Damascus, they reposed near the grove and foun- | of Abubeker to supply his place, appeared to mark tain of Tabuc. Beyond that place Mahomet declined the prosecution of the war: he declared himself satisfied with the peaceful intentions, he was more probably daunted by the martial array, of the emperor of the east. But the active and intrepid Caled spread around the terror of his name; and the prophet received the submission of the tribes and cities, from the Euphrates to Ailah, at | the head of the Red sea. To his christian subjects, Mahomet readily granted the security of their persons, the freedom of their trade, the property of their goods, and the toleration of their worship.* The weakness of their Arabian brethren had restrained them from opposing his ambition; the disciples of Jesus were endeared to the enemy of the Jews; and it was the interest of a conqueror to propose a fair capitulation to the most powerful religion of the earth.

Death of Maho-
met,
A. D. 632.

June 7.

Till the age of sixty-three years, the strength of Mahomet was equal to the temporal and spiritual fatigues of his mission. His epileptic fits, an absurd calumny of the Greeks, would be an object of pity rather than abhorrence; but he seriously believed that he was poisoned at Chaibar by the revenge of a Jewish female. During four years, the health of the prophet declined; his infirmities increased; but his mortal disease was a fever of fourteen days, which deprived him by intervals of the use of reason. As soon as he was conscious of his danger, he edified his brethren by the humility of his virtue or penitence. "If there be any man," said the apostle from the pulpit, "whom I have unjustly scourged, I submit my own back to the lash of retaliation. Have I aspersed the reputation of a mussulman? let him proclaim my faults in the face of the congregation. Has any one been despoiled of his goods? the little that I possess shall compensate the principal and the interest of the debt." "Yes," replied a voice from the crowd, "I am entitled to three drams of silver." Mahomet heard the complaint, satisfied the demand, and thanked his creditor for accusing him in this world rather than at the day of judgment. He beheld with temperate firmness the approach of death; enfranchised his slaves; (seventeen men, as they are named, and eleven women ;) minutely directed the order of his funeral, and moderated the lamentations of his weeping friends, on whom he bestowed the benediction of peace. Till the third day before his death, he regularly performed the function of public prayer: the choice

k The Diploma securitatis Ailensibus, is attested by Ahmed Ben Joseph, and the author Libri Splendorum; (Gagnier. Not. ad Abulfedam, p. 125.) but Abulfeda himself, as well as Elmacin, (Hist. Saracen. p. 11.) though he owns Mahomet's regard for the christians, (p. 13.) only mentions peace and tribute. In the year 1630 Sionita published at Paris the text and version of Mahomet's patent in favour of the christians; which was admitted and reprobated by the opposite taste of Salmasius and Grotius. (Bayle, MAHOMET, Rem. AA.) Hottinger doubts of its authenticity; (Hist. Orient. p. 237.) Renaudot urges the consent of the Mahometans; (Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 169.) but Mosheim (Hist. Eccles. p. 244.) shows the futility of their opinion, and inclines to believe it spurious. Yet Abulpharagius quotes the impostor's treaty with the Nestorian patriarch; (Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 418.) but Abulpharagius was primate of the Jacobites.

that ancient and faithful friend as his successor in
the sacerdotal and regal office; but he prudently
declined the risk and envy of a more explicit nomi-
nation. At a moment when his faculties were visi-
bly impaired, he called for pen and ink to write, or,
more properly, to dictate, a divine book, the sum
and accomplishment of all his revelations: a dis-
pute arose in the chamber, whether he should be
allowed to supersede the authority of the Koran;
and the prophet was forced to reprove the indecent
vehemence of his disciples. If the slightest credit
may be afforded to the traditions of his wives and
companions, he maintained, in the bosom of his
family, and to the last moments of his life, the dig-
nity of an apostle, and the faith of an enthusiast;
described the visits of Gabriel, who bade an ever-
lasting farewell to the earth, and expressed his
lively confidence, not only of the mercy, but of the
favour, of the Supreme Being. In a familiar dis-
course he had mentioned his special prerogative,
that the angel of death was not allowed to take his
soul till he had respectfully asked the permission of
the prophet. The request was granted; and Ma-
homet immediately fell into the agony of his disso-
lution: his head was reclined on the lap of Ayesha,
the best beloved of all his wives; he fainted with
the violence of pain; recovering his spirits, he raised
his eyes towards the roof of the house, and, with a
steady look, though a faltering voice, uttered the
last broken, though articulate, words: "O God!
pardon my sins . . Yes,
I come,
among my fellow-citizens on high:" and thus
peaceably expired on a carpet spread upon the floor.
An expedition for the conquest of Syria was stopped
by this mournful event: the army halted at the
gates of Medina: the chiefs were assembled round
their dying master. The city, more especially the
house, of the prophet, was a scene of clamorous
sorrow or silent despair: fanaticism alone could
suggest a ray of hope and consolation.
"How can
he be dead, our witness, our intercessor, our medi-
ator with God? By God he is not dead: like Moses
and Jesus he is wrapt in a holy trance, and speedily
will he return to his faithful people." The evidence
of sense was disregarded; and Omar, unsheathing
his scymitar, threatened to strike off the heads of
the infidels, who should dare to affirm that the
prophet was no more. The tumult was appeased
by the weight and moderation of Abubeker.
it Mahomet," said he to Omar and the multitude,
the God of Mahomet, whom you worship? The

or

...

"Is

1 The epilepsy, or falling-sickness, of Mahomet, is asserted by Theophanes, Zonaras, and the rest of the Greeks; and is greedily swallowed by the gross bigotry of Hottinger, (Hist. Orient. p. 10, 11.) Prideaux, (Life of Mahomet, p. 12.) and Maracci. (tom. ii. Alcoran, p. 762, 763.) The titles (the wrapped up, the covered) of two chapters of the Koran (73, 74.) can hardly be strained to such an interpretation: the silence, the ignorance of the Mahometan commentators, is more conclusive than the most peremptory denial; and the charitable side is espoused by Ockley, (Hist. of the Saracens, tom. i. p. 301.) Gagnier, (ad Abulfeda, p. 9. Vie de Mahomet, tom. i. p. 118) and Sale. (Koran, p. 469-474.)

m This poison (more ignominious since it was offered as a test of his prophetic knowledge) is frankly confessed by his zealous votaries, Abulfeda (p. 92.) and Al Jannabi. (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 286-288.)

God of Mahomet liveth for ever, but the apostle | deceive himself, how a good man may deceive was a mortal like ourselves, and according to his own prediction, he has experienced the common fate of mortality." He was piously interred by the hands of his nearest kinsman, on the same spot on which he expired: Medina has been sanctified by the death and burial of Mahomet; and the innumerable pilgrims of Mecca often turn aside from the way, to bow, in voluntary devotion," before the simple tomb of the prophet.P

Private life of

His wives,

positive and moral laws. If he retained any vestige | ber the seven hundred wives and three of his native innocence, the sins of Mahomet may hundred concubines of the wise Solobe allowed as an evidence of his sincerity. In the mon, we shall applaud the modesty of the Arabian, support of truth, the arts of fraud and fiction may who espoused no more than seventeen or fifteen be deemed less criminal; and he would have started wives; eleven are enumerated who occupied at at the foulness of the means, had he not been satis- Medina their separate apartments round the house fied of the importance and justice of the end. Even of the apostle, and enjoyed in their turns the favour in a conqueror or a priest, I can surprise a word or of his conjugal society. What is singular enough, action of unaffected humanity; and the decree of they were all widows, excepting only Ayesha, the Mahomet, that, in the sale of captives, the mothers daughter of Abubeker. She was doubtless a virgin, should never be separated from their children, since Mahomet consummated his nuptials (such is may suspend, or moderate, the censure of the his- the premature ripeness of the climate) when she was torian.' only nine years of age. The youth, the beauty, the spirit of Ayesha, gave her a superior ascendant: she was beloved and trusted by the prophet; and, after his death, the daughter of Abubeker was long revered as the mother of the faithful. Her behaviour had been ambiguous and indiscreet: in a nocturnal march she was accidentally left behind; and in the morning Ayesha returned to the camp with a man. The temper of Mahomet was inclined to jealousy ; but a divine revelation assured him of her innocence: he chastised her accusers, and published a law of domestic peace, that no woman should be condemned unless four male witnesses had seen her in the act of adultery." In his adventures with Zeineb, the wife of Zeid, and with Mary, an Egyptian captive, the amorous prophet forgot the interest of his reputation. At the house of Zeid, his freedman and adopted son, he beheld, in a loose undress, the beauty of Zeineb, and burst forth into an ejaculation of devotion and desire. The servile, or grateful, freedman understood the hint, and yielded without hesitation to the love of his benefactor. But as the filial relation had excited some doubt and scandal, the angel Gabriel descended from heaven to ratify the deed, annul the adoption, and gently to reprove the apostle for distrusting the indulgence of his God. One of his wives, Hafna, the daughter of Omar, surprised him on her own bed, in the embraces of his Egyptian captive: she promised secrecy and forgiveness: he swore that he would renounce the possession of Mary. Both parties forgot their engagements: and Gabriel again descended with a chapter of the Koran, to absolve him from his oath, and to exhort him freely to enjoy his captives and concubines, without listening to the clamours of his wives. In a solitary retreat of thirty days, he laboured, alone with Mary, to fulfil the commands of the angel. When his love and revenge were satiated, he summoned to his presence his eleven wives, reproached their disobedience and indiscretion, and threatened them with a sentence of divorce, both in this world and in the next: a

The good sense of Mahomet" deMahomet. spised the pomp of royalty: the apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the ewes, and mended with his own hands his shoes and his woollen garment. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed, without effort or vanity, the abstemious diet of an Arab and a soldier. On solemn occasions he feasted his companions with | rustic and hospitable plenty; but in his domestic life, many weeks would elapse without a fire being kindled on the hearth of the prophet. The interdiction of wine was confirmed by his example: his hunger was appeased with a sparing allowance of barley-bread: he delighted in the taste of milk and honey; but his ordinary food consisted of dates and water. Perfumes and women were the two sensual enjoyments which his nature required, and his religion did not forbid ; and Mahomet affirmed, that the fervour of his devotion was increased by these innocent pleasures. The heat of the climate inflames the blood of the Arabs; and their libidinous complexion has been noticed by the writers of antiquity.* | Their incontinence was regulated by the civil and religious laws of the Koran: their incestuous alliances were blamed; the boundless licence of polygamy was reduced to four legitimate wives or concubines; their rights both of bed and of dowry were equitably determined; the freedom of divorce was discouraged, adultery was condemned as a capital offence; and fornication, in either sex, was punished with a hundred stripes. Such were the calm and rational precepts of the legislator: but in his private conduct, Mahomet indulged the appetites of a man, and abused the claims of a prophet. A special revelation dispensed him from the laws which he had imposed on his nation; the female sex, without reserve, was abandoned to his desires; and this singular prerogative excited the envy rather than the scandal, the veneration rather than the envy, of the devout mussulmans. If we remem

↑ Gagnier relates, with the same impartial pen, this humane law of the prophet, and the murders of Caab, and Sophian, which he prompted and approved. (Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 69. 97. 208.)

u For the domestic life of Mahomet, consult Gagnier, and the coresponding chapters of Abulfeda; for his diet, (tom. iii. p. 285-288. his children, (p. 189. 289.) his wives, (p. 290-303.) his marriage with Zeineb, (tom. ii. p. 152-160.) his amour with Mary, (p. 303–309.) the false accusation of Ayesha, (p. 186-199.) The most original evidence of the three last transactions is contained in the twenty-fourth, thirty-third, and sixty-sixth chapters of the Koran, with Sale's Commentary. Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 80-90.) and Maracci (Pro

drom. Alcoran, part iv. p. 49–59.) have maliciously exaggerated the frailties of Mahomet.

x Incredibile est quo ardore apud eos in Venerem uterque solvitur sexus. (Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xiv. c. 4.)

y Sale (Preliminary Discourse, p. 133-137.) has recapitulated the laws of marriage, divorce, &c.; and the curious reader of Selden's Uxor Hebraica will recognize many Jewish ordinances.

z In a memorable case, the Caliphi Omar decided that all presumptive evidence was of no avail; and that all the four witnesses must have actually seen stylum iu pyxide. (Abulfed Annales Moslemici, p. 71. vers. Reiske.)

dreadful sentence, since those who had ascended the bed of the prophet were for ever excluded from the hope of a second marriage. Perhaps the incontinence of Mahomet may be palliated by the tradition of his natural or preternatural gift;a he united the manly virtue of thirty of the children of Adam; and the apostle might rival the thirteenth labour of the Grecian Hercules. A more serious and decent excuse may be drawn from his fidelity to Cadijah. During the twenty-four years of their marriage, her youthful husband abstained from the right of polygamy, and the pride or tenderness of the venerable matron was never insulted by the society of a rival. After her death, he placed her in the rank of the four perfect women, with the sister of Moses, the mother of Jesus, and Fatima, the best beloved of his daughters. Was she not oid?" said Ayesha, with the insolence of a blooming beauty; " has not God given you a better in her place?" "No, by God," said Mahomet, with an effusion of honest gratitude, "there never can be a better! She believed in me, when men despised me: she relieved my wants, when I was poor and persecuted by the world."d

and children.

Character of Ali.

The birth, the alliance, the character of Ali, which exalted him above the rest of his countrymen, might justify his claim to the vacant throne of Arabia. The son of Abu Taleb was, in his own right, the chief of the family of Hashem, and the hereditary prince or guardian of the city and temple of Mecca. The light of prophecy was extinct; but the husband of Fatima might expect the inheritance and blessing of her father: the Arabs had sometimes been patient of a female reign; and the two grandsons of the prophet had often been fondled in his lap, and shown in his pulpit, as the hope of his age, and the chief of the youth of paradise. The first of the true believers might aspire to march before them in this world and in the next; and if some were of a graver and more rigid cast, the zeal and virtue of Ali were never outstripped by any recent proselyte. He united the qualifications of a poet, a soldier, and a saint: his wisdom still breathes in a collection of moral and religious sayings; and every antagonist, in the combats of the tongue or of the sword, was subdued by his eloquence and valour. From the first hour of his mission to the last rites of his funeral, the apostle was never forsaken by a generous friend, whom he delighted to name his brother, his vicegerent, and the faithful Aaron of a second Moses. The son of Abu Taleb was afterwards reproached for neglecting to secure his interest by a solemn declaration of his right, which would have silenced all competition, and sealed his succession by the decrees of heaven. But the unsuspecting hero confided in himself: the jealousy of empire, and perhaps the fear of opposition, might suspend the resolutions of Mahomet; and the bed of sickness was besieged by the artful Ayesha, the daughter of Abubeker, and the enemy of Ali.

In the largest indulgence of polygamy, the founder of a religion and empire might aspire to multiply the chances of a numerous posterity and a lineal succession. The hopes of Mahomet were fatally disappointed. The virgin Ayesha, and his ten widows of mature age and approved fertility, were barren in his potent embraces. The four sons of Cadijah died in their infancy. Mary, his Egyptian concubine, was endeared to him by the birth of Ibrahim. At the end of fifteen months the prophet wept over his grave; but he sustained with firmness the raillery of his enemies, and checked the adulation or credulity of the Moslems, by the assurance that an eclipse of the The silence and death of the prophet Reign of Abnsun was not occasioned by the death of the infant. restored the liberty of the people; and Cadijah had likewise given him four daughters, who his companions convened an assembly were married to the most faithful of his disciples: to deliberate on the choice of his successor. the three eldest died before their father; but Fatima, hereditary claim and lofty spirit of Ali, were offenwho possessed his confidence and love, became the sive to an aristocracy of elders, desirous of bestowwife of her cousin Ali, and the mother of an illus- ing and resuming the sceptre by a free and frequent trious progeny. The merit and misfortunes of Ali election: the Koreish could never be reconciled to and his descendants will lead me to anticipate, the proud pre-eminence of the line of Hashem; the in this place, the series of the Saracen caliphs, a ancient discord of the tribes was rekindled; the title which describes the commanders of the faith-fugitives of Mecca and the auxiliaries of Medina ful as the vicars and successors of the apostle of asserted their respective merits; and the rash proGod. posal of choosing two independent caliphs would

iv.

a Sibi robur ad generationem, quantum triginta viri habent inesse jactaret: ita ut unicâ horâ posset undecim fœminis satisfacere, ut ex Arabum libris refert Stus Petrus Paschasius, c. 2. (Maracci, Prodromus Alcoran, p. p. 55. See likewise Observations de Belon. 1. iii. c. 10. fol. 179. recto.) Al Jannabi (Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 487.) records his own testimony, that he surpassed all men in conjugal vigour; and Abulfeda mentions the exclamation of Ali, who washed his body after his death, "O propheta, certe penis suus cœlum versus erectus est," (in Vit. Maliommed. p. 140.)

b I borrow the style of a father of the church, εναθλεύων Ηρακλέος TρIOкNIČEKαTоv aλov. (Greg. Naziauzen, Orat. iii. p. 108.)

e The common and most glorious legend includes, in a single night, the fifty victories of Hercules over the virgin daughters of Thestius, (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. iv. p. 274. Pausanias, 1. ix. p. 763. Statins Sylv. I. i. eleg. iii. v. 42.) But Athenæus allows seven nights, (Diepnosophist. 1. xiii. p. 556.) and Apollodorus fifty, for this arduous achievement of Hercules, who was then no more than eighteen years of age. (Bibliot. 1. ii. c. 4. p. 111. cum notis Heyne, part. i. p. 332.)

beker, A. D. 632. June 7.

The

d Abulfeda in Vit. Moham. p. 12, 13. 16, 17. cum notis Gagnier. e This outline of the Arabian history is drawn from the Bibliotheque Orientale of D'Herbelot, (under the names of Aboubecre, Omar, Othman, Ali, &c.) from the Annals of Abulfeda, Abulpharagius, and Elmacin, (under the proper years of the Hegira,) and especially from Ockley's History of the Saracens, (vol. i. p. 1-10. 115–122. 229. 249. 363-372. 378-391. and almost the whole of the second volume.) Yet we should weigh with caution the traditions of the hostile sects; stream which becomes still more muddy as it flows further from the source. Sir John Chardin has too faithfully copied the fables and errors of the modern Persians. (Voyages, tom. ii. p. 235-250, &c.)

a

f Ockley (at the end of his second volume) has given an English version of 169 sentences, which he ascribes, with some hesitation, to Ali, the son of Abu Taleb. His preface is coloured by the enthusiasm of a translator; yet these sentences delineate a characteristic, though dark, picture of human life.