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 185: The kings of Persia in the last century are
descended from Sheik Sefi, a saint of the xivth century, and
through him, from Moussa Cassem, the son of Hosein, the son of
Ali, (Olearius, p. 957. Chardin, tom. iii. p. 288.) But I cannot
trace the intermediate degrees in any genuine or fabulous
pedigree. If they were truly Fatimites, they might draw their
origin from the princes of Mazanderan, who reigned in the ixth
century, (D'Herbelot, p. 96.)]

[Footnote 186: The present state of the family of Mahomet and Ali
is most accurately described by Demetrius Cantemir (Hist. of the
Othmae Empire, p. 94) and Niebuhr, (Description de l'Arabie, p. 9
- 16, 317 &c.) It is much to be lamented, that the Danish
traveller was unable to purchase the chronicles of Arabia.]

The talents of Mahomet are entitled to our applause; but his
success has, perhaps, too strongly attracted our admiration. Are
we surprised that a multitude of proselytes should embrace the
doctrine and the passions of an eloquent fanatic? In the
heresies of the church, the same seduction has been tried and
repeated from the time of the apostles to that of the reformers.
Does it seem incredible that a private citizen should grasp the
sword and the sceptre, subdue his native country, and erect a
monarchy by his victorious arms? In the moving picture of the
dynasties of the East, a hundred fortunate usurpers have arisen
from a baser origin, surmounted more formidable obstacles, and
filled a larger scope of empire and conquest. Mahomet was alike
instructed to preach and to fight; and the union of these
opposite qualities, while it enhanced his merit, contributed to
his success: the operation of force and persuasion, of enthusiasm
and fear, continually acted on each other, till every barrier
yielded to their irresistible power. His voice invited the Arabs
to freedom and victory, to arms and rapine, to the indulgence of
their darling passions in this world and the other: the
restraints which he imposed were requisite to establish the
credit of the prophet, and to exercise the obedience of the
people; and the only objection to his success was his rational
creed of the unity and perfections of God. It is not the
propagation, but the permanency, of his religion, that deserves
our wonder: the same pure and perfect impression which he
engraved at Mecca and Medina, is preserved, after the revolutions
of twelve centuries, by the Indian, the African, and the Turkish
proselytes of the Koran. If the Christian apostles, St. Peter or
St. Paul, could return to the Vatican, they might possibly
inquire the name of the Deity who is worshipped with such
mysterious rites in that magnificent temple: at Oxford or Geneva,
they would experience less surprise; but it might still be
incumbent on them to peruse the catechism of the church, and to
study the orthodox commentators on their own writings and the
words of their Master. But the Turkish dome of St. Sophia, with
an increase of splendor and size, represents the humble
tabernacle erected at Medina by the hands of Mahomet. The
Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing
the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses
and imagination of man. "I believe in one God, and Mahomet the
apostle of God," is the simple and invariable profession of
Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been
degraded by any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have
never transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living
precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within
the bounds of reason and religion. The votaries of Ali have,
indeed, consecrated the memory of their hero, his wife, and his
children; and some of the Persian doctors pretend that the divine
essence was incarnate in the person of the Imams; but their
superstition is universally condemned by the Sonnites; and their
impiety has afforded a seasonable warning against the worship of
saints and martyrs. The metaphysical questions on the attributes
of God, and the liberty of man, have been agitated in the schools
of the Mahometans, as well as in those of the Christians; but
among the former they have never engaged the passions of the
people, or disturbed the tranquillity of the state. The cause of
this important difference may be found in the separation or union
of the regal and sacerdotal characters. It was the interest of
the caliphs, the successors of the prophet and commanders of the
faithful, to repress and discourage all religious innovations:
the order, the discipline, the temporal and spiritual ambition of
the clergy, are unknown to the Moslems; and the sages of the law
are the guides of their conscience and the oracles of their
faith. From the Atlantic to the Ganges, the Koran is
acknowledged as the fundamental code, not only of theology, but
of civil and criminal jurisprudence; and the laws which regulate
the actions and the property of mankind are guarded by the
infallible and immutable sanction of the will of God. This
religious servitude is attended with some practical disadvantage;
the illiterate legislator had been often misled by his own
prejudices and those of his country; and the institutions of the
Arabian desert may be ill adapted to the wealth and numbers of
Ispahan and Constantinople. On these occasions, the Cadhi
respectfully places on his head the holy volume, and substitutes
a dexterous interpretation more apposite to the principles of
equity, and the manners and policy of the times.

His beneficial or pernicious influence on the public
happiness is the last consideration in the character of Mahomet.
The most bitter or most bigoted of his Christian or Jewish foes
will surely allow that he assumed a false commission to inculcate
a salutary doctrine, less perfect only than their own. He
piously supposed, as the basis of his religion, the truth and
sanctity of their prior revolutions, the virtues and miracles of
their founders. The idols of Arabia were broken before the
throne of God; the blood of human victims was expiated by prayer,
and fasting, and alms, the laudable or innocent arts of devotion;
and his rewards and punishments of a future life were painted by
the images most congenial to an ignorant and carnal generation.
Mahomet was, perhaps, incapable of dictating a moral and
political system for the use of his countrymen: but he breathed
among the faithful a spirit of charity and friendship;
recommended the practice of the social virtues; and checked, by
his laws and precepts, the thirst of revenge, and the oppression
of widows and orphans. The hostile tribes were united in faith
and obedience, and the valor which had been idly spent in
domestic quarrels was vigorously directed against a foreign
enemy. Had the impulse been less powerful, Arabia, free at home
and formidable abroad, might have flourished under a succession
of her native monarchs. Her sovereignty was lost by the extent
and rapidity of conquest. The colonies of the nation were
scattered over the East and West, and their blood was mingled
with the blood of their converts and captives. After the reign
of three caliphs, the throne was transported from Medina to the
valley of Damascus and the banks of the Tigris; the holy cities
were violated by impious war; Arabia was ruled by the rod of a
subject, perhaps of a stranger; and the Bedoweens of the desert,
awakening from their dream of dominion, resumed their old and
solitary independence. ^187

[Footnote 187: The writers of the Modern Universal History (vols.
i. and ii.) have compiled, in 850 folio pages, the life of
Mahomet and the annals of the caliphs. They enjoyed the
advantage of reading, and sometimes correcting, the Arabic text;
yet, notwithstanding their high-sounding boasts, I cannot find,
after the conclusion of my work, that they have afforded me much
(if any) additional information. The dull mass is not quickened
by a spark of philosophy or taste; and the compilers indulge the
criticism of acrimonious bigotry against Boulainvilliers, Sale,
Gagnier, and all who have treated Mahomet with favor, or even
justice.]

Chapter LI: Conquests By The Arabs.

Part I.

The Conquest Of Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, And Spain, By
The Arabs Or Saracens. - Empire Of The Caliphs, Or Successors Of
Mahomet. - State Of The Christians, &c., Under Their Government.

The revolution of Arabia had not changed the character of
the Arabs: the death of Mahomet was the signal of independence;
and the hasty structure of his power and religion tottered to its
foundations. A small and faithful band of his primitive
disciples had listened to his eloquence, and shared his distress;
had fled with the apostle from the persecution of Mecca, or had
received the fugitive in the walls of Medina. The increasing
myriads, who acknowledged Mahomet as their king and prophet, had
been compelled by his arms, or allured by his prosperity. The
polytheists were confounded by the simple idea of a solitary and
invisible God; the pride of the Christians and Jews disdained the
yoke of a mortal and contemporary legislator. The habits of
faith and obedience were not sufficiently confirmed; and many of
the new converts regretted the venerable antiquity of the law of
Moses, or the rites and mysteries of the Catholic church; or the
idols, the sacrifices, the joyous festivals, of their Pagan
ancestors. The jarring interests and hereditary feuds of the
Arabian tribes had not yet coalesced in a system of union and
subordination; and the Barbarians were impatient of the mildest
and most salutary laws that curbed their passions, or violated
their customs. They submitted with reluctance to the religious
precepts of the Koran, the abstinence from wine, the fast of the
Ramadan, and the daily repetition of five prayers; and the alms
and tithes, which were collected for the treasury of Medina,
could be distinguished only by a name from the payment of a
perpetual and ignominious tribute. The example of Mahomet had
excited a spirit of fanaticism or imposture, and several of his
rivals presumed to imitate the conduct, and defy the authority,
of the living prophet. At the head of the fugitives and
auxiliaries, the first caliph was reduced to the cities of Mecca,
Medina, and Tayef; and perhaps the Koreish would have restored
the idols of the Caaba, if their levity had not been checked by a
seasonable reproof. "Ye men of Mecca, will ye be the last to
embrace, and the first to abandon, the religion of Islam?" After
exhorting the Moslems to confide in the aid of God and his
apostle, Abubeker resolved, by a vigorous attack, to prevent the
junction of the rebels. The women and children were safely
lodged in the cavities of the mountains: the warriors, marching
under eleven banners, diffused the terror of their arms; and the
appearance of a military force revived and confirmed the loyalty
of the faithful. The inconstant tribes accepted, with humble
repentance, the duties of prayer, and fasting, and alms; and,
after some examples of success and severity, the most daring
apostates fell prostrate before the sword of the Lord and of
Caled. In the fertile province of Yemanah, ^1 between the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Persia, in a city not inferior to Medina
itself, a powerful chief (his name was Moseilama) had assumed the
character of a prophet, and the tribe of Hanifa listened to his
voice. A female prophetess ^* was attracted by his reputation;
the decencies of words and actions were spurned by these
favorites of Heaven; ^2 and they employed several days in mystic
and amorous converse. An obscure sentence of his Koran, or book,
is yet extant; ^3 and in the pride of his mission, Moseilama
condescended to offer a partition of the earth. The proposal was
answered by Mahomet with contempt; but the rapid progress of the
impostor awakened the fears of his successor: forty thousand
Moslems were assembled under the standard of Caled; and the
existence of their faith was resigned to the event of a decisive
battle. ^* In the first action they were repulsed by the loss of
twelve hundred men; but the skill and perseverance of their
general prevailed; their defeat was avenged by the slaughter of
ten thousand infidels; and Moseilama himself was pierced by an
Aethiopian slave with the same javelin which had mortally wounded
the uncle of Mahomet. The various rebels of Arabia without a
chief or a cause, were speedily suppressed by the power and
discipline of the rising monarchy; and the whole nation again
professed, and more steadfastly held, the religion of the Koran.
The ambition of the caliphs provided an immediate exercise for
the restless spirit of the Saracens: their valor was united in
the prosecution of a holy war; and their enthusiasm was equally
confirmed by opposition and victory.

[Footnote 1: See the description of the city and country of Al
Yamanah, in Abulfeda, Descript. Arabiae, p. 60, 61. In the
xiiith century, there were some ruins, and a few palms; but in
the present century, the same ground is occupied by the visions
and arms of a modern prophet, whose tenets are imperfectly known,
(Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 296 - 302.)]

[Footnote *: This extraordinary woman was a Christian; she was at
the head of a numerous and flourishing sect; Moseilama professed
to recognize her inspiration. In a personal interview he
proposed their marriage and the union of their sects. The
handsome person, the impassioned eloquence, and the arts of
Moseilama, triumphed over the virtue of the prophetesa who was
rejected with scorn by her lover, and by her notorious unchastity
ost her influence with her own followers. Gibbon, with that
propensity too common, especially in his later volumes, has
selected only the grosser part of this singular adventure. - M.]

[Footnote 2: The first salutation may be transcribed, but cannot
be translated. It was thus that Moseilama said or sung: -

Surge tandem itaque strenue permolenda; nam stratus tibi thorus est.
Aut in propatulo tentorio si velis, aut in abditiore cubiculo si malis;
Aut supinam te humi exporrectam fustigabo, si velis,
Aut si malis manibus pedibusque nixam.
Aut si velis ejus (Priapi) gemino triente aut si malis totus veniam.
Imo, totus venito, O Apostole Dei, clamabat foemina.
Id ipsum, dicebat
Moseilama, mihi quoque suggessit Deus.

The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to
idolatry; but under the reign of Moawiyah, she became a
Mussulman, and died at Bassora, (Abulfeda, Annal. vers. Reiske,
p. 63.)]

[Footnote 3: See this text, which demonstrates a God from the
work of generation, in Abulpharagius (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p.
13, and Dynast. p. 103) and Abulfeda, (Annal. p. 63.)]

[Footnote *: Compare a long account of this battle in Price, p.
42. - M.]

From the rapid conquests of the Saracens a presumption will
naturally arise, that the caliphs ^! commanded in person the
armies of the faithful, and sought the crown of martyrdom in the
foremost ranks of the battle. The courage of Abubeker, ^4 Omar,
^5 and Othman, ^6 had indeed been tried in the persecution and
wars of the prophet; and the personal assurance of paradise must
have taught them to despise the pleasures and dangers of the
present world. But they ascended the throne in a venerable or
mature age; and esteemed the domestic cares of religion and
justice the most important duties of a sovereign. Except the
presence of Omar at the siege of Jerusalem, their longest
expeditions were the frequent pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca;
and they calmly received the tidings of victory as they prayed or
preached before the sepulchre of the prophet. The austere and
frugal measure of their lives was the effect of virtue or habit,
and the pride of their simplicity insulted the vain magnificence
of the kings of the earth. When Abubeker assumed the office of
caliph, he enjoined his daughter Ayesha to take a strict account
of his private patrimony, that it might be evident whether he
were enriched or impoverished by the service of the state. He
thought himself entitled to a stipend of three pieces of gold,
with the sufficient maintenance of a single camel and a black
slave; but on the Friday of each week he distributed the residue
of his own and the public money, first to the most worthy, and
then to the most indigent, of the Moslems. The remains of his
wealth, a coarse garment, and five pieces of gold, were delivered
to his successor, who lamented with a modest sigh his own
inability to equal such an admirable model. Yet the abstinence
and humility of Omar were not inferior to the virtues of
Abubeker: his food consisted of barley bread or dates; his drink
was water; he preached in a gown that was torn or tattered in
twelve places; and the Persian satrap, who paid his homage to the
conqueror, found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the
mosch of Medina. Oeeconomy is the source of liberality, and the
increase of the revenue enabled Omar to establish a just and
perpetual reward for the past and present services of the
faithful. Careless of his own emolument, he assigned to Abbas,
the uncle of the prophet, the first and most ample allowance of
twenty-five thousand drachms or pieces of silver. Five thousand
were allotted to each of the aged warriors, the relics of the
field of Beder; and the last and meanest of the companions of
Mahomet was distinguished by the annual reward of three thousand
pieces. One thousand was the stipend of the veterans who had
fought in the first battles against the Greeks and Persians; and
the decreasing pay, as low as fifty pieces of silver, was adapted
to the respective merit and seniority of the soldiers of Omar.
Under his reign, and that of his predecessor, the conquerors of
the East were the trusty servants of God and the people; the mass
of the public treasure was consecrated to the expenses of peace
and war; a prudent mixture of justice and bounty maintained the
discipline of the Saracens, and they united, by a rare felicity,
the despatch and execution of despotism with the equal and frugal
maxims of a republican government. The heroic courage of Ali, ^7
the consummate prudence of Moawiyah, ^8 excited the emulation of
their subjects; and the talents which had been exercised in the
school of civil discord were more usefully applied to propagate
the faith and dominion of the prophet. In the sloth and vanity
of the palace of Damascus, the succeeding princes of the house of
Ommiyah were alike destitute of the qualifications of statesmen
and of saints. ^9 Yet the spoils of unknown nations were
continually laid at the foot of their throne, and the uniform
ascent of the Arabian greatness must be ascribed to the spirit of
the nation rather than the abilities of their chiefs. A large
deduction must be allowed for the weakness of their enemies. The
birth of Mahomet was fortunately placed in the most degenerate
and disorderly period of the Persians, the Romans, and the
Barbarians of Europe: the empires of Trajan, or even of
Constantine or Charlemagne, would have repelled the assault of
the naked Saracens, and the torrent of fanaticism might have been
obscurely lost in the sands of Arabia.

[Footnote !: In Arabic, "successors." V. Hammer Geschichte der
Assas. p. 14 - M.]

[Footnote 4: His reign in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 251. Elmacin,
p. 18. Abulpharagius, p. 108. Abulfeda, p. 60. D'Herbelot, p.
58.]

[Footnote 5: His reign in Eutychius, p. 264. Elmacin, p. 24.
Abulpharagius, p. 110. Abulfeda, p. 66. D'Herbelot, p. 686.]

[Footnote 6: His reign in Eutychius, p. 323. Elmacin, p. 36.
Abulpharagius, p. 115. Abulfeda, p. 75. D'Herbelot, p. 695.]

[Footnote 7: His reign in Eutychius, p. 343. Elmacin, p. 51.
Abulpharagius, p. 117. Abulfeda, p. 83. D'Herbelot, p. 89.]

[Footnote 8: His reign in Eutychius, p. 344. Elmacin, p. 54.
Abulpharagius, p. 123. Abulfeda, p. 101. D'Herbelot, p. 586.]

[Footnote 9: Their reigns in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 360 - 395.
Elmacin, p. 59 - 108. Abulpharagius, Dynast. ix. p. 124 - 139.
Abulfeda, p. 111 - 141. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p.
691, and the particular articles of the Ommiades.]

In the victorious days of the Roman republic, it had been
the aim of the senate to confine their councils and legions to a
single war, and completely to suppress a first enemy before they
provoked the hostilities of a second. These timid maxims of
policy were disdained by the magnanimity or enthusiasm of the
Arabian caliphs. With the same vigor and success they invaded
the successors of Augustus and those of Artaxerxes; and the rival
monarchies at the same instant became the prey of an enemy whom
they had been so long accustomed to despise. In the ten years of
the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience
thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand
churches or temples of the unbelievers, and edified fourteen
hundred moschs for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One
hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign
of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean, over
the various and distant provinces, which may be comprised under
the names of, I. Persia; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV. Africa;
and, V. Spain. Under this general division, I shall proceed to
unfold these memorable transactions; despatching with brevity the
remote and less interesting conquests of the East, and reserving
a fuller narrative for those domestic countries which had been
included within the pale of the Roman empire. Yet I must excuse
my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and
insufficiency of my guides. The Greeks, so loquacious in
controversy, have not been anxious to celebrate the triumphs of
their enemies. ^10 After a century of ignorance, the first annals
of the Mussulmans were collected in a great measure from the
voice of tradition. ^11 Among the numerous productions of Arabic
and Persian literature, ^12 our interpreters have selected the
imperfect sketches of a more recent age. ^13 The art and genius
of history have ever been unknown to the Asiatics; ^14 they are
ignorant of the laws of criticism; and our monkish chronicle of
the same period may be compared to their most popular works,
which are never vivified by the spirit of philosophy and freedom.

The Oriental library of a Frenchman ^15 would instruct the most
learned mufti of the East; and perhaps the Arabs might not find
in a single historian so clear and comprehensive a narrative of
their own exploits as that which will be deduced in the ensuing
sheets.

[Footnote 10: For the viith and viiith century, we have scarcely
any original evidence of the Byzantine historians, except the
chronicles of Theophanes (Theophanis Confessoris Chronographia,
Gr. et Lat. cum notis Jacobi Goar. Paris, 1665, in folio) and the
Abridgment of Nicephorus, (Nicephori Patriarchae C. P. Breviarium
Historicum, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1648, in folio,) who both lived in
the beginning of the ixth century, (see Hanckius de Scriptor.
Byzant. p. 200 - 246.) Their contemporary, Photius, does not seem
to be more opulent. After praising the style of Nicephorus, he
adds, and only complains of his extreme brevity, (Phot. Bibliot.
Cod. lxvi. p. 100.) Some additions may be gleaned from the more
recent histories of Cedrenus and Zonaras of the xiith century.]

[Footnote 11: Tabari, or Al Tabari, a native of Taborestan, a
famous Imam of Bagdad, and the Livy of the Arabians, finished his
general history in the year of the Hegira 302, (A.D. 914.) At the
request of his friends, he reduced a work of 30,000 sheets to a
more reasonable size. But his Arabic original is known only by
the Persian and Turkish versions. The Saracenic history of Ebn
Amid, or Elmacin, is said to be an abridgment of the great
Tabari, (Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. preface, p.
xxxix. and list of authors, D'Herbelot, p. 866, 870, 1014.)]

[Footnote 12: Besides the list of authors framed by Prideaux,
(Life of Mahomet, p. 179 - 189,) Ockley, (at the end of his
second volume,) and Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, p.
525 - 550,) we find in the Bibliotheque Orientale Tarikh, a
catalogue of two or three hundred histories or chronicles of the
East, of which not more than three or four are older than Tabari.

A lively sketch of Oriental literature is given by Reiske, (in
his Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae librum memorialem ad calcem
Abulfedae Tabulae Syriae, Lipsiae, 1776;) but his project and the
French version of Petit de la Croix (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i.
preface, p. xlv.) have fallen to the ground.]

[Footnote 13: The particular historians and geographers will be
occasionally introduced. The four following titles represent the
Annals which have guided me in this general narrative. 1.
Annales Eutychii, Patriarchoe Alexandrini, ab Edwardo Pocockio,
Oxon. 1656, 2 vols. in 4to. A pompous edition of an indifferent
author, translated by Pocock to gratify the Presbyterian
prejudices of his friend Selden. 2. Historia Saracenica Georgii
Elmacini, opera et studio Thomae Erpenii, in 4to., Lugd.
Batavorum, 1625. He is said to have hastily translated a corrupt
Ms., and his version is often deficient in style and sense. 3.
Historia compendiosa Dynastiarum a Gregorio Abulpharagio,
interprete Edwardo Pocockio, in 4to., Oxon. 1663. More useful for
the literary than the civil history of the East. 4. Abulfedoe
Annales Moslemici ad Ann. Hegiroe ccccvi. a Jo. Jac. Reiske, in
4to., Lipsioe, 1754. The best of our chronicles, both for the
original and version, yet how far below the name of Abulfeda! We
know that he wrote at Hamah in the xivth century. The three
former were Christians of the xth, xiith, and xiiith centuries;
the two first, natives of Egypt; a Melchite patriarch, and a
Jacobite scribe.]