Beacon Lights of History, Volume 05 | Page 7

a new phase appears in the Prophet's life and teachings.
Thus far, until his flight, it would seem that he propagated his doctrines
by moral force alone, and that these doctrines, in the main, were
elevated. He had earnestly declared his great idea of the unity of God.
He had pronounced the worship of images to be idolatrous. He held
idolatry of all kinds in supreme abhorrence. He enjoined charity, justice,
and forbearance. He denounced all falsehood and all deception,
especially in trade. He declared that humility, benevolence, and
self-abnegation were the greatest virtues. He commanded his disciples
to return good for evil, to restrain the passions, to bridle the tongue, to
be patient under injuries, to be submissive to God. He enjoined prayer,
fastings, and meditation as a means of grace. He laid down the
necessity of rest on the seventh day. He copied the precepts of the Bible
in many of their essential features, and recognized its greatest teachers
as inspired prophets.
It was during these thirteen years at Mecca, amid persecution and
ridicule, and with few outward successes, that he probably wrote the
Koran,--a book without beginning and without end, disjecta membra,

regardless of all rules of art, full of repetitions, and yet full of lofty
precepts and noble truths of morality evidently borrowed from the
Jewish Scriptures,--in which his great ideas stand out with singular
eloquence and impressiveness: the unity of God, His divine sovereignty,
the necessity of prayer, the soul's immortality, future rewards and
punishments. His own private life had been blameless. It was plain and
simple. For a whole month he did not light a fire to cook his food. He
swept his chamber himself and mended his own clothes. His life was
that of an ascetic enthusiast, profoundly impressed with the greatness
and dignity of his mission. Thus far his greatest error and fault was in
the supposition that he was inspired in the same sense as the ancient
Jewish prophets were inspired,--to declare the will and the truth of God.
Any man leading such a life of contemplative asceticism and retirement
is prone to fall into the belief of special divine illumination. It
characterized George Fox, the Anabaptists, Ignatius Loyola, Saint
Theresa, and even, to some extent, Oliver Cromwell himself.
Mohammed's supreme error was that he was the greatest as well as the
last of the prophets. This was fanaticism, but he was probably honest in
the belief. His brain was turned by dreams, ecstasies, and ascetic
devotions. But with all his visionary ideas of his call, his own morality
and his teachings had been lofty, and apparently unsuccessful. Possibly
he was discouraged with the small progress he had made,--disgusted,
irritated, fierce.
Certainly, soon after he was established at Medina, a great change took
place in his mode of propagating his doctrines. His great ideas
remained the same, but he adopted a new way to spread them. So that I
can almost fancy that some Mephistopheles, some form of Satanic
agency, some lying Voice whispered to him in this wise: "O
Mohammed! of a truth thou art the Prophet of the living God. Thou
hast declared the grandest truths ever uttered in Arabia; but see how
powerless they are on the minds and hearts of thy countrymen, with all
thy eloquence, sincerity, and fervor. By moral means thou hast effected
comparatively nothing. Thou hast preached thirteen years, and only
made a few converts. Thy truths are too elevated for a corrupt and
wicked generation to accept. Even thine own life is in danger. Thou
hast been obliged to fly to these barren rocks and sands. Thou hast

failed. Why not pursue a new course, and adapt thy doctrines to men as
they are? Thy countrymen are wild, fierce, and warlike: why not incite
their martial passions in defence of thy doctrines? They are an earnest
people, and, believing in the truths which thou now declarest, they will
fight for them and establish them by the sword, not merely in Arabia,
but throughout the East. They are a pleasure-loving and imaginative
people: why not promise the victors of thy faith a sensual bliss in
Paradise? They will not be subverters of your grand truths; they will
simply extend them, and jealously, if they have a reward in what their
passions crave. In short, use the proper means for a great end. The end
justifies the means."
Whether influenced by such specious sophistries, or disheartened by his
former method, or corrupted in his own heart, as Solomon was, by his
numerous wives,--for Mohammed permitted polygamy and practised it
himself,--it is certain that he now was bent on achieving more signal
and rapid victories. He resolved to adapt his religion to the depraved
hearts of his followers. He would mix up truth with error; he would
make