The Arabs, At The Time Of His Birth, Were Sunk In Idolatry And The Worship Of The Stars, While Their Morals Were Under No Control Either Of Law Or Religion.

The Prophet's aim appears, in the first instance, to have been, to secure a system of orderly government, and at the same time to gain, for his own family, a dignity which should be exalted beyond all fear of competition-the dignity of lordship over the holy city of Mecca.

This was then held under no higher tenure than the sufferance and caprice of the Arab tribes. To perpetuate this lordship by assuming an hereditary and inviolable pontificate was Mahomet's first idea, and at a banquet given to the whole of his kinsmen he revealed his scheme. They, however, rejected his appeal, and he then proclaimed himself as an apostle to all, and setting aside existing forms and traditions proceeded to a higher flight of ambition. For election by blood, he substituted election of God; and assuming a direct revelation from on high, he, by force of an ardent and ambitious will, carried out his project even at Mecca itself, where, to all who visited his shrine, he preached without distinction. From the powerful opposition brought against him, Mahomet was at last obliged to fly; but before doing so, and casting off the high position he held among his own tribe and kinsmen, he assembled his followers together on a mountain near Mecca, and there, without distinction of blood or calling, he enrolled them as equal followers in one community, and entered with them into a solemn and binding agreement. "That night Mahomet fled from Mecca to Medina, and then took its rise a pontificate, an empire, and an era." This hegira, or "flight," is believed to have occurred on the 19th June, A.D. 622[39] but has been variously stated; it is, however, the era now in general use among no less than one hundred and sixty millions of people.

Although himself an undoubted impostor, and the Koran a manifest forgery, Mahomet would appear to deserve a larger share of appreciation, or at least of charitable judgment, than he usually receives.

"He was one richly furnished with natural endowments, showing liberality to the poor, courtesy to every one, fortitude in trial, and, above all, a high reverence for the name of God. He was a preacher of patience, charity, mercy, beneficence, gratitude, honouring of parents and superiors, and a frequent celebrator of Divine praise." The great doctrine of the Koran is the Unity of God, and in this creed Mahomet himself seems to have been a sincere believer. "Its design was to unite the professors of the three different religions then followed in Arabia - who for the most part were without guides, the greater number being idolaters, and the rest Jews and Christians, mostly of erroneous and heterodox belief - in the knowledge and worship of one eternal and invisible God, and to bring them to obedience of Mahomet as the only prophet and ambassador of the truth." The "fatiha," or opening chapter of the Koran, is said to contain the essence of the whole, and forms part of the daily prayers of all zealous Mussulmans.

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