THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
sented. The " Confession " of Mogilas, accordingly, reproduces the point of view of ancient Catholicism, as maintained by the Eastern Church (q.v.) in opposition to Rome; nor can it be said, as is sometimes thought, that it is either Roman Catholic or Lutheran in tendency.
(Philipp Meyer.) Bibliography: E. Legrand, Bibliographie hellenique, particularly ii. 202 sqq., iv. 104-159, 4 vols., Paris, 1894- 1896. For the " Confession," its history and contents, consult the works of Kimmel, Gass, Kattenbusch, and Michalcescu named under Eastern Church, and the Eng. transl. by P. Lodvill, London, 1898; and Schaff, Creeds, i. 58-61 (history and summary of contents), ii. 275—400 (Gk. text and Lat. transl. of part i. only).
MOHAMMED, MOHAMMEDANISM.
I. Introduction. The Theology and Its Im- II. Mohammed. plicates (§ 2). / Early Life, Physique, System of Practise (§ 3). Temperament (§ 1). V. Developments after Mo- Second Period (§ 2). hammed. The Medina Period (§ 3). The Four Bases of Doc- Final Period (§ 4). trine and Practise (§1). Character (§ 5). The Early Caliphate (§ 2). III. The Koran. Shiites and Sunnites (§3). IV. The Religion. Causes of Sectarianism The Background (§ 1). (§ 4).
I. Introduction: Mohammedanism has unique claims upon the interest of the student of religions. (1) It is one of the three great monotheistic faiths (its followers would say one of the two, since to them Christianity is tritheistic), and its fundamental tenet is essentially the same as that given in the Shema' of Israel: " Hear, O Israel; Yahweh thy God is one " (Deut. vi. 4). (2) It is not, like Judaism or Shinto, a national but a world religion. Sprung, like Judaism and Christianity, from Semitic origins, it claims its followers also among Arian and Turanian peoples and has proved its adaptability to the needs of them all. (3) It is, therefore, one of the missionary religions, and with Buddhism and Christianity, it is contesting, not unsuccessfully, for the religious leadership of mankind. It confronts the Christian missionary in the great fields of missionary effort in Asia and Africa and presents knotty problems for him and for the Christian apologist. (4) It is the one world religion outside of Christianity the origins of which lie open in the light of history. It arose in one man's lifetime, was shaped by one hand and directed by a single mentality. It is a religion in which the miraculous is minimized, yet within eighty years it won an empire as great as Christianity's in the time of Constantine, and it is still extending its influence. The initial success of Islam was due not simply to its own power, but in large part to the conditions of the times and to the effects of surprise. A unified Arabia was the world's astonishment. The peninsula was outside the track of world movements, its forces were unknown. Moreover, Rome and Persia had exhausted each the other's strength by centuries of warfare. Besides this, the Christian Church was divided, and neither branch was loath to see the other crippled by a third power. The onset of the Arabs, inspired by the certainty of conquest and the assurance of paradise if they fell, was irresistible till 732, when their progress was checke'd in the West by Charles Martel, and 740, when they met defeat in the East by Leo III. at Acroinon.
The present strength of Mohammedanism can only be estimated, since an Eastern census is not exact. Estimates for 1909 place the number of adherents in Europe at 6,000,000, in Africa at 72,000,000, in Asia at 192,000,000, or about 270,000,000 in all
II. Mohammed: Mohammed, " The Praised," the posthumous son of Abdu Allah, a member of the Koraish tribe, by Aminah, was born at Mecca Aug. 20, 570, and died at Medina June 8, 632. His grandfather, Abdu al-Muttalib, took charge of him when at the age of six he lost his mother, and his foster mother gave him additional protectors by the fact that she belonged to the Bani Saad. He was again bereaved at the age of eight by the death of his grandfather, and he then entered the family of his uncle, Abu Talib. From his mother he inherited a nervous, excitable tem-
i. Early perament and a tendency to epilepsy, Life, manifested by a fit when he was four
Physique, years old, again when he was six, and
Tempera- later in life by relapses into the catament. leptic state, the latter at that time apparently under control. He was melancholy in disposition, easily depressed, exceedingly sensitive to disagreeable odors, superstitious, a believer in jinn, omens, dreams and charms, vivid in imagination, and with a taste for the sublime. In maturity he was of medium height, of large but somewhat stooping frame. He had a large head covered with long wavy hair, an oval face, bloodshot but keen black eyes with shifty gaze, a prominent nose, and a large mouth with well separated teeth. A fleshy tumor surrounded with moles on his back was claimed by him as a sign of his prophetic mission. He was careful in habit, fond of the bath and of perfumes, amorous in disposition, and exceedingly fond of the delights of the table. His spiritual development began at the age of twelve, when his uncle took him to Syria and he came into closer touch with both Jews and Christians than he had so far experienced. It was possibly at that time that he gained his first insight by contrast into the enormities of Arabic idolatry and immorality. When he was twenty-five he entered the service of Hadijah, a rich Meccan widow, was entrusted with the charge of her trading ventures, and again visited Syria, where he gained new insight into Judaism and Christianity. Probably at the initiative of Hadijah, he married her, though she was fifteen years his senior, and while she lived he married no other. Meanwhile, by the exercise of native sagacity he had obtained a reputation for practical wisdom and was frequently appealed to as the arbiter of disputes. When thirty-five years of age he settled in characteristic fashion a hot religious quarrel among four parties at Mecca, each of which claimed the right to replace in its niche the Black Stone of Mecca — representatives of the four parties raised it to the level of its position by lifting the four corners of a cloth placed beneath it, and then Mohammed himself put the stone in place. It was at this period that he began to feel his mission; he became more highly contemplative, used to retire to a mountain cave for meditation, and finally, in 609, in consequence of a vision in which Gabriel commanded him (though illiterate)
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