Davenport - An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran

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PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY

PRESENTED BY

Paul H. i'erkle

1887

SAMUEL M. ZWEMER

CAIRO, EGYPT .

AN APOLOGY

FOR

MOHAMMED AND THE KORAN .

BY

JOHN DAVENPORT ,

AUTHOR OP THE ' LIFK OP ALI PACHA OF JAXINA ; ' ' DUDE VINDICATED ; ' ' KOORG

AND ITS RAJAHS,' 'AIDE MEMOIRE TO THE HISTORY OF INDIA;' 'HISTORICAL

CLASS BOOK,' AND VARIOUS EDUCATIONAL WORKS .

Conttnts :

I. Mahomed : a Biography .

II. The Koran and its Morality .

III. Charges against Mohammed refuted .

IV. Beauties ok the Koran .

" I confess I can make nothing of the critics in these times, who would accuse Mohammed of deceit prepense ; of conscious deceit generally, or , perhaps, at all ; still more, of living in a mere element of conscious deceit , and writing this Koran as a forger and a juggler would have done. Every candid eye, I think, will read the Koran far otherwise than so." C A.BLYLE's Works, Vol. VI., p. 214 .

.1. DAW i^ SONS, 1.S7, LONG ACRE, LONDON ,

DRYDEN PRESS :

J. DAVY AND SONS, 137, LONG ACRE, ^.ONDO ^'.

V

Jte

rpHE present work is an humble but earnest endea -

vour to free the history of Mohammed from

false accusations and illiberal imputations, and to

vindicate his just claim to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of mankind .

The writers who, misguided by a blind zeal, have

thus assailed the fair fame of the Restorer of the

Worship of the Unity, have not only shown them -

selves to be wholly uninfluenced by the spirit of that charity so strongly and emphatically inculcated by

the Saviour himself, but have also erred in judg -

ment, for the least reflection Avould have convinced

them that it is not from a Christian and modern

stand-point that the Prophet and his doctrines ought

to be examined and criticised, but from an Eastern

one ; in other words, Mohammed should be contem -

plated and judged as a rehgious reformer and legis -

lator living in Arabia in the seventh century after

Christ, and he must then, most undoubtedly, be

acknowledged as the very greatest man whom Asia

iv PREFACE .

can claim as her son, if not, one of the rarest

and most transcendent geniuses the world itself

ever produced .

f\ ij^ I^ ^ consider what the Arabs were before Moham -

- r-r^ med's appearance and what they became after it if ^ te^*^ ^ reflect, moreover, upon the enthusiasm kindled > H^ KA^ ^^^ ^P* ^^^^ ^y ^^^^ doctrine in the breasts of more ^ CJ^J^ than one hundred and sixty milHons of the human j/A' I V race we cannot but feel that to withhold our admira -

'^ p j;^)^ tion from so extraordinary and so great a man would U" be the most flagrant injustice, and that to attribute his advent to mere blind chance would be to doubt

the over-rding power of Divine Providence .

In conclusion, the author would state that, in a

few instances, when diffident of his own powers to

do ample justice to so interesting and important a

subject, he has availed himself of the ideas and

language of other writers, an aid which he takes

the present opportunity of candidly and gratefully

acknowledging .

LIFE OF MOHAMMED .

CHAPTER I .

Authentic character of Mohammed's life Condition of Arabia at his birth Religion of the Arabs Corruptions of the Jewish and Chris -

tian religions Exact date of Mohammed's birth uncertain That of Jesus Christ still more so Mohammed's descent from Ishmael The Kaaba and the Black Stone Burckhardt quoted Circumcision un -

necessary in Mohammed's case ; why The twelve prepuces of Jesus Christ (note) Death of Mohammed's mother His filial piety Mohammed's gratitude to his foster-nurse He accompanies his uncle in his commercial expeditioiis Adventure in the Desert Marries Khadija, the rich widow Two descriptions of his personal appearance Interval in his life similar to the one in that of Jesus Christ Mohammed's melancholy and contemplative disposition Apparition of the Angel Gabriel to him Is declared God's apostle Notice of celebrated visionaries (note) Mohammed's first converts Failure A miracle demanded and refused Grotius's pious falsehood Ali , Mohammed's Vizier Mohammed's public preaching Omar's con -

version Mohammed and his disciples persecuted The first Hegira or fiight Protection aft'orded by the Nejashee of Abyssinia .

TT may be truly affirmed that of all known legislators and conquerors, not one can be named, the history of whose life has been written with gi-eater authenticity and fuller detail, than that of Mohammed. In fact, strip his biography of the prodigies which Asiatic writers have ever affected , and what remains may confidently defy incredulity itself .

At the period of Mohammed's birth a great part of

Arabia was under a foreign yoke ; all the northern portion of xlrabia Petrtea, as well as Syria, Palestine and Egypt , B

AN APOLOGY FOR

M^as under the sway of the Emperors of Constantinople .

The shores of the Persian Gulf, the countries watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates, and the southern provinces of the Peninsula, acknowledged the supremacy of the Chosroes of Persia. A portion of the coasts of the Eed Sea to the south of Mecca was subject to the Christian kings of

Abyssinia. Mecca and the all but inaccessible countries of the interior had preserved their independence. The political state of the country necessarily determined, to a great extent, the religious belief of the inhabitants. Thus , where the Greek and Abyssinian authority prevailed, there Christianity had the ascendancy ; the doctrines of the Magi and that of the Manicheans, both of which recognised two antagonistic principles, were predominant in the Persian provinces, while everywhere else idolatry held unbounded sway. In the first ages the Arabs had adored one supreme God (Allah Taala) creator of the heavens and the earth, but subsequently, had abandoned that worship and raised temples for the adoration of demons, sons of God, who, residing in the planets and fixed stars, governed the earth. These Gods were not universally adored throughout the country ; each tribe, each family had its particular divinities, its Lares, in fact, in honour of which even human victims were immolated. The Arabs believed neither in a future state nor in the creation of the world, but attributed the formation of the universe to nature, and its future destruction to time. Debauchery and robbery everywhere prevailed , and since death was regarded as the end, strictly so

called, of existence, so was there neither recompense for virtue nor punishment for vice. A like moral and religious corruption was to be found among the Christians and the Jews who, for ages had established themselves in the Ara -

bian Peninsula, and had there formed very powerful parties .

The Jews had come to seek in that land of liberty an asylum from the persecution of the Ptomans ; the Christians had MOHAMMED AND THE KOKAX. 3

also fled thither in order to escape the massacres occasioned by the Nestorian Eutychianism* and Arian discussions. It is not easy to conceive of anything more deplorable than the condition of Christianity at this time.f The scattered branches of the Christian Church in Asia and Africa were at variance with each other, and had adopted the wildest heresies and superstitions. They were engaged in perpetual controversies and torn to pieces by the disputes of the Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, and Eutychians, whilst the simony, the incontinence, the general barbarism and igno -