Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3a.pdf/313

MAH been reduced to obedience, and the most ambitious and powerful of his subjects, Ali Pacha of Janina, been removed from his path, when the Greek insurrection broke out, eventually enlisting the sympathies and co-operation of the great Christian powers. Yet, in spite of the Greek insurrection, Mahmud proceeded with his domestic innovations and reforms—social and financial, as well as military—heedless of the discontent of his Mahometan subjects; and when the janissaries revolted, he crushed their power for ever in the memorable massacre of June, 1826, when six thousand of them fell in one day. But continued triumph and steady progress were things unknown to Mahmud. After the destruction of the janissaries came the battle of Navarino, 20th October, 1827, and the independence of Greece. His new war with Russia terminated disastrously by the treaty of Adrianople, 14th September, 1829, which established the protectorate of the czar in the principalities. Mahmud was just recovering from the blow when he had a new enemy on his hands, in his rebellious subject Mehemet Ali (q. v.) The army which he had organized so carefully could not stand before Ibrahim Pacha (q. v.) Mahmud had to concede the chief demands of Mehemet Ali, to owe the preservation of Constantinople to the protection of a Russian force, and to conclude with Russia, 8th July, 1833, the humiliating treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, in which the command of the passage of the Dardanelles by Russia was the price paid for Russia's future assistance. Re-organizing his army during another brief period of repose, Mahmud thought mainly of avenging himself on Mehemet Ali. The conflict, expected and prepared for by both, arrived in 1839, but Mahmud was spared the crowning mortification of hearing of Ibrahim Pacha's victory of Nezib, 24th June, 1839. He died on the 1st of July following. Under happier circumstances. Sultan Mahmud might have done for Turkey what Peter the Great did for Russia. He was a sovereign of great sagacity, energy, and resolution; but while endeavouring to carry out reforms, he had to cope at once with domestic discontent, the insurrection of important provinces and powerful subjects, and the hostility of the great powers of Europe, singly or in combination. From his accession dates the strenuous attempt to solve the problem, whether the military and political organization of Christian Europe can be grafted on the peculiar despotism of Mahometan Turkey.—F. E.  MAHOMET or MOHAMMED, the renowned prophet of Arabia, was born on a Monday, the 10th of Reby the first (April), the third month of the Mahometan year. The exact year of his birth according to the christian era is not yet fixed, but it was 569, 570, or 571. He was the only son of Abdallah and Amina belonging to Mecca. At an early age he was deprived of his father, mother, and grandmother; but his uncles were numerous, and the most influential of them, Abu-Taleb, proved a guide and protector to the orphan. When twelve years of age, Mahomet accompanied this uncle to Bassorah, where he met with a christian monk, Bahira or Jerdjis (George), who is said to have directed his guardian's attention to the mental gifts of the boy, and predicted for him a great future. Tradition has preserved but a few fragments of his life in the following years, such as his participation in the war of the Koreishites against the tribe Hawazin—termed the godless war, because it happened in one of the four sacred months—and his keeping the herds of the Meccans for hire. When he was twenty-five years of age he became servant to Chadidscha, a rich widow forty years of age, who being smitten with his charms offered him her hand; and it was not refused. This was in his twenty-eighth year. The fruit of the marriage was several children, who either died young or left no issue, with the sole exception of Fatima, who married his cousin Ali, son of Abu-Taleb, and thus became the mother of a numerous progeny. Raised in this manner from poverty to independence, he was put into a position where he had leisure to prepare himself in a measure for the theatre of influence he was destined to occupy. All evidence goes to show that he was not taught reading or writing in his youth. Like the rest of his countrymen, he was wholly unlettered and ignorant; nor had he many opportunities of enlarging his mind by foreign travel. Two journeys into Syria for commercial purposes, are all which are recorded in his earlier life. After his marriage he lived as a merchant, but does not seem to have been peculiarly successful: his mind was occupied with other thoughts. He communed in solitude with his spirit. During the month of Ramadhan every year he withdrew from the world to the cave of Hara, to muse on the present and the future of religion. The spiritual condition of Arabia at the time rendered a new and better creed acceptable to the more reflecting of its inhabitants. Judaism and Christianity had penetrated into the old worship and so far improved it; though their forms were corrupt. Several had also preceded Mahomet, who announced to their countrymen one spiritual Being and a life after death; but they were not fortunate enough to attract the attention and command the influence which Mahomet succeeded in doing. They did not combine the scattered elements of doctrine into a connected system, and wanted the talents, eloquence, enthusiasm, and endurance of the more illustrious reformer. He did not assume the title of a prophet with a divine mission till his fortieth year. In that year he had the first vision, in which Gabriel appeared to him and commanded him to recite what he said to him. He had been full of doubts, and was in fear of being possessed with evil spirits; but he was quieted by his wife and her cousin Waraka, and gradually convinced of his divine mission. His claims were first acknowledged by his own household, his wife and his servant Zuid, who avowed implicit confidence in his divine mission. But his kindred were not to be won over easily. The Koreishites of the line of Haschem were to be feared, as also the rival line of Abd Schems. Hence his opinions were disseminated privately, and their acceptance made slow progress. The meetings for worship of his few followers, who amounted to no more than forty the first three years, were held in secrecy, chiefly in a cave near Mecca. Yet they were discovered by the multitude, and a sort of combat ensued. In the fourth year of his so-called mission he began to proclaim his doctrines publicly and boldly. First he summoned all the Koreishites of the line of Haschem to meet him on the hill of Safa, near Mecca. When he began to speak of his mission, his wealthy uncle Abu-Lahab became angry, reproached him, and took up a stone to hurl at him; on which Mahomet cursed both him and his incredulous wife. In consequence of this meeting Abu-Lahab compelled his son Otha to repudiate his wife, who was Mahomet's third daughter. Thus the prophet's first attempt to persuade his kindred and tribe of the divinity of his mission proved a failure. At a second meeting of the Haschemites held in his own house, before which he spoke of himself as the commissioned one of Allah, he did not meet with much more approval; except that Ali offered himself to the services of the prophet, and was joyfully accepted as vicegerent, whose words all were ordered to obey. But though ridiculed by his friends, he gained converts among the people, especially the women. Even Jews followed him for a while, till they saw that he allowed food pronounced unclean in their law. The enthusiasm and boldness of the prophet continued to increase. He was sent, according to his own pretensions, to abolish idolatry, and to lessen the severity both of the Jewish and Christian laws. The animosity of the Koreishites against him kept pace with his growing popularity; for his attacks on the prevailing idolatry threatened to supersede the primitive worship of the Caaba. His uncle Abu-Taleb was appealed to, that he would either silence or send away his nephew; but the aged man after hearing Mahomet's bold determination, though unconverted himself, promised not to leave him unprotected. For this purpose he applied for aid to the other descendants of Haschem, who could hardly refuse, except his uncle Abu-Lahab. Still the prophet's enemies were powerful and unremitting. They did not scruple to resort to violent measures. Mahomet was nearly strangled in the Caaba, and Abubekr rescued him at great personal peril. Nor was he himself the only object of persecution; his family and followers suffered. Surrounded as they were with such dangers, the prophet advised them to fly to Abyssinia. Thither they went accordingly, a little band consisting of eleven men and four women, headed by Othman Ibn Affan, who had married Mahomet's divorced daughter Rokaia. This flight is sometimes called the first Hedschra, and occurred in the fifth year of Mahomet's mission. In Abyssinia the exiles were kindly received—a circumstance which induced others to follow their example, till the company of disciples there amounted to one hundred and one, besides children. The Koreishites passed a law, banishing all who should adopt the new faith; but even this was ineffectual to repress its progress. Mahomet took refuge in a disciple's house on the hill Safa, where he continued a month, receiving his revelations and promulgating them to the votaries that followed. In consequence of an insult offered to the prophet by Abu-Jahl, Mahomet's uncle Hamza, a powerful and fiery man, suddenly professed his conversion and took the oath of adhesion. But a 