none of those nations made peace with the Israelites (except on the Gibeonites, who obtained terins of security by stratagem, after they had refused those offered by Joshua), it being of the Lord to harden their heuris, that he might destroy them utterly? On the first considerable success of Mohammed in war, the dispute which happened among his followers, in relation to the dividing of the spoil, rendered it necessary for him to make some regulation therein: he therefore pretended to have received the divine commission to distribute the spoil among the soldiers at his own discretion, reserving thereout, in the first place, one-fifth part for the uses after mentioned; and in consequence hereof, he took himself to be authorized on extraordinary occasions to distribute it as he thought fit, without observing an equality. Thus he did, for example, with the spoil of the tribe of Hawâzen taken at the battle of Honein, which he bestowed by way of presents on the Meccans only, passing by those of Medina, and highly distinguishing the principal Korashites, that he might ingratiate himself with them, after he had become master of their city." He was also allowed in the expedition against those of al Nadir to take the whole booty to himself, and to dispose thereof as he pleased, because no horses or camels were made use of in that expedition,1 but the whole army went on foot; and this became thenceforward a law:2 the reason of which seems to be, that the spoil taken by a party consisting of infantry only should be considered as the more immediate gift of God,3 and therefore property left to the disposition of his apostle. According to the Jews, the spoil ought to be divided into two equal parts, one to be shared among the captors, and the other to be taken by the prince, and by him employed for his own support and the use of the public. Moses, it is true, divided one-half of the plunder of the Midianites among those who went to battle, and the other half among all the congregation: but this, they say, being a peculiar case, and done by the express order of God himself, must not be looked on as a precedent. It should seem, however, from the words of Joshua, to the two tribes and half, when he sent them home into Gilead after the conquest and division of the land of Canaan, that they were to divide the spoil of their enemies with their brethren, after their return:7 and the half which was in succeeding times taken by the king was in all probability taken by him as head of the community, and representing the whole body. It is remarkable, that the dispute among Mohammed's men about sharing the booty at Bedr3 arose on the same occasion as did that among David's soldiers in relation to the spoils recovered from the Amalekites; those who had been in the action insisting that they who tarried by the stuff should have no part of the spoil; and that the Hierosol. apud Maimonid. Halach. Melachim, c. 6, sect. v. R. Bechai, ex lib. Siphre. Vide Selden. de Jure Nat. et Gent. sec. Hebr. lib. 6, c. 13, 14, and Schickardi Jus Regium Hebr. c. 5, Theor. 16. Josh. xi. 20. The Jews. however, say that the Girgashites, believing they could not escape the destruction with which they were threatened by God, if they persisted to defend themselves, fled into Africa in great numbers; (vide Talm. Hieros. ubi sup.) And this is assigned as the reason why the Girgashites are not mentioned among the other Canaanitish nations who assembled to fight against Joshua (Josh. ix. 1), and who were doomed to utter extirpation (Deut. xx. 17). But it is observable, that the Girgashites are not omitted by the Septuagint in either of those texts, and hat their name appears in the latter of them in the Samaritan Pentateuch: they are also joined with the other Canaanites as having fought against Israel, in Josh. xxiv. 11. • Kor. c. 8. • Ibid. 1 Kor. c. 59, Ge. 10 Abulfed in Vit. Moh. p. 118, &c. Vide Kor. c. 9, and the notes there. and the notes there. 2 Vide Abulfed. ubi sup. p. 91. 3 Vide Kor. c. 59, ubi sup. mar. Babyl. ad tit. Sanhedr. c. 2. Vide Selden de Jure Nat. et Gent. sec. Hebr. lib. 6, c. 16. Num. xxxi. 27. • Vide Maim. Halach. Melach. c. 4. Josh. xxii. 8. • See Kor. c. 8, and the notes there. 1 Sam. xxx. 21-25. same decision was given in both cases, which became a law for the future, to wit, that they should part alike. The fifth part, directed by the Korân to be taken out of the spoil before it be divided among the captors, is declared to belong to God, and to the apostle, and his kindred, and the orphans, and the poor, and the traveller:1 which words are variously understood. Al Shâfei was of opinion that the whole ought to be divided into five parts; the first, which he called God's part, to go to the treasury, and be employed in building and repairing fortresses, bridges, and other public works, and in paying salaries to magis trates, civil officers, professors of learning, ministers of public worship, &c.: the second part to be distributed among the kindred of Mohammed, that is, the descendants of his grandfather Hâsham, and of his great uncle al Motalleb, as well the rich as the poor, the children as the adult, the women as the men; observing only to give a female but half the share of a male: the third part to go to the orphans: the fourth part to the poor, who have not wherewithal to maintain themselves the year round, and are not able to get their livelihood: and the fifth part to travellers, who are in want on the road, notwithstanding they may be rich men in their own country.3 According to Malec Ebn Ans, the whole is at the disposition of the Imâm or prince, who may distribute the same at his own discretion, where he sees most need. Abu'l Aliya went according to the letter of the Korân, and declared his opinion to be that the whole should be divided into six parts, and that God's part should be applied to the service of the Caaba: while others suppose God's part and the apostle's to be one and the same. Abu Hanifa thought that the share of Mohammed and his kindred sank at that prophet's death, since which the whole ought to be divided among the orphans, the poor, and the traveller. Some insist that the kindred of Mohammed entitled to a share of the spoils are the posterity of Hashem only; but those who think the descendants of his brother al Motalleb have also a right to a distributive part allege a tradition in their favour, purporting that Mohammed himself divided the share belonging to his relations among both families, and when Othmân Ebn Assân and Jobeir Ebn Matám (who were descended from Abdshams and Nawfal, the other brothers of Hashem), told him, that, though they disputed not the preference of the Hashemites, they could not help taking it ill to see such difference made between the family of al Motalleb and themselves, who were related to him in an equal degree, and yet had no part in the distribution, the prophet replied, that the descendants of al Motalleb had forsaken him neither in the time of ignorance, nor since the revelation of Islam; and joined hi fingers together in token of the strict union between them and the Hâshemites. Some exclude none of the tribe of Koreish from receiving a part in the division of the spoil, and make no distinction between the poor and the rich; though, according to the more reasonable opinion, such of them as are poor only are intended by the text of the Korân, as is agreed in the case of the stranger; and others go so far as to assert that the whole fifth commanded to be reserved belongs to them only, and that the orphans, and the poor, and the traveller, are to be understood of such as are of that tribe. It must be observed, that immoveable possessions, as lands, &c., taken in war, are subject to the same laws as the moveable; excepting only, that the fifth part of the former is not actually divided, but the income and profits thereof, or of the price thereof, if sold, are applied to public and descended from this latter. Al Beid. • Idem. . Idem. • Idem. Korân, c. 8. 2 Note, al Shâfei himself was Vide Reland. de Jure Milit. Moham. p. 42, &c. ' Idem. • Idem. pious uses, and distributed once a year, and that the prince may either take the fifth part of the land itself, or of the fifth part of the income and produce of the whole, as he shall make his election. SECTION VII. OF THE MONTHS COMMANDED BY THE KORAN TO BE KEPT SACRED; AND OF THE SETTING APART OF FRIDAY FOR THE ESPECIAL SERVICE OF GOD. It was a custom among the ancient Arabs to observe four months in the year as sacred, during which they held it unlawful to wage war, and took off the heads from their spears, ceasing from incursions and other hostilities. During those months, whoever was in fear of his enemy lived in full se curity; so that if a man met the murderer of his father or his brother, he durst not offer him any violence:1 a great argument, says a learned writer, of a humane disposition in that nation; who being, by reason of the inde pendent governments of their several tribes, and for the preservation of their just rights, exposed to frequent quarrels with one another, had yet learned to cool their inflamed breasts with moderation, and restrain the rage of war by stated times of truce.2 This institution obtained among all the Arabian tribes, except only those of Tay and Khatháam, and some of the descendants of al Hareth Ebn Caab (who distinguished no time or place as sacred), and was so religiously observed, that there are but few instances in history (four, say some, six, say others), of its being transgressed; the wars which were carried on without regard thereto being therefore terined impious. One of those instances was in the war between the tribes of Koreish and Kais Ailân, wherein Mohammed himself served under his uncles, being then fourteen, or, as others say, twenty years old. The months which the Arabs held sacred were al Moharram, Rajeb, Dhu'lkaada, and Dhu'lhajja; the first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the twelfth in the year. Dhu'lhajja being the month wherein they performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, not only that month, but also the preceding and the following were for that reason kept inviolable, that every one might safely and without interruption pass and repass to and from the festival. Rajeb is said to have been more strictly observed than any of the other three, probably because in that month the pagan Arabs used to fast;1 Ramadan, which was afterwards set apart by Mohammed for that purpose, Al Mogholtaï. 1 Al Kaswîni, apud Golium in notis ad Alfrag. p. 4, &c. Al Shahrestâni, apud Poc. Spec. p. 311. Al Jawhari, al Firauzab. 2 Golius, ubi sup. p. 5. Al Shahrestâni ubi sup. See before, p. 87. Abulfedâ, Vit. Moh. p. 11. Al Kodaï, al Firauz. apud Poc. Spec. p. 174. Al Mogholtaï mentions both opinions 'Mr. Bayle (Dict. Hist. et Crit. Art. la Mecque, Rem. F.) accuses Dr. Prideaux of an inconsistency, for saying in one place (Life of Moh. p. 64), that these sacred months were the first, the seventh, the eleventh, and the twelfth, and intimating in another place (ib. p. 89), that three of them were contiguous. But this must be mere absence of mind in Mr. Bayle: for are not the eleventh, the twelfth, and the first months contiguous? The two learned professors, Golius and Reland, have also made a small slip in speaking of these sacred months, which, they tell us, are the two first and the two last in the year. Vide Goli and Lex. Arab. col. 601, et Reland. de Jure Milit. Mohammedanor. p. 5. Vido Gul. in Alfrag. p. 9. • Vide ibid. p. 6. Al Makrîzi, apud Poc. ubi sup. being in the time of ignorance dedicated to drinking in excess. By reason of the profound peace and security enjoyed in this month, one part of the provisions brought by the caravans of purveyors annually set out by the Koreish for the supply of Mecca3 was distributed among the people; the other part being, for the like reason, distributed at the pilgrimage.♦ The observance of the aforesaid months seemed so reasonable to Mohammed, that it met with his approbation; and the same is accordingly confirmed and enforced by several passages of the Korân, which forbid war to be waged during those months against such as acknowledge them to be sacred, but grant, at the same time, full permission to attack those who make no such distinction, in the sacred months as well as in the profane. One practice, however, of the Arabs, in relation to these sacred months, Mohammed thought proper to reform: for some of them, weary of sitting quiet for three months together, and eager to make their accustomed incursions for plunder, used, by way of expedient, whenever it suited their inclinations or conveniency, to put off the observing of al Moharram to the following month Safar, thereby avoiding to keep the former, which they supposed it lawful for them to profane, provided they sanctified another month in lieu of it, and gave public notice thereof at the preceding pil grimage. This transferring the observation of a sacred month to a profane month is what is truly meant by the Arabic word al Nasî, and is absolutely condemned, and declared to be an impious innovation, in a paзsage of the Korâns which Dr. Prideaux, misled by Golius,' imagines to relate to the prolonging of the year, by adding an intercalary month thereto. It is true, the Arabs, who imitated the Jews in their manner of computing by lunar years, had also learned their method of reducing then to solar years, by intercalating a month sometimes in the third, and sometimes in the second year;2 by which means they fixed the pilgrimage of Mecca (contrary to the original institution) to a certain season of the year, viz., to autumn, as most convenient for the pilgrims, by reason of the temperateness of the weather and the plenty of provisions; and it is also true that Mohammed forbade such intercalation by a passage in the same chapter of the Korân: but then it is not the passage abovementioned, which prohibits a different thing, but one a little before it, wherein the number of months in the year, according to the ordinance of God, is declared to be twelve ;◄ whereas if the intercalation of a month were allowed, every third or second year would consist of thirteen, contrary to God's appointment. The setting apart of one day in the week for the more peculiar attendance on God's worship, so strictly required by the Jewish and Christian religions, appeared to Mohammed to be so proper an institution, that he could not but imitate the professors thereof in that particular; though for the sake of distinction, he might think himself obliged to order his followers to observe a different day from either. Several reasons are given why the sixth day of the week was pitched on for this purpose: but Mohammed seems to have preferred that day, chiefly because it was the day on which the people used to be assembled long before his time, though such assemblies were had, perhaps, rather on a civil than a religious account. However it Al Makrîzi, apud Poc. ubi sup. et Auctor Neshk al Azhâr, ibid. c. 106. 6 Chap. 9, c. 2, p. 23. 1 • See Korân, Chap. 9, c. 2, p. 23. c. 4, p. 81, there. • Al Beidâwi. be, the Mohammedan writers bestow very extraordinary encomiums on this day, calling it the prince of days, and the most excellent day on which the sun rises; pretending also that it will be the day whereon the last judg ment will be solemnized: and they esteem it a peculiar honour to Islam, that God has been pleased to appoint this day to be the feast-day of the Moslems, and granted them the advantage of having first observed it.9 10 Though the Mohammedans do not think themselves bound to keep their day of public worship so holy as the Jews and Christians are certainly obliged to keep theirs, there being a permission, as is generally supposed, in the Koran, allowing them to return to their employments or diversion after divine service is over; yet the most devout disapprove the applying of any part of that day to worldly affairs, and require it to be wholly dedicated to the business of the life to come.' Since I have mentioned the Mohammedan weekly feast, I beg leave just to take notice of their two Beirâms, or principal annual feasts. The first of them is called, in Arabic, Id al fetr, i. e. The feast of breaking the fast, and begins the first of Shawâl, immediately succeeding the fast of Ramadân; and the other is called Id al korbân, or Id al adhâ, i. e. The feast of the sacrifice, and begins on the tenth of Dhu'lhajja, when the victims are slain at the pilgrimage of Mecca. The former of these feasts is properly the lesser Beirâm, and the latter the greater Beirâm: but the vulgar, and most authors who have written of the Mohammedan affairs, exchange the epithets, and call that which follows Ramadân the greater Beirâm, because it is observed in an extraordinary manner, and kept for three days together at Constantinople and in other parts of Turkey, and in Persia for five or six days, by the common people at least, with great demonstrations of public joy, to make themselves amends, as it were, for the mortification of the preceding month; whereas the feast of sacrifices, though it be also kept for three days, and the first of them be the most solemn day of the pilgrimage, the principal act of devotion among the Mohammedans, is taken much less notice of by the generality of people, who are not struck therewith because the ceremonies with which the same is observed are performed at Mecca, the only scene of that solemnity. SECTION VIII. OF THE PRINCIPAL SECTS AMONG THE MOHAMMEDANS; AND OF THOSE WHO HAVE PRETENDED TO PROPHECY AMONG THE ARABS, IN OR SINCE THE TIME OF MOHAMMED. BEFORE we take a view of the sects of the Mohammedans, it will be necessary to say something of the two sciences by which all disputed questions among them are determined, viz. their Scholastic and Practical Divinity. Their scholastic divinity is a mongrel science, consisting of logical, meta. physical, theological, and philosophical disquisitions, and built on principles and methods of reasoning very different from what are used by those who 2 The word Beirâm Ebn al Athîr, et al Ghazâli, apud Poc. Spec. p. 317. • Iidem. • Al Ghazali, ibid. 10 Chap. 63, ubi sup. Al Ghazali, ubi sup. p. 318. is Turkish, and properly signifies a feast-day or holiday. 3 See chap. 9, and before, sect. iv. p. 86. Vide Reland. de Rel. Moham. p. 109, et D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. Art. Beirâm. Hyde, in notis ad Bobov. p. 16. Chardin, Voy. de Perse, tom. ii. p. 450. Ricaut's State of the Ottoman Empire, lib. ii. c. 24, &c. Vide Chardin, et Ricaut, ubi sup |