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036 - 5 Mohammedanism · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part one, chapter five of Short History of the Christian
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  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter five Mohammedanism. Mohammed, the founder of
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  Speaker 1: the faith which bears his name, was born in Mecca,
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  Speaker 1: Arabia about a d. Five seventy. He sprang from the
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  Speaker 1: Chorus tribe, who were the rulers of Mecca and the
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  Speaker 1: surrounding country, and protected the Kaba, an ancient temple and
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  Speaker 1: the center of the old national worship of Arabia. His
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  Speaker 1: parents died when he was young, and he was left
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  Speaker 1: to the care of his grandfather. He exhibited his warlike
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  Speaker 1: taste when twenty years of age. Of these first experiences,
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  Speaker 1: he afterwards said, I remember being present with my uncles
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  Speaker 1: in war. I shot arrows at the enemy, and I
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  Speaker 1: do not regret it. End he followed the vocation of
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  Speaker 1: a shepherd and said, truly, no prophet hath been raised
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  Speaker 1: who hath not done the work of a shepherd. His
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  Speaker 1: youth was spent in better ways than was the case
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  Speaker 1: with most young men about him. He avoided the prevailing licentiousness,
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  Speaker 1: was reserved, and very early showed signs of hostility to
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  Speaker 1: the usual idolatry Khadijah, a rich widow, put him in
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  Speaker 1: charge of her caravan, which was about to start for Syria.
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  Speaker 1: On his return, he married her. He was at this
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  Speaker 1: time twenty five years of age and she was forty.
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  Speaker 1: The wealth which was at his disposal gave him opportunity
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  Speaker 1: for meditation and for carrying out his plans as the
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  Speaker 1: founder of a new religion. Mohammed claimed that he fell
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  Speaker 1: into rhapsodies, during which he had his alleged revelations. His
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  Speaker 1: wife was one of the first to accept his claims
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  Speaker 1: to the prophetic calling forty or fifty others rallied about
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  Speaker 1: him even before he made public his claims to special revelation.
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  Speaker 1: He called his religion Islam, or surrender to the will
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  Speaker 1: of God. He despised idols of every kind and appealed
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  Speaker 1: to his countrymen to return to the old Abrahamic faith.
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  Speaker 1: He preached the fundamental doctrines of Judaism, the resurrection of
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  Speaker 1: the human body, the final judgment, and rewards and punishments
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  Speaker 1: according to the life on earth. Great opposition was soon developed,
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  Speaker 1: and he, with fifteen adherents, went across the Red Sea
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  Speaker 1: to Abyssinia. This was the first Hegeiah, and he was
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  Speaker 1: forty seven years of age at the time. In three
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  Speaker 1: months he returned. In a moment of weakness or for
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  Speaker 1: purposes of the final success of his new faith, he
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  Speaker 1: yielded to the popular idolatry, so far as to say,
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  Speaker 1: of the three idols, lat Oza and Manat, these are
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  Speaker 1: the exalted goddesses whose intercession with the deity is to
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  Speaker 1: be sought. But he soon recovered from this position and
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  Speaker 1: denounced idolatry root and branch, more bitterly than ever. He
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  Speaker 1: made a second flight into Abyssinia, where the Christian king
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  Speaker 1: Nejus gave him a favorable reception. In fact, the religion
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  Speaker 1: of Mohammed so far was not antagonistic to Christianity, but
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  Speaker 1: friendly to it. But in due time the difference could
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  Speaker 1: be seen, and when once Mohammedanism was on its full
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  Speaker 1: career of conquest, there was no further friendship. There are traces, however,
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  Speaker 1: in the Quran of Mohammad's acquaintance with the main facts
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  Speaker 1: of the life of Jesus. He probably acquired it when
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  Speaker 1: on his caravan journeys in earlier life to Syria. There
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  Speaker 1: were also Christians living in various parts of Arabia, and
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  Speaker 1: probably in Mecca, through whom he must have become thoroughly
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  Speaker 1: conversant with Christian doctrine. After Mohammed arrived at his fifty
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  Speaker 1: second year, his success was more decided than before. Mecca
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  Speaker 1: was slower to accept his creed than the distant places.
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  Speaker 1: At Medina, the new faith gained great strength. Mohammed removed
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  Speaker 1: thither eighty six twenty two and cheered in building the
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  Speaker 1: Grand Mosque, which afterwards occupied an important place in Mohammedan history.
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  Speaker 1: Mecca and Medina were at swords points, the former being
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  Speaker 1: opposed to Mohammed and the latter favoring him. The Battle
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  Speaker 1: of Beder was the result. Mohammed was victorious, though the
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  Speaker 1: first blood was not shed here. This was the real beginning,
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  Speaker 1: on a large scale, of the sanguinary career of Mohammedanism.
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  Speaker 1: Mohammed gained steadily on his enemies. He conquered one tribe
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  Speaker 1: after another, until he became feared throughout Arabia. He sent
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  Speaker 1: leggates to foreign courts and received answers and gifts in return.
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  Speaker 1: He died while making preparations for a campaign on the
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  Speaker 1: Syrian border, when sixty three years of age. The Koran
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  Speaker 1: contains the system of Mohammed. He claimed to have received
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  Speaker 1: his communications miraculously and that they should be the law
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  Speaker 1: of faith and practice for his followers for all time.
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  Speaker 1: This day, said Mohammed at his farewell pilgrimage, have I
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  Speaker 1: perfected your religion unto you? And from that day to
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  Speaker 1: this the Koran has never undergone any change and is
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  Speaker 1: the standard of faith and life of the one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy three millions who constitute the Mohammedan world. It
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  Speaker 1: is a medley of legend history, Jewish patriarchal traditions, and
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  Speaker 1: sensual doctrine. It permits polygamy and awakens the courage of
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  Speaker 1: Mohammedans by promises of worldly pleasures in the future life.
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  Speaker 1: It is severe un idolatry and declares the unity of God.
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  Speaker 1: There is a great confusion of chronology. Many of the
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  Speaker 1: moral precepts were mere accommodations to Mohammed's infirmities. Polygamy is
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  Speaker 1: allowed by the Quran at the mere whim of the husband.
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  Speaker 1: Divorce takes place with equal ease. Slavery is recognized as
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  Speaker 1: a civil institution. The Mohammedan is obliged to fight for
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  Speaker 1: the extension of his cause. The Church and the state
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  Speaker 1: are one, and the same fatalism abounds throughout the system.
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  Speaker 1: Under Abu Becker and the later successors of Mohammed, the
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  Speaker 1: new Faith was propagated with amazing rapidity. Arabia was conquered
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  Speaker 1: by the prophet himself. The caliphs who came after him
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  Speaker 1: subdued Egypt, all North Africa, Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Northern India, Spain,
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  Speaker 1: the south of France, and the Danubian principalities. The progress
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  Speaker 1: in Western Europe was arrested by the victory of Charles
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  Speaker 1: Martel at Tours eighty seven thirty two. The conquests in
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  Speaker 1: the countries around the eastern portion of the Mediterranean Sea
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  Speaker 1: were more easy because of the strifes of rulers and
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  Speaker 1: the dissensions of Christians. The progress of the Mohammedans into
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  Speaker 1: Central Europe was not arrested until sixteen eighty three, when
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  Speaker 1: John Sobieski, the Polish King, defeated the Turks with great
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  Speaker 1: slaughter at Vienna. End of chapter five