MAHOMETANISM.*

IF, gazing upon the shelves of a well-stocked modern library, we should observe a large and increasing proportion of volumes, which, more or less directly, bore reference to the person and the creed of Mahomet; and if, further, we were informed that their general tendency was more favourable to the Arabian teacher than were, for

* ART. III.-1. Ueber das Verhältniss des Islams zum Evangelium. Von. DR. J. A. MÖHLER. Ed. DÖLLINGER. Regensburg. 1839.

2. Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes avant l'Islamisme, pendant l'Epoque de Mahomet, et jusqu'à la réduction de toutes les tribus sous la loi Musulmane. Par. A. P. CAUSSIN DE PERCEVAL, Professeur d'Arabe au Collège de France, &c. Tomes 3. Paris: Didot Frères. 1847-48.

3. Mahomet et les Origines, de l'Islamisme. Par M. ERNEST RENAN. Revue des deux Mondes. Paris, 1851. Tome xii. p. 1063.

4. Lettres sur la Turquie, ou Tableau Statistique de l'Empire Ottoman. Par. M. A. UBICINI. Première Partie. Les Ottomans. Deuxième Edition. Paris. 1853.

By WASHINGTON

5. Lives of Mahomet and his Successors. IRVING. New York and London. 1850. 6. History of Arabia and its People. By ANDREW CHRICHTON, LL.D. New Edition. London and Edinburgh: Nelson and Sons.

7. Lectures on the History of the Turks in its Relation to Christianity. By the Author of Loss and Gain. Dublin. 1854.

the most part, those of an earlier age, the first and most obvious mode of accounting for this circumstance would be the existence of the War in the East. Nor indeed would it be difficult to point out many volumes, for whose tone and for whose very appearance our new armed alliance would sufficiently account. But this solution would before long find its limit. After glancing at the contents of numberless books of travel, and of biographical and historical sketches, professing to throw light upon the all-absorbing topic of the day, we should arrive by a retrograde course at rows of volumes upon the same theme, prior in point of time to the outbreak, or even the expectation, of the present war, yet often partaking of the same lenient tone in all that respects Mahomet and Mahometanism.1 It was long before the Anglo-French support of Turkey that Mr. Carlyle exclaimed, that Mahomet's creed was a kind of 'Christianity-I should say a better kind than 'that of those miserable Syrian sects, with their vain janglings about' 2-we rather shrink from

'Lest any purist should be shocked in limine at our employment of the popular corruption, Mahomet, we beg to observe with M. Caussin (for the remark applies to Englishmen quite as well as Frenchmen)- -'cette altération du mot Mohammed est consacrée parmi nous.' The same might be asserted of the term Mahometanism, as applied to his creed. The reader who dislikes either form may mentally substitute another. In the latter case, there is abundant choice. He may adopt the German word Islam, or the French Islamisme; may, with Mr. Hallam and others, speak of Mohammedism; with Dean Prideaux and others, of Mahometism. The last two coinages are, we presume, as lawful as that of Irvingism and the like names.

2 Heroes and Hero-Worship, Lect. ii. p. 98. We trust that neither Mr. Monckton Milnes, nor Mr. Kingsley, in endorsing this lecture with the mark of their approbation, intended to

finishing the sentence, since the words are those of the Nicene Creed and the Arian heresy respectively, concerning the nature of Him who is the object of Christian worship. It was in the days of European peace, that Sir Charles Fellowes, ignoring, if we mistake not, all reminiscences of the Seven Churches in Asia Minor, produced the account of his travels, as a panegyrist of the Mahometan conqueror, Mahmood, and his people. The ponderous tomes of Mahomet's latest German biographer, Weil,' were published some three or four years since. Of the works given at the head of this article, one only (that of Dr. Newman) can, we believe, be said to have been originally prompted by the stirring events occurring round us.

We must seek, then, some more adequate solution. The causes of these phenomena are probably manifold and varied: enough for us to indicate a few.

The mere appearance of fresh works upon Islamism and its founder may have originated, partly in the love of book-making, partly from the discoveries made by honest, student-like research. The book-making tribe is ever on the look out for a hero who is not worn threadbare, a theme which is not yet exhausted; and certain of its members seem to have become aware (even

include this sentence. There are, as will be seen, some positions in the lecture of Mr. Carlyle which we are very far from controverting. On the other hand, there are some which Mr. C. all but controverts himself, and half unsays where he is speaking of the hero as poet. Pp. 175, 176.

1 Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre. Stuttgart, 1843.

before the powerful impulse since imparted to their labours) that such a theme and such a hero were yet to be found in the past history and present condition of Arabia and Asia Minor, Turkey and Hindostan. On the other hand, the truly learned Orientalist, the critical and philosophic investigator, has alighted upon manuscripts hitherto undeciphered in the West, or detected what appear to him mistakes in the ordinary estimate of Mahometanism by Europeans; and out of the fulness of his knowledge and strength of his convictions, imparted to us, as became him, the fruits of his study and meditations.

Thus much for the mere existence of this class of books. The greater tenderness displayed towards Mahomet is a distinct and somewhat more complicate affair. We are not ignorant that in venturing to assert it as a fact, we are speaking with some degree of vagueness and generality. Among the studious writers of the present century may be found those who have dealt severely with the creed of Islam. Our travellers, too, have, in many instances, been unsparing in their criticisms upon Turkish character and manners. And so, again, among authors of an earlier generation there are partisans, as they may be fairly termed, of Mahomet. The most learned English translator of the Koran, Sale, is pronounced, even by Gibbon, no harsh judge, to be half a Mahometan; and a French biographer, the Comte de Boulainvilliers, seems to have composed his untrustworthy Vie de Mahomet, as an attack, and hardly a covert one, upon Christianity.1

'Boulainvilliers, who died A. D. 1722, is said to have ended his days as a Christian. He seems to have asserted that this,

1

Nevertheless, if the least favourable of our list of books be compared wth the earlier comments of Prideaux, Maracci, White, the compilers of the Universal History, or even of Professor Smyth, it will be allowed, we think, that the balance is in Mahomet's favour. Such modification of views, be it greater or less, as has really taken place, will be probably found to have arisen from an admixture of causes, some most honourable and generous, some very treacherous and malignant. If, for instance, any deeper research into the original sources of history, or calmer meditation upon facts already known, has led to discoveries which lessen the burden of charges against Mahomet, what lover of truth will hesitate to accept such results with cheerfulness? If, again, the changed circumstances of the Ottoman Empire-once keeping all Europe at bay, now reduced to beg Christian support against her powerful antagonist of the North-throw a different

and other sceptical productions of his pen, were written in aid of religious truth, from a conviction that Divine Providence would raise up defenders of sound doctrine. (Art. Boulainvilliers, Nouvelle Biographie Universelle. Paris, 1853.) It would be equally easy to believe that the Czar intended the present war as a boon to Turkey, and under the conviction that powerful supporters of her cause would be vouchsafed to her.

'Life of Mahomet, by Humphrey Prideaux, D. D., Dean of Norwich. London, A. D. 1708. (Fourth Edit.)

2 Maracci, Professor of Arabic at Rome, published his Latin translation of the Koran, with the Prodromus and Refutatio Alcorani, at Padua, in A. D. 1698. It is said to have been the result of forty years' labour. (See Chrichton, p. 227.)

3 Professor White's Bampton Lectures were preached at Oxford, A. D. 1784.

* Lectures on Modern History, vol. i. lect. iii.