Mohammed
and the Koran
by Edward
Gibbon
(1737 – 1794)
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The sword is the key
of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause
of God, a night spent in arms, is of more
avail than two months of fasting or
prayer: whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven:
at the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent
as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk; and the
loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the
wings of angels and cherubim.
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Mohammed (571 – 633 AD.)
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I.
The Man
According to the
tradition of his companions, Mahomet was
distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which is
seldom
despised, except by those to whom it has been refused. Before he spoke,
the
orator engaged on his side the affections of a public or private
audience. They
applauded his commanding presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing
eye, his
gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance that painted every
sensation
of the soul, and his gestures that enforced each expression of the
tongue.
In the familiar offices
of life he scrupulously adhered to
the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country: his respectful
attention
to the rich and powerful was dignified by his condescension and
affability to
the poorest citizens of Mecca: the frankness of his manner concealed
the
artifice of his views; and the habits of courtesy were imputed to
personal
friendship or universal benevolence. His memory was capacious and
retentive;
his wit easy and social; his imagination sublime; his judgment clear,
rapid,
and decisive. He possessed the courage both of thought and action; and,
although his designs might gradually expand with his success, the first
idea
which he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an
original and
superior genius. The son of Abdallah was educated in the bosom of the
noblest
race, in the use of the purest dialect of Arabia; and the fluency of
his speech
was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and seasonable
silence.
With these powers of
eloquence, Mahomet was an illiterate
Barbarian: His youth had never been instructed in the arts of reading
and
writing; the common ignorance exempted him from shame or reproach, but
he was
reduced to a narrow circle of existence, and deprived of those faithful
mirrors, which reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.
Yet the book of nature
and of man was open to his view; and
some fancy has been indulged in the political and philosophical
observations
which are ascribed to the Arabian traveler. He compares the nations and
the
regions of the earth; discovers the weakness of the Persian and Roman
monarchies; beholds, with pity and indignation, the degeneracy of the
times;
and resolves to unite under one God and one king the invincible spirit
and
primitive virtues of the Arabs. Our more accurate inquiry will suggest,
that,
instead of visiting the courts, the camps, the temples, of the East,
the two
journeys of Mahomet into Syria were confined to the fairs of Bostra and
Damascus; he was only thirteen years of age when he accompanied the
caravan of
his uncle. His duty compelled him to return as soon as he had disposed
of the
merchandise of Cadijah. In these hasty and superficial excursions, the
eye of
genius might discern some objects invisible to his grosser companions;
some
seeds of knowledge might be cast upon a fruitful soil; but his
ignorance of the
Syriac language must have checked his curiosity; and I cannot perceive,
in the
life or writings of Mahomet, that his prospect was far extended beyond
the
limits of the Arabian world.
The first and most
arduous conquests of Mahomet were those
of his wife, his servant, his pupil, and his friend; since he presented
himself
as a prophet to those who were most conversant with his infirmities as
a man.
Yet Cadijah believed the words, and cherished the glory, of her
husband; the
obsequious and affectionate Zeid was tempted by the prospect of
freedom; the
illustrious Ali, the son of Abu Taleb, embraced the sentiments of his
cousin
with the spirit of a youthful hero; and the wealth, the moderation, the
veracity of Abubeker confirmed the religion of the prophet whom he was
destined
to succeed. By his persuasion, ten of the most respectable citizens of
Mecca
were introduced to the private lessons of Islam; they yielded to the
voice of
reason and enthusiasm; they repeated the fundamental creed, "There
is
but one God, and Mahomet is the apostle of God;" and their faith, even
in
this life, was rewarded with riches and honors, with the command of
armies and
the government of kingdoms.
[Footnote 119: Mahomet's life, from
his mission to the
Hegira, may be found in Abulfeda (p. 14 – 45) and Gagnier, (tom. i. p.
134 –
251, 342 – 383.) The legend from p. 187 – 234 is vouched by Al Jannabi,
and
disdained by Abulfeda.]
II. The Book
Some
useful strangers might be
tempted, or forced, to implore the rights of hospitality; and the
enemies of
Mahomet have named the Jew, the Persian, and the Syrian monk, whom they
accuse
of lending their secret aid to the composition of the Koran.
Conversation
enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius; and
the
uniformity of a work denotes the hand of a single artist. Instead of a
perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the
Koran
were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each revelation is suited
to the
emergencies of his policy or passion; and all contradiction is removed
by the
saving maxim, that any text of Scripture is abrogated or modified by
any
subsequent passage. The word of God, and of the apostle, was diligently
recorded by his disciples on palm-leaves and the shoulder-bones of
mutton; and
the pages, without order or connection, were cast into a domestic
chest, in the
custody of one of his wives.
Two years after
the death of Mahomet, the sacred volume was collected and published by
his friend
and successor Abubeker: the work was revised by the caliph Othman, in
the
thirtieth year of the Hegira; and the various editions of the Koran
assert the
same miraculous privilege of a uniform and incorruptible text. In the
spirit of
enthusiasm or vanity, the prophet rests the truth of his mission on the
merit
of his book; audaciously challenges both men and angels to imitate the
beauties
of a single page; and presumes to assert that God alone could dictate
this
incomparable performance.
This argument is
most powerfully addressed to a devout Arabian, whose mind is attuned to
faith
and rapture; whose ear is delighted by the music of sounds; and whose
ignorance
is incapable of comparing the productions of human genius. The harmony
and
copiousness of style will not reach, in a version, the European
infidel: he
will peruse with impatience the endless incoherent rhapsody of fable,
and
precept, and declamation, which seldom excites a sentiment or an idea,
which
sometimes crawls in the dust, and is sometimes lost in the clouds. The
divine
attributes exalt the fancy of the Arabian missionary; but his loftiest
strains
must yield to the sublime simplicity of the book of Job, composed in a
remote
age, in the same country, and in the same language. If the composition
of the
Koran exceed the faculties of a man to what superior intelligence
should we
ascribe the Iliad of Homer, or the Philippics of Demosthenes?
The mission of
the ancient prophets, of Moses and of Jesus had been confirmed by many
splendid
prodigies; and Mahomet was repeatedly urged, by the inhabitants of
Mecca and
Medina, to produce a similar evidence of his divine legation; to call
down from
heaven the angel or the volume of his revelation, to create a garden in
the
desert, or to kindle a conflagration in the unbelieving city.
As often as he
is pressed by the demands of the Koreish, he involves himself in the
obscure
boast of vision and prophecy, appeals to the internal proofs of his
doctrine,
and shields himself behind the providence of God, who refuses those
signs and
wonders that would depreciate the merit of faith, and aggravate the
guilt of
infidelity. But the modest or angry tone of his apologies betrays his
weakness
and vexation; and these passages of scandal established, beyond
suspicion, the
integrity of the Koran. His dream of a nocturnal journey is seriously
described
as a real and corporeal transaction. A mysterious animal, the Borak,
conveyed
him from the temple of Mecca to that of Jerusalem: with his companion
Gabriel
he successively ascended the seven heavens, and received and repaid the
salutations of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the angels, in their
respective mansions. Beyond the seventh heaven, Mahomet alone was
permitted to
proceed; he passed the veil of unity, approached within two bow-shots
of the
throne, and felt a cold that pierced him to the heart, when his
shoulder was
touched by the hand of God. After this familiar, though important
conversation,
he again descended to Jerusalem, remounted the Borak, returned to
Mecca, and performed
in the tenth part of a night the journey of many thousand years.
[Footnote
98: The nocturnal journey is circumstantially related by Abulfeda (in
Vit.
Mohammed, c. 19, p. 33,) who wishes to think it a vision; by Prideaux,
(p. 31 –
40,) who aggravates the absurdities; and by Gagnier (tom. i. p. 252 –
343,) who
declares, from the zealous Al Jannabi, that to deny this journey, is to
disbelieve the Koran. Yet the Koran without naming either heaven, or
Jerusalem,
or Mecca, has only dropped a mysterious hint: Laus illi qui transtulit
servum
suum ab oratorio Haram ad oratorium remotissimum, (Koran, c. 17, v. 1;
in
Maracci, tom. ii. p. 407; for Sale's version is more licentious.) A
slender
basis for the aerial structure of tradition.]
III.
The Doctrine
The liberality of Mahomet
allowed to his predecessors the
same credit which he claimed for himself; and the chain of inspiration
was
prolonged from the fall of Adam to the promulgation of the Koran.
During that
period, some rays of prophetic light had been imparted to one hundred
and
twenty-four thousand of the elect, discriminated by their respective
measure of
virtue and grace; three hundred and thirteen apostles were sent with a
special
commission to recall their country from idolatry and vice; one hundred
and four
volumes have been dictated by the Holy Spirit; and six legislators of
transcendent brightness have announced to mankind the six successive
revelations of various rites, but of one immutable religion.
The authority and station
of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses,
Christ, and Mahomet, rise in just gradation above each other; but
whosoever
hates or rejects any one of the prophets is numbered with the infidels.
"Verily,
Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, is the apostle of God, and his word,
which he
conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him; honorable in this
world,
and in the world to come, and one of those who approach near to the
presence of
God." The
wonders of the genuine and apocryphal gospels are profusely heaped on
his head;
and the Latin church has not disdained to borrow from the Koran the
immaculate
conception of his virgin mother. Yet Jesus was a mere mortal; and, at
the day
of judgment, his testimony will serve to condemn both the Jews, who
reject him
as a prophet, and the Christians, who adore him as the Son of God. The
malice
of his enemies aspersed his reputation, and conspired against his life;
but
their intention only was guilty; a phantom or a criminal was
substituted on the
cross; and the innocent saint was translated to the seventh heaven.
Mahomet, perhaps, is the
only lawgiver who has defined the
precise measure of charity: the standard may vary with the degree and
nature of
property, as it consists either in money, in corn or cattle, in fruits
or
merchandise; but the Mussulman does not accomplish the law, unless he
bestows a
tenth of his revenue; and if his conscience accuses him of fraud or
extortion,
the tenth, under the idea of restitution, is enlarged to a fifth.
The two articles of
belief, and the four practical duties,
of Islam, are guarded by rewards and punishments; and the faith of the
Mussulman is devoutly fixed on the event of the judgment and the last
day. The
reunion of the soul and body will be followed by the final judgment of
mankind;
and in his copy of the Magian picture, the prophet has too faithfully
represented the forms of proceeding, and even the slow and successive
operations, of an earthly tribunal. By his intolerant adversaries he is
upbraided for extending, even to themselves, the hope of salvation, for
asserting the blackest heresy, that every man who believes in God, and
accomplishes good works, may expect in the last day a favorable
sentence. Such
rational indifference is ill adapted to the character of a fanatic; nor
is it
probable that a messenger from heaven should depreciate the value and
necessity
of his own revelation.
In the idiom of the
Koran, the belief of God is inseparable
from that of Mahomet: the good works are those which he has enjoined,
and the
two qualifications imply the profession of Islam, to which all nations
and all
sects are equally invited. Their spiritual blindness, though excused by
ignorance and crowned with virtue, will be scourged with everlasting
torments;
and the tears which Mahomet shed over the tomb of his mother for whom
he was forbidden
to pray, display a striking contrast of humanity and enthusiasm.
The doom of the infidels
is common: the measure of their
guilt and punishment is determined by the degree of evidence which they
have
rejected, by the magnitude of the errors which they have entertained:
the
eternal mansions of the Christians, the Jews, the Sabians, the Magians,
and
idolaters, are sunk below each other in the abyss; and the lowest hell
is
reserved for the faithless hypocrites who have assumed the mask of
religion. After
the greater part of mankind has been condemned for their opinions, the
true
believers only will be judged by their actions. The good and evil of
each
Mussulman will be accurately weighed in a real or allegorical balance;
and a
singular mode of compensation will be allowed for the payment of
injuries: the
aggressor will refund an equivalent of his own good actions, for the
benefit of
the person whom he has wronged; and if he should be destitute of any
moral
property, the weight of his sins will be loaded with an adequate share
of the
demerits of the sufferer. According as the shares of guilt or virtue
shall
preponderate, the sentence will be pronounced, and all, without
distinction,
will pass over the sharp and perilous bridge of the abyss; but the
innocent,
treading in the footsteps of Mahomet, will gloriously enter the gates
of
paradise, while the guilty will fall into the first and mildest of the
seven
hells. The term of expiation will vary from nine hundred to seven
thousand
years; but the prophet has judiciously promised, that all his
disciples,
whatever may be their sins, shall be saved, by their own faith and his
intercession from eternal damnation.
It is not
surprising that superstition should act most powerfully on the fears of
her
votaries, since the human fancy can paint with more energy the misery
than the
bliss of a future life.
© – 5/4/2009 – edited
by michael sympson, 2,600 words, all
rights reserved
