THE SECOND EDITION. xix Prophet,' &c., with ominous frequency, he does more justice than most of those, whose duty it is to argue with Mohammedans, to the character of the Prophet. In Periodical Literature: 'Mahometanism,' an able, thoughtful, and generous article in the Christian Remembrancer' for January 1855, which has been reprinted in a separate form by its author, Dr. Cazenove. Among books of Travel, Essays, &c., throwing light on different periods or different parts of the Mohammedan world : 'Travels of Marco Polo,' translated and edited by Col. Yule, with copious illustrations, Second Edition, 1871. 'Travels of Ibn Batuta,' translated by Rev. S. Lee, 1829. 1810. 'Turkey, Greece, and Malta,' by Adolphus Slade, R.N., 1837. 'The Spirit of the East,' by D. Urquhart, 1838. 'The Ansayrii, or Assassins,' by Hon. F. Walpole, 1854. 1854. 'Nouvelles Recherches sur les Ismaeliens de Syrie,' by M. C. Defrémery, 1855. 'Travels in Central Asia,' by Arminius Vambéry, 1861. 'Monasteries of the Levant,' by Hon. R. Curzon, Fifth Edition, 1865. 'East and West, Essays by different hands,' 1865. History of India,' by John Clark Marshman, 1867. 'Sketches of Central Asia,' by Arminius Vambéry, 1868. 'The People of Africa—Essays,' New York, 1871. 'Journey to the Source of the Oxus,' by Lieutenant Wood, New Edition, 1872. 'African Sketch-book,' by Winwood Reade, 1873. 'History of India,' by J. Talboys Wheeler, Vol. III., 1874 NOTE. In the absence, as yet, of any thorough consensus among Oriental scholars as to the details of transliteration, I have thought it desirable to retain the ordinary spelling in such words as Mohammed, Koran, Sura, Mecca, Medina, rather than adopt the more accurate Muhammad, Kuran, Surah, Makkah, Madyna. With words less universally known, such as Koreishites, Hegira, Mussulman, Sheeah, Sonna, &c., though I have not thought it necessary to use accents, I have adopted the more correct forms of Kuraish, Hijrah, Musalman, Shiah, Sunni, &c. PREFACE ΤΟ THE FIRST EDITION. THE substance of these Lectures was written early in 1872 they were originally intended only for a select audience of friends at Harrow, but, on the suggestion of some of those who heard them, they were afterwards considerably enlarged, and were delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain in the months of February and March 1874. They are an attempt, however imperfect, within a narrow compass, but, it is hoped, from a somewhat comprehensive and independent point of view, to render justice to what was great in Mohammed's character, and to what has been good in Mohammed's influence on the world. To original Oriental research they lay no claim, nor indeed to much originality at all; perhaps the subject hardly now admits of it: but, thanks to the numerous translations of the Koran into European languages, and to the great works of Oriental scholars, such as Caussin de Perceval, Sprenger, Muir, and Deutsch, the materials for forming an impartial judgment of the Prophet of Arabia are within the reach of any earnest student of the Science of Religion, and of all who care, as those who have ever studied Mohammed's character must care, for the deeper problems of the human soul. The value of the estimate formed of the influence of Mohammedanism on the world at large must, of course, depend upon such a modicum of general historical knowledge, and such Catholic sympathies, as the writer has been able, amidst other pressing duties, to bring to his work. The only qualification he would venture to claim for himself in the matter is that of a sympathetic interest in his subject, and of a conscientious desire first to divest himself of all preconceived ideas, and then by a careful study of the Koran itself, and afterwards of its THE FIRST EDITION. xxiii best expounders, to arrive as nearly as may be at the truth. How vast is the interval between his wishes and his performance the author knows full well, and any one who has ever been fairly fascinated with a great subject will know also; for he will have felt that to have the will is not always to have the power, and that the framing of an ideal implies the consciousness of failure to attain to it. A Christian who retains that paramount allegiance to Christianity which is his birthright, and yet attempts, without favour and without prejudice, to portray another religion, is inevitably exposed to misconstruction. In the study of his subject he will have been struck sometimes by the extraordinary resemblance between his own creed and another, sometimes by the sharpness of the contrast; and, in order to avoid those misrepresentations, which are, unfortunately, never so common as where they ought to be unknown, in the discussion of religious questions, he will be tempted, in filling in the portrait, to project his own personal predilections on the canvas, and to bring the differences into full relief, while he leaves the resemblances |