death, in order to shed its light +over an ever increasing part of humanity. This was not possible, however, +without its reservoir being replenished with all the different kinds of oil +that had from time immemorial given light to those different nations. The +oil of mysticism came from Christian circles, and its Neo-Platonic origin +was quite unmistakable; Persia and India also contributed to it. There were +those who, by asceticism, by different methods of mortifying the flesh, +liberated the spirit that it might rise and become united with the origin +of all being; to such an extent, that with some the profession of faith +was reduced to the blasphemous exclamation: "I am Allah." Others tried to +become free from the sphere of the material and the temporal by certain +methods of thought, combined or not combined with asceticism. Here the +necessity of guidance was felt, and congregations came into existence, +whose purpose it was to permit large groups of people under the leadership +of their sheikhs, to participate simultaneously in the mystic union. The +influence which spread most widely was that of leaders like Ghazâlî, the +Father of the later Mohammedan Church, who recommended moral purification +of the soul as the only way by which men should come nearer to God. His +mysticism wished to avoid the danger of pantheism, to which so many others +were led by their contemplations, and which so often engendered disregard +of the revealed law, or even of morality. Some wanted to pass over the gap +between the Creator and the created along a bridge of contemplation; and +so, driven by the fire of sublime passion, precipitate themselves towards +the object of their love, in a kind of rapture, which poets compare with +intoxication. The evil world said that the impossibility to accomplish this +heavenly union often induced those people to imitate it for the time being +with the earthly means of wine and the indulgence in sensual love. + +Characteristic of all these sorts of mysticism is their esoteric pride. +All those emotions are meant only for a small number of chosen ones. Even +Ghazâlî's ethical mysticism is not for the multitude. The development of +Islâm as a whole, from the Hijrah on, has always been greater in breadth +than in depth; and, consequently, its pedagogics have remained defective. +Even some of the noblest minds in Islâm restrict true religious life to an +aristocracy, and accept the ignorance of the multitude as an irremediable +evil. + +Throughout the centuries pantheistic and animistic forms of mysticism have +found many adherents among the Mohammedans; but the infallible Agreement +has persisted in calling that heresy. Ethical mysticism, since Ghazâlî, has +been fully recognized; and, with law and dogma, it forms the sacred trio of +sciences of Islâm, to the study of which the Arabic humanistic arts +serve as preparatory instruments. All other sciences, however useful and +necessary, are of this world and have no value for the world to come. The +unfaithful appreciate and study them as well as do the Mohammedans; but, +on Mohammedan soil they must be coloured with a Mohammedan hue, and their +results may never clash with the three religious sciences. Physics, +astronomy, and philosophy have often found it difficult to observe this +restriction, and therefore they used to be at least slightly suspected in +pious circles. + +Mysticism did not only owe to Ijmâ' its place in the sacred trio, but it +succeeded, better than dogmatics, in confirming its right with words of +Allah and His Prophet. In Islâm mysticism and allegory are allied in the +usual way; for the _illuminati_ the words had quite a different meaning +than for common, every-day people. So the Qorân was made to speak the +language of mysticism; and mystic commentaries of the Holy Book exist, +which, with total disregard for philological and historical objections, +explain the verses of the Revelation as expressions of the profoundest soul +experiences. Clear utterances in this spirit were put into the Prophet's +mouth; and, like the canonists, the leaders on the mystic Way to God +boasted of a spiritual genealogy which went back to Mohammed. Thus the +Prophet is said to have declared void all knowledge and fulfillment of the +law which lacks mystic experience. + +Of course only "true" mysticism is justified by Ijmâ' and confirmed by the +evidence of Qorân and Sunnah; but, about the bounds between "true" and +"false" or heretical mysticism, there exists in a large measure the +well-known diversity of opinion allowed by God's grace. The ethical +mysticism of al-Ghazâlî is generally recognized as orthodox; and the +possibility of attaining to a higher spiritual sphere by means of methodic +asceticism and contemplation is doubted by few. The following opinion has +come to prevail in wide circles: the Law offers the bread of life to all +the faithful, the dogmatics are the arsenal from which the weapons must be +taken to defend the treasures of religion against unbelief and heresy, but +mysticism shows the earthly pilgrim the way to Heaven. + +It was a much lower need that assured the cult of saints a place in the +doctrine and practice of Islâm. As strange as is Mohammed's transformation +from an ordinary son of man, which he wanted to be, into the incarnation +of Divine Light, as the later biographers represent him, it is still more +astounding that the intercession of saints should have become indispensable +to the community of Mohammed, who, according to Tradition, cursed the Jews +and Christians because they worshipped the shrines of their prophets. +Almost every Moslim village has its patron saint; every country has its +national saints; every province of human life has its own human rulers, +who are intermediate between the Creator and common mortals. In no other +particular has Islâm more fully accommodated itself to the religions it +supplanted. The popular practice, which is in many cases hardly to be +distinguished from polytheism, was, to a great extent, favoured by the +theory of the intercession of the pious dead, of whose friendly assistance +people might assure themselves by doing good deeds in their names and to +their eternal advantage. + +The ordinary Moslim visitor of the graves of saints does not trouble +himself with this ingenious compromise between the severe monotheism of his +prophet and the polytheism of his ancestors. He is firmly convinced, that +the best way to obtain the satisfaction of his desire after earthly or +heavenly goods is to give the saint whose special care these are what he +likes best; and he confidently leaves it to the venerated one to settle the +matter with Allah, who is far too high above the ordinary mortal to allow +of direct contact. + +In support even of this startling deviation from the original, traditions +have been devised. Moreover, the veneration of human beings was favoured +by some forms of mysticism; for, like many saints, many mystics had their +eccentricities, and it was much to the advantage of mystic theologians if +the vulgar could be persuaded to accept their aberrations from normal +rules of life as peculiarities of holy men. But Ijmâ' did more even than +tradition and mysticism to make the veneration of legions of saints +possible in the temples of the very men who were obliged by their ritual +law to say to Allah several time daily: "Thee only do we worship and to +Thee alone do we cry for help." + +In the tenth century of our era Islâm's process of accommodation was +finished in all its essentials. From this time forward, if circumstances +were favourable, it could continue the execution of its world conquering +plans without being compelled to assimilate any more foreign elements. +Against each spiritual asset that another universal religion could boast, +it could now put forward something of a similar nature, but which still +showed characteristics of its own, and the superiority of which it could +sustain by arguments perfectly satisfactory to its followers. From that +time on, Islâm strove to distinguish itself ever more sharply from its most +important rivals. There was no absolute stagnation, the evolution was not +entirely stopped; but it moved at a much quieter pace, and its direction +was governed by internal motives, not by influences from outside. Moslim +catholicism had attained its full growth. + +We cannot within the small compass of these lectures consider the +excrescences of the normal Islâm, the Shî'itic ultras, who venerated +certain descendants of Mohammed as infallible rulers of the world, +Ishma'ilites, Qarmatians, Assassins; nor the modern bastards of Islâm, such +as the Sheikhites, the Bâbî's, the Behâ'îs--who have found some adherents +in America--and other sects, which indeed sprang up on Moslim soil, but +deliberately turned to non-Mohammedan sources for their inspirations. We +must draw attention, however, to protests raised by certain minorities +against some of the ideas and practices which had been definitely adopted +by the majority. + +In the midst of Mohammedan Catholicism there always lived and moved more or +less freely "protestant" elements. The comparison may even be continued, +with certain qualifications, and we may speak also of a conservative and +of a liberal protestantism in Islâm. The conservative Protestantism +is represented by the Hanbalitic school and kindred spirits, who most +emphatically preached that the Agreement (Ijmâ') of every period should be +based on that of the "pious ancestors." They therefore tested every dogma +and practice by the words and deeds of the Prophet, his contemporaries, and +the leaders of the Community in the first decades after Mohammed's death. +In their eyes the Church of later days had degenerated; and they declined +to consider the agreement of its doctors as justifying the penetration +into Islâm of ideas and usages of foreign origin. The cult of saints was +rejected by them as altogether contradictory to the Qorân and the genuine +tradition. These protestants of Islâm may be compared to those of +Christianity also in this respect, that they accepted the results of the +evolution and assimilation of the first three centuries of Islâm, but +rejected later additions as abuse and corruption. When on the verge of our +nineteenth century, they tried, as true Moslims, to force by material means +their religious conceptions on others, they were combated as heretics by +the authorities of catholic Islâm. Central and Western Arabia formed the +battlefield on which these zealots, called Wahhâbites after their leader, +were defeated by Mohammed Ali, the first Khedive, and his Egyptian army. +Since they have given up their efforts at violent reconstitution of what +they consider to be the original Islâm, they are left alone, and their +ideas have found adherents far outside Arabia, _e.g._, in British India and +in Northern and Central Africa. + +In still quite another way many Moslims who found their freedom of thought +or action impeded by the prevailing law and doctrine, have returned to the +origin of their religion. Too much attached to the traditions of their +faith, deliberately to disregard these impediments, they tried to find in +the Qorân and Tradition arguments in favour of what was dictated to them by +Reason; and they found those arguments as easily as former generations had +found the bases on which to erect their casuistry, their dogma, and their +mysticism. This implied an interpretation of the oldest sources independent +from the catholic development of Islâm, and in contradiction with the +general opinion of the canonists, according to whom, since the fourth or +fifth century of the Hijrah, no one is qualified for such free research. A +certain degree of independence of mind, together with a strong attachment +to their spiritual past, has given rise in the Moslim world to this sort +of liberal protestantism, which in our age has many adherents among the +Mohammedans who have come in contact with modern civilization. + +That the partisans of all these different conceptions could remain together +as the children of one spiritual family, is largely owing to the elastic +character of Ijmâ', the importance of which is to some extent acknowledged +by catholics and protestants, by moderns and conservatives. It has never +been contested that the community, whose agreement was the test of truth, +should not consist of the faithful masses, but of the expert elect. In +a Christian church we should have spoken of the clergy, with a further +definition of the organs through which it was to express itself synod, +council, or Pope. Islâm has no clergy, as we have seen; the qualification +of a man to have his own opinion depends entirely upon the scope of his +knowledge or rather of his erudition. There is no lack of standards, fixed +by Mohammedan authorities, in which the requirements for a scholar to +qualify him for Ijmâ' are detailed. The principal criterion is the +knowledge of the canon law; quite what we should expect from the history +of the evolution of Islâm. But, of course, dogmatists and mystics had also +their own "agreements" on the questions concerning them, and through the +compromise between Law, Dogma, and Mysticism, there could not fail to +come into existence a kind of mixed Ijmâ'. Moreover, the standards and +definitions could have only a certain theoretical value, as there never has +existed a body that could speak in the name of all. The decisions of Ijmâ' +were therefore to be ascertained only in a vague and general way. The +speakers were individuals whose own authority depended on Ijmâ', whereas +Ijmâ' should have been their collective decision. Thus it was possible for +innumerable shades of Catholicism and protestantism to live under one roof; +with a good deal of friction, it is true, but without definite breach or +schism, no one sect being able to eject another from the community. + +Moslim political authorities are bound not only to extend the domain of +Islâm, but also to keep the community in the right path in its life and +doctrine. This task they have always conceived in accordance with their +political interests; Islâm has had its religious persecutions but tolerance +was very usual, and even official favouring of heresy not quite exceptional +with Moslim rulers. Regular maintenance of religious discipline existed +nowhere. Thus in the bond of political obedience elements which might +otherwise have been scattered were held together. The political decay of +Islâm in our a day has done away with what had been left of official power +to settle religious differences and any organization of spiritual authority +never existed. Hence it is only natural that the diversity of opinion +allowed by the grace of Allah now shows itself on a greater scale than ever +before. + + + +III + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLÂM + + +In the first period of Islâm, the functions of what we call Church and +what we call State were exercised by the same authority. Its political +development is therefore of great importance for the understanding of its +religious growth. + +The Prophet, when he spoke in the name of God, was the lawgiver of his +community, and it was rightly understood by the later Faithful that his +indispensable explanations of God's word had also legislative power. From +the time of the Hijrah the nature of the case made him the ruler, the +judge, and the military commander of his theocratic state. Moreover, Allah +expressly demanded of the Moslims that they should obey "the Messenger +of God, and those amongst them who have authority."[1] We see by this +expression that Mohammed shared his temporal authority with others. His +co-rulers were not appointed, their number was nowhere defined, they were +not a closed circle; they were the notables of the tribes or other groups +who had arrayed themselves under Mohammed's authority, and a few who had +gained influence by their personality. In their councils Mohammed's word +had no decisive power, except when he spoke in the name of Allah; and we +know how careful he was to give oracles only in cases of extreme need. + +[Footnote 1: Qorân, iv., 62.] + +In the last years of Mohammed's life his authority became extended over a +large part of Arabia; but he did very little in the way of centralization +of government. He sent _'âmils, i.e._, agents, to the conquered tribes +or villages, who had to see that, in the first place, the most important +regulations of the Qorân were followed, and, secondly, that the tax into +which the duty of almsgiving had been converted was promptly paid, and +that the portion of it intended for the central fund at Medina was duly +delivered. After the great conquests, the governors of provinces of the +Moslim Empire, who often exercised a despotic power, were called by the +same title of _'âmils_. The agents of Mohammed, however, did not possess +such unlimited authority. It was only gradually that the Arabs learned the +value of good discipline and submission to a strong guidance, and adopted +the forms of orderly government as they found them in the conquered lands. + +Through the death of Mohammed everything became uncertain. The combination +under one leadership of such a heterogeneous mass as that of his Arabs +would have been unthinkable a few years before. It became quite natural, +though, as soon as the Prophet's mouth was recognized as the organ of +Allah's voice. Must this monarchy be continued after Allah's mouthpiece had +ceased to exist? It was not at all certain. The force of circumstances and +the energy of some of Mohammed's counsellors soon led to the necessary +decisions. A number of the notables of the community succeeded in forcing +upon the hesitating or unwilling members the acceptance of the monarchy as +a permanent institution. There must be a khalîf, a deputy of the Prophet in +all his functions (except that of messenger of God), who would be ruler +and judge and leader of public worship, but above all _amîr al-mu'minîn_, +"Commander of the Faithful," in the struggle both against the apostate +Arabs and against the hostile tribes on the northern border. + +But for the military success of the first khalifs Islâm would never have +become a universal religion. Every exertion was made to keep the troops of +the Faithful complete. The leaders followed only Mohammed's example +when they represented fighting for Allah's cause as the most enviable +occupation. The duty of military service was constantly impressed upon the +Moslims; the lust of booty and the desire for martyrdom, to which the Qorân +assigned the highest reward, were excited to the utmost. At a later period, +it became necessary in the interests of order to temper the result of this +excitement by traditions in which those of the Faithful who died in the +exercise of a peaceful, honest profession were declared to be witnesses to +the Faith as well as those who were slain in battle against the enemies of +God,--traditions in which the real and greater holy war was described as +the struggle against evil passions. The necessity of such a mitigating +reaction, the spirit in which the chapters on holy war of Mohammedan +lawbooks are conceived, and the galvanizing power which down to our own day +is contained in a call to arms in the name of Allah, all this shows that +in the beginning of Islâm the love of battle had been instigated at the +expense of everything else. + +The institution of the Khalifate had hardly been agreed upon when the +question of who should occupy it became the subject of violent dissension. +The first four khalîfs, whose reigns occupied the first thirty years after +Mohammed's death, were Qoraishites, tribesmen of the Prophet, and moreover +men who had been his intimate friends. The sacred tradition relates a +saying of Mohammed: "The _imâms_ are from Qoraish," intended to confine the +Khalifate to men from that tribe. History, however, shows that this edict +was forged to give the stamp of legality to the results of a long political +struggle. For at Mohammed's death the Medinese began fiercely contesting +the claims of the Qoraishites; and during the reign of Alî, the fourth +Khalîf, the Khârijites rebelled, demanding, as democratic rigorists, the +free election of khalîfs without restriction to the tribe of Qoraish or to +any other descent. Their standard of requirements contained only religious +and moral qualities; and they claimed for the community the continual +control of the chosen leader's behaviour and the right of deposing him +as soon as they found him failing in the fulfilment of his duties. Their +anarchistic revolutions, which during more than a century occasionally gave +much trouble to the Khalifate, caused Islâm to accentuate the aristocratic +character of its monarchy. They were overcome and reduced to a sect, the +survivors of which still exist in South-Eastern Arabia, in Zanzibar, and in +Northern Africa; however, the actual life of these communities resembles +that of their spiritual forefathers to a very remote degree. + +Another democratic doctrine, still more radical than that of the +Khârijites, makes even non-Arabs eligible for the Khalifate. It must have +had a considerable number of adherents, for the tradition which makes the +Prophet responsible for it is to be found in the canonic collections. Later +generations, however, rendered it harmless by exegesis; they maintained +that in this text "commander" meant only subordinate chiefs, and not "the +Commander of the Faithful." It became a dogma in the orthodox Mohammedan +world, respected up to the sixteenth century, that only members of the +tribe of Qoraish could take the place of the Messenger of God. + +The chance of success was greater for the legitimists than for the +democratic party. The former wished to make the Khalifate the privilege +of Alî, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, and his descendants. At +first the community did not take much notice of that "House of Mohammed"; +and it did not occur to any one to give them a special part in the +direction of affairs. Alî and Fâtima themselves asked to be placed in +possession only of certain goods which had belonged to Mohammed, but which +the first khalîfs would not allow to be regarded as his personal property; +they maintained that the Prophet had had the disposal of them not as owner, +but as head of the state. This narrow greed and absence of political +insight seemed to be hereditary in the descendants of Ali and Fâtima; for +there was no lack of superstitious reverence for them in later times, and +if one of them had possessed something of the political talent of the best +Omayyads and Abbasids he would certainly have been able to supplant them. + +After the third Khalîf, Othmân, had been murdered by his political +opponents, Ali became his successor; but he was more remote than any of his +predecessors from enjoying general sympathy. At that time the Shî'ah, the +"Party" of the House of the Prophet, gradually arose, which maintained that +Ali should have been the first Khalîf, and that his descendants should +succeed him. The veneration felt for those descendants increased in the +same proportion as that for the Prophet himself; and moreover, there +were at all times malcontents, whose advantage would be in joining any +revolution against the existing government. Yet the Alids never succeeded +in accomplishing anything against the dynasties of the Omayyads, the +Abbasids, and the Ottomans, except in a few cases of transitory importance +only. + +The Fatimite dynasty, of rather doubtful descent, which ruled a part +of Northern Africa and Egypt in the tenth century A.D., was completely +suppressed after some two and a half centuries. The Sherîfs who have ruled +Morocco for more than 950 years were not chiefs of a party that considered +the legality of their leadership a dogma; they owe their local Khalifate +far more to the out-of-the-way position of their country which prevented +Abbasids and Turks from meddling with their affairs. Otherwise, they would +have been obliged at any rate to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Great +Lord of Constantinople. This was the case with the Sherîfs of Mecca, who +ever since the twelfth century have regarded the sacred territory as their +domain. Their principality arose out of the general political disturbance +and the division of the Mohammedan empire into a number of kingdoms, whose +mutual strife prevented them from undertaking military operations in the +desert. These Sherîfs raised no claim to the Khalifate; and the Shî'itic +tendencies they displayed in the Middle Ages had no political significance, +although they had intimate relations with the Zaidites of Southern Arabia. +As first Egypt and afterwards Turkey made their protectorate over the holy +cities more effective, the princes of Mecca became orthodox. + +The Zaidites, who settled in Yemen from the ninth century on, are really +Shî'ites, although of the most moderate kind. Without striving after +expansion outside Arabia, they firmly refuse to give up their own Khalifate +and to acknowledge the sovereignty of any non-Alid ruler; the efforts of +the Turks to subdue them or to make a compromise with them have had no +lasting results. This is the principal obstacle against their being +included in the orthodox community, although their admission is defended, +even under present circumstances, by many non-political Moslim scholars. +The Zaidites are the remnant of the original Arabian Shî'ah, which for +centuries has counted adherents in all parts of the Moslim world, and some +of whose tenets have penetrated Mohammedan orthodoxy. The almost general +veneration of the sayyids and sherîfs, as the descendants of Mohammed are +entitled, is due to this influence. + +The Shî'ah outside Arabia, whose adherents used to be persecuted by the +official authorities, not without good cause, became the receptacle of all +the revolutionary and heterodox ideas maintained by the converted peoples. +Alongside of the _visible_ political history of Islâm of the first +centuries, these circles built up their evolution of the _unseen_ +community, the only true one, guided by the Holy Family, and the reality +was to them a continuous denial of the postulates of religion. Their first +_imâm_ or successor of the Prophet was Alî, whose divine right had been +unjustly denied by the three usurpers, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othmân, and who +had exercised actual authority for a few years in constant strife with +Khârijites and Omayyads. The efforts of his legitimate successors to assert +their authority were constantly drowned in blood; until, at last, there +were no more candidates for the dangerous office. This prosaic fact was +converted by the adherents of the House of Mohammed into the romance, +that the last _imâm_ of a line of _seven_ according to some, and _twelve_ +according to others, had disappeared in a mysterious way, to return at the +end of days as Mahdî, the Guided One, who should restore the political +order which had been disturbed ever since Mohammed's death. Until his +reappearance there is nothing left for the community to do but to await +his advent, under the guidance of their secular rulers (e.g., the shâhs of +Persia) and enlightened by their authoritative scholars (_mujtahids_), who +explain faith and law to them from the tradition of the Sacred Family. +The great majority of Mohammedans, as they do not accept this legitimist +theory, are counted by the Shî'ah outside Arabia as unclean heretics, if +not as unbelievers. + +At the beginning of the fifteenth century this Shî'ah found its political +centre in Persia, and opposed itself fanatically to the Sultan of Turkey, +who at about the same time came to stand at the head of orthodox Islâm. +All differences of doctrine were now sharpened and embittered by political +passion, and the efforts of single enlightened princes or scholars to +induce the various peoples to extend to each other, across the political +barriers, the hand of brotherhood in the principles of faith, all failed. +It is only in the last few years that the general political distress of +Islâm has inclined the estranged relatives towards reconciliation. + +Besides the veneration of the Alids, orthodox Islâm has adopted another +Shîitic element, the expectation of the Mahdî, which we have just +mentioned. Most Sunnites expect that at the end of the world there will +come from the House of Mohammed a successor to him, guided by Allah, who +will maintain the revealed law as faithfully as the first four khalîfs did +according to the idealized history, and who will succeed with God's help in +making Islâm victorious over the whole world. That the chiliastic kingdom +of the Mahdî must in the end be destroyed by Anti-Christ, in order that +Jesus may be able once more to re-establish the holy order before the +Resurrection, was a necessary consequence of the amalgamation of the +political expectations formed under Shî'itic influence, with eschatological +conceptions formerly borrowed by Islâm from Christianity. + +The orthodox Mahdî differs from that of the Shî'ah in many ways. He is not +an _imâm_ returning after centuries of disappearance, but a descendant of +Mohammed, coming into the world in the ordinary way to fulfill the ideal of +the Khalifate. He does not re-establish the legitimate line of successors +of the Prophet; but he renews the glorious tradition of the Khalifate, +which after the first thirty years was dragged into the general +deterioration, common to all human things. The prophecies concerning his +appearance are sometimes of an equally supernatural kind as those of the +Shîites, so that the period of his coming has passed more and more +from the political sphere to which it originally belonged, into that of +eschatology. Yet, naturally, it is easier for a popular leader to make +himself regarded as the orthodox Mahdî than to play the part of the +returned _imâm_. Mohammedan rulers have had more trouble than they cared +for with candidates for the dignity of the Mahdî; and it is not surprising +that in official Turkish circles there is a tendency to simplify the +Messianic expectation by giving the fullest weight to this traditional +saying of Mohammed "There is no mahdî but Jesus," seeing that Jesus must +come from the clouds, whereas other mahdîs may arise from human society. + +In the orthodox expectation of the Mahdi the Moslim theory has most sharply +expressed its condemnation of the later political history of Islâm. In the +course of the first century after the Hijrah the Qorân scholars (_gârîs_) +arose; and these in turn were succeeded by the men of tradition (_ahl +al-hadîth_) and by the canonists (_faqîhs_) of later times. These learned +men (_ulamâ'_) would not endure any interference with their right to state +with authority what Islâm demanded of its leaders. They laid claim to an +interpretative authority concerning the divine law, which bordered upon +supreme legislative power; their agreement (Ijmâ') was that of the +infallible community. But just as beside this legislative agreement, a +dogmatic and a mystic agreement grew up, in the same way there was a +separate Ijmâ' regarding the political government, upon which the canonists +could exercise only an indirect influence. In other words since the +accession of the Omayyad khalîfs, the actual authority rested in the hands +of dynasties, and under the Abbasids government assumed even a despotic +character. This relation between the governors and governed, originally +alien to Islâm, was not changed by the transference of the actual power +into the hands of _wezîrs_ and officers of the bodyguard; nor yet by +the disintegration of the empire into a number of small despotisms, the +investiture of which by the khalîf became a mere formality. Dynastic and +political questions were settled in a comparatively small circle, by court +intrigue, stratagems, and force; and the canonists, like the people, were +bound to accept the results. Politically inclined interpreters of the law +might try to justify their compulsory assent to the facts by theories about +the Ijmâ' of the notables residing in the capital, who took the urgent +decisions about the succession, which decisions were subsequently confirmed +by general homage to the new prince; but they had no illusions about the +real influence of the community upon the choice of its leader. The most +independent scholars made no attempt to disguise the fact that the course +which political affairs had taken was the clearest proof of the moral +degeneration which had set in, and they pronounced an equally bold and +merciless criticism upon the government in all its departments. It became +a matter of course that a pious scholar must keep himself free from all +intercourse with state officials, on pain of losing his reputation. + +The bridge across the gulf that separated the spiritual from the temporal +authorities was formed by those state officials who, for the practice +of their office, needed a knowledge of the divine law, especially the +_qâdhîs_. It was originally the duty of these judges to decide all legal +differences between Mohammedans, or men of other creeds under Mohammedan +protection, who called for their decision. The actual division between the +rulers and the interpreters of the law caused an ever-increasing limitation +of the authority of the _qâdhîs_. The laws of marriage, family, and +inheritance remained, however, their inalienable territory; and a number +of other matters, in which too great a religious interest was involved to +leave them to the caprice of the governors or to the customary law outside +Islâm, were usually included. But as the _qâdhîs_ were appointed by the +governors, they were obliged in the exercise of their office to give due +consideration to the wishes of their constituents; and moreover they were +often tainted by what was regarded in Mohammedan countries as inseparable +from government employment: bribery. + +On this account, the canonists, although it was from their ranks that the +officials of the _qâdhî_ court were to be drawn, considered no words too +strong to express their contempt for the office of _qâdhî_. In handbooks +of the Law of all times, the _qâdhîs "of our time"_ are represented as +unscrupulous beings, whose unreliable judgments were chiefly dictated by +their greed. Such an opinion would not have acquired full force, if it +had not been ascribed to Mohammed; in fact, the Prophet, according to a +tradition, had said that out of three _qâdhîs_ two are destined to +Hell. Anecdotes of famous scholars who could not be prevailed upon +by imprisonment or castigation to accept the office of _qâdhîs_ are +innumerable. Those who succumbed to the temptation forfeited the respect of +the circle to which they had belonged. + +I once witnessed a case of this kind, and the former friends of the _qâdhî_ +did not spare him their bitter reproaches. He remarked that the judge, +whose duty it was to maintain the divine law, verily held a noble office. +They refuted this by saying that this defence was admissible only for +earlier and better times, but not for "the _qâdhîs_ of our time." To which +he cuttingly replied "And ye, are ye canonists of the better, the ancient +time?" In truth, the students of sacred science are just as much "of our +time" as the _qâdhîs_. Even in the eleventh century the great theologian +Ghazâlî counted them all equal.[1] Not a few of them give their +authoritative advice according to the wishes of the highest bidder or +of him who has the greatest influence, hustle for income from pious +institutions, and vie with each other in a revel of casuistic subtleties. +But among those scholars there are and always have been some who, in +poverty and simplicity, devote their life to the study of Allah's law with +the sole object of pleasing him; among the _qâdhîs_ such are not easily to +be found. Amongst the other state officials the title of _qâdhî_ may count +as a spiritual one, and the public may to a certain extent share this +reverence; but in the eyes of the pious and of the canonists such glory is +only reflected from the clerical robe, in which the worldling disguises +himself. + +[Footnote 1: Ghazâlî, _Ihya_, book i., ch. 6, quotes the words of a pious +scholar of the olden time: "The 'ulamâ' will (on the Day of judgment) +be gathered amongst the prophets, but the _qâdhîs_ amongst the temporal +rulers." Ghazâli adds "alike with these _qâdhîs_ are all those canonists +who make use of their learning for worldly purposes."] + +To the _muftî_ criticism is somewhat more favourable than to the _qâdhî_. A +muftî is not necessarily an official; every canonist who, at the request of +a layman, expounds to him the meaning of the law on any particular point +and gives a _fatwa_, acts as a _muftî_. Be the question in reference to the +behaviour of the individual towards God or towards man, with regard to his +position in a matter of litigation, in criticism of a state regulation or +of a sentence of a judge, or out of pure love of knowledge, the scholar is +morally obliged to the best of his knowledge to enlighten the enquirer. He +ought to do this for the love of God; but he must live, and the enquirer is +expected to give him a suitable present for his trouble. This again gives +rise to the danger that he who offers most is attended to first; and that +for the liberal rich man a dish is prepared from the casuistic store, as +far as possible according to his taste. The temptation is by no means so +great as that to which the _qâdhî_ is exposed; especially since the office +of judge has become an article of commerce, so that the very first step +towards the possession of it is in the direction of Hell. Moreover in +"these degenerate times"--which have existed for about ten centuries--the +acceptance of an appointment to the function of _qâdhî_ is not regarded as +a duty, while a competent scholar may only refuse to give a _fatwa_ under +exceptional circumstances. Still, an unusually strong character is needed +by the _muftî_, if he is not to fall into the snares of the world. + +Besides _qâdhîs_ who settle legal disputes of a certain kind according to +the revealed law, the state requires its own advisers who can explain +that law, i.e., official _muftîs_. Firstly, the government itself may be +involved in a litigation; moreover in some government regulations it may be +necessary to avoid giving offence to canonists and their strict disciples. +In such cases it is better to be armed beforehand with an expert opinion +than to be exposed to dangerous criticism which might find an echo in a +wide circle. The official _muftî_ must therefore be somewhat pliable, to +say the least. Moreover, any private person has the right to put questions +to the state _muftî_; and the _qâdhî_ court is bound to take his answers +into account in its decisions. In this way the _muftîs_ have absorbed a +part of the duties of the _qâdhîs_, and so their office is dragged along in +the degradation that the unofficial canonists denounce unweariedly in their +writings and in their teaching. + +The way in which the most important _muftî_ places are filled and above +all the position which the head-_muftî_ of the Turkish Empire, the +Sheikh-ul-Islâm, holds at any particular period, may well serve as a +touchstone of the influence of the canonists on public life. If this is +great, then even the most powerful sultan has only the possibility of +choice between a few great scholars, put forward or at all events not +disapproved of by their own guild, strengthened by public opinion. If, on +the other hand, there is no keen interest felt in the Sharî'ah (Divine +Law), then the temporal rulers can do pretty much what they like with these +representatives of the canon law. Under the tyrannical sway of Sultan +Abd-ul-Hamid, the Sheikh-ul-Islâm was little more than a tool for him and +his palace clique, and for their own reasons, the members of the Committee +of Union and Progress, who rule at Constantinople since 1908, made no +change in this: each new ministry had its own Sheikh-ul-Islâm, who had to +be, above everything, a faithful upholder of the constitutional theory +held by the Committee. The time is past when the Sultan and the Porte, +in framing even the most pressing reform, must first anxiously assure +themselves of the position that the _hojas, tolbas, softas_, the +theologians in a word, would take towards it, and of the influence that +the Sheikh-ul-Islâm could use in opposition to their plans. The political +authority makes its deference to the canonists dependent upon their strict +obedience. + +This important change is a natural consequence of the modernization of +Mohammedan political life, a movement through which the expounders of a +law which has endeavoured to remain stationary since the year 1000 must +necessarily get into straits. This explains also why the religious life of +Mohammedans is in some respects freer in countries under non-Mohammedan +authority, than under a Mohammedan government. Under English, Dutch, or +French rule the 'ulamâs are less interfered with in their teaching, the +_muftîs_ in their recommendations, and the _qâdhîs_ in their judgments of +questions of marriage and inheritance than in Turkey, where the life of +Islâm, as state religion, lies under official control. In indirectly +governed "native states" the relation of Mohammedan "Church and State" may +much more resemble that in Turkey, and this is sometimes to the advantage +of the sovereign ruler. Under the direct government of a modern state, the +Mohammedan group is treated as a religious community, whose particular life +has just the same claim to independence as that of other denominations. The +only justifiable limitation is that the program of the forcible reduction +of the world to Mohammedan authority be kept within the scholastic walls as +a point of eschatology, and not considered as a body of prescriptions, the +execution of which must be prepared. + +The extensive political program of Islâm, developed during the first +centuries of astounding expansion, has yet not prevented millions of +Mohammedans from resigning themselves to reversed conditions in which at +the present time many more Mohammedans live under foreign authority than +under their own. The acceptance of this change was facilitated by the +historical pessimism of Islâm, which makes the mind prepared for every +sort of decay, and by the true Moslim habit of resignation to painful +experiences, not through fatalism, but through reverence for Allah's +inscrutable will. At the same time, it would be a gross mistake to imagine +that the idea of universal conquest may be considered as obliterated. This +is the case with the intellectuals and with many practical commercial or +industrial men; but the canonists and the vulgar still live in the illusion +of the days of Islâm's greatness. + +The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual political +condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never to be allowed +to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the authority of +Islâm--the heathen by conversion, the adherents of acknowledged Scripture +by submission. Even if they admit the improbability of this at present, +they are comforted and encouraged by the recollection of the lengthy period +of humiliation that the Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah bestowed +victory upon his arms; and they fervently join with the Friday preacher, +when he pronounces the prayer, taken from the Qorân: "And lay not on us, O +our Lord, that for which we have not strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have pity upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the unbelievers!" And the common people are willingly taught by the +canonists and feed their hope of better days upon the innumerable legends +of the olden time and the equally innumerable apocalyptic prophecies about +the future. The political blows that fall upon Islâm make less impression +upon their simple minds than the senseless stories about the power of +the Sultan of Stambul, that would instantly be revealed if he were not +surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic tidings of the +miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia which are +inaccessible to the unfaithful. + +The conception of the Khalifate still exercises a fascinating influence, +regarded in the light of a central point of union against the unfaithful. +Apart from the _'âmils_, Mohammed's agents amongst the Arabian tribes, +the Khalifate was the only political institution which arose out of the +necessity of the Moslim community, without foreign influence. It rescued +Islâm from threatening destruction, and it led the Faithful to conquest. No +wonder that in historic legend the first four occupiers of that leadership, +who, from Medina, accomplished such great things, have been glorified into +saints, and are held up to all the following generations as examples to put +them to shame. In the Omayyads the ancient aristocracy of Mecca came to the +helm, and under them, the Mohammedan state was above all, as Wellhausen +styled it, "the Arabian Empire." The best khalîfs of this house had +the political wisdom to give the governors of the provinces sufficient +independence to prevent schism, and to secure to themselves the authority +in important matters. The reaction of the non-Arabian converts against the +suppression of their own culture by the Arabian conquerors found support in +the opposition parties, above all with the Shî'ah. The Abbasids, cleverer +politicians than the notoriously unskillful Alids, made use of the Alid +propaganda to secure the booty to themselves at the right moment. The means +which served the Alids for the establishment only of an invisible dynasty +of princes who died as martyrs, enabled the descendants of Mohammed's +uncle Abbas to overthrow the Omayyads, and to found their own Khalifate at +Bagdad, shining with the brilliance of an Eastern despotism. + +When it is said that the Abbasid Khalifate maintained itself from 750 till +the Mongol storm in the middle of the thirteenth century, that only refers +to external appearance. After a brief success, the actual power of these +khalîfs was transferred to the hands, first, of the captains of their +bodyguard, then of sultan-dynasties, whose forcibly acquired powers, were +legalized by a formal investiture. In the same way the large provinces +developed into independent kingdoms, whose rulers considered the +nomination-diplomas from Bagdad in the light of mere ornaments. Compared to +this irreparable disintegration of the empire, temporary schisms such as +the Omayyad Khalifate in Spain, the Fatimid Khalifate in Egypt, and here +and there an independent organization of the Khârijites were of little +significance. + +It seems strange that the Moslim peoples, although the theory of Islâm +never attributed an hereditary character to the Khalifate, attached so high +a value to the Abbasid name, that they continued unanimously to acknowledge +the Khalifate of Bagdad for centuries during which it possessed no +influence. But the idea of hereditary rulers was deeply rooted in most +of the peoples converted to Islâm, and the glorious period of the first +Abbasids so strongly impressed itself on the mind of the vulgar, that the +_appearance_ of continuation was easily taken for _reality_. Its voidness +would sooner have been realized, if lack of energy had not prevented the +later Abbasids from trying to recover the lost power by the sword, or if +amongst their rivals who could also boast of a popular tradition--e.g., +the Omayyads, or still more the Alids--a political genius had succeeded in +forming a powerful opposition. But the sultans who ruled the various states +did not want to place all that they possessed in the balance on the chance +of gaining the title of Khalîf. The Moslim world became accustomed to the +idea that the honoured House of the Prophet's uncle Abbas existed for the +purpose of lending an additional glory to Mohammedan princes by a diploma. +Even after the destruction of Bagdad by the Mongols in 1258, from which +only a few Abbasids escaped alive, Indian princes continued to value visits +or deeds of appointment granted them by some begging descendant of the +"Glorious House." The sultans of Egypt secured this luxury permanently for +themselves by taking a branch of the family under their protection, who +gave the glamour of their approval to every new result of the never-ending +quarrels of succession, until in the beginning of the sixteenth century +Egypt, together with so many other lands, was swallowed up by the Turkish +conqueror. + +These new rulers, who added the Byzantine Empire to Islâm, who with Egypt +brought Southern and Western Arabia with the Holy Cities also under their +authority, and caused all the neighbouring princes, Moslim and Christian +alike, to tremble on their thrones, thought it was time to abolish the +senseless survival of the Abbasid glory. The prestige of the Ottomans was +as great as that of the Khalifate in its most palmy days had been; and they +would not be withheld from the assumption of the title. There is a doubtful +tale of the abdication of the Abbasids in their favour, but the question +is of no importance. The Ottomans owed their Khalifate to their sword; and +this was the only argument used by such canonists as thought it worth their +while to bring such an incontestable fact into reconciliation with the law. +This was not strictly necessary, as they had been accustomed for eight +centuries to acquiesce in all sorts of unlawful acts which history +demonstrated to be the will of Allah. + +The sense of the tradition that established descent from the tribe of +Qoraish as necessary for the highest dignity in the community was capable +of being weakened by explanation; and, even without that, the leadership of +the irresistible Ottomans was of more value to Islâm than the chimerical +authority of a powerless Qoraishite. In our own time, you can hear +Qoraishites, and even Alids, warmly defend the claims of the Turkish +sultans to the Khalifate, as they regard these as the only Moslim princes +capable of championing the threatened rights of Islâm. + +Even the sultans of Stambul could not think of restoring the authority of +the Khalîf over the whole Mohammedan world. This was prevented not only +by the schismatic kingdoms, khalifates, or imâmates like Shî'itic Persia, +which was consolidated just in the sixteenth century, by the unceasing +opposition of the Imâms of Yemen, and Khârijite principalities at the +extremities of the Mohammedan world. Besides these, there were numerous +princes in Central Asia, in India, and in Central Africa, whom either the +Khalifate had always been obliged to leave to themselves, or who had become +so estranged from it that, unless they felt the power of the Turkish arms, +they preferred to remain as they were. Moreover, Islâm had extended itself +not only by political means, but also by trade and colonization into +countries even the existence of which was hardly known in the political +centres of Islâm, e.g., into Central Africa or the Far East of Asia. +Without thinking of rivalling the Abbasids or their successors, some of the +princes of such remote kingdoms, e.g., the sherîfs of Morocco, assumed the +title of Commander of the Faithful, bestowed upon them by their flatterers. +Today, there are petty princes in East India under Dutch sovereignty who +decorate themselves with the title of Khalîf, without suspecting that they +are thereby guilty of a sort of arrogant blasphemy. + +Such exaggeration is not supported by the canonists; but these have devised +a theory, which gives a foundation to the authority of Mohammedan princes, +who never had a real or fictitious connection with a real or fictitious +Khalifate. Authority there must be, everywhere and under all circumstances; +far from the centre this should be exercised, according to them, by the +one who has been able to gain it and who knows how to hold it; and all the +duties are laid upon him, which, in a normal condition, would be discharged +by the Khalîf or his representative. For this kind of authority the +legists have even invented a special name: "_shaukah,_" which means actual +influence, the authority which has spontaneously arisen in default of a +chief who in one form or another can be considered as a mandatary of the +Khalifate. + +Now, it is significant that many of those Mohammedan governors, who owe +their existence to wild growth in this way, seek, especially in our day, +for connection with the Khalifate, or, at least, wish to be regarded as +naturally connected with the centre. The same is true of such whose former +independence or adhesion to the Turkish Empire has been replaced by the +sovereignty of a Western state. Even amongst the Moslim peoples placed +under the direct government of European states a tendency prevails to be +considered in some way or another subjects of the Sultan-Khalîf. Some +scholars explain this phenomenon by the spiritual character which the +dignity of Khalîf is supposed to have acquired under the later Abbasids, +and retained since that time, until the Ottoman princes combined it again +with the temporal dignity of sultan. According to this view the later +Abbasids were a sort of popes of Islâm; while the temporal authority, in +the central districts as well as in the subordinate kingdoms, was in the +hands of various sultans. The sultans of Constantinople govern, then, under +this name, as much territory as the political vicissitudes allow them to +govern--_i.e._, the Turkish Empire; as khalîfs, they are the spiritual +heads of the whole of Sunnite Islâm. + +Though this view, through the ignorance of European statesmen and +diplomatists, may have found acceptance even by some of the great powers, +it is nevertheless entirely untrue; unless by "spiritual authority" we are +to understand the empty appearance of worldly authority. This appearance +was all that the later Abbasids retained after the loss of their temporal +power; spiritual authority of any kind they never possessed. + +The spiritual authority in catholic Islâm reposes in the legists, who in +this respect are called in a tradition the _"heirs of the prophets."_ Since +they could no longer regard the khalîfs as their leaders, because they +walked in worldly ways, they have constituted themselves independently +beside and even above them; and the rulers have been obliged to conclude a +silent contract with them, each party binding itself to remain within its +own limits.[1] If this contract be observed, the legists not only are ready +to acknowledge the bad rulers of the world, but even to preach loyalty +towards them to the laity. + +The most supremely popular part of the ideal of Islâm, the reduction of +the whole world to Moslim authority, can only be attempted by a political +power. Notwithstanding the destructive criticism of all Moslim princes and +state officials by the canonists, it was only from them that they could +expect measures to uphold and extend the power of Islâm; and on this +account they continually cherished the ideal of the Khalifate. + +[Footnote 1: That the Khalifate is in no way to be compared with the +Papacy, that Islâm has never regarded the Khalif as its spiritual head, I +have repeatedly explained since 1882 (in "Nieuwe Bijdragen tot de kennis +van den Islam," in _Bijdr. tot de Taal, Landen Volkenkunde van Nederl. +Indië_, Volgr. 4, Deel vi, in an article, "De Islam," in _De Gids_, May, +1886, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, 5me année, No. 106, +etc.). I am pleased to find the same views expressed by Prof. M. Hartmann +in _Die Welt des Islams_, Bd. i., pp. 147-8.] + +In the first centuries it was the duty of Mohammedans who had become +isolated, and who had for instance been conquered by "unbelievers," to do +_"hijrah," i.e._, emigration for Allah's sake, as the converted Arabs had +done in Mohammed's time by emigrating to Medina to strengthen the ranks of +the Faithful. This soon became impracticable, so that the legists relaxed +the prescription by concessions to "the force of necessity." Resignation +was thus permitted, even recommended; but the submission to non-Musulmans +was always to be regarded as temporary and abnormal. Although the _partes +infidelium_ have grown larger and larger, the eye must be kept fixed upon +the centre, the Khalifate, where every movement towards improvement must +begin. A Western state that admits any authority of a khalîf over its +Mohammedan subjects, thus acknowledges, _not_ the authority of a pope of +the Moslim Church, but in simple ignorance is feeding political programs, +which, however vain, always have the power of stirring Mohammedan masses to +confusion and excitement. + +Of late years Mohammedan statesmen in their intercourse with their Western +colleagues are glad to take the latter's point of view; and, in discussion, +accept the comparison of the Khalifate with the Papacy, because they are +aware that only in this form the Khalifate can be made acceptable to powers +who have Mohammedan subjects. But for these subjects the Khalif is then +their true prince, who is temporarily hindered in the exercise of his +government, but whose right is acknowledged even by their unbelieving +masters. + +In yet another respect the canonists need the aid of the temporal rulers. +An alert police is counted by them amongst the indispensable means of +securing purity of doctrine and life. They count it to the credit of +princes and governors that they enforced by violent measures seclusion and +veiling of the women, abstinence from drinking, and that they punished by +flogging the negligent with regard to fasting or attending public worship. +The political decay of Islâm, the increasing number of Mohammedans under +foreign rule, appears to them, therefore, doubly dangerous, as they have +little faith in the proof of Islam's spiritual goods against life in a +freedom which to them means license. + +They find that every political change, in these terrible times, is to the +prejudice of Islâm, one Moslim people after another losing its independent +existence; and they regard it as equally dangerous that Moslim princes are +induced to accommodate their policy and government to new international +ideas of individual freedom, which threaten the very life of Islâm. They +see the antagonism to all foreign ideas, formerly considered as a virtue +by every true Moslim, daily losing ground, and they are filled with +consternation by observing in their own ranks the contamination of +modernist ideas. The brilliant development of the system of Islâm followed +the establishment of its material power; so the rapid decline of that +political power which we are witnessing makes the question urgent, whether +Islâm has a spiritual essence able to survive the fall of such a material +support. It is certainly not the canonists who will detect the kernel; +"verily we are God's and verily to Him do we return," they cry in helpless +amazement, and their consolation is in the old prayer: "And lay not on us, +O our Lord, that for which we have no strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the Unbelievers!" + + + +IV + +ISLÂM AND MODERN THOUGHT + + +One of the most powerful factors of religious life in its higher forms is +the need of man to find in this world of changing things an imperishable +essence, to separate the eternal from the temporal and then to attach +himself to the former. Where the possibility of this operation is despaired +of, there may arise a pessimism, which finds no path of liberation from the +painful vicissitudes of life other than the annihilation of individuality. +A firm belief in a sphere of life freed from the category of time, together +with the conviction that the poetic images of that superior world current +among mankind are images and nothing else, is likely to give rise to +definitions of the Absolute by purely negative attributes and to mental +efforts having for their object the absorption of individual existence +in the indescribable infinite. Generally speaking, a high development of +intellectual life, especially an intimate acquaintance with different +religious systems, is not favourable to the continuance of elaborate +conceptions of things eternal; it will rather increase the tendency to +deprive the idea of the Transcendent of all colour and definiteness. + +The naïve ideas concerning the other world in the clear-cut form outlined +for them by previous generations are most likely to remain unchanged in a +religious community where intellectual intercourse is chiefly limited to +that between members of the community. There the belief is fostered that +things most appreciated and cherished in this fading world by mankind will +have an enduring existence in a world to come, and that the best of the +changing phenomena of life are eternal and will continue free from that +change, which is the principal cause of human misery. Material death will +be followed by awakening to a purer life, the idealized continuation of +life on earth, and for this reason already during this life the faithful +will find their delight in those things which they know to be everlasting. + +The less faith is submitted to the control of intellect, the more numerous +the objects will be to which durable value is attributed. This is true for +different individuals as well as for one religious community as compared to +another. There are Christians attached only to the spirit of the Gospel, +Mohammedans attached only to the spirit of the Qorân. Others give a place +in their world of imperishable things to a particular translation of the +Bible in its old-fashioned orthography or to a written Qorân in preference +to a printed one. Orthodox Judaism and orthodox Islâm have marked with the +stamp of eternity codes of law, whose influence has worked as an impediment +to the life of the adherents of those religions and to the free intercourse +of other people with them as well. So the Roman Catholic and many +Protestant Churches have in their organizations and in their dogmatic +systems eternalized institutions and ideas whose unchangeableness has come +to retard spiritual progress. + +Among all conservative factors of human life religion must necessarily be +the most conservative, were it only because its aim is precisely to store +up and keep under its guardianship the treasures destined for eternity to +which we have alluded. Now, every new period in the history of civilization +obliges a religious community to undertake a general revision of the +contents of its treasury. It is unavoidable that the guardians on such +occasions should be in a certain measure disappointed, for they find that +some of, the goods under their care have given way to the wasting influence +of time, whilst others are in a state which gives rise to serious doubt as +to their right of being classified with lasting treasures. In reality the +loss is only an apparent one; far from impoverishing the community, it +enhances the solidity of its possessions. What remains after the sifting +process may be less imposing to the inexperienced mind; gradually the +consideration gains ground that what has been rejected was nothing but +useless rubbish which had been wrongly valued. + +Sometimes it may happen that the general movement of spiritual progress +goes almost too fast, so that one revision of the stores of religion is +immediately followed by another. Then dissension is likely to arise among +the adherents of a religion; some of them come to the conclusion that there +must be an end of sifting and think it better to lock up the treasuries +once for all and to stop the dangerous enquiries; whereas others begin to +entertain doubt concerning the value even of such goods as do not yet show +any trace of decay. + +The treasuries of Islâm are excessively full of rubbish that has become +entirely useless; and for nine or ten centuries they have not been +submitted to a revision deserving that name. If we wish to understand the +whole or any important part of the system of Islâm, we must always begin by +transporting ourselves into the third or fourth century of the Hijrah, and +we must constantly bear in mind that from the Medina period downwards Islâm +has always been considered by its adherents as bound to regulate all the +details of their life by means of prescriptions emanating directly or +indirectly from God, and therefore incapable of being reformed. At the +time when these prescriptions acquired their definite form, Islâm ruled an +important portion of the world; it considered the conquest of the rest +as being only a question of time; and, therefore, felt itself quite +independent in the development of its law. There was little reason indeed +for the Moslim canonists to take into serious account the interests of men +not subject to Mohammedan authority or to care for the opinion of devotees +of other religions. Islâm might act, and did almost act, as if it were the +only power in the world; it did so in the way of a grand seigneur, showing +a great amount of generosity towards its subjugated enemies. The adherents +of other religions were or would become subjects of the Commander of the +Faithful; those subjects were given a full claim on Mohammedan protection +and justice; while the independent unbelievers were in general to be +treated as enemies until in submission. Their spiritual life deserved not +even so much attention as that of Islâm received from Abbé Maracci or +Doctor Prideaux. The false doctrines of other peoples were of no interest +whatever in themselves; and, since there was no fear of Mohammedans being +tainted by them, polemics against the abrogated religions were more of a +pastime than an indispensable part of theology. The Mohammedan community +being in a sense Allah's army, with the conquest of the world as its +object, apostasy deserved the punishment of death in no lesser degree than +desertion in the holy war, nay more so; for the latter might be the effect +of cowardice, whereas the former was an act of inexcusable treachery. + +In the attitude of Islâm towards other religions there is hardly one +feature that has not its counterpart in the practice of Christian states +during the Middle Ages. The great difference is that the Mohammedan +community erected this medieval custom into a system unalterable like all +prescriptions based on its infallible "Agreement" (Ijmâ'). Here lay the +great difficulty when the nineteenth and twentieth centuries placed the +Moslim world face to face with a civilization that had sprung up outside +its borders and without its collaboration, that was from a spiritual point +of view by far its superior and at the same time possessed of sufficient +material power to thrust the Mohammedans aside wherever they seemed to be +an impediment in its way. A long series of the most painful experiences, +meaning as many encroachments upon the political independence of Mohammedan +territories, ended by teaching Islâm that it had definitely to change its +lines of conduct. The times were gone when relations with the non-Musulman +world quite different from those foreseen by the mediaeval theory might +be considered as exceptions to the rule, as temporary concessions to +transitory necessities. In ever wider circles a thorough revision of the +system came to be considered as a requirement of the time. The fact that +the number of Mohammedans subject to foreign rule increased enormously, and +by far surpassed those of the citizens of independent Mohammedan states, +made the problem almost as interesting to Western nations as to the +Mohammedans themselves. Both parties are almost equally concerned in the +question, whether a way will be found to associate the Moslim world to +modern civilization, without obliging it to empty its spiritual treasury +altogether. Nobody can in earnest advocate the idea of leaving the solution +of the problem to rude force. The Moslim of yore, going through the world +with the Qorân in one hand, the sword in the other, giving unbelievers the +choice between conversion or death, is a creation of legendary fancy. We +can but hope that modern civilization will not be so fanatical against +Moslims, as the latter were unjustly said to have been during the period +of their power. If the modern world were only to offer the Mohammedans the +choice between giving up at once the traditions of their ancestors or being +treated as barbarians, there would be sure to ensue a struggle as bloody as +has ever been witnessed in the world. It is worth while indeed to examine +the system of Islâm from this special point of view, and to try to find the +terms on which a durable _modus vivendi_ might be established between Islâm +and modern thought. + +The purely dogmatic part is not of great importance. Some of us may admire +the tenets of the Mohammedan doctrine, others may as heartily despise them; +to the participation of Mohammedans in the civilized life of our days they +are as innoxious as any other mediaeval dogmatic system that counts its +millions of adherents among ourselves. The details of Mohammedan dogmatics +have long ceased to interest other circles than those of professional +theologians; the chief points arouse no discussion and the deviations in +popular superstition as well as in philosophical thought which in practice +meet with toleration are almost unlimited. The Mohammedan Hell claims +the souls of all heterodox people, it is true; but this does not prevent +benevolent intercourse in this world, and more enlightened Moslims are +inclined to enlarge their definition of the word "faithful" so as to +include their non-Mohammedan friends. The faith in a Mahdî, who will come +to regenerate the world, is apt to give rise to revolutionary movements led +by skilful demagogues pretending to act as the "Guided One," or, at least, +to prepare the way for his coming. Most of the European powers having +Mohammedan subjects have had their disagreeable experiences in this +respect. But Moslim chiefs of states have their obvious good reasons for +not liking such movements either; and even the majority of ordinary Moslims +look upon candidates for Mahdi-ship with suspicion. A contented prosperous +population offers such candidates little chance of success. + +The ritual laws of Islâm are a heavy burden to those who strictly observe +them; a man who has to perform worship five times a day in a state of +ritual purity and during a whole month in a year has to abstain from +food and drink and other enjoyments from daybreak until sunset, is at a +disadvantage when he has to enter into competition with non-Musulmans +for getting work of any kind. But since most of the Moslims have become +subjects of foreign powers and religious police has been practically +abolished in Mohammedan states, there is no external compulsion. The ever +smaller minority of strict practisers make use of a right which nobody can +contest. + +Drinking wine or other intoxicating drinks, taking interest on money, +gambling--including even insurance contracts according to the stricter +interpretation--are things which a Moslim may abstain from without +hindering non-Mohammedans; or which in our days he may do, notwithstanding +the prohibition of divine law, even without losing his good name. + +Those who want to accentuate the antithesis between Islâm and modern +civilization point rightly to the personal law; here is indeed a great +stumbling-block. The allowance of polygamy up to a maximum of four wives +is represented by Mohammedan authors as a progress if compared with the +irregularity of pagan Arabia and even with the acknowledgment of unlimited +polygamy during certain periods of Biblical history. The following subtle +argument is to be found in some schoolbooks on Mohammedan law: The law of +Moses was exceedingly benevolent to males by permitting them to have an +unlimited number of wives; then came the law of Jesus, extreme on the other +side by prescribing monogamy; at last Mohammed restored the equilibrium by +conceding one wife to each of the four humours which make up the male's +constitution. This theory, which leaves the question what the woman is +to do with three of her four humours undecided, will hardly find fervent +advocates among the present canonists. At the same time, very few of them +would venture to pronounce their preference for monogamy in a general way, +polygamy forming a part of the law that is to prevail, according to the +infallible Agreement of the Community, until the Day of Resurrection. + +On the other side polygamy, although _allowed_, is far from being +_recommended_ by the majority of theologians. Many of them even dissuade +men capable of mastering their passion from marriage in general, and +censure a man who takes two wives if he can live honestly with one. In some +Mohammedan countries social circumstances enforce practical monogamy. The +whole question lies in the education of women; when this has been raised to +a higher level, polygamy will necessarily come to an end. It is therefore +most satisfactory that among male Mohammedans the persuasion of the +necessity of a solid education for girls is daily gaining ground. This year +(1913), a young Egyptian took his doctor's degree at the Paris University +by sustaining a dissertation on the position of women in the Moslim world, +in which he told his co-religionists the full truth concerning this rather +delicate subject[1]. If social evolution takes the right course, the +practice of polygamy will be abolished; and the maintenance of its +lawfulness in canonical works will mainly be a survival of a bygone phase +of development. + +[Footnote 1: Mansour Fahmy, _La condition de la femme dans la tradition +et l'évolution de l'Islamisme_, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1913. The sometimes +imprudent form in which the young reformer enounced his ideas caused him to +be very badly treated by his compatriots at his return from Europe.] + +The facility with which a man can divorce his wife at his pleasure, +contrasted with her rights against him, is a still more serious impediment +to the development of family life than the institution of polygamy; more +serious, also, than veiling and seclusion of women. Where the general +opinion is favourable to the improvement of the position of women in +society, there is always found a way to secure it to them without +conflicting with the divine law; but a radical reform will remain most +difficult so long as that law which allows the man to repudiate his wife +without any reason, whereas it delivers the woman almost unarmed into the +power of her husband, is considered to be one of the permanent treasures of +Islâm. + +It is a pity indeed that thus far women vigorously striving for liberation +from those mediaeval institutions are rare exceptions in Mohammedan +countries. Were Mohammedan women capable of the violent tactics of +suffragettes, they would rather try to blow up the houses of feminists than +those of the patrons of the old régime. The ordinary Mohammedan woman looks +upon the endeavour of her husband to induce her to partake freely in public +life as a want of consideration; it makes on her about the same impression +as that which a respectable woman in our society would receive from her +husband encouraging her to visit places generally frequented by people of +bad reputation. It is the girls' school that will awaken those sleeping +ones and so, slowly and gradually, prepare a better future, when the Moslim +woman will be the worthy companion of her husband and the intelligent +educator of her children. This will be due, then, neither to the Prophet's +Sunnah nor to the infallible Agreement of the Community of the first +centuries of Islâm, but to the irresistible power of the evolution of human +society, which is merciless to laws even of divine origin and transfers +them, when their time is come, from the treasury of everlasting goods to a +museum of antiquities. + +Slavery, and in its consequence free intercourse of a man with his own +female slaves without any limitation as to their number, has also been +incorporated into the sacred law, and therefore has been placed on the +wrong side of the border that is to divide eternal things from temporal +ones. This should not be called a mediaeval institution; the most civilized +nations not having given it up before the middle of the nineteenth century. +The law of Islâm regulated the position of slaves with much equity, and +there is a great body of testimony from people who have spent a part of +their lives among Mohammedan nations which does justice to the benevolent +treatment which bondmen generally receive from their masters there. Besides +that, we are bound to state that in many Western countries or countries +under Western domination whole groups of the population live under +circumstances with which those of Mohammedan slavery may be compared to +advantage. + +The only legal cause of slavery in Islâm is prisonership of war or birth +from slave parents. The captivity of enemies of Islâm has not at all +necessarily the effect of enslaving them; for the competent authorities +may dispose of them in any other way, also in the way prescribed by modern +international law or custom. In proportion to the realization of the +political ideal of Islâm the number of its enemies must diminish and the +possibilities of enslaving men must consequently decrease. Setting slaves +free is one of the most meritorious pious works, and, at the same time, +the regular atonement for certain transgressions of the sacred law. So, +according to Mohammedan principles, slavery is an institution destined +to disappear. When, in the last century, Mohammedan princes signed +international treaties for the suppression of slavery, from their point of +view this was a premature anticipation of a future political and social +development--a step which they felt obliged to take out of consideration +for the great powers. In Arabia, every effort of the Turkish Government to +put such international agreements into execution has thus far given rise to +popular sedition against the Ottoman authority. Therefore, the promulgation +of decrees of abolition was stopped; and slavery continued to exist. The +import of slaves from Africa has, in fact, considerably diminished; but I +am not quite sure of the proportional increase of the liberty which the +natives of that continent enjoy at home. + +Slavery as well as polygamy is in a certain sense to Mohammedans a sacred +institution, being incorporated in their Holy Law; but the practice of +neither of the two institutions is indispensable to the integrity of Islâm. + +All those antiquated institutions, if considered from the point of view of +modern international intercourse, are only a trifle in comparison with the +legal prescriptions of Islâm concerning the attitude of the Mohammedan +community against the parts of the world not yet subject to its authority, +"the Abode of War" as they are technically called. It is a principal duty +of the Khalif, or of the chiefs considered as his substitutes in different +countries, to avail themselves of every opportunity to extend by force the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger. With unsubdued unbelievers _peace_ +is not _allowed_; a _truce_ for a period not exceeding ten years may be +concluded if the interest of Islâm requires it. + +The chapters of the Mohammedan law on holy war and on the conditions on +which the submission of the adherents of tolerated religions is to be +accepted seem to be a foolish pretension if we consider them by the light +of the actual division of political power in the world. But here, too, to +understand is better than to ridicule. In the centuries in which the system +of Islâm acquired its maturity, such an aspiration after universal dominion +was not at all ridiculous; and many Christian states of the time were +far from reaching the Mohammedan standard of tolerance against heterodox +creeds. The delicate point is this, that the petrification or at least the +process of stiffening that has attacked the whole spiritual life of Islâm +since about 1000 A.D. makes its accommodation to the requirements of modern +intercourse a most difficult problem. + +But it is not only the Mohammedan community that needed misfortune and +humiliation before it was able to appreciate liberty of conscience; or that +took a long time to digest those painful lessons of history. There +are still Christian Churches which accept religious liberty only in +circumstances that make supreme authority unattainable to them; and which, +elsewhere, would not disdain the use of material means to subdue spirits to +what they consider the absolute truth. + +To judge such things with equity, we must remember that every man possessed +of a firm conviction of any kind is more or less a missionary; and the +belief in the possibility of winning souls by violence has many adherents +everywhere. One of my friends among the young-Turkish state officials, +who wished to persuade me of the perfect religious tolerance of Turkey of +today, concluded his argument by the following reflection: "Formerly men +used to behead each other for difference of opinion about the Hereafter. +Nowadays, praise be to Allah, we are permitted to believe what we like; but +people continue to kill each other for political or social dissension. That +is most pitiful indeed; for the weapons in use being more terrible and more +costly than before, mankind lacks the peace necessary to enjoy the liberty +of conscience it has acquired." + +The truthful irony of these words need not prevent us from considering the +independence of spiritual life and the liberation of its development from +material compulsion as one of the greatest blessings of our civilization. +We feel urged by missionary zeal of the better kind to make the Mohammedan +world partake in its enjoyment. In the Turkish Empire, in Egypt, in many +Mohammedan countries under Western control, the progressive elements of +Moslim society spontaneously meet us half-way. But behind them are the +millions who firmly adhere to the old superstition and are supported by +the canonists, those faithful guardians of what the infallible Community +declared almost one thousand years ago to be the doctrine and rule of life +for all centuries to come. Will it ever prove possible to move in one +direction a body composed of such different elements, or will this body be +torn in pieces when the movement has become irresistible? + +We have more than once pointed to the catholic character of orthodox Islâm. +In fact, the diversity of spiritual tendencies is not less in the Moslim +world than within the sphere of Christian influence; but in Islâm, apart +from the political schisms of the first centuries, that diversity has not +given rise to anything like the division of Christianity into sects. There +is a prophetic saying, related by Tradition, which later generations have +generally misunderstood to mean that the Mohammedan community would be +split into seventy-three different sects. Moslim heresiologists have been +induced by this prediction to fill up their lists of seventy-three numbers +with all sorts of names, many of which represent nothing but individual +opinions of more or less famous scholars on subordinate points of doctrine +or law. Almost ninety-five per cent. of all Mohammedans are indeed bound +together by a spiritual unity that may be compared with that of the Roman +Catholic Church, within whose walls there is also room for religious and +intellectual life of very different origin and tendency. In the sense of +broadness, Islâm has this advantage, that there is no generally recognized +palpable authority able to stop now and then the progress of modernism or +similar deviations from the trodden path with an imperative "Halt!" There +is no lack indeed of mutual accusation of heresy; but this remains without +serious consequences because of the absence of a high ecclesiastical +council competent to decide once for all. The political authorities, who +might be induced by fanatical theologians to settle disputes by violent +inquisitorial means, have been prevented for a long time from such +interference by more pressing affairs. + +A knowledge alone of the orthodox system of Islâm, however complete, would +give us an even more inadequate idea of the actual world of catholic Islâm +than the notion we should acquire of the spiritual currents moving the +Roman Catholic world by merely studying the dogma and the canonical law of +the Church of Rome. + +Nevertheless, the unity of Islamic thought is by no means a word void of +sense. The ideas of Mohammedan philosophers, borrowed for a great part from +Neoplatonism, the pantheism and the emanation theory of Mohammedan mystics +are certainly still further distant from the simplicity of Qorânic +religion than the orthodox dogmatics; but all those conceptions alike show +indubitable marks of having grown up on Mohammedan soil. In the works even +of those mystics who efface the limits between things human and divine, +who put Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism on the same line with the +revelation of Mohammed, and who are therefore duly anathematized by the +whole orthodox world, almost every page testifies to the relation of the +ideas enounced with Mohammedan civilization. Most of the treatises on +science, arts, or law written by Egyptian students for their doctor's +degree at European universities make no exception to this rule; the manner +in which these authors conceive the problems and strive for their solution +is, in a certain sense, in the broadest sense of course, Mohammedan. Thus, +if we speak of Mohammedan thought, civilization, spirit, we have to bear in +mind the great importance of the system which, almost unchanged, has been +delivered for about one thousand years by one generation of doctors of +Islâm to the other, although it has become ever more unfit to meet the +needs of the Community, on whose infallible Agreement it rests. But, at the +same time, we ought to consider that beside the agreement of canonists, +of dogmatists, and of mystics, there are a dozen more agreements, social, +political, popular, philosophical, and so on, and that however great may be +the influence of the doctors, who pretend to monopolize infallibility for +the opinions on which they agree, the real Agreement of Islâm is the least +common measure of all the agreements of the groups which make up the +Community. + +It would require a large volume to review the principal currents of thought +pervading the Moslim world in our day; but a general notion may be acquired +by a rapid glance at two centres, geographically not far distant from each +other, but situated at the opposite poles of spiritual life: Mecca and +Cairo. + +In Mecca yearly two or three hundred thousand Moslims from all parts of the +world come together to celebrate the hajj, that curious set of ceremonies +of pagan Arabian origin which Mohammed has incorporated into his religion, +a durable survival that in Islâm makes an impression as singular as that +of jumping processions in Christianity. Mohammed never could have foreseen +that the consequence of his concession to deeply rooted Arabic custom +would be that in future centuries Chinese, Malays, Indians, Tatars, Turks, +Egyptians, Berbers, and negroes would meet on this barren desert soil and +carry home profound impressions of the international significance of Islâm. +Still more important is the fact that from all those countries young people +settle here for years to devote themselves to the study of the sacred +science. From the second to the tenth month of the Mohammedan lunar year, +the Haram, _i.e._, the mosque, which is an open place with the Ka'bah in +its midst and surrounded by large roofed galleries, has free room enough +between the hours of public service to allow of a dozen or more circles of +students sitting down around their professors to listen to as many lectures +on different subjects, generally delivered in a very loud voice. Arabic +grammar and style, prosody, logic, and other preparatory branches, the +sacred trivium; canonic law, dogmatics, and mysticism, and, for the more +advanced, exegesis of Qorân and Tradition and some other branches of +supererogation, are taught here in the mediaeval way from mediaeval +text-books or from more modern compilations reproducing their contents and +completing them more or less by treating modern questions according to the +same methods. + +It is now almost thirty years since I lived the life of a Meccan student +during one university year, after having become familiar with the matter +taught by the professors of the temple of Mecca, the Haram, by privately +studying it, so that I could freely use all my time in observing the +mentality of people learning those things not for curiosity, but in order +to acquire the only true direction for their life in this world and the +salvation of their souls in the world to come. For a modern man there could +hardly be a better opportunity imagined for getting a true vision of the +Middle Ages than is offered to the Orientalist by a few months' stay in +the Holy City of Islâm. In countries like China, Tibet, or India there +are spheres of spiritual life which present to us still more interesting +material for comparative study of religions than that of Mecca, because +they are so much more distant from our own; but, just on that account, +the Western student would not be able to adapt his mind to their mental +atmospheres as he may do in Mecca. No one would think for one moment of +considering Confucianism, Hinduism, or Buddhism as specially akin to +Christianity, whereas Islâm has been treated by some historians of the +Christian Church as belonging to the heretical offspring of the Christian +religion. In fact, if we are able to abstract ourselves for a moment from +all dogmatic prejudice and to become a Meccan with the Meccans, one of the +"neighbours of Allah," as they call themselves, we feel in their temple, +the Haram, as if we were conversing with our ancestors of five or six +centuries ago. Here scholasticism with a rabbinical tint forms the great +attraction to the minds of thousands of intellectually highly gifted men of +all ages. + +The most important lectures are delivered during the forenoon and in the +evening. A walk, at one of those hours, through the square and under the +colonnades of the mosque, with ears opened to all sides, will enable you to +get a general idea of the objects of mental exercise of this international +assembly. Here you may find a sheikh of pure Arab descent explaining to his +audience, composed of white Syrians or Circassians, of brown and yellow +Abyssinians and Egyptians, of negroes, Chinese, and Malays, the probable +and improbable legal consequences of marriage contracts, not excepting +those between men and genii; there a negro scholar is explaining the +ontological evidence of the existence of a Creator and the logical +necessity of His having twenty qualities, inseparable from, but not +identical with, His essence; in the midst of another circle a learned +_muftî_ of indeterminably mixed extraction demonstrates to his pupils from +the standard work of al-Ghazâlí the absolute vanity of law and doctrine to +those whose hearts are not purified from every attachment to the world. +Most of the branches of Mohammedan learning are represented within the +walls of this temple by more or less famous scholars; and still there are a +great number of private lectures delivered at home by professors who do not +like to be disturbed by the unavoidable noise in the mosque, which during +the whole day serves as a meeting place for friends or business men, as an +exercise hall for Qorân reciters, and even as a passage for people going +from one part of the town to the other. + +In order to complete your mediaeval dream with a scene from daily life, you +have only to leave the mosque by the Bâb Dereybah, one of its twenty-two +gates, where you may see human merchandise exhibited for sale by the +slave-brokers, and then to have a glance, outside the wall, at a camel +caravan, bringing firewood and vegetables into the town, led by Beduins +whose outward appearance has as little changed as their minds since the day +when Mohammed began here to preach the Word of Allah. + +To the greater part of the world represented by this international +exhibition of Islâm, as a modern Musulman writer calls it, our modern +world, with all its problems, its emotions, its learning and science, +hardly exists. On the other hand, the average modern man does not +understand much more of the mental life of the two hundred millions to whom +the barren Mecca has become the great centre. In former days, other centres +were much more important, although Mecca has always been the goal of +pilgrimage and the cherished abode of many learned men. Many capitals of +Islâm offered the students an easier life and better accommodations for +their studies; while in Mecca four months of the year are devoted to the +foreign guests of Allah, by attending to whose various needs all Meccans +gain their livelihood. For centuries Cairo has stood unrivalled as a seat +of Mohammedan learning of every kind; and even now the Uaram of Mecca is +not to be compared to the Azhar-mosque as regards the number and the fame +of its professors and the variety of branches cultivated. + +In the last half-century, however, the ancient repute of the Egyptian +metropolis has suffered a good deal from the enormous increase of European +influence in the land of the Pharaohs; the effects of which have made +themselves felt even in the Azhar. Modern programs and methods of +instruction have been adopted; and, what is still worse, modernism itself, +favoured by the late Muftî Muhammed Abduh, has made its entrance into the +sacred lecture-halls, which until a few years ago seemed inaccessible to +the slightest deviation from the decrees of the Infallible Agreement of the +Community. Strenuous efforts have been made by eminent scholars to liberate +Islâm from the chains of the authority of the past ages on the basis of +independent interpretation of the Qorân; not in the way of the Wahhâbî +reformers, who tried a century before to restore the institutions of +Mohammed's time in their original purity, but on the contrary with the +object of adapting Islâm by all means in their power to the requirements of +modern life. + +Official protection of the bold innovators prevented their conservative +opponents from casting them out of the Azhar, but the assent to their +doctrines was more enthusiastic outside its walls than inside. The ever +more numerous adherents of modern thought in Egypt do not generally proceed +from the ranks of the Azhar students, nor do they generally care very much +in their later life for reforming the methods prevailing there, although +they may be inclined to applaud the efforts of the modernists. To the +intellectuals of the higher classes the Azhar has ceased to offer great +attraction; if it were not for the important funds (_wagf_) for the +benefit of professors and students, the numbers of both classes would have +diminished much more than is already the case, and the faithful cultivators +of mediaeval Mohammedan science would prefer to live in Mecca, free from +Western influence and control. Even as it is, the predilection of foreign +students of law and theology is turning more and more towards Mecca. + +As one of the numerous interesting specimens of the mental development +effected in Egypt in the last years, I may mention a book that appeared in +Cairo two years ago[1], containing a description of the present Khedive's +pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, performed two years before. The author +evidently possesses a good deal of the scholastic learning to be gathered +in the Azhar and no European erudition in the stricter sense of the word. +In an introductory chapter he gives a summary of the geography and history +of the Arabian peninsula, describes the Hijâz in a more detailed manner, +and in his very elaborate account of the journey, on which he accompanied +his princely master, the topography of the holy cities, the peculiarities +of their inhabitants and of the foreign visitors, the political +institutions, and the social conditions are treated almost as fully and +accurately as we could desire from the hand of the most accomplished +European scholar. The work is illustrated by good maps and plans and by a +great number of excellent photographs expressly taken for this purpose by +the Khedive's order. The author intersperses his account with many witty +remarks as well as serious reflections on religious and political topics, +thus making it very readable to those of us who are familiar with the +Arabic language. He adorns his description of the holy places and of the +pilgrimage-rites with the unctuous phrases used in handbooks for the hajji, +and he does not disturb the mind of the pious reader by any historical +criticism of the traditions connected with the House of Allah, the Black +Stone, and the other sanctuaries, but he loses no opportunity to show his +dislike of all superstition; sometimes, as if to prevent Western readers +from indulging in mockery, he compares Meccan rites or customs with +superstitious practices current amongst Jews or Christians of today. + +[Footnote 1: _Ar-rihlah al-Hijaziyyah_, by Muhammed Labib al-Batanunf, 2d +edition, Cairo, 1329 Hijrah.] + +This book, at whose contents many a Meccan scholar of the old style will +shake his head and exclaim: "We seek refuge near Allah from Satan, the +cursed!" has been adopted by the Egyptian Department of Public Instruction +as a reading-book for the schools. + +What surprised me more than anything else was the author's quoting as his +predecessors in the description of Mecca and Medina, Burckhardt, Burton, +and myself, and his sending me, although personally unacquainted with him, +a presentation copy with a flattering dedication. This author and his book +would have been impossible in the Moslim world not more than thirty years +ago. In Egypt such a man is nowadays already considered as one of those +more conservative moderns, who prefer the rationalistic explanation of the +Azhar lore to putting it aside altogether. Within the Azhar, his book is +sure to meet with hearty approval from the followers of Muhammed Abduh, but +not less hearty disapproval from the opponents of modernism who make up the +majority of the professors as well as of the students. + +In these very last years a new progress of modern thought has manifested +itself in Cairo in the foundation, under the auspices of Fu'âd Pasha, an +uncle of the present Khedive, of the Egyptian University. Cairo has had for +a long time its schools of medicine and law, which could be turned easily +into university faculties; therefore, the founders of the university +thought it urgent to establish a faculty of arts, and, if this proved a +success, to add a faculty of science. In the meantime, gifted young men +were granted subsidies to learn at European universities what they needed +to know to be the professors of a coming generation, and, for the present, +Christian as well as Mohammedan natives of Egypt and European scholars +living in the country were appointed as lecturers; professors being +borrowed from the universities of Europe to deliver lectures in Arabic on +different subjects chosen more or less at random before an audience little +prepared to digest the lessons offered to them. + +The rather hasty start and the lack of a well-defined scheme have made +the Egyptian University a subject of severe criticism. Nevertheless, its +foundation is an unmistakable expression of the desire of intellectual +Egypt to translate modern thought into its own language, to adapt modern +higher instruction to its own needs. This same aim is pursued in a perhaps +more efficacious manner by the hundreds of Egyptian students of law, +science, and medicine at French, English, and some other European +universities. The Turks could not freely follow such examples before +the revolution of 1908; but they have shown since that time that their +abstention was not voluntary. England, France, Holland, and other countries +governing Mohammedan populations are all endeavouring to find the right way +to incorporate their Mohammedan subjects into their own civilization. Fully +recognizing that it was the material covetousness of past generations +that submitted those nations to their rule, the so-called colonial powers +consider it their duty now to secure for them in international intercourse +the place which their natural talent enables them to occupy. The question +whether it is better simply to leave the Moslims to Islâm as it was for +centuries is no longer an object of serious discussion, the reforming +process being at work everywhere--in some parts with surprising rapidity. +We can only try to prognosticate the solution which the near future +reserves for the problem, how the Moslim world is to be associated with +modern thought. + +In this problem the whole civilized world and the whole world of Islâm are +concerned. The ethnic difference between Indians, North-Africans, Malays, +etc., may necessitate a difference of method in detail; the Islâm problem +lies at the basis of the question for all of them. On the other hand, +the future development of Islâm does not only interest countries with +Mohammedan dominions, it claims as well the attention of all the nations +partaking in the international exchange of material and spiritual goods. +This would be more generally recognized if some knowledge of Islâm were +more widely spread amongst ourselves; if it were better realized that Islâm +is next akin to Christianity. + +It is the Christian mission that shows the deepest consciousness of this +state of things, and the greatest activity in promoting an association +of Mohammedan thought with that of Western nations. The solid mass of +experience due to the efforts of numerous missionaries is not of an +encouraging nature. There is no reasonable hope of the conversion +of important numbers of Mohammedans to any Christian denomination. +Broad-minded missionary societies have therefore given up the old fruitless +proselytizing methods and have turned to social improvement in the way of +education, medical treatment, and the like. It cannot be denied, that +what they want above all to bring to Mohammedans is just what these most +energetically decline to accept. On the other hand the advocates of a +purely civilizing mission are bound to acknowledge that, but for rare +exceptions, the desire of incorporating Mohammedan nations into our world +of thought does not rouse the devoted, self-denying enthusiasm inspired by +the vocation of propagating a religious belief. The ardour displayed by +some missionaries in establishing in the Dâr al-Islâm Christian centres +from which they distribute to the Mohammedans those elements of our +civilization which are acceptable to them deserves cordial praise; the more +so because they themselves entertain but little hope of attaining +their ultimate aim of conversion. Mohammedans who take any interest in +Christianity are taught by their own teachers that the revelation of Jesus, +after having suffered serious corruption by the Christians themselves, has +been purified and restored to its original simplicity by Mohammed, and are +therefore inaccessible to missionary arguments; nay, amongst uncivilized +pagans the lay mission of Islâm is the most formidable competitor of +clerical propagation of the Christian faith. + +People who take no active part in missionary work are not competent to +dissuade Christian missionaries from continuing their seemingly hopeless +labour among Mohammedans, nor to prescribe to them the methods they are +to adopt; their full autonomy is to be respected. But all agree that +Mohammedans, disinclined as they are to reject their own traditions of +thirteen centuries and to adopt a new religious faith, become ever better +disposed to associate their intellectual, social, and political life with +that of the modern world. Here lies the starting point for two divisions of +mankind which for centuries have lived their own lives separately in mutual +misunderstanding, from which to pursue their way arm in arm to the greater +advantage of both. We must leave it to the Mohammedans themselves to +reconcile the new ideas which they want with the old ones with which they +cannot dispense; but we can help them in adapting their educational system +to modern requirements and give them a good example by rejecting the +detestable identification of power and right in politics which lies at the +basis of their own canonical law on holy war as well as at the basis of the +political practice of modern Western states. This is a work in which we +all may collaborate, whatever our own religious conviction may be. The +principal condition for a fruitful friendly intercourse of this kind is +that we make the Moslim world an object of continual serious investigation +in our intellectual centres. + +Having spent a good deal of my life in seeking for the right method of +associating with modern thought the thirty-five millions of Mohammedans +whom history has placed under the guardianship of my own country, I could +not help drawing some practical conclusions from the lessons of history +which I have tried to reduce to their most abridged form. There is no lack +of pessimists, whose wisdom has found its poetic form in the words of +Kipling: + + East is East and West is West, + And never the twain shall meet. + +To me, with regard to the Moslim world, these words seem almost a +blasphemy. The experience acquired by adapting myself to the peculiarities +of Mohammedans, and by daily conversation with them for about twenty years, +has impressed me with the firm conviction that between Islâm and the modern +world an understanding _is_ to be attained, and that no period has offered +a better chance of furthering it than the time in which we are living. To +Kipling's poetical despair I think we have a right to prefer the words of +a broad-minded modern Hindu writer: "The pity is that men, led astray by +adventitious differences, miss the essential resemblances[1]." + +[Footnote 1: S.M. Mitra, _Anglo-Indian Studies_, London, Longmans, Green & +Co., 1913, P. 232.] + +It would be a great satisfaction to me if my lectures might cause some of +my hearers to consider the problem of Islâm as one of the most important of +our time, and its solution worthy of their interest and of a claim on their +exertion. + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbas (Mohammed's uncle) +Abbasids + government + Khalifate +Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan +Abduh, Muftî Muhammed +Abraham +Abu Bakr +Abyssinians +Africa +Africans +Agreement of the Community, _see_ 'Ijmâ' +Ahl al-hadîth (men of tradition) +'Ajam +Al-Ash'arî +Alexander the Great +Alî, the fourth Khalîf +Ali, Mohammed, the first Khedive +Alids +'âmils (agents) +Anti-Christ +Arabia +Arabian, view in regard to the line of descent through a woman + tribes + prophet + heathens + migration + race + armies + Shi'ah + conquerors + origin of hajj + peninsula +Arabic, traditions + speech + arts + custom + grammar + language +Arabs + the nations conquered by the + of Christian origin +Arnold, Professor T.W. +Asia +Assassins +Augustin +Azhar-mosque + + +B + +Bâb Dereybah +Bâbîs +Bagdad +Barbarians +Basra +Beduins +Behâ'îs +Bellarminius +Berber +Bible + _See_ Scriptures +Bibliander +Black Stone +Boulainvilliers, Count de +Breitinger +Buddhism +Burckhardt +Burton +Byzantine Empire +Byzantines + + +C + +Caetani, Prince +Cairo +Casanova, Professor of Paris +Caussin de Perceval +China +Chinese +Christian + religion + influence + rituals + traditions + model of obligatory fasting + princes + states + natives of Egypt + missions + demonstrations + centres in Dar al-Islam + faith and missionaries +Christian Church + Roman Catholic + Protestant +Christianity +Christians + religious rites of +Circassians +Coderc +Commander of the Faithful +Committee of Union and Progress +Confucianism +Constantinople +Crypto-Mohammedanism + + +D + +Dar al-Islâm +Day of judgment +Doomsday +Dutch, Indies + + +E + +Egypt +Egyptian, nation + students + Department of Public Instruction + university +Egyptians +England +English + university + + +F + +Faqihs (canonists) +Faithful +Fâtima +Fâtimite, dynasty + Khalifate +Fatwa +French + university +Fu'âd Pasha + + +G + +Ghazalí +Gideon +Goldziher +Gospels + _See_ Scriptures + + +H + +Hadith (legislative tradition) +Hadramaut +Hadramites +Hagar +Hajj (pilgrimage) +Hanafites +Hanbalites +Haram (mosque) +Hell +Hijâz +Hijrah, +Hinduism +Holy Cities + _See_ Mecca and Medina +Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) +Hottinger +Hûd, the prophet + + +I + +'Ijmâ' (Agreement of the Community) +Imâms + of Yemen +India +Indians, +Indonesia +Isaac +Ishmael +Ishma'ilites +Islâm + + +J + +Jacob +Jâhiliyyah (Arabian paganism) +Jesus Christ + as Mehdi +Jewish, religion + influence + rituals + model of fasting +Jews +Jihâd +Judaism + + +K + +Ka'bah +Khalîf, the first +Khalifate +Khalîfs, the first four +Khârijites, +Khedive +Kipling +Kufa + + +L + +Lammens, Father + + +M + +Mahdî +Malays +Mâlikites +Maracci, Abbé +Mary (mother of Jesus) +Maulid +Mecca +Meccans +Medina +Medinese +Messiah +Middle Ages +Misr, _see_ Cairo +Mohammedan, religion + masters + state + orthodox dogma + authorities + law books + countries + political life + church + princes + world + governors + subjects + masses + statesmen + protection + community + territories + dogmatics + Hell + authors + law + women + nations + slavery + principles + standard of tolerance + philosophers + mystics + thought + lunar year + learning + science + populations + dominions +Mohammedans + natives of Egypt +Mongols +Morocco +Moses +Moslim + princes + people + authority + church + canonists + world + chiefs of states + woman + society + heresiologists +Muftî +Muir +Mujtahids +Mutakallim +Mu'tazilites + + +N + +Neo-Platonic origin of mysticism +Neo-Platonism +Nöldeke +Non-Alids +Non-Arabian converts +Non-Arabic Moslims + + +O + +Omar +Omayyads +Othmân + authority +Ottoman princes +Ottomans + + +P + +Paganism +Papacy +Paradise +Parsîs +Persia +Persian Empire +Porte, the +Prideaux, Dr. +Protestantism + + +Q + +Qâdhîs +Qârîs (Qoran scholars) +Qarmatians +Qoraish +Qorân + scolars + reciters +Qorânic, revelations + religion + + +R + +Reland, H. +Resurrection +Roman Catholics + + +S + +Salât +Sale +Sâlih, the prophet +Sasanids +Saul +Sayyids +Scriptures + people of the +Shâfi'ites +Shâhs of Persia +Sharî'ah (Divine Law) +Shaukah (actual influence) +Sheikhites +Sheikh-ul-Islâm +Sherîfs +Sherîfs of Mecca +Sherîfs, rulers of Morocco +Shî'ah (the Party of the House) +Shî'ites +Sîrah (biography) +Spain +Sprenger +Stambul +Sultan +Sunnah +Sunnites +Syria +Syrians + + +T + +Taif +Tatars +Testament, _see_ Scriptures +Tibet +Tradition, _see_ Hadith +Trinity +Turkey + Sultan of +Turkish, Empire + circles + conqueror + Sultan + arms + government + state officials +Turks + + +U + +'Ulamâ' (learned men) + + +V + +Voltaire + + +W + +Wahhâbî reformers +Weil +Wellhausen +Wezîrs + + +Y + +Yemen + Imâms of + + +Z + +Zaidites +Zakât (taxes) +Zanzibar + + + + + +End of 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10163-8.zip b/old/10163-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..764dd86 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10163-8.zip diff --git a/old/10163.txt b/old/10163.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7dde0e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10163.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4024 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mohammedanism, by C. Snouck Hurgronje + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mohammedanism + Lectures on Its Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, + and Its Present State + +Author: C. Snouck Hurgronje + +Release Date: November 21, 2003 [EBook #10163] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOHAMMEDANISM *** + + + + +Produced by Imran Ghory, Stan Goodman, Lazar Liveanu and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +_AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS_ + +SERIES OF 1914-1915 + + + + +Mohammedanism + +Lectures on Its Origin, Its Religious and Political Growth, and Its Present +State + + + +by + + + +C. Snouck Hurgronje + +Professor of the Arabic Language in the University of Leiden, Holland + + + + +1916 + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT. + +The American Lectures on the History of Religions are delivered under +the auspices of the American Committee for Lectures on the History of +Religions. This Committee was organized in 1892, for the purpose of +instituting "popular courses in the History of Religions, somewhat after +the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered by the best +scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, +Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia." + +The terms of association under which the Committee exists are as follows: + +1.--The object of this Committee shall be to provide courses of lectures on +the history of religions, to be delivered in various cities. + +2.--The Committee shall be composed of delegates from the institutions +agreeing to co-operate, with such additional members as may be chosen by +these delegates. + +3.--These delegates--one from each institution, with the additional members +selected--shall constitute themselves a council under the name of the +"American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions." + +4.--The Committee shall elect out of its number a Chairman, a Secretary, +and a Treasurer. + +5.--All matters of local detail shall be left to the co-operating +institutions under whose auspices the lectures are to be delivered. + +6.--A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of religion, from +an historical point of view, or on a subject germane to the study of +religions, shall be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be +found practicable, in the different cities represented by this Committee. + +7.--The Committee (a) shall be charged with the selection of the lectures, +(b) shall have charge of the funds, (c) shall assign the time for the +lectures in each city, and perform such other functions as may be +necessary. + +8.--Polemical subjects, as well as polemics in the treatment of subjects, +shall be positively excluded. + +9.--The lectures shall be delivered in the various cities between the +months of September and June. + +10.--The copyright of the lectures shall be the property of the Committee. + +11.--The compensation of the lecturer shall be fixed in each case by the +Committee. + +12.--The lecturer shall be paid in installments after each course, until he +shall have received half of the entire compensation. Of the remaining half, +one half shall be paid to him upon delivery of the manuscript, properly +prepared for the press, and the second half on the publication of the +volume, less a deduction for corrections made by the author in the proofs. + +The Committee as now constituted is as follows: Prof. Crawford H. Toy, +Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass.; Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, +Treasurer, 227 W. 99th St., New York City; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., +Secretary, 248 So. 23d St., Philadelphia, Pa.; President Francis Brown, +Union Theological Seminary, New York City; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Columbia +University, New York City; Prof. Harry Pratt Judson, University of Chicago, +Chicago, Ill.; Prof. Paul Haupt, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; +Mr. Charles D. Atkins, Director, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; +Prof. E.W. Hopkins, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; Prof. Edward Knox +Mitchell, Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford, Conn.; President F.K. +Sanders, Washburn College, Topeka, Kan.; Prof. H.P. Smith, Meadville +Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa.; Prof. W.J. Hinke, Auburn Theological +Seminary, Auburn, N.Y.; Prof. Kemper Fullerton, Oberlin Theological +Seminary, Oberlin, N.Y. + +The lecturers in the course of American Lectures on the History of +Religions and the titles of their volumes are as follows: + +1894-1895--Prof. T.W. Rhys-Davids, Ph.D.,--_Buddhism_. + +1896-1897--Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.--_Religions of Primitive +Peoples_. + +1897-1898--Rev. Prof. T.K. Cheyne, D.D.--_Jewish Religious Life after the +Exile_. + +1898-1899--Prof. Karl Budde, D.D.--_Religion of Israel to the Exile_. + +1904-1905--Prof. George Steindorff, Ph.D.--_The Religion of the Ancient +Egyptians_. + +1905-1906--Prof. George W. Knox, D.D., LL.D.--_The Development of Religion +in Japan_. + +1906-1907--Prof. Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of the +Veda_. + +1907-1908--Prof. A.V.W. Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D.--_The Religion of Persia_.[1] + +1909-1910--Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Ph.D.--_Aspects of Religious Belief +and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria_. + +1910-1911--Prof. J.J.M. DeGroot--_The Development of Religion in China_. + +1911-1912--Prof. Franz Cumont.[2]--_Astrology and Religion among the Greeks +and Romans_. + +[Footnote 1: This course was not published by the Committee, but will form +part of Prof. Jackson's volume on the Religion of Persia in the series of +_Handbooks on the History of Religions_, edited by Prof. Morris Jastrow, +Jr., and published by Messrs. Ginn & Company of Boston. Prof. Jastrow's +volume is, therefore, the eighth in the series.] + +[Footnote 2: Owing to special circumstances, Prof. Cumont's volume was +published before that of Prof. DeGroot. It is, therefore, the ninth in the +series and that of Prof. DeGroot the tenth.] + +The lecturer for 1914 was Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje. Born in +Oosterhout, Holland, in 1857, he studied Theology and Oriental Languages +at the University of Leiden and continued his studies at the University of +Strassburg. In 1880 he published his first important work _Het Mekkaansch +Feest_, having resolved to devote himself entirely to the study of +Mohammedanism in its widest aspects. After a few years' activity as +Lecturer on Mohammedan Law at the Seminary for Netherlands-India in Leiden, +he spent eight months (1884-5) in Mecca and Jidda. In 1888, he became +lecturer at the University of Leiden and in the same year was sent out +as Professor to Batavia in Netherlands-India, where he spent the years +1889-1906. Upon his return he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the +University of Leiden. Among his principal published works may be mentioned: +_Mekka_, The Hague, 1888-9; _De Beteekenis van den Islam voor zijne +Belijders in Oost Indie_, Leiden, 1883; _Mekkanische Sprichwoerter_, The +Hague, 1886; _De Atjehers_, Leiden, 1903-4, England tr. London, 1906; _Het +Gajoland en zijne Bezvoners_, Batavia, 1903, and _Nederland en de Islam_, +Leiden, 1915. + +The lectures to be found in the present volume were delivered before +the following Institutions: Columbia University, Yale University, The +University of Pennsylvania, Meadville Theological Seminary, The University +of Chicago, The Lowell Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University. + +The Committee owes a debt of deep gratitude to Mr. Charles R. Crane for +having made possible the course of lectures for the year 1914. + +RICHARD GOTTHEIL + +CRAWFORD H. TOY + +_Committee on Publication_. + +April, 1916. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS + + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLAM. + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM. + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM. + +ISLAM AND MODERN THOUGHT. + +INDEX. + + + + + +Mohammedanism + + +I + +SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF ISLAM + + +There are more than two hundred million people who call themselves after +the name of Mohammed, would not relinquish that name at any price, and +cannot imagine a greater blessing for the remainder of humanity than to be +incorporated into their communion. Their ideal is no less than that the +whole earth should join in the faith that there is no god but Allah and +that Mohammed is Allah's last and most perfect messenger, who brought the +latest and final revelation of Allah to humanity in Allah's own words. This +alone is enough to claim our special interest for the Prophet, who in the +seventh century stirred all Arabia into agitation and whose followers soon +after his death founded an empire extending from Morocco to China. + +Even those who--to my mind, not without gross exaggeration--would seek the +explanation of the mighty stream of humanity poured out by the Arabian +peninsula since 630 over Western and Middle Asia, Northern Africa, and +Southern Europe principally in geographic and economic causes, do not +ignore the fact that it was Mohammed who opened the sluice gates. It would +indeed be difficult to maintain that without his preaching the Arabs of the +seventh century would have been induced by circumstances to swallow up +the empire of the Sasanids and to rob the Byzantine Empire of some of its +richest provinces. However great a weight one may give to political and +economic factors, it was religion, Islam, which in a certain sense united +the hitherto hopelessly divided Arabs, Islam which enabled them to found +an enormous international community; it was Islam which bound the speedily +converted nations together even after the shattering of its political +power, and which still binds them today when only a miserable remnant of +that power remains. + +The aggressive manner in which young Islam immediately put itself in +opposition to the rest of the world had the natural consequence of +awakening an interest which was far from being of a friendly nature. +Moreover men were still very far from such a striving towards universal +peace as would have induced a patient study of the means of bringing the +different peoples into close spiritual relationship, and therefore from an +endeavour to understand the spiritual life of races different to their own. +The Christianity of that time was itself by no means averse to the +forcible extension of its faith, and in the community of Mohammedans which +systematically attempted to reduce the world to its authority by force of +arms, it saw only an enemy whose annihilation was, to its regret, beyond +its power. Such an enemy it could no more observe impartially than one +modern nation can another upon which it considers it necessary to make war. +Everything maintained or invented to the disadvantage of Islam was greedily +absorbed by Europe; the picture which our forefathers in the Middle Ages +formed of Mohammed's religion appears to us a malignant caricature. The +rare theologians[1] who, before attacking the false faith, tried to form a +clear notion of it, were not listened to, and their merits have only become +appreciated in our own time. A vigorous combating of the prevalent fictions +concerning Islam would have exposed a scholar to a similar treatment to +that which, fifteen years ago, fell to the lot of any Englishman who +maintained the cause of the Boers; he would have been as much of an outcast +as a modern inhabitant of Mecca who tried to convince his compatriots of +the virtues of European policy and social order. + +[Footnote 1: See for instance the reference to the exposition of the +Paderborn bishop Olivers (1227) in the Paderborn review _Theologie und +Glaube_, Jahrg. iv., p. 535, etc. (_Islam_, iv., p. 186); also some of the +accounts mentioned in Gueterbock, _Der Islam im Lichte der byzantinischen +Polemik_, etc.] + +Two and a half centuries ago, a prominent Orientalist,[2] who wrote +an exposition of Mohammed's teaching, felt himself obliged to give an +elaborate justification of his undertaking in his "Dedicatio." He appeals +to one or two celebrated predecessors and to learned colleagues, who have +expressly instigated him to this work. Amongst other things he quotes +a letter from the Leiden professor, L'Empereur, in which he conjures +Breitinger by the bowels of Jesus Christ ("per viscera Jesu Christi") to +give the young man every opportunity to complete his study of the religion +of Mohammed, "which so far has only been treated in a senseless way." As a +fruit of this study L'Empereur thinks it necessary to mention in the first +place the better understanding of the (Christian) Holy Scriptures by the +extension of our knowledge of Oriental manners and customs. Besides such +promotion of Christian exegesis and apologetics and the improvement of the +works on general history, Hottinger himself contemplated a double +purpose in his _Historia Orientalis_. The Roman Catholics often vilified +Protestantism by comparing the Reformed doctrine to that of Mohammedanism; +this reproach of Crypto-mohammedanism Hottinger wished "talionis lege" to +fling back at the Catholics; and he devotes a whole chapter (Cap. 6) of his +book to the demonstration that Bellarminius' proofs of the truth of the +Church doctrine might have been copied from the Moslim dogma. In the second +place, conforming to the spirit of the times, he wished, just as Bibliander +had done in his refutation of the Qoran, to combine the combat against +Mohammedan unbelief with that against the Turkish Empire ("in oppugnationem +Mahometanae perfidiae et Turcici regni"). + +[Footnote 2: J.H. Hottinger, _Historia Orientalis_, Zuerich, 1651 (2d. +edition 1660).] + +The Turks were feared by the Europe of that time, and the significance of +their religion for their worldly power was well known; thus the +political side of the question gave Hottinger's work a special claim to +consideration. Yet, in spite of all this, Hottinger feared that his labour +would be regarded as useless, or even wicked. Especially when he is obliged +to say anything favourable of Mohammed and his followers, he thinks it +necessary to protect himself against misconstruction by the addition of +some selected terms of abuse. When mentioning Mohammed's name, he says: +"at the mention of whom the mind shudders" ("ad cujus profecto mentionem +inhorrescere nobis debet animus"). The learned Abbe Maracci, who in 1698 +produced a Latin translation of the Qoran accompanied by an elaborate +refutation, was no less than Hottinger imbued with the necessity of +shuddering at every mention of the "false" Prophet, and Dr. Prideaux, +whose _Vie de Mahomet_ appeared in the same year in Amsterdam, abused and +shuddered with them, and held up his biography of Mohammed as a mirror to +"unbelievers, atheists, deists, and libertines." + +It was a Dutch scholar, H. Reland, the Utrecht professor of theology, who +in the beginning of the eighteenth century frankly and warmly recommended +the application of historical justice even towards the Mohammedan religion; +in his short Latin sketch of Islam[1] he allowed the Mohammedan authorities +to speak for themselves. In his "Dedicatio" to his brother and in his +extensive preface he explains his then new method. Is it to be supposed, +he asks, that a religion as ridiculous as the Islam described by Christian +authors should have found millions of devotees? Let the Moslims themselves +describe their own religion for us; just as the Jewish and Christian +religions are falsely represented by the heathen and Protestantism by +Catholics, so every religion is misrepresented by its antagonists. "We +are mortals, subject to error; especially where religious matters are +concerned, we often allow ourselves to be grossly misled by passion." +Although it may cause evil-minded readers to doubt the writer's orthodoxy +he continues to maintain that truth can only be served by combating her +opponents in an honourable way. + +[Footnote 1: _H. Relandi de religione Mohammedica libri duo_, Utrecht, 1704 +(2d ed. 1717).] + +"No religion," says Reland, "has been more calumniated than Islam," +although the Abbe Maracci himself could give no better explanation of the +turning of many Jews and Christians to this religion than the fact that +it contains many elements of natural truth, evidently borrowed from the +Christian religion, "which seem to be in accordance with the law and the +light of nature" ("quae naturae legi ac lumini consentanea videntur"). +"More will be gained for Christianity by friendly intercourse with +Mohammedans than by slander; above all Christians who live in the East must +not, as is too often the case, give cause to one Turk to say to another +who suspects him of lying or deceit: 'Do you take me for a Christian?' +("putasne me Christianum esse"). In truth, the Mohammedans often put us to +shame by their virtues; and a better knowledge of Islam can only help to +make our irrational pride give place to gratitude to God for the undeserved +mercy which He bestowed upon us in Christianity." Reland has no illusions +that his scientific justice will find acceptance in a wide circle "as he +becomes daily more and more convinced that the world wishes to be deceived +and is governed by prejudice" ("qui quotidie magis magisque experior mundum +decipi velle et praeconceptis opinionibus regi"). + +It was not long before the scale was turned in the opposite direction, +and Islam was made by some people the object of panegyrics as devoid of +scientific foundation as the former calumnies. In 1730 appeared in London +the incomplete posthumous work of Count de Boulainvilliers, _Vie de +Mahomet,_ in which, amongst other things, he says of the Arabian Prophet +that "all that he has said concerning the essential religious dogmas is +true, but he has not said all that is true, and it is only therein that his +religion differs from ours." De Boulainvilliers tells us with particular +satisfaction that Mohammed, who respected the devotion of hermits and +monks, proceeded with the utmost severity against the official clergy, +condemning its members either to death or to the abjuration of their faith. +This _Vie de Mahomet_ was as a matter of fact an anti-clerical romance, the +material of which was supplied by a superficial knowledge of Islam drawn +from secondary sources. That a work with such a tendency was sure to arouse +interest at that time, is shown by a letter from the publisher, Coderc, to +Professor Gagnier at Oxford, in which he writes: "He [de Boulainvilliers] +mixes up his history with many political reflections, which by their +newness and boldness are sure to be well received" ("Il mele son Histoire +de plusieurs reflexions politiques, et qui par leur hardiesse ne manqueront +pas d'etre tres bien recues"). + +Jean Gagnier however considered these bold novelties very dangerous and +endeavoured to combat them in another _Vie de Mahomet_, which appeared from +his hand in 1748 at Amsterdam. He strives after a "juste milieu" between +the too violent partisanship of Maracci and Prideaux and the ridiculous +acclamations of de Boulainvilliers. Yet this does not prevent him in his +preface from calling Mohammed the greatest villain of mankind and the most +mortal enemy of God ("le plus scelerat de tous les hommes et le plus mortel +ennemi de Dieu"). His desire to make his contemporaries proof against the +poison of de Boulainvilliers' dangerous book gains the mastery over the +pure love of truth for which Reland had so bravely striven. + +Although Sale in his "Preliminary Discourse" to his translation of the +Qoran endeavours to contribute to a fair estimation of Mohammed and his +work, of which his motto borrowed from Augustine, "There is no false +doctrine that does not contain some truth" ("nulla falsa doctrina est +quae non aliquid veri permisceat"), is proof, still the prejudicial view +remained for a considerable time the prevalent one. Mohammed was branded +as _imposteur_ even in circles where Christian fanaticism was out of the +question. Voltaire did not write his tragedy _Mahomet ou le fanatisme_ as +a historical study; he was aware that his fiction was in many respects at +variance with history. In writing his work he was, as he himself expresses +it, inspired by "l'amour du genre humain et l'horreur du fanatisme." He +wanted to put before the public an armed Tartufe and thought he might +lay the part upon Mohammed, for, says he, "is not the man, who makes war +against his own country and dares to do it in the name of God, capable of +any ill?" The dislike that Voltaire had conceived for the Qoran from a +superficial acquaintance with it, "ce livre inintelligible qui fait fremir +le sens commun a chaque page," probably increased his unfavourable opinion, +but the principal motive of his choice of a representative must have been +that the general public still regarded Mohammed as the incarnation of +fanaticism and priestcraft. + +Almost a century lies between Gagnier's biography of Mohammed and that of +the Heidelberg professor Weil (_Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben and seine +Lehre_, Stuttgart, 1843); and yet Weil did well to call Gagnier his last +independent predecessor. Weil's great merit is, that he is the first in his +field who instituted an extensive historico-critical investigation without +any preconceived opinion. His final opinion of Mohammed is, with the +necessary reservations: "In so far as he brought the most beautiful +teachings of the Old and the New Testament to a people which was not +illuminated by one ray of faith, he may be regarded, even by those who +are not Mohammedans, as a messenger of God." Four years later Caussin +de Perceval in his _Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes_, written quite +independently of Weil, expresses the same idea in these words: "It would be +an injustice to Mohammed to consider him as no more than a clever impostor, +an ambitious man of genius; he was in the first place a man convinced of +his vocation to deliver his nation from error and to regenerate it." + +About twenty years later the biography of Mohammed made an enormous advance +through the works of Muir, Sprenger, and Noldeke. On the ground of much +wider and at the same time deeper study of the sources than had been +possible for Weil and Caussin de Perceval, each of these three scholars +gave in his own way an account of the origin of Islam. Noldeke was +much sharper and more cautious in his historical criticism than Muir or +Sprenger. While the biographies written by these two men have now +only historical value, Noldeke's _History of the Qoran_ is still an +indispensable instrument of study more than half a century after its first +appearance. + +Numbers of more or less successful efforts to make Mohammed's life +understood by the nineteenth century intellect have followed these without +much permanent gain. Mohammed, who was represented to the public in turn as +deceiver, as a genius mislead by the Devil, as epileptic, as hysteric, and +as prophet, was obliged later on even to submit to playing on the one +hand the part of socialist and, on the other hand, that of a defender of +capitalism. These points of view were principally characteristic of the +temperament of the scholars who held them; they did not really advance our +understanding of the events that took place at Mecca and Medina between 610 +and 632 A.D., that prologue to a perplexing historical drama. + +The principal source from which all biographers started and to which they +always returned, was the Qoran, the collection of words of Allah spoken by +Mohammed in those twenty-two years. Hardly anyone, amongst the "faithful" +and the "unfaithful," doubts the generally authentic character of its +contents except the Parisian professor Casanova.[1] He tried to prove a +little while ago that Mohammed's revelations originally contained the +announcement that the HOUR, the final catastrophe, the Last judgment would +come during his life. When his death had therefore falsified this prophecy, +according to Casanova, the leaders of the young community found themselves +obliged to submit the revelations preserved in writing or memory to a +thorough revision, to add some which announced the mortality even of the +last prophet, and, finally to console the disappointed faithful with the +hope of Mohammed's return before the end of the world. This doctrine of the +return, mentioned neither in the Qoran nor in the eschatological tradition +of later times, according to Casanova was afterwards changed again into the +expectation of the Mahdi, the last of Mohammed's deputies, "a Guided of +God," who shall be descended from Mohammed, bear his name, resemble him +in appearance, and who shall fill the world once more before its end with +justice, as it is now filled with injustice and tyranny. + +[Footnote 1: Paul Casanova, _Mohammed et la fin du monde,_ Paris, 1911. +His hypotheses are founded upon Weil's doubts of the authenticity of a few +verses of the _Qoran_ (iii., 138; xxxix., 31, etc.), which doubts were +sufficiently refuted half a century ago by Noldeke in his _Geschichte des +Qorans_, 1st edition, p. 197, etc.] + +In our sceptical times there is very little that is above criticism, and +one day or other we may expect to hear that Mohammed never existed. The +arguments for this can hardly be weaker than those of Casanova against the +authenticity of the Qoran. Here we may acknowledge the great power of what +has been believed in all times, in all places, by all the members of the +community ("quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est"). For, +after the death of Mohammed there immediately arose a division which none +of the leading personalities were able to escape, and the opponents spared +each other no possible kind of insult, scorn, or calumny. The enemies of +the first leaders of the community could have wished for no more powerful +weapon for their attack than a well-founded accusation of falsifying the +word of God. Yet this accusation was never brought against the first +collectors of the scattered revelations; the only reproach that was made +against them in connexion with this labour being that verses in which +the Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) were mentioned with honour, and which, +therefore, would have served to support the claims of the Alids to the +succession of Mohammed, were suppressed by them. This was maintained by the +Shi'ites, who are unsurpassed in Islam as falsifiers of history; and the +passages which, according to them, are omitted from the official Qoran +would involve precisely on account of their reference to the succession, +the mortality of Mohammed. + +All sects and parties have the same text of the Qoran. This may have its +errors and defects, but intentional alterations or mutilations of real +importance are not to blame for this. + +Now this rich authentic source--this collection of wild, poetic +representations of the Day of judgment; of striving against idolatry; of +stories from Sacred History; of exhortation to the practice of the cardinal +virtues of the Old and New Testament; of precepts to reform the individual, +domestic, and tribal life in the spirit of these virtues; of incantations +and forms of prayer and a hundred things besides--is not always +comprehensible to us. Even for the parts which we do understand, we are not +able to make out the chronological arrangement which is necessary to gain +an insight into Mohammed's personality and work. This is not only due to +the form of the oracles, which purposely differs from the usual tone +of mortals by its unctuousness and rhymed prose, but even more to the +circumstance that all that the hearers could know, is assumed to be known. +So the Qoran is full of references that are enigmatical to us. We therefore +need additional explanation, and this can only be derived from tradition +concerning the circumstances under which each revelation was delivered. + +And, truly, the sacred tradition of Islam is not deficient in data of +this sort. In the canonical and half-canonical collections of tradition +concerning what the Prophet has said, done, and omitted to do, in +biographical works, an answer is given to every question which may arise in +the mind of the reader of the Qoran; and there are many Qoran-commentaries, +in which these answers are appended to the verses which they are supposed +to elucidate. Sometimes the explanations appear to us, even at first sight, +improbable and unacceptable; sometimes they contradict each other; a good +many seem quite reasonable. + +The critical biographers of Mohammed have therefore begun their work of +sifting by eliminating the improbable and by choosing between contradictory +data by means of critical comparison. Here the gradually increasing +knowledge of the spirit of the different parties in Islam was an important +aid, as of course each group represented the facts in the way which best +served their own purposes. + +However cautiously and acutely Weil and his successors have proceeded, the +continual progress of the analysis of the legislative as well as of the +historical tradition of Islam since 1870 has necessitated a renewed +investigation. In the first place it has become ever more evident that the +thousands of traditions about Mohammed, which, together with the Qoran, +form the foundation upon which the doctrine and life of the community +are based, are for the most part the conventional expression of all the +opinions which prevailed amongst his followers during the first three +centuries after the Hijrah. The fiction originated a long time after +Mohammed's death; during the turbulent period of the great conquests there +was no leisure for such work. Our own conventional insincerities differ so +much--externally at least--from those of that date, that it is difficult +for us to realize a spiritual atmosphere where "pious fraud" was practised +on such a scale. Yet this is literally true: in the first centuries of +Islam no one could have dreamt of any other way of gaining acceptance for a +doctrine or a precept than by circulating a tradition, according to which +Mohammed had preached the doctrine or dictated it or had lived according to +the precept. The whole individual, domestic, social, and political life +as it developed in the three centuries during which the simple Arabian +religion was adjusted to the complicated civilization of the great nations +of that time, that all life was theoretically justified by representing +it as the application of minute laws supposed to have been elaborated by +Mohammed by precept and example. + +Thus tradition gives invaluable material for the knowledge of the conflict +of opinions in the first centuries, a strife the sharpness of which has +been blunted in later times by a most resourceful harmonistic method. But, +it is vain to endeavour to construct the life and teaching of Mohammed from +such spurious accounts; they cannot even afford us a reliable illustration +of his life in the form of "table talk," as an English scholar rather +naively tried to derive from them. In a collection of this sort, supported +by good external evidence, there would be attributed to the Prophet of +Mecca sayings from the Old and New Testament, wise saws from classical and +Arabian antiquity, prescriptions of Roman law and many other things, each +text of which was as authentic as its fellows. + +Anyone who, warned by Goldziher and others, has realized how matters stand +in this respect, will be careful not to take the legislative tradition as +a direct instrument for the explanation of the Qoran. When, after a most +careful investigation of thousands of traditions which all appear equally +old, we have selected the oldest, then we shall see that we have before us +only witnesses of the first century of the Hijrah. The connecting threads +with the time of Mohammed must be supplied for a great part by imagination. + +The historical or biographical tradition in the proper sense of the word +has only lately been submitted to a keener examination. It was known for a +long time that here too, besides theological and legendary elements, +there were traditions originating from party motive, intended to give an +appearance of historical foundation to the particular interests of certain +persons or families; but it was thought that after some sifting there yet +remained enough to enable us to form a much clearer sketch of Mohammed's +life than that of any other of the founders of a universal religion. + +It is especially Prince Caetani and Father Lammens who have disturbed this +illusion. According to them, even the data which had been pretty generally +regarded as objective, rest chiefly upon tendentious fiction. The +generations that worked at the biography of the Prophet were too far +removed from his time to have true data or notions; and, moreover, it was +not their aim to know the past as it was, but to construct a picture of it +as it ought to have been according to their opinion. Upon the bare canvass +of verses of the Qoran that need explanation, the traditionists have +embroidered with great boldness scenes suitable to the desires or ideals of +their particular group; or, to use a favourite metaphor of Lammens, they +fill the empty spaces by a process of stereotyping which permits the +critical observer to recognize the origin of each picture. In the Sirah +(biography), the distance of the first describers from their object is the +same as in the Hadith (legislative tradition); in both we get images of +very distant things, perceived by means of fancy rather than by sight and +taking different shapes according to the inclinations of each circle of +describers. + +Now, it may be true that the latest judges have here and there examined the +Mohammedan traditions too sceptically and too suspiciously; nevertheless, +it remains certain that in the light of their research, the method of +examination cannot remain unchanged. We must endeavour to make our +explanations of the Qoran independent of tradition, and in respect to +portions where this is impossible, we must be suspicious of explanations, +however apparently plausible. + +During the last few years the accessible sources of information have +considerably increased, the study of them has become much deeper and more +methodical, and the result is that we can tell much less about the teaching +and the life of Mohammed than could our predecessors half a century ago. +This apparent loss is of course in reality nothing but gain. + +Those who do not take part in new discoveries, nevertheless, wish to know +now and then the results of the observations made with constantly improved +instruments. Let me endeavour, very briefly, to satisfy this curiosity. +That the report of the bookkeeping might make a somewhat different +impression if another accountant had examined it, goes without saying, and +sometimes I shall draw particular attention to my personal responsibility +in this respect. + +Of Mohammed's life before his appearance as the messenger of God, we know +extremely little; compared to the legendary biography as treasured by the +Faithful, practically nothing. Not to mention his pre-existence as a Light, +which was with God, and for the sake of which God created the world, the +Light, which as the principle of revelation, lived in all prophets from +Adam onwards, and the final revelation of which in Mohammed was prophesied +in the Scriptures of the Jews and the Christians; not to mention the +wonderful and mysterious signs which announced the birth of the Seal of the +Prophets, and many other features which the later Sirahs (biographies) and +Maulids (pious histories of his birth, most in rhymed prose or in poetic +metre) produce in imitation of the Gospels; even the elaborate discourses +of the older biographies on occurrences, which in themselves might quite +well come within the limits of sub-lunary possibility, do not belong to +history. Fiction plays such a great part in these stories, that we are +never sure of being on historical ground unless the Qoran gives us a firm +footing. + +The question, whether the family to which Mohammed belonged, was regarded +as noble amongst the Qoraishites, the ruling tribe in Mecca, is answered +in the affirmative by many; but by others this answer is questioned not +without good grounds. The matter is not of prime importance, as there is no +doubt that Mohammed grew up as a poor orphan and belonged to the needy and +the neglected. Even a long time after his first appearance the unbelievers +reproached him, according to the Qoran, with his insignificant worldly +position, which fitted ill with a heavenly message; the same scornful +reproach according to the Qoran was hurled at Mohammed's predecessors by +sceptics of earlier generations; and it is well known that the stories +of older times in the Qoran are principally reflections of what Mohammed +himself experienced. The legends of Mohammed's relations to various members +of his family are too closely connected with the pretensions of their +descendants to have any value for biographic purposes. He married late an +elderly woman, who, it is said, was able to lighten his material cares; she +gave him the only daughter by whom he had descendants; descendants, who, +from the Arabian point of view, do not count as such, as according to their +genealogical theories the line of descent cannot pass through a woman. +They have made an exception for the Prophet, as male offspring, the only +blessing of marriage appreciated by Arabs, was withheld from him. + +In the materialistic commercial town of Mecca, where lust of gain and usury +reigned supreme, where women, wine, and gambling filled up the leisure +time, where might was right, and widows, orphans, and the feeble were +treated as superfluous ballast, an unfortunate being like Mohammed, if his +constitution were sensitive, must have experienced most painful emotions. +In the intellectual advantages that the place offered he could find +no solace; the highly developed Arabian art of words, poetry with its +fictitious amourettes, its polished descriptions of portions of Arabian +nature, its venal vain praise and satire, might serve as dessert to a +well-filled dish; they were unable to compensate for the lack of material +prosperity. Mohammed felt his misery as a pain too great to be endured; in +some way or other he must be delivered from it. He desired to be more than +the greatest in his surroundings, and he knew that in that which they +counted for happiness he could never even equal them. Rather than envy them +regretfully, he preferred to despise their values of life, but on that very +account he had to oppose these values with better ones. + +It was not unknown in Mecca that elsewhere communities existed acquainted +with such high ideals of life, spiritual goods accessible to the poor, even +to them in particular. Apart from commerce, which brought the inhabitants +of Mecca into contact with Abyssinians, Syrians, and others, there were far +to the south and less far to the north and north-east of Mecca, Arabian +tribes who had embraced the Jewish or the Christian religion. Perhaps this +circumstance had helped to make the inhabitants of Mecca familiar with the +idea of a creator, Allah, but this had little significance in their lives, +as in the Maker of the Universe they did not see their Lawgiver and judge, +but held themselves dependent for their good and evil fortune upon all +manner of beings, which they rendered favourable or harmless by animistic +practices. Thoroughly conservative, they did not take great interest in +the conceptions of the "People of the Scripture," as they called the Jews, +Christians, and perhaps some other sects arisen from these communities. + +But Mohammed's deeply felt misery awakened his interest in them. Whether +this had been the case with a few others before him in the milieu of Mecca, +we need not consider, as it does not help to explain his actions. If wide +circles had been anxious to know more about the contents of the "Scripture" +Mohammed would not have felt in the dark in the way that he did. We shall +probably never know, by intercourse with whom it really was that Mohammed +at last gained some knowledge of the contents of the sacred books of +Judaism and Christianity; probably through various people, and over a +considerable length of time. It was not lettered men who satisfied his +awakened curiosity; otherwise the quite confused ideas, especially in the +beginning of the revelation, concerning the mutual relations between Jews +and Christians could not be explained. Confusions between Miryam, the +sister of Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, between Saul and Gideon, +mistakes about the relationship of Abraham to Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob, +might be put down to misconceptions of Mohammed himself, who could not all +at once master the strange material. But his representation of Judaism and +Christianity and a number of other forms of revelation, as almost identical +in their contents, differing only in the place where, the time wherein, and +the messenger of God by whom they came to man; this idea, which runs like +a crimson thread through all the revelations of the first twelve years +of Mohammed's prophecy, could not have existed if he had had an intimate +acquaintance with Jewish or Christian men of letters. Moreover, the many +post-biblical features and stories which the Qoran contains concerning the +past of mankind, indicate a vulgar origin, and especially as regards +the Christian legends, communications from people who lived outside the +communion of the great Christian churches; this is sufficiently proved by +the docetical representation of the death of Jesus and the many stories +about his life, taken from apocryphal sources or from popular oral legends. + +Mohammed's unlearned imagination worked all such material together into +a religious history of mankind, in which Adam's descendants had become +divided into innumerable groups of peoples differing in speech and place +of abode, whose aim in life at one period or another came to resemble +wonderfully that of the inhabitants of West- and Central-Arabia in the +seventh century A.D. Hereby they strayed from the true path, in strife with +the commands given by Allah. The whole of history, therefore, was for him +a long series of repetitions of the antithesis between the foolishness of +men, as this was now embodied in the social state of Mecca, and the wisdom +of God, as known to the "People of the Scripture." To bring the erring ones +back to the true path, it was Allah's plan to send them messengers from out +of their midst, who delivered His ritual and His moral directions to them +in His own words, who demanded the acknowledgment of Allah's omnipotence, +and if they refused to follow the true guidance, threatened them with +Allah's temporary or, even more, with His eternal punishment. + +The antithesis is always the same, from Adam to Jesus, and the enumeration +of the scenes is therefore rather monotonous; the only variety is in the +detail, borrowed from biblical and apocryphal legends. In all the thousands +of years the messengers of Allah play the same part as Mohammed finally saw +himself called upon to play towards his people. + +Mohammed's account of the past contains more elements of Jewish than of +Christian origin, and he ignores the principal dogmas of the Christian +Church. In spite of his supernatural birth, Jesus is only a prophet +like Moses and others; and although his miracles surpass those of other +messengers, Mohammed at a later period of his life is inclined to place +Abraham above Jesus in certain respects. Yet the influence of Christianity +upon Mohammed's vocation was very great; without the Christian idea of the +final scene of human history, of the Resurrection of the dead and the Last +Judgment, Mohammed's mission would have no meaning. It is true, monotheism, +in the Jewish sense, and after the contrast had become clear to Mohammed, +accompanied by an express rejection of the Son of God and of the Trinity, +has become one of the principal dogmas of Islam. But in Mohammed's first +preaching, the announcement of the Day of judgment is much more prominent +than the Unity of God; and it was against his revelations concerning +Doomsday that his opponents directed their satire during the first twelve +years. It was not love of their half-dead gods but anger at the wretch who +was never tired of telling them, in the name of Allah, that all their +life was idle and despicable, that in the other world they would be the +outcasts, which opened the floodgates of irony and scorn against Mohammed. +And it was Mohammed's anxiety for his own lot and that of those who were +dear to him in that future life, that forced him to seek a solution of the +question: who shall bring my people out of the darkness of antithesis into +the light of obedience to Allah? + +We should, _a posteriori_, be inclined to imagine a simpler answer to the +question than that which Mohammed found; he might have become a missionary +of Judaism or of Christianity to the Meccans. However natural such +a conclusion may appear to us, from the premises with which we are +acquainted, it did not occur to Mohammed. He began--the Qoran tells us +expressly--by regarding the Arabs, or at all events _his_ Arabs, as +heretofore destitute of divine message[1]: "to whom We have sent no warner +before you." Moses and Jesus--not to mention any others--had not been sent +for the Arabs; and as Allah would not leave any section of mankind without +a revelation, their prophet must still be to come. Apparently Mohammed +regarded the Jewish and Christian tribes in Arabia as exceptions to the +rule that an ethnical group (_ummah_) was at the same time a religious +unity. He did not imagine that it could be in Allah's plan that the Arabs +were to conform to a revelation given in a foreign language. No; God must +speak to them in Arabic.[2] Through whose mouth? + +[Footnote 1: _Qoran_, xxxii., 2; xxxiv., 43; xxxvi., 5, etc.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., xii., 2; xiii., 37; XX., 112; XXVI., 195; xli., 44, +etc.] + +A long and severe crisis preceded Mohammed's call. He was convinced that, +if he were the man, mighty signs from Heaven must be revealed to him, for +his conception of revelation was mechanical; Allah Himself, or at least +angels, must speak to him. The time of waiting, the process of objectifying +the subjective, lived through by the help of an overstrained imagination, +all this laid great demands upon the psychical and physical constitution of +Mohammed. At length he saw and heard that which he thought he ought to hear +and see. In feverish dreams he found the form for the revelation, and he +did not in the least realize that the contents of his inspiration from +Heaven were nothing but the result of what he had himself absorbed. He +realized it so little, that the identity of what was revealed to him with +what he held to be the contents of the Scriptures of Jews and Christians +was a miracle to him, the only miracle upon which he relied for the support +of his mission. + +In the course of the twenty-three years of Mohammed's work as God's +messenger, the over-excited state, or inspiration, or whatever we may +call the peculiar spiritual condition in which his revelation was born, +gradually gave place to quiet reflection. Especially after the Hijrah, when +the prophet had to provide the state established by him at Medina with +inspired regulations, the words of God became in almost every respect +different from what they had been at first. Only the form was retained. In +connection with this evolution, some of our biographers of Mohammed, even +where they do not deny the obvious honesty of his first visions, represent +him in the second half of his work, as a sort of actor, who played with +that which had been most sacred to him. This accusation is, in my opinion, +unjust. + +Mohammed, who twelve years long, in spite of derision and contempt, +continued to inveigh in the name of Allah against the frivolous +conservatism of the heathens in Mecca, to preach Allah's omnipotence to +them, to hold up to them Allah's commands and His promises and threats +regarding the future life, "without asking any reward" for such exhausting +work, is really not another man than the acknowledged "Messenger of +Allah" in Medina, who saw his power gradually increase, who was taught by +experience the value and the use of the material means of extending it, +and who finally, by the force of arms compelled all Arabs to "obedience to +Allah and His messenger." + +In our own society, real enthusiasm in the propagation of an idea generally +considered as absurd, if crowned by success may, in the course of time, end +in cold, prosaic calculation without a trace of hypocrisy. Nowhere in +the life of Mohammed can a point of turning be shown; there is a gradual +changing of aims and a readjustment of the means of attaining them. From +the first the outcast felt himself superior to the well-to-do people who +looked down upon him; and with all his power he sought for a position from +which he could force them to acknowledge his superiority. This he found in +the next and better world, of which the Jews and Christians knew. After a +crisis, which some consider as psychopathologic, he knew himself to be sent +by Allah to call the materialistic community, which he hated and despised, +to the alternative, either in following him to find eternal blessedness, or +in denying him to be doomed to eternal fire. + +Powerless against the scepticism of his hearers, after twelve years of +preaching followed only by a few dozen, most of them outcasts like himself, +he hoped now and then that Allah would strike the recalcitrant multitude +with an earthly doom, as he knew from revelations had happened before. This +hope was also unfulfilled. As other messengers of God had done in similar +circumstances, he sought for a more fruitful field than that of his +birthplace; he set out on the Hijrah, _i.e._, emigration to Medina. Here +circumstances were more favourable to him: in a short time he became the +head of a considerable community. + +Allah, who had given him power, soon allowed him to use it for the +protection of the interests of the Faithful against the unbelievers. +Once become militant, Mohammed turned from the purely defensive to the +aggressive attitude, with such success that a great part of the Arab tribes +were compelled to accept Islam, "obedience to Allah and His Messenger." The +rule formerly insisted upon: "No compulsion in religion," was sacrificed, +since experience taught him, that the truth was more easily forced upon +men by violence than by threats which would be fulfilled only after the +resurrection. Naturally, the religious value of the conversions sank in +proportion as their number increased. The Prophet of world renouncement +in Mecca wished to win souls for his faith; the Prophet-Prince in Medina +needed subjects and fighters for his army. Yet he was still the same +Mohammed. + +Parallel with his altered position towards the heathen Arabs went a +readjustment of his point of view towards the followers of Scripture. +Mohammed never pretended to preach a new religion; he demanded in the name +of Allah the same Islam (submission) that Moses, Jesus, and former prophets +had demanded of their nations. In his earlier revelations he always points +out the identity of his "Qorans" with the contents of the sacred books of +Jews and Christians, in the sure conviction that these will confirm his +assertion if asked. In Medina he was disillusioned by finding neither Jews +nor Christians prepared to acknowledge an Arabian prophet, not even for the +Arabs only; so he was led to distinguish between the _true_ contents of the +Bible and that which had been made of it by the falsification of later +Jews and Christians. He preferred now to connect his own revelations more +immediately with those of Abraham, no books of whom could be cited against +him, and who was acknowledged by Jews and Christians without being himself +either a Jew or a Christian. + +This turn, this particular connection of Islam with Abraham, made it +possible for him, by means of an adaptation of the biblical legends +concerning Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael, to include in his religion a set of +religious customs of the Meccans, especially the hajj.[1] Thus Islam became +more Arabian, and at the same time more independent of the other revealed +religions, whose degeneracy was demonstrated by their refusal to +acknowledge Mohammed. + +[Footnote 1: A complete explanation of the gradual development of the +Abraham legend in the Qoran can be found in my book _Het Mekkaansche Feest_ +(The Feast of Mecca), Leiden, 1880.] + +All this is to be explained without the supposition of conscious trickery +or dishonesty on the part of Mohammed. There was no other way for the +unlettered Prophet, whose belief in his mission was unshaken, to overcome +the difficulties entailed by his closer acquaintance with the tenets of +other religions. + +How, then, are we to explain the starting-point of it all--Mohammed's sense +of vocation? Was it a disease of the spirit, a kind of madness? At all +events, the data are insufficient upon which to form a serious diagnosis. +Some have called it epilepsy. Sprenger, with an exaggerated display of +certainty based upon his former medical studies, gave Mohammed's disorder +the name of hysteria. Others try to find a connection between Mohammed's +extraordinary interest in the fair sex and his prophetic consciousness. +But, after all, is it explaining the spiritual life of a man, who was +certainly unique, if we put a label upon him, and thus class him with +others, who at the most shared with him certain abnormalities? A normal man +Mohammed certainly was not. But as soon as we try to give a positive name +to this negative quality, then we do the same as the heathens of Mecca, who +were violently awakened by his thundering prophecies: "He is nothing but +one possessed, a poet, a soothsayer, a sorcerer," they said. Whether we say +with the old European biographers "impostor," or with the modern ones put +"epileptic," or "hysteric" in its place, makes little difference. The +Meccans ended by submitting to him, and conquering a world under the banner +of his faith. We, with the diffidence which true science implies, feel +obliged merely to call him Mohammed, and to seek in the Qoran, and with +great cautiousness in the Tradition, a few principal points of his life and +work, in order to see how in his mind the intense feeling of discontent +during the misery of his youth, together with a great self-reliance, a +feeling of spiritual superiority to his surroundings, developed into +a call, the form of which was largely decided by Jewish and Christian +influence. + +While being struck by various weaknesses which disfigured this great +personality and which he himself freely confessed, we must admire the +perseverance with which he retained his faith in his divine mission, not +discouraged by twelve years of humiliation, nor by the repudiation of the +"People of Scripture," upon whom he had relied as his principal witnesses, +nor yet by numbers of temporary rebuffs during his struggle for the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger, which he carried on through the whole +of Arabia. + +Was Mohammed conscious of the universality of his mission? In the beginning +he certainly conceived his work as merely the Arabian part of a universal +task, which, for other parts of the world, was laid upon other messengers. +In the Medina period he ever more decidedly chose the direction of "forcing +to comply." He was content only when the heathens perceived that further +resistance to Allah's hosts was useless; their understanding of his "clear +Arabic Qoran" was no longer the principal object of his striving. _Such_ +an Islam could equally well be forced upon _non-Arabian_ heathens. And, +as regards the "People of Scripture," since Mohammed's endeavour to be +recognized by them had failed, he had taken up his position opposed to +them, even above them. With the rise of his power he became hard and cruel +to the Jews in North-Arabia, and from Jews and Christians alike in Arabia +he demanded submission to his authority, since it had proved impossible to +make them recognize his divine mission. This demand could quite logically +be extended to all Christians; in the first place to those of the Byzantine +Empire. But did Mohammed himself come to these conclusions in the last part +of his life? Are the words in which Allah spoke to him: "We have sent thee +to men in general,"[1] and a few expressions of the same sort, to be taken +in that sense, or does "humanity" here, as in many other places in the +Qoran, mean those with whom Mohammed had especially to do? Noldeke is +strongly of opinion that the principal lines of the program of conquest +carried out after Mohammed's death, had been drawn by the Prophet himself. +Lammens and others deny with equal vigour, that Mohammed ever looked upon +the whole world as the field of his mission. This shows that the solution +is not evident.[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Qoran_, xxxiv., 27. The translation of this verse has +always been a subject of great difference of opinion. At the time of its +revelation--as fixed by Mohammedan as well as by western authorities--the +universal conception of Mohammed's mission was quite out of question.] + +[Footnote 2: Professor T.W. Arnold in the 2d edition (London, 1913) of +his valuable work _The Preaching of Islam_ (especially pp. 28-31), warmly +endeavours to prove that Mohammed from the beginning considered his mission +as universal. He weakens his argument more than is necessary by placing the +Tradition upon an almost equal footing with the Qoran as a source, and by +ignoring the historical development which is obvious in the Qoran itself. +In this way he does not perceive the great importance of the history of the +Abraham legend in Mohammed's conception. Moreover, the translation of +the verses of the Qoran on p. 29 sometimes says more than the original. +_Lil-nas_ is not "_to mankind_" but "_to men_," in the sense of "_to +everybody_." _Qoran_, xvi., 86, does not say: "One day we will raise up +a witness out of every nation," but: "On the day (_i.e._, the day of +resurrection) when we will raise up, etc.," which would seem to refer to +the theme so constantly repeated in the Qoran, that each nation will be +confronted on the Day of Judgment with the prophet sent to it. When the +Qoran is called an "admonition to the world (_'alamin_)" and Mohammed's +mission a "mercy to the world (_'alamin_)," then we must remember that +'alamin is one of the most misused rhymewords in the Qoran (e.g., _Qoran_, +xv., 70); and we should not therefore translate it emphatically as "all +created beings," unless the universality of Mohammed's mission is firmly +established by other proofs. And this is far from being the case.] + +In our valuation of Mohammed's sayings we cannot lay too much stress upon +his incapability of looking far ahead. The final aims which Mohammed set +himself were considered by sane persons as unattainable. His firm belief in +the realization of the vague picture of the future which he had conceived, +nay, which Allah held before him, drove him to the uttermost exertion of +his mental power in order to surmount the innumerable unexpected obstacles +which he encountered. Hence the variability of the practical directions +contained in the Qoran; they are constantly altered according to +circumstances. Allah's words during the last part of Mohammed's life: +"This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have I filled up +the measure of my favours towards you, and chosen Islam for you as your +religion," have in no way the meaning of the exclamation: "It is finished," +of the dying Christ. They are only a cry of jubilation over the degradation +of the heathen Arabs by the triumph of Allah's weapons. At Mohammed's death +everything was still unstable; and the vital questions for Islam were +subjects of contention between the leaders even before the Prophet had been +buried. + +The expedient of new revelations completing, altering, or abrogating former +ones had played an important part in the legislative work of Mohammed. Now, +he had never considered that by his death the spring would be stopped, +although completion was wanted in every respect. For, without doubt, +Mohammed felt his weakness in systematizing and his absence of clearness +of vision into the future, and therefore he postponed the promulgation of +divine decrees as long as possible, and he solved only such questions +of law as frequently recurred, when further hesitation would have been +dangerous to his authority and to the peace of the community. + +At Mohammed's death, all Arabs were not yet subdued to his authority. +The expeditions which he had undertaken or arranged beyond the northern +boundaries of Arabia, were directed against Arabs, although they were +likely to rouse conflict with the Byzantine and Persian empires. It would +have been contrary to Mohammed's usual methods if this had led him to form +a general definition of his attitude towards the world outside Arabia. + +As little as Mohammed, when he invoked the Meccans in wild poetic +inspirations to array themselves behind him to seek the blessedness of +future life, had dreamt of the possibility that twenty years later the +whole of Arabia would acknowledge his authority in this world, as little, +nay, much less, could he at the close of his life have had the faintest +premonition of the fabulous development which his state would reach half +a century later. The subjugation of the mighty Persia and of some of the +richest provinces of the Byzantine Empire, only to mention these, was never +a part of his program, although legend has it that he sent out written +challenges to the six princes of the world best known to him. Yet we +may say that Mohammed's successors in the guidance of his community, by +continuing their expansion towards the north, after the suppression of the +apostasy that followed his death, remained in Mohammed's line of action. +There is even more evident continuity in the development of the empire of +the Omayyads out of the state of Mohammed, than in the series of events +by which we see the dreaded Prince-Prophet of Medina grew out of the +"possessed one" of Mecca. But if Mohammed had been able to foresee how the +unity of Arabia, which he nearly accomplished, was to bring into being a +formidable international empire, we should expect some indubitable traces +of this in the Qoran; not a few verses of dubious interpretation, but +some certain sign that the Revelation, which had repeatedly, and with the +greatest emphasis, called itself a "plain Arabic Qoran" intended for those +"to whom no warner had yet been sent," should in future be valid for the +'Ajam, the Barbarians, as well as for the Arabs. + +Even if we ascribe to Mohammed something of the universal program, which +the later tradition makes him to have drawn up, he certainly could not +foresee the success of it. For this, in the first place, the economic and +political factors to which some scholars of our day would attribute the +entire explanation of the Islam movement, must be taken into consideration. +Mohammed did to some extent prepare the universality of his religion and +make it possible. But that Islam, which came into the world as the Arabian +form of the one, true religion, has actually become a universal religion, +is due to circumstances which had little to do with its origin.[1] This +extension of the domain to be subdued to its spiritual rule entailed +upon Islam about three centuries of development and accommodation, of a +different sort, to be sure, but not less drastic in character than that of +the Christian Church. + +[Footnote 1: Sir William Muir was not wrong when he said: "From first to +last the summons was to Arabs and to none other... The seed of a universal +creed had indeed been sown; but that it ever germinated was due to +circumstances rather than design."] + + + +II + +THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM + + +We can hardly imagine a poorer, more miserable population than that of the +South-Arabian country Hadramaut. All moral and social progress is there +impeded by the continuance of the worst elements of Jahiliyyah (Arabian +paganism), side by side with those of Islam. A secular nobility is formed +by groups of people, who grudge each other their very lives and fight each +other according to the rules of retaliation unmitigated by any more humane +feelings. The religious nobility is represented by descendants of the +Prophet, arduous patrons of a most narrow-minded orthodoxy and of most +bigoted fanaticism. In a well-ordered society, making the most of all the +means offered by modern technical science, the dry barren soil might be +made to yield sufficient harvests to satisfy the wants of its members; but +among these inhabitants, paralysed by anarchy, chronic famine prevails. +Foreigners wisely avoid this miserable country, and if they did visit +it, would not be hospitably received. Hunger forces many Hadramites to +emigrate; throughout the centuries we find them in all the countries of +Islam, in the sacred cities of Western-Arabia, in Syria, Egypt, India, +Indonesia, where they often occupy important positions. + +In the Dutch Indies, for instance, they live in the most important +commercial towns, and though the Government has never favoured them, and +though they have had to compete with Chinese and with Europeans, they have +succeeded in making their position sufficiently strong. Before European +influence prevailed, they even founded states in some of the larger islands +or they obtained political influence in existing native states. Under a +strong European government they are among the quietest, most industrious +subjects, all earning their own living and saving something for their poor +relations at home. They come penniless, and without any of that theoretical +knowledge or practical skill which we are apt to consider as indispensable +for a man who wishes to try his fortune in a complicated modern colonial +world. Yet I have known some who in twenty years' time have become +commercial potentates, and even millionaires. + +The strange spectacle of these latent talents and of the suppressed energy +of the people of Hadramaut that seem to be waiting only for transplantation +into a more favourable soil to develop with amazing rapidity, helps us +to understand the enormous consequences of the Arabian migration in the +seventh century. + +The spiritual goods, with which Islam set out into the world, were far from +imposing. It preached a most simple monotheism: Allah, the Almighty Creator +and Ruler of heaven and earth, entirely self-sufficient, so that it were +ridiculous to suppose Him to have partners or sons and daughters to support +Him; who has created the angels that they might form His retinue, and +men and genii (jinn) that they might obediently serve Him; who decides +everything according to His incalculable will and is responsible to nobody, +as the Universe is His; of whom His creatures, if their minds be not led +astray, must therefore stand in respectful fear and awe. He has made His +will known to mankind, beginning at Adam, but the spreading of mankind over +the surface of the earth, its seduction by Satan and his emissaries have +caused most nations to become totally estranged from Him and His service. +Now and then, when He considered that the time was come, He caused a +prophet to arise from among a nation to be His messenger to summon people +to conversion, and to tell them what blessedness awaited them as a reward +of obedience, what punishments would be inflicted if they did not believe +his message. + +Sometimes the disobedient had been struck by earthly judgment (the flood, +the drowning of the Egyptians, etc.), and the faithful had been rescued +in a miraculous way and led to victory; but such things merely served +as indications of Allah's greatness. One day the whole world will be +overthrown and destroyed. Then the dead will be awakened and led before +Allah's tribunal. The faithful will have abodes appointed them in +well-watered, shady gardens, with fruit-trees richly laden, with luxurious +couches upon which they may lie and enjoy the delicious food, served by the +ministrants of Paradise. They may also freely indulge in sparkling wine +that does not intoxicate, and in intercourse with women, whose youth and +virginity do not fade. The unbelievers end their lives in Hell-fire; or, +rather, there is no end, for the punishment as well as the reward are +everlasting. + +Allah gives to each one his due. The actions of His creatures are all +accurately written down, and when judgment comes, the book is opened; +moreover, every creature carries the list of his own deeds and misdeeds; +the debit and credit sides are carefully weighed against each other in the +divine scales, and many witnesses are heard before judgment is pronounced. +Allah, however, is clement and merciful; He gladly forgives those sinners +who have believed in Him, who have sincerely accepted Islam, that is to +say: who have acknowledged His absolute authority and have believed the +message of the prophet sent to them. These prophets have the privilege +of acting as mediators on behalf of their followers, not in the sense of +redeemers, but as advocates who receive gracious hearing. + +Naturally, Islam, submission to the Lord of the Universe, ought to express +itself in deeds. Allah desires the homage of formal worship, which must be +performed several times a day by every individual, and on special occasions +by the assembled faithful, led by one of them. This. service, [s.]alat, +acquired its strictly binding rules only after Mohammed's time, but already +in his lifetime it consisted chiefly of the same elements as now: the +recital of sacred texts, especially taken from the Revelation, certain +postures of the body (standing, inclination, kneeling, prostration) with +the face towards Mecca. This last particular and the language of the +Revelation are the Arabian elements of the service, which is for the rest +an imitation of Jewish and Christian rituals, so far as Mohammed knew them. +There was no sacrament, consequently no priest to administer it; Islam has +always been the lay religion _par excellence_. Teaching and exhortation are +the only spiritual help that the pious Mohammedan wants, and this simple +care of souls is exercised without any ordination or consecration. + +Fasting, for a month if possible, and longer if desired, was also an +integral part of religious life and, by showing disregard of earthly joys, +a proof of faith in Allah's promises for the world to come. Almsgiving, +recommended above all other virtues, was not only to be practised in +obedience to Allah's law and in faith in retribution, but it was to testify +contempt of all earthly possessions which might impede the striving after +eternal happiness. Later, Mohammed was compelled, by the need of a public +fund and the waning zeal of the faithful as their numbers increased, to +regulate the practice of this virtue and to exact certain minima as taxes +(_zakat_). + +When Mohammed, taking his stand as opposed to Judaism and Christianity, +had accentuated the Arabian character of his religion, the Meccan rites of +pagan origin were incorporated into Islam; but only after the purification +required by monotheism. From that time forward the yearly celebration of +the Hajj was among the ritual duties of the Moslim community. + +In the first years of the strife yet another duty was most emphatically +impressed on the Faithful; _jihad, i.e._, readiness to sacrifice life and +possessions for the defence of Islam, understood, since the conquest of +Mecca in 630, as the extension by force of arms of the authority of the +Moslim state, first over the whole of Arabia, and soon after Mohammed's +death over the whole world, so far as Allah granted His hosts the victory. + +For the rest, the legislative revelations regulated only such points as had +become subjects of argument or contest in Mohammed's lifetime, or such as +were particularly suggested by that antithesis of paganism and revelation, +which had determined Mohammed's prophetical career. Gambling and wine were +forbidden, the latter after some hesitation between the inculcation of +temperance and that of abstinence. Usury, taken in the sense of requiring +any interest at all upon loans, was also forbidden. All tribal feuds with +their consequences had henceforward to be considered as non-existent, and +retaliation, provided that the offended party would not agree to accept +compensation, was put under the control of the head of the community. +Polygamy and intercourse of master and female slave were restricted; the +obligations arising from blood-relationship or ownership were regulated. +These points suffice to remind us of the nature of the Qoranic regulations. +Reference to certain subjects in this revealed law while others were +ignored, did not depend on their respective importance to the life of the +community, but rather on what happened to have been suggested by the events +in Mohammed's lifetime. For Mohammed knew too well how little qualified he +was for legislative work to undertake it unless absolutely necessary. + +This rough sketch of what Islam meant when it set out to conquer the world, +is not very likely to create the impression that its incredibly rapid +extension was due to its superiority over the forms of civilization which +it supplanted. Lammens's assertion, that Islam was the Jewish religion +simplified according to Arabic wants and amplified by some Christian and +Arabic traditions, contains a great deal of truth, if only we recognize the +central importance for Mohammed's vocation and preaching of the Christian +doctrine of Resurrection and judgment. This explains the large number of +weak points that the book of Mohammed's revelations, written down by his +first followers, offered to Jewish and Christian polemics. It was easy for +the theologians of those religions to point out numberless mistakes in the +work of the illiterate Arabian prophet, especially where he maintained that +he was repeating and confirming the contents of their Bible. The Qoranic +revelations about Allah's intercourse with men, taken from apocryphal +sources, from profane legends like that of Alexander the Great, sometimes +even created by Mohammed's own fancy--such as the story of the prophet +Salih, said to have lived in the north of Arabia, and that of the prophet +Hud, supposed to have lived in the south; all this could not but give them +the impression of a clumsy caricature of true tradition. The principal +doctrines of Synagogue and Church had apparently been misunderstood, or +they were simply denied as corruptions. + +The conversion to Islam, within a hundred years, of such nations as the +Egyptian, the Syrian, and the Persian, can hardly be attributed to anything +but the latent talents, the formerly suppressed energy of the Arabian race +having found a favourable soil for its development; talents and energy, +however, not of a missionary kind. If Islam is said to have been from its +beginning down to the present day, a missionary religion,[1] then "mission" +is to be taken here in a quite peculiar sense, and special attention must +be given to the preparation of the missionary field by the Moslim armies, +related by history and considered as most important by the Mohammedans +themselves. + +[Footnote 1: With extraordinary talent this thesis has been defended by +Professor T.W. Arnold in the above quoted work, _The Preaching of Islam_, +which fully deserves the attention also of those who do not agree with the +writer's argument. Among the many objections that may be raised against +Prof. Arnold's conclusion, we point to the undeniable fact, that the Moslim +scholars of all ages hardly speak of "mission" at all, and always treat the +extension of the true faith by holy war as one of the principal duties of +the Moslim community.] + +Certainly, the nations conquered by the Arabs under the first khalifs were +not obliged to choose between living as Moslims or dying as unbelievers. +The conquerors treated them as Mohammed had treated Jews and Christians in +Arabia towards the end of his life, and only exacted from them submission +to Moslim authority. They were allowed to adhere to their religion, +provided they helped with their taxes to fill the Moslim exchequer. This +rule was even extended to such religions as that of the Parsis, although +they could not be considered as belonging to the "People of Scripture" +expressly recognized in the Qoran. But the social condition of these +subjects was gradually made so oppressive by the Mohammedan masters, that +rapid conversions in masses were a natural consequence; the more natural +because among the conquered nations intellectual culture was restricted to +a small circle, so that after the conquest their spiritual leaders lacked +freedom of movement. Besides, practically very little was required from the +new converts, so that it was very tempting to take the step that led to +full citizenship. + +No, those who in a short time subjected millions of non-Arabs to the state +founded by Mohammed, and thus prepared their conversion, were no apostles. +They were generals whose strategic talents would have remained hidden but +for Mohammed, political geniuses, especially from Mecca and Taif, who, +before Islam, would have excelled only in the organization of commercial +operations or in establishing harmony between hostile families. Now they +proved capable of uniting the Arabs commanded by Allah, a unity still many +a time endangered during the first century by the old party spirit; and of +devising a division of labour between the rulers and the conquered which +made it possible for them to control the function of complicated machines +of state without any technical knowledge. + +Moreover, several circumstances favoured their work; both the large realms +which extended north of Arabia, were in a state of political decline; +the Christians inhabiting the provinces that were to be conquered first, +belonged, for the larger part, to heretical sects and were treated by the +orthodox Byzantines in such a way that other masters, if tolerant, might be +welcome. The Arabian armies consisted of hardened Bedouins with few wants, +whose longing for the treasures of the civilized world made them more ready +to endure the pressure of a discipline hitherto unknown to them. + +The use that the leaders made of the occasion commands our admiration; +although their plan was formed in the course and under the influence of +generally unforeseen events. Circumstances had changed Mohammed the Prophet +into Mohammed the Conqueror; and the leaders, who continued the conqueror's +work, though not driven by fanaticism or religious zeal, still prepared the +conversion of millions of men to Islam. + +It was only natural that the new masters adopted, with certain +modifications, the administrative and fiscal systems of the conquered +countries. For similar reasons Islam had to complete its spiritual store +from the well-ordered wealth of that of its new adherents. Recent research +shows most clearly, that Islam, in after times so sharply opposed to other +religions and so strongly armed against foreign influence, in the first +century borrowed freely and simply from the "People of Scripture" whatever +was not evidently in contradiction to the Qoran. This was to be expected; +had not Mohammed from the very beginning referred to the "people of the +Book" as "those who know"? When painful experience induced him afterwards +to accuse them of corruption of their Scriptures, this attitude +necessitated a certain criticism but not rejection of their tradition. +The ritual, only provisionally regulated and continually liable to change +according to prophetic inspiration in Mohammed's lifetime, required +unalterable rules after his death. Recent studies[1] have shown in an +astounding way, that the Jewish ritual, together with the religious rites +of the Christians, strongly influenced the definite shape given to that of +Islam, while indirect influence of the Parsi religion is at least probable. + +[Footnote 1: The studies of Professors C.H. Becker, E. Mittwoch, and +A.J. Wensinck, especially taken in connection with older ones of Ignaz +Goldziher, have thrown much light upon this subject.] + +So much for the rites of public worship and the ritual purity they require. +The method of fasting seems to follow the Jewish model, whereas the period +of obligatory fasting depends on the Christian usage. + +Mohammed's fragmentary and unsystematic accounts of sacred history were +freely drawn from Jewish and Christian sources and covered the whole period +from the creation of the world until the first centuries of the Christian +era. Of course, features shocking to the Moslim mind were dropped and the +whole adapted to the monotonous conception of the Qoran. With ever greater +boldness the story of Mohammed's own life was exalted to the sphere of +the supernatural; here the Gospel served as example. Though Mohammed had +repeatedly declared himself to be an ordinary man chosen by Allah as the +organ of His revelation, and whose only miracle was the Qoran, posterity +ascribed to him a whole series of wonders, evidently invented in emulation +of the wonders of Christ. The reason for this seems to have been the idea +that none of the older prophets, not even Jesus, of whom the Qoran tells +the greatest wonders, could have worked a miracle without Mohammed, the +Seal of the prophets, having rivalled or surpassed him in this respect. +Only Jesus was the Messiah; but this title did not exceed in value +different titles of other prophets, and Mohammed's special epithets were +of a higher order. A relative sinlessness Mohammed shared with Jesus; the +acceptance of this doctrine, contradictory to the original spirit of the +Qoran, had moreover a dogmatic motive: it was considered indispensable +to raise the text of the Qoran above all suspicion of corruption, which +suspicion would not be excluded if the organ of the Revelation were +fallible. + +This period of naively adopting institutions, doctrines, and traditions was +soon followed by an awakening to the consciousness that Islam could not +well absorb any more of such foreign elements without endangering its +independent character. Then a sorting began; and the assimilation of the +vast amount of borrowed matter, that had already become an integral part of +Islam, was completed by submitting the whole to a peculiar treatment. It +was carefully divested of all marks of origin and labelled _hadith_,[1] +so that henceforth it was regarded as emanations from the wisdom of the +Arabian Prophet, for which his followers owed no thanks to foreigners. + +[Footnote 1: _Hadith_, the Arabic word for record, story, has assumed +the technical meaning of "tradition" concerning the words and deeds of +Mohammed. It is used as well in the sense of a single record of this sort +as in that of the whole body of sacred traditions.] + +At first, it was only at Medina that some pious people occupied themselves +with registering, putting in order, and systematizing the spiritual +property of Islam; afterwards similar circles were formed in other centres, +such as Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Misr (Cairo), and elsewhere. At the outset +the collection of divine sayings, the Qoran, was the only guide, the only +source of decisive decrees, the only touchstone of what was true or false, +allowed or forbidden. Reluctantly, but decidedly at last, it was conceded +that the foundations laid by Mohammed for the life of his community were +by no means all to be found in the Holy Book; rather, that Mohammed's +revelations without his explanation and practice would have remained an +enigma. It was understood now that the rules and laws of Islam were founded +on God's word and on the Sunnah, _i.e._, the "way" pointed out by the +Prophet's word and example. Thus it had been from the moment that Allah had +caused His light to shine over Arabia, and thus it must remain, if human +error was not to corrupt Islam. + +At the moment when this conservative instinct began to assert itself among +the spiritual leaders, so much foreign matter had already been incorporated +into Islam, that the theory of the sufficiency of Qoran and Sunnah could +not have been maintained without the labelling operation which we have +alluded to. So it was assumed that as surely as Mohammed must have +surpassed his predecessors in perfection and in wonders, so surely must +all the principles and precepts necessary for his community have been +formulated by him. Thus, by a gigantic web of fiction, he became after his +death the organ of opinions, ideas, and interests, whose lawfulness was +recognized by every influential section of the Faithful. All that could not +be identified as part of the Prophet's Sunnah, received no recognition; on +the other hand, all that was accepted had, somehow, to be incorporated into +the Sunnah. + +It became a fundamental dogma of Islam, that the Sunnah was the +indispensable completion of the Qoran, and that both together formed the +source of Mohammedan law and doctrine; so much so that every party assumed +the name of "People of the Sunnah" to express its pretension to orthodoxy. +The _contents_ of the Sunnah, however, was the subject of a great deal of +controversy; so that it came to be considered necessary to make the Prophet +pronounce his authoritative judgment on this difference of opinion. He +was said to have called it a proof of God's special mercy, that within +reasonable limits difference of opinion was allowed in his community. Of +that privilege Mohammedans have always amply availed themselves. + +When the difference touched on political questions, especially on the +succession of the Prophet in the government of the community, schism was +the inevitable consequence. Thus arose the party strifes of the first +century, which led to the establishment of the sects of the Shi'ites and +the Kharijites, separate communities, severed from the great whole, that +led their own lives, and therefore followed paths different from those of +the majority in matters of doctrine and law as well as in politics. The +sharpness of the political antithesis served to accentuate the importance +of the other differences in such cases and to debar their acceptance as the +legal consequence of the difference of opinion that God's mercy allowed. +That the political factor was indeed the great motive of separation, is +clearly shown in our own day, now that one Mohammedan state after the other +sees its political independence disappearing and efforts are being made +from all sides to re-establish the unity of the Mohammedan world by +stimulating the feeling of religious brotherhood. Among the most cultivated +Moslims of different countries an earnest endeavour is gaining ground to +admit Shi'ites, Kharijites, and others, formerly abused as heretics, into +the great community, now threatened by common foes, and to regard their +special tenets in the same way as the differences existing between the four +law schools: Hanafites, Malikites, Shafi'ites and Hanbalites, which for +centuries have been considered equally orthodox. + +Although the differences that divide these schools at first caused great +excitement and gave rise to violent discussions, the strong catholic +instinct of Islam always knew how to prevent schism. Each new generation +either found the golden mean between the extremes which had divided the +preceding one, or it recognized the right of both opinions. + +Though the dogmatic differences were not necessarily so dangerous to +unity as were political ones, yet they were more apt to cause schism than +discussions about the law. It was essential to put an end to dissension +concerning the theological roots of the whole system of Islam. Mohammed had +never expressed any truth in dogmatic form; all systematic thinking was +foreign to his nature. It was again the non-Arabic Moslims, especially +those of Christian origin, who suggested such doctrinal questions. At first +they met with a vehement opposition that condemned all dogmatic discussion +as a novelty of the Devil. In the long run, however, the contest of the +conservatives against specially objectionable features of the dogmatists' +discussions forced them to borrow arms from the dogmatic arsenal. Hence a +method with a peculiar terminology came in vogue, to which even the boldest +imagination could not ascribe any connection with the Sunnah of Mohammed. +Yet some traditions ventured to put prophetic warnings on Mohammed's lips +against dogmatic innovations that were sure to arise, and to make him +pronounce the names of a couple of future sects. But no one dared to make +the Prophet preach an orthodox system of dogmatics resulting from the +controversies of several centuries, all the terms of which were foreign to +the Arabic speech of Mohammed's time. + +Indeed, all the subjects which had given rise to dogmatic controversy +in the Christian Church, except some too specifically Christian, were +discussed by the _mutakallims_, the dogmatists of Islam. Free will or +predestination; God omnipotent, or first of all just and holy; God's word +created by Him, or sharing His eternity; God one in this sense, that His +being admitted of no plurality of qualities, or possessed of qualities, +which in all eternity are inherent in His being; in the world to come only +bliss and doom, or also an intermediate state for the neutral. We might +continue the enumeration and always show to the Christian church-historian +or theologian old acquaintances in Moslim garb. That is why Maracci and +Reland could understand Jews and Christians yielding to the temptation +of joining Islam, and that also explains why Catholic and Protestant +dogmatists could accuse each other of Crypto-mohammedanism. + +Not until the beginning of the tenth century A.D. did the orthodox +Mohammedan dogma begin to emerge from the clash of opinions into its +definite shape. The Mu'tazilites had advocated man's free will; had given +prominence to justice and holiness in their conception of God, had denied +distinct qualities in God and the eternity of God's Word; had accepted a +place for the neutral between Paradise and Hell; and for some time the +favour of the powers in authority seemed to assure the victory of their +system. Al-Ash'ari contradicted all these points, and his system has in the +end been adopted by the great majority. The Mu'tazilite doctrines for a +long time still enthralled many minds, but they ended by taking refuge +in the political heresy of Shi'itism. In the most conservative circles, +opponents to all speculation were never wanting; but they were obliged +unconsciously to make large concessions to systematic thought; for in the +Moslim world as elsewhere religious belief without dogma had become as +impossible as breathing is without air. + +Thus, in Islam, a whole system, which could not even pretend to draw its +authority from the Sunnah, had come to be accepted. It was not difficult +to justify this deviation from the orthodox abhorrence against novelties. +Islam has always looked at the world in a pessimistic way, a view expressed +in numberless prophetic sayings. The world is bad and will become worse and +worse. Religion and morality will have to wage an ever more hopeless war +against unbelief, against heresy and ungodly ways of living. While this +is surely no reason for entering into any compromise with doctrines which +depart but a hair's breadth from Qoran and Sunnah, it necessitates methods +of defence against heresy as unknown in Mohammed's time as heresy itself. +"Necessity knows no law" is a principle fully accepted in Islam; and heresy +is an enemy of the faith that can only be defeated with dialectic weapons. +So the religious truths preached by Mohammed have not been altered in +any way; but under the stress of necessity they have been clad in modern +armour, which has somewhat changed their aspect. + +Moreover, Islam has a theory, which alone is sufficient to justify the +whole later development of doctrine as well as of law. This theory, +whose importance for the system can hardly be overestimated, and which, +nevertheless, has until very recent times constantly been overlooked by +Western students of Islam, finds its classical expression in the following +words, put into the mouth of Mohammed: "My community will never agree in an +error." In terms more familiar to us, this means that the Mohammedan Church +taken as a whole is infallible; that all the decisions on matters practical +or theoretical, on which it is agreed, are binding upon its members. +Nowhere else is the catholic instinct of Islam more clearly expressed. + +A faithful Mohammedan student, after having struggled through a handbook of +law, may be vexed by a doubt as to whether these endless casuistic precepts +have been rightly deduced from the Qoran and the Sacred Tradition. His +doubt, however, will at once be silenced, if he bears in mind that Allah +speaks more plainly to him by this infallible Agreement (_Ijma'_) of the +Community than through Qoran and Tradition; nay, that the contents of both +those sacred sources, without this perfect intermediary, would be to a +great extent unintelligible to him. Even the differences between the +schools of law may be based on this theory of the Ijma'; for, does not the +infallible Agreement of the Community teach us that a certain diversity +of opinion is a merciful gift of God? It was through the Agreement that +dogmatic speculations as well as minute discussions about points of law +became legitimate. The stamp of Ijma' was essential to every rule of faith +and life, to all manners and customs. + +All sorts of religious ideas and practices, which could not possibly be +deduced from Mohammed's message, entered the Moslim world by the permission +of Ijma'. Here we need think only of mysticism and of the cult of saints. + +Some passages of the Qoran may perhaps be interpreted in such a way that we +hear the subtler strings of religious emotion vibrating in them. The chief +impression that Mohammed's Allah makes before the Hijrah is that of awful +majesty, at which men tremble from afar; they fear His punishment, dare +hardly be sure of His reward, and hope much from His mercy. This impression +is a lasting one; but, after the Hijrah, Allah is also heard quietly +reasoning with His obedient servants, giving them advice and commands, +which they have to follow in order to frustrate all resistance to His +authority and to deserve His satisfaction. He is always the Lord, the King +of the world, who speaks to His humble servants. But the lamp which Allah +had caused Mohammed to hold up to guide mankind with its light, was raised +higher and higher after the Prophet's death, in order to shed its light +over an ever increasing part of humanity. This was not possible, however, +without its reservoir being replenished with all the different kinds of oil +that had from time immemorial given light to those different nations. The +oil of mysticism came from Christian circles, and its Neo-Platonic origin +was quite unmistakable; Persia and India also contributed to it. There were +those who, by asceticism, by different methods of mortifying the flesh, +liberated the spirit that it might rise and become united with the origin +of all being; to such an extent, that with some the profession of faith +was reduced to the blasphemous exclamation: "I am Allah." Others tried to +become free from the sphere of the material and the temporal by certain +methods of thought, combined or not combined with asceticism. Here the +necessity of guidance was felt, and congregations came into existence, +whose purpose it was to permit large groups of people under the leadership +of their sheikhs, to participate simultaneously in the mystic union. The +influence which spread most widely was that of leaders like Ghazali, the +Father of the later Mohammedan Church, who recommended moral purification +of the soul as the only way by which men should come nearer to God. His +mysticism wished to avoid the danger of pantheism, to which so many others +were led by their contemplations, and which so often engendered disregard +of the revealed law, or even of morality. Some wanted to pass over the gap +between the Creator and the created along a bridge of contemplation; and +so, driven by the fire of sublime passion, precipitate themselves towards +the object of their love, in a kind of rapture, which poets compare with +intoxication. The evil world said that the impossibility to accomplish this +heavenly union often induced those people to imitate it for the time being +with the earthly means of wine and the indulgence in sensual love. + +Characteristic of all these sorts of mysticism is their esoteric pride. +All those emotions are meant only for a small number of chosen ones. Even +Ghazali's ethical mysticism is not for the multitude. The development of +Islam as a whole, from the Hijrah on, has always been greater in breadth +than in depth; and, consequently, its pedagogics have remained defective. +Even some of the noblest minds in Islam restrict true religious life to an +aristocracy, and accept the ignorance of the multitude as an irremediable +evil. + +Throughout the centuries pantheistic and animistic forms of mysticism have +found many adherents among the Mohammedans; but the infallible Agreement +has persisted in calling that heresy. Ethical mysticism, since Ghazali, has +been fully recognized; and, with law and dogma, it forms the sacred trio of +sciences of Islam, to the study of which the Arabic humanistic arts +serve as preparatory instruments. All other sciences, however useful and +necessary, are of this world and have no value for the world to come. The +unfaithful appreciate and study them as well as do the Mohammedans; but, +on Mohammedan soil they must be coloured with a Mohammedan hue, and their +results may never clash with the three religious sciences. Physics, +astronomy, and philosophy have often found it difficult to observe this +restriction, and therefore they used to be at least slightly suspected in +pious circles. + +Mysticism did not only owe to Ijma' its place in the sacred trio, but it +succeeded, better than dogmatics, in confirming its right with words of +Allah and His Prophet. In Islam mysticism and allegory are allied in the +usual way; for the _illuminati_ the words had quite a different meaning +than for common, every-day people. So the Qoran was made to speak the +language of mysticism; and mystic commentaries of the Holy Book exist, +which, with total disregard for philological and historical objections, +explain the verses of the Revelation as expressions of the profoundest soul +experiences. Clear utterances in this spirit were put into the Prophet's +mouth; and, like the canonists, the leaders on the mystic Way to God +boasted of a spiritual genealogy which went back to Mohammed. Thus the +Prophet is said to have declared void all knowledge and fulfillment of the +law which lacks mystic experience. + +Of course only "true" mysticism is justified by Ijma' and confirmed by the +evidence of Qoran and Sunnah; but, about the bounds between "true" and +"false" or heretical mysticism, there exists in a large measure the +well-known diversity of opinion allowed by God's grace. The ethical +mysticism of al-Ghazali is generally recognized as orthodox; and the +possibility of attaining to a higher spiritual sphere by means of methodic +asceticism and contemplation is doubted by few. The following opinion has +come to prevail in wide circles: the Law offers the bread of life to all +the faithful, the dogmatics are the arsenal from which the weapons must be +taken to defend the treasures of religion against unbelief and heresy, but +mysticism shows the earthly pilgrim the way to Heaven. + +It was a much lower need that assured the cult of saints a place in the +doctrine and practice of Islam. As strange as is Mohammed's transformation +from an ordinary son of man, which he wanted to be, into the incarnation +of Divine Light, as the later biographers represent him, it is still more +astounding that the intercession of saints should have become indispensable +to the community of Mohammed, who, according to Tradition, cursed the Jews +and Christians because they worshipped the shrines of their prophets. +Almost every Moslim village has its patron saint; every country has its +national saints; every province of human life has its own human rulers, +who are intermediate between the Creator and common mortals. In no other +particular has Islam more fully accommodated itself to the religions it +supplanted. The popular practice, which is in many cases hardly to be +distinguished from polytheism, was, to a great extent, favoured by the +theory of the intercession of the pious dead, of whose friendly assistance +people might assure themselves by doing good deeds in their names and to +their eternal advantage. + +The ordinary Moslim visitor of the graves of saints does not trouble +himself with this ingenious compromise between the severe monotheism of his +prophet and the polytheism of his ancestors. He is firmly convinced, that +the best way to obtain the satisfaction of his desire after earthly or +heavenly goods is to give the saint whose special care these are what he +likes best; and he confidently leaves it to the venerated one to settle the +matter with Allah, who is far too high above the ordinary mortal to allow +of direct contact. + +In support even of this startling deviation from the original, traditions +have been devised. Moreover, the veneration of human beings was favoured +by some forms of mysticism; for, like many saints, many mystics had their +eccentricities, and it was much to the advantage of mystic theologians if +the vulgar could be persuaded to accept their aberrations from normal +rules of life as peculiarities of holy men. But Ijma' did more even than +tradition and mysticism to make the veneration of legions of saints +possible in the temples of the very men who were obliged by their ritual +law to say to Allah several time daily: "Thee only do we worship and to +Thee alone do we cry for help." + +In the tenth century of our era Islam's process of accommodation was +finished in all its essentials. From this time forward, if circumstances +were favourable, it could continue the execution of its world conquering +plans without being compelled to assimilate any more foreign elements. +Against each spiritual asset that another universal religion could boast, +it could now put forward something of a similar nature, but which still +showed characteristics of its own, and the superiority of which it could +sustain by arguments perfectly satisfactory to its followers. From that +time on, Islam strove to distinguish itself ever more sharply from its most +important rivals. There was no absolute stagnation, the evolution was not +entirely stopped; but it moved at a much quieter pace, and its direction +was governed by internal motives, not by influences from outside. Moslim +catholicism had attained its full growth. + +We cannot within the small compass of these lectures consider the +excrescences of the normal Islam, the Shi'itic ultras, who venerated +certain descendants of Mohammed as infallible rulers of the world, +Ishma'ilites, Qarmatians, Assassins; nor the modern bastards of Islam, such +as the Sheikhites, the Babi's, the Beha'is--who have found some adherents +in America--and other sects, which indeed sprang up on Moslim soil, but +deliberately turned to non-Mohammedan sources for their inspirations. We +must draw attention, however, to protests raised by certain minorities +against some of the ideas and practices which had been definitely adopted +by the majority. + +In the midst of Mohammedan Catholicism there always lived and moved more or +less freely "protestant" elements. The comparison may even be continued, +with certain qualifications, and we may speak also of a conservative and +of a liberal protestantism in Islam. The conservative Protestantism +is represented by the Hanbalitic school and kindred spirits, who most +emphatically preached that the Agreement (Ijma') of every period should be +based on that of the "pious ancestors." They therefore tested every dogma +and practice by the words and deeds of the Prophet, his contemporaries, and +the leaders of the Community in the first decades after Mohammed's death. +In their eyes the Church of later days had degenerated; and they declined +to consider the agreement of its doctors as justifying the penetration +into Islam of ideas and usages of foreign origin. The cult of saints was +rejected by them as altogether contradictory to the Qoran and the genuine +tradition. These protestants of Islam may be compared to those of +Christianity also in this respect, that they accepted the results of the +evolution and assimilation of the first three centuries of Islam, but +rejected later additions as abuse and corruption. When on the verge of our +nineteenth century, they tried, as true Moslims, to force by material means +their religious conceptions on others, they were combated as heretics by +the authorities of catholic Islam. Central and Western Arabia formed the +battlefield on which these zealots, called Wahhabites after their leader, +were defeated by Mohammed Ali, the first Khedive, and his Egyptian army. +Since they have given up their efforts at violent reconstitution of what +they consider to be the original Islam, they are left alone, and their +ideas have found adherents far outside Arabia, _e.g._, in British India and +in Northern and Central Africa. + +In still quite another way many Moslims who found their freedom of thought +or action impeded by the prevailing law and doctrine, have returned to the +origin of their religion. Too much attached to the traditions of their +faith, deliberately to disregard these impediments, they tried to find in +the Qoran and Tradition arguments in favour of what was dictated to them by +Reason; and they found those arguments as easily as former generations had +found the bases on which to erect their casuistry, their dogma, and their +mysticism. This implied an interpretation of the oldest sources independent +from the catholic development of Islam, and in contradiction with the +general opinion of the canonists, according to whom, since the fourth or +fifth century of the Hijrah, no one is qualified for such free research. A +certain degree of independence of mind, together with a strong attachment +to their spiritual past, has given rise in the Moslim world to this sort +of liberal protestantism, which in our age has many adherents among the +Mohammedans who have come in contact with modern civilization. + +That the partisans of all these different conceptions could remain together +as the children of one spiritual family, is largely owing to the elastic +character of Ijma', the importance of which is to some extent acknowledged +by catholics and protestants, by moderns and conservatives. It has never +been contested that the community, whose agreement was the test of truth, +should not consist of the faithful masses, but of the expert elect. In +a Christian church we should have spoken of the clergy, with a further +definition of the organs through which it was to express itself synod, +council, or Pope. Islam has no clergy, as we have seen; the qualification +of a man to have his own opinion depends entirely upon the scope of his +knowledge or rather of his erudition. There is no lack of standards, fixed +by Mohammedan authorities, in which the requirements for a scholar to +qualify him for Ijma' are detailed. The principal criterion is the +knowledge of the canon law; quite what we should expect from the history +of the evolution of Islam. But, of course, dogmatists and mystics had also +their own "agreements" on the questions concerning them, and through the +compromise between Law, Dogma, and Mysticism, there could not fail to +come into existence a kind of mixed Ijma'. Moreover, the standards and +definitions could have only a certain theoretical value, as there never has +existed a body that could speak in the name of all. The decisions of Ijma' +were therefore to be ascertained only in a vague and general way. The +speakers were individuals whose own authority depended on Ijma', whereas +Ijma' should have been their collective decision. Thus it was possible for +innumerable shades of Catholicism and protestantism to live under one roof; +with a good deal of friction, it is true, but without definite breach or +schism, no one sect being able to eject another from the community. + +Moslim political authorities are bound not only to extend the domain of +Islam, but also to keep the community in the right path in its life and +doctrine. This task they have always conceived in accordance with their +political interests; Islam has had its religious persecutions but tolerance +was very usual, and even official favouring of heresy not quite exceptional +with Moslim rulers. Regular maintenance of religious discipline existed +nowhere. Thus in the bond of political obedience elements which might +otherwise have been scattered were held together. The political decay of +Islam in our a day has done away with what had been left of official power +to settle religious differences and any organization of spiritual authority +never existed. Hence it is only natural that the diversity of opinion +allowed by the grace of Allah now shows itself on a greater scale than ever +before. + + + +III + +THE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ISLAM + + +In the first period of Islam, the functions of what we call Church and +what we call State were exercised by the same authority. Its political +development is therefore of great importance for the understanding of its +religious growth. + +The Prophet, when he spoke in the name of God, was the lawgiver of his +community, and it was rightly understood by the later Faithful that his +indispensable explanations of God's word had also legislative power. From +the time of the Hijrah the nature of the case made him the ruler, the +judge, and the military commander of his theocratic state. Moreover, Allah +expressly demanded of the Moslims that they should obey "the Messenger +of God, and those amongst them who have authority."[1] We see by this +expression that Mohammed shared his temporal authority with others. His +co-rulers were not appointed, their number was nowhere defined, they were +not a closed circle; they were the notables of the tribes or other groups +who had arrayed themselves under Mohammed's authority, and a few who had +gained influence by their personality. In their councils Mohammed's word +had no decisive power, except when he spoke in the name of Allah; and we +know how careful he was to give oracles only in cases of extreme need. + +[Footnote 1: Qoran, iv., 62.] + +In the last years of Mohammed's life his authority became extended over a +large part of Arabia; but he did very little in the way of centralization +of government. He sent _'amils, i.e._, agents, to the conquered tribes +or villages, who had to see that, in the first place, the most important +regulations of the Qoran were followed, and, secondly, that the tax into +which the duty of almsgiving had been converted was promptly paid, and +that the portion of it intended for the central fund at Medina was duly +delivered. After the great conquests, the governors of provinces of the +Moslim Empire, who often exercised a despotic power, were called by the +same title of _'amils_. The agents of Mohammed, however, did not possess +such unlimited authority. It was only gradually that the Arabs learned the +value of good discipline and submission to a strong guidance, and adopted +the forms of orderly government as they found them in the conquered lands. + +Through the death of Mohammed everything became uncertain. The combination +under one leadership of such a heterogeneous mass as that of his Arabs +would have been unthinkable a few years before. It became quite natural, +though, as soon as the Prophet's mouth was recognized as the organ of +Allah's voice. Must this monarchy be continued after Allah's mouthpiece had +ceased to exist? It was not at all certain. The force of circumstances and +the energy of some of Mohammed's counsellors soon led to the necessary +decisions. A number of the notables of the community succeeded in forcing +upon the hesitating or unwilling members the acceptance of the monarchy as +a permanent institution. There must be a khalif, a deputy of the Prophet in +all his functions (except that of messenger of God), who would be ruler +and judge and leader of public worship, but above all _amir al-mu'minin_, +"Commander of the Faithful," in the struggle both against the apostate +Arabs and against the hostile tribes on the northern border. + +But for the military success of the first khalifs Islam would never have +become a universal religion. Every exertion was made to keep the troops of +the Faithful complete. The leaders followed only Mohammed's example +when they represented fighting for Allah's cause as the most enviable +occupation. The duty of military service was constantly impressed upon the +Moslims; the lust of booty and the desire for martyrdom, to which the Qoran +assigned the highest reward, were excited to the utmost. At a later period, +it became necessary in the interests of order to temper the result of this +excitement by traditions in which those of the Faithful who died in the +exercise of a peaceful, honest profession were declared to be witnesses to +the Faith as well as those who were slain in battle against the enemies of +God,--traditions in which the real and greater holy war was described as +the struggle against evil passions. The necessity of such a mitigating +reaction, the spirit in which the chapters on holy war of Mohammedan +lawbooks are conceived, and the galvanizing power which down to our own day +is contained in a call to arms in the name of Allah, all this shows that +in the beginning of Islam the love of battle had been instigated at the +expense of everything else. + +The institution of the Khalifate had hardly been agreed upon when the +question of who should occupy it became the subject of violent dissension. +The first four khalifs, whose reigns occupied the first thirty years after +Mohammed's death, were Qoraishites, tribesmen of the Prophet, and moreover +men who had been his intimate friends. The sacred tradition relates a +saying of Mohammed: "The _imams_ are from Qoraish," intended to confine the +Khalifate to men from that tribe. History, however, shows that this edict +was forged to give the stamp of legality to the results of a long political +struggle. For at Mohammed's death the Medinese began fiercely contesting +the claims of the Qoraishites; and during the reign of Ali, the fourth +Khalif, the Kharijites rebelled, demanding, as democratic rigorists, the +free election of khalifs without restriction to the tribe of Qoraish or to +any other descent. Their standard of requirements contained only religious +and moral qualities; and they claimed for the community the continual +control of the chosen leader's behaviour and the right of deposing him +as soon as they found him failing in the fulfilment of his duties. Their +anarchistic revolutions, which during more than a century occasionally gave +much trouble to the Khalifate, caused Islam to accentuate the aristocratic +character of its monarchy. They were overcome and reduced to a sect, the +survivors of which still exist in South-Eastern Arabia, in Zanzibar, and in +Northern Africa; however, the actual life of these communities resembles +that of their spiritual forefathers to a very remote degree. + +Another democratic doctrine, still more radical than that of the +Kharijites, makes even non-Arabs eligible for the Khalifate. It must have +had a considerable number of adherents, for the tradition which makes the +Prophet responsible for it is to be found in the canonic collections. Later +generations, however, rendered it harmless by exegesis; they maintained +that in this text "commander" meant only subordinate chiefs, and not "the +Commander of the Faithful." It became a dogma in the orthodox Mohammedan +world, respected up to the sixteenth century, that only members of the +tribe of Qoraish could take the place of the Messenger of God. + +The chance of success was greater for the legitimists than for the +democratic party. The former wished to make the Khalifate the privilege +of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, and his descendants. At +first the community did not take much notice of that "House of Mohammed"; +and it did not occur to any one to give them a special part in the +direction of affairs. Ali and Fatima themselves asked to be placed in +possession only of certain goods which had belonged to Mohammed, but which +the first khalifs would not allow to be regarded as his personal property; +they maintained that the Prophet had had the disposal of them not as owner, +but as head of the state. This narrow greed and absence of political +insight seemed to be hereditary in the descendants of Ali and Fatima; for +there was no lack of superstitious reverence for them in later times, and +if one of them had possessed something of the political talent of the best +Omayyads and Abbasids he would certainly have been able to supplant them. + +After the third Khalif, Othman, had been murdered by his political +opponents, Ali became his successor; but he was more remote than any of his +predecessors from enjoying general sympathy. At that time the Shi'ah, the +"Party" of the House of the Prophet, gradually arose, which maintained that +Ali should have been the first Khalif, and that his descendants should +succeed him. The veneration felt for those descendants increased in the +same proportion as that for the Prophet himself; and moreover, there +were at all times malcontents, whose advantage would be in joining any +revolution against the existing government. Yet the Alids never succeeded +in accomplishing anything against the dynasties of the Omayyads, the +Abbasids, and the Ottomans, except in a few cases of transitory importance +only. + +The Fatimite dynasty, of rather doubtful descent, which ruled a part +of Northern Africa and Egypt in the tenth century A.D., was completely +suppressed after some two and a half centuries. The Sherifs who have ruled +Morocco for more than 950 years were not chiefs of a party that considered +the legality of their leadership a dogma; they owe their local Khalifate +far more to the out-of-the-way position of their country which prevented +Abbasids and Turks from meddling with their affairs. Otherwise, they would +have been obliged at any rate to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Great +Lord of Constantinople. This was the case with the Sherifs of Mecca, who +ever since the twelfth century have regarded the sacred territory as their +domain. Their principality arose out of the general political disturbance +and the division of the Mohammedan empire into a number of kingdoms, whose +mutual strife prevented them from undertaking military operations in the +desert. These Sherifs raised no claim to the Khalifate; and the Shi'itic +tendencies they displayed in the Middle Ages had no political significance, +although they had intimate relations with the Zaidites of Southern Arabia. +As first Egypt and afterwards Turkey made their protectorate over the holy +cities more effective, the princes of Mecca became orthodox. + +The Zaidites, who settled in Yemen from the ninth century on, are really +Shi'ites, although of the most moderate kind. Without striving after +expansion outside Arabia, they firmly refuse to give up their own Khalifate +and to acknowledge the sovereignty of any non-Alid ruler; the efforts of +the Turks to subdue them or to make a compromise with them have had no +lasting results. This is the principal obstacle against their being +included in the orthodox community, although their admission is defended, +even under present circumstances, by many non-political Moslim scholars. +The Zaidites are the remnant of the original Arabian Shi'ah, which for +centuries has counted adherents in all parts of the Moslim world, and some +of whose tenets have penetrated Mohammedan orthodoxy. The almost general +veneration of the sayyids and sherifs, as the descendants of Mohammed are +entitled, is due to this influence. + +The Shi'ah outside Arabia, whose adherents used to be persecuted by the +official authorities, not without good cause, became the receptacle of all +the revolutionary and heterodox ideas maintained by the converted peoples. +Alongside of the _visible_ political history of Islam of the first +centuries, these circles built up their evolution of the _unseen_ +community, the only true one, guided by the Holy Family, and the reality +was to them a continuous denial of the postulates of religion. Their first +_imam_ or successor of the Prophet was Ali, whose divine right had been +unjustly denied by the three usurpers, Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman, and who +had exercised actual authority for a few years in constant strife with +Kharijites and Omayyads. The efforts of his legitimate successors to assert +their authority were constantly drowned in blood; until, at last, there +were no more candidates for the dangerous office. This prosaic fact was +converted by the adherents of the House of Mohammed into the romance, +that the last _imam_ of a line of _seven_ according to some, and _twelve_ +according to others, had disappeared in a mysterious way, to return at the +end of days as Mahdi, the Guided One, who should restore the political +order which had been disturbed ever since Mohammed's death. Until his +reappearance there is nothing left for the community to do but to await +his advent, under the guidance of their secular rulers (e.g., the shahs of +Persia) and enlightened by their authoritative scholars (_mujtahids_), who +explain faith and law to them from the tradition of the Sacred Family. +The great majority of Mohammedans, as they do not accept this legitimist +theory, are counted by the Shi'ah outside Arabia as unclean heretics, if +not as unbelievers. + +At the beginning of the fifteenth century this Shi'ah found its political +centre in Persia, and opposed itself fanatically to the Sultan of Turkey, +who at about the same time came to stand at the head of orthodox Islam. +All differences of doctrine were now sharpened and embittered by political +passion, and the efforts of single enlightened princes or scholars to +induce the various peoples to extend to each other, across the political +barriers, the hand of brotherhood in the principles of faith, all failed. +It is only in the last few years that the general political distress of +Islam has inclined the estranged relatives towards reconciliation. + +Besides the veneration of the Alids, orthodox Islam has adopted another +Shiitic element, the expectation of the Mahdi, which we have just +mentioned. Most Sunnites expect that at the end of the world there will +come from the House of Mohammed a successor to him, guided by Allah, who +will maintain the revealed law as faithfully as the first four khalifs did +according to the idealized history, and who will succeed with God's help in +making Islam victorious over the whole world. That the chiliastic kingdom +of the Mahdi must in the end be destroyed by Anti-Christ, in order that +Jesus may be able once more to re-establish the holy order before the +Resurrection, was a necessary consequence of the amalgamation of the +political expectations formed under Shi'itic influence, with eschatological +conceptions formerly borrowed by Islam from Christianity. + +The orthodox Mahdi differs from that of the Shi'ah in many ways. He is not +an _imam_ returning after centuries of disappearance, but a descendant of +Mohammed, coming into the world in the ordinary way to fulfill the ideal of +the Khalifate. He does not re-establish the legitimate line of successors +of the Prophet; but he renews the glorious tradition of the Khalifate, +which after the first thirty years was dragged into the general +deterioration, common to all human things. The prophecies concerning his +appearance are sometimes of an equally supernatural kind as those of the +Shiites, so that the period of his coming has passed more and more +from the political sphere to which it originally belonged, into that of +eschatology. Yet, naturally, it is easier for a popular leader to make +himself regarded as the orthodox Mahdi than to play the part of the +returned _imam_. Mohammedan rulers have had more trouble than they cared +for with candidates for the dignity of the Mahdi; and it is not surprising +that in official Turkish circles there is a tendency to simplify the +Messianic expectation by giving the fullest weight to this traditional +saying of Mohammed "There is no mahdi but Jesus," seeing that Jesus must +come from the clouds, whereas other mahdis may arise from human society. + +In the orthodox expectation of the Mahdi the Moslim theory has most sharply +expressed its condemnation of the later political history of Islam. In the +course of the first century after the Hijrah the Qoran scholars (_garis_) +arose; and these in turn were succeeded by the men of tradition (_ahl +al-hadith_) and by the canonists (_faqihs_) of later times. These learned +men (_ulama'_) would not endure any interference with their right to state +with authority what Islam demanded of its leaders. They laid claim to an +interpretative authority concerning the divine law, which bordered upon +supreme legislative power; their agreement (Ijma') was that of the +infallible community. But just as beside this legislative agreement, a +dogmatic and a mystic agreement grew up, in the same way there was a +separate Ijma' regarding the political government, upon which the canonists +could exercise only an indirect influence. In other words since the +accession of the Omayyad khalifs, the actual authority rested in the hands +of dynasties, and under the Abbasids government assumed even a despotic +character. This relation between the governors and governed, originally +alien to Islam, was not changed by the transference of the actual power +into the hands of _wezirs_ and officers of the bodyguard; nor yet by +the disintegration of the empire into a number of small despotisms, the +investiture of which by the khalif became a mere formality. Dynastic and +political questions were settled in a comparatively small circle, by court +intrigue, stratagems, and force; and the canonists, like the people, were +bound to accept the results. Politically inclined interpreters of the law +might try to justify their compulsory assent to the facts by theories about +the Ijma' of the notables residing in the capital, who took the urgent +decisions about the succession, which decisions were subsequently confirmed +by general homage to the new prince; but they had no illusions about the +real influence of the community upon the choice of its leader. The most +independent scholars made no attempt to disguise the fact that the course +which political affairs had taken was the clearest proof of the moral +degeneration which had set in, and they pronounced an equally bold and +merciless criticism upon the government in all its departments. It became +a matter of course that a pious scholar must keep himself free from all +intercourse with state officials, on pain of losing his reputation. + +The bridge across the gulf that separated the spiritual from the temporal +authorities was formed by those state officials who, for the practice +of their office, needed a knowledge of the divine law, especially the +_qadhis_. It was originally the duty of these judges to decide all legal +differences between Mohammedans, or men of other creeds under Mohammedan +protection, who called for their decision. The actual division between the +rulers and the interpreters of the law caused an ever-increasing limitation +of the authority of the _qadhis_. The laws of marriage, family, and +inheritance remained, however, their inalienable territory; and a number +of other matters, in which too great a religious interest was involved to +leave them to the caprice of the governors or to the customary law outside +Islam, were usually included. But as the _qadhis_ were appointed by the +governors, they were obliged in the exercise of their office to give due +consideration to the wishes of their constituents; and moreover they were +often tainted by what was regarded in Mohammedan countries as inseparable +from government employment: bribery. + +On this account, the canonists, although it was from their ranks that the +officials of the _qadhi_ court were to be drawn, considered no words too +strong to express their contempt for the office of _qadhi_. In handbooks +of the Law of all times, the _qadhis "of our time"_ are represented as +unscrupulous beings, whose unreliable judgments were chiefly dictated by +their greed. Such an opinion would not have acquired full force, if it +had not been ascribed to Mohammed; in fact, the Prophet, according to a +tradition, had said that out of three _qadhis_ two are destined to +Hell. Anecdotes of famous scholars who could not be prevailed upon +by imprisonment or castigation to accept the office of _qadhis_ are +innumerable. Those who succumbed to the temptation forfeited the respect of +the circle to which they had belonged. + +I once witnessed a case of this kind, and the former friends of the _qadhi_ +did not spare him their bitter reproaches. He remarked that the judge, +whose duty it was to maintain the divine law, verily held a noble office. +They refuted this by saying that this defence was admissible only for +earlier and better times, but not for "the _qadhis_ of our time." To which +he cuttingly replied "And ye, are ye canonists of the better, the ancient +time?" In truth, the students of sacred science are just as much "of our +time" as the _qadhis_. Even in the eleventh century the great theologian +Ghazali counted them all equal.[1] Not a few of them give their +authoritative advice according to the wishes of the highest bidder or +of him who has the greatest influence, hustle for income from pious +institutions, and vie with each other in a revel of casuistic subtleties. +But among those scholars there are and always have been some who, in +poverty and simplicity, devote their life to the study of Allah's law with +the sole object of pleasing him; among the _qadhis_ such are not easily to +be found. Amongst the other state officials the title of _qadhi_ may count +as a spiritual one, and the public may to a certain extent share this +reverence; but in the eyes of the pious and of the canonists such glory is +only reflected from the clerical robe, in which the worldling disguises +himself. + +[Footnote 1: Ghazali, _Ihya_, book i., ch. 6, quotes the words of a pious +scholar of the olden time: "The 'ulama' will (on the Day of judgment) +be gathered amongst the prophets, but the _qadhis_ amongst the temporal +rulers." Ghazali adds "alike with these _qadhis_ are all those canonists +who make use of their learning for worldly purposes."] + +To the _mufti_ criticism is somewhat more favourable than to the _qadhi_. A +mufti is not necessarily an official; every canonist who, at the request of +a layman, expounds to him the meaning of the law on any particular point +and gives a _fatwa_, acts as a _mufti_. Be the question in reference to the +behaviour of the individual towards God or towards man, with regard to his +position in a matter of litigation, in criticism of a state regulation or +of a sentence of a judge, or out of pure love of knowledge, the scholar is +morally obliged to the best of his knowledge to enlighten the enquirer. He +ought to do this for the love of God; but he must live, and the enquirer is +expected to give him a suitable present for his trouble. This again gives +rise to the danger that he who offers most is attended to first; and that +for the liberal rich man a dish is prepared from the casuistic store, as +far as possible according to his taste. The temptation is by no means so +great as that to which the _qadhi_ is exposed; especially since the office +of judge has become an article of commerce, so that the very first step +towards the possession of it is in the direction of Hell. Moreover in +"these degenerate times"--which have existed for about ten centuries--the +acceptance of an appointment to the function of _qadhi_ is not regarded as +a duty, while a competent scholar may only refuse to give a _fatwa_ under +exceptional circumstances. Still, an unusually strong character is needed +by the _mufti_, if he is not to fall into the snares of the world. + +Besides _qadhis_ who settle legal disputes of a certain kind according to +the revealed law, the state requires its own advisers who can explain +that law, i.e., official _muftis_. Firstly, the government itself may be +involved in a litigation; moreover in some government regulations it may be +necessary to avoid giving offence to canonists and their strict disciples. +In such cases it is better to be armed beforehand with an expert opinion +than to be exposed to dangerous criticism which might find an echo in a +wide circle. The official _mufti_ must therefore be somewhat pliable, to +say the least. Moreover, any private person has the right to put questions +to the state _mufti_; and the _qadhi_ court is bound to take his answers +into account in its decisions. In this way the _muftis_ have absorbed a +part of the duties of the _qadhis_, and so their office is dragged along in +the degradation that the unofficial canonists denounce unweariedly in their +writings and in their teaching. + +The way in which the most important _mufti_ places are filled and above +all the position which the head-_mufti_ of the Turkish Empire, the +Sheikh-ul-Islam, holds at any particular period, may well serve as a +touchstone of the influence of the canonists on public life. If this is +great, then even the most powerful sultan has only the possibility of +choice between a few great scholars, put forward or at all events not +disapproved of by their own guild, strengthened by public opinion. If, on +the other hand, there is no keen interest felt in the Shari'ah (Divine +Law), then the temporal rulers can do pretty much what they like with these +representatives of the canon law. Under the tyrannical sway of Sultan +Abd-ul-Hamid, the Sheikh-ul-Islam was little more than a tool for him and +his palace clique, and for their own reasons, the members of the Committee +of Union and Progress, who rule at Constantinople since 1908, made no +change in this: each new ministry had its own Sheikh-ul-Islam, who had to +be, above everything, a faithful upholder of the constitutional theory +held by the Committee. The time is past when the Sultan and the Porte, +in framing even the most pressing reform, must first anxiously assure +themselves of the position that the _hojas, tolbas, softas_, the +theologians in a word, would take towards it, and of the influence that +the Sheikh-ul-Islam could use in opposition to their plans. The political +authority makes its deference to the canonists dependent upon their strict +obedience. + +This important change is a natural consequence of the modernization of +Mohammedan political life, a movement through which the expounders of a +law which has endeavoured to remain stationary since the year 1000 must +necessarily get into straits. This explains also why the religious life of +Mohammedans is in some respects freer in countries under non-Mohammedan +authority, than under a Mohammedan government. Under English, Dutch, or +French rule the 'ulamas are less interfered with in their teaching, the +_muftis_ in their recommendations, and the _qadhis_ in their judgments of +questions of marriage and inheritance than in Turkey, where the life of +Islam, as state religion, lies under official control. In indirectly +governed "native states" the relation of Mohammedan "Church and State" may +much more resemble that in Turkey, and this is sometimes to the advantage +of the sovereign ruler. Under the direct government of a modern state, the +Mohammedan group is treated as a religious community, whose particular life +has just the same claim to independence as that of other denominations. The +only justifiable limitation is that the program of the forcible reduction +of the world to Mohammedan authority be kept within the scholastic walls as +a point of eschatology, and not considered as a body of prescriptions, the +execution of which must be prepared. + +The extensive political program of Islam, developed during the first +centuries of astounding expansion, has yet not prevented millions of +Mohammedans from resigning themselves to reversed conditions in which at +the present time many more Mohammedans live under foreign authority than +under their own. The acceptance of this change was facilitated by the +historical pessimism of Islam, which makes the mind prepared for every +sort of decay, and by the true Moslim habit of resignation to painful +experiences, not through fatalism, but through reverence for Allah's +inscrutable will. At the same time, it would be a gross mistake to imagine +that the idea of universal conquest may be considered as obliterated. This +is the case with the intellectuals and with many practical commercial or +industrial men; but the canonists and the vulgar still live in the illusion +of the days of Islam's greatness. + +The legists continue to ground their appreciation of every actual political +condition on the law of the holy war, which war ought never to be allowed +to cease entirely until all mankind is reduced to the authority of +Islam--the heathen by conversion, the adherents of acknowledged Scripture +by submission. Even if they admit the improbability of this at present, +they are comforted and encouraged by the recollection of the lengthy period +of humiliation that the Prophet himself had to suffer before Allah bestowed +victory upon his arms; and they fervently join with the Friday preacher, +when he pronounces the prayer, taken from the Qoran: "And lay not on us, O +our Lord, that for which we have not strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have pity upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the unbelievers!" And the common people are willingly taught by the +canonists and feed their hope of better days upon the innumerable legends +of the olden time and the equally innumerable apocalyptic prophecies about +the future. The political blows that fall upon Islam make less impression +upon their simple minds than the senseless stories about the power of +the Sultan of Stambul, that would instantly be revealed if he were not +surrounded by treacherous servants, and the fantastic tidings of the +miracles that Allah works in the Holy Cities of Arabia which are +inaccessible to the unfaithful. + +The conception of the Khalifate still exercises a fascinating influence, +regarded in the light of a central point of union against the unfaithful. +Apart from the _'amils_, Mohammed's agents amongst the Arabian tribes, +the Khalifate was the only political institution which arose out of the +necessity of the Moslim community, without foreign influence. It rescued +Islam from threatening destruction, and it led the Faithful to conquest. No +wonder that in historic legend the first four occupiers of that leadership, +who, from Medina, accomplished such great things, have been glorified into +saints, and are held up to all the following generations as examples to put +them to shame. In the Omayyads the ancient aristocracy of Mecca came to the +helm, and under them, the Mohammedan state was above all, as Wellhausen +styled it, "the Arabian Empire." The best khalifs of this house had +the political wisdom to give the governors of the provinces sufficient +independence to prevent schism, and to secure to themselves the authority +in important matters. The reaction of the non-Arabian converts against the +suppression of their own culture by the Arabian conquerors found support in +the opposition parties, above all with the Shi'ah. The Abbasids, cleverer +politicians than the notoriously unskillful Alids, made use of the Alid +propaganda to secure the booty to themselves at the right moment. The means +which served the Alids for the establishment only of an invisible dynasty +of princes who died as martyrs, enabled the descendants of Mohammed's +uncle Abbas to overthrow the Omayyads, and to found their own Khalifate at +Bagdad, shining with the brilliance of an Eastern despotism. + +When it is said that the Abbasid Khalifate maintained itself from 750 till +the Mongol storm in the middle of the thirteenth century, that only refers +to external appearance. After a brief success, the actual power of these +khalifs was transferred to the hands, first, of the captains of their +bodyguard, then of sultan-dynasties, whose forcibly acquired powers, were +legalized by a formal investiture. In the same way the large provinces +developed into independent kingdoms, whose rulers considered the +nomination-diplomas from Bagdad in the light of mere ornaments. Compared to +this irreparable disintegration of the empire, temporary schisms such as +the Omayyad Khalifate in Spain, the Fatimid Khalifate in Egypt, and here +and there an independent organization of the Kharijites were of little +significance. + +It seems strange that the Moslim peoples, although the theory of Islam +never attributed an hereditary character to the Khalifate, attached so high +a value to the Abbasid name, that they continued unanimously to acknowledge +the Khalifate of Bagdad for centuries during which it possessed no +influence. But the idea of hereditary rulers was deeply rooted in most +of the peoples converted to Islam, and the glorious period of the first +Abbasids so strongly impressed itself on the mind of the vulgar, that the +_appearance_ of continuation was easily taken for _reality_. Its voidness +would sooner have been realized, if lack of energy had not prevented the +later Abbasids from trying to recover the lost power by the sword, or if +amongst their rivals who could also boast of a popular tradition--e.g., +the Omayyads, or still more the Alids--a political genius had succeeded in +forming a powerful opposition. But the sultans who ruled the various states +did not want to place all that they possessed in the balance on the chance +of gaining the title of Khalif. The Moslim world became accustomed to the +idea that the honoured House of the Prophet's uncle Abbas existed for the +purpose of lending an additional glory to Mohammedan princes by a diploma. +Even after the destruction of Bagdad by the Mongols in 1258, from which +only a few Abbasids escaped alive, Indian princes continued to value visits +or deeds of appointment granted them by some begging descendant of the +"Glorious House." The sultans of Egypt secured this luxury permanently for +themselves by taking a branch of the family under their protection, who +gave the glamour of their approval to every new result of the never-ending +quarrels of succession, until in the beginning of the sixteenth century +Egypt, together with so many other lands, was swallowed up by the Turkish +conqueror. + +These new rulers, who added the Byzantine Empire to Islam, who with Egypt +brought Southern and Western Arabia with the Holy Cities also under their +authority, and caused all the neighbouring princes, Moslim and Christian +alike, to tremble on their thrones, thought it was time to abolish the +senseless survival of the Abbasid glory. The prestige of the Ottomans was +as great as that of the Khalifate in its most palmy days had been; and they +would not be withheld from the assumption of the title. There is a doubtful +tale of the abdication of the Abbasids in their favour, but the question +is of no importance. The Ottomans owed their Khalifate to their sword; and +this was the only argument used by such canonists as thought it worth their +while to bring such an incontestable fact into reconciliation with the law. +This was not strictly necessary, as they had been accustomed for eight +centuries to acquiesce in all sorts of unlawful acts which history +demonstrated to be the will of Allah. + +The sense of the tradition that established descent from the tribe of +Qoraish as necessary for the highest dignity in the community was capable +of being weakened by explanation; and, even without that, the leadership of +the irresistible Ottomans was of more value to Islam than the chimerical +authority of a powerless Qoraishite. In our own time, you can hear +Qoraishites, and even Alids, warmly defend the claims of the Turkish +sultans to the Khalifate, as they regard these as the only Moslim princes +capable of championing the threatened rights of Islam. + +Even the sultans of Stambul could not think of restoring the authority of +the Khalif over the whole Mohammedan world. This was prevented not only +by the schismatic kingdoms, khalifates, or imamates like Shi'itic Persia, +which was consolidated just in the sixteenth century, by the unceasing +opposition of the Imams of Yemen, and Kharijite principalities at the +extremities of the Mohammedan world. Besides these, there were numerous +princes in Central Asia, in India, and in Central Africa, whom either the +Khalifate had always been obliged to leave to themselves, or who had become +so estranged from it that, unless they felt the power of the Turkish arms, +they preferred to remain as they were. Moreover, Islam had extended itself +not only by political means, but also by trade and colonization into +countries even the existence of which was hardly known in the political +centres of Islam, e.g., into Central Africa or the Far East of Asia. +Without thinking of rivalling the Abbasids or their successors, some of the +princes of such remote kingdoms, e.g., the sherifs of Morocco, assumed the +title of Commander of the Faithful, bestowed upon them by their flatterers. +Today, there are petty princes in East India under Dutch sovereignty who +decorate themselves with the title of Khalif, without suspecting that they +are thereby guilty of a sort of arrogant blasphemy. + +Such exaggeration is not supported by the canonists; but these have devised +a theory, which gives a foundation to the authority of Mohammedan princes, +who never had a real or fictitious connection with a real or fictitious +Khalifate. Authority there must be, everywhere and under all circumstances; +far from the centre this should be exercised, according to them, by the +one who has been able to gain it and who knows how to hold it; and all the +duties are laid upon him, which, in a normal condition, would be discharged +by the Khalif or his representative. For this kind of authority the +legists have even invented a special name: "_shaukah,_" which means actual +influence, the authority which has spontaneously arisen in default of a +chief who in one form or another can be considered as a mandatary of the +Khalifate. + +Now, it is significant that many of those Mohammedan governors, who owe +their existence to wild growth in this way, seek, especially in our day, +for connection with the Khalifate, or, at least, wish to be regarded as +naturally connected with the centre. The same is true of such whose former +independence or adhesion to the Turkish Empire has been replaced by the +sovereignty of a Western state. Even amongst the Moslim peoples placed +under the direct government of European states a tendency prevails to be +considered in some way or another subjects of the Sultan-Khalif. Some +scholars explain this phenomenon by the spiritual character which the +dignity of Khalif is supposed to have acquired under the later Abbasids, +and retained since that time, until the Ottoman princes combined it again +with the temporal dignity of sultan. According to this view the later +Abbasids were a sort of popes of Islam; while the temporal authority, in +the central districts as well as in the subordinate kingdoms, was in the +hands of various sultans. The sultans of Constantinople govern, then, under +this name, as much territory as the political vicissitudes allow them to +govern--_i.e._, the Turkish Empire; as khalifs, they are the spiritual +heads of the whole of Sunnite Islam. + +Though this view, through the ignorance of European statesmen and +diplomatists, may have found acceptance even by some of the great powers, +it is nevertheless entirely untrue; unless by "spiritual authority" we are +to understand the empty appearance of worldly authority. This appearance +was all that the later Abbasids retained after the loss of their temporal +power; spiritual authority of any kind they never possessed. + +The spiritual authority in catholic Islam reposes in the legists, who in +this respect are called in a tradition the _"heirs of the prophets."_ Since +they could no longer regard the khalifs as their leaders, because they +walked in worldly ways, they have constituted themselves independently +beside and even above them; and the rulers have been obliged to conclude a +silent contract with them, each party binding itself to remain within its +own limits.[1] If this contract be observed, the legists not only are ready +to acknowledge the bad rulers of the world, but even to preach loyalty +towards them to the laity. + +The most supremely popular part of the ideal of Islam, the reduction of +the whole world to Moslim authority, can only be attempted by a political +power. Notwithstanding the destructive criticism of all Moslim princes and +state officials by the canonists, it was only from them that they could +expect measures to uphold and extend the power of Islam; and on this +account they continually cherished the ideal of the Khalifate. + +[Footnote 1: That the Khalifate is in no way to be compared with the +Papacy, that Islam has never regarded the Khalif as its spiritual head, I +have repeatedly explained since 1882 (in "Nieuwe Bijdragen tot de kennis +van den Islam," in _Bijdr. tot de Taal, Landen Volkenkunde van Nederl. +Indie_, Volgr. 4, Deel vi, in an article, "De Islam," in _De Gids_, May, +1886, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, 5me annee, No. 106, +etc.). I am pleased to find the same views expressed by Prof. M. Hartmann +in _Die Welt des Islams_, Bd. i., pp. 147-8.] + +In the first centuries it was the duty of Mohammedans who had become +isolated, and who had for instance been conquered by "unbelievers," to do +_"hijrah," i.e._, emigration for Allah's sake, as the converted Arabs had +done in Mohammed's time by emigrating to Medina to strengthen the ranks of +the Faithful. This soon became impracticable, so that the legists relaxed +the prescription by concessions to "the force of necessity." Resignation +was thus permitted, even recommended; but the submission to non-Musulmans +was always to be regarded as temporary and abnormal. Although the _partes +infidelium_ have grown larger and larger, the eye must be kept fixed upon +the centre, the Khalifate, where every movement towards improvement must +begin. A Western state that admits any authority of a khalif over its +Mohammedan subjects, thus acknowledges, _not_ the authority of a pope of +the Moslim Church, but in simple ignorance is feeding political programs, +which, however vain, always have the power of stirring Mohammedan masses to +confusion and excitement. + +Of late years Mohammedan statesmen in their intercourse with their Western +colleagues are glad to take the latter's point of view; and, in discussion, +accept the comparison of the Khalifate with the Papacy, because they are +aware that only in this form the Khalifate can be made acceptable to powers +who have Mohammedan subjects. But for these subjects the Khalif is then +their true prince, who is temporarily hindered in the exercise of his +government, but whose right is acknowledged even by their unbelieving +masters. + +In yet another respect the canonists need the aid of the temporal rulers. +An alert police is counted by them amongst the indispensable means of +securing purity of doctrine and life. They count it to the credit of +princes and governors that they enforced by violent measures seclusion and +veiling of the women, abstinence from drinking, and that they punished by +flogging the negligent with regard to fasting or attending public worship. +The political decay of Islam, the increasing number of Mohammedans under +foreign rule, appears to them, therefore, doubly dangerous, as they have +little faith in the proof of Islam's spiritual goods against life in a +freedom which to them means license. + +They find that every political change, in these terrible times, is to the +prejudice of Islam, one Moslim people after another losing its independent +existence; and they regard it as equally dangerous that Moslim princes are +induced to accommodate their policy and government to new international +ideas of individual freedom, which threaten the very life of Islam. They +see the antagonism to all foreign ideas, formerly considered as a virtue +by every true Moslim, daily losing ground, and they are filled with +consternation by observing in their own ranks the contamination of +modernist ideas. The brilliant development of the system of Islam followed +the establishment of its material power; so the rapid decline of that +political power which we are witnessing makes the question urgent, whether +Islam has a spiritual essence able to survive the fall of such a material +support. It is certainly not the canonists who will detect the kernel; +"verily we are God's and verily to Him do we return," they cry in helpless +amazement, and their consolation is in the old prayer: "And lay not on us, +O our Lord, that for which we have no strength, but blot out our sins and +forgive us and have mercy upon us. Thou art our Master; grant us then to +conquer the Unbelievers!" + + + +IV + +ISLAM AND MODERN THOUGHT + + +One of the most powerful factors of religious life in its higher forms is +the need of man to find in this world of changing things an imperishable +essence, to separate the eternal from the temporal and then to attach +himself to the former. Where the possibility of this operation is despaired +of, there may arise a pessimism, which finds no path of liberation from the +painful vicissitudes of life other than the annihilation of individuality. +A firm belief in a sphere of life freed from the category of time, together +with the conviction that the poetic images of that superior world current +among mankind are images and nothing else, is likely to give rise to +definitions of the Absolute by purely negative attributes and to mental +efforts having for their object the absorption of individual existence +in the indescribable infinite. Generally speaking, a high development of +intellectual life, especially an intimate acquaintance with different +religious systems, is not favourable to the continuance of elaborate +conceptions of things eternal; it will rather increase the tendency to +deprive the idea of the Transcendent of all colour and definiteness. + +The naive ideas concerning the other world in the clear-cut form outlined +for them by previous generations are most likely to remain unchanged in a +religious community where intellectual intercourse is chiefly limited to +that between members of the community. There the belief is fostered that +things most appreciated and cherished in this fading world by mankind will +have an enduring existence in a world to come, and that the best of the +changing phenomena of life are eternal and will continue free from that +change, which is the principal cause of human misery. Material death will +be followed by awakening to a purer life, the idealized continuation of +life on earth, and for this reason already during this life the faithful +will find their delight in those things which they know to be everlasting. + +The less faith is submitted to the control of intellect, the more numerous +the objects will be to which durable value is attributed. This is true for +different individuals as well as for one religious community as compared to +another. There are Christians attached only to the spirit of the Gospel, +Mohammedans attached only to the spirit of the Qoran. Others give a place +in their world of imperishable things to a particular translation of the +Bible in its old-fashioned orthography or to a written Qoran in preference +to a printed one. Orthodox Judaism and orthodox Islam have marked with the +stamp of eternity codes of law, whose influence has worked as an impediment +to the life of the adherents of those religions and to the free intercourse +of other people with them as well. So the Roman Catholic and many +Protestant Churches have in their organizations and in their dogmatic +systems eternalized institutions and ideas whose unchangeableness has come +to retard spiritual progress. + +Among all conservative factors of human life religion must necessarily be +the most conservative, were it only because its aim is precisely to store +up and keep under its guardianship the treasures destined for eternity to +which we have alluded. Now, every new period in the history of civilization +obliges a religious community to undertake a general revision of the +contents of its treasury. It is unavoidable that the guardians on such +occasions should be in a certain measure disappointed, for they find that +some of, the goods under their care have given way to the wasting influence +of time, whilst others are in a state which gives rise to serious doubt as +to their right of being classified with lasting treasures. In reality the +loss is only an apparent one; far from impoverishing the community, it +enhances the solidity of its possessions. What remains after the sifting +process may be less imposing to the inexperienced mind; gradually the +consideration gains ground that what has been rejected was nothing but +useless rubbish which had been wrongly valued. + +Sometimes it may happen that the general movement of spiritual progress +goes almost too fast, so that one revision of the stores of religion is +immediately followed by another. Then dissension is likely to arise among +the adherents of a religion; some of them come to the conclusion that there +must be an end of sifting and think it better to lock up the treasuries +once for all and to stop the dangerous enquiries; whereas others begin to +entertain doubt concerning the value even of such goods as do not yet show +any trace of decay. + +The treasuries of Islam are excessively full of rubbish that has become +entirely useless; and for nine or ten centuries they have not been +submitted to a revision deserving that name. If we wish to understand the +whole or any important part of the system of Islam, we must always begin by +transporting ourselves into the third or fourth century of the Hijrah, and +we must constantly bear in mind that from the Medina period downwards Islam +has always been considered by its adherents as bound to regulate all the +details of their life by means of prescriptions emanating directly or +indirectly from God, and therefore incapable of being reformed. At the +time when these prescriptions acquired their definite form, Islam ruled an +important portion of the world; it considered the conquest of the rest +as being only a question of time; and, therefore, felt itself quite +independent in the development of its law. There was little reason indeed +for the Moslim canonists to take into serious account the interests of men +not subject to Mohammedan authority or to care for the opinion of devotees +of other religions. Islam might act, and did almost act, as if it were the +only power in the world; it did so in the way of a grand seigneur, showing +a great amount of generosity towards its subjugated enemies. The adherents +of other religions were or would become subjects of the Commander of the +Faithful; those subjects were given a full claim on Mohammedan protection +and justice; while the independent unbelievers were in general to be +treated as enemies until in submission. Their spiritual life deserved not +even so much attention as that of Islam received from Abbe Maracci or +Doctor Prideaux. The false doctrines of other peoples were of no interest +whatever in themselves; and, since there was no fear of Mohammedans being +tainted by them, polemics against the abrogated religions were more of a +pastime than an indispensable part of theology. The Mohammedan community +being in a sense Allah's army, with the conquest of the world as its +object, apostasy deserved the punishment of death in no lesser degree than +desertion in the holy war, nay more so; for the latter might be the effect +of cowardice, whereas the former was an act of inexcusable treachery. + +In the attitude of Islam towards other religions there is hardly one +feature that has not its counterpart in the practice of Christian states +during the Middle Ages. The great difference is that the Mohammedan +community erected this medieval custom into a system unalterable like all +prescriptions based on its infallible "Agreement" (Ijma'). Here lay the +great difficulty when the nineteenth and twentieth centuries placed the +Moslim world face to face with a civilization that had sprung up outside +its borders and without its collaboration, that was from a spiritual point +of view by far its superior and at the same time possessed of sufficient +material power to thrust the Mohammedans aside wherever they seemed to be +an impediment in its way. A long series of the most painful experiences, +meaning as many encroachments upon the political independence of Mohammedan +territories, ended by teaching Islam that it had definitely to change its +lines of conduct. The times were gone when relations with the non-Musulman +world quite different from those foreseen by the mediaeval theory might +be considered as exceptions to the rule, as temporary concessions to +transitory necessities. In ever wider circles a thorough revision of the +system came to be considered as a requirement of the time. The fact that +the number of Mohammedans subject to foreign rule increased enormously, and +by far surpassed those of the citizens of independent Mohammedan states, +made the problem almost as interesting to Western nations as to the +Mohammedans themselves. Both parties are almost equally concerned in the +question, whether a way will be found to associate the Moslim world to +modern civilization, without obliging it to empty its spiritual treasury +altogether. Nobody can in earnest advocate the idea of leaving the solution +of the problem to rude force. The Moslim of yore, going through the world +with the Qoran in one hand, the sword in the other, giving unbelievers the +choice between conversion or death, is a creation of legendary fancy. We +can but hope that modern civilization will not be so fanatical against +Moslims, as the latter were unjustly said to have been during the period +of their power. If the modern world were only to offer the Mohammedans the +choice between giving up at once the traditions of their ancestors or being +treated as barbarians, there would be sure to ensue a struggle as bloody as +has ever been witnessed in the world. It is worth while indeed to examine +the system of Islam from this special point of view, and to try to find the +terms on which a durable _modus vivendi_ might be established between Islam +and modern thought. + +The purely dogmatic part is not of great importance. Some of us may admire +the tenets of the Mohammedan doctrine, others may as heartily despise them; +to the participation of Mohammedans in the civilized life of our days they +are as innoxious as any other mediaeval dogmatic system that counts its +millions of adherents among ourselves. The details of Mohammedan dogmatics +have long ceased to interest other circles than those of professional +theologians; the chief points arouse no discussion and the deviations in +popular superstition as well as in philosophical thought which in practice +meet with toleration are almost unlimited. The Mohammedan Hell claims +the souls of all heterodox people, it is true; but this does not prevent +benevolent intercourse in this world, and more enlightened Moslims are +inclined to enlarge their definition of the word "faithful" so as to +include their non-Mohammedan friends. The faith in a Mahdi, who will come +to regenerate the world, is apt to give rise to revolutionary movements led +by skilful demagogues pretending to act as the "Guided One," or, at least, +to prepare the way for his coming. Most of the European powers having +Mohammedan subjects have had their disagreeable experiences in this +respect. But Moslim chiefs of states have their obvious good reasons for +not liking such movements either; and even the majority of ordinary Moslims +look upon candidates for Mahdi-ship with suspicion. A contented prosperous +population offers such candidates little chance of success. + +The ritual laws of Islam are a heavy burden to those who strictly observe +them; a man who has to perform worship five times a day in a state of +ritual purity and during a whole month in a year has to abstain from +food and drink and other enjoyments from daybreak until sunset, is at a +disadvantage when he has to enter into competition with non-Musulmans +for getting work of any kind. But since most of the Moslims have become +subjects of foreign powers and religious police has been practically +abolished in Mohammedan states, there is no external compulsion. The ever +smaller minority of strict practisers make use of a right which nobody can +contest. + +Drinking wine or other intoxicating drinks, taking interest on money, +gambling--including even insurance contracts according to the stricter +interpretation--are things which a Moslim may abstain from without +hindering non-Mohammedans; or which in our days he may do, notwithstanding +the prohibition of divine law, even without losing his good name. + +Those who want to accentuate the antithesis between Islam and modern +civilization point rightly to the personal law; here is indeed a great +stumbling-block. The allowance of polygamy up to a maximum of four wives +is represented by Mohammedan authors as a progress if compared with the +irregularity of pagan Arabia and even with the acknowledgment of unlimited +polygamy during certain periods of Biblical history. The following subtle +argument is to be found in some schoolbooks on Mohammedan law: The law of +Moses was exceedingly benevolent to males by permitting them to have an +unlimited number of wives; then came the law of Jesus, extreme on the other +side by prescribing monogamy; at last Mohammed restored the equilibrium by +conceding one wife to each of the four humours which make up the male's +constitution. This theory, which leaves the question what the woman is +to do with three of her four humours undecided, will hardly find fervent +advocates among the present canonists. At the same time, very few of them +would venture to pronounce their preference for monogamy in a general way, +polygamy forming a part of the law that is to prevail, according to the +infallible Agreement of the Community, until the Day of Resurrection. + +On the other side polygamy, although _allowed_, is far from being +_recommended_ by the majority of theologians. Many of them even dissuade +men capable of mastering their passion from marriage in general, and +censure a man who takes two wives if he can live honestly with one. In some +Mohammedan countries social circumstances enforce practical monogamy. The +whole question lies in the education of women; when this has been raised to +a higher level, polygamy will necessarily come to an end. It is therefore +most satisfactory that among male Mohammedans the persuasion of the +necessity of a solid education for girls is daily gaining ground. This year +(1913), a young Egyptian took his doctor's degree at the Paris University +by sustaining a dissertation on the position of women in the Moslim world, +in which he told his co-religionists the full truth concerning this rather +delicate subject[1]. If social evolution takes the right course, the +practice of polygamy will be abolished; and the maintenance of its +lawfulness in canonical works will mainly be a survival of a bygone phase +of development. + +[Footnote 1: Mansour Fahmy, _La condition de la femme dans la tradition +et l'evolution de l'Islamisme_, Paris, Felix Alcan, 1913. The sometimes +imprudent form in which the young reformer enounced his ideas caused him to +be very badly treated by his compatriots at his return from Europe.] + +The facility with which a man can divorce his wife at his pleasure, +contrasted with her rights against him, is a still more serious impediment +to the development of family life than the institution of polygamy; more +serious, also, than veiling and seclusion of women. Where the general +opinion is favourable to the improvement of the position of women in +society, there is always found a way to secure it to them without +conflicting with the divine law; but a radical reform will remain most +difficult so long as that law which allows the man to repudiate his wife +without any reason, whereas it delivers the woman almost unarmed into the +power of her husband, is considered to be one of the permanent treasures of +Islam. + +It is a pity indeed that thus far women vigorously striving for liberation +from those mediaeval institutions are rare exceptions in Mohammedan +countries. Were Mohammedan women capable of the violent tactics of +suffragettes, they would rather try to blow up the houses of feminists than +those of the patrons of the old regime. The ordinary Mohammedan woman looks +upon the endeavour of her husband to induce her to partake freely in public +life as a want of consideration; it makes on her about the same impression +as that which a respectable woman in our society would receive from her +husband encouraging her to visit places generally frequented by people of +bad reputation. It is the girls' school that will awaken those sleeping +ones and so, slowly and gradually, prepare a better future, when the Moslim +woman will be the worthy companion of her husband and the intelligent +educator of her children. This will be due, then, neither to the Prophet's +Sunnah nor to the infallible Agreement of the Community of the first +centuries of Islam, but to the irresistible power of the evolution of human +society, which is merciless to laws even of divine origin and transfers +them, when their time is come, from the treasury of everlasting goods to a +museum of antiquities. + +Slavery, and in its consequence free intercourse of a man with his own +female slaves without any limitation as to their number, has also been +incorporated into the sacred law, and therefore has been placed on the +wrong side of the border that is to divide eternal things from temporal +ones. This should not be called a mediaeval institution; the most civilized +nations not having given it up before the middle of the nineteenth century. +The law of Islam regulated the position of slaves with much equity, and +there is a great body of testimony from people who have spent a part of +their lives among Mohammedan nations which does justice to the benevolent +treatment which bondmen generally receive from their masters there. Besides +that, we are bound to state that in many Western countries or countries +under Western domination whole groups of the population live under +circumstances with which those of Mohammedan slavery may be compared to +advantage. + +The only legal cause of slavery in Islam is prisonership of war or birth +from slave parents. The captivity of enemies of Islam has not at all +necessarily the effect of enslaving them; for the competent authorities +may dispose of them in any other way, also in the way prescribed by modern +international law or custom. In proportion to the realization of the +political ideal of Islam the number of its enemies must diminish and the +possibilities of enslaving men must consequently decrease. Setting slaves +free is one of the most meritorious pious works, and, at the same time, +the regular atonement for certain transgressions of the sacred law. So, +according to Mohammedan principles, slavery is an institution destined +to disappear. When, in the last century, Mohammedan princes signed +international treaties for the suppression of slavery, from their point of +view this was a premature anticipation of a future political and social +development--a step which they felt obliged to take out of consideration +for the great powers. In Arabia, every effort of the Turkish Government to +put such international agreements into execution has thus far given rise to +popular sedition against the Ottoman authority. Therefore, the promulgation +of decrees of abolition was stopped; and slavery continued to exist. The +import of slaves from Africa has, in fact, considerably diminished; but I +am not quite sure of the proportional increase of the liberty which the +natives of that continent enjoy at home. + +Slavery as well as polygamy is in a certain sense to Mohammedans a sacred +institution, being incorporated in their Holy Law; but the practice of +neither of the two institutions is indispensable to the integrity of Islam. + +All those antiquated institutions, if considered from the point of view of +modern international intercourse, are only a trifle in comparison with the +legal prescriptions of Islam concerning the attitude of the Mohammedan +community against the parts of the world not yet subject to its authority, +"the Abode of War" as they are technically called. It is a principal duty +of the Khalif, or of the chiefs considered as his substitutes in different +countries, to avail themselves of every opportunity to extend by force the +dominion of Allah and His Messenger. With unsubdued unbelievers _peace_ +is not _allowed_; a _truce_ for a period not exceeding ten years may be +concluded if the interest of Islam requires it. + +The chapters of the Mohammedan law on holy war and on the conditions on +which the submission of the adherents of tolerated religions is to be +accepted seem to be a foolish pretension if we consider them by the light +of the actual division of political power in the world. But here, too, to +understand is better than to ridicule. In the centuries in which the system +of Islam acquired its maturity, such an aspiration after universal dominion +was not at all ridiculous; and many Christian states of the time were +far from reaching the Mohammedan standard of tolerance against heterodox +creeds. The delicate point is this, that the petrification or at least the +process of stiffening that has attacked the whole spiritual life of Islam +since about 1000 A.D. makes its accommodation to the requirements of modern +intercourse a most difficult problem. + +But it is not only the Mohammedan community that needed misfortune and +humiliation before it was able to appreciate liberty of conscience; or that +took a long time to digest those painful lessons of history. There +are still Christian Churches which accept religious liberty only in +circumstances that make supreme authority unattainable to them; and which, +elsewhere, would not disdain the use of material means to subdue spirits to +what they consider the absolute truth. + +To judge such things with equity, we must remember that every man possessed +of a firm conviction of any kind is more or less a missionary; and the +belief in the possibility of winning souls by violence has many adherents +everywhere. One of my friends among the young-Turkish state officials, +who wished to persuade me of the perfect religious tolerance of Turkey of +today, concluded his argument by the following reflection: "Formerly men +used to behead each other for difference of opinion about the Hereafter. +Nowadays, praise be to Allah, we are permitted to believe what we like; but +people continue to kill each other for political or social dissension. That +is most pitiful indeed; for the weapons in use being more terrible and more +costly than before, mankind lacks the peace necessary to enjoy the liberty +of conscience it has acquired." + +The truthful irony of these words need not prevent us from considering the +independence of spiritual life and the liberation of its development from +material compulsion as one of the greatest blessings of our civilization. +We feel urged by missionary zeal of the better kind to make the Mohammedan +world partake in its enjoyment. In the Turkish Empire, in Egypt, in many +Mohammedan countries under Western control, the progressive elements of +Moslim society spontaneously meet us half-way. But behind them are the +millions who firmly adhere to the old superstition and are supported by +the canonists, those faithful guardians of what the infallible Community +declared almost one thousand years ago to be the doctrine and rule of life +for all centuries to come. Will it ever prove possible to move in one +direction a body composed of such different elements, or will this body be +torn in pieces when the movement has become irresistible? + +We have more than once pointed to the catholic character of orthodox Islam. +In fact, the diversity of spiritual tendencies is not less in the Moslim +world than within the sphere of Christian influence; but in Islam, apart +from the political schisms of the first centuries, that diversity has not +given rise to anything like the division of Christianity into sects. There +is a prophetic saying, related by Tradition, which later generations have +generally misunderstood to mean that the Mohammedan community would be +split into seventy-three different sects. Moslim heresiologists have been +induced by this prediction to fill up their lists of seventy-three numbers +with all sorts of names, many of which represent nothing but individual +opinions of more or less famous scholars on subordinate points of doctrine +or law. Almost ninety-five per cent. of all Mohammedans are indeed bound +together by a spiritual unity that may be compared with that of the Roman +Catholic Church, within whose walls there is also room for religious and +intellectual life of very different origin and tendency. In the sense of +broadness, Islam has this advantage, that there is no generally recognized +palpable authority able to stop now and then the progress of modernism or +similar deviations from the trodden path with an imperative "Halt!" There +is no lack indeed of mutual accusation of heresy; but this remains without +serious consequences because of the absence of a high ecclesiastical +council competent to decide once for all. The political authorities, who +might be induced by fanatical theologians to settle disputes by violent +inquisitorial means, have been prevented for a long time from such +interference by more pressing affairs. + +A knowledge alone of the orthodox system of Islam, however complete, would +give us an even more inadequate idea of the actual world of catholic Islam +than the notion we should acquire of the spiritual currents moving the +Roman Catholic world by merely studying the dogma and the canonical law of +the Church of Rome. + +Nevertheless, the unity of Islamic thought is by no means a word void of +sense. The ideas of Mohammedan philosophers, borrowed for a great part from +Neoplatonism, the pantheism and the emanation theory of Mohammedan mystics +are certainly still further distant from the simplicity of Qoranic +religion than the orthodox dogmatics; but all those conceptions alike show +indubitable marks of having grown up on Mohammedan soil. In the works even +of those mystics who efface the limits between things human and divine, +who put Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism on the same line with the +revelation of Mohammed, and who are therefore duly anathematized by the +whole orthodox world, almost every page testifies to the relation of the +ideas enounced with Mohammedan civilization. Most of the treatises on +science, arts, or law written by Egyptian students for their doctor's +degree at European universities make no exception to this rule; the manner +in which these authors conceive the problems and strive for their solution +is, in a certain sense, in the broadest sense of course, Mohammedan. Thus, +if we speak of Mohammedan thought, civilization, spirit, we have to bear in +mind the great importance of the system which, almost unchanged, has been +delivered for about one thousand years by one generation of doctors of +Islam to the other, although it has become ever more unfit to meet the +needs of the Community, on whose infallible Agreement it rests. But, at the +same time, we ought to consider that beside the agreement of canonists, +of dogmatists, and of mystics, there are a dozen more agreements, social, +political, popular, philosophical, and so on, and that however great may be +the influence of the doctors, who pretend to monopolize infallibility for +the opinions on which they agree, the real Agreement of Islam is the least +common measure of all the agreements of the groups which make up the +Community. + +It would require a large volume to review the principal currents of thought +pervading the Moslim world in our day; but a general notion may be acquired +by a rapid glance at two centres, geographically not far distant from each +other, but situated at the opposite poles of spiritual life: Mecca and +Cairo. + +In Mecca yearly two or three hundred thousand Moslims from all parts of the +world come together to celebrate the hajj, that curious set of ceremonies +of pagan Arabian origin which Mohammed has incorporated into his religion, +a durable survival that in Islam makes an impression as singular as that +of jumping processions in Christianity. Mohammed never could have foreseen +that the consequence of his concession to deeply rooted Arabic custom +would be that in future centuries Chinese, Malays, Indians, Tatars, Turks, +Egyptians, Berbers, and negroes would meet on this barren desert soil and +carry home profound impressions of the international significance of Islam. +Still more important is the fact that from all those countries young people +settle here for years to devote themselves to the study of the sacred +science. From the second to the tenth month of the Mohammedan lunar year, +the Haram, _i.e._, the mosque, which is an open place with the Ka'bah in +its midst and surrounded by large roofed galleries, has free room enough +between the hours of public service to allow of a dozen or more circles of +students sitting down around their professors to listen to as many lectures +on different subjects, generally delivered in a very loud voice. Arabic +grammar and style, prosody, logic, and other preparatory branches, the +sacred trivium; canonic law, dogmatics, and mysticism, and, for the more +advanced, exegesis of Qoran and Tradition and some other branches of +supererogation, are taught here in the mediaeval way from mediaeval +text-books or from more modern compilations reproducing their contents and +completing them more or less by treating modern questions according to the +same methods. + +It is now almost thirty years since I lived the life of a Meccan student +during one university year, after having become familiar with the matter +taught by the professors of the temple of Mecca, the Haram, by privately +studying it, so that I could freely use all my time in observing the +mentality of people learning those things not for curiosity, but in order +to acquire the only true direction for their life in this world and the +salvation of their souls in the world to come. For a modern man there could +hardly be a better opportunity imagined for getting a true vision of the +Middle Ages than is offered to the Orientalist by a few months' stay in +the Holy City of Islam. In countries like China, Tibet, or India there +are spheres of spiritual life which present to us still more interesting +material for comparative study of religions than that of Mecca, because +they are so much more distant from our own; but, just on that account, +the Western student would not be able to adapt his mind to their mental +atmospheres as he may do in Mecca. No one would think for one moment of +considering Confucianism, Hinduism, or Buddhism as specially akin to +Christianity, whereas Islam has been treated by some historians of the +Christian Church as belonging to the heretical offspring of the Christian +religion. In fact, if we are able to abstract ourselves for a moment from +all dogmatic prejudice and to become a Meccan with the Meccans, one of the +"neighbours of Allah," as they call themselves, we feel in their temple, +the Haram, as if we were conversing with our ancestors of five or six +centuries ago. Here scholasticism with a rabbinical tint forms the great +attraction to the minds of thousands of intellectually highly gifted men of +all ages. + +The most important lectures are delivered during the forenoon and in the +evening. A walk, at one of those hours, through the square and under the +colonnades of the mosque, with ears opened to all sides, will enable you to +get a general idea of the objects of mental exercise of this international +assembly. Here you may find a sheikh of pure Arab descent explaining to his +audience, composed of white Syrians or Circassians, of brown and yellow +Abyssinians and Egyptians, of negroes, Chinese, and Malays, the probable +and improbable legal consequences of marriage contracts, not excepting +those between men and genii; there a negro scholar is explaining the +ontological evidence of the existence of a Creator and the logical +necessity of His having twenty qualities, inseparable from, but not +identical with, His essence; in the midst of another circle a learned +_mufti_ of indeterminably mixed extraction demonstrates to his pupils from +the standard work of al-Ghazali the absolute vanity of law and doctrine to +those whose hearts are not purified from every attachment to the world. +Most of the branches of Mohammedan learning are represented within the +walls of this temple by more or less famous scholars; and still there are a +great number of private lectures delivered at home by professors who do not +like to be disturbed by the unavoidable noise in the mosque, which during +the whole day serves as a meeting place for friends or business men, as an +exercise hall for Qoran reciters, and even as a passage for people going +from one part of the town to the other. + +In order to complete your mediaeval dream with a scene from daily life, you +have only to leave the mosque by the Bab Dereybah, one of its twenty-two +gates, where you may see human merchandise exhibited for sale by the +slave-brokers, and then to have a glance, outside the wall, at a camel +caravan, bringing firewood and vegetables into the town, led by Beduins +whose outward appearance has as little changed as their minds since the day +when Mohammed began here to preach the Word of Allah. + +To the greater part of the world represented by this international +exhibition of Islam, as a modern Musulman writer calls it, our modern +world, with all its problems, its emotions, its learning and science, +hardly exists. On the other hand, the average modern man does not +understand much more of the mental life of the two hundred millions to whom +the barren Mecca has become the great centre. In former days, other centres +were much more important, although Mecca has always been the goal of +pilgrimage and the cherished abode of many learned men. Many capitals of +Islam offered the students an easier life and better accommodations for +their studies; while in Mecca four months of the year are devoted to the +foreign guests of Allah, by attending to whose various needs all Meccans +gain their livelihood. For centuries Cairo has stood unrivalled as a seat +of Mohammedan learning of every kind; and even now the Uaram of Mecca is +not to be compared to the Azhar-mosque as regards the number and the fame +of its professors and the variety of branches cultivated. + +In the last half-century, however, the ancient repute of the Egyptian +metropolis has suffered a good deal from the enormous increase of European +influence in the land of the Pharaohs; the effects of which have made +themselves felt even in the Azhar. Modern programs and methods of +instruction have been adopted; and, what is still worse, modernism itself, +favoured by the late Mufti Muhammed Abduh, has made its entrance into the +sacred lecture-halls, which until a few years ago seemed inaccessible to +the slightest deviation from the decrees of the Infallible Agreement of the +Community. Strenuous efforts have been made by eminent scholars to liberate +Islam from the chains of the authority of the past ages on the basis of +independent interpretation of the Qoran; not in the way of the Wahhabi +reformers, who tried a century before to restore the institutions of +Mohammed's time in their original purity, but on the contrary with the +object of adapting Islam by all means in their power to the requirements of +modern life. + +Official protection of the bold innovators prevented their conservative +opponents from casting them out of the Azhar, but the assent to their +doctrines was more enthusiastic outside its walls than inside. The ever +more numerous adherents of modern thought in Egypt do not generally proceed +from the ranks of the Azhar students, nor do they generally care very much +in their later life for reforming the methods prevailing there, although +they may be inclined to applaud the efforts of the modernists. To the +intellectuals of the higher classes the Azhar has ceased to offer great +attraction; if it were not for the important funds (_wagf_) for the +benefit of professors and students, the numbers of both classes would have +diminished much more than is already the case, and the faithful cultivators +of mediaeval Mohammedan science would prefer to live in Mecca, free from +Western influence and control. Even as it is, the predilection of foreign +students of law and theology is turning more and more towards Mecca. + +As one of the numerous interesting specimens of the mental development +effected in Egypt in the last years, I may mention a book that appeared in +Cairo two years ago[1], containing a description of the present Khedive's +pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, performed two years before. The author +evidently possesses a good deal of the scholastic learning to be gathered +in the Azhar and no European erudition in the stricter sense of the word. +In an introductory chapter he gives a summary of the geography and history +of the Arabian peninsula, describes the Hijaz in a more detailed manner, +and in his very elaborate account of the journey, on which he accompanied +his princely master, the topography of the holy cities, the peculiarities +of their inhabitants and of the foreign visitors, the political +institutions, and the social conditions are treated almost as fully and +accurately as we could desire from the hand of the most accomplished +European scholar. The work is illustrated by good maps and plans and by a +great number of excellent photographs expressly taken for this purpose by +the Khedive's order. The author intersperses his account with many witty +remarks as well as serious reflections on religious and political topics, +thus making it very readable to those of us who are familiar with the +Arabic language. He adorns his description of the holy places and of the +pilgrimage-rites with the unctuous phrases used in handbooks for the hajji, +and he does not disturb the mind of the pious reader by any historical +criticism of the traditions connected with the House of Allah, the Black +Stone, and the other sanctuaries, but he loses no opportunity to show his +dislike of all superstition; sometimes, as if to prevent Western readers +from indulging in mockery, he compares Meccan rites or customs with +superstitious practices current amongst Jews or Christians of today. + +[Footnote 1: _Ar-rihlah al-Hijaziyyah_, by Muhammed Labib al-Batanunf, 2d +edition, Cairo, 1329 Hijrah.] + +This book, at whose contents many a Meccan scholar of the old style will +shake his head and exclaim: "We seek refuge near Allah from Satan, the +cursed!" has been adopted by the Egyptian Department of Public Instruction +as a reading-book for the schools. + +What surprised me more than anything else was the author's quoting as his +predecessors in the description of Mecca and Medina, Burckhardt, Burton, +and myself, and his sending me, although personally unacquainted with him, +a presentation copy with a flattering dedication. This author and his book +would have been impossible in the Moslim world not more than thirty years +ago. In Egypt such a man is nowadays already considered as one of those +more conservative moderns, who prefer the rationalistic explanation of the +Azhar lore to putting it aside altogether. Within the Azhar, his book is +sure to meet with hearty approval from the followers of Muhammed Abduh, but +not less hearty disapproval from the opponents of modernism who make up the +majority of the professors as well as of the students. + +In these very last years a new progress of modern thought has manifested +itself in Cairo in the foundation, under the auspices of Fu'ad Pasha, an +uncle of the present Khedive, of the Egyptian University. Cairo has had for +a long time its schools of medicine and law, which could be turned easily +into university faculties; therefore, the founders of the university +thought it urgent to establish a faculty of arts, and, if this proved a +success, to add a faculty of science. In the meantime, gifted young men +were granted subsidies to learn at European universities what they needed +to know to be the professors of a coming generation, and, for the present, +Christian as well as Mohammedan natives of Egypt and European scholars +living in the country were appointed as lecturers; professors being +borrowed from the universities of Europe to deliver lectures in Arabic on +different subjects chosen more or less at random before an audience little +prepared to digest the lessons offered to them. + +The rather hasty start and the lack of a well-defined scheme have made +the Egyptian University a subject of severe criticism. Nevertheless, its +foundation is an unmistakable expression of the desire of intellectual +Egypt to translate modern thought into its own language, to adapt modern +higher instruction to its own needs. This same aim is pursued in a perhaps +more efficacious manner by the hundreds of Egyptian students of law, +science, and medicine at French, English, and some other European +universities. The Turks could not freely follow such examples before +the revolution of 1908; but they have shown since that time that their +abstention was not voluntary. England, France, Holland, and other countries +governing Mohammedan populations are all endeavouring to find the right way +to incorporate their Mohammedan subjects into their own civilization. Fully +recognizing that it was the material covetousness of past generations +that submitted those nations to their rule, the so-called colonial powers +consider it their duty now to secure for them in international intercourse +the place which their natural talent enables them to occupy. The question +whether it is better simply to leave the Moslims to Islam as it was for +centuries is no longer an object of serious discussion, the reforming +process being at work everywhere--in some parts with surprising rapidity. +We can only try to prognosticate the solution which the near future +reserves for the problem, how the Moslim world is to be associated with +modern thought. + +In this problem the whole civilized world and the whole world of Islam are +concerned. The ethnic difference between Indians, North-Africans, Malays, +etc., may necessitate a difference of method in detail; the Islam problem +lies at the basis of the question for all of them. On the other hand, +the future development of Islam does not only interest countries with +Mohammedan dominions, it claims as well the attention of all the nations +partaking in the international exchange of material and spiritual goods. +This would be more generally recognized if some knowledge of Islam were +more widely spread amongst ourselves; if it were better realized that Islam +is next akin to Christianity. + +It is the Christian mission that shows the deepest consciousness of this +state of things, and the greatest activity in promoting an association +of Mohammedan thought with that of Western nations. The solid mass of +experience due to the efforts of numerous missionaries is not of an +encouraging nature. There is no reasonable hope of the conversion +of important numbers of Mohammedans to any Christian denomination. +Broad-minded missionary societies have therefore given up the old fruitless +proselytizing methods and have turned to social improvement in the way of +education, medical treatment, and the like. It cannot be denied, that +what they want above all to bring to Mohammedans is just what these most +energetically decline to accept. On the other hand the advocates of a +purely civilizing mission are bound to acknowledge that, but for rare +exceptions, the desire of incorporating Mohammedan nations into our world +of thought does not rouse the devoted, self-denying enthusiasm inspired by +the vocation of propagating a religious belief. The ardour displayed by +some missionaries in establishing in the Dar al-Islam Christian centres +from which they distribute to the Mohammedans those elements of our +civilization which are acceptable to them deserves cordial praise; the more +so because they themselves entertain but little hope of attaining +their ultimate aim of conversion. Mohammedans who take any interest in +Christianity are taught by their own teachers that the revelation of Jesus, +after having suffered serious corruption by the Christians themselves, has +been purified and restored to its original simplicity by Mohammed, and are +therefore inaccessible to missionary arguments; nay, amongst uncivilized +pagans the lay mission of Islam is the most formidable competitor of +clerical propagation of the Christian faith. + +People who take no active part in missionary work are not competent to +dissuade Christian missionaries from continuing their seemingly hopeless +labour among Mohammedans, nor to prescribe to them the methods they are +to adopt; their full autonomy is to be respected. But all agree that +Mohammedans, disinclined as they are to reject their own traditions of +thirteen centuries and to adopt a new religious faith, become ever better +disposed to associate their intellectual, social, and political life with +that of the modern world. Here lies the starting point for two divisions of +mankind which for centuries have lived their own lives separately in mutual +misunderstanding, from which to pursue their way arm in arm to the greater +advantage of both. We must leave it to the Mohammedans themselves to +reconcile the new ideas which they want with the old ones with which they +cannot dispense; but we can help them in adapting their educational system +to modern requirements and give them a good example by rejecting the +detestable identification of power and right in politics which lies at the +basis of their own canonical law on holy war as well as at the basis of the +political practice of modern Western states. This is a work in which we +all may collaborate, whatever our own religious conviction may be. The +principal condition for a fruitful friendly intercourse of this kind is +that we make the Moslim world an object of continual serious investigation +in our intellectual centres. + +Having spent a good deal of my life in seeking for the right method of +associating with modern thought the thirty-five millions of Mohammedans +whom history has placed under the guardianship of my own country, I could +not help drawing some practical conclusions from the lessons of history +which I have tried to reduce to their most abridged form. There is no lack +of pessimists, whose wisdom has found its poetic form in the words of +Kipling: + + East is East and West is West, + And never the twain shall meet. + +To me, with regard to the Moslim world, these words seem almost a +blasphemy. The experience acquired by adapting myself to the peculiarities +of Mohammedans, and by daily conversation with them for about twenty years, +has impressed me with the firm conviction that between Islam and the modern +world an understanding _is_ to be attained, and that no period has offered +a better chance of furthering it than the time in which we are living. To +Kipling's poetical despair I think we have a right to prefer the words of +a broad-minded modern Hindu writer: "The pity is that men, led astray by +adventitious differences, miss the essential resemblances[1]." + +[Footnote 1: S.M. Mitra, _Anglo-Indian Studies_, London, Longmans, Green & +Co., 1913, P. 232.] + +It would be a great satisfaction to me if my lectures might cause some of +my hearers to consider the problem of Islam as one of the most important of +our time, and its solution worthy of their interest and of a claim on their +exertion. + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbas (Mohammed's uncle) +Abbasids + government + Khalifate +Abd-ul-Hamid, Sultan +Abduh, Mufti Muhammed +Abraham +Abu Bakr +Abyssinians +Africa +Africans +Agreement of the Community, _see_ 'Ijma' +Ahl al-hadith (men of tradition) +'Ajam +Al-Ash'ari +Alexander the Great +Ali, the fourth Khalif +Ali, Mohammed, the first Khedive +Alids +'amils (agents) +Anti-Christ +Arabia +Arabian, view in regard to the line of descent through a woman + tribes + prophet + heathens + migration + race + armies + Shi'ah + conquerors + origin of hajj + peninsula +Arabic, traditions + speech + arts + custom + grammar + language +Arabs + the nations conquered by the + of Christian origin +Arnold, Professor T.W. +Asia +Assassins +Augustin +Azhar-mosque + + +B + +Bab Dereybah +Babis +Bagdad +Barbarians +Basra +Beduins +Beha'is +Bellarminius +Berber +Bible + _See_ Scriptures +Bibliander +Black Stone +Boulainvilliers, Count de +Breitinger +Buddhism +Burckhardt +Burton +Byzantine Empire +Byzantines + + +C + +Caetani, Prince +Cairo +Casanova, Professor of Paris +Caussin de Perceval +China +Chinese +Christian + religion + influence + rituals + traditions + model of obligatory fasting + princes + states + natives of Egypt + missions + demonstrations + centres in Dar al-Islam + faith and missionaries +Christian Church + Roman Catholic + Protestant +Christianity +Christians + religious rites of +Circassians +Coderc +Commander of the Faithful +Committee of Union and Progress +Confucianism +Constantinople +Crypto-Mohammedanism + + +D + +Dar al-Islam +Day of judgment +Doomsday +Dutch, Indies + + +E + +Egypt +Egyptian, nation + students + Department of Public Instruction + university +Egyptians +England +English + university + + +F + +Faqihs (canonists) +Faithful +Fatima +Fatimite, dynasty + Khalifate +Fatwa +French + university +Fu'ad Pasha + + +G + +Ghazali +Gideon +Goldziher +Gospels + _See_ Scriptures + + +H + +Hadith (legislative tradition) +Hadramaut +Hadramites +Hagar +Hajj (pilgrimage) +Hanafites +Hanbalites +Haram (mosque) +Hell +Hijaz +Hijrah, +Hinduism +Holy Cities + _See_ Mecca and Medina +Holy Family (Ali and Fatimah) +Hottinger +Hud, the prophet + + +I + +'Ijma' (Agreement of the Community) +Imams + of Yemen +India +Indians, +Indonesia +Isaac +Ishmael +Ishma'ilites +Islam + + +J + +Jacob +Jahiliyyah (Arabian paganism) +Jesus Christ + as Mehdi +Jewish, religion + influence + rituals + model of fasting +Jews +Jihad +Judaism + + +K + +Ka'bah +Khalif, the first +Khalifate +Khalifs, the first four +Kharijites, +Khedive +Kipling +Kufa + + +L + +Lammens, Father + + +M + +Mahdi +Malays +Malikites +Maracci, Abbe +Mary (mother of Jesus) +Maulid +Mecca +Meccans +Medina +Medinese +Messiah +Middle Ages +Misr, _see_ Cairo +Mohammedan, religion + masters + state + orthodox dogma + authorities + law books + countries + political life + church + princes + world + governors + subjects + masses + statesmen + protection + community + territories + dogmatics + Hell + authors + law + women + nations + slavery + principles + standard of tolerance + philosophers + mystics + thought + lunar year + learning + science + populations + dominions +Mohammedans + natives of Egypt +Mongols +Morocco +Moses +Moslim + princes + people + authority + church + canonists + world + chiefs of states + woman + society + heresiologists +Mufti +Muir +Mujtahids +Mutakallim +Mu'tazilites + + +N + +Neo-Platonic origin of mysticism +Neo-Platonism +Noeldeke +Non-Alids +Non-Arabian converts +Non-Arabic Moslims + + +O + +Omar +Omayyads +Othman + authority +Ottoman princes +Ottomans + + +P + +Paganism +Papacy +Paradise +Parsis +Persia +Persian Empire +Porte, the +Prideaux, Dr. +Protestantism + + +Q + +Qadhis +Qaris (Qoran scholars) +Qarmatians +Qoraish +Qoran + scolars + reciters +Qoranic, revelations + religion + + +R + +Reland, H. +Resurrection +Roman Catholics + + +S + +Salat +Sale +Salih, the prophet +Sasanids +Saul +Sayyids +Scriptures + people of the +Shafi'ites +Shahs of Persia +Shari'ah (Divine Law) +Shaukah (actual influence) +Sheikhites +Sheikh-ul-Islam +Sherifs +Sherifs of Mecca +Sherifs, rulers of Morocco +Shi'ah (the Party of the House) +Shi'ites +Sirah (biography) +Spain +Sprenger +Stambul +Sultan +Sunnah +Sunnites +Syria +Syrians + + +T + +Taif +Tatars +Testament, _see_ Scriptures +Tibet +Tradition, _see_ Hadith +Trinity +Turkey + Sultan of +Turkish, Empire + circles + conqueror + Sultan + arms + government + state officials +Turks + + +U + +'Ulama' (learned men) + + +V + +Voltaire + + +W + +Wahhabi reformers +Weil +Wellhausen +Wezirs + + +Y + +Yemen + Imams of + + +Z + +Zaidites +Zakat (taxes) +Zanzibar + + + + + +End of 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