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In de&longs;cribing the religious tenets
of the Algerines, the attention is immediately
drawn to Mahomet or Mahomed,
the founder of their faith.

This fortunate impo&longs;tor, like all other
great characters in the drama of life, has
been indignantly vilified by his opponents,
and as ardently prai&longs;ed by his adherents.
I &longs;hall endeavour to &longs;teer the
middle cour&longs;e of impartiality; neither
influenced by the biggoted aver&longs;ion of

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Sales and Prideaux, or the &longs;pecious prai&longs;e
of the philo&longs;ophic Boulanvilleirs.

Mahomet was born in the five hundred
and &longs;ixty ninth year of the chri&longs;tian
era. He was de&longs;cended from the Coreis,
one of the noble&longs;t of the Arabian tribes.
His father, Abdalla, was a man of moderate
fortune, and be&longs;towed upon his &longs;on
&longs;uch an education as a parent in con&longs;ined,
if not impoveri&longs;hed circum&longs;tances, could
confer. The Turks &longs;ay, he could not
write; becau&longs;e they pride them&longs;elves in
decrying letters, and becau&longs;e the pious
among them &longs;uppo&longs;e his ignorance of letters
a &longs;ufficient evidence of the divine original
of the book, he publi&longs;hed, as received
from and written by the finger of
Deity.

But when the Arabian authors record,
that he was employed as a factor by his uncle
Abutileb, there can little doubt remain
but that he was po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ed of all the literary
acquirements, nece&longs;&longs;ary to accompli&longs;h

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him for his bu&longs;ine&longs;s. He has been stigmatized
as a mere camel driver. He
had the direction of camels it is true.
The merchandize of Arabia was transported
to different regions by carrivans
of the&longs;e u&longs;eful animals, of a
troop of which he was conductor; but
there was as much difference between his
&longs;tation and employment, and that of a
common camel driver, as between the
&longs;upercargo of an India &longs;hip in our days,
and the &longs;eaman before the ma&longs;t. In his
capacity of factor, he travelled into Syria,
Pale&longs;tine, and Egypt; and acquired
the mo&longs;t u&longs;eful knowledge in each country.
He is repre&longs;ented as a man of a
beautiful per&longs;on, and commanding presence.
By his engaging manners and remarkable
attention to bu&longs;ine&longs;s, he became
the factor of a rich Arabian merchant,
after who&longs;e death he married his widow,
the beautiful Cadija, and came into the
lawful po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ion of immen&longs;e wealth, which

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awakened in him the mo&longs;t unbounded
ambition. By the venerable cu&longs;tom of
his nation, his political career was confined
to his own tribe; and, the patriarchal
being the prominent feature of the
Arabian government, he could not hope
to &longs;urmount the claims of elder families,
even in his own tribe, the genealogies of
which were accurately pre&longs;erved. To
be the founder and prophet of a new religion
would &longs;ecure a glorious preeminence,
highly gratifying to his ambition,
and not thwarting the preten&longs;ions of the
tribes.

Mankind are apt to impute the mo&longs;t
profound abilities to founders of religious
&longs;y&longs;tems, and other fortunate adventurers,
when perhaps they owe their &longs;ucce&longs;s more
to a fortunate coincidence of circumstances,
and their only merit is the sagacity
to avail them&longs;elves of that tide in
the affairs of men, which leads to wealth
and honour. Perhaps there never was a

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conjuncture more favourable for the introduction
of a new religion than that, of
which Mahomet availed him&longs;elf. He
was &longs;urrounded by Arian chri&longs;tians,
who&longs;e darling creed is the unity of the
Deity, and who had been per&longs;ecuted by
the Athena&longs;ians into an abhorrence of
almo&longs;t every other chri&longs;tian tenet: by
Jews, who had fled from the vindictive
Emperour Adrian, and who, too willfully
blind to &longs;ee the accompli&longs;hment of
their prophecies in the per&longs;on of our Saviour,
in the mid&longs;t of exile were ready to
contemn tho&longs;e prophecies, which had &longs;o
long deluded them with a Me&longs;&longs;iah, who never
came: and by Pagans, who&longs;e belief in
a plurality of gods made them the ready
pro&longs;elytes of any novel &longs;y&longs;tem; and the
more wi&longs;e of whom were di&longs;gu&longs;ted with
the gro&longs;s ad&longs;urdities of their own mythology.
The &longs;y&longs;tem of Mahomet is &longs;aid to
have been calculated to attach all the&longs;e.
To gratify the Arian and the Jew, he

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maintained the unity of God; and, to
plea&longs;e the Pagans, he adopted many of
their external rites as fa&longs;tings, wa&longs;hings,
&c. Certain it is, he &longs;poke of Mo&longs;es and
the patriarchs, as me&longs;&longs;engers from heaven,
and that he declared Je&longs;us Chri&longs;t to be
the true Me&longs;&longs;ias, and the exemplary pattern
of a good life, a &longs;entiment critically
expre&longs;&longs;ing the Arian opinion. The slories
of Mahomet's having retired to a
cave with a monk and a Jew to compile
his book; and falling into fits of the epilepsy,
per&longs;uading his di&longs;ciples that the&longs;e
fits were trances in order to propagate his
&longs;y&longs;tem more effectually, &longs;o often related
by geography compilers, like the tales of
Pope Joan and the nag's head consecration
of the Engli&longs;h bi&longs;hops, are fit only to
amu&longs;e the vulgar. It is certain, he secluded
him&longs;elf from company and a&longs;&longs;umed
an au&longs;terity of manners, becoming the
reformer of a vicious world. In his retirement,
he commenced writing the al

[figure description] Page 147.[end figure description]

coran. His fir&longs;t pro&longs;elytes were of his
own family, the next, of his near relatives.
But the tribe of Corei were &longs;o familiar
with the per&longs;on and life of Mahomet
that they de&longs;pi&longs;ed his preten&longs;ions;
and, fearful le&longs;t what they &longs;tyled his mad
enthu&longs;ia&longs;m &longs;hould bring a &longs;tigma upon
their tribe, they fir&longs;t attempted to rea&longs;on
him out of his &longs;uppo&longs;ed delu&longs;ion; and,
this failing, they &longs;ought to de&longs;troy him.
But a &longs;pecial me&longs;&longs;enger of heaven, who,
Mahomet &longs;ays, mea&longs;ured ten million furlongs
at every &longs;tep, informed him of their
de&longs;ign, and he &longs;led to Medina, the inhabitants
of which, being already prepo&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ed
in favour of his doctrine, received him
with great re&longs;pect.[5]

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He &longs;oon in&longs;pired them with the mo&longs;t
implicit confidence in the divinity of his
mi&longs;&longs;ion, and confirmed their faith by daily
portions of the alcoran, which he declared
was written by the finger of God,
and tran&longs;mitted to him immediately from
heaven by archangels, commi&longs;&longs;ioned for
that important purpo&longs;e. He declared
him&longs;elf the Sent of God, the &longs;word of his
almighty power, commi&longs;&longs;ioned to enforce the
unity of the divine e&longs;&longs;ence, the unchangeableness
of his eternal decrees, the future
bli&longs;s of true believers, and the torment of
the damned, among the nations. He
boldly pronounced all tho&longs;e, who died
fighting in his cau&longs;e, to be entitled to the
glory of martyrs in the heavenly paradi&longs;e;
and, availing him&longs;elf of &longs;ome of the antient
feuds among the neighbouring
tribes, cau&longs;ed his di&longs;ciples in Medina to
wage war upon their neighbours, and
they invariably conquered, when he
headed their troops. The tribe of Corei

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flattered by the honours, paid their kinsman,
and confounded by the repeated
reports of his victories, were &longs;oon proselyted,
and become afterwards the mo&longs;t
enthu&longs;ia&longs;tic &longs;upporters of his power. In
&longs;ix hundred and twenty &longs;even, he was
crowned fovereign at Medina, like the
divine Melchi&longs;edec, uniting in his per&longs;on
the high titles of prophet and king. He
&longs;ubdued the greater part of Arabia, and
obtained a re&longs;pectable footing in Syria.
He died at Medina in the year &longs;ix hundred
and thirty three, and in the &longs;ixty
fourth year of his age. European writers,
who have de&longs;troyed almo&longs;t as many
great per&longs;onages by poi&longs;on as the French
have with the guillotine, have attributed
his death to a do&longs;e admini&longs;tered by a
monk. But when we con&longs;ider his advanced
age and public energies, we need
not recur to any but natural means for
the cau&longs;e of his death.

eaf407v2.n5

[5] This flight was in the &longs;ix hundred and twenty
&longs;econd year of the chri&longs;tian era, when Mahomet
was fifty four years of age. The Mahometans
of all &longs;ectaries commence their computation
of time from this period, which they &longs;tyle the hegira,
or flight.

p407-373

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