Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/20

14 imagination to other parts of the country. At his youthful age and upon his hearty requests his uncle permitted him to accompany some of these caravans in their slow but delightful journeys. The careful observations he made on his way and the interesting tales he heard during his travels, and especially the free and detailed conversations he had with some Nestorian Christian monks residing in a secluded convent, which, being on the way of these caravans, showed great hospitality to them during their journeys from and to home, and other such coincidences, induced the mind of Mohamet to reform the paganishpagan [sic] religions of his race by establishing a better system more similar to their original faith supposed to be founded by Abraham and Ishmael, the ancestors of the Arabian races. He was not in favor with the doctrines and practices of Christianity which was divided into various sects, all conflicting with each other and none corresponding with the primitive simplicity of the Apostolic church. He felt much opposition against Judaism of his time and country, calling it a subversion of the ancient religion of Israel, which he mentions very frequently in his later teachings.

4. The Beginning of the Mohametan Religion. While forming the design of a new religious system Mohamet was for years in the habit of retiring to a cave not very far from Mecca, and there spending days and weeks in silent meditation. According to some historians his isolation in that cave was not altogether for thoughtful planning, but was due to epileptic fits