The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 5

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[Footnote 80: Reland, de Relig. Moham. l. i. p. 17 - 47. Sale's
Preliminary Discourse, p. 73 - 76. Voyage de Chardin, tom. iv.
p. 28 - 37, and 37 - 47, for the Persian addition, "Ali is the
vicar of God!" Yet the precise number of the prophets is not an
article of faith.]

[Footnote 81: For the apocryphal books of Adam, see Fabricius,
Codex Pseudepigraphus V. T. p. 27 - 29; of Seth, p. 154 - 157; of
Enoch, p. 160 - 219. But the book of Enoch is consecrated, in
some measure, by the quotation of the apostle St. Jude; and a
long legendary fragment is alleged by Syncellus and Scaliger.

Note: The whole book has since been recovered in the
Ethiopic language, - and has been edited and translated by
Archbishop Lawrence, Oxford, 1881 - M.]

[Footnote 82: The seven precepts of Noah are explained by
Marsham, (Canon Chronicus, p. 154 - 180,) who adopts, on this
occasion, the learning and credulity of Selden.]

[Footnote 83: The articles of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, &c., in
the Bibliotheque of D'Herbelot, are gayly bedecked with the
fanciful legends of the Mahometans, who have built on the
groundwork of Scripture and the Talmud.]

[Footnote 84: Koran, c. 7, p. 128, &c., c. 10, p. 173, &c.
D'Herbelot, p. 647, &c.]

[Footnote 85: Koran, c. 3, p. 40, c. 4. p. 80. D'Herbelot, p.
399, &c.]

[Footnote 86: See the Gospel of St. Thomas, or of the Infancy, in
the Codex Apocryphus N. T. of Fabricius, who collects the various
testimonies concerning it, (p. 128 - 158.) It was published in
Greek by Cotelier, and in Arabic by Sike, who thinks our present
copy more recent than Mahomet. Yet his quotations agree with the
original about the speech of Christ in his cradle, his living
birds of clay, &c. (Sike, c. i. p. 168, 169, c. 36, p. 198, 199,
c. 46, p. 206. Cotelier, c. 2, p. 160, 161.)]

[Footnote 87: It is darkly hinted in the Koran, (c. 3, p. 39,)
and more clearly explained by the tradition of the Sonnites,
(Sale's Note, and Maracci, tom. ii. p. 112.) In the xiith
century, the immaculate conception was condemned by St. Bernard
as a presumptuous novelty, (Fra Paolo, Istoria del Concilio di
Trento, l. ii.)]

[Footnote 88: See the Koran, c. 3, v. 53, and c. 4, v. 156, of
Maracci's edition. Deus est praestantissimus dolose agentium (an
odd praise) ... nec crucifixerunt eum, sed objecta est eis
similitudo; an expression that may suit with the system of the
Docetes; but the commentators believe (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 113 -
115, 173. Sale, p. 42, 43, 79) that another man, a friend or an
enemy, was crucified in the likeness of Jesus; a fable which they
had read in the Gospel of St. Barnabus, and which had been
started as early as the time of Irenaeus, by some Ebionite
heretics, (Beausobre, Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 25,
Mosheim. de Reb. Christ. p. 353.)]

[Footnote 89: This charge is obscurely urged in the Koran, (c. 3,
p. 45;) but neither Mahomet, nor his followers, are sufficiently
versed in languages and criticism to give any weight or color to
their suspicions. Yet the Arians and Nestorians could relate some
stories, and the illiterate prophet might listen to the bold
assertions of the Manichaeans. See Beausobre, tom. i. p. 291 -
305.]

[Footnote 90: Among the prophecies of the Old and New Testament,
which are perverted by the fraud or ignorance of the Mussulmans,
they apply to the prophet the promise of the Paraclete, or
Comforter, which had been already usurped by the Montanists and
Manichaeans, (Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i.
p. 263, &c.;) and the easy change of letters affords the
etymology of the name of Mohammed, (Maracci, tom. i. part i. p.
15 - 28.)]

Chapter L: Description Of Arabia And Its Inhabitants.

Part IV.

The communication of ideas requires a similitude of thought
and language: the discourse of a philosopher would vibrate
without effect on the ear of a peasant; yet how minute is the
distance of their understandings, if it be compared with the
contact of an infinite and a finite mind, with the word of God
expressed by the tongue or the pen of a mortal! The inspiration
of the Hebrew prophets, of the apostles and evangelists of
Christ, might not be incompatible with the exercise of their
reason and memory; and the diversity of their genius is strongly
marked in the style and composition of the books of the Old and
New Testament. But Mahomet was content with a character, more
humble, yet more sublime, of a simple editor; the substance of
the Koran, ^91 according to himself or his disciples, is
uncreated and eternal; subsisting in the essence of the Deity,
and inscribed with a pen of light on the table of his everlasting
decrees. A paper copy, in a volume of silk and gems, was brought
down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, who, under the
Jewish economy, had indeed been despatched on the most important
errands; and this trusty messenger successively revealed the
chapters and verses to the Arabian prophet. 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. ^92 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. ^93 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. ^94 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? In
all religions, the life of the founder supplies the silence of
his written revelation: the sayings of Mahomet were so many
lessons of truth; his actions so many examples of virtue; and the
public and private memorials were preserved by his wives and
companions. At the end of two hundred years, the Sonna, or oral
law, was fixed and consecrated by the labors of Al Bochari, who
discriminated seven thousand two hundred and seventy-five genuine
traditions, from a mass of three hundred thousand reports, of a
more doubtful or spurious character. Each day the pious author
prayed in the temple of Mecca, and performed his ablutions with
the water of Zemzem: the pages were successively deposited on the
pulpit and the sepulchre of the apostle; and the work has been
approved by the four orthodox sects of the Sonnites. ^95

[Footnote 91: For the Koran, see D'Herbelot, p. 85 - 88.
Maracci, tom. i. in Vit. Mohammed. p. 32 - 45. Sale, Preliminary
Discourse, p. 58 - 70.]

[Footnote 92: Koran, c. 17, v. 89. In Sale, p. 235, 236. In
Maracci, p. 410.

Note: Compare Von Hammer Geschichte der Assassinen p. 11. -
M.]

[Footnote 93: Yet a sect of Arabians was persuaded, that it might
be equalled or surpassed by a human pen, (Pocock, Specimen, p.
221, &c.;) and Maracci (the polemic is too hard for the
translator) derides the rhyming affectation of the most applauded
passage, (tom. i. part ii. p. 69 - 75.)]

[Footnote 94: Colloquia (whether real or fabulous) in media
Arabia atque ab Arabibus habita, (Lowth, de Poesi Hebraeorum.
Praelect. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv, with his German editor,
Michaelis, Epimetron iv.) Yet Michaelis (p. 671 - 673) has
detected many Egyptian images, the elephantiasis, papyrus, Nile,
crocodile, &c. The language is ambiguously styled
Arabico-Hebraea. The resemblance of the sister dialects was much
more visible in their childhood, than in their mature age,
(Michaelis, p. 682. Schultens, in Praefat. Job.)

Note: The age of the book of Job is still and probably will
still be disputed. Rosenmuller thus states his own opinion:
"Certe serioribus reipublicae temporibus assignandum esse librum,
suadere videtur ad Chaldaismum vergens sermo." Yet the
observations of Kosegarten, which Rosenmuller has given in a
note, and common reason, suggest that this Chaldaism may be the
native form of a much earlier dialect; or the Chaldaic may have
adopted the poetical archaisms of a dialect, differing from, but
not less ancient than, the Hebrew. See Rosenmuller, Proleg. on
Job, p. 41. The poetry appears to me to belong to a much earlier
period. - M.]

[Footnote 95: Ali Bochari died A. H. 224. See D'Herbelot, p.
208, 416, 827. Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. c. 19, p. 33.]

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. ^96 The votaries of Mahomet are more assured than
himself of his miraculous gifts; and their confidence and
credulity increase as they are farther removed from the time and
place of his spiritual exploits. They believe or affirm that
trees went forth to meet him; that he was saluted by stones; that
water gushed from his fingers; that he fed the hungry, cured the
sick, and raised the dead; that a beam groaned to him; that a
camel complained to him; that a shoulder of mutton informed him
of its being poisoned; and that both animate and inanimate nature
were equally subject to the apostle of God. ^97 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. ^98
According to another legend, the apostle confounded in a national
assembly the malicious challenge of the Koreish. His resistless
word split asunder the orb of the moon: the obedient planet
stooped from her station in the sky, accomplished the seven
revolutions round the Caaba, saluted Mahomet in the Arabian
tongue, and, suddenly contracting her dimensions, entered at the
collar, and issued forth through the sleeve, of his shirt. ^99
The vulgar are amused with these marvellous tales; but the
gravest of the Mussulman doctors imitate the modesty of their
master, and indulge a latitude of faith or interpretation. ^100
They might speciously allege, that in preaching the religion it
was needless to violate the harmony of nature; that a creed
unclouded with mystery may be excused from miracles; and that the
sword of Mahomet was not less potent than the rod of Moses.

[Footnote 96: See, more remarkably, Koran, c. 2, 6, 12, 13, 17.
Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 18, 19) has confounded the
impostor. Maracci, with a more learned apparatus, has shown that
the passages which deny his miracles are clear and positive,
(Alcoran, tom. i. part ii. p. 7 - 12,) and those which seem to
assert them are ambiguous and insufficient, (p. 12 - 22.)]

[Footnote 97: See the Specimen Hist. Arabum, the text of
Abulpharagius, p. 17, the notes of Pocock, p. 187 - 190.
D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 76, 77. Voyages de
Chardin, tom. iv. p. 200 - 203. Maracci (Alcoran, tom. i. p. 22
- 64) has most laboriously collected and confuted the miracles
and prophecies of Mahomet, which, according to some writers,
amount to three thousand.]

[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.]

[Footnote 99: In the prophetic style, which uses the present or
past for the future, Mahomet had said, Appropinquavit hora, et
scissa est luna, (Koran, c. 54, v. 1; in Maracci, tom. ii. p.
688.) This figure of rhetoric has been converted into a fact,
which is said to be attested by the most respectable
eye-witnesses, (Maracci, tom. ii. p. 690.) The festival is still
celebrated by the Persians, (Chardin, tom. iv. p. 201;) and the
legend is tediously spun out by Gagnier, (Vie de Mahomet, tom. i.
p. 183 - 234,) on the faith, as it should seem, of the credulous
Al Jannabi. Yet a Mahometan doctor has arraigned the credit of
the principal witness, (apud Pocock, Specimen, p. 187;) the best
interpreters are content with the simple sense of the Koran. (Al
Beidawi, apud Hottinger, Hist. Orient. l. ii. p. 302;) and the
silence of Abulfeda is worthy of a prince and a philosopher.

Note: Compare Hamaker Notes to Inc. Auct. Lib. de Exped.
Memphides, p. 62 - M.]

[Footnote 100: Abulpharagius, in Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 17; and
his scepticism is justified in the notes of Pocock, p. 190 - 194,
from the purest authorities.]

The polytheist is oppressed and distracted by the variety of
superstition: a thousand rites of Egyptian origin were interwoven
with the essence of the Mosaic law; and the spirit of the gospel
had evaporated in the pageantry of the church. The prophet of
Mecca was tempted by prejudice, or policy, or patriotism, to
sanctify the rites of the Arabians, and the custom of visiting
the holy stone of the Caaba. But the precepts of Mahomet himself
inculcates a more simple and rational piety: prayer, fasting, and
alms, are the religious duties of a Mussulman; and he is
encouraged to hope, that prayer will carry him half way to God,
fasting will bring him to the door of his palace, and alms will
gain him admittance. ^101 I. According to the tradition of the
nocturnal journey, the apostle, in his personal conference with
the Deity, was commanded to impose on his disciples the daily
obligation of fifty prayers. By the advice of Moses, he applied
for an alleviation of this intolerable burden; the number was
gradually reduced to five; without any dispensation of business
or pleasure, or time or place: the devotion of the faithful is
repeated at daybreak, at noon, in the afternoon, in the evening,
and at the first watch of the night; and in the present decay of
religious fervor, our travellers are edified by the profound
humility and attention of the Turks and Persians. Cleanliness is
the key of prayer: the frequent lustration of the hands, the
face, and the body, which was practised of old by the Arabs, is
solemnly enjoined by the Koran; and a permission is formally
granted to supply with sand the scarcity of water. The words and
attitudes of supplication, as it is performed either sitting, or
standing, or prostrate on the ground, are prescribed by custom or
authority; but the prayer is poured forth in short and fervent
ejaculations; the measure of zeal is not exhausted by a tedious
liturgy; and each Mussulman for his own person is invested with
the character of a priest. Among the theists, who reject the use
of images, it has been found necessary to restrain the wanderings
of the fancy, by directing the eye and the thought towards a
kebla, or visible point of the horizon. The prophet was at first
inclined to gratify the Jews by the choice of Jerusalem; but he
soon returned to a more natural partiality; and five times every
day the eyes of the nations at Astracan, at Fez, at Delhi, are
devoutly turned to the holy temple of Mecca. Yet every spot for
the service of God is equally pure: the Mahometans indifferently
pray in their chamber or in the street. As a distinction from
the Jews and Christians, the Friday in each week is set apart for
the useful institution of public worship: the people is assembled
in the mosch; and the imam, some respectable elder, ascends the
pulpit, to begin the prayer and pronounce the sermon. But the
Mahometan religion is destitute of priesthood or sacrifice; and
the independent spirit of fanaticism looks down with contempt on
the ministers and the slaves of superstition. ^* II. The
voluntary ^102 penance of the ascetics, the torment and glory of
their lives, was odious to a prophet who censured in his
companions a rash vow of abstaining from flesh, and women, and
sleep; and firmly declared, that he would suffer no monks in his
religion. ^103 Yet he instituted, in each year, a fast of thirty
days; and strenuously recommended the observance as a discipline
which purifies the soul and subdues the body, as a salutary
exercise of obedience to the will of God and his apostle. During
the month of Ramadan, from the rising to the setting of the sun,
the Mussulman abstains from eating, and drinking, and women, and
baths, and perfumes; from all nourishment that can restore his
strength, from all pleasure that can gratify his senses. In the
revolution of the lunar year, the Ramadan coincides, by turns,
with the winter cold and the summer heat; and the patient martyr,
without assuaging his thirst with a drop of water, must expect
the close of a tedious and sultry day. The interdiction of wine,
peculiar to some orders of priests or hermits, is converted by
Mahomet alone into a positive and general law; ^104 and a
considerable portion of the globe has abjured, at his command,
the use of that salutary, though dangerous, liquor. These
painful restraints are, doubtless, infringed by the libertine,
and eluded by the hypocrite; but the legislator, by whom they are
enacted, cannot surely be accused of alluring his proselytes by
the indulgence of their sensual appetites. III. The charity of
the Mahometans descends to the animal creation; and the Koran
repeatedly inculcates, not as a merit, but as a strict and
indispensable duty, the relief of the indigent and unfortunate.
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. ^105
Benevolence is the foundation of justice, since we are forbid to
injure those whom we are bound to assist. A prophet may reveal
the secrets of heaven and of futurity; but in his moral precepts
he can only repeat the lessons of our own hearts.

[Footnote 101: The most authentic account of these precepts,
pilgrimage, prayer, fasting, alms, and ablutions, is extracted
from the Persian and Arabian theologians by Maracci, (Prodrom.
part iv. p. 9 - 24,) Reland, (in his excellent treatise de
Religione Mohammedica, Utrecht, 1717, p. 67 - 123,) and Chardin,
(Voyages in Perse, tom. iv. p. 47 - 195.) Marace is a partial
accuser; but the jeweller, Chardin, had the eyes of a
philosopher; and Reland, a judicious student, had travelled over
the East in his closet at Utrecht. The xivth letter of Tournefort
(Voyage du Levont, tom. ii. p. 325 - 360, in octavo) describes
what he had seen of the religion of the Turks.]

[Footnote *: Such is Mahometanism beyond the precincts of the
Holy City. But Mahomet retained, and the Koran sanctions, (Sale's
Koran, c. 5, in inlt. c. 22, vol. ii. p. 171, 172,) the sacrifice
of sheep and camels (probably according to the old Arabian rites)
at Mecca; and the pilgrims complete their ceremonial with
sacrifices, sometimes as numerous and costly as those of King
Solomon. Compare note, vol. iv. c. xxiii. p. 96, and Forster's
Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. i. p. 420. This author quotes the
questionable authority of Benjamin of Tudela, for the sacrifice
of a camel by the caliph at Bosra; but sacrifice undoubtedly
forms no part of the ordinary Mahometan ritual; nor will the
sanctity of the caliph, as the earthly representative of the
prophet, bear any close analogy to the priesthood of the Mosaic
or Gentila religions. - M.]

[Footnote 102: Mahomet (Sale's Koran, c. 9, p. 153) reproaches
the Christians with taking their priests and monks for their
lords, besides God. Yet Maracci (Prodromus, part iii. p. 69, 70)
excuses the worship, especially of the pope, and quotes, from the
Koran itself, the case of Eblis, or Satan, who was cast from
heaven for refusing to adore Adam.]

[Footnote 103: Koran, c. 5, p. 94, and Sale's note, which refers
to the authority of Jallaloddin and Al Beidawi. D'Herbelot
declares, that Mahomet condemned la vie religieuse; and that the
first swarms of fakirs, dervises, &c., did not appear till after
the year 300 of the Hegira, (Bibliot. Orient. p. 292, 718.)]

[Footnote 104: See the double prohibition, (Koran, c. 2, p. 25,
c. 5, p. 94;) the one in the style of a legislator, the other in
that of a fanatic. The public and private motives of Mahomet are
investigated by Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 62 - 64) and Sale,
(Preliminary Discourse, p. 124.)]

[Footnote 105: The jealousy of Maracci (Prodromus, part iv. p.
33) prompts him to enumerate the more liberal alms of the
Catholics of Rome. Fifteen great hospitals are open to many
thousand patients and pilgrims; fifteen hundred maidens are
annually portioned; fifty-six charity schools are founded for
both sexes; one hundred and twenty confraternities relieve the
wants of their brethren, &c. The benevolence of London is still
more extensive; but I am afraid that much more is to be ascribed
to the humanity, than to the religion, of the people.]

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 prophet has not presumed to determine the
moment of that awful catastrophe, though he darkly announces the
signs, both in heaven and earth, which will precede the universal
dissolution, when life shall be destroyed, and the order of
creation shall be confounded in the primitive chaos. At the
blast of the trumpet, new worlds will start into being: angels,
genii, and men will arise from the dead, and the human soul will
again be united to the body. The doctrine of the resurrection was
first entertained by the Egyptians; ^106 and their mummies were
embalmed, their pyramids were constructed, to preserve the
ancient mansion of the soul, during a period of three thousand
years. But the attempt is partial and unavailing; and it is with
a more philosophic spirit that Mahomet relies on the omnipotence
of the Creator, whose word can reanimate the breathless clay, and
collect the innumerable atoms, that no longer retain their form
or substance. ^107 The intermediate state of the soul it is hard
to decide; and those who most firmly believe her immaterial
nature, are at a loss to understand how she can think or act
without the agency of the organs of sense.