Chapter V: Part 5

Of the members of this harem the only prominent one is Ayesha, married
to the Prophet shortly after the Flight, when she had scarcely passed
the period of infancy, but who appears to have been gifted with
astuteness and ambition that were quite beyond her years, and who
maintained her ascendancy over the Prophet in spite of the fact that
many carping criticisms of his revelations are attributed to her. Some
of this may have been due to the obligations (including pecuniary
obligations) under which her father had laid Mahomet; but her
reputation seems to have been greatly enhanced by the sending down of
a revelation to exonerate her (A.H. 6), for which she thanked God and
not the Prophet. Each accession to the harem rendered the building of
a house or room necessary for the newcomer's accommodation; a fact in
which Robertson Smith perhaps rightly saw a relic of the older system
whereby the tent was the property of women. The trouble noticed above
seems to have arisen from the want of a similar arrangement in the
case of slave girls, with whom Mahomet's system permits cohabitation.
When Mahomet, whether in consequence of the fatigue incurred by the
"Farewell Pilgrimage," or, as others thought, by the working of some
poison put into his food some years before by a Jewess of Khaibar, was
attacked by the illness which proved fatal, it was to the house of
Ayesha that he was transferred (from that of another wife) to be
nursed; and he apparently died in the arms of the favourite, on whose
statements we have to rely for what we know of his last hours.

General Characteristics.

The traditional description of Mahomet is "of middle height, greyish,
with hair that was neither straight nor curly; with a large head,
large eyes, heavy eyelashes, reddish tint in the eyes, thick-bearded,
broad-shouldered, with thick hands and feet"; he was in the habit of
giving violent expression to the emotions of anger and mirth. The
supposition that he at any time suffered from physical weakness seems
absolutely refuted by his career as a leader of difficult, dangerous
and wearisome expeditions, from his migration to Medina until his
death; indeed, during his last years he exhibited a capacity for both
physical and intellectual activity which implies a high degree of both
health and strength; and without these the previous struggle at Mecca
could scarcely have been carried on. The supposition that he was
liable to fits (epileptic or cataleptic) was intended to account for
certain of the phenomena supposed to accompany the delivery of
revelations; some of these however rest on very questionable
authority: and the greater number of the revelations give evidence of
careful preparation rather than spontaneity.

The literary matter ascribed to the Prophet consists of (1) the Koran
(q.v.); (2) certain contracts, letters and rescripts preserved by his
biographers; (3) a number of sayings on a vast variety of topics,
collected by traditionalists. The references in the Koran to a form of
literature called "Wisdom" (_hikmah_) suggest that even in the
Prophet's time some attempts had been made to collect or at least
preserve some of the last; the general uncertainty of oral tradition
and the length of time which elapsed before any critical treatment of
it was attempted, and the variety of causes, creditable and
discreditable, which led to the wilful fabrication of prophetic
utterances, render the use to which No. 3 can be put very limited.
Thus the lengthy description of the journey to heaven which Sprenger
was inclined to accept as genuine is regarded by most critics as a
later fabrication. It is very much to be regretted that the number of
_pièces justificatives_ (No. 2) quoted by the biographers is so small,
and that for these oral tradition was preferred to a search for the
actual documents, some of which may well have been in existence when
the earliest biographies were written. Their style appears to have
been plain and straightforward, though the allusions which they
contain are not always intelligible.

In his personal relations with men Mahomet appears to have been able
to charm and impress in an extraordinary degree, whence we find him
able to control persons like Omar and Khalid, who appear to have been
self-willed and masterful, and a single interview seems to have been
sufficient to turn many an enemy into a devoted adherent. Cases
(perhaps legendary) are quoted of his being able by a look or a word
to disarm intending assassins.

Although the titles which he took were religious in character, and his
office might not be described as sovereignty, his interests appear to
have lain far more in the building up and maintenance of empire than
in ecclesiastical matters. Thus only can we account for the violent
and sudden changes which he introduced into his system, for his
temporary lapse into paganism, and for his ultimate adoption of the
cult of the Black Stone, which, it is said, gave offence to some of
his sincere adherents (e.g. Omar), and seems hard to reconcile with
his tirades against fetish-worship. The same is indicated by his
remarkable doctrine that the utterance of the creed constituted a
Moslem and not its cordial acceptance, and his practice of at times
buying adhesion. Even an historian so favourable to the Prophet as
Prince Caetani recognizes that ultimately what he regarded as most
important was that his subjects should pay their taxes. And in general
his system was not favourable to fanaticism (_al-ghulu fi`l-din_); he
repeatedly gave permission for concealment of faith when the
profession of it was dangerous; he took care to avoid institutions
which, like the Jewish Sabbath, interfered seriously with military
expeditions and the conduct of business, and permitted considerable
irregularity in the matters of prayer and fasting when circumstances
rendered it desirable. In his theory that Koranic texts could be
abrogated he made wise provision against the danger of hasty
legislation, though some of its usefulness was frustrated by his
failure to provide for such abrogation after his death.

Mahomet's Reforms.

As has been seen, Mahomet claimed to introduce a wholly new dispensation, and a maxim of his law is that Islam cancels all that preceded it, except, indeed, pecuniary debts; it is not certain that even this exception always held good. Hence his system swept away a number of practices (chiefly connected with the camel) that were associated with pagan superstitions. The most celebrated of these is the arrow-game, a form of gambling for shares in slaughtered camels, to which poetic allusions are very frequent. More important than this was his attitude towards the blood-feud, or system of tribal responsibility for homicide (whether intentional or accidental), whereby one death regularly led to protracted wars, it being considered dishonourable to take blood-money (usually in the form of camels) or to be satisfied with one death in exchange. This system he endeavoured to break down, chiefly by sinking all earlier tribal distinctions in the new brotherhood of Islam; but also by limiting the vengeance to be demanded to such as was no more than the equivalent of the offence committed, and by urging the acceptance of money-compensation instead, or complete forgiveness of the offence. The remembrance of pre-Islamic quarrels was visited by him with condign punishment on those who had embraced Islam; and though it was long before the tribal system quite broke down, even in the great cities which rose in the new provinces, and the old state of things seems to have quickly been resumed in the desert, his legislation on this subject rendered orderly government among Arabs possible.

Next in importance to this is the abolition of infanticide, which is condemned even in early Suras of the Koran. The scanty notices which we have of the practice are not altogether consistent; at times we are told that it was confined to certain tribes, and consisted in the burying alive of infant daughters; at other times it is extended to a wider area, and said to have been carried out on males as well as females. After the taking of Mecca this prohibition was included among the conditions of Islam.

In the laws relating to women it seems likely that he regulated current practice rather than introduced much that was actually new, though, as has been seen, he is credited with giving them the right to inherit property; the most precise legislation in the Koran deals with this subject, of which the main principle is that the share of the male equals that of two females. Our ignorance of the precise nature of the marriage customs prevalent in Arabia at the rise of Islam renders it difficult to estimate the extent to which his laws on this subject were an improvement on what had been before. The pre-Islamic family, unless our records are wholly misleading, did not differ materially from the Islamic; in both polygamy and concubinage were recognized and normal; and it is uncertain that the text which is supposed to limit the number of wives to four was intended to have that meaning. The "condition of Islam" whereby adultery was forbidden is said to have been ridiculed at the time, on the ground that this practice had never been approved. Yet it would seem that certain forms of promiscuity had been tolerated, though the subject is obscure. Against these services we must set the abrogation of some valuable practices. His unfortunate essay in astronomy, whereby a calendar of twelve lunar months, bearing no relation to the seasons, was introduced, was in any case a retrograde step; but it appears to have been connected with the abrogation of the sanctity of the four months during which raiding had been forbidden in Arabia, which, as has been seen, he was the first to violate. He also, as has been noticed, permitted himself a slight amount of bloodshed in Mecca itself, and that city perhaps never quite recovered its sacrosanct character. Of more serious consequences for the development of the community was his encouragement of the shedding of kindred blood in the cause of Islam; the consequences of the abrogation of this taboo seem to have been felt for a great length of time. His assassinations of enemies were afterwards quoted as precedents in books of Tradition. No less unfortunate was the recognition of the principle whereby atonement could be made for oaths. On the question how far the seclusion of women was enjoined or countenanced by him different views have been held.

Sources.

Besides the contemporary documents enumerated above (Koranic texts,
rescripts and authentic traditions) many of the events were celebrated
by poets, whose verses were ostensibly incorporated in the standard
biography of Ibn Ishaq; in the abridgment of that biography which we
possess many of these are obelized as spurious, and, indeed, what we
know of the procedure of those who professed to collect early poetry
gives us little confidence in the genuineness of such odes. A few,
however, seem to stand criticism, and the _diwan_ (or collection of
poems) attributed to Hassan b. Thabit is ordinarily regarded as his.
Though they rarely give detailed descriptions of events, their
attestation is at times of value, e.g. for the story that the bodies
of the slain at Badr were cast by the Prophet into a pit. Besides
this, the narratives of eyewitnesses of important events, or of those
who had actually taken part in them, were eagerly sought by the second
generation, and some of these were committed to writing well before
the end of the 1st century. The practice instituted by the second
Caliph, of assigning pensions proportioned to the length of time in
which the recipient had been a member of the Islamic community, led to
the compilation of certain rolls, and to the accurate preservation of
the main sequence of events from the commencement of the mission, and
for the detailed sequence after the Flight, which presently became an
era (beginning with the first month of the year in which the Flight
took place). The procedure whereby the original dates of the events
(so far as they were remembered) were translated into the Moslem
calendar--for something of this sort must have been done--is unknown,
and is unlikely to have been scientific.

Mahomet's conduct being made the standard of right and wrong, there
was little temptation to "whitewash" him, although the original
biography by Ibn Ishaq appears to have contained details which the
author of the abridgment omitted as scandalous. The preservation of so
much that was historical left little room for the introduction of
miraculous narrations; these therefore either belong to the obscure
period of his life or can be easily eliminated; thus the narratives of
the Meccan council at which the assassination of Mahomet was decided,
of the battles of Badr, Uhud and Honain, and the death of Sad`b. Mu
`adh, would lose nothing by the omission of the angels and the devil,
though a certain part is assigned the one or the other on all these
occasions. We should have expected biographies which were published
when the `Abbasids were reigning to have falsified history for the
purpose of glorifying `Abbas, their progenitor; the very small extent
to which this expectation is justified is a remarkable testimony to
their general trustworthiness.

RELATIVES OF THE PROHET[1]

1. _Family of `Abd al-Mottalib_, Mahomet's maternal
grandfather:--*`Abbas (d. A.H. 32 or 34), *Hamza (d. A.H. 3),
`Abdallah, father of the Prophet, *Abu Talib (said to be named `Abd
Manaf), ? *Zubair, Harith, Hajal, Moqawwam, Dirar, *Abu Lahab (said to
be named `Abd al-`Uzza, d. A.H. 2), *_Safiyyah_ (d. A.H. 20), _Umm
Hakim_, _al-Baida_, _`Atikah_, _Umaimah_, _Arwa_, _Barrah_.

2. _Family of Abu Talib_:--*`Aqil (d. after A.H. 40), *Ja`far (d. A.H.
8), Talib, Tulaiq, `Ali, the caliph, _Umm Hani'_, _Jumanah_, _Raitah_.

3. _Family of Mahomet. Wives_:--*_Khadija_ (Children:--Qasim; ? `Abd
Manaf (Tahir, Tayyib); *_Zainab_ m. Abu'l-`As b. Rabi', d. A.H. 7;
*_Ruqayyah_, m. `Othman b. `Affan, d. A.H. 2; *_Umm Kulthum_ m.
`Othman b. `Affan, d. A.H. 9; *_Fatimah_, m. `Ali, d. A.H. 11):
*_Saudah bint Zam`ah_,? d. A.H. 54, *_`A'ishah (Ayesha) bint Abi Bekr_
(d. A.H. 56), *_Hafsa bint `Omar_ (d. A.H. 45 or 47), *_Zainab bint
Khuzaimah_, d. before A.H. 11, *_Zainab bint Jahsh_, d. A.H. 20, *_Umm
Salimah_, d. A.H. 59, *_Maimunah_, d. A.H. 38, *_Juwairiyah_, d. A.H.
56, *_Umm Habibah Ramlah bint Abi Sofian_, d. A.H. 44.

_Concubines_:--*_Safiyyah bint Huyyay_, d. A.H. 36, *_Raihanah bint
Zaid_, *_Mariyah the Copt_, d. A.H. 15 or 16, mother of Ibrahim.
(Other names given by Ibn Sa`d, vol. viii.)

_Chronological Table of Chief Events in the Life of Mahomet._[2]

? 570 Birth.
? 595 Marriage with Khadija.
? 610 Commencement of call.
? 613 Public appearance.
616 Persian conquest of the nearer East.
? 617 Flight of his followers to Abyssinia.
? 618-619 Siege in Mecca. Retractation and subsequent repudiation.
Death of Abu Talib and Khadija.
? 620 Flight to Taif.
622 July 16. Beginning of the Moslem era.
Sept. 20. Arrival at Kuba after the Flight.
632 Jan. 27. Death of his son Ibrahim.
632 June 7. Death of Mahomet.

The following dates are given by the Arabic historians according to
their own calendar. For the reasons which have been seen it is
impossible to obtain certain synchronisms.

A.H.

2. Rajab 1. Raid of `Abdallah b. Jahsh to Nakhlah.
Ramadan 19. Battle of Badr.
Shawwal 15. Attack on the Banu Qainuqa.

3. Rabia I. 14. Assassination of Ka`b b. al-Ashraf.
Shawwal 7. Battle of Uhud.

4. Saphar. Massacre of Mahomet's 70 missionaries at Bi'r Ma`unah.
Rabia I. Attack on the Banu Nadir.
Dhu'l-Qa`da. Abortive raid called "the lesser Badr."

5. Shaaban 2. Attack on the Banu'l-Mustaliq (according to Waqidi).
Dhu'l-Qa`da. Battle of the Trench.
Massacre of the Banu Quraizah.

6. Jomada i. Capture of a caravan by Zaid b. Harithah.
Futile attempt to assassinate Abu Sofian.
Dhu'l-Qa`da. Affair of Hodaibiyah.

7. Jomada i. Taking of Khaibar. Mission extended to the world.
Dhu'l-Qa`da. Pilgrimage to Mecca (called _'umrat al-qadiyyah_)

8. Jomada i. Expedition to Mutah.
Ramadan 20. Taking of Mecca.
Shawwal. Battle of Honain.
Attack on Ta`if.

9. Muharram. Tax-gatherers sent over Arabia.
Rajab. Expedition to Tabuk.
Rival Mosque built at Kuba, destroyed on Mahomet's return
to Medina.
Dhu'l-Hijja. Pilgrimage conducted by Abu Bekr.
Abolition of idolatry in Arabia.

10. Ramadan. Expedition of `Ali to Yemen.
Dhu'l-Qa`da. "Farewell Pilgrimage."

11. Saphar. Expedition ordered against the Byzantines.

_Companions of the Prophet._

The _sahabah_, as they are called, are the subject of a vast
literature, and the biographical dictionaries devoted to them, of
which the best known are the _Usd ul-ghaba_ of the historian Ibn Athir
and the _Isabah_ of Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani, enumerate many thousands.
The following two lists are of special groups.

(a) _Naqibs_, i.e. leaders selected by Mahomet from the Medinese
tribes: i. _Khazrajites_:--As`ad b. Zurarah, Sa`d b. al-Rabi`,
`Abdallah b. Rawahah, al-Bara' b. Ma`rur, `Abdallah b. `Amr b. Haram,
`Ubadah b. al-Samit, Sa`d b. `Ubadah, al-Mondhir b. 'Amr; ii.
_Ausites_: Usaid b. Hudair, Sa`d b. Khaithamah, Rifa`ah b. `Abd
al-Mondhir.

(b) _Commanders of Expeditions_: names occurring in (a) are not
repeated: `Abdallah b. Jahsh, `Abd ar-Rahman b. `Auf, Abu Bekr, Abu
Qatadah, Abu `Ubaidah b. al-Jarrah, `Ali, `Alqamah b. Mujazziz, `Amr
b. al-`As (ibn el-Ass), Bashir b. Sa`d, Dahhak b. Sofian, Ghalib b.
`Abdallah, Ibn Abi'l-Auja, Ka`b b. `Umair, Khalid b. al-Walid, Kurz b.
Jabir, Marthad b. Abi Marthad, Muhammad b. Maslamah, Qutbah b. `Amir,
Sa`d b. Abi Waqqas, Sa`d d. Zaid, Salama b. `Abd al-Asad, Shuja` b.
Wahb, `Ubaidah b. al-Harith, `Ukkashah b. Mihsan, `Umar b. al-Khattab,
Usamah b. Zaid, `Uyainah b. Hisn, Zaid b. Harithah.

AUTHORITIES.--The biography of Ibn Ishaq was before the world long
before the two chief causes for the falsification of tradition had
begun to have serious effects; these were the need for legal
precedents, and the concept of saintliness, combining those of
asceticism and thaumaturgy. These gave rise to the classical works on
the _Evidences of Mohammed's Mission_ by Abu Nu`aim (d. A.D.
1012-1013) and Baihaqi (d. A.D. 1066).

_Lives of the Prophet_ ([+] indicates that the work is lost);
[+]`Urwah b. Zubair (d. 712-713); [+]Musa b. `Ukbah (d. 758-759);
[+]Mohammed b. Ishaq (d. 768); Mohammed b. Hisham (d. 828-829), ed.
Wüstenfeld (Göttingen, 1860); reprinted in Egypt by Zubair Pasha, a
series of excerpts from the last; Mohammed b. Omar al-Waqidi (d. 823),
portion published by Kremer (Calcutta, 1855), abridged trans. of a
fuller copy by Wellhausen, _Muhammad in Medina_ (Berlin, 1882);
Mohammed b. Sa`d (d. 844-845), an encyclopaedic work on the history of
Mahomet and his followers, called _Tabaqat_, ed. Sachau and others
(Berlin, foll.); Mohammed b. Jarir al-Tabari (see TABARI). Many more
writers on this subject are enumerated in the _Fihrist_, cf.
Sprenger's _Leben Muhammads_, iii. 54-76.

Among the most popular compilers of later times are: Ibn al-Athir
(q.v.) al Jazari, the historian (d. 1233); Ahmad b. Ali al Kastalani
(d. A.D. 1517), whose _al-Mawahib al-Laduniyyah_ was published with
commentary (Cairo, 1278); Hosain b. Mohammed al Diyarbakri (d. 1574)
whose work _Ta'rikh al-Khamis_ was published in Cairo, A.H. 1382; `Ali
b. Burhan al-din al-Halabi (d. A.D. 1634), whose biography called
_Insan al-`uyun_ was published in Cairo, A.H. 1292. To these must be
added all the collections of Tradition.

_Modern Authorities._--The critical study of the Life of Mahomet
begins in Europe with the publication by Th. Gagnier in 1723 of the
Life by Abulfeda (q.v.). Presently there appeared an apologetic
biography by Henri Cmte. de Boulainvilliers (2nd ed., Amsterdam,
1731), to which Gagnier replied in 1732 (_La Vie de Mahomet,
traduite_, &c. ibid.). The next considerable advance in the treatment
of the subject is marked by the biography of G. Weil (_Muhammed der
Prophet_, Stuttgart, 1843), which is wholly without religious bias;
the popular life by Washington Irving (London, 1849) is based on this.
That by J. L. Merrick (the _Life and Religion of Mohammed_, Boston,
U.S.A., 1850) rests on Shi`ite sources. The search for MSS. in India
conducted by A. Sprenger led to the discovery of fresh material, which
was utilized by Sprenger himself in his unfinished _Life of Mohammad_
(Pt. 1, Allahabad, 1851), and his more elaborate _Das Leben und die
Lehre des Mohammad_ (Berlin, 1861-1865), and by Sir William Muir in
his _Life of Mahomet_, (London, 1858-1861) 4 vols.: afterwards
abridged in one volume and reprinted. These are still the standard
treatises on the subject; the pro-Christian bias of Muir is very
marked, while Sprenger has hazarded numerous conjectures on subjects
with which he had little familiarity. The biography by S. W. Koelle,
_Mohammed and Mohammedanism_ (London, 1889), is pro-Christian, the
popular work of Syed Ameer Ali _The Spirit of Islam_, (London, 1896)
an apology for Mahommedanism. Later treatises, resting on original
authorities, are those by H. Grimme _Mohamed_, (Münster, 1892, and
Munich, 1904), F. Buhl, _Mohameds Liv_ (Copenhagen, 1903--Danish:
since translated into German), D. S. Margoliouth _Mohammed and the
Rise of Islam_ (N.Y., 1905, &c.), and Prince Caetani _Annali del
Islam_, i. ii. (Milan, 1905-1907). For the direction of public opinion
in Mahomet's favour the Lecture on _The Hero as Prophet_ in Carlyle's
_Heroes and Hero-worship_ (London, 1846) was singularly effective; his
views were enforced by R. Bosworth Smith _Mohammed and Mohammedanism_,
(London, 1873, &c.). A somewhat similar line was taken in France by J.
Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire, _Mahomet et le Coran_, (Paris, 1865), while
the _Vie de Mahomet d'après la Tradition_ of E. Lamairesse and G.
Dujarric (Paris, 1897) is written entirely from the Moslem standpoint.

See further CALIPHATE, _ad init._; MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS; MAHOMMEDAN
LAW; MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION. (D. S. M.*)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] * is prefixed to names which figure on occasions which seem to be
historical. Female names are in italics.

[2] Dates are given A.D.

MAHOMMED AHMED IBN SEYYID ABDULLAH (1848-1885), Sudanese tyrant, known as "the Mahdi," was born in Dongola. His family, known as excellent boat-builders, claimed to be _Ashraf_ (or _Sherifs_), i.e. descendants of Mahomet. His father was a _fiki_ or religious teacher, and Mahommed Ahmed devoted himself early to religious studies. When about twenty years old he went to live on Abba Island on the White Nile about 150 m. above Khartum. He first acquired fame by a quarrel with the head of the brotherhood which he had joined, Mahommed asserting that his master condoned transgression of the divine law. After this incident many dervishes (religious mendicants) gathered round the young sheikh, whose reputation for sanctity speedily grew. He travelled secretly through Kordofan, where (with ample justification) he denounced to the villagers the extortion of the tax-gatherer and told of the coming of the mahdi who should deliver them from the oppressor. He also wrote a pamphlet summoning true believers to purify their religion from the defilements of the "Turks" i.e. the Egyptian officials and all non-native inhabitants of the Sudan. The influence he gained at length aroused the anxiety of the authorities, and in May 1881 a certain Abu Saud, a notorious scoundrel, was sent to Abba Island to bring the sheikh to Khartum. Abu Saud's mission failed, and Mahommed Ahmed no longer hesitated to call himself al-Mahdi al Montasir, "The Expected Guide." In August he defeated another force sent to Abba Island to arrest him, but thereafter deemed it prudent to retire to Jebel Gedir, in the Nuba country south of Kordofan, where he was soon at the head of a powerful force; and 6000 Egyptian troops under Yusef Pasha, advancing from Fashoda, were nearly annihilated in June 1882. By the end of 1882 the whole of the Sudan south of Khartum was in rebellion, with the exception of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Equatorial Provinces. In January 1883 El Obeid, the capital of Kordofan, was captured. In the November following Hicks Pasha's force of 10,000 men was destroyed at Kashgil, and in the same year the mahdi's lieutenant, Osman Digna, raised the tribes in the eastern Sudan, and besieged Sinkat and Tokar, near Suakin, routing General Valentine Baker's force of 2500 men at El Teb in February 1884. The operations undertaken by Great Britain in face of this state of affairs are narrated under EGYPT: _Military Operations_. It need only be added that General Gordon (q.v.) was besieged at Khartum by the mahdi and was killed there when the town was captured by the mahdists on the 25th-26th of January 1885. The mahdi himself died at Omdurman a few months later (June 22, 1885), and was succeeded in power by his khalifa Abdullah.

When he announced his divine mission Mahommed Ahmed adopted the Shi`ite traditions concerning the mahdi, and thus put himself in opposition to the sultan of Turkey as the only true commander of the faithful. To emphasize his position the mahdi struck coins in his own name and set himself to suppress all customs introduced by the "Turks." His social and religious reforms are contained in various proclamations, one of which is drawn up in the form of ten commandments. They concern, chiefly, such matters as ritual, prayers, soberness in food and raiment, the cost of marriage and the behaviour of women. How far the mahdi was the controller of the movement which he started cannot be known, but from the outset of his public career his right-hand man was a Baggara tribesman named Abdullah (the khalifa), who became his successor, and after his flight to Jebel Gedir the mahdi was largely dependent for his support on Baggara sheikhs, who gratified one of his leading tastes by giving him numbers of their young women. In the few months between the fall of Khartum and his death the mahdi, relieved from the incessant strain of toil, copied in his private life all the vices of Oriental despots while maintaining in public the austerity he demanded of his followers. His death is variously attributed to disease and to poisoning by a woman of his harem. On the occupation of Omdurman by the British (Sept. 1898) the mahdi's tomb was destroyed, his body burnt and the ashes thrown into the Nile (see SUDAN: _Anglo-Egyptian_).

See _Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan_ by F. R. Wingate (1891); _Ten
Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp_ (1882-1892) from the MS. of
Father Joseph Ohrwalder by F. R. Wingate (1892) and _Fire and Sword in
the Sudan_ (1879-1895) by Slatin Pasha (trans. F. R. Wingate, 1896).
Both Ohrwalder and Slatin were personally acquainted with the mahdi,
and their narratives contain much first-hand information. Wingate
prints many translations of the proclamations and correspondence of
the mahdi.

MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS.

The Caliphate.

Of all the institutions of Islam the caliphate is the oldest, the most fundamental, and in essence the most enduring. For its history see CALIPHATE; the present subject is its origin and nature. Mahomet enjoyed absolute rule over his people as a divinely inspired and guided prophet. He led the public prayers; he acted as judge; he ruled. If he consulted with others or paid attention to public feeling or local usage, it was as a matter of policy; the ultimate decision lay with himself. He was the state. On his death a leader was put in his place of similar authority, though without the divine prophetic guidance. He was called the "successor" (_khalifa_, caliph) of the Prophet, later also the _amir-al-mu'minin_, commander of the faithful, and was elected by the Moslems, just as the Arab tribes had always elected their chiefs. He was thus an absolute ruler, but was democratically elected; and such is the essence of the caliphate among Sunnite Moslems to this day. For them it has been a matter of agreement (see MAHOMMEDAN LAW) from the earliest times that the Moslem community must appoint such a leader (see IMAM). The Shi`ites, on the other hand, hold that the appointment lies with God, and that God always has appointed, though his appointment may not always have been known and accepted. Their position may be called a legitimist one. Some few heretical sects have held that the necessity of a leader was based on reason, not on the agreement of the community. But, for all, the rule of the leader thus appointed is absolute, and all authority is delegated from him and, in theory, can be resumed by him at any time. Just as God can require unreasoning obedience from his creatures (his "slaves" in Arabic), so can the caliph, his representative on earth.

But Abu Bekr, the first caliph, nominated his successor, Omar, and that nomination was accepted and confirmed by the people. So a second precedent was fixed, which was again carried a step farther, when Moawiya I., the first Omayyad caliph, nominated his son, Yazid I., as his successor, and caused an oath of allegiance to be taken to him. The hereditary principle was thus introduced, though some relics of the form of election persisted and still persist. The true election possible in the early days of the small community at Medina became first a formal acceptance by the populace of the capital; then an assertion, by the palace guard, of their power; and now, in the investiture of the sultans of the Ottoman Turks, who claim the caliphate, a formal ceremony by the `ulema (q.v.) of Constantinople. The Ottoman claim is based on an asserted nomination by the last Abbasid, who died in exile in Egypt in 1538, of the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Great, as his successor. Such a nomination in itself was a perfectly legal act, but in this case had a fatal flaw. It is an absolute condition, laid down in tradition, that the caliph must be of the tribe of Koreish (Quraish), that of the Prophet.

The duties of this democratically elected autocrat are, in theory, generally stated as follows. He shall enforce legal decisions and maintain the divinely revealed restrictive ordinances; guard the frontiers and equip armies; receive the alms; put down robberies, thieving, highwaymen; maintain the Friday services and the festivals; decide disputes and receive evidence bearing on legal claims; marry minors, male and female, who have no guardians; divide booty. He must be a free, male, adult Moslem; must have administrative ability; must be an effective governor and do justice to the wronged. So long as he fulfils these conditions he is to be absolutely obeyed; private immorality or even tyranny are not grounds for deposing him. This is a position reached by Islam practically. But a caliph who openly denied the faith would be as impossible as an unbelieving pope. The caliph, therefore, is the highest executive officer of a system assumed to be definite and fixed. He, in a word, administers Islam; and the content of Islam is determined by the agreement of the Moslem people, expressed immediately through the `ulema, and ultimately, if indirectly and half-consciously, by the people. To depose him a _fatwa_ (see MUFTI) would be required--in Turkey from the Sheikh-ul-Islam--that he had violated some essential of the Moslem faith, and no longer fulfilled the conditions of a caliph.

The Diwans.

But it was impossible for the caliph personally to administer the
affairs of the empire, and by degrees the supreme office was gradually
put into commission, until the caliph himself became a mere
figure-head, and vanished into the sacred seclusion of his palace. The
history of the creation of government bureaus (_diwans_; see DIVAN)
must therefore now be sketched. The first need which appeared was that
of a means of regulating and administering the system of taxation and
the revenues of the state. Immense sums flowed into Medina from the
Arab conquests; the surplus, after the requirements of the state were
met, was distributed among the believers. All Moslems had a right to a
certain share of this, which was regarded as booty. Omar, the second
caliph, regulated this distribution and also the system of taxation,
and the result was the first divan and the constitution of Omar,
looked back to now by all Sunnite Moslems as an ideal. The sources of
revenue were (i) the poor-rate (_zakat_), a tithe paid by every
Moslem; (ii) the fifth of all booty; (iii) the poll-tax (_jizya_) on
non-Moslems; and (iv) the land-tax (_kharaj_) also on non-Moslems.
Thus the constitution determined the position of all non-Moslems in a
Moslem state. The ideal was that the Moslems should be kept apart as a
superior, fighting caste, and that the non-Moslems should support them
(cf. CALIPHATE, B. § 8, on the reign of Omar II.). The Moslems,
therefore, were forbidden to acquire land in conquered countries. The
non-Moslems must retain their lands, cultivate them and pay the
land-tax (the Arabic word is also used of revenue from the work of a
slave) and the poll-tax (the Arabic word means also "ransom"), and
give contributions in kind to support the local Moslem garrisons which
were massed in great camp-cities at strategic points. If a non-Moslem
embraced Islam he entered the ruling caste; his land was distributed
among his non-Moslem fellows, and he no longer paid the land-tax but
rather received support from the public funds. The amount of these
pensions varied with the standing of the pensioner from 10,000 dirhems
(a dirhem equalled about a franc) to the widows and relations of the
Prophet down to 300. This bureau had, therefore, not only to keep the
books of the state, but also to maintain a list of all Moslems,
classified genealogically and socially. Its registers were kept by
Greeks, Copts and Persians; the Arabs, it may be said in general,
adopted the method of administration which they found in the captured
countries and drew upon the trained services of their inhabitants.

Such a system led naturally to wholesale conversions to Islam; and the
consequent decline in revenue, combined with large donations of lands
by Othman, the third caliph, to his own family, gradually broke it
down. The first patriarchal period of conquest, unearned wealth and
the simple life--called by Moslems the period of the "four rightly
guided caliphs," and very happily by Sachau, _ein mönchisches
Imperium_--passed rapidly into the genuinely Arab empire of the
Omayyads, with whom came an immediate development of organization in
the state. The constructive genius in this was Moawiya, the first
Omayyad caliph. Under him the old simplicity vanished. A splendid and
ceremonious court was maintained at Damascus. A chamberlain kept the
door; a bodyguard surrounded the caliph, and even in the mosque the
caliph, warned by the murder of Othman and of Ali, prayed in a
railed-off enclosure. The beginning of the seclusion of the caliph had
come, and he no longer walked familiarly among his fellow Moslems.
This seclusion increased still further when the administration of the
state passed by delegation into other hands, and the caliph himself
became a sacrosanct figure-head, as in the case of the later Abbasids;
when theories of semi-divine nature and of theocratic rule appeared,
as in the case of the Fatimites; and finally when all the elaborate
court ritual of Byzantium was inherited by the Ottoman sultans.

But Moawiya I. was still a very direct and personal ruler. He
developed a post-system for the carrying of government despatches by
relays, and thus received secret information from and kept control of
the most distant provinces. He established a sealing-bureau by which
state papers were secured against change. He dealt arbitrarily with
the revenues of the state and the pensions of the Moslems. Governors
of provinces were given a much freer hand, and were required to turn
over to the central treasury their surplus revenue only. As they were
either conquerors or direct successors of conquerors they had an
essentially military government, and were really semi-independent
rulers, unhampered except by direct action of the caliph, acting on
information sent by the postmaster, who was his local spy. Being thus
the heads of armies of occupation, they were not necessarily charged
with the control of religious ritual and of justice. These, like every
other function, inhered in the office of the caliph and he generally
appointed in each province independent cadis over the courts and imams
to be in charge of religious services. Yet the governor was sometimes
permitted to hold these two other offices (see CADI; IMAM).

The Vizierate.

Further administrative developments came with the Abbasids. They created a new city, Bagdad, between the Tigris and the Euphrates, where the three races, Syrian, Arab and Persian, met and sought with Bagdad as a capital to consolidate the empire. The Arab empire, it is true, had passed away with the Omayyads; yet there might be a chance to create a world-empire of all the Moslem peoples. But not even the genius and administrative skill of the early Abbasids could hold together that unwieldy mass. The semi-independent provinces soon became fully independent, or at most acknowledged the caliph as a spiritual head and paid a nominal tribute. His name might stand on the coinage and prayers be offered for him in the Friday service, the two signs of sovereignty to this day in Islam. With this crumbling of the empire went a more elaborate organization; bureaus took the place of principles and of the energy of individual rulers. As the system of Moslem law was built on that of the Roman codes, so was the machinery of administration on that of Persia. And with the Abbasids the chance of the Persians had come. Abu 'l-Abbas, the first Abbasid caliph, was the first to appoint a vizier (_wazir_, "helper," so Aaron is wazir to Moses in the Koran), a confidential minister to advise him and come between him and the people. Advisers the caliphs had had before; but not a definite adviser with this name. He must, we are told, have a strain of the ruler in him and a strain of the people to be able to work with both. He must know how to be acceptable; fidelity and truthfulness are his capital; sagacity, firmness, generosity, clemency, dignity, effectiveness of speech are essential. It is plain that the vizier became as important as the caliph. But Abu 'l-Abbas was fortunate in early securing as his vizier the grandfather of the house of the Barmecides (q.v.). On this Persian family the fortunes of the Abbasids hung, and it secured for them and for Islam a short golden age, like that of the Antonines, until the jealous madness of Harun al-Rashid cast them down. Thereafter the vizierate had many vicissitudes. Technically a vizier could be either limited or unlimited. The limited vizier had no initiative; he carried out the commands of the caliph. The unlimited vizier, often afterwards called the grand vizier, exercised full authority and was the _alter ego_ of the caliph, to whom he was required only to report. Naturally the formal distinction is a later theorizing of history; for a weak ruler his vizier became absolute, for a strong ruler his vizier remained subordinate. Here, as with regard to all Moslem institutions, a marked distinction must be made between the historic facts and the speculative edifices raised by constitutional theorizers. Compare especially MAHOMMEDAN LAW. Until the time of Radi (934-940) the vizierate thus fluctuated in importance. In that caliphate the vizier lost all authority, and in his place came the _amir al-omara_--equivalent to the _major domus_ of the Franks--the head of the Turkish bodyguard, in terror of whom the caliph now stood. When in 945 the Buyids captured Bagdad and the caliph became a purely spiritual sovereign, they took the title "vizier" for their own chief minister, and the caliphs retained only a secretary (see CALIPHATE, C. § 22). Under the Seljuks, however, they regained their viziers and some real authority. Elsewhere, also the vizierate had its vicissitudes. Under the Mamelukes the vizier fell to be merely the court purveyor. Under the Omayyads of Spain the title was given to several responsible officers of the state, but their chief was called _hajib_, chamberlain. Under the Almohades the chamberlain was called vizier. In the modern Turkish empire the grand vizier (called generally _sadr A`zam_) is the sultan's representative in secular matters, and nominally stands between the sovereign and all the other officials. He is the president of the council of ministers, but Abd-ul Hamid II. deprived the office of almost all its importance.

Other Ministers.

Under the early Abbasids the four most important ministers were the
chief cadi, the chief of police or head of the life guards, the
minister of finance and the postmaster, who was the head of the system
of information and espionage which covered the empire. But at
different times the different bureaus varied greatly. Under Motawakkil
we find the bureau of taxes and finance; bureau of the crown estates;
bureau of state book-keeping; bureau of war, i.e. of hired troops;
bureau which kept reckoning and control of the pensions of the clients
and slaves of the ruling family; bureau of the post system; bureau of
expenditures. But in spite of this elaborate system, no Moslem
government has, except sporadically, been highly centralized. Provided
the taxes are paid, a large measure of local autonomy has always been
enjoyed by the country districts. Under the Abbasids almost the only
exception was the necessarily centralized control of the irrigation
system of the Tigris and Euphrates. And similarly elsewhere.

In the case of all these offices, we have delegation by the caliph,
under necessity, of his too heavy burdens. But one duty of an Oriental
ruler he could not so easily lay aside. It had always to be possible
for the oppressed to come into his presence and claim justice; he must
sit in the gate and judge. Therefore, when the caliph found it
necessary to delegate the ordinary administration of justice, he found
it also necessary to set up a special court of oppressions, which
developed, to a certain extent, into a court of appeals. The first to
establish such a separate court was Abdalmalik the Omayyad (685-705),
and his example was followed by the more vigorous of the caliphs up to
the time of Mohtadi the Abbasid (869-870). If any other than the
caliph presided over this court it had to be a man whose dignity,
independence and authority commanded respect. He was not bound by
strict rules of evidence, method and literal application of law as was
the cadi. Rather, he applied a system of equity suited to the absolute
source of authority which he represented.

As the chief of police, mentioned above, was rather the head of the
caliph's bodyguard, there was also a police system after our ideas,
but more thoroughgoing. The _muhtasib_ had charge in the broadest
sense of public order and morals in the streets, and had oversight as
to weights, measures and adulterations; but had no right to interfere
privately or enter houses save in the clearest and most necessary
cases. He had a summary jurisdiction in all minor cases where no trial
was necessary; but where witnesses and oaths entered the case must go
to the cadi. Slaves and beasts of burden were under his guardianship;
he prevented public scandals, such as the sale of wine; he regulated
the public conduct of Jews and Christians. In the interest of public
morals he had to find suitable husbands for widows and see that they
did not marry before the legal time; questions of paternity also he
had to investigate. The outdoor costume of the people he could
regulate. It should, of course, be remembered that the canon law of
Islam covers minutely all sides of life (see MAHOMMEDAN LAW).

It is impossible in Islam to separate logically from the mass of institutions those which we should call religious, as Islam on all sides is for the Moslem equally religious. But perhaps the following may practically be separated under that rubric. Islam, runs a tradition, is built on five things: testimony that there is no god save Allah, and that Mahomet is the apostle of Allah; prayer; the poor-rate; pilgrimage; fasting. For these see MAHOMMEDAN RELIGION.

The law and usage of religious foundations in perpetuity (_waqf_,
mortmain) became as important in Islam as monastic endowments in
medieval Europe, and such foundations tended similarly to absorb the
greater part of the national wealth. It was the only safe way of
providing for posterity. A pious foundation could be erected in such a
way that either so much from its funds would be paid yearly in
perpetuity to the descendants of the erector, or those descendants
would be employed as officials of the foundation.

The Imam.

When it became impossible for the caliph to lead the people personally
in prayer in the mosque, he delegated that part of his duties to
another, hence called imam (q.v.). Naturally, then, the appointment of
the imam would lie with the supreme ruler. This holds of the daily
prayers in the principal mosque (_al-masjid al-jami'_) supported by
the ruler where the Friday service is held, but in the separate
smaller mosques built by each community the community chooses its own
imam. With regard to the Friday service, the schools of law disagree
as to the necessity of the presence of an imam appointed by the chief
ruler. But the imam should certainly make mention of the ruler in his
sermon and pray for him. At the occasional prayers, such as those for
rain, &c., the presence of an imam appointed by the ruler is not
necessary. The imam appoints the _muaddhin_, the announcer of the hour
of prayer from the minaret, and both have a claim on the state
treasury.

Another office exercised when possible by the caliph, but very
frequently delegated to some high dignitary, such as the heir to the
caliphate or a prince, was the leadership of the pilgrimage caravan to
Mecca and back. Sometimes this official, called _amir-al-hajj_, was
appointed imam as well. He then led all the pilgrimage ceremonies at
Mecca. When outside of towns where there was a cadi he exercised also
over the caravan the rights of a judge.

The Cadi.

Mahommedan law (q.v.) is treated separately. Here, again, as judging
is a duty of the caliph, a cadi is the delegate, or, when appointed by
a vizier or governor, a delegate of his delegate. He examines into
disputes brought before him and enforces his judgments, he names
administrators of the estates of minors, the insane, &c.; he
supervises the _waqf_ property of mosques and schools in his district
and inspects highways and public buildings; he watches over the
execution of wills; he inflicts the due legal penalties for apostasy,
neglect of religious duties, refusal to pay taxes, theft, adultery,
outrages, murder; he can inflict the penalties of imprisonment, fine,
corporal punishment, death; if there is no imam, he can perform his
duty, as in fact can anyone who has the requisite knowledge. But it
should be noticed that all this holds only of the un-europeanized
Moslem state.

The Army.

For the existence of an army in Islam, there are two grounds, the holy war (_jihad_, q.v.) against unbelievers without the state and the suppression of rebellion within. Under the ordinance of Omar the entire community was preserved and used as a weapon for the subduing of the world to Islam, and every able-bodied male Moslem was theoretically a fighting man, part of the national militia. This army was divided into corps situated in the conquered lands, as armies of occupation, where they eventually came to form military colonies in great camp-cities. The occupied countries had to support them, and they were bound to render military service at any time. But as the ideal of Omar broke down before facts the use of mercenary and slave troops finally increased; although there has always continued in Moslem armies acting against unbelievers a proportion of volunteers not paid a fixed wage but subsidized by the state from the poor-rate and alms funds. The generals were appointed by the caliph, and had either unlimited authority to act as his representatives, concluding peace, acting as cadi and imam, distributing booty; or were restricted within limits, e.g. to simple leading of the troops and carrying on military operations. They, in turn, appointed their subordinates; this principle of giving a head full powers and full responsibility was very generally applied in Islam. It was controlled of course by the espionage of the postal system. As war by a Moslem power is essentially sacred war, the regulations of _jihad_ must be considered here. Unbelievers must first be invited to embrace Islam and, if they follow a sacred book and are not idol-worshippers, are given a choice between (a) becoming Moslems; or (b) submitting to the Moslems and entering on a treaty with them of protection and tribute; or (c) fighting. If they accept Islam, their lives, families and property are secure, and they form henceforth part of the Moslem community. The ability of Islam to create a common feeling between highly different races is one of its most striking features. If they submit and enter on treaty relations, they pay a poll-tax, for which their personal safety is assured, and assume a definitely inferior status, having no technical citizenship in the state, only the condition of protected clients (_dhimmis_). If they elect to fight, the door of repentance is open, even when the armies are face to face. But after defeat their lives are forfeit, their families are liable to slavery, and all their goods to seizure. It is open to the sovereign either to put them to death; or to enslave them; or to give them their liberty; or to exchange them for ransom or against Moslem prisoners. The sovereign will choose that which is best for Islam. As for their families and wealth, the sovereign can release them only with consent of the army that has captured them. Apostates must be put to death. Four-fifths of the booty after a battle goes to the conquering army.

The technical art of war seems to have been little studied among Moslems; they have treatises on archery but very little upon tactics. Their writers recognize, however, the essential difference between the European and Persian methods of charging in solid lines and holding the ground stubbornly, and the Arab and Berber method of flying attacks and retreats by clouds of cavalry. Therefore, one explained, the custom grew of using a mass of European mercenaries as a fixed nucleus and rallying-point. The early Moslem armies, too, had used the solid, unyielding charge, which may have been the secret of their success. For one of the greatest puzzles of history is the cause which changed the erratic, untrustworthy swarms of Arab horsemen with their childish strategy into the ever-victorious legions of the first caliphs. They certainly learned rapidly. Byzantium and Persia taught them the use of military engines and the entrenched camp. Before that they had been, at the best, single knights with mail-shirt, helmet, sword and lance. Bowmen, too, they used, but the principal use of the bow seems to have come with the Turks.

Education.

The glory of Moslem education was its university system, which fed the
higher learning and did not serve everyday needs. Its primary system
was very poor, almost non-existent; and technical education has never
been recognized in Islam. Primary teachers were despised as ignorant
and foolish. Apparently, if we may trust the many stories of how
ignorant men set up for themselves, there was no control of them by
the state. Their pupils were young only; they taught the rudiments of
reading, Koran, catechism, prayer, writing and arithmetic, but very
little of the latter. Technical education was given by the gilds
through their apprentice system, teaching mechanical arts and crafts.
This was genuine instruction, but was not so regarded; it was looked
upon rather as are the mysteries and secrets of operative masonry. It
produced artisans of independent character, but not artists. Thus
there was no distinction between architect and builder; there was no
sculpture; and painting, so far as it went, was like carving, a craft.
All Moslem university education, like all Moslem science, revolved
round theology. There were, apparently, only two outstanding
exceptions to this rule, the academy of Mamun (813-833) at Bagdad, and
the hall of wisdom of the Fatimites at Cairo (1004-1171); both of
these are explained by their environment. From the earliest times,
independent scholars instructed classes in mosques--the common places
of meeting for the community--and gave their pupils personal
certificates. Their subjects were the reading and interpretation of
the Koran; the body of traditions from the Prophet; the thence deduced
system of theology; the canon law. But the interpretation of the Koran
involved grammatical and lexicographical studies of early Arabic, and
hence of the early Arabic literature. Theology came to involve
metaphysical and logical studies. Canon law required arithmetic and
mensuration, practical astronomy, &c. But these last were strictly
ancillary; the object of the instruction was primarily to give
knowledge of value for the life of the next world, and, secondarily,
to turn out theologians and lawyers. Medicine was in Jewish and
Christian hands; engineering, architecture, &c., with their
mathematical bases, were crafts. Then this instruction was gradually
subsidized and organized by the state, or endowed by individuals. How
early this took place is uncertain. But the individual teacher, with
his certificate, remained the object of the student; there was nothing
corresponding to our general degrees. Thirdly, educational
institutions came to be equipped with scholarships of money or in kind
for the students. The first instance of this is generally ascribed to
Nishapur (Naisabur) in 1066; but it soon became general in the system
and afforded a means of control and centralization. A final, and most
important, characteristic was the wide journeying of the students "in
search of knowledge." Aided by Arabic as the universal language of
learning, students journeyed from teacher to teacher, and from
Samarkand to the Atlantic, gathering on their way hundreds of personal
certificates. Scholars were thus kept in touch all over the Moslem
world, and intellectual unity was maintained.

The Sayyids.