THE HISTORY OF MOHAMMEDANISM, AND ITS SECTS; I DERIVED CHIEFLY FROM ORIENTAL SOURCES. BY W. C. TAYLOR, LL.D., LATE 0F TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE .SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON: JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. M.DCCC.XXXIX. LOAN STACK 3 P510 r") ‘3' s. I .w .uv-“fi " ‘ 4;; "" .- \vnr‘ W TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND; THIS LITTLE WORK IS GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THEIR SINCERE ADMIRER, THE AUTHOR. .mg 882 PREFACE. THE best preface to this work will be the history of the circumstances that led to its being written. Among a parcel of old books that contributed to the amusement of my .younger days, was a torn copy of SALE’s Kordn, to which I took a great fancy, probably from its connexion with those favourites of youth, the Arabian Nights. Several years afterwards, when studying divinity in Trinity College, Dublin, it struck me that many of the strange tales I met with in the Rabbinical writings, and many of the early heresies to which I found allusions in _ the ancient fathers of the Eastern Church, were matters that I had somewhere met with before. My old recol- lections of the Koran came to my aid, and I became con- vinced that there was such a strong resemblance between the corruptions of Judaism and Christianity, and the creed promulgated by the reformer of Mecca, as to establish 'a strong probability of the several erroneous i systems having been derived from the same source. Sub- sequent investigations strengthened this conclusion. My acquaintance with Arabic being very limited, I have not been able, save in a few instances, to consult original (1 2 vi PREFACE. documents ; but I found more than enough of materials supplied in the numerous translations from Arabic works published both by British and Continental scholars. The valuable series of works published by the Oriental Trans- lation Committee proved of especial service; and I should be ungrateful were I to omit this opportunity of express- ing my gratitude for the kind and liberal treatment I received from the Managers of the Royal Asiatic Society, of which that committee forms so important a branch. My first design was to trace the operation of the few metaphysical principles which I found at the root of the different Christian heresies, one of which Mohammedanism assuredly is, on the character and conduct of the nations by which they were adopted; and also, by the reverse pro- oess, to discover what was the source of error common to all these various modifications of misapplied principles. Mr. Colehrook’s Essay on the Philosophy of the Hindfis, and Professor Wilson’s account of the Hindu sects, con- vinced me that the Indian philosophy contained the germ of all the speculations that have led to the corruption of truth in the East, and especially to the idealism of the Alexandrian school, whence .so many of the first heresies were derived. But such an investigation would have led to no practical result, the basis of these speculations being dreamy and unsubstantial; leaving metaphysics, there- fore, I tried to trace historically the progress of opinion in Asia, from the days of Zoroaster to those of Mohammed. This subject occupies the first two chapters of the follow- PREFACE. vfi ing work. There is one statement in the first chapter, of the correctness of which I now entertain a doubt: I have said that the legend on which Parnell-’s H ermit is founded was Arabian, not because it occurs in the Koran, but because as originally told by Ephrem Syrus, it seems to be connected with the history of Job. Profes- sor Lee’s arguments, in his edition of Henry Martin’s Controversy, have convinced me that Mohammed took the tale from Ephrem; but where the Syrian prelate found it, I cannot venture to conjecture. In describing the state of Arabiaat the time of Mo- hammed’s coming, I have followed popular legends, rather than the history attempted to be founded on them. Without entering into any discussion of principles, it is sufliciently obvious that the character of an age or nation must be better illustrated by its popular literature than by its formal history; the former being generally a perso- mification, if such an expression be allowable, of the popular mind. The life of Mohammed is founded chiefly on his own auto-biographical hints in the Koran, and on the great collection of Mohammedan traditions published at Cal- cutta. Much useful information was derived from Rei- naud’s works, especially his Monumens Arabes, Persans ct Tums, du Cabinet de M. [6 Due de Blacas, and from Mr. Renouard’s contributions to the Encyclopazdz'a Metro- pOlz'tana. “ The narrative of the night—journey to heaven,” has been placed in the Appendix: for of this monstrous viii PREFACE. , fable I believe Mohammed himself to have been perfectly innocent. . The Arabic creed that follows, was first translated by Adrian Reland; I have had the assistance of a kind friend in revising the translation 5 the notes and illustra- tions are my own. The rest of the volume is devoted to the history of the mode in which the religion of Moham— med has developed itself; for it seems to me that the sects of Islam have all departed further from truth than the original creed did, and that their additional corruptions' have been derived from the same source as the errors of Mohammed. The orthography of oriental names has never been fixed; I have endeavoured to follow Sir \Villiam Jones’s system with some modifications; but having originally learned the Arabic alphabet from a French grammar, I have frequently lapsed into the French system, especially in introducing c before la to represent a harsh aspiration. For this, and many other errors, I must beg the indulgence of my readers. In stating that this work is derived from Oriental sources, I mean simply that I have consulted translations of established reputation, and have had the assistance of Oriental scholars, when, on any matter of doubt, I referred to untranslated. works. Some new sources of informa- tion were opened to me just as the work had gone through the press; I have studied them diligently, but find in them nothing to weaken any statement I have made. PREFACE. ix It only remains to add, that having seen Mr. Crichton’s Arabia, during the progress of the work through the press, I contracted my brief account of the Wahabees, the only part in which my work was likely to come in colli- sion with his ; partly because the history of the Wahabean war was not necessarily connected with my subject, but principally that I may have the pleasure of referring my readers to the excellent account of the present condition of Arabia contained in his volumes. CONTENTS. Q INTRODUCTION . . . . . CHAPTER I. Mohammedan Traditions respecting the Pe1sonages who have preceded their Prophet in preaching the true Faith . . . . . CHAPTERII. Religious and Political State of the East before the coming of Mohammed . . . . . . CHAPTER III. State of Arabia before and at the time of Mohammed’s Birth _ CHAPTERIV. ' The Promulgation of Islam by Mohammed '. . . "CHAPTER V. ”The Mohammedan Creed; from an original Arabic Con- fession of Faith . .. . . . . CHAPTER VI. ' The First Four Khaliphs . . . . . . . CHAPTER VII. ' The Family of Ali .—-The Twelve Imams . . . CHAPTER VIII. i The Sect of the Ismaeliana—Origin of the Assassins. CHAPTER IX. f The History of the Assassins . . . . . ’? 47 62. :88 119 151 182 202 219 xfi CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. Page The Druses . . . . . . . . . 247 CHAPTER XI. The VVahabees . . . . . . . , 257 CHAPTER XII. ' ' The Four Orthodox Sects . . . . . . 261 CHAPTER XIII. The Monastic Orders of Islamism . . . . . 272 CHAPTER XIV. The History of Mohammedanism in India. . . . 286 CHAPTER XV. The Effect of the Mohammedan Religion on Science, Literature, and Civilization . . . . . 312 APPENDIX. I. The Mohammedan Accounts of Alexander the Great, under the name of Dhu’lkharnein (the Two-horned) . 331 II. Mohammed’s Night Journey to Heaven . . . 334 III. The Nature and Style of the Koran . . 345 IV. Specimens of Mohammedan Prayers . . . 350 V. Select Aphorisms of Ali-Ebn-Abti-Taleb . . . 358 ENGRAVINGS. Page Castle of Alamoot . . . . . To face Title View of Mecca. . . . y . . . . 64 View of Medina . . . . . . . 97 Muezzin calling to Prayer . . . . . . 148 THE HISTORY OF MOHAMMEDANISM. INTRODUCTION. ——. THE history of .Mohammedanism forms, if not an ‘essential,’ at least a very useful and interesting portion of Christian knowledge, since it enables us to compare with revelation the most influential system ever devised by human reason. Its‘claims to such competition are great and obvious: though its origin was obscure, its progress was rapid; with appar-' ently disproportioned means it obtained the most'brilliant triumphs; its converts were made by tribes and nations; it sway has been extensive, and its dominion permanent. T hat' these circumstances have furnished many a sarcasm to the, sneering sceptic, and, perhaps, sometimes shaded with doubt" the mind of the true believer, is a matter of sorrow rather than surprise, but that too many advocates of our holy religion have aided the infidel, by accepting his sophistical statement'of the question, may justly fill us with astonish- ment. If ”the terms of the matter in dispute were fairly explained, there is not a human being possessed of ordi- nary‘ capacity that would not find the entire argument, which the sceptic fOunds on the success of Mohammed, a mass of disguised assumptions and wilful misrepresenta-- tions. It must be borne in mind, that the question with the sceptic is between any religion and none, consequently that- B 2 INTRODUCTION. the comparative merits of any given religious systems are ' indifferent to the issue; we must also remember, that all his forces are concentrated for attack, because he has abso- lutely nothing to defend; we cannot carry the war into his camp, for, like the Mongolian tribes, his belief has no local habitation, and scarcely a name. His reasoning is simply this :—since an acknowledged imposture resembles Chris- tianity in prevalence and permanence, our disbelief of the one should lead us to doubt the other. The argument will not bear a moment's examination: in the first place it assumes the accidents of religion as tests, and pays no regard to the essentials. The early success of the Christian faith, its triumphant advance in spite of powers and prin- cipalities, its acceptance by nearly all civilized nations, its' continuance unaltered by the changes of realm and the chances of time, are not by themselves evidences of Chris— tianity; they are links in a chain of evidence, parts of an unanswerable system of demonstration, but apart from that system they prove nothing. The historic evidence of our faith does not begin with its promulgation; it ascends to the very first formation of man, and connects itself with every— period in the annals of the human race. Our limited faculties prevent us from seeing how every event is directed by the Moral Governor of the universe, but Revelation aids us in the history of one peculiar people, and shows us a whole course of events directly leading to the advent of a. promised Messiah, though few of them taken separately had any such discoverable tendency. It may be that error is a necessary apprenticeship and discipline to prepare the mind for the reception of truth, and that Revelation may be- withheld until Reason has learned, by bitter experience, the secret of its deficiencies, and become conscious of its own weakness. Does the sceptic forget that error arises INTRODUCTION. 3 not from falsehood, but' from mistaking partial for absolute. truth ? But in this argument, the obstacles against which the two creeds had to contend. are studiously confounded, and the great characteristic of the Gospel wilfully omitted. Christianity was opposed, not only to men collectively, but to man individually; it had to contend, not simply against artificial institutions, but natural propensities; it i found enemies in every bosom as well as in every state. Does the infidel doubt the difficulty of ' laying aside the pride of reason and the pomp of philosophy, to assume the humble, teachable, disposition of little children? He, at all events, has not been able to learn the hard lesson. Far different are the impediments to be overcome by a creed which pro- mises ample indulgence of the passions, and a faith which demands that we should “crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts.” - Again, the rapid progress of Mohammedanism is an isolated fact; we cannot connect it with any conceivable chainOf blessings; we can trace to it no continuous (results calculated to promote human happiness. Christianity, on the other'hand, was preached when Pagan civilization was in its decadence; it arrested the progress of the moral depravation then rapidly spreading over the Roman empire; lit tempered the ferocity of the Northern barbarians, who rushed from their forests breathing fire and slaughter; it preserved the elements of social happiness when threatened with utterannihilation, and it supplied the means by which orderwas subsequently restored out of confusion. It may, indeed, be asserted, that Mohammedanism was an improve- ment on the Paganism of Arabia; nay, that it was superior to many perversions of Judaism and Christianity, prevalent in the East at the time~ of its promulgation;‘but then it B 2 4, INTRODUCTION. contained not within itself the germs of future and further improvements; its character was stereotype, once impressed upon a country, it could receive no amelioration. In comparing the prevalence of the two creeds we must not omit the intellectual character of the nations in which they prevail; one triumphs amid barbarism, the other rules in. the centre of civilization. Now! that credence should have any weight as a testimony to truth, it is necessary that ‘ the belief should be founded on reason, and that the wit- nesses should have both capacity and opportunity for inves- tigation. With armies for its missionaries, and parks of artillery for its apostles, an irrational creed may be imposed upon nations; but there is not so tangible a means of accounting for the success of a religion whose soldiers were humble, unarmed preachers, and whose only weapons were argument and persuasion. The permanence of the Mohammedan creed during twelve centuries, must not be acknowledged without some qualification. There was a tale current in the middle ages, of a knight shot dead by an arrow 9*, but his horse still carried the corpse over the field, and the opposite host retained their terror for the prowess of the warrior long after his life was departed. Just such is the present state of the Mohammedan faith; its spirit and its vitality have departed; it never. recovered from any corruptions engen- dered within, scarcely from any shocks sustained from without; every disease became permanent in its system, every. wound changed into a festering sore, until at length it is little better than the warlike carcase; its life and soul are gone for ever. The very Mussulmans themselves con- fess that their faith is in a rapid process of decay, and that although the external ordinances are still obeyed, the inter- " A legend nearly similar may be found in Ariosto. . INTRODUCTION. '5 nal efl‘icacy is hopelessly destroyed. Now there is nothing -m0re remarkable in the history of Christianity than its .recuperative energies: there were times when it became corrupt, but it contained the principles of renovation within .itself, and it came forth from the struggle with new vigour .and untarnished lustre. But the complete answer to the infidel is, that Mo- .hammedanism is not wholly a system of imposture; it is partially so, but it is also partially a direct imitation of Chris- :tianity, and an imitation that preserves no small portion of .the divine'original. Its history will clearly prove that its success was due to the truths and not to the falsehoodsit contained; that its triumphs 'were obtained through the portion of the Christian system which it borrowed, and, therefore, that so far as its permanence and prevalence can be quoted as evidences, they bear more decisive testimony .in favour of the Gospel than the Koran. ,It is on this ac- count that we regard the history of Islamism as a useful portion of Christian knowledge, and that we dwell'upon it .rather‘ than the history of the Saracenic empire, which ac- quired more power in one century than Rome in the whole period of her sway. We regard the history of Moham- medanism as our best aid in forming a right estimate of the :Oriental character, at a time when the relations between Europe and Asia are undergoing a revolution, whose con- .sequences no man can calculate. That Mohammedanism was an imitation of Christianity was not merely the confession, but the boast of its founder; hedeclared that he preached to his countrymen -no new doctrine; that the tenets of Islam were the same that God had originally revealed to Adam, to Noah, and to Abraham which Moses had received amid the thunders and the .lightnings of Mount Sinai, and which the Incarnate Word 6 INTRODUCTION. had taught in Judea and Galilee. Neither do the modern NIoslems assert the originality of their Creed ; on the con- trary they declare that nothing but wilful perversity could prevent both Jews and Christians from finding the doctrines “of Islam in the Bible. Their own account of the origin of their faith begins not with Mohammed, but with Adam, or rather with the angelic beings that existed before the creation of the world. We shall, in the next chapter, allow them to speak for themselves, and scepticism itself, after the perusal of their narrative, must confess that the 'Mohammedan creed, and the Mohammedan history of faith, is in its essentials borrowed from the Christian. Many of their traditions will be found to differ from the ”Scriptural narratives—few, if any, to contradict them; a great portion of them. can clearly be traced to the Talmud, but there are some manifestly belonging to the Arabians. Besides show- ing the derivative character of the religion taughtby the 7 impostor of Mecca, we think that these legends tend to establish the historical importance of the Old Testament, by proving that the persons mentioned in the sacred records, not only really existed, but were the heroes of popular .tr-a- rdition in all the nations of Western Asia. They are inter- esting as mere matters of curiosity, but they have still higher claims to our regard, because they show that'the Jews were a' people whose literature was generally ‘difl'used over the East, and Whose history was familiarly known to the neighbouring tribes and states. If there had been any falsification of the facts recorded by the inspired penmen, it is certain, consequently, that we should have found a contradictory statement in some of the Arabian historians. Though Mohammedanism is a spurious imitation of Christianity, yet there are parts of its creed from which many Christian sects may learn useful lessons. It strenu- INTRODUCTION. 7 ously condemns idolatry, and the adoration of any human being, however distinguished; it asserts in the strongest terms, the great truths of the Incarnation and Miraculous Conception. We are not, therefore, surprised at the asperity with which Maracci and other Romish writers have assailed the Koran; but we are somewhat astonished at the favour it has found with those who call themselves Unita- rians, for it contains the most pointed condemnation of their tenets. We'have not the reasons of either party, either for “ extenuating” or “ setting down aught in malice ;” we have, therefore, limited ourselves to a plain statement of facts derived from original authorities. If the picture appears more favourable than some of our readers anticipated, we entreat them to remember that nothing but a large admix- ture. of truth can give permanence to delusion, and that He, who in the darkness of Polytheism,- “ left not himself with- out witness,” would not have abandoned the fairest portion of. the earth for centuries to a system which was wholly im- purityand demoralization. It may also open to us more cheering views of the future prospects of the world, to find insuch. an influential creed, the foundations of Christianity already laid; the great truths of the Gospel, like the reflec- tion of sun-beams in a rufiled stream, glorious though dis- figured, affording us grounds for hope, that the exertions. of Christian societies to effect the moral and'religious regene- ration of the Eastern world, may be at :no distant period crowned-with success, and Europe and Asia become “one flock under one Shepherd, Jesus Christ 9".” " See the Third Collect for Good Friday. CHAPTER I. MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS RESPECTING THE PERSON- AGES WHO HAVE PRECEDED THEIR PROPHET IN PREACHING THE TRUE FAITH. THE religion taught by Mohammed is said, by its profes- sors, to be described in the single word Islam, which signifies resignation; and as all the patriarchs and pro- phets recorded in holy writ, and all the religious reformers mentioned in Oriental tradition, uniformly inculcate obedi- ence to the Divine will, the Mussulmans claim both classes as partisans of their faith. In no respect is the simplicity of the Bible more-remarkable than in the abstinence of its authors from all physical theories; it merely records the facts of the creation, without assigning the modes in which Divine agency operated, or the connexion between the phenomena produced; even its civil history seems as little designed as its natural for the gratification of idle curiosity, or scientific speculation; its principal aim is to record one great and connected series of events, connecting the history of man's fall with the history of man’s redemption; on all other topics, the information it contains is scanty and inci- dental. The most decisive mark of fabrication in any work written to imitate the Bible, or in any religious system designed to supersede that founded on Scripture, must be, of necessity, a collection of superfluous details, and futile attempts at explanation, such as we find in the Jewish Tal- mud, in the Koran, and in too many traditions sanctioned ‘ by the Romish church. Of such fabulous additions to the Scripture narrative, and ridiculous explanations of circum- stances which ignorance supposed to be obscure, the tra- .MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. ' 9 ditions we are about to record almost exclusively consist, ,but the demerit of the invention must not be ascribed to Mohammed or his followers; they are, for the most part, borrowed from the Talmud, and the writings of the Jewish .Rabbins. V The narrative of the Koran commences before the creation of the world; we are told that the celestial hier- archy was dividedinto classes, but the Islamite doctors are not so minute in their classification as either the Rabbins or the ancient Christian fathers. In the highest class, that of .archangels, there were once five, but there are now only four individuals, Satan having forfeited his place by rebel- lion. The four chief angels, called the Approximated, because they stand close to the throne of the Omnipotent, are Gabriel, the chief ambassador of .God; Michael, who presides over the elements; .Azrael, who receives the souls of men when they are separated from their bodies; and ;Azraphel, the guardian of the trumpet that shall summon the quick and the dead on the day of judgment. .Of these, Gabriel is the most respected by the Mohammedans, be- cause he is supposed to have been the personal friend-of their prophet; . on the other hand, they regard Michael with .some suspicion, asserting that he is devotedly attached to 'the Jews, and that he laboured to prevent the extension of 4thetrue faith to the Arabians. It is a singular instance-of 'the readiness with which one nation adopts the popular legends of another, that the Oriental Jews have adopted “this. account of the angelic partialities; they always speak of «Raphael as their friend and patron, but assert that Gabriel is opposed to the peculiar privileges which God bestowed upon his chosen people. . The fall of the angels is differently related in the Arabic traditions; but the most prevalent account is, that God, 10 MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. after the creation of Adam, ordered all the angels tower- ship the new being, and that all but Eblis, or Satan, obeyed; he was, in consequence, driven from heaven, and the faithful angels threw great stones at him, to aCcelerate his flight*. Another, but less popular version, is, that when the faith of Islam was originally propounded to the celestial hierarchy, Eblis and a portion of his adherents refused to adopt it, and were punished with exile from heaven; an opportunity for repentance was offered them, on the creation of Adam, but they resolved to persevere in their rebellion. Both versions of the fable are derived from Jewish sources. The Mussulmans, in accordance with a superstition which, from the remotest ages, has prevailed in Asia, assert that there was a race intermediate between men and angels, which they call Gins or Genii. These beings, they say, inhabited the earth before time, when the Mosaic account commences, and consequently, they deem that the first chapter of Genesis records not a creation, but a regenera- tion of the terrestrial globe. To such an excess of absur- dityhave some writers carried their perverted imaginations, that they have written the history of the Gins or Deevs, and their successors the Peris, and have invented biographical anecdotes of the Praa-Adamite sovereigns of the earth. They inform .us that the dynasty of the Genii lasted seven thousandyears; and that of the Peris, beings of an inferior but still a spiritual nature, two thousand years more. The sovereigns of both were, for the most part, named. Solo-r men; their number amounted to seventy-two. In riches, power, and magnificence, these monarchs surpassed every thing that the race of Adam has witnessed; but the pride "' Hence the common Mohammedan prayer, “ God preserve me“ from Satan, who was stoned.” ' .MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. 1:1 with which such glories inspired them, filled their breasts with impiety, and their monstrous crimes at length pro- voked the wrath of the Omnipotent. Satan, or Eblis, was commissioned to destroy them; he exterminated the greater part of the perfidious race, and compelled the rest to seek refuge in the vast caves beneath the mighty Kaf. Kaf is the name of the mountain frame-work which supports the universe; it includes both the Caucasian chains, Taurus, Imaiis, and the most lofty peaks in Asia; its foundations rest on the mysterious Sakhrath, an enormous emerald, whose reflection gives an azure colour to the sky. It was the confidence with which his victory filled Satan, that in« duced him to refuse homage to Adam.- When the Gins fled to Kéf, their leader, Gian-Ibn-Gian, carried with him an enchanted shield, graven with seven mystic signs, the :possession of which entitled him to the sovereignty of the :universe. Adam, directed by an angel, pursued the rebel- ".lious Gin to the capital which he possessed beneath the earth, and wrested from him the magic buckler. After his “death, the buckler remained concealed in the island of Serendib, or Ceylon, where it was discovered by Kaiomers, viking of Persia, who became, in consequence, sovereign .of the East. The successors of Kaiomers, sustained by .the mower of this spell, subdued, not only men, but the Genii :and Giants of Kaf; and, while they retained the shield, awere lords of the material universe. No account is. given cof‘tiie manner in which it was‘lost. To the Persian narnar- ative the Arabians add, that the Genii were subjected by "Salomon, the son of David, and forced to aid in building his. mighty structures, and that, at the period of 'Moham- ‘meidfs mission, many' of them. embraced the creed of Islam, since which period they have ceased .to hold communication Vithhuman beings. ' 12 -MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. To the Scriptural account of man’s creation, the Mo‘? 'hammedan doctors, after the example of the Jewish Rab- bins, have 'made many strange additions; such as that Adam was formed from seven different kinds of clay, whence arises the diversity of the human species; that he saw all his future posterity assembled under the form of ants in the valley of Nooman, and preached to them the doctrines of Islam; and that before his animation was com-‘- plete, he attempted to stand up ; but necessarily falling, he was forced to recognise his dependence on his Creator. Eve was produced from Adam’s side, they say, after the expulsion of Satan from Paradise for refusing homage to the First Man; she was consequently unacquainted with the person of her adversary, who, aided by the serpent and the pea- cock, secretly returned to Eden, and persuaded her to eat the forbidden fruit. When our first parents were expelled from Paradise, which they suppose to have been placed in the seventh or lowest heaven, Adam fell in the island of Serendib, or Ceylon, near the mountain which still retains ’his name; but Eve on the coast of the Red Sea, not far from Mecca. During two hundred years they lived apart, ignorant of each other’s fate, bewailing their forlorn condi- tion, and bitterly repenting of their transgression. -At length God took pity upon them, and directed Gabriel to bring them together near Mount Arafat (recognition) 'in Arabia. But this was not the only mark of the divine for- -giveness and favour which Adam received; a ray of divine intelligence descended upon him after his posterity became 'numerous, the light of inspiration, which formed a glory round the head of all God’s chosen messengers, beamed from his countenance, he became the first of prophets, and «the first human preacher of Islam. The age of Adam was 960 years on this earth, but, in addition, he had previously MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. 13' lived 500 years in Paradise. His body was interred near IMecca, but Noah took it with him into the ark, and after the subsiding of the deluge, it was carried to Jerusalem by. f Melchizedek. _ _ The prophetic light next descended on the patriarch : Seth, who added a book on the divine law to the ten which Adam had composed. Both in the Talmudic and Moham- medan‘ traditions, this Sepher Seth, or book of Seth, is supposed to have survived the deluge, but, the former - declare that it is-incorporated in the Pentateuch, the latter. regard it as irrecoverably lost. Some of the Oriental : Christians, who have adopted the Jewish fables, think that a. copy or copies of it may be in existence. During the life of Seth, the depravity which finally provoked the. deluge commenced; the Cainites, or Cahilites, as they are called by the Arabians, rejected the pure faith of Islam, and too .- many of ‘ Seth’s posterity imitated the pernicious 'Qxample. The third of the prophets, and the greatest, according. totthe Arabians, that flourished in the antediluvian'world, was,Ed'ris (the student), who, in the Old Testament, is. named Enoch. He was sent to preach to the Cainites, but they rejected his doctrine, whereupon he waged war against them',- and made them servants and slaves of the true be- lievers. He'is also said to have ordered the faithful to treat all future infidels in a similar manner; an invention too gratifying to the Saracenic conquerors not to have been. instantly adopted. To Edris is attributed the-invention of. the pen, the needle, the sciences of astronomy and arith-- metic, and the arts of magic and divination; his treatises. areisaid tohave been thirty in number, but , of them only. one, called emphatically the book of Enoch, still remains. The great authority attributed to this apocryphal work by 14" MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. the Orientals, appears from its being quoted by the apostle Jude; an Ethiopic version of it has been recently disco- vered, and translated by the Rev. Dr. Laurence, Arch- bishop of Cashel. In the days of Noah, the fourth of the antediluvian prophets, occurred the universal deluge; the Mohammedan account of this catastrophe differs from the Scriptural, and- even from the Rabbinical: it declares that eighty believers were saved in the ark, and that Canaan, an infidel son or grandson of Noah, and also the patriarch’s incredulous wife, Waila, perished in the waters. The origin of the first part of the fable is, that a town named Thamanin, which signi- fies eighty, was built near the foot of the mountain on' which most of the Orientals believe the ark to have rested.- The second part is obviously derived from the peculiar form of expression used by Noah, when denouncing vengeance upon Ham: “ Cursed is Ham, the father of Canaan.” From the Rabbins, the Arabians have taken the story, that all the evils in the world have been introduced by the posterity of Japheth, but that piety and virtue were preserved by the descendants of Shem. They add that Noah having risen early one morning to offer up his matin prayers, sum- moned his sons and grandsons to share in his devotions; Shem and his eldest son, Arphaxad, alone obeyed the call, and Noah prayed that they might be rewarded for their piety with some peculiar blessing. During his prayer it was revealed to him, that the gift of prophecy and apostle- ship should be hereditary in the family of Arphaxad, that his descendants should have the future sovereignty of the World, which should be successively possessed by the Per- sians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabians. In this, as in most of the traditions of Western Asia, we find the- Assyrian, Babylonian, and Median monarchies regarded as successive Persian dynasties. -MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. :15 In- the two next traditions we find the Mohammedans preserving some fragments of ancient Arabian history, and no longer borrOwing from the Jews or Persians; though it is not unlikely that both the legends we are about to recount have been-based on a corrupted narrative of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. However this may be, the his- tory of the prophets Hfid and Saleh, the heroes of these legends, appears to be purely of Arabic origin; and the attempt made. by many commentators to identify the former with the patriarch Heber, rests on no better ground than mere conjecture, which has not even the merit of being plausible. In' the fifth generation after the flood, the tribe of the Adites in Arabia Felix was ruled by Sheda’id, a monarch equally impious and powerful, who not only taught idolatry to his subjects, but arrogated to himself the honours of a Divinity. To procure these honours he planted a garden", to which he gave the name Irem, and stored it with every- thing that could gratify the taste or delight the senses. Hither he brought certain of his subjects, declaring that he 'would give them a foretaste of Paradise; and the Adites, intoxicated by the delights thus afforded them, worshipped Sheda’id as a god. Their excessive wickedness at length provoked the Omnipotent to wrath, but before executing his vengeance on the perverse generation, he sent the pro- phet Hfid to preach the pure doctrines of Islam, and exhort them to repentance. The Adites laughed the prophet to scorn; but when their land was afllicted by a drought of ithree'years’ continuance, with its attendant evils, famine and pestilence, they were filled with consternation. After ‘long' deliberation- they resolved to send seventy ambassadors, under the guidance of Kail and Morthed, to supplicate for rain in the holy temple of Mecca, or, as some say, to a hill 16 MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. of red sand near that city. The ambassadors- were so hos; pitably entertained by Moawiyah, king of Mecca, that they forgot the object of their mission; but their memory'was' awakened by some verses sung to them by a female minstrel. Roused from their lethargy, they prepared to execute their task, when Morthed proposed that they should first adopt the advice of Hfid, and not insult God by prayer whilst“ they continued enemies to his name. Kail resisted this proposal, and prevailed upon Moawiyah to throw Morthedf and his supporters“ into prison. The rest of the embassy" proceeded to the appointed place, and Kail, in the name‘of- the Adites, prayed for rain. He had scarcely concluded,"- when three clouds of different colours, white, red, and black, appeared above the horizon, and a divine voice pro- nounced, “ Choose which you will.” Kail chose the black» cloud, which‘followed the deputation on its journey home- wards. Nothing could exceed the joy of the Adites when they learned that their ambassadors were returning with the blessing of which they were so much in want; the monarch and all his subjects rushed from the city-gates to meet Kail and his company; they hailed the approaching cloud with frantic joy, but still the names of false idols were‘ on their lips, and impiety in their hearts. The cloud at length drew near, but instead of being fraught with health- ful showers, it was found to contain a pestilential wind that raged over the devoted city for seven days and seven nights, in which time all the Adites were destroyed, save those who had believed on the prophet Hfid. The city of Irem,‘ says the tradition, still exists as a monument of divine ven-‘ geance, but God permits it rarely to be seen. In the reign of the first of the Ommiade Khalifs (Mofiwiyah), an Arab of the desert, named Calahar, entered the deserted city by accident, but, afl‘righted by its solitude, he retired, taking MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. 1 7 with him a few stones as testimonies of his visit, which were subsequently found to be of immense value. At the present day, when the Arabs wish to describe anything as of very remote antiquity, they say it happened in the days of the Adites; and when they would portray the force of God's wrath, they quote this line from the poet Atthar, “ A single breath of his wrath destroyed a nation in an instant.” Notwithstanding the awful calamity which overwhelmed the Adites, the Thamudites, who inhabited Arabia Petraea, on the borders of Syria, became idolaters in the eighth generation after Noah, and God sent the prophet Séleh to preach to them the doctrine of the Divine Unity. They de- manded from Selleh a miracle as a proof of his mission, and he commanded a rock to be rent asunder and a she-camel to come forth. His orders were obeyed; a solid rock opened, and the camel came into the midst of the Thamud- ites, and brought forth her young.‘ ‘But so far was this from producing any effect on the hearts of the impious, that they insulted and mocked Séleh. A few, however, believed; but the great majority, weary of the prophet’s appeals to the miraculous camel, and trusting to the security of their dwellings, which were excavations in the solid rock, slew the dam and her young by cutting their hamstrings. Im- mediately there was heard a voice from heaven, saying, “ Ye shall all die.” A dreadful earthquake followed, and all were destroyed, save those who had believed on Séleh. The miserable remnant of the Thamudites, guided by their prophet, quitted their native country and settled near Mecca. As Abraham was the common father of the Arabian and Jewish races, we must naturally suspect that the Mo- hammedans readily adopted many of the traditions, which the, Rabbius have preserved, respecting their great pro- C 18 MOHAMMEDAN‘ TRADITIONS. genitor. his not, however, always possible to trace. the parentage of these legends, because the name of Abraham is celebrated: in all the countries between the Indus and the Levant. . He is regarded by the nations of Centraland Western Asia as a great prophet and a powerful prince; some of the Persians identify him with Zerdusht (Zoroaster), and, like the Jews and Arabs, pretend that they derived from him their first written code of laws. The stories re- .specting him are as numerous as his fame is extensive; .we shall, therefore, only select those to which allusion is .made in-the Koran. Abraham, saytheArabians, was the son- of Azar, and grandson of Terah, a statement, perhaps, not quite irre- ‘concileable with the Scriptural narrative. Nimrod, ~wh10 reigned in Babylon at thetime of Abraham’s birth, dreamed that he saw a star which gradually increased in brightness until its glory eclipsed that of the sun: he consultedthe diviners for an exposition, and was informed that a child 'was about 'to be born, whose glory and greatness should eclipse his own. Upon this the tyrant ordered all the preg- ‘nant women in- his dominions to be seized, and their male- ‘0fl‘spring to be destroyed. Adna, the wife of Azar, was enabled miraculously to conceal her condition; she. brought forth and educated the child in secret. When he arrived. at the age of fifteen months, by a new miracle he attained. “the'stature and intelligence of fifteen years; some add that. this was caused by the miraculous sustenance he received,. for that, from the time of his birth, when he sucked one finger it yielded him exquisite milk, whilst another afforded? {him deliCious honey. As his appearance removed all dreadl ‘of danger, Azar brought his child home, and educated him: in the Sabean idolatry, which he professed himself, andi which consisted in the worship of the celestial luminaries. ,MOHAMMEDAN TRADITIONS. €19 4The‘worship of the starry host revolted a mind gifted with pneternatural intelligence: Abraham resolved to offer his devotions only to the ruler of their multitude; and when he..-.saw the planet Venus appear with superior brilliancy, he; prepared to offer it adoration. But aftera brief space he saw the planet setting, and exclaimed, “ I like not gods that fade away.” The moon next attracted his attention, butshe, too, disappeared after a season; even the sun was. found to run only an appointed course, and the youth' felt persuaded that a Being more lasting than these must be ,the- ruler of the firmament. He applied to his father for information, and was directed to worship the mighty Nim. red. Abraham requested to be shown this claimant of divine honours: he was brought to the court of the Sove-