by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXX
SOME ACCOUNT OF MOHAMMED THE PROPHET
The passengers of the Guardian-Mother fell back into their former seahabits when there was nothing particular to be seen, and only the youngmen appeared on deck before seven o'clock. Mrs. Belgrave and Louis werethe first to meet the commander on the second morning. He had been tothe pilot-house several times during the night; but he was an earlyriser, and had already looked over the log slate, and visited every partof the ship.
"Good-morning, Mrs. Belgrave; good-morning, Louis; I hope you have bothslept well," said the captain, saluting them.
"I have slept like a rock all night long," replied the lady.
"I have fallen into sailors' ways, so that I go to sleep whenever I liedown," added Louis. "I could sleep my four hours on board of the Maud,and wake at the right time without being called. But where are we now,sir?"
"You see the lighthouse ahead; that is in latitude 25 deg. We are nownearly as far south as the first cataract on the Nile, as far south aswe went in Africa."
"I can understand that better than simple figures," said Mrs. Belgrave.
"But we went a little farther south than that off Cuba," suggestedLouis.
"We shall cross the Tropic of Cancer while we are at luncheon," addedthe commander. "You learned at school that this boundary was attwenty-three and a half degrees north of the equator, and it isgenerally so stated, though it is not quite accurate."
"I wish you would explain this at the next conference, Captain Ringgold,for what you say is a surprise to me," said Louis.
"I will do it in a general way, though I am not an astronomer in thescientific sense of the word," answered the captain. "We are approachingthe Daedalus lightship. I suppose you remember the name."
"I know that Daedalus was a very ingenious artist of Athens, who plannedthe Cretan labyrinth, invented carpentry and some of the tools used inthe trade; but I don't know why his name was given to this lighthouse."
"I cannot inform you why it is so called, if there was any reason fordoing so; very likely it was given to it for no reason at all, as someof the ships in the British navy are supplied with classical names forthe mere sound of the words, as Agamemnon, Achilles, though with somereference to the trade of the originals in war."
"Why is it placed here all alone in the middle of this sea?" askedLouis, who had looked about it for any signs of rocks.
"It is built on a dangerous reef which is never above water, though somesmall round black rocks are seen at low tide awash. They look like thekettles in which cooks get up a boiled dinner; and for this reason theArabs call the reef Abu Kizan, which means the 'father of pots.' As youperceive, the ship is now out of sight of land; for the Red Sea is ahundred and twenty miles wide at this point. But there is the gong forbreakfast, and we must attend to that."
The usual hour for the conference was nine o'clock when the ship was atsea. So far the weather was remarkably pleasant; the north-west wind wasvery gentle, and the ship hardly pitched at all. At the regular hour thepassengers had assembled on the promenade. The map of Arabia had beenplaced on the frame as before, and it was understood that Mohammed wasto be the subject of the conference.
"What has become of Koser, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, asthe commander joined the party.
"We passed it about two o'clock this morning," replied the captain.
"I felt some interest in that town; for when we were on the Nile we cameto a place where the Arabs wanted us to take the journey of four daysacross the desert to Koser on camels," the lady explained.
"It is the first port in Egypt we come to, and was formerly animportant place, though the Suez Canal has diverted the greater part ofits trade. It was one of the chief outlets for the productions of Egypt,especially grain, while those of Arabia and other Eastern countriespassed in by the same route. The poorer Mohammedans of Egypt make theirpilgrimage to Mecca this way, journeying across the Arabian Desert onfoot or by camel, and by steamers or dhows to Yembo.
"General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the British army at Abukirwhen the French had possession of Egypt, landed at this port, marchedacross the desert to the Nile, which he descended to Cairo, where hefound that the French army had surrendered to the English. Thepopulation has fallen from seven thousand to twelve hundred. The morewealthy Egyptians and Arabs make their pilgrimage now by the way ofSuez, and in the season there are plenty of steamers to take them toYembo.
"We are now nearing the Tropic of Cancer, and when we have passed it weshall be in the Torrid Zone, in which are situated all those places onthe globe where the sun is ever directly overhead. The tropics aregenerally said to be twenty-three and a half degrees from the equator,which is near enough for ordinary purposes, but it is not quiteaccurate. When the sun is at the summer solstice, June 21, it isoverhead on this tropic, and enters the constellation of Cancer, afterwhich it is named. Nicer calculations than I can follow show that thesun is not precisely overhead at this place every year. In January ofthis year the tropics were in latitude 23 deg. 27' 11.84'', which placesit nearly three miles farther south than the location usually named. Iyield the floor to Professor Giroud."
"I am informed by the commander that we shall be off Yembo, the nearestseaport to Medina, at about half-past three this afternoon; and thisplace is a hundred and thirty-two miles from it. The two cities ofMedina and Mecca are the holy places of the Mohammedans. The principaland enjoined pilgrimage of the sect is to the latter, though many devoutMoslems visit the other with pious intentions.
"Mecca is the birthplace of Mohammed; but, for reasons which willpresently be given, he went to Medina at the age of fifty-two, where helived the rest of his life, and died there. What I have to say of Medinawill come in better after we have followed the prophet through the firstportion of his life.
"I give the name according to the best English authorities at thepresent time, though some call it Mahomet still, as we call it inFrench. The word means 'praised' in Arabic. Mohammed the Prophet wasborn at Mecca about A.D. 570; but the precise year is not known, thoughthe date I give is within a year of it. His father's name was Abdallah,a poor merchant, who died about the time of the child's birth. A greatmany stories have been invented in later years about the mother and thechild.
"The father was said to be the handsomest man of his time, and it isclaimed that his wife Aminah was of a noble family. She was of a nervoustemperament, and fancied she was visited by spirits. She was inclined toepilepsy, which may explain her visions. Mohammed was her only child. Assoon as he was born, his mother is said to have raised her eyes toheaven, exclaiming: 'There is no God but God, and I am his Prophet.' Itis also declared that the fire of the fire-worshippers, which had burnedwithout going out for a thousand-years, was suddenly quenched, and allthe idols in the world dropped from their pedestals."
"Goodness, gracious!" exclaimed Mrs. Blossom.
"The mother of the Prophet handed him over to a Bedouin woman to bringup, in order that he might have the benefit of the desert air; but thechild appears to have been afflicted with his mother's malady, and thenurse returned him because he was subject to frequent fits. When he wassix years old his mother died, and his grandfather adopted him; but theold man lived only two years after, and then he was taken by Abu Talib,his uncle, who, though poor himself, gave him a home, and continued tobe his best friend through life.
"At first the boy gained a precarious living by tending the flocks ofthe Meccans. When he was twenty-five years old he went into the serviceof a rich widow named Khadija, having the blood of the same ancestors intheir veins. Up to this time his position had been in a low grade ofpoverty. He did not take the advice of Mr. Weller, and 'beware of thevidders,' and his fortunes suddenly changed. Doubtless he was a handsomeman, as his father was said to be; and he was too much for thesusceptible Khadija, twice widowed, and fifteen years older than heremploye, and she offered him her hand and heart, which he accepted.
"They had two sons and four daughters; but both
of the former died inearly life. He established himself as a merchant after his marriage; andhe continued in the business, though he spent most of his time inmeditation by himself. Up to the age of forty Mohammed was a strictdevotee in the religion of his fathers, which was a species of idolatry.When he was about thirty years old Christianity had made its way intoArabia through Syria on one side, and Abyssinia on the other, and therewere Jewish colonies in the peninsula. Though the missionaries of thenew faith pervaded Mecca and Medina, the future Prophet was notconverted, more is the pity!
"It was at this time that he was moved to teach a new religion whichshould displace the idolatry of the people, and come into competition,as it were, with the teachings of the missionaries of Judaism andChristianity. He was forty years old when he received what he claimed ashis first divine communication, on a mountain near Mecca. He declaredthat Gabriel appeared to him there, and commanded him to preach the truereligion. It is now generally admitted that he was no vulgar and trickyimpostor, and it cannot be known to what extent his inherited epilepsyor hysteria governed the alleged revelations.
"After his long and lonely vigils passed in meditation, he proclaimedwhat he insisted had been revealed to him; and at these times he appearsto have been little better than a lunatic, for he was moved to the mostfrightful fanatical vehemence. He frothed at the mouth, his eyes becamered, and the perspiration rained from his head and face. He roared likea camel in his wrath, and such an exhibition could hardly fail to make astrong impression upon his ignorant audience.
"His first revelations were related to Khadija and other members of hishousehold; and they accepted his teachings, while his other relativesrejected them with scorn. His uncle called him a fool; and his adoptedfather never believed in him as a prophet, though for the honor of thefamily he remained his friend. After four years of preaching he musteredforty converts, slaves and men of the lowest social rank. Then he spokemore publicly, in response to new revelations commanding him to do so,denouncing boldly the superstitions of his people, exhorting them tolead pious and moral lives, and to believe in the one all-wise,almighty, and all-merciful God, who had chosen him as his Prophet. Heheld out the reward of paradise to those who accepted his religion, andthe penalty of hell to those who rejected it.
"Two of the most sacred objects of the Arabians were the fetich of ablack stone and the spring of Zemzem, both of which were believed to beendowed with miraculous powers for the healing of the body and the soul.These imparted a sanctity above any other charms to the Kaaba in whichthe stone and the fountain were to be visited. In the valley by the citystands the great mosque, in which there is an immense square holding35,000 people. In the centre of it is the Kaaba, which is not aMohammedan invention, for it existed ages before the Prophet was born.Pilgrimages had been made to it from Medina for many generations. Thestone is perhaps a meteorite, set in a corner at a proper height forkissing.
"The Kaaba was one of the superstitions with which the Prophet had tocontend; and he was too politic, as well as too deeply rooted in his ownbelief, to think of abolishing it. He therefore converted the heathenshrine into an altar of his own faith, inventing the legend that it hadbeen constructed by Abraham when he sent away his son Ishmael to found anation. Though Mohammed was prudent in many things, he offended thepeople, particularly by prohibiting certain kinds of food. He condemnedthe Bedouin for killing their newly born daughters, and for otherbarbarous practices.
"Though the number of proselytes increased more rapidly, he had raised afierce opposition against him. About this time his faithful wife Khadijadied, and then his devoted uncle. His misery over these events wasincreased by the fact that his business failed him, and he was reducedto poverty. He tried to improve his fortunes by emigration; but thescheme was a failure. He was so persecuted by the Meccans that he had onoccasions narrowly escaped with his life. After his return he marriedagain; and afterwards he had as many as nine wives at one time, thoughhe never took a second while Khadija was living.
"Now, good friends, I think we all need a rest, which the commanderinstructed me to give you at a convenient place in my remarks."
The professor retired from the rostrum, and the company scattered overthe ship.