Mahomet - Founder of Islam

Mahomet - Founder of Islam

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott
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Title: Mahomet Founder of Islam
Author: Gladys M. Draycott
Release Date: January 18, 2004 [EBook #10738]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MAHOMET ***

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MAHOMET
FOUNDER OF ISLAM
BY G. M. DRAYCOTT

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE
II. CHILDHOOD
III. STRIFE AND MEDITATION
IV. ADVENTURE AND SECURITY

V. INSPIRATION
VI. SEVERANCE
VII. THE CHOSEN CITY
VIII. THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA
IX. THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER
X. THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS
XI. THE BATTLE OF BEDR
XII. THE JEWS AT MEDINA
XIII. THE BATTLE OF OHOD
XIV. THE TYRANNY OF WAR
XV. THE WAR OF THE DITCH
XVI. THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA
XVII. THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE
XVIII. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
XIX. MAHOMET, VICTOR
XX. ICONOCLASM
XXI. LAST RITES
XXII. THE GENESIS OF ISLAM
INDEX
"Il estimait sincèrement la force.... Jetée dans le monde, son âme se
trouva à la mesure du monde et l'embrassa tout.... C'est l'état prodigieux
des hommes d'action. Ils sont tout entiers dans la moment qu'ils vivent
et leur génie se ramasse sur un point."
ANATOLE FRANCE

MAHOMET
INTRODUCTION
The impetus that gave victory to Islam is spent. Since its material
prosperity overwhelmed its spiritual ascendancy in the first years of
triumph its vitality has waned under the stress of riches, then beneath
lassitude and the slow decrease of power. The Prophet Mahomet is at
once the glory and bane of his people, the source of their strength and
the mainspring of their weakness. He represents more effectively than
any other religious teacher the sum of his followers' spiritual and
worldly ideas. His position in religion and philosophy is substantially
the position of all his followers; none have progressed beyond the
primary thesis he gave to the Arabian world at the close of his career.

He closes a long line of semi-divine teachers and monitors. After him
the curtains of heaven close, and its glory is veiled from men's eyes. He
is the last great man who imposed enthusiasm for an idea upon
countless numbers of his fellow-creatures, so that whole tribes fought
and died at his bidding, and at the command of God through him. Now
that the vital history of Islam has been written, some decision as to the
position and achievements of its founder may be formulated.
Mahomet conceived the office of Prophet to be the result of an
irresistible divine call. Verily the angel Gabriel appeared to him,
commanding him to "arise and warn." He was the vehicle through
whom the will of Allah was revealed. The inspired character of his rule
was the prime factor in its prevailing; by virtue of his heavenly
authority he exercised his sway over the religious actions of his
followers, their aspirations and their beliefs. In order to promulgate the
divine ordinances the Kuran was sent down, inspired directly by the
angel Gabriel at the bidding of the Lord. Upon all matters of belief and
upon all other matters dealt with, however cursorily, in the Kuran
Mahomet spoke with the power of God Himself; upon matters not
within the scope of religion or of the Sacred Book he was only a human
and fallible counsellor.
"I am no more than man; when I order you anything with respect to
religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the world,
then am I nothing more than man."
There is no question of his equality with the Godhead, or even of his
sharing any part of the divine nature. He is simply the instrument,
endowed with a power and authority outside himself, a man who
possesses one cardinal thesis which all those within his faith must
accept.
The idea which represents at once the scope of his teaching and the
source of his triumphs is the unity and indivisibility of the Godhead.
This is the sole contribution he has made to the progressive thought of
the world. Though he came later in time than the culture of Greece and
Rome, he never knew their philosophies or the sum of their knowledge.
His religion could never he built upon such basic strength as
Christianity. It sprang too rapidly into prominence, and had no
foundation of slowly developed ideas upon which to rest both its
enthusiasm and its earthly endeavour.

Mahomet bears closer resemblance to the ancient Hebrew prophets than
to any Christian leader or saint. His mind was