Show ISLAM in a time like ours oure when everything in the orient attracts the attention of the world the following attempt at a true and impartial representation resen tation of the religion of the east islam may not prove unwelcome to the readers of the NEWS the data that will be used in this paper are as given by luttke in his doir der islam und seine mine volker supplied with suen personal observations as I 1 have had an opportunity to make tiff THE NAME the official or authoritative name of tile the mohammedan religion Is in as well known islam this word springs from a L root which means U to be fie healthy althy well safe sound or without blemish in some of its forms it also means to submit and to make peace the form islam would signify submission resignation to the will of god namely the professors of this religion the edans are called moslems a word derived from the same root A moslem is therefore when the name only is considered one who has perfectly submitted to the will of god jod and who is on that ground enjoying peace and tranquility the be name itself as we well I 1 as its signification is really beautiful and might be envied by our christian sects with their ugly iams isms and ests appended to the name of a frail mortal or r to a doctrine of doubtful origin it deserves a passing notice that islam is one of the three great monotheistic religion of the world which claim to be founded founded by god himself through inspiration and also that the professors of islam are now estimated at of souls covering a larger area in asia africa and europe than the christians THE FOUNDER OF ISLAM mohammed the founder of islam and the author of the holy book al koran was born in mecca in april A A he belonged to the tribe borlish and to the family of hashem who had the title of princes of mecca and hereditary guardians of the baaba all this notwithstanding mohammed was poor and after the death of his father abdallah Ab dallak was hadded over to a bedouin nurse with whom he remained for two years in the wilderness der ness the boy was however afflicted with sickness he had sometimes fits which were thought to be caused by evil spirits in order to come out of the reach of these he was again brought to mecca in the year his mother andina died and the little mohammed was now conveyed first to his his grandfather abd el mut alib and then when this worthy gentleman died to his uncle abu talib this last one he sometimes accompanied on OB his travels and at other times he be earned a living as a cowboy or shepherd in the vicinity of mecca but fate smiled upon him he obtained employment from a wealthy widow named who ho conducted the business left by her husband in his new position the future prophet had opportunities to make business trips to syria and the southern parts of arabia and w so well did he acquit himself of ilia his work that the widow rewarded him with her hand and heart and everything pertaining thereto thus thua mohammed became at once wealthy and occupied a respected position in mecca like liike many a great genius mohammed was of melau melancholy choly disposition he loved solitude and retired very often to a place where he could meditate and contemplate A cave in the mountain hira near mecca was often visited by him for such purposes here he began to receive visions and revelations which were often accompanied by paralytic fits a weakness which never left the prophet during durin ghis his lifetime here he conceived the grand idea of reforming the religion of his countrymen and of cleansing it from gross errors the inhabitants of the arabian Ara biala peninsula peninsulas Penin the arabs are descendants of ishmael abrahams abraham son with hagar without doubt their religion was originally nearly identical with that of the great patriarch patria reh but at the time of mohammed the people had bad almost entirely forgotten the traditions once handed down from hagar and ishmiel baitel Is ism the worshipping shipping wor of the stars and even lower forms of idolatry had found their way amoia the people and had their centrum in mecca here was the sanctuary the baaba which according to tradition had bad been founded by ishmael himself hundreds of idols had seats of honor in this tower like building and here 4 was the mysterious black stone which is still an object of the greatest reverence as mohammed had enough bot to interfere with this building any further than to cuse cleanse it from its idols hence mecca with its baaba and lack black stone hackar alast vad is yet the central point of islam mohammed was forty years old when he first publicly announced his new principles it was his idea nook L to cleanse the religious rites and traditions prevalent among the arabs and to leave them a religion in every respect identical with that of abraham his object was certainly so far good and this explains perhaps why islam in su so many respects resembles judaism and christianity some have charged the founder with deliberate fraud in mixing christianity and judaism together with his own ideas in order to be able to produce a now new religious system nothing however substantiates this supposition it was as far from mohammed meds s mind to produce something as it was from luthers he wanted wana like the real reformers to bring forth again the old long forgotten standards of perfection fec tion this was his real aim it he failed if his opus became a mix tum compo oom well which of the reformers was not more or less a failure it speaks well for for his moral character and sincerity that among his bis first faithful followers was his wife Chadi dja and ami others othere who best knew his private life that he as little as other reformers went free from eions show that human nature is the same everywhere in the shade of the the blessed american eagle eagie and on the burning sands of AL arabia rabia more than once his enemies laid plans to take his life and he found himself under the necessity of to use a modern expression taking the underground but while in exile he labored faithfully in the work before him and among the pilgrims who yearly came to mecca he found many followers particularly among the inhabitants of medina and these finally prevailed upon him to come and take up his residence in their midst this flight to medina the so called fedj rah or begera took place on july and from this event the moslems count the commencement of their religion anti and the commencement of the mohammedan era in medina mohammed organized his followers and built the first mosque and from now on the city was par excellence the capital of the prophet and the centrum of islam a dignity which aich again a little later was returned to mecca from medina islam spread very quickly it was announced as a from god that abat this religion should be spread by the help of the sword in blood and flame the word should be given to men mecca was first besieged and after several struggles conquered the idols were now destroyed but the baaba was declared to be the sanctuary of the one god and the true faith an attempted invasion of persia resulted in total defeat but in other directions the sword of mohammed was victorious and at the death of this wonderful reformer the whole of arabia had accepted ted accepted accey islam the prophet died on june u ne 8 just juht as aa ho he had bad returned to medina eledina from a pilgrimage to mecca he left behind him nine lawful wives two had already alrea preceded him to the heavenly par paradise edise concerning the visions and ascension to heaven of this oriental prophet we are told the following he had his first vision on mount hira him one hours journey from mecca As he was engaged in prayer and meditation a voice wa was heard cry and he said what shall I 1 cry upon abich came the answer cry out in thy name 0 lord chese words are the first of the koran although first found in the chapter of its present edition As soon as mohammed awoke from h his 18 ecstasies he felt as if a book had been written in his heart his wife whom he always kept posted on oh his experiences on hearing this exclaimed rejoice dear husband he in whose bands Is the fate of chada ajah is my witness that thou shall become the prophet of this people it seems from this that mohammed was not only himself a prophet but that he was fortunate enough to have a p artner who was also in for prophesying As the prophet some time after this in great despair would throw himself down a precipice on the mount he saw gabriel standing at the end of the horizon and the great archangel crie cried d with a loud voice and said 1 I am gabriel and thou art mohammed from this time revelations followed each other with few intervals intervale for about twenty years when he be had his revelations he roared like a camel his eyes rolled wildly about in their sockets and shone like embers he sweat over his whole body meds ascension to heaven is also thus described gabriel took his heart and washed it in the well filled it with faith and knowledge and put it back in its place after this the prophet mounted borak the lightning and rode to the temple place in jerusalem from here he went to heaven on jacobs ladder in the second heaven the two travelers gabriel and mohammed found christ and john the baptist in the third joseph and david in the fourth enoch in the fifth moses who wept bitterly when he saw that mohammed was to come higher in the last heaven was abraham then came the tree where gabriel lives and from this mohammed went on still further until he came as far as within two bowshot lengths of the throne of god here a great silence prevailed nothing was heard but the pen with which the word of god Is written in the books of fate comp emmanuel Ern manuel deutsch der islam I 1 do not think it absolutely necessary as do catholic and protestant writers generally to class mohammed among the religious scoundrels of the world to call him the false prophet or the son of perdition thereby condemning him and his bis followers without mercy to the bottomless pit there Is laotha dg that I 1 know of either in the c character or bistor history of mohammed nor in the word of god to warrant such a judgment mohammed undoubtedly had visions and revelations the evidence of this is to my mind sufficient his sincerity and the moral charac ter of the man forbid me to think fora for a moment that he invented reinvented the stories about his visions the rhe fact that his nearest relatives embraced his doctrine and acknowledged him as a prophet is proof enough that they ivere were satisfied patis fied as to the genuineness of his visions I 1 do not know of any testimony to the contrary that can invalidate thelis of course in our day as soon as anybody claims to have had bad communication muni cation with the other world he is denounced as a liar a hypocrite a deceiver the infidelity of the age and the caricatures of christianity must an self belf defense seno send out these cries so it comes that meds visions too have been denied and he himself set down as a liar but buc the clamors of wild infidels and theological numb skulls do not prove anything about the point in question the oriental prophet may have had real visions F for or all that it must mast be remembered that mo hammed was just as much an instrument ment iu in the hands bands of god as was once or cyrus the mission of mohammed was to raise up a people that were strong and enthusiastic enough to sweep with a broom of desolation the various countries denied defiled by apostasy apo stacy from the doctrines of the son of god As the bibly prophets have clearly described dewri bed the calamities that should come through the forces put in movement by mohammed what they should be able to do and not do and how long a time their power should last jast see rev ix 1 12 it may fairly be inferred that god had something to do his visions in one way or another hereby is not admitted though thou h that his visions and revelations were of the same nature as those of moses of ezekiel Eze biel of john the revelator or joseph the prophet nor that mohammed was in the same sense of the word as these a prophet of god neither his visions nor his revelations partake of the nature of those communications which god has granted to his messengers of peace and love jove for instance the first revelation when the prophet hears bears a voice saying cryll cryl and he be ati answers ewers what shall I 1 arv resembles so far a revelation to isaiah chap 40 6 7 but the following cry in the name of god is complete nothingness as compared to the answer given to isaiah so with the vision related above mohammed is troubled in his soul until life is a burden to him he wants to commit suicide but in the critical moment be is stayed by an appearance culling calling himself gabriel what has this chief of the angels to say jn in order to pour consolation into the troubled heart nothing but this 1 I am gabriel and abou art mohammed that was not much after all again that ascension to heaven where moses is seen crying because left behind when mohammed passed cassea on tow towards ards god well surely these visions and revelations elat ions do not prove any divine spirit as the originator the case seems to be thin and it is well worthy the trouble ol 01 01 inquiry the christian churches had fallen the church had been compelled to flee bee into the wilderness what was left of christendom was sauk in superstition and idolatry god concluded to punish the idolatrous peo pet ples pies with wars ware and their concomitants in accordance with this decree mohammed balte came to this world and was from his childhood reared so to speak for the purpose in view his mind was through love of solitude and meditation made susceptible of rapport with spirits As soon as the time came such spirits as god saw fit to communicate with him were permitted to operate on his mind and to lead him on until he hail had accomplished the work for which he be had bad been raised up that these spirits were of no particular excellence I 1 think is evident from their communications particularly clear is this when they teach that religion must be i propagated by the sword a doctrine opposite to that of christ tec this is exactly what god permitted to be taught and done as a fearful ul punishment upon the apostates meds visions a nd i lev ev relations elat ions then were real communications from the other world he was no liar so far both in the originating of islam and in its miraculous propagation there was more real interference by spirits under the permission of god than some people are readily willing to admit in all spheres we find geniuses arts and and science have theirs others excel in willing and doing they are geniuses in these branches and always become the heroes of history but even these like the sculptor painter or poet are not always clear as to what want every particular of their grand ideal Is ia or whereunto when execute it will lead they seem to be operated upon by a higher power a fate as von Schelli Dg puta it under the direction of which they stand and whose purposes they must fulfill fulfil fil I 1 think this philosophical re remark markis is particularly applicable to mohammed and will explain the mystery of his life and work on this earth J M 8 to be continued |