The Life of Mohammad Part 7

Besides, this supposed miracle is so flagrantly contradicted by numerous verses of the Qur'an that it is not possible to admit it.

"_Nothing hindered Us from sending thee (Mohammad) with the power of working miracles, except that the people of old treated them as lies._" (THE QUR'AN, XVII, 61.)

There was such slight efficacity in miracles! The Israelites bowed down to the Golden Calf immediately after the miracle wrought by Moses to save them from the waves of the Red Sea and Pharaoh's hosts. The idolaters of Makkah would not have been more greatly impressed by the sight of the most astonis.h.i.+ng miracle. "_With their most binding oath have they sworn by Allah, that if a sign come unto them, they will certainly believe it; Say: Signs are in the power of Allah alone: and what shall make ye to understand that if they were wrought these men would not believe it * And though We had sent down the Angels to them, and the dead had spoken to them, and We had gathered all things about them in hosts, they had not believed, unless Allah willed it._" (THE QUR'AN, VI, 109, 111.)

[Sidenote: THE MIRACLE OF THE QUR'AN]

Nevertheless there was one miracle, the only one placed to Mohammad's credit, and which was the cause of great anxiety among the Quraish idolaters: the miracle of the "Ayates," a word generally rendered by "Verses," but really meaning: "miraculous signs" of the Qur'an.

The miracles wrought by earlier Prophets had been transient, so to say, and for that very reason, rapidly forgotten, while that of the Verses may be called "The Permanent Miracle." Its activity was unceasing. Everywhere and at all hours, each Believer, by reciting the Verses, helped to realise the miracle, and in this can be found the explanation of many sudden conversions, incomprehensible for the European who knows nothing of the Qur'an, or judges it by cold and inaccurate translations.

The wonderful charm of this Book, resembling no other masterpiece of the literature of mankind, needs not to be explained to us Moslems, because we consider it emanates from the words of Allah Himself, sent down through the mouth of His Prophet. In this connection, we think it will be interesting to quote the opinion of two Orientalists, justly celebrated.

This is the conception of Savary, the first to translate the Qur'an into French: "Mohammad was learned in the study of his language, the richest and the most harmonious in the world, and which, by the composition of its verses, permits thoughts as they soar to be correctly described. By the harmony of its sounds, it imitates the cries of animals, murmuring waters, thunder and the breeze. Mohammad, I repeat, being past master of a language that so many poets have embellished and which exists since the beginning of the world, took great pains to add every charm of elocution to his precepts of morality. Poets were greatly looked up to in Arabia. Labid ibn Rabyah, an ill.u.s.trious poet, nailed one of his poems on the door of the Temple of Makkah. His reputation and the value of his works kept all compet.i.tors away. None came forward to compete for the prize.... The second chapter of the Qur'an--some writers say the 55th--was then placed by the side of the poem. Labid, although a wors.h.i.+pper of graven images, was seized with a fit of admiration after reading the first verses and confessed himself vanquished."

He became a convert very soon after and one day, his admirers being desirous of gathering together his complete works, questioned him on this subject. 'I have no recollection of any of my poetry,' he replied, 'for my entire memory hath been absorbed by the verses of the Book of Revelation.'

We will now give the opinion of Stanley Lane Poole: "The style (of the Surahs) is haughty in every part and full of pa.s.sion. The words are those of a man who tries with all his heart to convince his readers.

Even nowadays, they give an impression of the vehemence and fire with which they were originally hurled forth at Mohammad's hearers surrounding him. These are the broken utterances of a human heart totally incapable of hypocrisy; the heart of a man who has exercised extraordinary influence over mankind."

If the magic of the style and the thoughts of the Qur'an produced this effect on learned men, who were neither Arabs nor Moslems, how great then was the enthusiasm created among the Arabs of the Hijaz, especially as the verses were couched in their own poetical language?

You only, travellers who have had an opportunity of seeing the emotion that overcomes the audience of an Imam reciting the Sacred Verses, can have a slight idea of this feeling. You may have seen poor caravaneers, still powdered all over by the sand of their desert, where they have just endured the greatest fatigue, rus.h.i.+ng towards the Mosque, instead of seeking refres.h.i.+ng repose; drawn thither, as if hypnotised by the Imam's voice. Sometimes even, in the time of Ramadhan, Moslems, after having fasted all day, pa.s.s the whole of the night in ecstasy, as they listen to the Divine Word.

It is certain that the illiterate Bedouins of our day do not always understand the real meaning of the words recited by the Imam, but the rhythm, the cadence, the harmony of the a.s.sonances animating the wonderful verses, echoing in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the beatings of their hearts, convey to them an explanation, vague perhaps, but truly in accordance with the spirit of the text, and above all, full of incomparable suggestion. On the other hand, how vapid would seem to them the explanation, more literal but less emotional, of a "Talib"

pedant or a frigid grammarian.

As for the Arab of the Hijaz, comprehending the most subtle hints of the language of the Qur'an--his own language--and who welcomed the Surahs as they issued from the lips of his fellow-countryman: the genial, inspired Messenger of Allah, that listener was overwhelmed by such sudden surprise that he remained as if petrified. Could this supernatural language come from Mohammad, known to be completely illiterate and possessing no other knowledge than that due to nature and intuition? This seemed perfectly impossible. The Arab was therefore forced to admit that Mohammad's words were dictated by the Almighty. Besides, it was following no ingenious falsehood that the Prophet attributed the verses of the Qur'an to Allah. He was absolutely convinced of their divine origin. The terrible crises by which the Revelation manifested itself, bringing him the solution of unknown problems in language so new to him; so different to his own; even upbraiding him when he made mistakes and commanding him to recite these verses, despite any resistance he might make, left him without the slightest doubt on that head.

Consequently, it was with the most perfect faith that he felt boundless admiration for the Qur'an; that is to say for the Words of Allah. Had not Allah revealed to him these verses: "_Say: Then bring ten Surahs like it of your devising, and call whom ye can to your aid beside Allah, if ye are men of truth._" (THE QUR'AN, XI, 16).

Convinced of their powerlessness, "The Unlettered Prophet", (THE QUR'AN, VII, 156), challenged the most celebrated poets, giving them the right to call him a cheat, if they could compose ten Surahs resembling his.

To doubt the absolute and strangely moving sincerity of Mohammad and picture him as a vulgar, but clever, ambitious man, as some modern historians have done, one must be blinded by preconceived ideas, worthy of the days of the Inquisition. Carlyle, in his book, "On Heroes," treated such fanaticism or stupidity as it deserved: "A false man found a religion?" he exclaims, speaking of Mohammad. "Why a false man cannot build a brick house! If he do not know and follow truly the properties of mortar, burnt clay and what else he works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish-heap. It will not stand for twelve centuries, to lodge a hundred-and-eighty millions; it will fall straightway."

[Sidenote: HOW IT WAS FORBIDDEN TO LISTEN TO THE QUR'AN]

Being powerless to struggle against the irresistible effect produced by the recitation of the Qur'an, the Quraish idol-wors.h.i.+ppers resolved to forbid people to listen to it.

By threats, the tribesmen frightened those who tried to approach the Prophet, when as was his wont, he recited, on the threshold of the Ka'bah, a few pa.s.sages of the Revealed Book. So as not to hear him, they put their fingers in their ears; or else, to drown his voice, they whistled, clapped their hands, or bawled, as loudly as they could, sc.r.a.ps of doggerel composed by idolater-poets. The unexpected result was that the very men who had made it a crime to listen to the celebrated verses, were moved by that unconquerable curiosity which attracts weak mortals towards forbidden things.

One night, Abu Sufyan, Abu Jahal and Al-Akhnas went out of their houses, bending their steps, each unknown to the other, towards the dwelling of the Prophet. Once there, their ears glued to the wall, they tried to overhear the recital of some of the Divine Surahs. In the darkness of the night, they did not see one another. But when day dawned, they came face to face on their homeward road, and blamed each other mutually: 'What would our partisans think, if they had caught us doing this thing?' And they took a solemn oath never to be so imprudent again.

But the next night and the night after that, the same thing occurred, followed by the same exchange of reproaches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Calligraphy) _O thou enwrapped in thy mantle! * Arise and warn! * And thy Lord--magnify Him!_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Ornamental page) CHAPTER THE FOURTH]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Ar Ruku, or Inclination._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: (Calligraphy) _Ye shall a.s.suredly be tried in your possessions and in yourselves._]

CHAPTER THE FOURTH

[Sidenote: PERSECUTION]

Quoth the Prophet: "Allah created Paradise for the man who obeyeth Him, even if only a black Abyssinian slave; and h.e.l.l for the man rebelling against Him, even if he be a n.o.bleman of the Quraish."

Islam, tending towards the perfect equality of castes and races, naturally attracted all the poor and downtrodden of the city. With increasing vexation, the idolatrous masters saw their slaves, in eager crowds, converted to the new faith. But as these wretched folks were in the tyrants' power, they glutted their vengeance on them, not daring to attack disciples of the Prophet occupying higher rank.

Oummayatah ibn Khalaf, having become aware of the conversion of his black slave, Bilal ibn Hammah, was engrossed with but a single thought: that of torturing him with the most dastardly refinements.

Placing his neck in a noose made from a rough rope of palm-fibre, he gave him into the hands of boys knowing no pity. They dragged him along behind them, like a beast of burden, just for amus.e.m.e.nt. The rope, pulled this way and that by the juvenile wrongdoers, ploughed a sanguinary furrow in Bilal's flesh. Nevertheless, he seemed insensible to pain. Thereupon his master deprived him of food and drink, and led him from the town at noonday, in the middle of summer, throwing him out in the "Ramda," a sandy plain, so torrid that a slice of meat, thrown on the ground, cooked itself immediately. He made his slave lie down, stretched out on his back, an enormous stone on his breast.

'Thou shalt stop there,' he ordered, 'until thou dost abjure Mohammad's doctrines, and wors.h.i.+p Lat and Uzza.'

But the stoical Moslem did nothing more than lift the forefinger of his right hand, saying again and again: 'Ahad! Ahad! Allah is one!

Allah is one!' thus testifying the scorn he felt for his master who dared to couple wooden or stone a.s.sociates with the Master of the Worlds. The affirmation of the slave produced insensibility to pain, because the ineffable joy of the sacrifice for his faith mingled with and mastered the bitterness of torture.

Pa.s.sing one day near the Ramda, Abu Bakr witnessed this cruel sight.

'Fearest thou not the justice of Allah, the Most High, O Oummayatah!

when thou dost inflict such torment on that wretched man?' he cried indignantly.--'Thou didst corrupt him; therefore 'tis thy duty to save him,' was the cynical reply.--'Willingly! I possess a young black slave, stronger and a better worker than thine. Moreover, he is entirely devoted to thy idols. I offer him to thee in exchange.'

Oummayatah accepted and turned Bilal over to Abu Bakr who granted him his freedom straightway. Besides, this generous man (may Allah make him welcome in His Grace!) purchased six other slaves, men and women, all Islamic converts, merely to set them free, and deliver them out of the hands of their idolatrous masters.

These persecutions continued notwithstanding, becoming more and more barbarous. The Banu Makhzum tribe took Ammar, with Yaser, his father, and Summayy, his mother, out on the Ramda, in order to make them suffer all the tortures prompted by diabolical ferocity. Ammar was enclosed in an iron breastplate that held him down on the ground, exposed to the blazing rays of the sun at its zenith. His flesh crackled as if in contact with molten metal. But the same thing happened as with Bilal; the idolaters were unable to drag from Ammar or his parents, tortured in like fas.h.i.+on, one blasphemous word. It was then that, blinded by rage, Abu Jahal drove his spear through Summayy's heart, mocking the dying woman by telling her: 'If thou dost believe in Mohammad, 'tis because thou art in love with his beauty!'

Summayy was the first martyr to Islam, but such constancy was not to be found in all. A few Believers, enfeebled by privation and torture to such an extent that they could not stand upright, finished by letting fall from their lips, despite themselves, the blasphemous utterances ensuring release. For such as these, crushed by shame and shedding tears of repentance, the following Surah of consolation has come down: "_Whoso after he hath believed in G.o.d, denieth Him, if he were forced to it and if his heart remain steadfast in the faith (shall be guiltless:) * But whoso openeth his breast to infidelity--on them in that case shall be wrath from G.o.d, and a severe punishment awaiteth them._" (THE QUR'AN, XVI, 108).

When the Prophet saw what tortures were inflicted on his disciples and that he was powerless to protect them, he was overwhelmed with intense sadness. The martyrs' courage proved to him how deeply the roots of faith were planted in their hearts; nevertheless he considered that such sacrifices should be avoided. So he advised all who were weak, or even such as were not forced by imperious necessity to remain in Makkah, to emigrate to Abyssinia, a land inhabited by Christians, whose Chieftain, the Najas.h.i.+ (Negus) was celebrated for his tolerance and justice.

[Sidenote: THE EMIGRATION TO ABYSSINIA (_A.D. 615_)]

Sixteen Moslems were the first to depart. Among them was Usman ibn Affan and his wife Ruqaiyah, one of the Prophet's daughters. They went out from Makkah secretly and on foot. Reaching the sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea, they chartered a _felucca_ which carried them over to the opposite bank, from whence they journeyed to the Court of the Najas.h.i.+ who welcomed them kindly. Another caravan soon joined them, and the little Mussulman colony, having taken refuge in Abyssinian territory, was made up of eighty-three men and eighteen women.

Exasperated at seeing their victims escape from their clutches; and still more furious to have to include among the emigrants members of their own families, such as Umm-i-Habibah, daughter of Abu Sufyan, the idolaters despatched to the Najas.h.i.+ two amba.s.sadors, Umar ibn al As and Abdullah, son of Abu Rabiyah, bearing rich presents, with a view to claiming the fugitives, described as being dangerous agitators, capable of causing a revolution in his kingdom.

The Najas.h.i.+ had already seen that the contrary was the case. By their honesty and virtue, the fugitives had gained the esteem and sympathy of his subjects, so that he did not feel inclined to favour the request of the amba.s.sadors, despite their valuable gifts. They then thought it would be as well to touch upon the religious susceptibilities of the Christian monarch, and put him on his guard against the danger of Islam. 'Know then what these impostors seek to attain,' said they to him. 'They have set foot in thine empire in order to turn thy subjects away from the religion of Jesus, even as they sought to lead the Quraish astray from the religion of their ancestors. Shouldst thou wish to put our veracity to the test, question them concerning their opinions with regard to Jesus, thy G.o.d.'

The Najas.h.i.+ followed this piece of advice. He interrogated the most learned among the emigrants and elicited the following reply from Jafar, Mohammad's cousin, son of Abu Talib: 'These are the Verses revealed to the Prophet: "_The Messiah Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), is only an apostle of Allah, and His Word which He conveyed into Maryam..._" (THE QUR'AN, IV, 169.)

This answer was not at all displeasing to the Najas.h.i.+. If it did not acknowledge the divinity of Jesus, it showed, at least, the deep veneration in which He was held by the Moslems, and the Abyssinian monarch was fully rea.s.sured as to the fugitives' intentions. So he sent the amba.s.sadors away, without accepting any of their presents or giving them the slightest satisfaction.

[Sidenote: THE CONVERSION OF UMAR, SON OF AL-KHATTAB]

The Unbelievers had succeeded in making fierce Umar think that he would save his country by ridding it of Mohammad. So Umar, having buckled on his sword, and his eyes flas.h.i.+ng fire, bent his steps in the direction of the Safa district, where he fancied he might fall across the Prophet. Umar, on his way, met Na'im, who had gone over to Islam unbeknown to his fellow-tribesmen. 'Wither goest thou, O Umar?'

queried the convert.--'To seek out this fellow Mohammad who hath stirred up strife in the midst of the Quraish. Oh, by our G.o.ds! I must kill him!'--'By Allah! thy soul leadeth thee to do a mad act, O Umar!

Dost thou think that the Abd-i-Manaf will leave thee in peace on the face of the earth, if thou dost put to death their relative, Mohammad?' he added, trying to deter him from carrying out his abominable plan. 'Would it not be far better to get certain members of thine own household to explain their doings?'--'Who are these persons under my roof?'--'Thy sister Fatimah and thy brother-in-law Said ibn Zayd. They, too, are Moslems.'