A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihád'

Chapter VII: Introduction: Sidenote: Object of the book (4)

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39. (1) Mohammad had to deal with barbarous nations around him, to be gradually reformed, and besides this the subject of social reforms was a secondary question. Yet it being necessary to transform the character of the people and to reform the moral and social abuses prevailing among them, he gradually introduced his social reforms which proved immense blessings to the Arabs and other nations in the seventh century. Perhaps some temporary but judicious, reasonable and helpful accommodations had to be made to the weakness and immaturity of the people, as halting stages in the march of reforms only to be set aside at their adult strength, or to be abolished when they were to begin to emerge from their barbarism under its influence to a higher civilization. Consequently gradual amelioration of social evils had necessarily to pass several trials during progress of reform. The intermediate stages are not to be taken as final and irrevocable standard of morality and an insuperable barrier to the regeneration of the Arabian nation. Our adversaries stick indiscriminately to these temporary measures or concessions only, and call them half measures and partial reforms made into an unchangeable law which exclude the highest reforms, and form a formidable obstacle to the dawn of a progressive and enlightened civilization. I have in view here the precepts of Mohammad for ameliorating the degraded condition of women for restricting the unlimited polygamy and the facility of divorce, together with servile concubinage and slavery.[155] Mohammad's injunctions and precepts, intermediary and ultimate, temporary and permanent, intended for the removal of these social evils, are interwoven with each other, interspersed in different Suras and not chronologically arranged, in consequence of which it is somewhat difficult for those who have no deep insight into the promiscuous literature of the Koran to find out which precept was only a halting stage, and which the latest. It was only from some oversight on the part of the compilers of the Common Law that, in the first place, the civil precepts of a transitory nature and as a mediate step leading to a higher reform were taken as final; and in the second place, the civil precepts adapted for the dwellers of the Arabian desert were pressed upon the neck of all ages and countries. A social system for barbarism ought not to be imposed on a people already possessing higher forms of civilizations.

[Footnote 155: "The cankerworm of polygamy, divorce, servile concubinage and veil lay at the root. They are bound up in the character of its existence. A reformed Islam which should part with the divine ordinances on which they rest, or attempt in the smallest degree to change them by a rationalistic selection, abetment or variation would be Islam no longer." Annals of the Early Caliphate by Sir W. Muir, page 458.]

[Sidenote: Positive precepts.]

[Sidenote: Ceremonial law.]

40. (2) In fact the Koran deals with positive precepts as well as with principles, but it never teaches a precise system of precepts regulating in minute details the social relations of life and the ceremonial of worship. On the contrary, its aim has been to counteract the tendency to narrowness, formality, and severity which is the consequence of a living under a rigid system of positive precepts. Mohammad had to transform the character of the Arab barbarians who had no religious or moral teacher or a social reformer before his advent. It was therefore necessary to give them a few positive precepts, moulding and regulating their moral and social conduct, to make them 'new creatures' with new notions and new purposes, and to remodel the national life. (3) But lest they should confuse virtue as identical with obedience to the outward requirements of the ceremonial law,--the formal ablutions, the sacrifices in pilgrimages, the prescribed forms of prayers, the fixed amount of alms, and the strict fasts, the voice of the Koran has ever and anon been lifted up to declare that a rigid conformity to practical precepts, whether of conduct or ceremonial, would not extenuate, but rather increase in the eyes of God the guilt of an unprincipled heart and an unholy life.

[Sidenote: Pilgrimage.]

Regarding the pilgrimage[156] or the sacrifices (its chief ceremony), the Koran says:--

"By no means can their flesh reach unto God, neither their blood,
but piety on your part reacheth him. Thus hath he subjected them to
you, that ye might magnify God for his guidance: and announce glad
tidings to the doers of good."--Sura XXII, 38.

[Sidenote: Kibla.]

Regarding the _Kibla_ in prayers it is said in the Koran:--

"The west and the east is God's: therefore whichever way ye turn
there is the face of God."--Sura II, 109.

"All have a quarter of the Heavens to which they turn them; but
wherever ye be, hasten emulously after good."--_Ibid_, 143.

"There is no piety in turning your faces toward the east or west,
but he is pious who believeth in God and the last day, and the
angels and the scripture, and the prophets; who for the love of God
disburseth his wealth to his kindred; and to the orphans, and the
needy, and the wayfarer, and those who ask, and for ransoming; who
observeth the prayer, and payeth alms, and who is of those who are
faithful to their engagements when they have engaged in them, and
patient under ills and hardships, and in time of trouble, these are
they who are just, and these are they who fear the Lord."--_Ibid_,
172.

[Sidenote: Amount of alms.]

In the place of a fixed amount of alms the Koran only says to give what ye can spare.

"They will ask thee also what shall they bestow in alms:

"Say: What ye can spare."--_Ibid_, 216, 217.

[Sidenote: Fasts.]

Instead of imposing a very strict fast, which in the middle of summer is extremely mortifying, the Koran makes its observance optional.

"And as for those who are able to keep it and yet observe it not,
the expiation of this shall be the maintenance of a poor man. And
he who of his own accord performeth a good work, shall derive good
from it: and good shall it be for you to fast, if ye knew
it."--_Ibid_, 180.

[Sidenote: No prescribed forms of prayer.]

The Koran does not teach any prescribed forms of worship and other ritualistic prayers. No attitude is fixed, and no outward observance of posture is required. There is no scrupulosity and punctiliousness, neither the change of posture in prayer nor the displacement of a single genuflexion calls any censure on the devotee in the Koran. Simply reading the Koran (Suras LXXIII, 20; XXIX, 44), and bearing God in mind, standing and sitting; reclining (III, 188; IV, 104) or bowing down or prostrating (XXII, 76) is the only form and ritual, if it may be called so, of prayer and worship taught in the Koran.

"Recite then as much of the Koran as may be easy to you."--Sura
LXXIII, 20.

"Recite the portions of the Book which have been revealed to thee
and discharge the duty of prayer; verily prayer restraineth from
the filthy and the blameworthy. And assuredly the gravest duty is
the remembrance of God; and God knoweth what ye do."--Sura XXIX,
44.

"And when the Koran is rehearsed, then listen ye to it and keep
silence: haply ye may obtain mercy."

"And think within thine ownself on God, with lowliness and with
fear and without loud-spoken words, at even and at morn; and be not
of the heedless."--Sura VII, 203, 204.

[Sidenote: Pretentious prayers and ostentatious almsgiving condemned.]

The Koran condemns pretentious prayers and ostentatious almsgiving.

"Verily the hypocrites would deceive God; but he will deceive them!
When they stand up for prayer, they stand carelessly to be seen of
men, and they remember God but little"--Sura IV, 141.

"Woe then to those who pray,"

"Who in their prayer are careless;"

"Who make a show of devotion,"

"But refuse help _to the needy_."--Sura CVII, 4-7.

"And they fall down on their faces weeping, and it increaseth the
humility."--Sura XVII, 110.

"O ye who believe! make not your alms void by reproaches and
injury; like him who spendeth his substance to be seen of men, and
believeth not in God and in the latter day. The likeness of such an
one is that of a rock with a thin soil upon it, on which a heavy
rain falleth, but leaveth it hard. No profit from their works shall
they be able to gain; for God guideth not the unbelieving
people."--Sura II, 266.

"We have made ready a shameful chastisement for the unbelievers,
and for those who bestow their substance in alms to be seen of men,
and believe not in God and in the last day. Whoever hath satan for
his companion, an evil companion hath he!"--Sura IV, 42.

[Sidenote: No indispensable hours or places for prayers.]

There are no indispensable hours or places to be observed for prayers. In Suras XI, 116; and IV, 104, the time of prayer is set down in general terms without specifying any fixed hour. There are some more times named in Suras XVII, 81, 82; XX, 130; L, 38, 39; and LII, 48, 49, but they are special cases for Mohammad himself, and "as an excess in the service." _Vide_ Sura XVII, 81. On this subject Dr. Marcus Dods observes:--

"There are two features of the devout character which the
Mohammedans have the merit of exhibiting with much greater
distinctness than we do. They show not the smallest hesitation or
fear in confessing God, and they reduce to practice the great
principle that the worship of God is not confined to temples or
any special place:--

"Most honour to the men of prayer,
Whose mosque is in them everywhere!
Who amid revel's wildest din,
In war's severest discipline,
On rolling deck, in thronged bazaar,
In stranger land, however far,
However different in their reach
Of thought, in manners, dress or speech,--
Will quietly their carpet spread.
To Mekkeh turn the humble head,
And, as if blind to all around,
And deaf to each distracting sound,
In ritual language God adore,
In spirit to his presence soar,
And in the pauses of the prayer,
Rest, as if rapt in glory there."

"There are of course formalists and hypocrites in Islam as well as
in religions of which we have more experience. The uniformity and
regularity of their prostrations resemble the movements of a
well-drilled company of soldiers or of machines, but the Koran
denounces "woe upon those who pray, but in their prayers are
careless, who make a show of devotion, but refuse to help the
needy;" while nowhere is formalism more pungently ridiculed than in
the common Arabic proverb, "His head is towards the Kibleh, but his
heels among the weeds." We could almost excuse a touch of formalism
for the sake of securing that absolute stillness and outward
decorum in worship which deceives the stranger as he enters a
crowded mosque into the belief that it is quite empty. Persons who
hold themselves excused from the duty of worship by every slight
obstacle might do worse than get infected with the sublime
formalism of Cais, son of Sad, who would not shift his head an inch
from the place of his prostration, though a huge serpent lifted its
fangs close to his face and finally coiled itself round his neck.
And if some are formal, certainly many are very much in
earnest."[157]

[Sidenote: Ablutions.]

The ablutions have not been imposed as burdens, or as having any mysterious merit, but merely as a measure of cleanliness.

"God desireth not to lay a burden upon you, but he desireth to
purify you."

[Footnote 156: The institution of pilgrimage is a harmless one, and conducive to unity in religion for Arabs, and gives moreover an impetus to trade at large.]

[Footnote 157: Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ, by Marcus Dods, D.D., pp. 30-1.]

[Sidenote: Koran both abstract and concrete in morals.]

41. (4) The Koran seems fully aware of the danger of the precise and fixed system of positive precepts moulding and regulating every department of life. The danger is that the system of formalism in which men are tied down to the performance of certain religious functions, minutely and precisely fixed in respect to time, place and manner, so that neither less nor more is required of them, retains too tight a grip upon them, when the circumstances which justified it have changed or vanished away. The moral growth of those who live under such a system of minute and punctilious restraint is stunted and retarded. The tendency of mankind to formalism is so strong that they very commonly, though often unconsciously, fall into the error of imagining that there is a peculiar intrinsic merit and virtue in the mere discharge of those prescribed forms of duties and religious ceremonies. Morality is with them not in the abstract but in the concrete, as consisting of a mass of religious observances, rather than of a certain disposition of heart towards God and man. The Koran deals with vice and virtue as a whole as well as in fragmentary details. It treats of inward motives as much as of outward practice, of exhortations equally with precepts and commands. It holds up before man the hatefulness and ugliness of vice _as a whole_. It does not enclose the whole of the practical morality and piety within the narrow compass of a fixed number of precepts. It lays the foundation of that far-reaching charity which regards all men as equal in the sight of God, and recognizes no distinction of races and classes.

120. "And abandon the semblance of wickedness and wickedness
itself. They, verily, whose _only_ acquirement is iniquity shall be
repaid for what they have gained."

152. "Say: Come, I will rehearse what your Lord hath made binding
on you, that ye assign not aught to Him as sharers of his Divine
honour, and that ye be good to your parents; _and_ that ye slay not
your children because of poverty, for them and for you will We
provide; and that ye come not near to pollutions, outward or
inward; and that ye slay not anyone whom God hath forbidden you,
unless for a just cause. This hath He enjoined on you: haply ye
will understand."--Sura VI.

31. "Say: Only hath my Lord forbidden filthy actions, whether open
or secret, and iniquity, and unjust violence, and to associate with
God that for which He hath sent down no warranty, and to speak of
God that of which ye have no knowledge."--Sura VII.

33. "To those who avoid great crimes and scandals, but commit only
lighter faults, verily, thy Lord will be rich in forgiveness. He
well knew you when He produced you out of the earth, and when ye
were embryos in your mothers' womb. Assert not then your own
purity. He best knoweth who feareth him."--Sura LIII.

13. "O men! verily We have created you of a male and a female: and
We have divided you into peoples and tribes that ye might take
knowledge one of another. Truly the most worthy of honour in the
sight of God is he who feareth Him most. Verily God is Knowing,
Cognizant."--Sura XLIX.

143. "And every _nation_ has a quarter _of the Heavens_. It is God
who turneth them _towards it_: hasten then emulously after good:
wheresover ye be, God will one day bring you all together: verily
God is all powerful."--Sura II.

52. "And to thee We have sent down the Book _of the Koran_ with
truth, confirmatory of previous scripture and its safeguard. Judge
therefore between them by what God hath sent down, and follow not
their desires, after the truth which hath come unto thee. To
everyone of you have We given a rule and an open way."

53. "And if God had pleased He had surely made you all one people;
but He would test you by what He hath given to each. Be emulous
then in good deeds. To God do ye _all_ return, and He will tell you
concerning the subjects of your disputes."--Sura V.

127 "And vie in haste for pardon from your Lord, and a Paradise,
vast as the Heavens and the Earth, prepared for the God-fearing."

128. "Who gives alms, _alike_ in prosperity and _in_ distress, and
who master their anger, and forgive others! And God loveth the doer
of good."

129. "And who, after they have done a base deed or committed a
wrong against their own souls, remember God and implore forgiveness
of their sins--and who can forgive sins but God only?--and
persevere not in what they have willingly done amiss."--Sura III.

21. "Vie in hasting after pardon from your Lord, and
Paradise--whose outspread is as the outspread of the Heaven and of
the Earth. Prepared is it for those who believed in God and his
apostles. Such is the bounty of God: to whom He will He giveth it:
and of immense bounty is God!"--Sura LII.

183. "Ye shall assuredly be tried in your possessions and in
yourselves. And many hurtful things shall ye assuredly hear from
those to whom the scriptures were given before you, and from those
who join other gods with God. But if ye be steadfast and fear God,
then this verily is _God's_ decree for the affairs of
_life_."--Sura III.

16. "O my son! observe prayer and enjoin the right and forbid the
wrong, and be patient under whatever shall betide thee: verily this
is a bounden duty."--Sura XXXI.

38. "Yet let the recompense of evil be only a like evil; but he who
forgiveth and maketh peace, shall find his reward for it from God;
verily He loveth not those who act unjustly."

39. "And there shall be no way _open_ against those who, after
being wronged, avenge themselves."

40. "Only shall there be a way _open_ against those who unjustly
wrong others, and act insolently on the earth in disregard of
justice. These! a grievous punishment doth await them."

41. "And whoso beareth _wrongs_ with patience and forgiveth,--this
verily is a bounden duty."--Sura XLII.

[Sidenote: Adaptability of the Koran to surrounding circumstances.]

42. (5) The Koran keeps pace with the most fully and rapidly-developing civilization, if it is rationally interpreted, not as expounded by the Ulema in the Common Law Book and enforced by the sentiment of a nation. It is only the Mohammadan Common Law, with all its traditions or oral sayings of the Prophet,--very few of which are genuine reports, and the supposed chimerical concurrence of the learned Moslem Doctors and mostly their analogical reasonings (called _Hadees_, _Ijma_, and _Kias_), passed under the name of _Fiqah_ or _Shariat_, that has blended together the spiritual and the secular, and has become a barrier in some respects regarding certain social and political innovations for the higher civilization and progress of the nation. But the Koran is not responsible for this all.

Mr. Stanley Lane Poole writes:--

"The Koran does not contain, even in outline, the elaborate
ritual and complicated law which now passes under the name of
Islam. It contains merely those decisions which happened to be
called for at Medina. Mohammad himself knew that it did not provide
for every emergency, and recommended a principle of analogical
deduction to guide his followers when they were in doubt. This
analogical deduction has been the ruin of Islam. Commentators and
Jurists have set their nimble wits to work to extract from the
Koran legal decisions which an ordinary mind could never
discover there; and the whole structure of modern Mohammadanism has
been built upon the foundation of sand. The Koran is not
responsible for it."[158]

I can only differ from the above in the allegation that Mohammad recommended a principle of analogical deduction.

[Footnote 158: The Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Mohammad, by Stanley Lane Poole, pages lii and liii, Introduction, London, 1882.]

[Sidenote: Suitability of the Koran to all classes of humanity.]

43. Thus the system of religious and moral teaching of the Koran admirably suits the lower and the higher forms of humanity. The precepts which regulate some department of social life, moral conduct, and religious ceremonial are blessings to the barbarous; and that portion of the Koran which inculcates large principles, for the due application of which much must be left to the individual conscience, suits the same people when they begin to emerge from their barbarism under its influence into a higher condition, or to those already possessing the higher forms of civilization. For instance, the command to give full measure, to weigh with just balance, to abstain from wine and gambling, and to treat persons with kindness are intended for men not reaching the high forms of civilization. The teachings of the Koran regarding the graces of truth, honesty and temperance and mercy, the virtues of meekness, and the stress laid upon thoughts and inclinations are fit to instruct persons who have attained the higher forms of civilization, and have outgrown the need of positive precepts of minute detail.

C. Ali.

Hyderabad,
Deccan,
_March 1884_.

[Transcriber's Note: Despite the reference to a "Note" on page cv in the Table of Contents, no such page exists in this edition of the printed book.]

ALL THE WARS OF MOHAMMAD WERE DEFENSIVE.

_The Persecutions._

[Sidenote: 1. The early persecutions of Moslems by the people of Mecca.]

The severe persecution which Mohammad and his early converts suffered at Mecca at the hands of their fellow-citizens, the Koreish, is a fact admitted by all historians.

The Koran, which may be regarded as a contemporary record of the ill-feeling manifested towards the Prophet and his followers, bears ample testimony to the fact. Not only were the early Moslems persecuted for renouncing the pagan religion and obtaining converts to the monotheistic religion of Mohammad, but they were also tortured and otherwise ill-treated to induce them to return to the religion which they had forsaken. The persecution seems to have been so great that Mohammad was compelled to recognize those of his followers, who by force and cruelty were compelled to renounce Islam and profess paganism, but were inwardly steadfast in their belief of the one true God, as true Moslems.

The Koran says:

"Whoso after he hath believed in God denieth Him, if he were forced to it, and if his heart remain steadfast in the faith, _shall be guiltless_; but whoso openeth his breast to infidelity, on them, in that case, shall be wrath from God, and a severe punishment awaiteth them."--Sura xvi, 108.

"The incarceration and tortures," says Mr. Stobart, "chiefly by thirst in the burning rays of the sun, to which these humble converts were subjected, to induce their recantation and adoration of the national idols, touched the heart of Mahomet, and by divine authority, he permitted them, under certain circumstances, to deny their faith so long as their hearts were steadfast in it."[159]

[Sidenote: 2. Notices of the persecution in the Koran.]

The oppressions, trials, and sufferings which the early Moslems underwent compelled them to fly from their homes, leaving their families and property in the hands of their oppressors. They chose this course rather than revert to paganism. They held steadfastly to the one true God whom their Prophet had taught them to trust and believe. All these facts are clearly outlined in the following verses of the Koran:--

"And as to those who when oppressed have fled their country for the sake of God, We will surely provide them a goodly abode in this world, but greater the reward of next life, did they but know it."

"They who bear ills with patience, and put their trust in the Lord!"--xvi, 43, 44.

"To those also who after their trials fled their country, then did their utmost and endured with patience, verily, thy Lord will afterwards be forgiving, gracious."--_Ibid_, 111.

"But they who believe, and who fly their country, and do their utmost in the cause of God, may hope for God's mercy: and God is Gracious, Merciful."--ii, 215.

"And they who have fled their country and quitted their homes and suffered in my cause and have fought and fallen--I will blot out their sins from them and will bring them into gardens beneath which the streams do flow."--iii, 194.

"And as to those who fled their country for the cause of God, and were afterwards slain, or died, surely with goodly provision will God provide for them! for verily, God is the best of providers!"--xxii, 57.

"Those believers who sit at home free from trouble, and those who toil in the cause of God with their substance and their persons, shall not be treated alike. God hath assigned to those who strive with their persons and with their substance, a rank above those who sit at home. Goodly promises hath He made to all: But God hath assigned to those who make efforts a rich recompense above those who sit still at home."

"The angels, when they took the souls of those who had been unjust to their own weal, demanded, 'What hath been your state?' They said, 'We were the weak ones of the earth.' They replied, 'Was not God's earth broad enough for you to flee away in?' These! their home shall be Hell, and evil the passage to it"--

"Except the men and women and children who were not able through their weakness to find the means _of escape_, and were not guided on their way. These haply God will forgive: for God is Forgiving, Pardoning."--iv, 97, 99, 100.

"God doth not forbid you to deal with kindness and fairness towards those who have not made war upon you on account of your religion, or driven you forth from your homes: verily, God loveth those who act with fairness."

"Only doth God forbid you to make friends of those who, on account of your religion, have warred against you, and have driven you forth from your homes, and have aided your expulsion: and whoever maketh friends of them, these therefore are evil-doers."--lx, 8, 9.

[Sidenote: 3. Insults suffered by Mohammad.]

The Prophet himself suffered insults and personal injuries from the hands of his persecutors. He was prevented from offering his prayers (xcvi, 10). He allowed himself to be spat upon, to have dust thrown upon him, and to be dragged out of the Kaaba by his own turban fastened to his neck. He bore all these indignities with the utmost humility, and he daily beheld his followers treated oppressively. After his uncle's death his life was attempted, but he escaped by flying to Medina.

"And _call to mind_ when the unbelievers plotted against thee, to detain thee prisoner or to kill thee or to banish thee: they plotted--but God plotted; and of plotters is God the best."--viii, 30.

[Sidenote: 4. Historical summary of the persecutions.]

About 615 of the Christian era, the Koreish of Mecca began to persecute the faith of Islam. Those who had no protection among the early Moslems were hard pressed, as related above. A body of eleven men, some with their families, fled the country, and found refuge, notwithstanding their pursuit by the Koreish, across the Red Sea at the Court of Abyssinia. This was the first Hegira, or flight of the persecuted Moslems. After some time, the persecution being resumed by the Koreish more hotly than ever, a larger number of Moslems, more than hundred, emigrated to Abyssinia. This was the second flight of the Moslems. The Koreish had sent an embassy to the Court of Abyssinia to fetch back the refugees. The king denied their surrender. About two years later the Koreish formed a hostile confederacy, by which all intercourse with the Moslems and their supporters was suspended. The Koreish forced upon the Moslems, by their threats and menaces, to retire from the city. For about three years, they, together with the Prophet and the Hashimites and their families, had to shut themselves up in the _Sheb_ of Abu Tálib. They remained there, cut off from communication with the outer world. The ban of separation was put rigorously in force. The terms of the social and civil ban put upon them were, that they would neither intermarry with the proscribed, nor sell to or buy from them anything, and that they would entirely cease from all intercourse with them. Mohammad, in the interval of the holy months, used to go forth and mingle with the pilgrims to Mecca, and preached to them the abhorrence of idolatry and the worship of the One True God. The _Sheb_, or quarter of Abu Tálib, lies under the rocks of Abu Cobeis. A low gateway cut them off from the outer world, and within they had to suffer all privations of a beleaguered garrison. No one would venture forth except in the sacred months, when all hostile feelings and acts had to be laid aside. The citizens could hear the voices of the half-famished children inside the _Sheb_ and this state of endurance on the one side, and persecution on the other, went on for some three years. Five of the chief supporters of the adverse faction detached from the league and broke up the confederacy and released the imprisoned religionists. This was in the tenth year of Mohammad's ministry. Soon after Mohammad and the early Moslems suffered a great loss in the death of his venerable uncle and protector Abu Tálib. Thus, Mohammad and his followers became again exposed to the unchecked insults and persecutions incited by Abú Sofian, Abu Jahl, and others; and being a handful in the hostile city, were unable to cope with its rich and powerful chiefs. At this critical period, either because he found it unsafe to remain at Mecca, or because he trusted his message would find more acceptance elsewhere, Mohammad set off to Tayef of the Bani Thakif,--the town was one of the great strongholds of idolatry. There was a stone image, called Al-Lât, adorned with costly vestments and precious stones, was an object of worship, and esteemed to be one of the daughters of God. Here Mohammad preached to unwilling ears, and met with nothing but opposition and scorn from the chief men, which soon spread to the populace. He was driven out of the town, maltreated, and wounded. He could not return to and enter Mecca unless protected by Mut-im, a chief of the blood of Abd Shams.

At the yearly pilgrimage, a little group of worshippers from Medina was attracted and won over by the preaching of Islam; and the following year it increased to twelve. They met Mohammad and took an oath of allegiance. A teacher was deputed by Mohammad to Medina, and the new faith spread there with a marvellous rapidity. Again the time of pilgrimage arrived, and more than seventy disciples from Medina pledged themselves to receive and defend him at the risk of their lives and property. This was all done in secret; but the Koreish, having got notice of it, renewed such severities and persecutions, including, in some cases, imprisonment, as hastened the departure of the Moslems to Medina, their city of refuge.

[Sidenote: 5. The Hegira.]

Mohammad, being much troubled by the intolerance of the people and the personal safety and security of himself and his followers being endangered, and mutual intercourse denied, saw that it was hopeless to expect any forbearance on the part of the Koreish, who would not permit him to live and preach his religion at home, and looked for assistance and protection from a strange land. He asked the people of Medina to receive and protect him. The Medina converts, who had come to Mecca on pilgrimage, pledged themselves to Mohammad, and promised to defend him as they would defend their wives and children. The Medina converts, although not acting on the offensive, became at once objects of suspicion to the Koreish, who endeavoured to seize those who were in Mecca. They maltreated one of the Medina converts who fell into their hands, and the work of persecution was recommenced in right earnest.[160] Two months elapsed before the believers, except those detained in confinement or who were unable to escape from slavery, or women and children, could emigrate. Families after families silently disappeared, and house after house was abandoned. One or two quarters of the city were entirely deserted. The Koreish held a council and proscribed Mohammad, who escaped together with Abu Bakr, leaving Ali in his house, around whom, to lull the suspicions of his neighbours, he threw his own mantle, and desired him to occupy his bed. Mohammad and his follower took refuge in a cave. The Koreish despatched scouts in all directions to search for Mohammad, but in vain. After hiding for three days in the cave, Mohammad and Abu Bakr started for Medina, where they arrived safely.

The foregoing circumstances would have fully justified immediate hostilities on the part of Mohammad, but he did not take up arms until compelled to do so by the attacks of the Meccans.

[Sidenote: 6. The persecution of the Moslems by the Koreish after their flight from Mecca.]

Notwithstanding the flight of the Prophet and of all the early Moslem converts who were able to effect an escape except their families, women and children, and those weak Moslems who could not leave Mecca, the Meccans or the Koreish did not forgive the fugitives and did not abstain from their aggressions against them. They maltreated the children and weak Moslems left at Mecca (iv, 77, 99 and 100), expelled the Moslems from their houses, and would not allow them to come back to Mecca for a pilgrimage (ii, 214). The Meccans several times invaded the Medina territory with the avowed intention of making war upon the Moslems (and actually fought the battles of Bedr, Ohad, Khandak or Ahzáb, at Medina), consequently the Moslems were forced to resort to arms in pure self-defence.

These were sufficient grounds for the Moslems to assume the offensive. They were desirous also of rescuing their families and those who had been unable to join in the flight from the tyranny and oppression of the Meccans. Yet they were in no instance the aggressors. Driven from their homes and families they did not resort to arms until absolutely compelled to do so in self-defence.

All that Mohammad claimed for himself and his followers was, full liberty of conscience and actions, and permission to preach and practice his religion without being molested. This being refused, he advised his followers to leave the city and seek refuge elsewhere. They emigrated twice to Abyssinia, and for the third time were expelled to Medina, where he himself followed, when his own life was attempted.

[Footnote 159: Islam and its Founder, by J.W.H. Stobart, B.A., page 76.

But, in fact, there was no such permission. The verse quoted above says, that the wrath and punishment of God will be on those who deny God, except those who do so by being forced. The latter were not put on the same footing as the former; in short, those who denied God under compulsion were not counted unbelievers.]

[Footnote 160: "The support of the Medina adherents, and the suspicion of an _intended_ emigration, irritated the Koreish to severity; and this severity forced the Moslems to petition Mahomet for leave to emigrate. The two causes might co-exist and re-act one another; the persecution would hasten the departure of the converts, while each fresh departure would irritate the Koreish to greater cruelty."--William Muir's Life of Mahomet, Vol. II, pp. 242, 243, foot-note.]

_The Meccans or the Koreish._

[Sidenote: 7. A Koreish chieftain commits a raid near Medina.--A.H., I.]

The attitude of the Koreish towards the Prophet and his followers after the flight rapidly became more hostile. Kurz-ibn Jábir, one of the marauding chieftains of the Koreish, fell upon some of the camels and flocks of Medina, while feeding in a plain a few miles from the city, and carried them off.

[Sidenote: 8. The Koreish march to attack Medina. Mohammad marches forth in defence, and gains the battle at Badr.--A.H., II.]

Still there was no hostile response from Medina, till the aggressors (the Koreish) brought from Medina an army of 950 strong, mounted on 700 camels and 100 horses, to Badr, nine stages from Mecca, advancing towards Medina. Then the Prophet set out from Medina at the head of his small army of 305 to check the advance of his aggressors. This was the first offensive and defensive war between the Koreish and Mohammad respectively. The aggressors lost the battle.

[Sidenote: 9. Attack by Abu Sofian upon Medína.--A.H., II.]

After this Abu Sofian, the head of the Koreish, accompanied by 200 mounted followers, alarmed Mohammad and the people of Medina by a raid upon the cornfields and palm gardens two or three miles north-east of Medina. The nomad tribes of Suliem and Ghatafán, who were descended from a common stock with the Koreish, being probably incited by them, or at least by the example of Abu Sofian, had twice assembled and projected a plundering attack upon Medina--a task in itself congenial with their predatory habits.

[Sidenote: 10. The battle of Ohad.]

The Koreish made great preparations for a fresh attack upon Medina. One year after the battle of Badr, they commenced their march,--three thousand in number, seven hundred were mailed warriors, and two hundred well mounted cavalry. Reaching Medina they encamped in an extensive and fertile plain to the west of Ohad.

Mohammad met Abu Sofian at the head of 700 followers and only two horsemen, but lost the battle and was wounded.

[Sidenote: 11. Mohammad's prestige affected by the defeat.]

Mohammad's prestige being affected by the defeat at Ohad, many of the Bedouin tribes began to assume an hostile attitude towards him. The Bani Asad, a powerful tribe connected with the Koreish in Najd and Bani Lahyan in the vicinity of Mecca, prepared to make a raid upon Medina. The Mohammadan missionaries were killed at Rají and Bír Maúna. The marauding bands of Duma also threatened a raid upon the city. Bani Mustalik also raised forces to join the Koreish in their threatened attack upon Medina.

[Sidenote: 12. Abu Sofian threatened the Moslems with another attack next year.]

Abu Sofian, while retiring from the field, victorious as he was, threatened the Moslem with a fresh attack the next year as he said to Omar: "We shall meet again, let it be after a year, at Badr." Medina and the Moslems, however, enjoyed a long exemption from the threatened attack of the Koreish.

At length the time came when the forces of the Koreish and the Moslems were again to meet at Badr. But the year was one of great draught, and the Koreish were desirous that the expedition should be deferred to a more favorable season. Accordingly the Koreish engaged Naeem, an Arab of a neutral tribe, to repair to Medina, and there to give forth an exaggerated account of the preparations of the Koreish, in the hope that, with the field of Ohad fresh in memory, it might deter the Moslems from setting out to meet them. But Mohammad, with a force of fifteen hundred men and only ten horses, set forth for Badr. The Koreish, who never appeared mortified at the triumph of Mohammad, began to project another grand attack upon him.

[Sidenote: 13. The Koreish again attack Medina with a large army. Mohammad defends the city. The enemy retire. (Ditch or Nations.--A.H., V.)]

The winter season in the next year was chosen for the renewal of hostilities by the Koreish. They joined an immense force of the Bedouin tribes (the entire army was estimated at ten thousand), marched against Mohammad, and besieged Medina. Mohammad defended the city by digging a Ditch. The army of Medina was posted within the trench, and that of the Koreish encamped opposite them. In the meantime Abu Sofian succeeded in detaching the Jewish tribe of Koreiza from their allegiance to Mohammad. The danger to Medina from this defection was great. The enemy made a general attack, which was repulsed. Bad weather set in, and Abu Sofian ordered the allied force to break up. The enemy retired, and never came again to attack the Moslems. This, therefore, was the last war of aggression on the part of the Koreish, and of defence on the part of Mohammad.

[Sidenote: 14. Mohammad, with his followers, advanced to perform the lesser pilgrimage of Mecca. The Koreish opposed Mohammad, who returned disappointed.--A.H. VI.]

Six years had passed since the expulsion of Mohammad and his followers from Mecca. They had not since visited the Holy house, nor had they joined the yearly pilgrimage, which was an essential part of their social and religious life. Mohammad undertook to perform the lesser pilgrimage to Mecca in the month of Zalkada, in which war was unlawful throughout Arabia. Mohammad, with his followers, the pious and peaceful worshippers, fifteen hundred in number, set forth for Mecca. The pilgrims carried no arms, but such as were allowed by custom to travellers,--_namely_, each a sheathed sword. The Koreish, with their allies, the surrounding tribes, hearing of the approach of the pilgrims, took up arms. They pushed forward to obstruct the pilgrims. Mohammad encamped at Hodeibia, where a treaty of peace was concluded between the Koreish and Mohammad. The treaty was to the effect, that war should be suspended for ten years, neither party attacking the other. Whosoever wished to join Mohammad and enter into treaty with him, should have liberty to do so. "If any one goeth over to Mohammad, without the permission of his guardian, he shall be sent back to his guardian. But if any one from amongst the followers of Mohammad return to the Koreish, the same shall not be sent back, provided, on the part of the Koreish, that Mohammad and his followers retire from us this year without entering our city. In the coming year he may visit Mecca--he and his followers--for three days, when we shall retire therefrom. But they may not enter it with any weapons, save those of the travellers--_namely_, to each a sheathed sword." Bani Khozaá entered into the alliance of Mohammad, and Bani Bakr adhered to the Koreish.

[Sidenote: 15. Violation of the treaty by the Koreish, and their submission.]

The peace remained unbroken until the Koreish violated the treaty of Hodeibia[161] and treacherously killed several men of the Bani Khozaá. Mohammad marched against them in the eighth year of the Hegira in defence of the injured and oppressed Bani Khozaá, and to chastize the Koreish for violation of the treaty. But the Koreish submitted to the authority of Mohammad before he arrived at Mecca, and the city was occupied without resistance.

[Sidenote: 16. Two other tribes assume the offensive.]

Soon after, the great and warlike tribe of Hawazin and Thakeef assumed the offensive. They assembled at Autas, and advanced upon Honain to attack Mohammad. He was obliged to leave Mecca and set out to disperse them, who were beaten back at Honain (S. ix, 26-28). Taif of the Thakeef was besieged, but in vain.

[Footnote 161: Unfortunately several missionary expeditious sent by Mohammad were met with unfavorable circumstances. The party sent to Bani Suleim, demanding their allegiance to the faith of Islam, was slain. Another party sent to Bani Leith was surprised, and its camels plundered. A small party sent by Mohammad to Fadak was cut to pieces by Bani Murra. Another party sent to Zat Atlah to call upon the people to embrace Islam, of which only one person escaped. Mohammad's messenger despatched to the Ghassanide Prince at Bostra was murdered by the chief of Muta. His army sent to avenge the treachery of the chief was defeated. All these mishaps and reverses dangerously affected the prestige of Mohammad, and encouraged the Meccans to violate the truce.]

_The defensive character of the wars._

[Sidenote: 17. Verses from the Koran in support of the defensive character of the wars.]

This brief sketch of the defensive wars of Mohammad with the Koreish will fully show, that those who assert that Mohammad was aggressive or revengeful in his wars, or that he made war to force his religion upon the people, are altogether in the wrong.

I will now quote some verses of the Koran, showing that all the wars of Mohammad with the Koreish were defensive wars.

39. "Verily, God will ward off[162] _mischief_ from believers: lo, God loveth not the false, the unbeliever."

40. "A sanction is given to those who have been fought,[163] because they have suffered outrages, and verily, God is well able to succour them"--

41. "Those who have been driven forth from their homes wrongfully, only because they say, 'Our Lord is the God.' And if God had not repelled some men by others, cloisters and churches and oratories and mosques wherein the name of God is ever commemorated, would surely have been destroyed! And him who helpeth God will God surely help: Verily, God is Strong, Mighty."

42. "They who, if We established them in _this_ land, will observe prayer and pay the alms of obligation and enjoin what is recognized _as right_--and forbid what is unlawful. And the final issue of all things is unto God."--Sura, xxii.

186. "And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you: but commit not the injustice of _attacking them first_: verily, God loveth not the unjust."

187. "And kill them wherever ye find them, and eject them from whatever place they have ejected you, for (_fitnah_)[164] persecution is worse than slaughter: yet attack them not at the sacred mosque, until they attack you therein; but if they attack you, then slay them--Such is the recompense of the infidels!"--

188. "But if they desist,[165] then verily God is Gracious, Merciful!"

189. "And do battle against them until there be no more (_fitnah_) persecution, and the worship be that of God: but if they desist, then let there be no hostility, save against wrong-doers."

214. "They will ask thee concerning war in the Sacred Month. Say: The act of fighting therein is a grave crime; but the act of turning others aside from the path of God, and unbelief in Him, and to prevent access to the Sacred Mosque, and to drive out his people, is worse in the sight of God; and persecution[166] (_fitnah_[167]) is worse than bloodshed. But they will not cease to war against you until they turn you from your religion, if they be able: but whoever of you shall turn from his religion, and die an infidel, their works shall be fruitless in this world and in the next: and they shall be consigned to the fire; therein to abide for aye."

215. "But they who believe, and who fly their country, and do their utmost in the cause of God, may hope for God's mercy: and God is Gracious, Merciful."

245. "And fight in the cause of God; and know that God is He who Heareth, Knoweth."

247. "Hast thou not considered the assembly of the children of Israel after _the death of_ Moses, when they said to a prophet of theirs,--'Raise up for us a king; we will do battle for the cause of God?' He said, 'May it not be that if to fight were ordained you, ye would not fight?' They said, 'And why should we not fight in the cause of God, since we are driven forth from our dwellings and our children?' But when fighting was commanded them they turned back, save a few of them: But God knew the offenders!"

252. "And by the will of God they routed them; and (Dâood) David slew Goliath; and God gave him the kingship and wisdom, and taught him according to his will: and were it not for the restraint of one by the means of the other imposed on men by God, verily the earth had assuredly gone to ruin, but God is bounteous to his creatures."--Sura, ii.

76. "Let those then fight in the cause of God who barter this present life for that which is to come; for whoever fighteth on God's path, whether he be slain or conquer, We will in the end give him a great reward."

77. "But what hath come to you that ye fight not on the path of God, and _for_ the weak among men, women and children, who say, 'O our Lord! bring us forth from this City whose inhabitants are oppressors; give us a champion from thy presence; and give us from thy presence a defender?'"

78. "They who believe, fight on the path of God; and they who believe not, fight on the path of Thâgoot: Fight then against the friends of Satan--Verily, the craft of Satan shall be powerless!"

86. "Fight then on the path of God: lay not burdens on any but thyself; and stir up the faithful. The prowess of the infidels, God will haply restrain; for God is the stronger in prowess, and the stronger to punish."

91. "They desire that ye should be unbelievers as they are unbelievers, and that ye should be alike. Take therefore none of them for friends, until they have fled their homes for the cause of God. If they turn back, then seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; but take none of them as friends or helpers."

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A Critical Exposition of the Popular 'Jihád'Chapter VII: Introduction: Sidenote: Object of the book (4)

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