Mohammed, The Prophet of Islam Part 2

Not long after the treaty with the Meccans, Mohammed revealed the fact that he had elaborated a scheme of world conquest, by sending representatives to earthly monarchs of whom he had heard. His messengers carried letters bearing the seal, "Mohammed, Prophet of G.o.d," and urging the addressees to acknowledge his claims by embracing Islam. These overtures were in some cases favourably received; in others with contempt; but, of course, did not lead to compliance with the demands, except, perhaps, on the part of a few of the rulers of some Arabic tribes.

The eighth year of the flight is famous in the history of the prophet's life, because his followers, for the first time, came into conflict with the forces of the Christian empire. The battle of Mutah resulted in defeat of the Moslems, and, consequently, details have been suppressed. It was part of Mohammed's policy to counteract the demoralising influence of defeat by immediately attempting a fight in which victory was a.s.sured. This, to my mind, justified war on any pretext or grievance. In this case he conceived the idea of invading Mecca, and, although minor incidents justify his decision to a slight degree, his breach of the treaty adds to the evidence that is derogatory to his character.

The pilgrimage of the year before had been organised by him with the view of impressing the Meccans of his power, and was decidedly successful. When he with his ten thousand troops approached the city, fear caused submission on the part of the leader of the city forces, and after some slight skirmis.h.i.+ng with a section of the community, which preferred to show active disapproval of the ignominious surrender, the city was won. Every idolatrous element of the Kaaba wors.h.i.+p was swept away, and, although its pagan a.s.sociations were negatived, it was sanctified to the service of Islam, and is still its only altar. The city was invested with a more sacred significance than it had ever occupied under the pagan system. It was never again to be defiled by the spilling of human blood, the prophet insisting upon this with admirable inconsistency! He showed his gratification in many acts of statesmanlike condescension, and seems at this time to have considered himself to be the ruler of all Arabs. Although it is improbable that Mohammed was aware of it, the significance he attached to the Holy City, by teaching that the Caaba was a heavenly built edifice, was to become the means of consolidating his system, in spite of national and racial distinctions. In its precincts, pilgrims from India, Persia, China, Russia, Turkey, and other lands where Islam has its devotees, mingle with the wild Bedouin of the desert in one common brotherhood, and wors.h.i.+p, in unity of faith and form, Allah, the great and merciful.

After its capture, the fierce warlike Bedouin nomadic tribes made strenuous and courageous attempts to win back the city, but the Moslem forces were invariably successful, and, in time, Mohammed returned to Medinah more triumphant than ever. Eventually Taif, which had successfully resisted a siege, submitted peacefully to the prophet's claims, and the subjugation of the whole of Arabia followed.

An ingenious system of taxation was imposed upon all tribes submitting to Mohammed. The natural prejudice that universally exists against taxation (!) was overcome, because it was inst.i.tuted as a religious rather than a statutory obligation. Thus the regular payments of alms became one of the five acts of faith imposed upon all believers. The other acts are: confession of creed, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage.

VI.--MOHAMMED AND WOMEN.

The prophet's domestic life exerted considerable influence upon his religion; effects of which are to be seen in the Mohammedan home of to-day. His numerous marriages afforded experience which led to the framing of many "divine" laws referring to women. As has already been hinted, Kadijah, his first wife, exercised considerable influence over his prophetic career. She evidently had a strong affection for him, which feeling was heartily reciprocated. She had a personality strong enough to curb his natural pa.s.sion, and to preserve her place in spite of it in his regard. Her encouragement and support when success and failure were trembling in the balance, urged him to persist in the development of his ideas. He was faithful to her during their married life, and to her memory afterwards, and promised her, upon her deathbed, that she should share his heavenly chamber after his death, with the Mother of Jesus and the sister of Moses. Within a month of her death he was betrothed to Ayesha, a child of seven. He did not actually marry her until she was nine years of age, and during the interval consoled himself by wedding a widow who had acted as nurse to one of his daughters. This marriage seems to have been more a matter of convenience than of affection on his part, and in later days she was able to keep her position as his wife only by the yielding of certain of her privileges to other members of the harem.

Seven months after his arrival in Medinah, during the time of poverty, the marriage with Ayesha was celebrated, the child of nine being united to the man of fifty-three! a marriage defended on the ground of political expediency, whereby the devotion of Abu Bakr, the child's father was strengthened. She seems to have been second only to Khadijah in the prophet's affections, and exercised a petty tyranny over him, which was submitted to even when it affected his revelations. She excited the envy of the other wives because of her privileges, and in spite of intrigue, was able to hold her own. She was extremely sarcastic in regard to some of the revelations, and even went so far on one occasion as to jeer the prophet on his faithfulness in recording them. This sarcasm was prompted by jealousy, because of Mohammed's marriage with Zainab, which was so illegal as to cause him to throw the responsibility on G.o.d. Zainab was the wife of the prophet's adopted son Zaid, who, having discovered his foster-father's love, thought it wise to divorce her in his favour. The revelation Mohammed produced seems to have been held over until his critics had been mollified by some victory--hence the sarcasm!

During the raiding of the Jews, Mohammed was considerably disturbed by the desire of the wives to accompany him on the expeditions. He eased the difficulty by arranging that one only should go with him on each expedition, and should obtain the favour by lot. Ayesha got into difficulty on one of these expeditions. She dropped a necklace and remained behind the returning party in order to seek for it. A youth who, too, had loitered behind, found it, and accompanied her back to the camp. Her enemies were not slow to take advantage of this incident to prejudice her before the prophet. He was deeply hurt, and in face of the surge of public opinion, sent her back to her parents. The complications arising out of the divorce would probably have alienated the sympathies of Abu Bakr, her father, so with his usual diplomacy, Mohammed produced a revelation, in which G.o.d declared Ayesha innocent of any cause for divorce! It was through Ayesha, too, that the prophet conceived the idea of praying for deliverance from the torment of the grave, for she casually remarked one day that she had heard a Jewish woman speaking about torment after death. Through all her life with the prophet she proved herself to be strong in character, and a fitting mate for a man of Mohammed's type.

Other wives did not play such an important part in the prophet's life work. He seems to have exhibited his taste for beauty in all his selections. Keud was the daughter of a man of considerable wealth and influence, and, like Zainab, was one of the Abyssinian refugees. In the expedition against Khaibah, Mohammed's greed was excited by the sight of some valuable ornaments belonging to one of his vanquished enemies. He sought to gain possession of them by marrying the daughter of the owner, Safiyyah, whose husband and brother had both been killed in the battle that had been fought. She accepted the prophet's offer, and contented herself for her losses in the squabbles of his harem.

His other wives were Juwairijah, Hafsah, Um Salmah, Um Kabibah, another of the Abyssinian refugees, and Zainab, widow of his cousin.

The last wife was Maimunah, who is said to have offered herself to him when he was considering the invasion of Mecca. A Coptic (Christian) slave girl, Mary, and Rihanah, a Jewess, were added to the harem, but went through no form of marriage with him. Mary was sent as a present from one of the Coptic rulers in answer to the prophet's letter, urging the claims of Islam; while Rihanah, whose husband was one of the many who were cruelly slaughtered by decapitation after a victory over the Jews, was at nightfall, almost immediately after the ma.s.sacre, taken to the prophet's tent. It is evident that the prophet had many opportunities of still further increasing his harem, for many women offered themselves; while the relatives of handsome widows would make no arrangements for the re-marriage of the bereaved ones until they had been offered to the prophet and refused.

It cannot be expected that things could always run smoothly with so many women possessing rights to his attention, and there is much evidence to show that Mohammed was often disturbed by the difficulty of pleasing all. His relations to the feminine s.e.x, as may be expected, led to a very low estimate of the position of women. Hence the utter degradation to which they are subjected in Islam. Although he did not practice it, he sanctioned wife beating. Divorce was made easy for the men, who could cast off their wives any time they so desired. Thus it is quite common to-day for women to steal from their husbands in order to provide for themselves in case of divorce. The evil of such a system is apparent. It makes the women mere slaves at the mercy of the caprice of their husbands. The polygamy and concubinage which is sanctioned in the Koran, has degraded the women to a degree that may be imagined, and certainly has not, as some authorities contend, abolished other evils. It is true that he improved slightly the condition of women in his day, giving them privileges they had not up to that time enjoyed, and by those who endeavour to picture him as a hero, his failure to arrive at a true estimate of the position of women is covered by the statement that it was impossible for him to grapple with a hopeless problem. It is encouraging to know that, with the growing influence of Western Christian civilisation, the condition of women in Moslem lands is gradually improving, although the village folk still consider us to be weak in character because we are courteous in our behaviour to them.

In Egypt, Government schools for girls are being organised, and throughout the whole Moslem world education is spreading. The religion of Mohammed is so clearly defined that it can never be reformed. The only hope for the nations that are under its sway is that with the advance of western civilisation there may be a yielding to the influence of Christianity. It cannot be possible to enjoy the blessings of the West while men are tyrannised by a non-progressive religion of the East.

Just before he died Mohammed organised an expedition against the Romans, and this in spite of sickness unto death. He had made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, and had delivered what may be termed his final charge to his followers. The whole tone of his address seems to have been influenced by the thought of the proximity of death. He emphasised the doctrines he had inculcated, showing that the Islamic brotherhood removed all that tended to social inequality. The rich man was no better than the poor; the aristocrat who boasted of his ancestry, no more important in the sight of G.o.d than the lowliest beggar. The only difference that could exist between man and man was a difference in degree of piety. Property rights he recognised as regarding believers, and evidently implied that unbelievers possessed no such rights. He asked respect and humane treatment for women, and undoubtedly manifested a desire for a better condition of affairs than he in his lifetime had been able to establish. The subsequent illness was probably due to the strain and anxiety of this pilgrimage. Ayesha, the girl wife, tended him. The many stories that have been told of these last days are not at all reliable, but it is certain that for five days he was quite helpless and delirious. On the 7th of June, 632 A.D., ten years after the flight from Mecca, he died in the arms of Ayesha, leaving a work that wrought havoc in the Christian Church for centuries, and which, inspired by his immortal spirit, still exists in unyielding enmity against the faith of the meek and lowly Nazarene, whose native soil, in the providence of G.o.d, is owned by Islam's son.

Never again will be heard the clash of steel on steel as Christian tries to vanquish Moslem. Those days are happily past and gone. Carnal weapons cannot avail against spiritual forces. The eternal, peaceable Spirit of Jesus is slowly but surely permeating the gloom of Islam. We see the resultant disintegration, and hope for that great day when, led by the broken and contrite spirit of their leader, the hosts of Islam shall bow before the King of Kings, recognising what, in time, they were impelled to deny--Unity in Trinity, the at present unrevealed mystery of Deity.

Britain, the greatest Moslem power of the world, needs to change her policy in regard to Christian missionary work amongst Moslems, if she is desirous of promoting the welfare of those benighted people. She must give freedom to the heralds of the Cross who labour in the lands of the Crescent. And the prayers of her people must ascend on behalf of the sons and daughters of Islam who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.