bay, 1832, 4to). Mohammed Hakim Ispahan! died at Bombay about 184C. See Zenker, Bibl. Orient, s. v. ; Spiegel, Chrtstomathia Persica. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Geueni/r, xxxv, 759.
Mohammedanism, called by its professors Isla?7), meaning "resignation" or "entire submission" (i. e. to the will of God), in accordance with the Koran, which, as we have already seen in the article imder that head- ing, is the Bible of the Mohammedan, and in the days of the Prophet was the only sacred book in use, the sole exponent of duty and privilege to the Moslem, as the Mohammedan calls himself. The Koran, however, be- ing a miscellaneous collection of hymns, prayers, dog- mas, sermons, occasional speeches, narratives, legends, laws, orders for the time in which they wtre given, without any chronological arrangement, and full of rep- etitions and contradictions, owing to the manner of its collection, which took place subsequent to Mohammed's death, soon proved too disconnected to be continued, even by the most ardent disciple of Islam, as the sole guide of authority. Neither dogmas nor laws are here reduced to a system ; they had been inserted by piece- meal just as they had been written down, or even after- wards discovered in the reminiscences of Mohammed's companions. But, aside from these imperfections of con- tradictions, repetitions, and the want of system, it was manifest also that the Koran was lacking in instruction on many important theological questions, in which light the Mohammedan is accustomed to regard all ritual, dogmatic, and juridical matters. The Moslem therefore resorted, in the first place, to oral tradiHon, and by the aid of reported expressions of the Prophet, and exam- ples in his public and private life (Ifadiik and Siimiah'), supplemented the deficiencies and elucidated the ob- scure passages of the Koran (q. v.). When this resource failed to meet all wants, the decrees of the imams, i. e. of the caliphs as spiritual heads, were raised to the au- thority of divine laws and doctrines. Thus a religious structure, extended by analogy and induction, supported by the Koran, by tradition, and by decrees of the imams, comprising juridical, ritualistic, and dogmatic doctrines, was gradually completed into a systematic whole, sufli- cient for all purposes as a guide to the Moslem. But we need hardly add that into such a peculiar construc- tion contradictions in theory and practice have foimd their way, according to the different traditions and de- cisions of the imams or expounders of the law, besides the various interpretations put upon the Koran itself within the pale of the different Mohammedan sects that have arisen since the days of the Prophet. See JIo- iiammeuan Sects. For the historical and ethical cir- cumstances that conduced to the origin and progress of Mohammedanism, see the article Moiiamjied.
Moslemism consists of a dogmatical or theoretical part, called "Iman" (i. e. faith), and a practical part, called " Din" (i. e. religion.) (See Yambery, Der Islam im neunzehnten Jahrhundert [Leips. 1875]).
I. Dogmas. — The doctrines of Islam, as originally insti- tuted upon its foundation, may be reduced to three lead- ing propositions, viz. : (1) the doctrine of one Deity, (2) of the revelation or prophetic vision of Mohammed, and (3) the immortality of the soul, the latter being closely interlinked with the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, of paradise, and of hell, the day of judgment, and the rewarding of the good and faithful, as well as the punishment of the wicked and of infidels. Though these doctrines are plain and simple, they became, nev- ertheless, even in the first century of the Mohammedan tera, subjects of the most violent polemics. A man like IMohammed, in whom not the least trace of scholarly education is to be found, was unable to set up a sys- tematic structure of doctrines. True, we find in sundry passages of the Koran that God is the creator and pre- server of the world ; that he is One, omniscient, omnip- otent, eternal, just, and gracious. But the Arabs, after becoming acquainted with Persian religions and ideas, and with Grecian philosophy, would not be satisfied with
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such simplicity. Their desire for knowledge led them to further iiu|uiries, for which they found no solution in the Koran, and which therefore gave occasion to dis- sensions, the more irreme<lialjle as they were in part connected with political differences. At the very ear- liest epoch reflective minds among the faithful took offence and exception to many dogmas, particular!}' on tlie essence of the Deity and its relation to mankind, as well as to the irrational doctrines concerning the Ko- ran itself. Thus the orthodox taught that the divine attributes existed, so to speak, by the side of Deity; while the Motazelites, i. e. the Separatists, considered the Deity itself as the essence of wisdom, beneficence, power, and other qualities. The doctrine of the justice of God led the latter (i. c. the dissenters) further to ac- cept the dogma of human free will, while the orthodox inclined more or less to the Augustinian doctrine of pre- destination and grace. Tliis same doctrine induced the liberal Mohammedans to assume a gradation of sin and punishment; while, according to the opinion of the strictly orthodox, every ^loslem who commits only one sin, and departs this life without repentance, is con- signed to eternal punishment. (See below.) Thus also the absolute unity of the Deity induced the Sepa- ratists to maintain that the Koran was created, since otherwise two (things) beings must have existed from eternity ; the orthodox, on the contrary, regard the Ko- ran as something uncreated, lest, God being immutable, it be viewed as not belonging to his being, and tliereby the whole doctrine of revelation become undermined. The latter dogma was fiercely disputed under the caliph Mamun, who instituted a formal inquisition, and perse- cuted to the utmost the adherents of the doctrine of the eternity of tlie Koran.