THEEE is probably no religion which has not some ethical quality. There are always moral obligations imposed by the gods, even in heathenism. In Arab heathenism we have examples, in those engagements to which the gods were themselves party. When a treaty was made between two tribes, the solemn act was performed at a sanctuary, and the deity was made a contracting party. This was done in the belief that he would punish the party which broke its engagement. The gods were therefore protectors of oaths. To a certain extent they were also helpers of the helpless. Fugitives, upon whom the guilt of blood rested, found an asylum at the sanctuary, and the god became their patron. But in general, what we know of the gods of the Arabs does not impress us with their high moral character. They do not appear as the judges of conduct except where their own rights are invaded as in the cases already specified. The morality which existed was developed without their influence. It was the result of social forces working independently. For example, the heathen Arab was strong in endurance. The scanty nourish ment of the desert enforces this as a lesson of nature. To the present day among the Bedawin the chiefest

231

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virtue is patience "a courageous forbearing and abiding of hunger. " * So it was before Mohammed. There were no religious motives brought to bear upon the conscience in furor of this virtue. Public opinion and the individual affections Avere enough. So it was with the martial virtues. Tribal society lives in a state of warfare. In such a society, courage in battle, fidelity to the blood, self-sacrifice for the clan (or even for its lowliest members) easily become the ideal of nobility, without the aid of religion. So it was in Arab heathenism. The hospitality for which the Bedawy has become famous, is another social virtue whose roots can be traced as far back as our knowl edge of Arab heathenism goes. And this hospitality was not only exercised toward the passing guest it flowed constantly for the needy. The songs of Hudhail speak of " Chalid to w r hom came for support widows who found no abiding place among their kinsfolk." f We are the more bound to recognize the virtues of heathenism, that the Moslems have no eye for them. The revolution produced by Islam allows them to think of the virtues of their ancestors only as brilliant vices. In reality they were more than this, and the best of them were adopted by the new religion. The characteristic thing, however, is, that in heathenism they were independent of religion ; in Islam they were brought into vital connection with it4 The

• Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, I., p. 252, quoting from

Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta.

f Wellbausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, I., p. 109.

t The Meccans, when exhorted to obey Allah, reply that they obey (not their gods but) the customs of their fathers. Goldziher, I. c., I., p. 10.

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change was made possible by the new doctrine of the unity of God ; it was actively fostered by the scheme of future rewards and punishments. In Islam the will of Allah becomes the supreme rule of life. The believer, becomes, by his faith, a servant whose only motive is to inquire his Lord s will and to perform it. Why that will is so, and not otherwise, does not concern him. Mohammed describes himself and his motive to virtue when he speaks of himself as a grate ful servant. We remember that the Apostle Paul also liked to call himself the bond-servant of Jesus Christ.

All conduct comes under this point of view. There is no distinction between ceremonial law and moral law. The servant is to do what he is bid, whether it be to abstain from killing game when on a pilgrimage, or to avoid adultery and murder. Ritual and ethics come under the same head all conduct is ritual, or all is ethical, as you please to view it. That this is also the view of the Old Testament is evident. The commands of the Pentateuch are given without dis tinction into classes, and all are motived in the same way. Israel is a people set apart to the service of God. The service consists in obedience to His re vealed will whether the command be to abstain from pork or to abstain from murder. This is precisely what is meant by calling Israel a holy (consecrated) people. Mohammed had the idea, and possibly ex pressed it in similar language. The New Testament has the idea but spiritualizes it. The ritual of the Christian consists in visiting the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, and in keeping himself

234 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

unspotted from the world. But the Church has not yet risen to the height of this ideal. Certainly in the time of Mohammed it stood with the Synagogue in emphasizing ritual quite as much as morality.

It is for convenience only, therefore, that I discuss the service of God under the two heads of ritual and ethics. The distinction has no basis in Islam itself. In both divisions of the subject we see the curious interplay of two factors one the influence of the old heathenism, the other the influence of the earlier re vealed religions. Mohammed seems to have desired a more complete break with heathenism than he was actually able to effect. An example is the kibla the point toward which the worshipper turns in prayer. When he went to Medina he fixed Jerusalem as this central point. But he found it impossible to main tain the regulation. Either because of his own af fection for the ancestral sanctuary, which he had already recognized as the House of God,* or in order to strengthen his cause with the Arabs, he changed his Kibla to Mecca after about a year. The incident is typical of his career. At the beginning he was in clined to make a radical departure from heathenism. In the end he had adopted a considerable portion of its ritual.

This is further exemplified in the rites of pilgrim age and sacrifice. These, as he adopted them, were taken from heathenism rather than from Judaism though not without analogies in Judaism. In adopt ing sacrifice, he was careful to disavow its heathen significance. The most natural interpretation of such

• In Sura 10G.

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a rite is that the God partakes of the offering. Against this Mohammed pronounces : " As for the sacrificial animals, We have made them to be a part of the rites of God, in which is a benefit. Therefore pronounce the name of God over them as they stand in rows ; and, when they are slain, eat their flesh and feed the contented [poor] and the one who is ashamed to ask. Thus We have made the cattle submissive to you, perhaps you may be grateful. Their flesh and their blood do not ascend to God, but the piety shown by you ascends to Him thus He has made them sub missive to you, that you may praise God for the way in which He has led you." * These words contradict not only the theory that the sacrifice is a gift to God, but also the theory that it constitutes a sacramental meal, in which He partakes with the worshipper, and further, the theory that it is a propitiation for sin. Nothing is left except an undefined benefit to the be liever, which was probably conceived of as the merit of having obeyed a command of God. Evidently Mohammed adopted as little of the ancient institu tion as he could adopt if he retained it at all, and we may suppose that in reducing it to such narrow limits, he was to some extent under Christian influence.

In immediate connection with sacrifice we must notice the pilgrimage. The only official sacrifices (if I may use this phrase) in Islam are offered in con nection with the pilgrimage.f According to tradi-

• Koran, 22" f .

t Private sacrifice is offered when an infant is seven days old (the akika). Mohammed offered it for his grandsons, Mishcat, II., 316. For regulations prescribing the kind of animal to be sacrificed, cf. Mishcat, I., pp. 319, 321. The regular sacrifice (of the annual

THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

tiou it is incumbent on every Moslem, once in his lifetime, to visit the sanctuary at Mecca. Moham med, who lived at Medina, seems to have intended that this should be done every year by those who were not specially hindered. In performing this duty the pilgrim wears a special garb from the time of en tering the sacred territory. He makes the circuit of the Kaaba and takes part in other ceremonies, now carefully regulated by tradition, and, finally, he offers a sacrifice in the valley of Mina. He then shaves his head and resumes his ordinary clothing. The whole resembles what we find in Judaism, where it is incumbent upon the Israelite to visit the central sanc tuary at stated times. Those Jews who were con verted to Christianity did not abandon the custom, for we find the Apostle Paul resolved to keep the feast of Pentecost at Jerusalem. With this precedent, we are not surprised to find pilgrimage established as a meritorious work in Christianity from very early times. Its prominence in the Middle Ago and the influence which its interruption had in arousing Eu rope to the Crusades are well known. It is possible, therefore, that Mohammed, in establishing this rite, justified himself by both Jewish and Christian prec edent. But the resemblance which its external feat ures show to Judaism must not make us think that they are borrowed from Judaism. The resemblance is really owing to the older Semitic heathenism, upon which both Judaism and Islam rest. The shaving of the head, for example, which we find in Islam, and

Feast of Sacrifice) is offered at other places than Mecca. But this is because it is the day on which the pilgrims offer it.

THE SERVICE OF GOD 237

of which we find examples both in the Old Testament and the New, is found also in Arabic heathenism. It is really a survival from the earliest Semitic heathen ism of which we have any knowledge, in which the sacrifice of the hair played a prominent part.

Again, the donning of special garments at the sanct uary, which at first sight we think peculiar to Islam, has its analogies in many other religions. The com mand given to the Israelites to wash their clothes before the appearance of God at Sinai is based upon the same idea, and so is the exhortation of the Psalm ist to worship in the beauty of holiness, by which he means the sacred vestments. The idea is, of course, that nothing ceremonially unclean should appear be fore God. In the later Old Testament law the laity are kept altogether from approaching the holy part of the Temple, so that this regulation is for them un necessary. So much the more stringent is the com mand that the priests should approach God only in the consecrated garments.* On the other hand we are told that at Mecca, before the time of Moham med, the pilgrims used to hire garments kept specially for them, and wear them in making the circuit of the Kaaba. The natural conclusion is that Mohammed did not borrow from the earlier revealed religions, but that he adopted the heathen custom, purging it of what seemed to him incompatible with the faith. The question of religious observances gave him some

• On these resemblances cf . Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbei-

ten, III., pp. 51 1, 106, who cites Gen. 35 2 , II. Kings, 10 M ; also W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 433, and what was said in Lecture II. above.

238 TUE BIBLE AND ISLAM

thought, even at Mecca, if we may judge by the Ko ran passage which says : " We have ordained for every nation rites which they observe. Let none dis pute with thee in this matter, but pray to thy Lord verily thou art in the straight path." * The theory that the early religion of Mecca went back to Abra ham would involve the belief that the pilgrimage was divinely ordained, and this would easily be confirmed by what Mohammed knew of Jewish and Christian customs. The emphasis which he laid upon the matter of pilgrimage is indicated, and perhaps exag gerated, by the tradition which makes him say, that he who worthily performs the pilgrimage returns as innocent as he was the day his mother bore hini.t

The next ritual observance which is prominent in Islam is fasting. It is a matter of common fame that the Mohammedan world observes the month of Ra- madhan by abstaining from food during the daylight hours. It must be confessed that the month is now characterized as much by feasting at night as it is by fasting during the day, but this was hardly the inten tion of the founder. His idea seems to have been that as God is nearer to men at some places than He is at others, so He is nearer at some times than Ho is at others. Such a season should be marked by some special observances. With this he may have had the idea that a month of self-denial would be well pleas ing to God. In regard to this rite we have less dis tinct testimony from Arabic heathenism that we have in regard to sonic of the others which have been

• Koran, 22 W , a Meccan sura according to the superscription,

f Bochari, II., p. 102.

THE SERVICE OF GOD 239

mentioned. Certainly the direct precedent is found in Judaism and in Christianity. Tradition distinctly asserts that Mohammed first established a fast in im itation of the Jews. "When he came to Medina * he found them observing the Day of Atonement, and in imitation of them he commanded his followers to observe the same day in the same way. In the fol lowing year, however, he appointed Ramadhan as a month of fasting. There is no Jewish fast of this extent, and as in that year he began to show his in dependence of the Jews, he was probably influenced by the Christian Lent. There can be no question that he believed a precedent set in other religions : " O, believers, fasting is ordained for you as it was or dained for those before you, that you may observe piety." t That a month should be the time fixed, in stead of forty days, need not cause surprise. The forty days had no special significance in Islam, and in fact was not constant in Christianity, whereas Mohammed was already familiar with the idea of a sacred month or months in heathenism. His sense of the importance of the moon as a measure of time was very marked. He not infrequently alludes to the moon s being created for this purpose, and he went so far as to rearrange the calendar, making his year a strictly lunar year. This was undoubtedly a misfort-

• The day is called Ashura (Tenth) and is still observed by some

zealous Moslems. Bochari, who gives this tradition, gives another to the effect that the Koreish also fasted on that day in heathen times. But this requires confirmation. Cf. Bochari-, II., p. 231; Mishcat, I., p. 486.

f Koran, 2 179 .

240 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

une for the Moslem world, but we can trace the rea soning which led to the action. God had made the moon for seasons. Out of every twelve months which make a year He has made certain ones sacred. By the intercalation of a month which was the Meccan device for making the solar and lunar year keep in harmony these were thrown out of their proper place : " The number of months in the sight of God is twelve, written in the Book of God on the day when He created heaven and earth. . . . Postponement [of the sacred months by intercala tion] is only excess of infidelity. The infidels lead astray by it, making a month profane one year and making [the same month] sacred another year, that they may agree with the number of months * which God has made sacred. Thus they profane what God has consecrated. The evil of their deeds is beautiful in their eyes, but God does not direct the people of unbelievers." With this high idea of the month as the unit of time, it is natural that the Prophet should order his fast accordingly. This gives us no light on the meaning of the observance, but the passage quoted above seems to show that it was a means of showing piety. It is also brought into special connection with Gabriel s visit to Mohammed, and this would agree with what has been said of its being a time when God comes nearer to men than He conies at other times.

We next come upon a religious regulation which is

• They agree in the number of months but do not observe the ex

act ones which God has designated, seems to be the meaning. The passage is 9 :!6 .

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so foreign to our modern thought that we have diffi culty in entering into the state of mind which lies behind it I mean the distinction between clean and unclean. From the Old Testament we have learned that there are certain things which the Hebrew could not touch, and certain acts which he could not do, without thereby becoming unfit for approach to God. This defilement extended over a longer or shorter period of time, according to its intensity, and could only be removed by a religious rite. Of the acts which render men unclean, the eating of certain kinds of food is one of the most prominent, and at first sight we think we discover the reason for this pro hibition. Some of the forbidden objects are repul sive to our taste (mostly because we are unfamiliar with them) and we attribute like repulsion to the an cients. Or else we take refuge in sanitary hypothe ses and suppose the animals prohibited to be dele terious to health. But it is doubtful whether either of these reasons will apply to any system of clean and unclean. The natural repulsion certainly does not exist among the peoples who are most affected by these laws ; and considerations of health were for eign to their mode of thinking. The whole matter is a matter of religious regulation, and must be ac counted for in the sphere of religion. When we give this consideration full weight, we see that clean and unclean are associated with the recognition of differ ent gods. He who has consecrated himself by wor shipping one god cannot immediately come into the presence of another god ; his first consecration must be washed off, or at least worn off by the lapse of

1(5

242 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

time. All the more, where the god is conceived of as a jealous god like Yahweh. The marks of a rival deity upon a worshipper would make His anger flame out upon him. In Israel nearly all animals except the animals of the flock and herd were supposed to belong to some of the false gods or demons. They could not be eaten without bringing the worshipper into communion with these divinities. Even the en lightened Paul would not have his converts drink of the cup of the Lord and also of the cup of devils.

This Old Testament thought, which is also slightly shadowed forth in some New Testament passages, was familiar to Mohammed. Some regulations of this kind he adopted instinctively. lie and his followers would not eat of flesh offered to idols, taking thus the position of the more scrupulous Christians in the Apostolic age. The point of view comes out clearly in the Koran prohibition : " Do not eat of that over which the name of Allah has not been pronounced, for this is sinful. The Sataus come down to their companions to dispute with you, and if you eat of them you become idolaters." * The exact meaning of the phrase (he Sedans come down to thdr compan ions to dispute ivitli you is uncertain. But it probably expresses Mohammed s belief that the demons are so associated with these offerings that the believers, in eating of the offerings, put themselves in the power of the demons precisely the position of Paul just alluded to. Mohammed carried out the argument logically. His final decree forbids : " that which has

• Koran, G 1 - 1 . According to Origin, tho blood is the food of the

demons. Cf. Conybeare in the Jewish Quarterly Review, October, 18%. p. 61.

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died [of itself], and blood, the swine, and that over which any name except the name of God has been pronounced, that which is strangled, that which is smitten down with a club, that which falls from a precipice, that which is gored, that which the beast of prey has torn (unless you are able to bleed it), and that which is sacrificed to idols."* Although the list gives a large number of items, we see that it is substantially covered by the New Testament prin ciple. For the Council of Jerusalem laid upon Gentile Christians abstinence from things offered to idols, from things strangled, and from blood.

In view of what has been quoted from Paul there can hardly be any doubt as to the reasoning upon which this decree is based. The things offered to idols are the property of the demons. The Christian by eat ing of them conies into communion with the demons. But he thereby loses communion with God. Things strangled are forbidden for the same reason as that for which blood is forbidden. The blood belongs to God and is unlawful to man if it cannot be sacrificed it must at least be carefully separated from the flesh. All Mohammed s list may be explained on this very principle that blood and idol sacrifices are unlawful. In this he considerably modified the Old Testament law, dealing freely with it, as he did in some other cases we have noticed, f but influenced also by New Testament precedent.

• Koran, 5 4 .

t Tradition increases the list of prohibited foods. The ass was added toward the close of Mohammed s life. He himself refused to eat some things which he allowed to his followers. Possibly he was influenced by his habit acquired in youth. For the distinc-

24:4: THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

The means ordinarily used to remove ceremonial defilement is water. For the Moslem, therefore, the ablution is one of the most important parts of the service of God. The Koran commands : " O, believ ers, when you are ready for worship, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads, and [wash] your feet as far as your ankles." * In addition to this, which is the ordinary ablution, a full bath is ordered for certain kinds of defilement as was the case in Judaism. The subject interests us here only as it is connected to all appearance with the Old Testament and Kabbinical washings, rather than with Christian Baptism. Baptism is referred to but once in the Koran, if indeed it is referred to at all.t It is possible however that Mohammed s practice was influenced not by the Jews alone, but by the various Gnostic or Pseudo-Christian sects which insisted on frequent baptisms or ablutions.^

We come now to the most important part of the Mohammedan ritual the act of worship which we call prayer. This is hardly an exact rendering;, as when we speak of prayer, we think most prominently of

tion of clean and unclean in Aral) heathenism cf. Wullhauscn, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, III., p. 52.

• a 8 . The command to wipe the head means to draw the vet hands

over the head. Had the main verb continued its force over this clause it would have enjoined scrubbing the head. On the whole subject cf. Lane, Modern Egyptians, c. III. ; Keland, De Religione Mohammedanica (1717), pp. 66-77; Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, Articles Ablution and Ghusl.

t Koran, 2 132 is usually supposed to name Christian Baptism.

{ The Elkesaites and Maudieans (probably the Sabeans of the Koran) are among these sects. Cf. Ilerzog, P. II. E , IV., p. 1S5.

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supplication. But the galat of the Moslem does not contain any large element of supplication. It is an act of divine service, an act performed for the glory of God and in obedience to Him. Like other parts of the ritual it is not left to the discretion of the be liever, but is carefully regulated by tradition, both as to the times when it is to be performed, and as to the ceremonies which must be observed. Five times in the day, the believer must perform this act of devo tion, wherever he may be ; and Christian travellers in the East have frequent occasion to admire the fidelity with which the Moslem turns aside from his busi ness or his amusement to show his obedience to his Maker.

It is unnecessary to describe the postures which are enjoined by tradition for this service. The be liever stands, bows, kneels, and prostrates himself with his forehead touching the ground. These acts follow a certain sequence making up a rekah or pros tration. A prayer (to use the conventional term) is made up of at least two prostrations, and the number may be increased to ten or more. In these various postures the worshipper repeats portions of the Koran ~ x ~ and ejaculations of praise. At certain points he declares his belief in the unity of God and the apostleship of Mohammed. At the close he salutes the angels to his right and left. The chief content of what the believer recites is the praise of God. When Mohammed was asked why he spent so much

• Including always the Fatilia or opening chapter. Other portions

are chosen according to taste. The ejaculations are : " Praise be to God ! " " I extol the perfection of God the Great."

24:6 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

time in devotion, ho replied : " Shall I not bo a thank ful servant ? " Worship then is the recognition of God s goodness and of His Kingship. It is not man alone who praises his Maker. The whole creation joins in ascriptions to Him : " Dost thou not see that whatever is in heaven and on earth praises God, even the birds with expanded wings? Each knows its worship \_galaf\ and its doxology, and God regards what they do." * Such expressions are frequent in the Koran, and they show what Mohammed regarded as the proper service of the creature.

The importance of worship was rated very highly by Mohammed. He came out of the house one day in winter when leaves were falling from the trees. He took two branches from a tree, and the leaves be gan to drop from them. Remarking this, he said to his companion : " Believers say their prayers for the satisfaction of God, and their faults drop from them like the leaves from these branches." t In another tradition he is represented as saying that the most pleasing thing to God is prayer at its appointed times. Again, he called prayer a Kaffara, that is an atonement, which covers sins from the sight of God. In andther place he says : "If one washed five times a day in a river which flowed at his door, how much filth would remain upon him ? So God washes away sin by the five daily prayers." If we may believe tradition further, he carried his view of the importance of prayer to such an extreme as to say a man is justi fied in repulsing one who interrupts his prayers even if he thereby kills him. As it is added for lie is a

• Korau, 24". f Mislicat, I., p. 130.

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Satan, we may suppose that Mohammed was disturbed in his devotions by the evil one in visible form the parallel with Luther will occur to every one. Other traditions affirm that he had often to contend against the distraction of his thoughts in his devotions, and that he ascribed this to Satan. In the tradition before us, therefore, he was only counselling strenuous resis tance to such an interrupter of prayers ; against a diabolical enemy one may use any violence.*

Another evidence of Mohammed s estimate of the value of the prescribed worship is seen in another tradition. This is to the effect that Moslems who are condemned to hell will be known by the callouses made upon their knees by their habit of prayer, for over these spots the fire will have no power ; and men thus marked will finally be redeemed from the place of torment.

Turning now to the question where Mohammed got his idea of worship, we cannot doubt that he got it from a Christian source. Any one who has seen public service in the Eastern Church, in any of its branches, will have noticed how the congregation take part by kneeling, bowing, crossing themselves, and joining in the responses. Very likely in some of his journeyings Mohammed had seen such a ser vice. If not, we can readily suppose that his Chris tian friends at Mecca would exemplify such a service. The sacraments, of course, they could not illustrate, not being priests ; and these, being mysteries of the faith, they would be shy even of describing to a foreigner. With such elements as they gave him,

• The examples are taken from Bochari, I., pp. 123 f . , 119.

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Mohammed arranged a ritual for himself. Its ele ments were the various attitudes of worship exempli fied by the Christians, and such words of praise as were recited by them from the Psalms. With no mind for mysteries or a priesthood, the Prophet found his simple liturgy sufficient for himself, and for the community that gathered about him.

The number of five prayers daily has no direct Biblical precedent. Daniel seems to have prayed three times daily, and the Psalmist specifies morning, evening, and noon as the times of prayer. It is a curious coincidence that the only passage of the Koran which gives the number of prayers also speci fies three : " Perform worship at the setting of the sun, up to the darkness of night, and the Recitation of the dawn (the recitation of the dawn is witnessed by the angels), and in the night. Awake to prayer, therefore, perchance thy Lord will prepare for thee a glorious place." * Exegesis has found a way to make these verses prescribe the five customary seasons, but on their face they speak of only three. In the Church the canonical hours vary from three to seven daily. The Manichrcaus are said to have had four and the Mandseans five.f It is possible that Mohammed s own custom varied at different times. Tradition says that in the Night-journey, God commanded him fit first fifty prayers daily. At the advice of Moses, who had had experience with human weakness, he asked successive reductions of the number until it was

• Koran, 17 f , of. Ps. 55 18 .

t Ilorzog, P. II. E-, IX., p. 241. Brandt, Manddisclie Religion, p. 92, ascribes seven to the Mandamus.

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brought down to five. We have already seen an ascetic tendency in Mohammed s earlier impulse. It is pos sible that he began with the observance of more fre quent hours of worship than he was able to keep up in his later practice. In fact he has supplemented one of his early revelations with a command to mod erate the excesses of his devotion (73 ).

Although the regular prayers are largely formal, we must not forget that Islam encourages voluntary prayers. I do not refer here to works of superero gation, to which pious Moslems are much addicted. "When Mohammed says : " And remember thy Lord in thy soul in humility and fear, and without raising the voice," * we can hardly suppose he means to com mand the constant repetition of the name of God which forms the worship of the dervishes. He is, rather, encouraging the believer in communing with God. He laid stress on the correct performance of prayer, but he also laid stress on the intention. He was accustomed himself to offer voluntary petitions, both after the regular prayers and at other times. He gives in the Koran examples of prayer, and these are real prayers ; that is, petitions for blessings both spiritual and temporal, the spiritual being promi nent. For example : " O Lord do not punish us for our sins of negligence or for our errors ; and do not lay upon us a law such as Thou didst lay upon those who preceded us : f O Lord do not enjoin upon us that for which we have not the ability ; blot out our

• Koran, 7 304 .

t He means the Children of Israel, whose Law he thought bur densome. The verse is 2 ! * c .

250

sins and forgive us ; be gracious to us, Thou our Lord, and aid us against a people of unbelievers." It seems impossible to suppose such a prayer composed without a vivid sense of sin, and without assurance that God is the rewarder of those who seek Him. In another verse of the same chapter we read : "When My servants ask thee concerning Me then verily I am near, and I answer the petition of the worshipper when he prays to Me ; then let them seek Me and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way."* The example of the Prophet was in accordance with this, for he embodied in his daily worship petitions for himself and his friends. There is a tradition which even affirms that a man shut out of Paradise could get in by importunate prayer. But it is doubt ful whether this correctly represents the mind of Mohammed. As to the efficacy of prayer in the pres ent life, however, he seems to have had no doubt.

So much for that part of the service of God which consists in ritual. We cannot deny that in the religious law too much emphasis is laid upon external observ ances. But what has just been said is enough to show that mere formality was not Mohammed s ideal. He desired to foster spiritual faith and unfeigned piety. Turning now to the other side of the service of God, what we include under the head of morals, we dis cover that there was a great advance over heathenism, in that the sense of responsibility to God was en forced by all the preaching of Mohammed : " A man is a shepherd, and what is committed to him (as his family and his property) is his flock and he will be

• Koran, 2 lh3 .

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inquired of concerning it in the Last Day even a slave will give account of the way in which he has administered his master s property." * The tradition reminds us of the New Testament parable of the talents, and we cannot doubt that the thought is the same : Man is responsible to his Maker, and for all his actions he must give account.

The distinctly ethical character of the obligation thus laid upon men is seen on almost every page of the Koran. Several extended passages might be quoted which were evidently intended to set forth the whole duty of man. Let me quote just one :

The servants of the Compassionate are they who walk humbly on the earth, and, when the barbarians address them, say : Peace be with you ! And [they are they] who pass the night prostrate before their Lord or standing [in prayer] ; and who say: Our Lord avert from us the punish ment of Gehenna, for its punishment is lasting and it is an evil place of abode ; who, when they expend, are neither lavish nor niggardly but maintain a just mean between the two ; who do not call upon any God in the presence of Allah ; and who do not slay human beings which God forbids except in the cause of justice ; and who do not com mit adultery, for whoever does this shall incur punishment (his pain shall be doubled in the Day of Resurrection, and he shall be an object of contempt forever, unless he repent and believe and do good as for such, God will exchange their evil deeds for good deeds ; God is forgiving and compassionate, and he who repents and does good is sincere in his turning towards God). And [they are they] who do riot bear false witness ; and, when they pass by vain discourse, pass by in honor ; and who, when they are told of the revelations of their Lord, do not depart [as though]

• Bocliari, I., p. IDS.

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deaf and blind ; and [they are] those who say : Our Lord, give us comfort in our wives and children, and make us an example to those who fear Thee. These shall be recom pensed with Paradise * because they have endured ; and there shall they obtain life and peace. Beautiful is such a place of abode ! " f

Such passages show the distinctly ethical character of Islam; and the fact that the virtues here com manded may easily bo classified under ten heads, makes us inquire what influence the Decalogue had on the thought of Mohammed. We easily discover that he had some knowledge of the fundamental Ten Words, though he nowhere calls them by this name. He endeavors to reproduce them in the following passage addressed to the Jews :

"Come, I will repeat what your Lord forbade you to do; [He commanded] that you should not associate anything with Him; and [He commanded] good conduct towards parents ; and do not kill your children on account of poverty We will nourish you and them and do not ap-

• Literally : a high place, meaning apparently the most exalted

of the heavens.

f Koran, 2r> C4 - 76 . In the Traditions we find some resemblance to the Christian classification of seven deadly sins: "Flee the seven that cast into hell. They asked what these were and he replied : Poly theism, magic, murder, usury, devouring the property of orphans, fleeing in time of war, and accusing chaste women of unbecoming conduct." Bochari, III., p. 179. Mohammed said also : " There are seven whom God will shade witli his shadow in the day when there will be no other shade than His: a just ruler, a young man who grows up in the service of God, a man whose heart cleaves to the mosques, two men who love each other for the love of God, a man who resists temptation by the fear of God, and a man who gives alms and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand does." tiocliari, II., p. 10G.

TUB SERVICE OF GOD 253

proach anything evil, whether it be concealed or manifest ; and do not kill a human being (which God has forbidden except in accordance with justice, and He enjoined you this that you might have understanding); and do not approach the property of the orphan, except to his profit, until he reaches his majority ; and use a just measure and scale We, on Our part, do not exact from any soul more than its ability; and when you speak be just, even to relatives : and keep the covenant of God. These things He commanded you that you should remember." *

If we count up the separate commands embodied in this list we shall find them to be nine in number. In a tradition also we find that the Jews came to discuss with Mohammed concerning the nine com mands of God. This is in fact the Jewish computa tion, for of the Ten Words in their division, the first is the opening announcement : I am Yahweh thy GoJ which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. There are therefore nine com mands. But when we examine the nine of Mohammed we see that they do not correspond with those of the Hebrew code. He left the Sabbath out of view alto gether. He knows it, as we discover from other refer ences, but he does not give it a place among God s commands. We easily discover the reason for this. The Sabbath is practicable only among agricultural or hand- working people. A pastoral people must herd the flocks and milk them seven days in the week, or their subsistence perishes. The Jew were an in dustrial people. Those at Medina were mainly culti vators or goldsmiths. They observed the Sabbath. But Mohammed s people were mainly Bedawin. It

• Koran, 6 ^ f .

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seemed impossible to impose a day of rest upon them. He did not hesitate therefore to abrogate it the Sabbath is intended only for the Jews, is in fact his round assertion.*

We see from this instance, that Mohammed did not feel that an unchangeable God would enact an un changeable code. In regard to some other Mosaic regulations, he admitted their divine character but denied that they were binding upon later sects : " And for the sin of the Jews, We forbade them good things that had been lawful to them, and because they turned away from the path of God."f We remember that in the New Testament also, some of the Mosaic ordinances are said to have been given the people for the hardness of their hearts. A polemic utterance against the Old Testament reason for the Sabbath, seems contained in the words: "We created the heavens and the earth and what is between them in six days, and no fatigue affected Us." | It is scarcely possible to doubt that there is a reference here to the declaration that God rested the seventh day. Since neither the advantages of the Sabbath, nor the reason given for its observance, commended themselves to Mo hammed, he refused to re-enact it. The Friday which he chose as his day of religious observance was not intended as a Sabbath in the Old Testament sense.

The first command of Mohammed s Decalogue for-

• " The Sabbath is made only for those who dispute concerning

it " by which he means the Jews who were arguing with him for its adoption Koran, 16 135 .

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bids associating any other object of worship with the true God. With his doctrine of the unity of God this is what we may expect. And in his common wealth, as soon as he was strong enough, he made this a crime to be punished by the judges. So in the Old Testament we find stringent measures com manded against every one who practised or encour aged the worship of false gods.* It follows that apostasy from Islam is punished with death : " If they turn their backs, then take them and kill them, and do not take any of them as friends or helpers. " f This was probably intended for those who relapsed into heathenism after having professed Islam. It was early applied, however, to those Moslems who were converted to Judaism or Christianity. It is still the theory of Mohammedan law everywhere that such converts should be put to death.

The other commands of the Decalogue given by Mohammed cover very fairly the second table of Moses Law. To appreciate his view of man s obli gations toward his fellow we need to look at the dif ference in principle between him and the heathenism which he overthrew. In heathen Arabia, as in all early society, moral obligations were connected with the blood. The members of the clan were brothers. In such a society, virtue consists in acting for the common blood, either in defending it from attack from the outside, or in fostering it by liberality with in. This tribal system was in full force in Moham med s time even in Mecca, where the different clans lived in different quarters of the city, each with its

• Dcut 13. f Koran, l JI .

256 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

separate wall and gates. The common interest of the city was protected only by treaties between the clans. In Medina the different clans were frequently at war, and before the coming of Mohammed, a continuous feud had been carried on so long as to threaten the ex termination of the population. Now Mohammed sub stituted the bond of faith for the bond of blood : " O, you who believe ! Fear God in sincerity, and do not die without being resigned [to Him] ; and hold fast, all of you, on the bond of God, and be not divided ; and remember the grace of God towards you when you were enemies, how He united your hearts, and by His grace you became brethren." ~* The men whom he ad dressed had been members of different tribes and therefore enemies. The word of Paul concerning Christians before their conversion that they had been full of hate was true also of those whom Mohammed addressed. It is difficult for us to conceive the great ness of the change wrought in them by the substitution of the new tie of faith for the old tie of family. The greatness of the change is shown by the difficulty with which it was brought about. In the stormy times through which the infant commonwealth passed, it seemed again and again as if the old feuds would break out. But faith triumphed over the old bonds, and the brotherhood of believers was established. Tradition has preserved some striking instances of the reality of the change. One was the case of the son of Abdallah Ibn Obay. Abdallah had been the most influential man in Medina before the coming of Mohammed. Although he yielded to the majority, and professed allegiance

• Koran, 3 :7 f .

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to Mohammed, he was never heartily a believer, and his lukewarmness or his secret machinations placed many a thorn in the pillow of Mohammed. At one time he so far forgot his ordinary prudence as to f.peak openly of Mohammed in abusive language. Thereupon the son went to Mohammed and offered to kill his father with his own hand, declaring that it was better for him to be the executioner than another for if another should do it he would be moved to take blood revenge, and so become a transgressor. In another instance, a Moslem at Mohammed s in stigation put to death a Jew who had shown him many favors in times past. The brother of the ex ecutioner reproached him with murdering his bene factor. The only reply was : " If he who ordered me to kill him should order me to kill thee I would obey." When the brother assured himself that this was said in earnest, he was so impressed with the power of the new religion, that he became a convert on the spot.* These examples show how the new principle was realized. They show its less attrac tive side, to be sure. But we cannot doubt that its strength against enemies is the measure of its strength within the community. In his farewell pilgrimage, Mohammed declared that, like the sacred month and the sacred territory, God had made the life and prop erty of every Moslem inviolable to every other Mos lem until the end of time.f

In adopting faith as the principle of his commu nity instead of blood, Mohammed was probably under

• Wellhauscn, Vakidi, p. 98.

fMuir, Life of Mahomet, IV., p. 230.

258 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

Christian influence. The social organization in view in the Old Testament was the chosen people. And this people was a group of clans allied by blood and tracing descent from a common ancestor Abraham or Israel as the case may be. In substance this was the constitution of the Arabs before Mohammed. The Prophets, indeed, in their visions of the coming kingdom see that all men are to partake of the bless ings of Israel. But they do not seem to proclaim that simple faith in Yahweh is enough to make all men kin. They are content to leave the great con summation to the future, where divine power will effect what is incomprehensible to men. It was the New Testament which brought believers into a brotherhood " where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female." Mo hammed must have heard of this from Christians. The JCAVS who came under his observation were as exclusive as the heathen. They were in fact organ ized on the principle of the Arab clans, and they did not let their faith keep them even from warring against each other, clan against clan. Mohammed grasped the Christian idea of the brotherhood of be lievers and organized his society on that basis. That he did not rise to the height of the Christian concep tion of the brotherhood of all men can scarcely excite surprise, when we see how far the Church is from ap prehending this conception even to the present day.

Christian influence is suggested further by various expressions used by Mohammed- though as we get our knowledge of them from tradition, we may sus pect that they are colored somewhat by the memory

THE SERVICE OF GOD 250

of the narrators. In regard to tlio brotherhood of believers, he is reported to have said : " Believers are like a building, one part of which strengthens another " and he interlaced his fingers to illustrate the union of materials in a building. So in the New Testament, believers are builded together into a temple. In some Koran passages he describes be lievers as those who repel evil with good, where we are tempted to see a reminiscence of the New Testament exhortation to overcome evil with good.

Some other verbal resemblances might be pointed out, but it is time for us to turn our attention to two subjects in which the Moslem world now sharply dis tinguishes itself from Christendom. The first of these is slavery. This institution already existed in full vigor in Arabia in the time of Mohammed. A slave market existed at Mecca into which came those Arabs who were made captive in the wars between the tribes, as well as the human merchandise im ported from beyond the borders of the peninsula. Even in time of peace, a defenceless man might be kidnapped and sold. Mohammed did not dream of abolishing slavery. But he greatly mitigated its evils. He exhorted masters to clothe their slaves with the same kind of garments which they wore them selves, and to feed them with the same kind of food which they themselves ate. And ho added as a reason : " They are your brothers whom God has made subject to you."* Further, he encouraged

• Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, I., p. 73. I have not

now the reference to Bocliari. On the slave market in Mecca cf. W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage, p. 73 ; Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, I., p. 119.

260 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

manumission, making it a meritorious work and rec ommending it as one of the means of atoning for sins of omission. Finally, by the emphasis of the brotherhood of believers he did much to secure mild treatment of slaves on the part of their masters. In all this, Islam did as much as \vas done either by Judaism or Christianity. Islam has, however, failed to keep up with the progress of humanity in this as in so many other respects. That, in the Middle Age, Christianity had little to boast of as compared with Islam, is shown by the fact that slaves were a staple of the Venetian trade to the East, and were exported from the domains of the Pope himself. Prelates even were accused of taking the children of their serfs and selling them to the Jews, through whose hands they passed into the possession of the Moslems.*

The other matter is one in which the custom of Is lam is most repugnant to our ideas 1 mean the law of marriage and divorce.f In our dislike of the pres ent practice of Moslems, however, we must not forget that Mohammed did improve upon the customs of hea thenism. Among the sins which he most strictly for bade was adultery. When the deputation from Me-

• Kremer, Kulturgescliichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, II.,

p. 153.

t In addition to what has been said about the duties of man to man we should in justice to Islam notice the following points : (1) Honor to parents is emphasized, cf. Koran 17- 4f ; (2) The punish ment of the murder of a Moslem is death, and for injury of the person the lex talionis is enforced as in tho Old Testament; (3) The payment of just dues is enforced, and (by tradition) trade is regu lated so as to prevent unfairness ; (4) Usury is prohibited as in the Old Testament.

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dina swore allegiance to him before the Flight, he pledged them not to commit this sin.* When asked to name the three greatest crimes, this was one of the three.f In the passage cited above, he says : " Do not approach anything evil." He probably means to prohibit incitements to lust. He forbade the price of a dog, the reward of fornication, and the pay of a soothsayer a conjunction that reminds us of an Old Testament prohibition. In the early part of his reign at Medina he ordered one of his followers to be stoned on confession of adultery. When a deputation from the important city of Taif came with the offer that the city would become Moslem if the commands against usury, adultery, and wine were modified, the Prophet refused any concession.^ These are suffi cient proof that Mohammed had no desire to encour age license, and that, in fact, his law was considerably more strict than the custom of his ancestors. His ideal of marriage was high, for he says : " A Moslem has not obtained, after righteousness, anything bet ter than a good dispositioned, beautiful wife ; such a wife as, when ordered by her husband to do anything, obeys ; and if her husband looks at her, is happy ; and, if her husband swears by her to do anything, she does it, to make him a swearer to the truth ; and if he is absent from her she wishes him well and guards her person and takes care of his property."

• Or fornication, the Arabic word includes both.

t Polytheism, infanticide, and adultery. Mislicai, I., pp. 8, 18, 20.

J Wellhausen, Vakidi, p. 383. In addition to these indications, I might adduce the tradition that Mohammed prohibited the Muta marriages marriages for a specified time.

Mishcat, II. p. 7U.

262 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

With such an ideal, it seems as if he might have done more for the elevation of marriage.

That he did not do more is probably due to his not having had knowledge of what Christianity really teaches. As we very well know, the Church early obscured the true doctrine of marriage by the prom inence it gave to celibacy. Now the doctrine that marriage is inferior to celibacy is one from which the Arab revolts. The importance of preserving the family name, and of keeping up the strength of the clan, causes him to value children above all other blessings. He stands just where the Hebrews of the Old Testament stood. He has therefore no mind to the doctrine of the Church. " We sent Jesus the Son of Mary (he says in the Koran *) and gave him the Gospel, and placed in the hearts of those who fol lowed him pity and compassion but the monastic life they themselves invented. " This shows that Moham med, finding the ideal presented by Christianity a perverted one, fell back upon the position common to Hebrew s and Arabs. He justifies himself in his own polygamy by the example of the prophets who had preceded him, having David and Solomon especially in mind.

The real evil in Eastern society is not so much polygamy as the freedom of divorce. Comparatively few Mohammedans have more than one wife at a time. But there are comparatively few who have not put away more than one wife in order to take another. Now divorce was repugnant to Mohammed. He never sent away a wife, though some of them gave him anything

• Koran, 57".

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but a peaceful time. He tried to regulate divorce, making it more difficult. That the attempted regula tion would produce new evils lie did not foresee. It did not occur to him that he could prohibit divorce the disciples of Jesus also found it impossible to suppose such a prohibition practicable. In fact, Mohammed stood substantially upon Jewish ground, for the Jewish law allows the husband to put away his wife if he find any serious fault in her.*

A curious but not edifying phase of this subject, is the influence which Mohammed s own experiences with women had upon his legislation. As it does not bear directly upon our subject we need not discuss it here. Probably there is in all history no more striking example of the extent to which a regulation based on the experience of a single individual has affected a vast multitude of men for a long period of time.f The failure to distinguish between personal impulses and eternal laws has inflicted this lasting calamity on Eastern society.

In the last lecture we discovered that the revela tion of Mohammed is regarded as a Law. What was there said is fully borne out by what we have seen

• Even if she burn the bread in baking, according to one school of

Scribes.

t The jealousy of the uxorious old man led to the command that all women should wear veils, which is still the rule of Eastern so ciety. The desire to shield his favorite wife from a scandal, pro duced the law that four witnesses should be brought to prove a charge of adultery, and the accuser who cannot produce these must receive eighty stripes. This law causes Eastern husbands to keep their wives under constant guard because of the difficulty of proving unfaithfulness. What the seclusion of women has done for Moslem society I need not say.

264 THE BIBLE AND ISLAM

to-day. Koran and tradition occupy, to the Moham medan, exactly the place which the Jew gives to Tora and Mislma. Life is to be regulated in its most minute details by the law given by God Him self. The conservatism which is thereby given to Islam has already been noticed. A further conse quence is only too evident. The emphasis laid upon obedience to a set of rules, stimulates a formal and external righteousness. The process is precisely that illustrated in Judaism. On one side it becomes all important to know the law. The Koran, like the Tora, is a complicated code. It contains a great variety of enactments, and these are not always clear or self-consistent. Moreover, it does not provide for all cases of conscience. The traditions must be consulted by the man who wishes to please God ; and the traditions form an extensive literature. But we are not yet at the end. Cases in real life still force upon the believer questions that cannot be answered by direct declaration of either Koran or tradition. But it will not do to remain in doubt. Of two possible courses of action, one must be pleasing to God and the other not. The development of casuistry is the result. In fact the religious science of Islam is largely casuistry. The learned have the issues of life in their hands, and the result has been to foster the pride which in old times led the Scribes to say : " this people which knoweth not the Law is ac cursed."

In this respect, Islam has failed to rise to the New Testament view. As we have seen, its ethical ideal frequently shows Biblical influence. In the point

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now under consideration it has adopted the one-sided legalism which characterized Pharisaism. The Scribes who sat in Moses seat have their counterpart in the Scribes who still sit in the seat of Mohammed. The conscience of the Moslem world is still in the hands of these scholastics, whose ideal is the ideal of thir teen centuries ago.

And if, in this respect, Mohammedanism must be classed with Talmudic Judaism, the same must be said of the character of its morality. The works pleasing to God are largely works of the law that is, they are ceremonial and external. If even in Christianity, which professes to free men from the law, men will take refuge in formalism, how much more must this be true in Islam ! In fact, the righteousness of the followers of Mohammed consists in what the Apostle calls dead works. Here is where the system most needs regeneration, and here is where the spiritual light of Protestant Christianity should come to its help.