I

MUHAMMAD

 

Great as was the influence of St. Gregory, it was not so great as that of his younger contemporary Muhammad. In him the Judaized Christianity, which had dogged the footsteps of St. Paul and had long appeared to be dormant and almost dead, became incarnate, and has to this day remained the most potent enemy of the Gospel. Some of the lesser doctrines of Islam are of Persian origin and some practices are derived from old Arabian heathenism. But the system as a whole can be traced to the Jews and to the Ebionite sects which combined a crude Judaism with the belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Muhammad praises 'the Gospel'; but it is more than doubtful whether he ever possessed or read a copy. And Muslims who are confronted with his expressions of reverence for the Gospel usually say that since his time the Christians have corrupted their own sacred books.

Muhammad, 'the praised one', was born about 570, and first appears in history as a prosperous middle-aged tradesman of Mecca in Arabia. The country was then mainly pagan, but Jewish sects, both orthodox and unorthodox, were to be found there, and Christianity was not unknown. The pagans worshipped fetish idols and went on pilgrimages to the shrine of Allah, the principal deity of Mecca. The government of the pagans was as a rule of a tribal character. Civilization was of a very rudimentary character, but writing in the Arabic script had begun about the time of the prophet’s birth, and Mecca was an important trading centre. With genuine enthusiasm Muhammad set himself the threefold task of a reform which was theological, social, and moral. His hope was to exterminate idolatry, to replace the tribal system by an orderly government which would put an end to wars and assassinations, and to stop infanticide and, apparently, certain forms of sexual promiscuity. He was assisted by his wife Khadija, who was fifteen years his senior, and to the last retained such an influence over him that one of his younger wives said that she was jealous of no one but “the toothless old woman”.

During the first three years of his missionary activity he made a few converts, but the Meccans had no desire to be under an inspired dictator; and as it was against their scruple to shed human blood in Mecca, they resolved to starve him to death. With masterly skill Muhammad secured the sympathy of the pagans and the Jews of Medina, and the Meccans learnt too late that he held in his hands the city which could kill their commerce. His flight (hijra) to Medina was on the Jewish Day of Atonement, September the 20th, 622.

Once at Medina he either converted or crushed the pagans. He failed to convert the Jews, who were fully aware of his gross ignorance of the Jewish 'Law' which he pretended to honor. But as the Jewish tribes would not co-operate in opposing him, he dealt with them separately, and the last tribe he massacred to a man. He then sowed dissension among the Arab tribes with such success that he was able to enter Mecca in triumph.

Shortly before this happened, he became fully convinced that his religious mission should be extended to the world, and is said to have sent letters to all the monarchs whose names he knew bidding them to embrace Islam, the religion of 'Surrender'. These missions were effective in South Arabia, but at Mutah, in the Byzantine Empire, they led to the first conflict between the Christians and the Muslims, a conflict which soon cost the Christian Empire a heavy price.

Muhammad died June the 7th, 632, calling God to witness that he had delivered his message. No man was ever a more complete summary of the good and evil energies of his own nation. He was no vulgar impostor. He began his career as a reformer, and he was a genius from first to last. But his character steadily degenerated from the time when he became the despot of Medina and determined to acquire political power. His treatment of the Jews was treacherous and cruel, and his lasciviousness led him to actions which he could only excuse on the ground of special revelations. But he was a man born to command and to organize, skilful in selecting subordinates, and able to retain their confidence. And he impressed upon multitudes the belief that God is one God and that all Muslims are really equal. It is this twofold belief that gives Islam its present power.

The success of Islam was almost inconceivably rapid. When the prophet died all Arabia had accepted it. By the middle of the century Syria and Palestine, Egypt and Persia, had succumbed, and before its close North Africa, the home of St. Cyprian and St. Augustine, echoed with the creed “There is no God but God and Muhammad is the apostle of God”.

The doctrine of Islam, i.e. the religion of surrender to God, is contained in his book the Koran (Qur'an) which is regarded as the absolutely infallible words of God, and in the Hadith, narrations, or traditions of the words and actions of the prophet. Many of these traditions are comparatively late and some are obviously derived from Christian sources.

God is one in a strictly Unitarian sense. The doctrine of the Trinity is repudiated; but the Christian Trinity is supposed to consist of God, Jesus, and Mary. Mary the mother of our Lord is confused with Miriam the sister of Moses. The Holy Spirit is mentioned, but is identified with the angel Gabriel.

God has communicated with man not only by inspired writing but also by warning messengers. At one time Muhammad believed in seven, of whom three were Arabs, and the remaining four Noah, Lot, Abraham (sent to Nimrod!), and Moses. Later he adopts the Aramaic word Nabi, prophet, for such messengers, and includes among them Adam, David, and Elijah. Greater than all former messengers was Jesus. In exalting Him, Muhammad was able to exalt himself by representing Jesus as having prophesied his coming. Jesus was born of a virgin, was sinless, the Word of God, the Messiah, 'a spirit from God', worked miracles, and was taken up to heaven. It is passionately denied that He is the Son of God, though the word which Muhammad uses for 'Son' is quite distinct from the word used in Christian Arabic, and signifies one physically begotten. His death upon the cross is also denied. Following the opinion of the Docetic Ebionites, it is taught that another figure was miraculously substituted for Jesus and crucified in His stead.

There will be a last judgment; heaven and hell await mankind. Heaven is a place of sensual pleasure, and little or nothing in Muhammad's own description of it indicates anything else. A nobler view was taught by some later Muslim theologians, while some of the traditions develop the baser features of Muhammad's paradise.

A Muslim may have only four wives, though the prophet himself was permitted by special 'revelations' to marry more. The number of lawful concubines has no limit. This degrading view of womanhood and Muhammad's gross example have proved the running sore of Islam, and done far more evil than the good effected in hot countries by the prohibition of pork and wine. Circumcision is maintained, as it was by the Ebionites.

Great importance is attached to almsgiving, and every Muslim must pray five times a day towards Mecca. Originally prayers were made towards Jerusalem, the Sabbath was kept, and a fast day similar to the Jewish Day of Atonement. But when the prophet definitely separated from the Jews, he directed that his followers should pray towards Mecca and keep Friday as the day of meeting for worship. In imitation of the Christian Lent, he appointed that the thirty days of the month Ramadan should be kept as fast days. The Muslim may neither eat nor drink between sunrise and sunset in that month, but after sunset he may feast. The result is that the poor working classes suffer, while the rich can rest by day and revel by night. To fight against non-Muslims when called upon to do so by the proper authority is regarded as a peculiarly meritorious action.

A pilgrimage to Mecca is incumbent upon all who have the means to undertake it, and it is an institution which has a great effect in consolidating the different Muslim races. The important Shiah sect has substituted pilgrimages to the shrines of saints for pilgrimages to Mecca. And as early as AD 691 the Khalif Abd al-Malik built at Jerusalem the splendid mosque known as the Dome of the Rock, hoping for political reasons that pilgrims would be satisfied with visiting it instead of going to Mecca. He also intended that it should surpass in beauty the church of the Resurrection over the grave of Christ, a church which the followers of Muhammad, in their hatred of the Christian faith, nicknamed 'the Church of the Dunghill'.

Western Christendom was gradually able to subdue the Germanic invaders and lead them to Christ. But Eastern Christendom, distracted by controversies, could not stem the great tide of Arab fanaticism and ferocity.