MOHAMMEDANISM. "I ask myself if all that host, Whose turban'd marbles o'er them nod, To these, thy children too, didst hearken." J. PIERPONT. ACCORDING to Arabian traditions, when Hagar and her son were dying with thirst, and she implored God for relief, the angel Gabriel descended and stamped on the ground; whereupon, a fountain sprang forth in the desert, on the very spot where the city of Mecca now stands. Abraham loved Ishmael better than Isaac, and often visited him in his exile; being conducted by a miraculous horse, that enabled him to perform the journey in half a day. Nevertheless, when the boy was thirteen years old, he prepared to sacrifice him, having been thus commanded by God three times in a dream. Eblis, [the Devil,] wishing to prevent such an act of piety, gave warning to Hagar and her son; but they both replied: "If he believes it to be the will of Allah, let it be done." But when all was in readiness, Gabriel appeared with a ram, which he ordered Abraham to sacrifice instead of Ishmael. This ram was the same that Abel offered; and since that time it had been pastured in Paradise. The Jewish Talmud, in relating a similar story of Isaac, says an Angel brought the ram from Paradise, where it pastured under the Tree of Life, and drank from the rivers that flowed therefrom. Ishmael became a famous hunter and warrior, and married VOL. III.-30 the daughter of a king in south Arabia. He had twelve sons, the founders of twelve tribes. Abraham, who took great interest in his prosperity, wished to have the worship of One Supreme God established among them. Allah had sent down from heaven a temple for Adam, but at the time of the Deluge, He had caused it to be again drawn up into heaven. Abraham prayed earnestly that the model of it might be revealed to him, and Gabriel brought it in answer to his prayer. He then assisted Ishmael in building a temple precisely like it, on the spot where he had prepared to sacrifice him to the Lord, close beside the miraculous fountain. The Angel appointed to prevent Adam from eating the forbidden fruit had been changed into a diamond for his neglect. The diamond had been given to Adam, but was afterward drawn up into heaven with his temple. When Gabriel brought the model to Abraham, this precious stone was also sent from Paradise for him to rest upon; and it was ever after preserved in the House of Prayer, which he and Ishmael erected. The descendants of Ishmael were hunters and herdsmen, and, like their cousins the Israelites, lived thus for ages, without attracting the attention of more civilized portions of the world. It is recorded that Caab, son of Ishmael, was accustomed to assemble the people in the temple every Friday, and instruct them concerning the God taught by Abraham. Families that spread into the adjacent country built altars for themselves, but all were in the habit of repairing to the temple erected by Abraham, which was called the Caaba, from the name of the zealous preacher. Notwithstanding his constant exhortations, idolatry increased among his relatives; insomuch that when his grandson died, Mecca was the only place where the doctrine of One God was taught. When Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire, Arabians were in a condition which indicates that their opinions and customs had been princi pally derived from Chaldean and Egyptian sources; and such would be the natural result of traditional teaching, derived by Ishmael from his Chaldean father and Egyptian mother. A large majority of them worshipped Spirits of the Stars, whom they called "Sons of God" and "Daughters of God." They named the Supreme Being Allah Taaba, and considered the Spirits his subordinate agents in the creation and government of the world, and mediators between Him and mortals. Polytheism produced the same results there as elsewhere. The Supreme God became a mere abstract idea, and the inferior deities were the only objects of popular adoration. Opinions and customs varied in different parts of the country, but there was a general resemblance in doctrines and modes of worship. All professed to derive their system from Sabi, the son of Seth, and were therefore called Sabians. They prayed three times a day: at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. They observed three annual fasts; offered sacrifices of men and animals; made a yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, where they performed many ceremonies; and occasionally made pilgrimages to Harran in Mesopotamia, rendered sacred by some connection with the history of Abraham. Some of them made devotional journeys into Egypt, where they sacrificed a cock and a black calf, offered prayers, and burned incense before the great pyramids, which they believed to be the sepulchres of Seth, and his sons Enoch and Sabi. The Arabians, from the most ancient times, universally practised circumcision, and abstained from pork. In some of the tribes, society was divided into castes. Some sects believed in the transmigration of souls, and some introduced into their worship the sexual symbols, which Hindoos and Egyptians reverenced as Emblems of Life. When a relative died, it was the general custom to sacrifice a camel on his grave, that he might have an animal to ride upon when his body rose from the dead. In the vicinity of Persia, the doctrines of Zoroaster had become considerably mixed with the old Arabian traditions. Some sects supposed that the souls of wicked men would be punished during nine thousand ages, and then all would be forgiven, and become good. The seven days which constitute our week were successively appropriated to the worship of the seven Planetary Spirits, to each of whom a temple was erected. The one built at Mecca is said to have been originally consecrated to the Spirit of the planet Saturn. Each tribe considered itself under the especial protection of some tutelary deity. Therefore, one tribe peculiarly devoted itself to the Spirit of the Sun, another to Jupiter, another to Sirius, and another to the star in the Bull's eye. But the temple at Mecca, which contained the ancient Caaba within its enclosures, was the central place of worship for all the Sabians. Jews had settled in different parts of Arabia long before the Christian era; and when Jerusalem was destroyed, large numbers of them took refuge there. They gained many proselytes, some of whom were powerful chiefs, whose example influenced whole tribes. This is not surprising, considering how much common ground there was between them and the descendants of Ishmael. Both reverenced Abraham as their ancestor; both received as sacred nearly the same accounts of the creation, the deluge, and the patriarchs; and both followed the Egyptian customs of circumcision and abstinence from pork. When Nestorius was persecuted by the dominant Christian church, some of his adherents took refuge in Arabia, where they established churches, made some proselytes, and had a bishop. The followers of Eutyches, belonging to that branch of Monophysites called Jacobites, likewise found shelter there from the storm of persecution, and converted some of the natives to their form of Christianity. There were differences of opinion among the Arabian Christians. Some believed the soul died with the body, and would rise with it at the resurrection; others regarded that doctrine as a great heresy. Nestorians denied that Mary, a mortal woman, could be the mother of that portion of Christ's nature which was divine. But another Christian sect adored her as one of the Trinity; an idea which might have originated in the fact that some Jewish Chris tians represented the Holy Spirit as the mother of Christ. Jews and Christians in Arabia competed with each other in proselyting the Sabians. Upon one occasion they challenged each other to a public discussion, which continued three days. Early Christian writers give a miraculous account of it. They say that on the third day of the disputation, the advocate of the Hebrew religion remarked: "If Jesus is really in heaven, and can hear the prayers of his worshippers, call upon him to appear, and then we shall be convinced." The Jewish portion of the audience cried out: "Yes; show us your Christ, and then we will believe that he is the Messiah." Whereupon, there came a loud clap of thunder, followed by vivid lightning; and Jesus appeared walking on a purple cloud, surrounded by rays of glory, crowned with a diadem, and bearing a sword in his right hand. He hovered over the assembly, and proclaimed, with a loud voice: "Lo, I appear in your sight! I am Jesus, whom your fathers crucified." When he had said this, he disappeared in the clouds. The Christians exclaimed: "Kyrie eleison!" which signifies, "O Lord, have mercy on us!" The Jews were struck blind. by the vision, and did not recover their sight till they were all baptized. But efforts to convert the Arabians were only partially successful. A great majority of the people continued to worship the Spirits of the Stars, under the form of images made to represent them. The Caaba contained three hundred and sixty images, either in human form, or in the shape of lions, eagles, bulls, and other creatures that represented the constellations. Three goddesses, named Al Lata, Al Uzzah, and Manah, were called "Daughters of God;" and their images were regarded with peculiar veneration. One of them held a babe in her arms, as the Egyptian Isis was represented with her infant Horus. Every family had images of household gods, to which prayers were offered in sickness or trouble, also when they set out on a journey, and when they returned. During the last month of every year, a great concourse of pilgrims VOL. III.-30* |