Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/717

 MOHAMMEDANISM 699 made to a person of a different religion, divina- tion, and various other superstitious practices. Murder seems to be regarded by the Koran as a crime against individuals rather than against society ; hence it was punishable with death or a pecuniary fine, at the option of the family of the murdered man. But at present in the Turkish empire murder is punished with death, and commutation by fine is not permit- ted. If a believer kill another accidentally, the slayer must pay a fine and redeem a believ- er from slavery. The punishment for theft is cutting off the hand, but in modern times this has generally fallen into disuse, and the bastinado or imprisonment has been substitu- ted. Polygamy existed among all the Semitic nations previous to the time of Mohammed, and he restricted rather than extended it. While claiming for himself special privileges in regard to his domestic relations, asserting that they were allowed him by the direct per- mission of God, he limited the number of wives which a true believer might take to four. Di- vorce is very easy in theory, but very rare in practice. The husband has merely to say to his wife, " Thou art divorced." He may re- ceive her back, and again divorce her ; but if he divorce her a third time, he cannot take her back until after she has been married to some other man and been divorced by him, or has become a widow. Aside from the domes- tic relations, the ethics of the Mohammedan religion are of the highest order. Pride, cal- umny, revengefulness, avarice, prodigality, and debauchery are condemned throughout the Koran ; while trust in God and submission to his will, patience, modesty, forbearance, love of peace, sincerity, truthfulness, frugality, be- nevolence, liberality indeed, aside from the differences of opinion in regard to theological subjects, all those qualities which the Anglo- Saxon race have idealized under the term " Christian gentleman," are everywhere in- sisted upon. Mysticism and asceticism were early cultivated by the Moslems, and called forth Sufism, the monachism of the Islam, a phenomenon of the greatest importance for a right understanding of the true character and the bearing of their doctrinal system. On their first promulgation the doctrines of Mohammed spread with amazing rapidity. In 12 years the whole of Arabia had embraced the Islam. Abubekr, the first caliph, declared war against all nations, especially against the emperor of Constantinople and "the great king of Persia," at that time the two most powerful monarchs of the world. The battle of Bostra opened Syria to the Arabs ; and one of the first feats of Omar, the successor of Abubekr, was the conquest of Damascus. Soon afterward a bat- tle near the lake of Gennesaret decided the fate of Syria. Jerusalem capitulated on easy terms, and with brief interruptions has re- mained subject to the Mohammedans, and is one of their three holy cities. Amru, a gene- ral of Omar, completed the conquest of Egypt, and fairly commenced that of northern Africa. On the S. shore of the Mediterranean the Arabs met with little resistance. Soon after the death of Omar, Persia was entered by Kha- led, Irak or Assyria was subdued and plun- dered, the Euphrates together with the gulf of Persia fell into the hands of the Arabs, and Ctesiphon and Farsistan, whither the king of Persia had fled, came under Moslem domination. On the appointment of Ali to the caliphate those great internal struggles commenced which have ever since rent the Mohammedan world, without however arresting its external growth. Moawiyah, the rival of Ali, took possession of most of the Persian provinces, and established the Islam in Europe by getting a foothold in Sicily. He was still more fortunate in Africa, and from 697 the whole of northern Africa may be considered as the home of Islamism. At the beginning of the 8th century the Moham- medans, under Tarik, crossed to Spain ; one province after another was speedily subdued, and for 800 years the Saracens retained a do- minion in that country. A few years later Abderrahman with a force of 400,000 Mos- lems entered Gaul, but they were defeated in the decisive battle between Tours and Poitiers by Charles Martel (A. D. 732), which put a final stop to their progress in western Europe. They advanced eastward into China and In- dia ; in the former country their progress was soon stayed, but in the latter they founded vast empires on the shores of the Indus and Ganges, which for a long time were strong- holds of Islamism. Fresh energy was infused into the Moslem community by the accession of the Seljuk Turks. Being called to his aid by Mohammed ben Jubriel, they seized upon Per- sia, mastered a portion of the Byzantine em- pire, and established one of the seats of their government at Iconium or Konieh. Having withstood the repeated attacks of the Chris- tian world during the period of the crusades, they were overrun by other Tartar tribes, who passed over Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, and laid the foundation of the empire of the Ottomans, or Turks properly so called. Both the Seljuks and their successors, the Osmanlis, voluntarily received Islamism from the people whom they conquered. The Ottoman rulers gradually undermined the Byzantine empire ; Amurath I. entered Europe and made Adrian- ople his capital ; Amurath II. left nothing to the Greek emperor but Constantinople; and Mohammed II. struck the fatal blow, taking Constantinople in 1453. The Ottoman em- pire, and with it the political power of the Is- lam, were now at their zenith ; the Turks be- came for many centuries the terror of Italy, Hungary, and Germany, but Christendom soon ceased to suffer any considerable losses by their advance. On the other hand, the Christian na- tions began to conquer considerable portions of Moslem territory. Sicily had been lost be- fore this period; in Spain their last strong- holds were taken in 1492. Greece commenced