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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26370	The life and death of Mahumed, the author of the Turkish religion being an account of his tribe, parents, birth, name, education, marriages, filthiness of life, Alcoran, first proselytes, wars, doctrines, miracles, advancement, &c. / by L. Addison ... author of The present state of the Jews.	Addison, Lancelot, 1632-1703.	1679 (1679)	Wing A523; ESTC R33059	58,749	146

Collection c. BEsides the Alcoran the Mahumedists have another Book in little less veneration than it which is known by the Name of Zuna or Sunè which signifies a Way or Law or the following of the Sayings Actions and Counsels of Mahumed This was written after his death by some of his chief Disciples But through manifold transcriptions it became so augmented by some and abridged by others and altered and mangled by most Copies that little remain'd entire of the Impostors Words and Actions Hereupon arose divers Readings and thereby no small confusion But lest in this troubled variety of Copies the true Sunè should be utterly lost to the irreparable damage of the Mahumedan Religion an Alkalife or King of the Moors called a general Council of Alfaquies or Priests Learned Men and Doctors and appointed Damascus to be the place of their meeting These by publick Proclamation he commanded to bring with them all the Books that could be found written of the Sunè and of Mahumeds Words and Works The Alfaquies and others according to command repaired to Damascus and brought with them the said Books The Caliph seeing them in full Synod communicated unto them the purpose and reason of their assembly and then commanded That six of the most Learned Alfaquies and best read in the Sunè should be chosen for a select Committee out of the two hundred Priests that were there met The six that were chosen go under these Names viz. Muzlir Bohari Buhora yra Anecery Atermindi Doud The Caliph being well pleased with the Election as being Men of reputed Learning and Integrity called them to him and commanded them that they should go alone into a House and cause all the pretended Books of the Sunè to be brought unto them And that each of them should by himself collect a Book of all the Sayings and Deeds of Mahumed which he should conceive to be true and that they should each entitle his Book with his own Name The six Priests did as they were commanded by the Caliph and having finished their task they presented their Collections to him which he no sooner had received than he delivered them to the whole Council to be viewed and examined And these six Books being thus perused and approved were preserved and all the rest were ordered to be cast into Adegele a River near Damascus And the number of Books thus cast into the water were no fewer than loaded two hundred Camels This being done an Edict went forth That no Alfaqui or Priest should dare to read or keep any Book but the six aforesaid and that none should mention any Saying or Deed of Mahumed but such as should be found written in the said Books and that all Musselmen or Believers of Mahumed should receive these Books for as true and authentick as if they were the very Alcoran it self and that they should receive equal reverence with it In this manner Mahumeds Sect was restored and the Caliph who procured this Restauration is to this day celebrated for a Saint But it seems this was not enough to prevent future Sects for by reason of some dubious and contrary passages found in the said Books there arose several interpretations thereof which occasioned several opinions and thereupon several Sects Whereof these four are the more remarkable First the Sect of Melich of which are all the Moors of Medina and those of Africk The second Sect follow the opinion of Assafihy of which are the Moors of Mecca and the adjacent Countrey The third Sect is that of Hambeli whereof are the Moors of Armenia and Persia The last Sect is made up of those who follow the opinion of Abuhamfa So that by reason of the different interpretations given by these four Doctors of the Sunè these several Sects arose among the Mahumedists And the differences of these Sects chiefly consist in matters of Judicatures Marriages and Divorces and those Ceremonies which respect their Washings when they make their Sala or Prayer Now speaking of the Sunè as it contains in six Books the Deeds and Sayings of Mahumed we find them reduced to four kinds First the Cahch or certain and true which contain all the Words and Works of Mahumed which his Wife Ayscha and his ten Disciples attest to have been spoken and done by him Secondly all those Words and Works of Mahumed which are reported by his other Wives without the attestation of Ayscha and his chief Disciples are called Dahif or Defective Thirdly those Words and Works of Mahumed which have only the testimony of the Learned and principal Men of his time and never came to the knowledge of his chief Disciples nor of Ayscha are called Maucof or Abrupt Fourthly all those Words and Works which are delivered by his chief Doctors as proceeding from Mahumed after he was sick and infirm are accounted weak and called by the Moors Zaquini All these differences are to be met with saith my Author in the Preface to the Book of Flowers which is an Epitome of the six Books of the Sunè and contains only such Words and Actions of Mahumed as are accounted True and Certain There is yet another Book which some Travellers report they have seen in the Tursique Court called Musaph which is esteemed so sacred that they will not suffer it to be Translated into any Language out of Arabique Some suppose that it is to the Alcoran as our Service-Book to the Bible others say it is an Extract of the Alcoran and others conjecture it to be a short Gloss or Paraphrase thereon This Book is had in so singular reverence that none is permitted to touch it either with unwasht or naked hands When it is read in the Church the people give it a devout attention and the Reader may not hold it lower than his girdle And having done reading therein he gives it a reverend kiss and then touching it with his eyes with great decency lays it up in its place And yet the respect given this Book is not more than the Moors ordinarily bestow upon all Books of their Religion which indeed they treat with a Veneration worthy of the subject they are pretended to contain For I have seen them taking a Book of Devotion in their hands presently to hold it up toward Heaven saying Dillah i. e. It is from God and then holding it to their Eyes Heart and kissing it either peruse or lay it aside Having given this short account of the Alcoran and Sunè I re-assume the prosecution of the progress of Mahumedism CHAP. XII Of the first Proselytes of Mahumed which he gained during the time he held a Conventicle in Mecca THe Revelation that Mahumed pretended to have received from Heaven to set all those Slaves at liberty who would embrace his Doctrine had not that effect which he expected For after some years of Conventicling at his own house we find but Nine that he perswaded to receive him for a Prophet Namely Zeydin Cadigha Ali the Son of Abitaleb

story gave a sudden and fearful shriek saying A sign is gone out whereby we are admonished that God will have mercy upon the Sons of Men and therefore we are forbid to ascend Heaven 6. His Nurse Alima had been always dry of one Breast but she no sooner began to give Mahumed suck but it was as full of Milk as the other 7. At his Birth a voice was heard from the four corners of Caaba from the first was heard Preach the truth is come and no lye will appear or return From the second it was said Now cometh an Apostle of your selves with whom is the mighty From the third was heard Light and a manifest Book is sent unto you from God And from the fourth corner issued these words O Prophet we have sent thee to be a Witness Evangelist and Monitor These are the seven Wonders which are confidently maintained to have hapned at Mahumeds Birth in whose larger relation so many Blasphemies are to be met with preferring and extolling this wicked Miscreant above our most blessed Saviour that I was afraid to give them a Transcription But it need not create our wonder that the Mahumedan Doctors should be thus large in the Encomiums of their Apostle when as strange things are attested of St. Francis by the Friars of his Order and also by the Dominicans in praise of their Founder But weary of this palpable trash I leave it to come to the time of Mahumeds Birth which I find generally fixed by the Moors in the 620 year of our Salvation His Father dyed say some within two years after he was born and others affirm that he was a Posthumus and that before he was two years old he was left an Orphan but his Mother tender of her Sons welfare and by the fatal tokens of her Distemper perceiving a few days would put her in an utter incapacity of looking after his Education she presently sent for his Nurse Lala Alima to whose care she most affectionately recommended young Mahumed whom at the same time she bequeathed to Hanza her Husbands Brother who bore the charge of his breeding till he was sixteen years old And indeed the Poverty of Mahumeds Parents had left him so devoid of subsistance that if his Unkle had not taken him into his Tuition he had certainly as we now speak come to the Parish But Hanza having brought him up to such years of discernment as he was fit to shift for himself and being not able or unwilling to be at farther charge with his Nephew he exposed him to sale in the open Market where one Abdael Mutalib liking the complexion of the youth bought him of his Unkle By his new Patron say some he was at first employed in very inferiour Offices till Abdael Mutalib perceiving in him a more then ordinary Ingenuity and sharpness of Wit raised him to employments more agreeable to his Temper And being a Merchant sent him to negotiate his Affairs abroad and by the first Caravan or Cafila dispatcht him his Factor in which capacity he so well acquitted himself that he no less advanced his Masters Trafique then his own Reputation In this way of business he continued till he was 25 years of age at which time his Master dyed and Mahumed managed his concerns so well that some say he succeeded him both in his Trade and Bed For through carefulness in his Mistresses businesses say some or through Sorceries say others he so gain'd upon her affections as that at last she took him for her Husband This Womans Name say the common stories of Mahumed was Gadisha of the same Tribe with himself and one who was both very beautiful and wealthy And though what has now been spoken concerning Mahumeds Education and Marriage has passed very currant in the Europaean Accounts of him yet I find it much otherwise related out of the Saracen Writers of his Life of which take this short report Mahumeds Father dyed two Months before he was Born and his Mother when he was six years of age his Unkle Abdolmutleb received him into his tuition upon his Mothers death who survived her about two years and he dying Mahumed fell into the care of his Unkle Abutabeb with whom he lived till he was fit to be disposed of in Marriage but both his own and Unkles fortunes were at that time so low that they wanted wherewith according to the ancient custom to purchase him a Wife Whereupon Abutaleb and his Wife Atechna resolved to send him abroad with the Caravan that went for Syria and to entrust him with the management of a small Adventure hoping by this means to lay the beginning of his future welfare And they were the more inclined thus to put their Nephew into the World by reason of his inclination to Merchandise as also that they saw in him such a composed Government of himself as promised him a fair acceptance with whomsoever he should happen to converse But how Mahumed performed his journey into Syria and what therein befel him we shall sum up in the next Chapter and conclude this with two Miracles that hapned to him when a Child When Mahumed was with his Nurse Alima and about four years old going with his Nurses Sons into the field to fetch home the Cows saith his famous Legendary Abunazar the Angel Gabriel came unto him in the likeness of a Man cloathed with a snow-white Garment and taking him by the hand led him behind a little hill where with a razor he opened the Childs breast and took out his Heart and let out of it a small quantity of black water which according to the Moors is the matter by which the Devil tempts Men. From whose temptations Mahumed was for ever delivered after the Angel had taken away this Core This being done Gabriel put the Boys Heart into its place and the Wound immediately closed and healed up Another passage which Abunazar calls a Miracle was that of the Monk Bohira who as Mahumed came to Bozra went forth to meet him and spoke openly how that some great thing pointing at Mahumed would be done by that Boy and that his fame should spread from East to West And the Monk having said thus Mahumed saith his Legend was covered with a Cloud to the astonishment of all that beheld him I shall not remark any thing upon these two stories but leave it to the judgment of every Reader Only give me leave to take notice that whether such things really hapned or not it matters not much while they are confidently believed by the Mahumedans and entertained as no frail arguments to prove the excellency of their Prophet CHAP. IV. Of Cadigha's Dream how Mahumed became her servant How he was sent into Syria by the Caravan what hapned to him in his Journey HAving heard how Mahumed was under the Tutorage of his Unkle Abutaleb and his Aunt Atechna and how they were unable to prefer him by reason of the narrowness of their fortunes as likewise of their

gracious And thus Abdalla for seven years continued changing the end of the Verses And finding that Mahumed did not perceive the change he concluded that if he had receiv'd them from God and that if God had intended them to be the immutable Rule of life the palpable changes made by him would have been detected Whereupon Abdalla quitted his Office and reconciled himself to his old Religion And the fore-mentioned Author Jo. Andraeas Maurus tells us out of a Book called Azzifa that Mahumeds next Secretary renounced his employment upon the same reason And as the said Author observes If Mahumed had been so great a Prophet as he pretended and so deeply inspired of God he could not but have perceived how grosly he was abused by the Jew But to proceed In the composition of the Alcoran many contrarieties and repugnancies being observ'd by the Moors thereat they took no small offence It being usual with this Impostor one day to set down Verses commanding some and forbidding other things and another day he would dictate and cause other Verses to be written forbidding what he had before allowed and permitted them making that lawful which he had before forbidden And of these contrarieties no less than 150 verses were observed by them But to remove this scandal he made a Law to revoke such verses as occasioned it which he called Hacen and Mausoh But that which created Mahumed the greatest trouble was the Moors forgetfulness of those Verses he gave them to commit to Memory For for no less time than two years did this course of learning the Verses by Heart continue among them who when they had forgotten the Verses and desired Mahumed to repeat them again he could not remember them himself But Mahumed excused this forgetfulness confidently affirming that it was from God And being told That if God intended them for his abiding word he would not suffer him to forget them or if he did yet he would inspire them afresh to reprove their petulancy as he styled it God as he said gave him a Verse wherein it was said That God doth not suffer any of the former Verses to be revoked or forgotten save when he intends to give another like it or one better in its stead By which cunning he cloaked his own failures and kept up his credit with the Moors And also altered and abolished such Texts as he had before delivered to comply with his affairs and carry on his designs giving authority to New Verses to revoke the Old when they would not serve his purpose And what was yet very remarkable Mahumed would not suffer his Verses to be made an Alcoran or be collected into a Body and reduced to Books and Chapters as now it is but kept them in scrowls and Papers in the Mesengina or Box of the Embassie so that if he had lived to this day he would still have altered his Law and what we now call the Alcoran would not have been finished or reduced to any certain form For while he kept it secret in the Shrine he reserved unto himself a power to add change or retrench things as he pleased and as was most agreeable to his concerns As to that Book which now bears the Name of Alcoran it was collected by Hozman Mahumeds Son-in-law who was next Caliph to Homar Alhatab as he was next to Vbequar who was the Immediate Successor of his Son-in-law Mahumed This Hozman took the scrowls and papers out of the Box and put them into order and intituled the Chapters and divided the whole System into four Books The first Book consisteth of these five Chapters 1. The Chapter of the Cow 2. The Chapter of the Lineage of Joachim the Father of our Lady 3. The Chapter of Women 4. The Chapter of the Table 5. The Chapter of Beasts The second Book consists of twelve Chapters 1. Of the Wall 2. Of Spoyls 3. Of the Sword 4. Of the Prophet Jonas 5. Of Hud who was one of Mahumeds New Prophets 6. Of Joseph the Son of Jacob. This Chapter I have seen in Ms. larger by four Verses than that in the common Alcoran 7. Of Thrones 8. Of Abraham 9. Of Ahigere 10. Of Flies 11. Of the Voyage of Mahumed 12. Of the Cave and Seven Sleepers The third Book contains nineteen Chapters 1. Of the Virgin Mary 2. Of Taha 3. Of the Prophets 4. Of Earthquakes 5. Of Believers 6. Of the Light 7. Of the Gibbet 8. Of the Executioners 9. Of the Pismire 10. Of Cahaz 11. Of Spiders 12. Of Lucumen a Saint and Davids friend 13. Of Bowing 14. Of the Romans 15. Of the Creator 16. Of the Sabbath 17. Of Additions 18. Of Man 19. Of Angels The fourth Book contains 175 Chapters to each of which he gave a particular Name so that according to Hozmans division of the Alcoran it contains 211 Chapters But little above half this number are found in Du Ryers French Translation And J. Andraeas Maurus tells us that Ozmans Collection doth not contain all those Chapters which were written by Mahumeds Secretaries and in his life-time used by the Moors And the instance of this defalcation is plac'd in the Chapter of Additions which in Mahumeds time was as big as the Chapter of the Cow but is not now half so big The like I have noted of the Chapter of Joseph And besides these retrenchments it is very probable that whole scrowls of Mahumeds Doctrine were utterly lost or become so imperfect that they were never entered into Hozmans Collection And this may more than conjecturally be concluded from the condition wherein Ozman met with Mahumeds Notes many whereof were found in the House of Axa or Aijscha one of his Wives but so eaten with mice and rent and worn with ill usage that Ozman could gather nothing out of them Hereupon he had recourse to the most aged of the Moors collecting from them what they remembred of Mahumeds Verses Some told him that they had forgotten many of them others told him That in such a Wall he should find such Verses in writing And so amongst the old Walls and the Moors weak Memories he retrieved much of Mahumeds Doctrine Yet he could never regain the Verse which commanded That all married persons taken in Adultery should be stoned From all which it may safely be inferred that all those things taught by Mahumed in his life-time are not now to be found in Ozmans Alcoran CHAP. X. Of the Honor given to the Alcoran HAving given this short account how the Doctrines of Mahumed were collected and reduced to that form in which they are now extant I shall fill up this Chapter with setting down the great Titles and respect given the Alcoran after Ozman had compil'd it And first it is usual with the Musulmin or Proselytes of Mahumed when they take the Alcoran in their hands with a wonderful reverence to kiss it and salute it by the Name of Alkilib Alhazim i. e. The Glorious Book and Alcoran Alhadin i. e.

to prevail against him by open War whereupon they had recours to stratagem And here Elmacinus tells us how one Zainab the Daughter of Alharit a Jewess attempted to take away Mahumeds life with a joint of Mutton exquisitely poysoned But Mahumed tasting thereof instantly spit it out saying This Mutton tells me that it is poysoned And his deliverance herein is reckoned among his Miracles as shall be shown in a Chapter of that Subject This year Mahumed proved so succesful in Arms that all the Country about Mecca and Medina were subject to or in League with him And he had propagated his Victories which were now become the chief method of proselytizing the eighth of the Hegira had not the Meckezes diverted him who all on the suddain violated their Faith with Mahumed and became Truce-breakers to their utter overthrow For Mahumed finding them to have broken their Articles came against them with ten thousand Men who were suffered to enter Mecca upon condition that they should put none to the Sword which was granted to all except a few whom he chose rather to kill than to survive to the disturbance of his new Kingdome Elmacinus saith that all the people of Mecca at this time turn'd Musulmin following therein the example of Abbas the Son of Abdulmutalib and Abusofian the Son of Harith But his success at Mecca was greatly clouded by the overthrow he suffered in the vale of Honani where the Pagan Arabians under the command of Melick Son of Ausi put the Musulmin to flight and pursued them to the Gates of Mecca where Mahumed with a Javelin in his hand opposed their entrance upbraiding them with Cowardice and biding them restore the Battel promising them the assistance of many Myriads of Angels Whereupon returning and coming unawares upon the Enemy who were now careless through success they utterly overcame them and taking Captive the Women and Children the Men that escaped afterward became Musulmin upon condition their Wives and little ones should be restored them The last Battel that hapned in Mahumeds lifé-time was that of Tebuc with the Princes of Dauma and Eila whom having overcome he received to peace upon condition of receiving from them a yearly Tribute Here great rewards were bestowed upon the Army by Osman and a numerous company of Proselytes came in unto Mahumed This hapned the ninth of the Hegira in which year Mahumed went to Mecca where having spent some time in teaching and instructing the people in his Law he returned to Medina where he died of which in the next Chapter CHAP. XV. Of Mahumeds Death and many remarkable passages about it MAhumed loaden with Military successes and through fear or ignorance the Jews and Arabians having given up themselves to his Religion himself at last was forced to yield to Mortality To which he was prepared at first by a light Fever which at length increased to such violence that in a great degree it seem'd to bereave him of his senses His carriage under this distemper was very remarkable Some say that he desired to change many things which he before had delivered and that to that end he call'd for Pen and Paper saying that he would write them a Book which after his death should preserve them from Error But Omar hearing these words cryed out Alas the Distemper grows violent upon the Apostle of God the Book of God viz. the Alcoran is sufficient for us But their disputes grew warm and some were desirous that Pen and Paper might be brought to Mahumed but Omar with many others denied it confidently affirming that the Prophet knew not what he said Mahumed moved at their strife commanded them all to depart and no farther to dispute such things in his presence So that he writ nothing which many of his Followers bewail as fancying themselves thereby to have been defeated of many things which might have proved advantagious to their Religion Mahumed finding his sickness to increase upon him and falling into the apprehension of his approaching Death Elmacinus saith that he commanded Abubecer to pray with the people and that they said seventeen Prayers in his behalf He fell sick saith the same Author upon the 28 of Sofar and died upon Munday the 12th of the former Rabiah which some affirm was his Birth-day and the same day of the week on which he fell sick But the news of his death was very variously entertained some denying it as utterly impossible conceiving him to be immortal crying out How can he be our witness with God if he be dead and thereupon affirm'd that he was not dead but that he was taken away as Jesus the Son of Mary had been before him This stirred up the Multitude to withstand his Burial constantly affirming that he was not dead Omar in this contrast took part with the people and threatned to be the death of him who durst say the Apostle of God was dead adding That he was taken up into Heaven and gone away like Moses While the contention grew violent Abubecer stept in and said Though Mahumed be certainly dead yet the God of Mahumed cannot dye but liveth for ever And then he proved his saying out of the Alcoran which sets down that as others dyed who in their several times were Prophets so Mahumed was to dye And the people all rested satisfied with Abubecers Speech and from thenceforth believed the Death of their Prophet But no less contention hapned about his Burial for those Meckezes who had been the Companions of his Flight pleaded that he ought to be interr'd at Mecca the place of his Birth the Medinezes who received him when he was persecuted from Mecca said that he should rather be intombed at Medina because it was his Asylum and refuge in the day of his Afflictions Others said it was both most convenient and laudable to carry to and bury him at Jerusalem the burying place of the Prophets But at last they all agreed that he should be buried at Medina in the Chamber of his Wife Ayscha and under the bed wherein he died He died in the 63 year of his age after he had Merchanted 38 been two years in the Cave lived at Mecca 10 and 13 at Medina Phatema was the only Child that survived him who lived but forty days after him He had seven Wives besides Concubines He was unsatiable in his Lusts and so enormous therein that he spared no Mans bed The filthiness of whose life was a plain demonstration of the falseness of his Prophecy according to the rules of trying false Prophets laid down by Maimonides in Moreth lib. 2. cap. 40. In the tryal of Prophet saith that Learned Jew thou art to animadvert the perfection of his person to enquire diligently into his actions and to observe his conversation but the chief sign whereby he is to be discerned is the abdication and contemning of bodily pleasures which is the token of a wise Man much more of a Prophet and principally the filthiness of Venery By

this sign God hath discovered all those who falsely boasted of the Spirit of Prophesie so that the truth herein might easily be found of those that sought it and errour be avoided By which rule of Maimonides if Mahumeds Prophetic Office were duely examined he would be found as indeed he was a most Pestilent Impostor being so far from renouncing his lusts that he reckoned them among the chief Priviledges of his Prophetick Function I shall close up this Chapter with remarking the groundlesness of that Tradition which makes Mahumed to be put into an Iron Chest that by the force of Loadstones hangs in the air Speaking with one Cidi Absolom upon his return from performing the Alhage to Mecca he told me it was an idle fable exploded by the Mahumedists who from this their conceit of the Hanging Tomb upbraid the Christians with ignorance in their story Mahumed being dead and the care of his Religion and Empire being devolved upon Abubecer who for his zeal was stiled the just The entrance of his Government was not a little molested with certain Men who pretended either to equal or exceed Mahumed in his pretentions of a Prophet Of these Aswad was the first who giving it out that he was a Prophet under that cloak drew many after him with whose aid he made himself Master of Zanaa Nazrana and Tayfa And as he began to grow famous he was killed in his own House by one Firus Dailamus After Abubecer had rid himself of Aswad one Taliha created him a second disturbance who likewise presenting himself to the people as a fellow-Prophet to Mahumed wanted not credulous adherents well fitted to adjust his prosecutions But he was quickly put to flight by Chalid Ben-Walid and upon the death of Abubecer came in to his Successor Omar to whom he made an Oath of Fidelity and thereupon was permitted to return to his Countrey Museilema was the third who pretended to be a companion of Mahumed in this prophetique Authority he Married one Thegjazis who made her self a Prophetess but in a very short time she forsook her Husband and returned to her own people The vanquishing of Museilema cost much blood of his party no fewer than ten thousand being slain in one Battel a wound which proved utterly uncurable to that Sect. The fourth great Pretender was one whom the Saracen History calls Almotenabbi or The Prophesier An excellent Poet and Souldier he in all things studied to be like Mahumed He wrote an Alcoran both in Verse and Prose and was the most considerable that ever rivall'd the Impostor but some years after his death all his followers were dissipated and his Sect crumbled to nothing CHAP. XVI Containing some of the more remarkable Doctrines taught by Mahumed THe things taught by Mahumed are so mixt and confused that it is no easie task to range them under distinct Heads And yet they are not more medly'd in themselves than disadvantageously represented by Writers Some hearing of Mahumedism think it to be nothing but a bundle of meer absurdities and a heap of monstrous and disingenious Fables wholly tending to the detriment and subversion of the Truth Of which mind I was my self till desire of satisfaction therein brought me into a more ingenuous acquaintance therewith And that I may give an unprejudiced account of the principles of Mahumedism I have consulted with none but such as have professedly written upon this Theme 'T is true that Mahumedism strictly considered is a hodge-podge of Judaism Gentilism and Christianism which makes it have so many excellent things contained in it and the very Alcoran it self mostly consists of express words of Scripture And so subtle was Mahumed in the composure of his Doctrine that he took it all out of the Books of the two Testaments and the Traditionals of the Jews adding little of his own besides some sorry and ridiculous stories not at all relating to the points of his Religion And yet notwithstanding all this so browless was this Heretique that he was not asham'd to tell the World That all he Preached was sent him immediately from Heaven As to the main structure of this execrable Heresie the Alcoran affords it to every Reader in our own Language But because things therein are so dispersedly laid down I shall here give a summary account of the chief points thereof collected out of the Saracen Authors And first Elmacinus hath reduced Mahumedism to Twelve Articles namely 1. To believe in one only God 2. To love and to adore him 3. To despise and renounce the worship of Idols 4. To observe Circumcision 5. Strictly to keep the Fast of the Month Ramadan of whose institution I have already spoken in my account of the Moresco-Customs 6. To pray or repeat the Zala five times in the compass of a natural day 7. To be careful to pay Tythes 8. That every one who is able once in his life-time perform the Alhage or Religious Pilgrimage to the Temple of Mecca 9. That they believe the Prophets and Apostles and all the Books that were written by them 11. That Christ the Son of Mary is the Son of God his Word and his Apostle 12. That they acknowledge the Law and the Gospel These are the Twelve things commanded by Mahumed and all who shall dare to deny the belief and observation thereof he commands to be compelled or ruin'd by the Sword and War This scheme of Doctrine was proclaim'd while Mahumed lived and the Constitution thereof was so specious that not a few of other Religions were therewith so far allured as to embrace it and become his Proselytes To which many were the more inclined because Mahumed was now in condition to secure and protect his Followers Besides those who owned him for their Prophet there were divers Jews Magicians and Pagans whom he took into his protection upon their Oath of Fidelity and promise of paying an annual Tribute Another Extract of Mahumeds Religion I find collected out of Ben-Abibecer which he received from one Moghahed who received it from Mahumeds own mouth who told his said contemporary Moghahed that whosoever desired to enjoy Paradise and would have God raise him up at the last day with the Apostles Prophets and Wisemen he was necessarily to observe and believe these Forty things 1. That there is a God 2. A last day 3. A Book 4. Prophets 5. A Resurrection after death 6. Providence about good and bad things 7. That there is one God and Mahumed his Prophet 8. To pray at appointed times having first washt and made clean their Bodies 9. Payment of Tythes 10. Fast the Month of Ramadan 11. To go in Pilgrimage if they were able 12. That in 24 hours they say 12 Recaas and three Ex abundanti to shew their love of Devotion 13. That they take no Vsury 14. That they drink no Wine 15. That they take not the Name of God in vain 16. That they judge not hastily 17. That they defraud not their brethren neither before

are by common opinion divided into an hundred and four Books of which ten were sent to Adam fifty to Seth and thirty to Enoch whom they call Edris ten to Abraham the Law to Moses the Psalms to David the Gospel to Jesus Christ and at last the Alcoran was sent to Mahumed And all these Books of Scripture they believe to be sent from God for the benefit of Men. They believe a day of Resurrection after death and that some are predestinated to Fire by which they mean Hell and some to Paradise according to the Will of God For it is expresly said in the Alcoran There is none of you who has not his place in Paradise and his place in Inferno appointed for him They believe also a reward of good Men and the punishment of bad The Intercession of Saints It is also necessary that every Musulmin believe the Divine Pen which was created by the finger of God This Pen say the Mahumedan Doctors is made of Pearls and is of so great length and breadth that a swift Horse in fifty years cannot pass over it And it doth write all things past present and to come The Ink with which it writes is of light the Language wherein it writes none doth understand but the Arch-Angel Seraphael They believe also the punishment of Sepulchres or that the dead therein are often cruciated and of this they produce an instance of what hapned in a certain Sepulchre betwixt Mecca and Medina Thus far Gabriel Sionita The Doctrine of Mahumed in several of the particulars already mention'd is much otherwise reported by European Authors than it is done here But I have kept my self to the Orientals in this account and am induced to believe they are the fittest to be our informers as dealing in their own story and in such things as did most nearly concern them and in which we may imagine their care was to deal fairly But ere I shut up this tedious Chapter I hope the Reader will not take it ill that I advertise him of another account of the Mahumedans Religion set down by Doctor Pocock in his Learned Notes upon Greg. Abul Farajius pag. 284. c. which he cites out of Algazalius a Writer of great reputation among the Mahumedans and it is called The Interpretation of the Faith of the Orthodox which consists in these two points 1. That there is no God but the God 2. That Mahumed is his Messenger This is that Duplex Testimonium which Elmacinus saith was the Poesie or Motto of Mahumeds Seal though a learned Writer tells us out of Alkodaius that his Seal had no other Inscription than Mahumed Messenger of God which being but three words in the Arabick was written in so many lines This is the usual Devise of the Signets of the Barbarian Grandees CHAP. XVII Of the things conducing to the propagation of Mahumed's Heresie And first of his carriage towards the Christians HAving in the antecedent Chapters given a short account of the Origine and first State of Mahumedism and therein of the more remarkable passages relating to to the Birth Life and Death of the Author of that Heresie In pursuance of my first intention I am now to set down the things which are conjectured to have conduced to the first reception of that cursed Impostor among which some related to Mahumed's Carriage and Doctrine and some to the condition wherein he found Religion at his first setting up for a Prophet It has ever been the guise of the Ring-leaders of mischievous Enterprizes to gain if possible a popular esteem of their persons In which artifice Mahumed was both studious and successful For his seemingly rigid Zeal for Religion was tempered with such an affability of deportment that the very Koraishites his sorest Enemies highly commended his Demeanour though they resolutely withstood his Doctrine But that which some have reckoned for a main Engine to advance his Religion was his not suffering it like Moses his Rod to turn to a Serpent and devour all the rest For he granted a Toleration for every one had free liberty to enjoy his Worship according to that place of the Alcoran where he saith O Insidels I do not adore what you adore and you do not adore what I worship observe you your Law and I will observe mine At his first appearance under the Cloak of a divine Messenger he found a great part of the World enlightned with the Gospel and Christianity though it was greatly shaken with Intestine Heresies yet there was still that Zeal and Union of its Professors and power and activity of Civil Magistrates as render'd it so formidable to Mahumed that he could not hope to afright them into compliance Therefore during the first and weak state of Mahumedism its Author put on a modest Countenance and plausible Aspect especially toward the Christians whom he so far courted as to draw his own Tenets and Doctrine in some conformity to theirs highly praising the Person Actions and Rules of Christ and using a peculiar respect to all bearing his Name Elmacinus in the first book of his Saracen History tells us how that certain Christians coming to desire Mahumeds protection he freely granted their request conditioning onely the payment of a small Tribute He also commanded Omar to tell them That their Lives were as his Life and their Riches as this Riches That whatever befel them should befal him also This was written saith Elmacinus by the famous Author of the Book Almuhaddeb and is cited by Abunifa The same History reports likewise that when a Grandee who was a Christian came to visit the Prophet that he stood up to him in token of respect and being by some of his followers rebuked for so doing he told them The Christian was a Magistrate among his people and honour is due to men of that Quality He charged his Captains to be kinde to the Cophtites and that he would be an Enemy to that man in the day of Judgment who oppressed the Christians And to testifie to the world that his designe was not to oppress or ruinate their Religion he is reported to have made this following Covenant for the protection both of Christianity and its Professors CHAP. XVIII A Copy of the League Mahumed made with the Christians whose Original was found in a Monastery on Mount Carmel near Mount Libanus a days journey from Mecca and as some say was sent to the King's Library in France MAhumed sent from God to teach Mankinde and declare the Divine Commission in truth wrote these things That the Cause of Christian Religion determined by God might remain in all parts of the East and West as well amongst the Inhabitants as Strangers near and remote known and unknown To all these people I leave this present Writing as an inviolable League as a decision of all farther Controversies and a Law whereby Justice is declared and strict observance enjoyned Therefore whosoever of the Musulmin's Faith shall neglect to perform

the Mighty Alcoran They swear by it and pay it all the reverence they would do unto God And no small disputes have been raised among the old Mahumedists about the nature of the Alcoran whether it was the created or increated word of God Vathecus was for the opinion of those who held the Alcoran to be created and he writ to all the Provinces of Eyypt That the Musulmin should be of the same opinion Which Injunction was very displeasing to the Mahumedans but they were by penalties forced to embrace it Though not a few suffered Martyrdom for the contrary opinion choosing rather to dye than to hold the Alcoran was not the Increate word of God These disputes continued long and opinions prevailed according to the humour of the present Caliph that Reigned The excellent Erpenius tells us in his Notes upon the Chapter of Joseph It is incredible what Vertue Majesty and Authority is granted to the Alcoran yea what Honour and Veneration is given it by the Musulmin whole Books saith he are extant in its commendation written in so swoln and fabulous a style that no discerning Reader can peruse them without laughter First they commend it above all the Creatures and place it next to God That he that handles it irreverently is unworthy of life and is as wicked as he that contemns God They permit not any who is not of their own Religion so much as to touch it If any Musulman chance to sit upon it the sin is piacular but if this irreverence be used by a Jew or Christian it is punished with death No Mahumedan is permitted to touch it with the top of his finger until he first wash and lest any should unwarily offend therein they write upon the cover of the Alcoran in great letters this Sentence Let no Man touch it who is unclean They call it the Medicine of the Heart and hold it to be of such secret Vertue and worth that the reading of one letter therein deserves a good reward I have often doubted whether there be any true Edition of the Alcoran in the European Language since I observed how difficult it is for any Christian to obtain from the Mahumedans a copy thereof For they permit not any of a Religion different from their own so much as to touch it nor of old was it suffer'd to be written in any but the Arabique Language And at this day it is capital for a Moor to sell an Alcoran to either Jew or Christian Nor indeed are any Alcorans to be met with in private hands or exposed to sale to the vulgar In above seven years of conversation among the Moors I could not obtain the sight of one which I ceased to wonder at when it was told me How the communicating of that Glorious Book as they call it might tend to its defilement and prove fatal to any one who should be so free therewith The buying of an Alcoran was once warmly attempted by Fr. Barton a Country-man of our own who had the sight of one fair written in the Persick Tongue in Octavo and of another in Quarto written in Arabique But when he essayed to buy the later of a Hogia who taught Arabique at Pera he refused to sell it at any rate At last hearing that several Alcorans in Persick were to be had among the Dervices a Religious sort of Mahumedan Monks Mr. Barton endeavoured but in vain to purchase one and coming to Gallipolis in Greece he had news that two or three Alcorans were there in a Colledge of the Dervices But trying to buy one they ask'd Why he being an Infidel should desire to have an Alcoran He told them That he had heard many things concerning their Law and that he was very desirous to be ascertained of the truth thereof and to that end was willing to buy an Alcoran and to take a Master therein to instruct him Upon the hearing of this a Turk presently reply'd That the Infidel did dissemble and that under pretence of love to the Musulmanick Faith he designed to deride it and that he ought to be had before the Visier for his prophane attempt So that our Country-man was forced to escape privily for fear of being brought in question I shall conclude this observation with what Hottinger relates of one Ahmed Ibu Ali who being in some great want of Money pawned an exemplar of an Alcoran with other small Works both in Verse and Prose to the Duke of Sylva which the said Duke profer'd to Hottinger at the price it was pawn'd for Hottinger as himself relates was glad of the occasion to procure a Book he had so long desired who receiving it into his possession freely used it in the presence of the said Ahmed Ibu Ali without molestation or reproach But Ali's occasions drawing him out of Afrique and Hottinger's into his own Country after three years Ahmet came to Leida and there made his Application to the learned Golius whom he incessantly importuned to procure for him the copy of the Alcoran in Hottingers possession and would not desist till he had obtained from Golius an earnest Letter to that purpose This Alcoran Hottinger had illustrated with Marginal Notes out of the Famous Commentaries of Beidavi and pointed it with great industry So that by the Mahumedique Laws it was wholly become useless to the Moor and unlawful for him to receive it again Which thing being urged unto Ali he no whit desisted but with a doubled importunity desired to have it restored to him for no other reason than to have it burned that being the only lustration whereby he thought it capable to be purified from the filth it had contracted by the Christians Notes and usage In short the Moors respect to the Alcoran is so egregious that they so far honour all written Paper for its sake as to take up every little script where they find it and having kissed it they stop it up in some chink of a Wall saying It is no small iniquity that any Papers should be troden under foot in which may be written some part of the Alcoran and the Name of God That the Alcoran is writ in Metre was never questioned by any but the great Scaliger who considering the nature of the Arabique Tongue concluded it very uncapable of Ryme and Verse But upon second thoughts he grants there is to be found in it a kind of Ryme but without any tunable proportion For the word that should make up the Metre is either too near or too distant from that which should make the Harmony And those who have purposely considered this matter grant that the Alcoran is a very rude Poem and the things therein contained are so loose and incoherent that Moses Amyraldus thought them rather the ragings of a Man in a Feaver or the Enthusiasms of a Drunkard than the inspirations of God or the sentiments of a sober considerare person CHAP. XI Of the Sunè its Name Contents and Circumstances of its