Chapter I: The Rapid Spread of Islam

[Sidenote: Two periods in the mission of Mohammed.] The personal ministry of Mohammed divides itself into two distinct periods: first, his life at Mecca as a preacher and a prophet; second, his life at Medina as a prophet and a king.

[Sidenote: I. Ministry at Mecca, A.D. 609-622. Success at Mecca limited.] It is only in the first of these periods that Islam at all runs parallel with Christianity. The great body of his fellow-citizens rejected the ministry of Mohammed and bitterly opposed his claims. His efforts at Mecca were, therefore, confined to teaching and preaching and to the publishing of the earlier "Suras," or chapters of his "Revelation." After some thirteen years spent thus his converts, to the number of about a hundred and fifty men and women, were forced by the persecution of the Coreish (the ruling tribe at Mecca, from which Mohammed was descended) to quit their native city and emigrate to Medina.[35] A hundred more had previously fled from Mecca for the same cause, and found refuge at the court of the Negus, or king of Abyssinia; and there was already a small company of followers among the citizens of Medina. At the utmost, therefore, the number of disciples gained over by the simple resort to teaching and preaching did not, during the first twelve years of Mohammed's ministry, exceed a few hundreds. It is true that the soil of Mecca was stubborn and (unlike that of Judea) wholly unprepared. The cause also, at times, became the object of sustained and violent opposition. Even so much of success was consequently, under the peculiar circumstances, remarkable. But it was by no means singular. The progress fell far short of that made by Christianity during the corresponding period of its existence,[36] and indeed by many reformers who have been the preachers of a new faith. It gave no promise whatever of the marvelous spectacle that was about to follow.

[Sidenote: II. Change of policy at Medina, A.D. 622-632. Arabia converted from Medina at the point of the sword.] Having escaped from Mecca and found a new and congenial home in Medina, Mohammed was not long in changing his front. At Mecca, surrounded by enemies, he taught toleration. He was simply the preacher commissioned to deliver a message, and bidden to leave the responsibility with his Master and his hearers. He might argue with the disputants, but it must be "in a way most mild and gracious;" for "in religion" (such was his teaching before he reached Medina) "there should be neither violence nor constraint."[37] At Medina the precepts of toleration were quickly cast aside and his whole policy reversed. No sooner did Mohammed begin to be recognized and obeyed as the chief of Medina than he proceeded to attack the Jewish tribes settled in the neighborhood because they refused to acknowledge his claims and believe in him as a prophet foretold in their Scriptures; two of these tribes were exiled, and the third exterminated in cold blood. In the second year after the Hegira[a], or flight from Mecca (the period from which the Mohammedan era dates), he began to plunder the caravans of the Coreish, which passed near to Medina on their mercantile journeys between Arabia and Syria. So popular did the cause of the now militant and marauding prophet speedily become among the citizens of Medina and the tribes around that, after many battles fought with varying success, he was able, in the eighth year of the Hegira[b] to re-enter his native city at the head of ten thousand armed followers. Thenceforward success was assured. None dared to oppose his pretensions. And before his death, in the eleventh year of the Hegira[c], all Arabia, from Bab-el-Mandeb and Oman to the confines of the Syrian desert, was forced to submit to the supreme authority of the now kingly prophet and to recognize the faith and obligations of Islam.[38]

[Sidenote: Religion of Mohammed described.] This _Islam_, so called from its demanding the entire "surrender" of the believer to the will and service of God, is based on the recognition of Mohammed as a prophet foretold in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures--the last and greatest of the prophets. On him descended the Koran from time to time, an immediate revelation from the Almighty. Idolatry and polytheism are with iconoclastic zeal denounced as sins of the deepest dye; while the unity of the Deity is proclaimed as the grand and cardinal doctrine of the faith. Divine providence pervades the minutest concerns of life, and predestination is taught in its most naked form. Yet prayer is enjoined as both meritorious and effective; and at five stated times every day must it be specially performed. The duties generally of the moral law are enforced, though an evil laxity is given in the matter of polygamy and divorce. Tithes are demanded as alms for the poor. A fast during the month of Ramzan must be kept throughout the whole of every day; and the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca--an ancient institution, the rites of which were now divested of their heathenish accompaniments--maintained. The existence of angels and devils is taught, and heaven and hell are depicted in material colors--the one of sensuous pleasure, the other of bodily torment. Finally, the resurrection, judgment, and retribution of good and evil are set forth in great detail. Such was the creed--"_There is no god but the_ Lord, _and_ Mohammed _is his prophet_"--to which Arabia now became obedient.

[Sidenote: Arabia apostatizes; but is speedily reconquered and reclaimed, A.D. 633.] But immediately on the death of Mohammed the entire peninsula relapsed into apostasy. Medina and Mecca remained faithful; but every-where else the land seethed with rebellion. Some tribes joined the "false prophets," of whom four had arisen in different parts of Arabia; some relapsed into their ancient heathenism; while others proposed a compromise--they would observe the stated times of prayer, but would be excused the tithe. Every-where was rampant anarchy. The apostate tribes attacked Medina, but were repulsed by the brave old Caliph Abu Bekr, who refused to abate one jot or tittle, as the successor of Mohammed, of the obligations of Islam. Eleven columns were sent forth under as many leaders, trained in the warlike school of Mohammed. These fought their way, step by step, successfully; and thus, mainly through the wisdom and firmness of Abu Bekr and the valor and genius of Khalid, "the Sword of God," the Arab tribes, one by one, were overcome and forced back into their allegiance and the profession of Islam. The reconquest of Arabia and re-imposition of Mohammedanism as the national faith, which it took a whole year to accomplish, is thus described by an Arabian author, who wrote at the close of the second century of the Mohammedan era:

After his decease there remained not one of the followers of the
prophet that did not apostatize, saving only a small company of his
"Companions" and kinsfolk, who hoped thus to secure the government
to themselves. Hereupon Abu Bekr displayed marvelous skill, energy,
and address, so that the power passed into his hands.... And thus
he persevered until the apostate tribes were all brought back to
their allegiance, some by kindly treatment, persuasion, and craft;
some through terror and fear of the sword; and others by the
prospect of power and wealth as well as by the lusts and pleasures
of this life. And so it came to pass that all the Bedouin tribes
were in the end converted outwardly, but not from inward
conviction.[39]

[Sidenote: The Arabs thus reclaimed were, at the first, sullen.] The temper of the tribes thus reclaimed by force of arms was at the first strained and sullen. But the scene soon changed. Suddenly the whole peninsula was shaken, and the people, seized with a burning zeal, issued forth to plant the new faith in other lands. It happened on this wise:

[Sidenote: Roused by war-cry, they issue from the peninsula, A.D. 634, _et. seq._ The opposing forces. Arab enthusiasm.] The columns sent from Medina to reduce the rebellious tribes to the north-west on the Gulf of Ayla, and to the north-east on the Persian Gulf, came at once into collision with the Christian Bedouins of Syria on the one hand and with those of Mesopotamia on the other. These again were immediately supported by the neighboring forces of the Roman and Persian empires, whose vassals respectively they were. And so, before many months, Abu Bekr found his generals opposed by great and imposing armies on either side. He was, in fact, waging mortal combat at one and the same moment with the Kaiser and the Chosroes, the Byzantine emperor and the great king of Persia. The risk was imminent, and an appeal went forth for help to meet the danger. The battle-cry resounded from one end of Arabia to the other, and electrified the land. Levy after levy, _en masse_, started up at the call from every quarter of the peninsula, and the Bedouin tribes, as bees from their hive, streamed forth in swarms, animated by the prospect of conquest, plunder, and captive damsels, or, if slain in battle, by the still more coveted prize of the "martyr" in the material paradise of Mohammed. With a military ardor and new-born zeal in which carnal and spiritual aspirations were strangely blended, the Arabs rushed forth to the field, like the war-horse of Job, "that smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting." Sullen constraint was in a moment transformed into an absolute devotion and fiery resolve to spread the faith. The Arab warrior became the missionary of Islam.

[Sidenote: Arabs, a military body, subsidized and mobilized by Omar.] It was now the care of Omar, the second caliph or ruler of the new-born empire, to establish a system whereby the spirit militant, called into existence with such force and fervor, might be rendered permanent. The entire Arabian people was subsidized. The surplus revenues which in rapidly increasing volume began to flow from the conquered lands into the Moslem treasuries were to the last farthing distributed among the soldiers of Arabian descent. The whole nation was enrolled, and the name of every warrior entered upon the roster of Islam. Forbidden to settle anywhere, and relieved from all other work, the Arab hordes became, in fact, a standing army threatening the world. Great bodies of armed men were kept thus ever mobilized, separate and in readiness for new enterprise.

[Sidenote: Mission of Islam described by Fairbairn.] The change which came over the policy of the Founder of the Faith at Medina, and paved the way for this marvelous system of world-wide rapine and conversion to Islam, is thus described by a thoughtful and sagacious writer:

Medina was fatal to the higher capabilities of Islam. Mohammed
became then a king; his religion was incorporated in a State that
had to struggle for its life in the fashion familiar to the
rough-handed sons of the desert. The prophet was turned into the
legislator and commander; his revelations were now laws, and now
military orders and manifestoes. The mission of Islam became one
that only the sword could accomplish, robbery of the infidel became
meritorious, and conquest the supreme duty it owed to the world....

The religion which lived an unprospering and precarious life, so
long as it depended on the prophetic word alone, became an
aggressive and victorious power so soon as it was embodied in a
State.[40]

[Sidenote: And by von Kremer.] Another learned and impartial authority tells us:

The Mussulman power under the first four caliphs was nothing but a
grand religio-political association of Arab tribes for universal
plunder and conquest under the holy banner of Islam, and the
watch-word, "There is no god but the Lord, and Mohammed is
his apostle." On pretext of spreading the only true religion the
Arabs swallowed up fair provinces lying all around, and, driving a
profitable business, enriched themselves simultaneously in a
worldly sense.[41]

[Sidenote: Religious merit of "fighting in the ways of the Lord."] The motives which nerved the armies of Islam were a strange combination of the lower instincts of nature with the higher aspirations of the spirit. To engage in the Holy War was the rarest and most blessed of all religious virtues, and conferred on the combatant a special merit; and side by side with it lay the bright prospect of spoil and female slaves, conquest and glory. "Mount thy horse," said Osama ibn Zeid to Abu Bekr as he accompanied the Syrian army a little way on its march, out of Medina. "Nay," replied the caliph, "I will not ride, but I will walk and soil my feet a little space in the ways of the Lord. Verily, every footstep in the ways of the Lord is equal in merit to manifold good works, and wipeth away a multitude of sins."[42] And of the "martyrs," those who fell in these crusading campaigns, Mohammed thus described the blessed state:

Think not, in any wise, of those killed in the ways of the Lord, as
if they were dead. Yea, they are alive, and are nourished with
their Lord, exulting in that which God hath given them of his
favor, and rejoicing in behalf of those who have not yet joined
them, but are following after. No terror afflicteth them, neither
are they grieved.--Sura iii.

[Sidenote: Material fruits of Moslem crusade.] The material fruits of their victories raised the Arabs at once from being the needy inhabitants of a stony, sterile soil, where, with difficulty, they eked out a hardy subsistence, to be the masters of rich and luxuriant lands flowing with milk and honey. After one of his great victories on the plains of Chaldea, Khalid called together his troops, flushed with conquest, and lost in wonder at the exuberance around them, and thus addressed them: "Ye see the riches of the land. Its paths drop fatness and plenty, so that the fruits of the earth are scattered abroad even as stones are in Arabia. If but as a provision for this present life, it were worth our while to fight for these fair fields and banish care and penury forever from us." Such were the aspirations dear to the heart of every Arab warrior. Again, after the battle of Jalola, a few years later, the treasure and spoil of the Persian monarch, captured by the victors, was valued at thirty million of dirhems (about a million sterling). The royal fifth (the crown share of the booty) was sent as usual to Medina under charge of Ziad, who, in the presence of the Caliph Omar, harangued the citizens in a glowing description of what had been won in Persia, fertile lands, rich cities, and endless spoil, besides captive maids and princesses.

[Sidenote: Rich booty taken in the capital of Persia, A.D. 637.] In relating the capture of Medain (the ancient Ctesiphon) tradition revels in the untold wealth which fell into the hands of Sad, the conqueror, and his followers. Besides millions of treasure, there was endless store of gold and silver vessels, rich vestments, and rare and precious things. The Arabs gazed bewildered at the tiara, brocaded vestments, jeweled armor, and splendid surroundings of the throne. They tell of a camel of silver, life-size, with a rider of gold, and of a golden horse with emeralds for teeth, the neck set with rubies, the trappings of gold. And we may read in Gibbon of the marvelous banqueting carpet, representing a garden, the ground of wrought gold, the walks of silver, the meadows of emeralds, rivulets of pearls, and flowers and fruits of diamonds, rubies, and rare gems. The precious metals lost their conventional value, gold was parted with for its weight in silver; and so on.[43]

[Sidenote: Success in battle ascribed to divine aid.] It is the virtue of Islam that it recognizes a special providence, seeing the hand of God, as in every thing, so pre-eminently also in victory. When Sad, therefore, had established himself in the palace of the Chosroes he was not forgetful to render thanks in a service of praise. One of the princely mansions was turned for the moment into a temple, and there, followed by his troops, he ascribed the victory to the Lord of Hosts. The lesson accompanying the prayers was taken from a Sura (or chapter of the Koran) which speaks of Pharaoh and his riders being overwhelmed in the Red Sea, and contains this passage, held to be peculiarly appropriate to the occasion:

"How many gardens and fountains did they leave behind,
And fields of corn, and fair dwelling-places,
And pleasant things which they enjoyed!
Even thus have We made another people to inherit the same."[44]

[Sidenote: "Martyrdom" in the field coveted by Moslem crusaders. The Moslem crown of martyrdom.] Such as fell in the conflict were called martyrs; a halo of glory surrounded them, and special joys awaited them even on the battlefield. And so it came to pass that the warriors of Islam had an unearthly longing for the crown of martyrdom. The Caliph Omar was inconsolable at the loss of his brother, Zeid, who fell in the fatal "Garden of Death," at the battle of Yemama: "Thou art returned home," he said to his son, Abdallah, "safe and sound, and Zeid is dead. Wherefore wast not thou slain before him? I wish not to see thy face." "Father," answered Abdallah, "he asked for the crown of martyrdom, and the Lord granted it. I strove after the same, but it was not given unto me."[45] It was the proud boast of the Saracens in their summons to the craven Greeks and Persians that "they loved death more than their foes loved life." Familiar with the pictures drawn in the Koran of the beautiful "houries" of Paradise,[46] the Saracens believed that immediate fruition on the field of battle was the martyr's special prize. We are told of a Moslem soldier, four-score years of age, who, seeing a comrade fall by his side, cried out, "O Paradise! how close art thou beneath the arrow's point and the falchion's flash! O Hashim! even now I see heaven opened, and black-eyed maidens all bridally attired, clasping thee in their fond embrace." And shouting thus the aged warrior, fired again with the ardor of youth, rushed upon the enemy and met the envied fate. For those who survived there was the less ethereal but closer prospect of Persian, Greek, or Coptic women, both maids and matrons, who, on "being taken captive by their right hand," were forthwith, according to the Koran, without stint of number, at the conqueror's will and pleasure. These, immediately they were made prisoners, might (according to the example of Mohammed himself at Kheibar) be carried off without further ceremony to the victor's tent; and in this respect the Saracens certainly were nothing loath to execute upon the heathen the judgment written in their law. So strangely was religious fanaticism fed and fostered in the Moslem camp by incentives irresistible to the Arab--fight and foray, the spoil of war and captive charms.

[Sidenote: Martial passages from Koran recited on field of battle.] The courage of the troops was stimulated by the divine promises of victory, which were read (and on like occasions still are read) at the head of each column drawn up for battle. Thus, on the field of Cadesiya[d], which decided the fate of Persia, the Sura _Jehad_, with the stirring tale of the thousand angels that fought on the Prophet's side at Bedr was recited, and such texts as these:

_Stir up the faithful unto battle. If there be twenty steadfast among you they shall put two hundred to flight of the unbelievers, and a hundred shall put to flight a thousand. Victory is from the Lord. He is mighty and wise. I the Lord will cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads and their fingers' ends. Beware lest ye turn your back in battle. Verily, he that turneth his back shall draw down upon himself the wrath of God. His abode shall be hell fire; an evil journey thither._

And we are told that on the recital of these verses "the heart of the people was refreshed and their eyes lightened, and they felt the tranquillity that ensueth thereupon." Three days they fought, and on the morning of the fourth, returning with unabated vigor to the charge, they scattered to the winds the vast host of Persia.[47]

[Sidenote: Defeat of Byzantine army on the Yermuk, A.D. 634.] Nor was it otherwise in the great battle of the Yermuk, which laid Syria at the feet of the Arabs. The virgin vigor of the Saracens was fired by a wild fanatical zeal "to fight in the ways of the Lord," obtaining thus heavenly merit and a worldly prize--the spoil of Syria and its fair maidens ravished from their homes; or should they fall by the sword, the black-eyed houries waiting for them on the field of battle. "Of warriors nerved by this strange combination of earth and heaven, of the flesh and of the spirit, of the incentives at once of faith and rapine, of fanatical devotion to the prophet and deathless passion for the sex, ten might chase a hundred half-hearted Romans. The forty thousand Moslems were stronger far than the two hundred and forty thousand of the enemy." The combat lasted for weeks; but at the last the Byzantine force was utterly routed, and thousands hurled in wild confusion over the beetling cliffs of the Yermuk into the yawning chasm of Wacusa.[48]

[Sidenote: Islam planted by aid of material force.] Such, then, was the nature of the Moslem propaganda, such the agency by which the faith was spread, and such the motives at once material and spiritual by which its martial missionaries were inspired. No wonder that the effete empires of Rome and Persia recoiled and quivered at the shock, and that province after province quickly fell under the sway of Islam. It is far from my intention to imply that the truths set forth by the new faith had nothing to do with its success. On the contrary, it may well be admitted that but for those truths success might have been impossible. The grand enunciation of the Divine Unity, and the duty of an absolute submission to the same; the recognition of a special providence reaching to the minutest details of life; the inculcation of prayer and other religious duties; the establishment of a code in which the leading principles of morality are enforced, and the acknowledgment of previous revelations in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, told not only on the idolaters of Arabia and the fire-worshipers of Persia, but on Jews and Samaritans and the followers of a debased and priest-ridden Christianity. All this is true; but it is still not the less true that without the sword Islam would never have been planted even in Arabia, much less ever have spread to the countries beyond. The weapons of its warfare were "carnal," material, and earthly; and by them it conquered.

[Sidenote: Alternatives offered to the conquered nations: Islam, the Sword, or Tribute.] The pressure brought to bear on the inhabitants of the countries overrun by Saracen arms was of the most stringent character. They were offered the triple alternative--Islam, the Sword, or Tribute. The first brought immediate relief. Acceptance of the faith not only stayed the enemy's hand, and conferred immunity from the perils of war, but associated the convert with his conquerors in the common brotherhood and in all the privileges of Islam.

[Sidenote: Acceptance of Islam, immediate relief from the sword.] Reading the story of the spread of Islam, we are constantly told of this and that enemy, that "being beaten, he _believed_ and embraced the faith." Take as an example of an every-day occurrence the story of Hormuzan. A Persian prince of high rank long maintained a border warfare against the Moslems. At last he was taken prisoner and sent in chains to Medina. As he was conducted into the Great Mosque, Omar exclaimed, "Blessed be the Lord, that hath humbled this man and the like of him!" He bade them disrobe the prisoner and clothe him in sackcloth. Then, whip in hand, he upbraided him for his oft-repeated attacks and treachery. Hormuzan made as if fain to reply; then gasping, like one faint from thirst, he begged for water to drink. "Give it him," said the caliph, "and let him drink in peace." "Nay," cried the wretched captive, trembling, "I fear to drink, lest some one slay me unawares." "Thy life is safe," said Omar, "until thou hast drunk the water up." The words were no sooner said than Hormuzan emptied the vessel on the ground. "I wanted not the water," he said, "but quarter, and thou hast given it me." "Liar!" cried Omar, angrily, "thy life is forfeit." "But not," interposed the by-standers, "until he drink the water up." "Strange," said Omar, "the fellow hath deceived me; and yet I cannot spare the life of one who hath slain so many noble Moslems. I swear that thou shalt not gain by thy deceit unless thou wilt forthwith embrace Islam." Upon that, "_believing_, he made profession of the true faith upon the spot;" and thenceforth, residing at Medina, he received a pension of the highest grade.[49]

[Sidenote: Tribute and humiliation. Disabilities imposed on Jews and Christians.] On the other hand, for those who held to their ancestral faith there was no escape from the second or the third alternative. If they would avoid the sword, or, having wielded it, were beaten, they must become tributary. Moreover, the payment of tribute is not the only condition enjoined by the Koran. "Fight against them (the Jews and Christians) until they pay tribute with the hand, _and are humbled_."[50] The command fell on willing ears. An ample interpretation was given to it. And so it came to pass that, though Jews and Christians were, on the payment of tribute, tolerated in the profession of their ancestral faith, they were yet subjected (and still are subjected) to severe humiliation. The nature and extent of the degradation to which they were brought down, and the strength of the inducement to purchase exemption and the equality of civil rights, by surrendering their religion, may be learned from the provisions which were embodied in the code named _The Ordinance of Omar_, which has been more or less enforced from the earliest times. Besides the tribute and various other imposts levied from the "People of the Book,"[51] and the duty of receiving Moslem travelers quartered upon them, the dress of both sexes must be distinguished by broad stripes of yellow. They are forbidden to appear on horseback, and if mounted on a mule or ass their stirrups must be of wood, and their saddles known by knobs of the same material. Their graves must not rise above the level of the soil, and the devil's mark is placed upon the lintel of their doors. Their children must be taught by Moslem masters, and the race, however able or well qualified, proscribed from any office of high emolument or trust. Besides the churches spared at the time of conquest no new buildings can be erected for the purposes of worship; nor can free entrance into their holy places at pleasure be refused to the Moslem. No cross must remain in view outside, nor any church-bells be rung. They must refrain from processions in the street at Easter, and other solemnities; and from any thing, in short, whether by outward symbol, word, or deed, which could be construed into rivalry, or competition with the ruling faith. Such was the so-called _Code of Omar_. Enforced with less or greater stringency, according to the intolerance and caprice of the day, by different dynasties, it was, and (however much relaxed in certain countries) it still remains, the law of Islam. One must admire the rare tenacity of the Christian faith, which, with but scanty light and hope, held its ground through weary ages of insult and depression, and still survives to see the dawning of a brighter day.[52]

[Sidenote: Continuing inducements in times of peace.] Such, then, was the hostile attitude of Islam militant in its early days; such the pressure brought to bear on conquered lands for its acceptance; and such the disabilities imposed upon recusant Jews and Christians. On the one hand, rapine, plunder, slavery, tribute, civil disability; on the other, security, peace, and honor. We need not be surprised that, under such constraint, conquered peoples succumbed before Islam. Nor were the temporal inducements to conversion confined to the period during which the Saracens were engaged in spreading Islam by force of arms. Let us come down a couple of centuries from the time of Mohammed, and take the reign of the tolerant and liberal-minded sovereign, Al Mamun.

[Sidenote: Evidence of Al Kindy in second century of Hegira, A.D. 830. Speech of Al Mamun.] Among the philosophers of all creeds whom that great caliph gathered around him at Bagdad was a noble Arab of the Nestorian faith, descended from the kingly tribe of the Beni Kinda, and hence called _Al Kindy_. A friend of this Eastern Christian, himself a member of the royal family, invited Al Kindy to embrace Islam in an epistle enlarging on the distinguished rank which, in virtue of his descent, he would (if a true believer) occupy at court, and the other privileges, spiritual and material, social and conjugal, which he would enjoy. In reply the Christian wrote an apology of singular eloquence and power, throwing a flood of light on the worldly inducements which, even at that comparatively late period, abounded in a Moslem state to promote conversion to Islam. Thus Al Mamun himself, in a speech delivered before his council, characterizes certain of his courtiers accused as secret adherents of the Zoroastrian faith:

"Though professing Islam, they are free from the same. This they do
to be seen of me, while their convictions, I am well aware, are
just the opposite of that which they profess. They belong to a
class which embrace Islam, not from any love of this our faith, but
thinking thereby to gain access to our court, and share in the
honor, wealth, and power of the realm. They have no inward
persuasion of that which they outwardly profess."[53]

[Sidenote: Converts from sordid motives.] Again, speaking of the various classes brought over to Islam by sordid and unworthy motives, Al Kindy says:

Moreover, there are the idolatrous races--Magians and Jews--low
people aspiring by the profession of Islam to raise themselves to
riches and power and to form alliances with the families of the
learned and honorable. There are, besides, hypocritical men of the
world, who in this way obtain indulgences in the matter of marriage
and concubinage which are forbidden to them by the Christian faith.
Then we have the dissolute class given over wholly to the lusts of
the flesh. And lastly there are those who by this means obtain a
more secure and easy livelihood.[54]

[Sidenote: Al Kindy contrasts the Christian confessor with the Moslem "martyr." The Christian confessor and the Moslem martyr.] Before leaving this part of our subject it may be opportune to quote a few more passages from Al Kindy, in which he contrasts the inducements that, under the military and political predominance of Islam, promoted its rapid spread, and the opposite conditions under which Christianity made progress, slow, indeed, comparatively, but sure and steady. First, he compares the Christian confessor with the Moslem "martyr:"

I marvel much, he says, that ye call those _martyrs_ that fall in
war. Thou hast read, no doubt, in history of the followers of
Christ put to death in the persecutions of the kings of Persia and
elsewhere. Say, now, which are the more worthy to be called
martyrs, these, or thy fellows that fall fighting for the world and
the power thereof? How diverse were the barbarities and kinds of
death inflicted on the Christian confessors! The more they were
slain the more rapidly spread the faith; in place of one sprang up
a hundred. On a certain occasion, when a great multitude had been
put to death, one at court said to the king, "The number of them
increaseth instead of, as thou thinkest, diminishing." "How can
that be?" exclaimed the king. "But yesterday," replied the
courtier, "thou didst put such and such a one to death, and lo,
there were converted double that number; and the people say that a
man appeared to the confessors from heaven strengthening them in
their last moments." Whereupon the king himself was converted. In
those days men thought not their lives dear unto them. Some were
transfixed while yet alive; others had their limbs cut off one
after another; some were cast to the wild beasts and others burned
in the fire. Such continued long to be the fate of the Christian
confessors. No parallel is found thereto in any other religion; and
all was endured with constancy and even with joy. One smiled in the
midst of his great suffering. "Was it cold water," they asked,
"that was brought unto thee?" "No," answered the sufferer, "it was
one like a youth that stood by me and anointed my wounds; and that
made me smile, for the pain forthwith departed."

Now tell me seriously, my friend, which of the two hath the best
claim to be called a _martyr_, "slain in the ways of the Lord:" he
who surrendereth his life rather than renounce his faith; who, when
it is said, Fall down and worship the sun and moon, or the idols of
silver and gold, work of men's hands, instead of the true God,
refuseth, choosing rather to give up life, abandon wealth, and
forego even wife and family; or he that goeth forth, ravaging and
laying waste, plundering and spoiling, slaying the men, carrying
away their children into captivity, and ravishing their wives and
maidens in his unlawful embrace, and then shall call it "Jehad in
the ways of the Lord!" ... And not content therewith, instead of
humbling thyself before the Lord, and seeking pardon for the crime,
thou sayest of such a one slain in the war that "he hath earned
paradise," and thou namest him "a martyr in the ways of the
Lord!"[55]

And again, contrasting the spread of Islam, "its rattling quiver and its glittering sword," with the silent progress of Christianity, our apologist, after dwelling on the teaching and the miracles of the apostles, writes:

They published their message by means of these miracles; and thus
great and powerful kings and philosophers and learned men and
judges of the earth hearkened unto them, without lash or rod, with
neither sword nor spear, nor the advantages of birth or
"Helpers;"[56] with no wisdom of this world, or eloquence or power
of language, or subtlety of reason; with no worldly inducement, nor
yet again with any relaxation of the moral law, but simply at the
voice of truth enforced by miracles beyond the power of man to
show. And so there came over to them the kings and great ones of
the earth. And the philosophers abandoned their systems, with all
their wisdom and learning, and betook them to a saintly life,
giving up the delights of this world together with their
old-established usages, and became followers of a company of poor
men, fishers and publicans, who had neither name nor rank nor any
claim other than that they were obedient to the command of the
Messiah--he that gave them power to do such wonderful works.[57]

[Sidenote: The apostles compared with the chiefs of Islam.] And yet once more, comparing the apostles with the military chiefs of Islam, Al Kindy proceeds:

After the descent of the Holy Ghost and the gift of tongues the
apostles separated each to the country to which he was called. They
wrote out in every tongue the holy Gospel, and the story and
teaching of Christ, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost. So the
nations drew near unto them, believing their testimony; and, giving
up the world and their false beliefs, they embraced the Christian
faith as soon as ever the dawn of truth and the light of the good
tidings broke in upon them. Distinguishing the true from the false,
and error from the right direction, they embraced the Gospel and
held it fast without doubt or wavering, when they saw the wonderful
works and signs of the apostles, and their lives and conversation
set after the holy and beautiful example of our Saviour, the traces
whereof remain even unto the present day.... How different this
from the life of thy Master (Mohammed) and his companions, who
ceased not to go forth in battle and rapine, to smite with the
sword, to seize the little ones, and ravish the wives and maidens,
plundering and laying waste, and carrying the people into
captivity. And thus they continue unto this present day, inciting
men to these evil deeds, even as it is told of Omar the Caliph. "If
one among you," said he, "hath a heathen neighbor and is in need,
let him seize and sell him." And many such things they say and
teach. Look now at the lives of Simon and Paul, who went about
healing the sick and raising the dead, by the name of Christ our
Lord; and mark the contrast.[58]

[Sidenote: Such are the conclusions of a native of Chaldea.] Such are the reflections of one who lived at a Mohammedan court, and who, moreover, flourishing as he did a thousand years ago, was sufficiently near the early spread of Islam to be able to contrast what he saw and heard and read of the causes of its success with those of the Gospel, and had the courage to confess the same.

[Sidenote: Hinderances or inducements inherent in the faith itself.] Apart, now, from the outward and extraneous aids given to Islam by the sword and by the civil arm I will inquire for a moment what natural effect the teaching of Islam itself had in attracting or repelling mankind. I do not now speak of any power contained in the truths it inculcated to convert to Islam by the rousing and quickening of spiritual impulses; for that lies beyond my present purpose, which is to inquire whether there is not in material causes and secular motives enough in themselves to account for success. I speak rather of the effect of the indulgences granted by Islam, on the one hand, as calculated to attract; and of the restraints imposed and sacrifices required, on the other, as calculated to repel. How far, in fact, did there exist inducements or hinderances to its adoption inherent in the religion itself?

[Sidenote: Requirements of Islam: prayer. Prohibition of wine, games of chance, and usury. Fast of Ramzan.] What may be regarded as the most constant and irksome of the obligations of Islam is the duty of prayer, which must be observed at stated intervals, five times every day, with the contingent ceremony of lustration. The rite consists of certain forms and passages to be repeated with prescribed series of prostrations and genuflexions. These must be repeated at the right times--but anywhere, in the house or by the wayside, as well as in the mosque; and the ordinance is obligatory in whatever state of mind the worshiper may be, or however occupied. As the appointed hour comes round the Moslem is bound to turn aside to pray--so much so that in Central Asia we read of the police driving the backward worshiper by the lash to discharge the duty. Thus, with the mass of Mussulmans, the obligation becomes a mere formal ceremony, and one sees it performed anywhere and every-where by the whole people, like any social custom, as a matter of course. No doubt there are exceptions; but with the multitude it does not involve the irksomeness of a spiritual service, and so it sits lightly on high and low. The Friday prayers should as a rule be attended in the mosque; but neither need there be much devotion there; and, once performed, the rest of the day is free for pleasure or for business.[59] The prohibition of wine is a restriction which was severely felt in the early days of the faith; but it was not long before the universal sentiment (though eluded in some quarters) supported it. The embargo upon games of chance was certainly unpopular; and the prohibition of the receipt of interest was also an important limitation, tending as it did to shackle the freedom of mercantile speculation; but they have been partially evaded on various pretexts. The fast throughout the month of Ramzan was a severer test; but even this lasts only during the day; and at night, from sunset till dawn, all restrictions are withdrawn, not only in respect of food, but of all otherwise lawful gratifications.[60]

[Sidenote: Little that is unpopular in these ordinances.] There is nothing, therefore, in the requirements and ordinances of Islam, excepting the fast, that is very irksome to humanity, or which, as involving any material sacrifice, or the renunciation of the pleasures or indulgences of life, should lead a man of the world to hesitate in embracing the new faith.

[Sidenote: Indulgences allowed in the matter of wives and concubines.] On the other hand, the license allowed by the Koran between the sexes--at least in favor of the male sex--is so wide that for such as have the means and the desire to take advantage of it there need be no limit whatever to sexual indulgence. It is true that adultery is punishable by death and fornication with stripes. But then the Koran gives the believer permission to have four wives at a time. And he may exchange them--that is, he may divorce them at pleasure, taking others in their stead.[61] And, as if this were not license enough, the divine law permits the believer to consort with all female slaves whom he may be the master of--such, namely, as have been taken in war, or have been acquired by gift or purchase. These he may receive into his harem instead of wives, or in addition to them; and without any limit of number or restraint whatever he is at liberty to cohabit with them.

[Sidenote: Polygamy, concubinage, and divorce. Practice at the rise of Islam.] A few instances taken at random will enable the reader to judge how the indulgences thus allowed by the religion were taken advantage of in the early days of Islam. In the great plague which devastated Syria seven years after the prophet's death Khalid, the Sword of God, lost _forty_ sons. Abdal Rahman, one of the "companions" of Mohammed, had issue by sixteen wives, not counting slave-girls.[62] Moghira ibn Shoba, another "companion," and governor of Kufa and Bussorah, had in his harem eighty consorts, free and servile. Coming closer to the Prophet's household, we find that Mohammed himself at one period had in his harem no fewer than nine wives and two slave-girls. Of his grandson Hasan we read that his vagrant passion gained for him the unenviable sobriquet of _The Divorcer_; for it was only by continually divorcing his consorts that he could harmonize his craving for fresh nuptials with the requirements of the divine law, which limited the number of his free wives to four. We are told that, as a matter of simple caprice, he exercised the power of divorce seventy (according to other traditions ninety) times. When the leading men complained to Aly of the licentious practice of his son his only reply was that the remedy lay in their own hands, of refusing Hasan their daughters altogether.[63] Such are the material inducements, the "works of the flesh," which Islam makes lawful to its votaries, and which promoted thus its early spread.

[Sidenote: Practice in modern times. The Malays of Penang. Lane's testimony concerning Egypt. The princess of Bhopal's account of Mecca.] Descending now to modern times, we still find that this sexual license is taken advantage of more or less in different countries and conditions of society. The following examples are simply meant as showing to what excess it is possible for the believer to carry these indulgences, _under the sanction of his religion_. Of the Malays in Penang it was written not very long ago: "Young men of thirty to thirty-five years of age may be met with who have had from fifteen to twenty wives, and children by several of them. These women have been divorced, married others, and had children by them." Regarding Egypt, Lane tells us: "I have heard of men who have been in the habit of marrying a new wife almost every month."[64] Burkhardt speaks of an Arab forty-five years old who had had fifty wives, "so that he must have divorced two wives and married two fresh ones on the average every year." And not to go further than the sacred city of Mecca, the late reigning princess of Bhopal, in central India, herself an orthodox follower of the Prophet, after making the pilgrimage of the holy places, writes thus:

Women frequently contract as many as ten marriages, and those who
have only been married twice are few in number. If a woman sees her
husband growing old, or if she happen to admire any one else, she
goes to the Shereef (the spiritual and civil head of the holy
city), and after having settled the matter with him she puts away
her husband and takes to herself another, who is, perhaps,
good-looking and rich. In this way a marriage seldom lasts more
than a year or two.

And of slave-girls the same high and impartial authority, still writing of the holy city and of her fellow-Moslems, tells us:

Some of the women (African and Georgian girls) are taken in
marriage; and after that, on being sold again, they receive from
their masters a divorce, and are sold in their houses--that is to
say, they are sent to the purchaser from their master's house on
receipt of payment, and are not exposed for sale in the
slave-market. They are only _married_ when purchased for the first
time.... When the poorer people buy (female) slaves they keep them
for themselves, and change them every year as one would replace old
things by new; but the women who have children are not sold.[65]

[Sidenote: Islam sanctions a license between the sexes which Christianity forbids. The laws of Christianity deter men from carnal indulgences. Islam the "Easy Way."] What I desire to make clear is the fact that such things may be practiced _with the sanction_ of the Scripture which the Moslem holds to be divine, and that these same indulgences have from the first existed as inducements which helped materially to forward the spread of the faith. I am very far, indeed, from implying that excessive indulgence in polygamy is the universal state of Moslem society. Happily this is not the case. There are not only individuals, but tribes and districts, which, either from custom or preference, voluntarily restrict the license given them in the Koran; while the natural influence of the family, even in Moslem countries, has an antiseptic tendency that often itself tends greatly to neutralize the evil.[66] Nor am I seeking to institute any contrast between the morals at large of Moslem countries and the rest of the world. If Christian nations are (as with shame it must be confessed) in some strata of society immoral, it is in the teeth of their divine law. And the restrictions of that law are calculated, and in the early days of Christianity did tend, in point of fact, _to deter men_ devoted to the indulgences of the flesh from embracing the faith.[67] The religion of Mohammed, on the other hand, gives direct sanction to the sexual indulgences we have been speaking of. Thus it panders to the lower instincts of humanity and makes its spread the easier. In direct opposition to the precepts of Christianity it "makes provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." Hence Islam has been well called by its own votaries the _Easy Way_. Once more, to quote Al Kindy:

Thou invitest me (says our apologist to his friend) into the "Easy
way of faith and practice." Alas, alas! for our Saviour in the
Gospel telleth us, "When ye have done all that ye are commanded,
say, We are unprofitable servants; we have but done that which was
commanded us." Where then is our merit? The same Lord Jesus saith,
"How strait is the road which leadeth unto life, and how few they
be that walk therein! How wide the gate that leadeth to
destruction, and how many there be that go in thereat!" Different
this, my friend, from the comforts of thy wide and easy gate, and
the facilities for enjoying, as thou wouldst have me, the pleasures
offered by thy faith in wives and damsels![68]

FOOTNOTES:

[a] A.D. 623.

[b] A.D. 630.

[c] A.D. 632.

[d] A.D. 635.