Mokdinmed as n Rtliijiou s Teacher. — Mohammed was, according to iMohammedan reports, forty years of age when lie began to act the part of a prophet, and this he did first among his nearest relatives and friends. He claimed to have been " moved" to teach a new faith by a special "divine" communication which he had received in the solitude of the mountain Hira, near Mecca. Gabriel, he asserted, had appeared to him, and in the name of (Jod commanded him to " read" — i. e. to preach — the true religion, and to spread it abroad by committing it to writing {Sur. xcvi). In three years he made only fourteen converts; but among these were the high-spirited, devoted, and indomitable AH, who was aftenvards surnamed the " ever-victorious Lion of God," and Abu-Bekr, whose character for good-sense, benevolence, and straightforward integrity contributed not a little to the respectability and ultimate success of the new religion. In the fourth year of his mission, in obedience, as he alleges, to an express command from heaven, he resolved to make a public declaration of his faith. He addressed himself to the Koreish and others, asking them, '• If I were to tell you that there is an army on the other side of that mountain, would you be- lieve me ?" " Yes," they answered, " for we do not con- sider thee to be a liar." He then said, " I come to warn you; and if you do not believe me, a great punishment will befall you ;" he told them they must renounce idol- atry, and make a profession of the one true God ; that unless they did so tliey could have no true happiness in this life nor salvation in the life to come.
The people listened to the precepts of the moralist, and though they were enraptured by the force of his eloquence, very few were yet inclined to desert their hereditary and long-cherished ceremonies, and to adopt a spiritual faith the internal evidence of which they were unable to comprehend. Mohammed was repeat- edly urged by them to confirm his divine mission by miracles, but he ])rudently appealed to the internal truth of his doctrine, and expressly declared that won- ders and signs would depreciate the merit of faith and aggravate the guilt of infidelity. The only miraculous act which Mohammed i)r()fessed to have accomplished, and which has been greatly exaggerated by his credu- lous adherents, is a nocturnal journey from the temple of Jlecca to .Jerusalem, and thence through the heav- ens, which he pretended tn have performed on an im- aginary animal like an ass, called liorak (lightning) ; but we need scarcely remark that the simple words of
the Koran (^Sur. xvii) may as well be taken in the alle- gorical sense of vision. The few converts he made wure of the lowest class, the aristocracy in the mean time growing more decided in their opposition to the enthu- siast and innovator. Hitherto they had contented themselves by mocking him and deriding him as a sor- cerer and demoniac, but as the number of converts was gradualh' increasing, and there seemed danger that the sacredness of Mecca might be disturbed by the new re- ligionists, and thus the city be deprived of her chief glory and the aristocracy of the ample revenues of the pilgrim- ages, they rose in fierce opposition against the new prophet and his adherents, who dared to call their an- cient gods idols, and their ancestors fools. Many of the converted slaves and freedraen had to undergo terril^le punishments, and others suffered so much at the hands of their own relatives that they were fain to revoke their creed ; so that the prophet himself advised his fol- lowers to emigrate to Abyssinia. Mohammed himself, now belonging to the aristocracy, and further protected by the strong arm of Abu-Talib, had of course noth- ing personal to fear; but yet he became so low-spirited and fearful lest his attempt shouhl fail altogether that he decided to appeal once more to the prejudices of the aristocracy, and he even went so far as to raise the idols, which hitherto he had represented as naught, to intermediate beings between God and man — a dictum, however, which he soon revoked, as an inspiration of Satan, thereby increasing the hatred of his adversaries, at whose head stood two members of the family of Machzum, Al-Walid and Abulhakam Amr (called by Mohammed '• Father of Foolishness"), and who in every way tried to throw ridicule on him.
Several years elapsed in this unsettled state, iloham- nied all the while actively engaged in the propagation of his new doctrines. Apparently but little progress had been made, when he suddenly received vigorous sup- port by the conversion of several of the noblest citizens, such as Abu-Obeida, Hamza, an uncle of Mohammed, Othman, and the stern and inflexible Omar, who were successively gained by the moderation and influence of Abu-Bekr, with whom, by marrying his only daughter Ayesha, the prophet had become more nearly allied after the death of his wife Kadijah. With this revival of the new faith hostility against its author became more decided, and the jealous leaders of the Koreish- ites, directing their animosity and violence against the whole line of Hashem, now demanded that JIo- hammed should be delivered into their hands for pun- ishment: and when compliance with this request was refused them, they finally pronounced excommunica- tion against the whole tribe of tlie Hashemitcs. The feud thus kindled between the different parties also obliged the few adherents of the prophet v.ho had thus far remained to quit Mecca, and the new religionists spread through the country. Mohammed's enemies t now came forth in ojien revolt, and it was formally and '. imblidy resolved that he shoidd be slain. In order to j baffle the vengeance of the Hashemitcs, and to divide the guilt of his death, it was agreed that one man from j every family should at the same moment ]iliingc his sword into the heart of their victim. Notliing now re- I mained for ]Mohammed but death or instant Hight. At the dead of night, accompanied by his faithfid friend Abu-Bekr, he took his flight to Yatreb, afterwards known by the name of Meduia (Medinat al-nabi), or the City of the Prophet.