A Literary History of the Arabs Part 50

[287] See p. 69 _supra_.

[288] Tradition a.s.sociates him especially with Waraqa, who was a cousin of his first wife, Khadija, and is said to have hailed him as a prophet while Mu?ammad himself was still hesitating (Ibn Hisham, p. 153, l.

14 sqq.).

[289] This is the celebrated 'Night of Power' (_Laylatu 'l-Qadr_) mentioned in the Koran, xcvii, 1.

[290] The Holy Ghost (_Ru?u'l-Quds_), for whom in the Medina Suras Gabriel (Jibril) is subst.i.tuted.

[291] But another version (Ibn Hisham, p. 152, l. 9 sqq.) represents Mu?ammad as replying to the Angel, "What am I to read?" (_ma aqra'u_ or _ma dha aqra'u_). Professor Bevan has pointed out to me that the tradition in this form bears a curious resemblance, which can hardly be accidental, to the words of Isaiah xl. 6: "The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry?" The question whether the Prophet could read and write is discussed by Noldeke (_Geschichte des Qorans_, p. 7 sqq.), who leaves it undecided. According to Noldeke (_loc. cit._, p. 10), the epithet _ummi_, which is applied to Mu?ammad in the Koran, and is commonly rendered by 'illiterate,' does not signify that he was ignorant of reading and writing, but only that he was unacquainted with the ancient Scriptures; _cf._ 'Gentile.' However this may be, it appears that he wished to pa.s.s for illiterate, with the object of confirming the belief in his inspiration: "_Thou_" (Mu?ammad) "_didst not use to read any book before this_" (the Koran) "_nor to write it with thy right hand; else the liars would have doubted_" (Koran, xxix, 47).

[292] The meaning of these words (_iqra' bismi rabbika_) is disputed.

Others translate, "Preach in the name of thy Lord" (Noldeke), or "Proclaim the name of thy Lord" (Hirschfeld). I see no sufficient grounds for abandoning the traditional interpretation supported by verses 4 and 5. Mu?ammad dreamed that he was commanded to read the Word of G.o.d inscribed in the Heavenly Book which is the source of all Revelation.

[293] Others render, "who taught (the use of) the Pen."

[294] This account of Mu?ammad's earliest vision (Bukhari, ed. by Krehl, vol. iii, p. 380, l. 2 sqq.) is derived from 'A'isha, his favourite wife, whom he married after the death of Khadija.

[295] Ibn Hisham, p. 152, l. 9 sqq.

[296] See p. 72 _supra_.

[297] This interval is known as the Fatra.

[298] Literally, 'warn.'

[299] 'The abomination' (_al-rujz_) probably refers to idolatry.

[300] Literally, "The Last State shall be better for thee than the First," referring either to Mu?ammad's recompense in the next world or to the ultimate triumph of his cause in this world.

[301] _Islam_ is a verbal noun formed from _Aslama_, which means 'to surrender' and, in a religious sense, 'to surrender one's self to the will of G.o.d.' The participle, _Muslim_ (Moslem), denotes one who thus surrenders himself.

[302] Sprenger, _Leben des Mohammad_, vol. i, p. 356.

[303] It must be remembered that this branch of Mu?ammadan tradition derives from the pietists of the first century after the Flight, who were profoundly dissatisfied with the reigning dynasty (the Umayyads), and revenged themselves by painting the behaviour of the Meccan ancestors of the Umayyads towards Mu?ammad in the blackest colours possible. The facts tell another story. It is significant that hardly any case of real persecution is mentioned in the Koran. Mu?ammad was allowed to remain at Mecca and to carry on, during many years, a religious propaganda which his fellow-citizens, with few exceptions, regarded as detestable and dangerous. We may well wonder at the moderation of the Quraysh, which, however, was not so much deliberate policy as the result of their indifference to religion and of Mu?ammad's failure to make appreciable headway in Mecca.

[304] Ibn Hisham, p. 168, l. 9. sqq.

[305] At this time Mu?ammad believed the doctrines of Islam and Christianity to be essentially the same.

[306] ?abari, i, 1180, 8 sqq. _Cf._ Caetani, _Annali dell' Islam_, vol. i, p. 267 sqq.

[307] Muir, _Life of Mahomet_, vol. ii, p. 151.

[308] We have seen (p. 91 _supra_) that the heathen Arabs disliked female offspring, yet they called their three princ.i.p.al deities the daughters of Allah.

[309] It is related by Ibn Is?aq (?abari, i, 1192, 4 sqq.). In his learned work, _Annali dell' Islam_, of which the first volume appeared in 1905, Prince Caetani impugns the authenticity of the tradition and criticises the narrative in detail (p. 279 sqq.), but his arguments do not touch the main question. As Muir says, "it is hardly possible to conceive how the tale, if not founded in truth, could ever have been invented."

[310] The Meccan view of Mu?ammad's action may be gathered from the words uttered by Abu Jahl on the field of Badr--"O G.o.d, bring woe upon him who more than any of us hath severed the ties of kinship and dealt dishonourably!" (?abari, i, 1322, l. 8 seq.). Alluding to the Moslems who abandoned their native city and fled with the Prophet to Medina, a Meccan poet exclaims (Ibn Hisham, p. 519, ll. 3-5):--

_They_ (the Quraysh slain at Badr) _fell in honour. They did not sell their kinsmen for strangers living in a far land and of remote lineage;_

_Unlike you, who have made friends of Gha.s.san_ (the people of Medina), _taking them instead of us--O, what a shameful deed!_

_Tis an impiety and a manifest crime and a cutting of all ties of blood: your iniquity therein is discerned by men of judgment and understanding._

[311] _Sura_ is properly a row of stones or bricks in a wall.

[312] See p. 74 _supra_.

[313] Koran, lxix, 41.

[314] Noldeke, _Geschichte des Qorans_, p. 56.

[315] _I.e._, what it has done or left undone.

[316] The Last Judgment.

[317] Moslems believe that every man is attended by two Recording Angels who write down his good and evil actions.

[318] This is generally supposed to refer to the persecution of the Christians of Najran by Dhu Nuwas (see p. 26 _supra_). Geiger takes it as an allusion to the three men who were cast into the fiery furnace (Daniel, ch. iii).

[319] See above, p. 3.

[320] According to Mu?ammadan belief, the archetype of the Koran and of all other Revelations is written on the Guarded Table (_al-Law?

al-Ma?fu?_) in heaven.

[321] Koran, xvii, 69.

[322] See, for example, the pa.s.sages translated by Lane in his _Selections from the Kur-an_ (London, 1843), pp. 100-113.

[323] _Ikhla?_ means 'purifying one's self of belief in any G.o.d except Allah.'

[324] The Prophet's confession of his inability to perform miracles did not deter his followers from inventing them after his death. Thus it was said that he caused the infidels to see "the moon cloven asunder"

(Koran, liv, 1), though, as is plain from the context, these words refer to one of the signs of the Day of Judgment.

[325] I take this opportunity of calling the reader's attention to a most interesting article by my friend and colleague, Professor A. A.

Bevan, ent.i.tled _The Beliefs of Early Mohammedans respecting a Future Existence_ (_Journal of Theological Studies_, October, 1904, p. 20 sqq.), where the whole subject is fully discussed.

[326] Shaddad b. al-Aswad al-Laythi, quoted in the _Risalatu 'l-Ghufran_ of Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (see my article in the _J.R.A.S._ for 1902, pp. 94 and 818); _cf._ Ibn Hisham, p. 530, last line. Ibn (Abi) Kabsha was a nickname derisively applied to Mu?ammad. _?ada_ and _hama_ refer to the death-bird which was popularly supposed to utter its shriek from the skull (_hama_) of the dead, and both words may be rendered by 'soul' or 'wraith.'

[327] Noldeke, _Geschichte des Qorans_, p. 78.

[328] _Cf._ also Koran, xviii, 45-47; xx, 102 sqq.; x.x.xix, 67 sqq.; lxix, 13-37.

[329] The famous freethinker, Abu 'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri, has cleverly satirised Mu?ammadan notions on this subject in his _Risalatu 'l-Ghufran_ (_J.R.A.S._ for October, 1900, p. 637 sqq.).

[330] _Journal of Theological Studies_ for October, 1904, p. 22.

[331] Ibn Hisham, p. 411, l. 6 sqq.