aske thee O Moore who art a Philosopher and an Astrologer where doth it appear to be true that the first Heaven is of Silver the second of Gold the third of a Pearl or a precious stone the fourth of an Emerauld the fifth of a Diamond the sixth of a Carbuncle though he saies the the seventh is of Light knowest thou not O Moore that Gold Silver Pearl and the other following stones are obscure bodies which our sight cannot penetrate because they are opacous and not transparent and knowest thou not that we see the Planet Mercury which is Lodged in the second Heaven and doe likewise see the Planet Venus which is in the third Heaven and we see the Sun which gives light to all the world and is in the fourth Heaven wee see Mars in the fifth Jupiter in the sixth and Saturn in the seaventh Heaven in brief we also see the Stars which are in the eighth Heaven which Planets wee often cannot see because of some little cloud which interposeth between them and our sight and the Moon often Eclipseth and covereth the Suné It is manifest that in the course of the Moon at certain times in the year she interposeth Eclipseth and hides the Sun from our eys because the Moon is an obscure body although the Sun and the Stars be light bodies so that if the first Heaven the second the third and the rest were metalline as Muhamed sayes how could we see the said Planets and Stars and now O Moore what answer hast thou but silence And concerning the third I intend it for the five things which Muhamed sayes God gave him that night which he never gave before to any Prophet Consider O Moore if they are not things which cannot be proved either by human understanding or Logicall reason for human and Logicall reason commandeth and teacheth that a man should say nothing but what can be proved Now tell me O Moore how can it be proved that Muhamed was the most excellent creature that God ever created in Heaven or on Earth Likewise how can it be proved that he shall be Lord over all men at the day of judgement or that he shall be the generall Redeemer at the day of judgement which things are hidden and unknown to all the world neither doth his own word give any proof And therefore I say That what cannot be proved by it self nor by reason should not be spoken nor ought to be regarded Muhamed should at least that night have desired of God some speciall sign as he gave to Moses to David to Salomon to Jesus Christ and to the Apostles after them which signs and miracles they wrought in the presence of the people But Muhamed was very crafty subtile to speak of things which the people neither saw nor could see and thus he sets down all the miracles which the Moores read of him none of them were done in the presence of any Moore but himself saies that he did such and such a thing and that such a thing befell such a one and such a miracle was already done but never mentions in whose presence he wrought them And so also he reported and composed this mystery of the Vision but he doth not bring in the testimony of any that saw him when he went up the Ladder nor when he got upon Alborac nor when he made the Zala or praier on behalf of the Prophets who were already all Moores it had at least been reasonable that some man then living had been in the Temple at the Zala for to have been witness of such things So that O Moore I tell thee that upon consideration of all these things thou mayest of thy self know that it is all false and nothing of it true and because I will not be too tedious I will not lay down the Arguments which might be made upon every thing which Muhamed mentions in this vision but I will conclude as concerning the sayd Vision CHAP. IX The ninth Chapter treateth of the Paradise and glory which Muhamed and the Alcoran promise unto the Moores in the world to come and how many Paradises there are and how they are called and how many kinds of glory the Moores shall have in Paradise THe Alcoran the Suné in describing the Paradise of the Moores and the glory thereof lay down five things First the Paradise it self and the mansions thereof Secondly the riches and ornaments of Paradise Thirdly the food and provisions the servants vessels of Gold and Silver and the eating and drinking in Paradise Fourthly the apparell garments and Jewels which the Moores say are prepared in Paradise And fiftly and lastly the Virgins their beauty their names and whence they are begotten and wherewith they are clothed Now this Paradise is such according as the second chapter of the first book of the Alcoran expresseth in Arabick Cerihoile c. i. e. That the Paradise promised unto the Moores is as big as heaven and earth which is all the world But tell mee O Moore where is this Paradise as big as all the world or els we must say that God hath Created another world besides this wherein this Paradise is which were very confused to say therefore O Moore I tell thee thou must still be silent The Alcoran sayes that God created seven Paradises or seven Habitations each of which is called a Paradise the first is called Genete alhodi the second Genete alfirdeuci the third Genete anahim the fourth Genete reduan the fifth Genete azelen the sixth Genete alcoduz the seventh Genete Almega Which Paradises are wrought with gold and silver Pearls and Pretious stones and have divers palaces halls chambers and Gardens and divers fruit-Trees two sorts or kinds of each under which palaces run Fountains and Rivers of waters and fountains of Milk Honey and most sweet Wine In the midst of Paradise as the Alcoran sayes and the Suné describes is a Tree as big as all Paradise whereof some leaves are of gold others of silver and the branches of this Tree cover the walls of Paradise and this tree is called Tuba The books of the Suné say that in every leaf of it the name of Muhamed is written joyntly with the name of God running thus Le ilehe ille allah Muhamed razollola i. e. There is no other God but the Lord and Muhamed is his Messenger The Alcoran in the nineteenth Chapter of the third Book and in the Chapter of Sacrifices in the chapter of Mount Sinay in the chapter of the Glorious in the Chapter of the Falls and in the Chapter of Man in the fourth Book shewes and describes how these Paradises are furnished and adorned with divers Tapestries and Beds with Curtains and Vallens of cloth of gold of purple of silk and with divers garnishings quilts chayrs of gold and Pretious stones and after what manner the Moores shall sit and lye on these beds couches and tapestries that they shall laugh and take delight without care or grief
shall change it let God's curse light on him And according to this commandement the Moores disposed of their Estates for one while during Muhamed's life and if any one bequeathed a third part of his goods to his parents or brethren the Will was firme by force of that commandement and verse But afterwards there came a crochet into Muhamed's head and without any verse of the Alcoran he gave a verball command clean contrary viz. he Commanded that they should in no case leave a third part of their goods to father mother sister nor brother and according to this last saying of Muhamed the Moores afterwards gave Judgement and doe judge to this day and leave the commandement of God and the verses as a thing cancelled and annulled Now tell mee O Moore Which are those like or better verses which revoke the verses aforesaid because the Alcoran in a Chapter of the first book sayes that God doth not revoke any verse but to give another like it or a better But seeing thou hast no answer but Silence thou must know that it is a great transgression to leave the commandement of God for the command of Muhamed It were no great wonder if one of God's commands did revoke another of his commands and one of God's verses revoke another of his verses because he that makes a Law may and hath authority to annull it as wee find in the holy scripture that God commandeth and afterwards forbideth as when he commanded Abraham to Sacrifice his son Isaack and afterwards would that he should not Sacrifice him but a Ram and thelike of the Prophet Jonas Therefore it is a marvelous thing and without reason and justice that the commandement of God should be revoked and abolished by a sinfull man and that they should observe what a man sayes and leave what God sayes as voyd and of no force From whence thou mayest know O Moore that the Alcoran is not the word of God because that the word of God is as God himself and none can nullifye God or his word Now then in regard the Alcoran is not the word of God Muhamed hath annulled it and rejected it for that which God hath layd down for a command of Law Muhamed commandeth that they doe the contrary not shewing any authority from God as he used to doe for divers matters and for severall acts which he did as a little hereafter shall appeare And how can it be authentick seeing Muhamed during all the time of the twenty three years in which he was giving the Law and making the Alcoran alwayes altered the verses and commanded them to doe many things by authority of the verses of the Alcoran and afterwards commanded the clean contrary and to that purpose gave authority by other verses which revoked the former verses as appears in the changing of the Alkibla where by the authority of the Alcoran he urgeth that they should not pray but in the said house of Jerusalem or in the house or Mosque of Mecca right against the tower called Elcabba and for this cause it is now called Alkibla of which Alkibla and alteration I shall say something in the Chapter of offences and thus I say that for these reasons Muhamed never commanded that his Alcoran should be collected or reduced into bookes and Chapters as now it is but kept it in the said scrowles or papers in the aforesaid ark or shrine and many of them were lost and could never be found so that if he had lived a hundred years he would still have altered his Law and the Alcoran would never have been finished and therefore he did not reduce it into the form which it now hath But it was done after he was dead when Hozman his son-in-Law was King and Caliph who was the third King after Muhamed for after Muhamed's death the aforesaid Vbequar succeeded as King and Caliph after Vbequar Homar Alhatab was King and Caliph which two were Muhamed's fathers in Law and after Homar this Hozman succeeded in the throne and he was the man who took the scrowles and papers out of the box or Shrine and put them into order and entitled the Chapters and made four books of them and in the first book put five Chapters the first whereof is called the Chapter of the Cow the second the Chapter of the Lineage of Joachim the father of our Lady the third the Chapter of woman the fourth the Chapter of the table and the fifth the Chapter of beasts In the second book he put 12. Chapters 1. The Chapter of the wall 2. Of Spoyles 3. Of the sword 4. Of the Prophet Jonas 5. Of Hud a new Prophet named by Muhamed 6. Of Joseph the son of Jacob. 7. Of Thrones 8. Of Abraham 9. Of the Ahigere 10. Of flyes 11. Of the Voyage of Muhamed 12. Of the Cave and the 7. Sleepers In the third book he put 19 Chapters 1. The Chapter of the Virgin Mary 2. Of Taha 3. Of the Prophets 4. Of the Earthquaks 5. Of Beleevers 6. Of the Light 7. Of the Gibbet 8. Of the Executioners 9. Of the Pismire 10. Of Cahaz 11. Of Spyders 12. Of Lucumen a saint and David's Friend 13. Of Bowing or inclination 14. Of the Romans 15. Of the Creator 16. Of the Saboath 17. Of additions 18. of Man 19. Of Angels In the fourth book he hath put 175. Chapters and to each a particular name so that the Alcoran hath 211. Chapters and as much is written in the first book as in the second and as much in the third as in the fourth This said Hozman who collected the Alcoran doth not in those 4. books and 211. Chapters set down all the Alcoran which the Moores in Muhamed's time read in the scrowles or papers which the said Secretaries wrote the which I prove by the book Azar and by the book of Azzifa which say that in Muhamed's time the 17th Chapter of additions in the third book was as big as the Chapter of the Cow which is the first Chapter of the first book but now it is not above halfe as big as the Chapter of the Cow so that there wants halfe the Chapter And I prove it further because that when the aforesaid Hozman collected the Alcoran he found severall papers of the Alcoran in the house of Axa Muhamed's wife eaten by mice out of which he could gather nothing they having laine behind a chest and being spoyled with damp and mice I also further prove it by the aforesaid books which say that when the said Hozman collected the Alcoran he went about asking every one what he remembred of the Alcoran some told him that they had forgotten much of it Others told him that in such a wall he should find such and such verses in writing And so amongst the walls and the Moores he got part of it yet neverthelesse he never found the verse which in Muhamed's time commanded that married persons taken in Adultery should be stoned which verse
crow also and whilst Muhamed stood wondring at it this great Cock began to crow and all the Cocks in heaven crowed with him and presently afterwards all the Cocks on earth crowed also The said book sayes That from this place they ascended to the second heaven which was made of beaten gold and knockt at the gate and the Porter asking who was there the Angell Gabriel answered it is I and Muhamed the friend of God is here with me and as soon as he had named Muhamed presently the gates of that heaven opened of themselves and they went in and saw upon all the gates of that heaven the name of God written together with the name of Muhamed which is in Arabick thus Ole ilehe ille allah Muhemed razolo allah i. e. This God is the onely God and Muhamed is the Messenger of God It sayes that entring in at the gate of this second heaven they found Noah a very old gray-headed man Muhamed embraced him and Noah was very glad to see Muhamed and to speak with him and Noah made application to him and entreated him to remember him when he came to God Hee sayes that in this second heaven they found a great multitude of Angels half as many more as were in the first heaven and of very wonderfull and great shapes amongst which was one Angell who stood on the second heaven and his head reached to the third and one of his hands to the East and the other unto the West end of heaven and many other wonderfull things they saw here And from this heaven they ascended to the third heaven which was made of a pretious Stone and there they met with Abraham being an old hoary man and the Angels in this heaven were far more in number than those of the two other heavens and much greater and amongst them they saw an Angell who from one eye to the other had the distance of 70000. dayes-journey Which Angell held a book in his hand and never did any thing else but look on the said book and expunge what was therein written and write anew therein Muhamed asked the Angell Gabriel who this Angell was and what it was he read in that book and what he wrote and expunged The Angell answered and told him that this Angell was called in Arabick Malach almenti i. e. The Angell of the dead And the book which he had in his hand was the book called in Arabick Alhaunhe ahnafod i. e. the preserved book wherein are the names of all men that are born and the Angell noteth and calculateth the years and dayes that every one must live and when any mans dayes are expired hee expunges such a mans name and presently the man dies on earth Likewise he writes down the names of all men that are born and the dayes of their life and how long they shall live so that this Angell hath no other office but to put in and expunge out of this book He sayes that from thence they went to the fourth heaven which was made of a very pure Emerauld in which heaven they found Joseph the son of Jacob who greeted Muhamed and made great application to him and there they saw many more Angels than were in the other heavens and of far greater bodyes amongst which there was one great Angell which made great lamentation Muhamed asked the Angell Gabriel wherefore this Angell lamented so and Gabriel answered him that that angell lamented the sins of men and those which went to hell From thence they went to the fifth heaven which was made of a Diamond where Moses was who made application to Muhamed and in this heaven were as many Angels as in the other but farre greater And so they ascended to the sixth heaven where was John Baptist who saluted Muhamed and in this heaven they saw a multitude of Angells far greater than any of the former and this heaven was made of a Carbuncle In the seventh heaven they met with Jesus Christ unto whom Muhamed made application and this heaven was made of the Light of God and here they saw many more Angels than in the other six heavens and far greater amongst which was one that had seventie thousand heads and every head had seven hundred thousand tongues and each of these tongues had seven hundred thousand voyces with all which voyces or languages they praised God day and night Likewise amongst these Angels were divers which alwayes watched without ever shutting their eies others alwayes bowed their heads without ever erecting themselves others lay alwayes prostrate and never arose and others praised God with such loud voyces that they put their fingers into their ears lest they should become deaf with the noise of their voyces In this seventh heaven the Angell Gabriel took his leave of Muhamed and told him that he might not goe further and that now God would guide him himself Muhamed saies that he began to ascend certain sublimities and hights and through so much rain and snow that hee became so wearied and tyred that hee could goe no farther and at that instant Muhamed heard a voyce saying in Arabick thus Oya Muhamed anden gualirabach cellem i. e. O Muhamed approach and salute thy Creator Whereupon Muhamed drew neer to the voyce and saw so great a light that it troubled his sight He sayes that God had on his glorious face seventy thousand vayles of Devine light and the Text of the Alcoran in the third book sayes that Muhamed approached God within two bowe-shots or little lesse In Arabick it is thus O zumen c. i. e. That Muhamed approached God within little less than two shots of a Cross-bow Muhamed sayes further that so great a light proceeded from the vayles which God had on his face that hee could not behold the visage of God Nevertheless Muhamed sayes that God interpos'd his hand for a shadow unto Muhamed but he could not endure it by reason of the great cold which proceeded from it He saies that in this place God spake to him and gave him divers Commandements of the Law and told him many secrets and yee must know that if I should write all the things which Muhamed sayes hee saw that night a ream of paper would not contain them Muhamed sayd as the book Azar reporteth that this night God granted five things unto him which were never given to any Man before nor since The first was that he should be the chiefest and most elect creature that God ever created either in heaven or on earth which the Arabick calls Hayriall quilleh The second was That he should be the most excellent and most Honourable Lord of all the sons of Adam at the day of judgement the Arabick says thus leydo qualidiademe y aume alquima The third was That he should be the generall Redeemer which in Arabick is said Safey Mustafa and for this cause Muhamed is by another name called Almebi i. e. he that takes away sins The fourth was
Kindred and thereupon took an oath and swore to have Muhamed for their Lord Prophet and Leader and he swore likewise to hold them for his sons and brethren and promised them Paradise and that they should not be bound to give an account of their sins this is contained in the 13th Chap. of the 4th Book where he saies in Arabick thus O idyobeyhune c. i. e. that Muhameds disciples swore unto him under the tree and so Muhamed with his Captains and their followers whom he had already converted began to make war and the first incounter which they had was with 300. Gentlemen of Mecca neer unto a River called the River of Bedrin where they of Mecca were all overthrown and put to the sword and afterwards Muhamed fought twelve battells against the Jewes untill hee had vanquished all the Jewes which were at Medina and the Countries adjacent and those which remained alive became tributary to the Moores and so in process of time by wars bloodshed and large promises the sect of Muhamed increased untill he at last conquered Mecca and all the Countrey adjacent and gained likewise all Arabia Felix and Arrabia Magna and a great part of Armenia and Persia before he dyed and when he was dead the Primacy devolved to the Caliph or King Ubequar his father-in-Law in whose time the strength of the Moores was increased to threescore thousand horse-men and after this Ubequar the Dominion came to Homar Muhameds second father-in-law and these two in their times with their Moores gained all the Land of Syria and Africk and in this manner the Law or sect of Muhamed hath spread it self by force of Arms not by doing Miracles as the Law of Jesus Christ did The third cause whereby the Law or Sect of Muhamed hath augmented was by the great promises which Muhamet made to the Moores and which the Alcoran promiseth that is to say the glory of Paradise as it is declared in the ninth Chapter the Alcoran promiseth that those Moores which dye in War are not dead but living and that they eat and drink this he sayes in the first and second Chapters of the first Book in Arabick thus Oguale c. i. e. Doe not think that those who dye in War are dead for they are living with their Creator eating and drinking Wherefore the Moores when they make war choose death as soon as life and hereupon the Suné sayes that none that dye in this world when they are out of this life desire to live here again except those which dye in battail and those sayes the Suné desire to come again into this world that they might dye again in battail and enjoy again the great delight which they had in dying and from thest false promises it is that the Moores to this day have fought so valiantly and have gotten dominion over their enemies and besides he promiseth them that all the spoils should be shared equally amongst them and so also I say that if the King our Soveraign would promise this one thing unto those who would goe beyond the Seas to fight against the Moores I dare promise before God that in three years the Christians would Conquer all Africa and Asia and this is the third cause whereby the Sect of the Moores hath increased the which are against God and against our Neighbour nor hath Jesus Christ commanded any such thing in his Gospell but Peace Charity and Mercy wherwith he will reward every one that shall deserve it Now O Moore observe and consider the propagation of thy Law and by what means it was and then observe the propagation of the faith of Jesus Christ and how it is altogether founded upon Charity and Peace without shedding of mens blood without robbing or turning any man out of his own but Muhamed in the third Chapter of the second Book saies that they must expell their enemies out of their houses and behead them and kill them Now behold O Moore the difference between these two Laws and thou will know thy God and save thy soul And the Disciples of Muhamed did not only fight against their enemies and expelled them from their habitations and dominions but also made War amongst themselves killing each other for to have the Califage and Kingdom and so I say that except Ubiquar and Homar Muhameds Fathers-in-Law who dyed naturall deaths all the rest killed each other the first that dyed was Hozman whom Haly caused to be slain that he might be King Haly also dyed in the same manner one Moagua causing him to be killed and the said Moagua was slain by a son of Haly called Ahoceim and he was also killed by another and so one killed another successively to the number of thirty Caliphs of whose differences deaths battails and quarrels there is a Book written which the Moores in Arabick call Kitabu almu licu i. e. The Book of the King which Book they let none read but men of good years but this Book is not like that which we call the Acts of the Apostles and thus Muhameds Sect increased and spread by the three causes aforesaid and not by its own goodness Now consider O Moore the Disciples of Jesus Christ and what lives they lead after Jesus Christs Ascension Preaching and declaring the faith and doing miracles without Armes and without envying each other yea only to exalt the faith of Jesus Christ their Lord and Master they were persecuted and all dyed Martyrs not as the Disciples of Muhamed who as we said killed each other for dominion and to be Princes in this world but we must say as doth the Proverb as was the Captain such were his followers the which more plainly appears when we say that even as was our Lord Jesus Christ the greatest Master and as were his words works and admonitions full of purity chastity righteousness peace and other graces of clemency mercy and piety a friend to the poor and humble so also were his holy Disciples full of purity and chastity full of righteousness patience charity friends to the poor peaceable and humble and left all that they had in the world to follow their Master Jesus Christ our Lord Preaching the Christian Faith to all the world cloathed in sack-cloth armed with nothing but the Holy Ghost without killing or fighting doing miracles cleansing the Leprous healing the sick impotent and blind and raising the dead as the Alcoran it self testifies and thus the holy Disciples of Jesus Christ converted all the world as David saies There is no language tongue or speech Where their sound is not heard In all the earth and Coasts thereof Their knowledge is conferd But this was not like Muhamed and his words and works who was altogether full of pride vanity vain glory Luxury Revenge and Cruelty destitute of all vertue and charity estranged and separated from all mercy and pitty full of vices and void of chastity insomuch that all his thoughts and studies were nothing but to kill rob
Arabia in an 620. in a small village named Jesrab but now Medinah Alnabi His father was Abdalla the son of Abdalmutalib a worshipper of Idols His mother was Emina a Jewess and of ill repute His father dying and his mother being left very poor shee not able to keep him committed him to an unkle but he casting him off the young Mahomet was a prey to Theevs who as Baudier relates put him into chains among other Slaves and in that quality being set to sale a rich Merchant Abdemonople bought him He trading for his master got his good-will and his master dying he married his rich widow by which mean he grew rich and more ambitious His ambition prompted him to be some great man and by the help of Sergius a Nestorian Monk he would be thought to be a Prophet to gaine the esteem of which he gave out That he did many Miracles That he had conference with the angell Gabriell That God gave him the Alchoran and That the holy Spirit came to him in the shape of a Pigeon But not to spend time in a particular confuting these forgeries a short description of his life will do it sufficiently which I shall borrow out of Baudier his Histoire de la-Religion des Turcs Mahomet was a famous high-way thief robbing the Caravans of Merchants as they travelled from one Country to another by whom he was sometimes wounded sometimes some of his companions were slain and sometimes he succeeded too well for so bad a cause To this he added Cruelty massacring those who opposed his thieving when it lay in his power He is truly infamous for his unbridled Lust having fifteen Wives and two Slaves that were his Concubines Now by this short Narrative let any man judge who hath any seed of God in him yea who hath not defaced the light of nature common to Mankind whether this man be like to be a Prophet of God His Law he calls Alchoran which in the Arabic imports A gathering together of Precepts or Alfurkan which signifies Redemption It is divided into Azoara or chapters which word signifies Faces because as by the face you know the man so by these as by titles you know the contents of that division These Azoara are made fewer or more according to severall editions and hence it is that the quotations out of the Alchoran mentioned in this following discourse do not answer the Azoara of the Alchoran as we have it in English Which the Reader must observe least he think that the Author was mistaken in what he cites The Turks say that their Alchoran was writ upon parchment made of the skin of the Ram sacrificed by Abraham to God in stead of Isaac so Baudier This Alchoran cal's itself in severall places by specious Names sc The confirmation of the Gospell The approbation and explication of the old testament The book of Truth The book of the conversion of men The messenger of eternall joy The guide to mans salvation The mother of books That which leads men from darkness to light I shall not undertake to confute this Alchoran it being so well performed by many who have made it their Proper work and also by the labour of this Convert Moor in this following discourse I shall only say this of it in generall That it is composed of a strange miscellany sc of Rabbinicall fables of histories corruptly recited out of the Old Testament and as fasly quoted out of the New So that what was justly said of the Popish Legend of their Saints That he that made it was a man Plumbei cordis et Aeneae frontis of a leaden heart and of a brasen forehead may most properly be applied to this Book It may justly be wondred at that so great and so wise a people as the Greeks bave been should be given over to such strong delusions But beside the wise and holy councell of God which must silence all this is to be said That God brought this damnable doctrine upon them for that they had accounted Christ crucified to be but foolishnes as Paul saith And also because that in the times immediatly foregoing the spreading of Mahometan doctrine that part of the world had given heed to many false doctrines which had much alienated them from the simplicity of the truth in Christ And lastly because the Greek Empire had made it self very guilty before God and men by their crying abominations of Murder uncleanness Oppression Saint worship Sensuality and the like and through the just judgement of God it came to passe that they who had defiled themselves so grossely should be given up to a reprobate sense to embrace this fardell of lyes and sink of abominations Notwithstanding the generall apostasy of all that part of the world to Mahometan forgeries yet in Histories I find two men who being convinced publiquely declared the imposture of that Religion One is out of Baudier in lib. 3. cap. 5. who sayth That one of their religious men a Talisman came to Constantinople in the reign of Baiazet the second and officiated in their great Mosque called St Sophy in the presence of their Emperour Who in the midst of his exercise threw the Alchoran which he had in his hand down at his feet before all the people and turning himself to the Emperour he preached to him of The falsness of their Law The Impostures of Mahomet and the excellency of the Doctrin of Jesus Christ But the time was not come for their Conversion The Emperour commanded the Talisman to be brought out of the Mosque and to be presently massacred The other is out of the Turkish History where it is sayd That in an 1620. at Medina there was an Apparition which continued for three weeks and one night there was an horrible tempest with thunder and lightning which being ended there was seen these words in the firmament writ in Arabian characters O why will ye believe in Lyes Then there was seen a woman compassed about with the Sun holding a Book in her hand c. All being amazed at these things at last a Dervice which is a strict religions Order among the Turks spake and declared to the people How God had spoke to the Jews by Moses to the Christians by Jesus Christ and to themselvs Arabians by Mahomet after that he said But I fear our Religion will be proved corrupt and our Prophet an Impostor whose prefixed time of comming to his people is now past 40 years agone by our account and then this Christ whom they talk of shall shine forth as the Sun and set up his name everlastingly At this the hearers were startled and they took this Dervice condemned him and tortured him to Death This ensuing book is a Translation of the work of Johannes Andreas Maurus or in English John-Andrew a Moor He wrot in Spanish it was after translated into Italian Latine and French and this in English presented to thee is out of the French a worke desired by many godly and
was called Ayate ragime i. e. the verse of Lapidation which was in the sixth Chapter of the Light in the third book so that the Alcoran was larger and had more verses in the dayes of Muhamed than it now hath Now tell mee O Moore who never knewest or heardest such things what thinkest thou of the Scripture which you so much reverence that when ye take it in your hands ye kisse it and swear by it and keep it like a God and call it Alkitib Alhazim i. e. a glorious book and Alcoran alhadin i. e. the Mighty Alcoran so that indeed ye hould it for a God I tell thee O Moore that if it were from God and the word of God that of it which is lost had not been lost and the Mice had not eaten those notes in Axa's house that verse of Lapidations had not been lost Observe then O Moore consider this and thou wilt know thy error be converted to God God will have mercy on thee if thou lovest thy self and if thy soul be dear to thee and so I will conclude this second Chapter CHAP. III. The third Chapter of this Treatise discourseth of Muhamed's Suné what the word signifies of the six books thereof and what they contain their names and the reason of the Collecting of them who collected them and when they were collected corrected and reduced into the order they are now in SUné Signifies a Way or Law or the following of the sayings actions and counsels of Muhamed which his disciples wrote after his death and after his Disciples the Moores transcribed copied the disciples books augmented and abridged them and wholy altered Muhamed's deeds and words whence proceeded so great a confusion in all the books that what he in his life time commanded negatively they laid the same down affirmatively and what Muhamed had commanded and set down in his Law affirmatively they set the same down negatively insomuch that this Law was like to be destroyed and never used more Upon which ground and because of the great dammage and difference which hapned in the Muhametan Sect and to prevent the utter losse of the same an Alkalife or King of the Moores caused publick Proclamation to be made through all his dominions that all the Learned men Alfaquies and Docters should repaire to him to the City of Damascus and should bring with them all the books that could be found written of the Suné and of Muhamed's words and works Whereupon all the Learned men then lieving amongst the Moores came thither and brought all the books of the Suné Then the said Caliph or King of the Moores commanded that six Alfaquies and learned men who were best instructed read in the Suné should be chosen from amongst them whereupon out of two hundred learned men which repaired thither six were chosen the first or principall of which was called Muâ—lin the second Bohari the third Buhora yra the fourth Anecery the fifth Aâ—ermindi the sixth Doud Then the said Caliph called these six learned men unto him and commanded them that they should goe alone into a house with all the books which till then could be found of the Suné and that each of them should by himself collect one book of all the sayings and deeds of Muhamed which he should conceive to be true and that they should each entitle his book with his own name So these six men went into a house with all the books which the Moores had gathered from all parts and each of them collected a book and entituled and called it by his proper name and they presented them to the King or Caliph who after the said six books had been viewed and examined by all the other docters there assembled commanded that all the other books should be cast into a great river near Damascus called Adegele whereupon having laden two hundred Camels with the multitude of books which were brought thither they cast them into this river Likewise the King gave notice by a Decree or publick Proclamation throughout all the countries of the Moores that no Alfaquy should dare to read or keep any book but the six aforesaid and that none should mention any saying or deed of Muhamed but such as should be found written in the said books and that all Moores and Musselmen or beleevers of Muhamed should receive these books for as true and authentick as if they were the very Alcoran it self and that they should not be lesse reverenced amongst them than the Alcoran it self All which the Moores observe and have these books in as great reverence as the Alcoran it self and the words thereof are amongst the Moores of as much yea greater authority than is the Alcoran I have the more enlarged my self upon this point because that in some cases they follow the sayings of Muhamed and leave the sayings of the Alcoran as of no effect which sayings of Muhamed are contained in the six books aforesaid so that the word of God which in their opinion is the Alcoran is made voyd by Muhameds sayings as is declared in the preceeding Chapter and as shall further appear in the eleventh Chapter In this manner was Muhamed's Sect restored and for this the Moores hold and esteem the said Caliph for a Saint Nevertheless I say that in most part of what these learned men gathered and collected in those six books they have incerted severall contrarieties and divers sayings and doings of Muhamed which contradict each other and doe not agree one whit Which hath caused the four opinions which the Moores have in their Law and retaine in their Sect which were raised afterwards by four doctors the first whereof was called Melich the second Assafihi the third Alambeli and the fourth Abuhamfa and yee must understand that the said difference in opinion is practised by the Moores in their washings which they use when they make their Zala or praier and not onely in making of their Zala but also in their fasts and in severall other Ceremonies and customes but especially in those things which appertain to Judicature so that each opinion in it self differs from the other three Of Melech's opinion are all the Moores of Medina and of all Africk and all the Moores which are and were in Spain Of Assafihy's opinion are the Moores of Meka and the Country adjacent all those of Arabia the Happy and the Great those of Baldeck and Damascus Of Alambelii's opinion are the Moores of Armenia and Persia and of Buhamfai's opinion are the Moores of Syria and Alexandria but in Grand-Cair all the four opinions are followed I mean that those Moores are divided into four parties or Sects viz. one holds Melich's opinion another Alssafihy's opinion another is of the third opinion and another of the fourth opinion the which proceeds from the great and innumerable multitude of people in that City So that by reason of those six Books and of those four opinions Muhameds Sect hath alwaies
been and is still consufed not agreeing together especially in their sutes of Law or Judicature Mariages and Divorces And yee must know that the sayings and deeds of Muhamed in the said Books are reduced to four kinds or sorts viz. to certain and true Defective Abrupt and Weak Those words or works of Mahumed which have the testimony of his Wife Axa and the ten Disciples when they say that they saw Mahumed do or say such and such things arecalled true certain and what is said of Mahumed and is reported by his other Wives without the testimony of Axa or any of his disciples is called Defective and those works and words which have but the testimony of the learned and principall men which lived in Muhameds time are called abrupt that is that they came not to the knowledge of any disciple nor of the said Axa and the fourth kind of words and works are those which proceed from good Doctors after Muhamed gave out that hee was sick and infirm In Arabick they are called Caheh Dahif Mancof Zaquini All which I prove by what a Doctor sayes who made the Book of Flowers which was collected out of the said six Books For he sayes in his Preface that all the Contents in his Book of Flowers were drawn from the certain and true sayings of Muhamed and all that is written in another Book which another Doctor collected he sayes is of the certain defective cut-off or abrupt and sick The words in Arabick are these O quuille me c. These six Books of the Suné treat of all that Muhamed spake and did and commanded to be done as will appear by the Contents of the following Chapters in which said six Books there are as many Contradictions fooleries superfluous irrationall and ungrounded things as there be in the Alcoran and the Moores say that the Alcoran is the word of God which is incredible CHAP. IIII. The fourth Chapter of this book handleth certain arguments which may be framed and brought against the Alchoran proving that it is false of it self and not the word of God And also against Muhameds Suné proving that it is of it self a ridiculous thing and fit for men of little knowledge and judgment THe first argument is from what is said in the second Chapter of the fourth book which is in Arabick Ogna Nofigha c. i. e. that at the end of the world a trumpet or horn shall sound and the Angels in Heaven and men on earth shall fall down dead and afterwards the said trumpet or horn shall sound again and all aswell Angels as men shall rise again wherein the Alchoran affirmeth that Angels are mortall and that they must all dye and rise again the which impugneth divine and humane Law and is against all naturall reason and that for severall causes First because Angels are spirits having no body but spirit onely and not having bodies they cannot dye for death is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body and in regard men are compos'd of body and soul when the soul is separated from the body and departed the body becomes a Caryon and the soul goes whether God pleaseth according to every mans deserts and works and because the body is composed of the four Elements it corrupteth and turneth to earth but the soul of man after it is created never dyes how then can it be as the Alcoran says that Angels dye when humane souls dye not The second cause is because Adam's sin was the occasion of his death by which sinning all his posterity were condemned to dye whence it follows that if he had not sinned neither he nor any of his posterity had been subject to death Now tell me O Moore what sins have the Angels committed whereby they have deserved death as Adam who incurred it by sin The third cause or ground is a naturall reason which gives all men to know and understand that Angels dye not neither can dye which is this Lucifer and all the Angels that sinned with him by their pride against God were for this sin deprived of the glory of Heaven and Paradice and were cast into the bottomless pit for ever and were not condemned to dye because they were spirits And if the devils by reason of their sins were not condemned to dye how is it that the Alcoran sayes that Angels shall dye So from these three grounds we may conclude that Angels shall not dye and that he that says that Angels dye speaks not the truth and in regard the Alcoran says that Angels dye I say it is not of God nor the word of God The second Argument is from what the Alcoran sayes in severall Chapters and namely in the first Chapter of the first book in the first Chapter of the second and fourth books in which three Chapters he relates the Creation of the world and the history of Adam how he was created of earth by the hand and Workmanship of God and how God inspired life into him and further in the said Chapters he says and affirms that after Adam was created God Commanded the Angels to bow themselves down to the ground and worship Adam and that they all did so except Sathan who refused to doe it and God asked him why hee would not worship him whom he had made with his own hands and he says that Sathan answered that he was Created of a more excellent nature viz. Of fire and Adam of durt then God cursed Sathan and he and all those who had the like will as he were cast into the bottomless pit and are cursed for ever All this the Alcoran affirms saying that the cause of the fall of Sathan and the evill Angels was because that they would not worship Adam nor prostrate themselves before him and the words in Arabick are thus Ognaidcale c. And doe signifie that which we have related and declared above which is not onely an untruth but also a great Heresy and Blasphemy Now speak O Moore and observe whether this hath any sense or reason in it for you must conceive that if such a thing were true it would have been written in the first of the five books of Moses which is called the book of Genesis or the Creation wherein he sets down the Creation of the world and how God created all Celestiall and Terrestriall things but doth not mention any such imposture and you must observe that God would never command that any should be worshipped but himself so that the Alcoran sayes that which was never true and which can never enter into the brains of a reasonable man and therefore in conclusion I say that the Alcoran hath not any reason or truth in it The third Argument is upon the first Chapter of the third Book where hee sayes that the Virgin Mary the Mother of Jesus Christ was the Sister of Aaron and Moses and sayes in Arabick thus Ogia Mariamu ya ohta Aron i. e. O Mary O
that one day a fair Lady came to them and complained of her husband and was so acceptable unto them that they solicited her chastity she told them that she was content to grant their desires upon condition that they would teach her their Praier whereby they ascended into heaven They through the great desire they had to enjoy her company taught her the Praier and when she had it perfect she presently repeated it and ascended to heaven and the Gloss sayes that when the Angels would have ascended again to heaven they could not and by reason of the sin which they had committed they lost the grace of Praier and remained on earth then God denounced against them that they should choose their punishment whether they would suffer it in this world or in the next and they chose it in this world and so for that sin they remain hanging by the eye-lids untill the day of Judgement The text of the Alcoran sayes that those two Angels taught the men of that place the art of Negromancy and divers of the Moores say that this woman was translated into the Star or light of the morning although it be not received for authentick and approved of amongst the Moores All this aforesaid I prove by the Alcoran by the gloss or CoÌ„ment on the Alcoran and by the Suné Now behold O Moore who art an Astrologer and a Philosopher and consider this History in thy Alcoran and thou wilt see whether there be any reason in it Likewise behold thou Moore who art a Divine according to the Moorish Divinitie which is called in Arabick Tenbid and thou wilt see whether it can be conceived by a Moorish Divine that the Angels were ever Judges on earth and whether they have ever known or can know women But thou maist say that they had ground to search this woman O Moorish Divine dost thou not conceive that such a thing doth not savour of Divinitie nor can a wise man believe it especially a Divine Likewise tell me O Moore who daily readest the Alcoran how can it consist with the Alcoran Which sayd that Angels are Spirits which is in Arabick Roch for if the Angels are Roch and Spirits as the Alcoran makes 'em then they are not Corporeall as he sayes here and in divers other places and as shall hereafter further appear The sixth Argument is upon what is said in the ninth Chapter of the second book and the nineteenth Chapter of the third book and niâ—the Chapter of Dominion or Empire in the fourth book where he sayes that the Stars lye in the first Heaven that God set them there for the beauty and Ornament of the World and to the end that they should stone the devils and that the said Stars are the keepers of Heaven that the devils may not goe into it and that God set them there for this purpose for ye must know that when the devils ascend towards Heaven immediatly the Stars goe and encounter them with fiery Darts as it is in the nineteenth Chapter of the third book the very words wherof are in Arabick thus O gualacad zeynne c. i. e. That God set the Stars in the Heaven for the beautifying of the world and as a guard against all the cursed devils and that a Star with a brand or flame of fire doth interpose against the devill that would hear the secrets and all this or little lesse all the Chapters above quoted doe alleage And hereupon the Suné says that the Stars are set in the first Heaven bound with chains of gold and that the greatest of them is as big as a great mountain And the Suné says that the devils climb up to Heaven and hear divine secrets and then come down hither and tell those secrets to divers men their familiars This Muhamed sayes in the book of Flowers and that the Stars which guard Heaven doe presently interpose and confront the devils with firebrands when they come and the devils flee from them and goe away with what secrets they have heard and reveale them to divine men Now speak O Moore who art a wise Astrologer Divine and Philosopher whether this can enter into the brains of a man of any of these professions tell me where is that Astrologer who grants that the Stars are fixed and bound to the first Heaven with golden chains hast thou not read the sayings of Philosophers who affirme that the least Star is greater than all the Earth and for what he says that all the Stars are in the first Heaven knowst thou not that the Planets are in seven Heavens each having his particular orbe and knowest thou not that the Moon is in the first and nearest to us Mercury in the second Venus in the third the Sun in the fourth Mars in the fifth Jupiter in the sixth and Saturne in the seventh highest of all Now speak O Moore what thinkest thou of this thy Scripture which speaks so many absurdities weigh and consider it well and thou wilt find that it was all dictated by the aforesaid Cutlers and not by God nor sent by the Angell of God The names of the Planets in Arabick are these 1. Hilil for the Moon 2. Ymareh Mercury 3. Zahra Venus 4. Samei The Sun 5. Musteri Mars 6. Hotared Jupiter 7. Zohal Saturne And all the Stars are in the eighth Heaven in which are the twelve Signs the first of which is called in Arabick 1. Quabsi for Aries 2. Zanre Taurus 3. Toguemen Gemini 4. Zaraton Cancer 5. Aced Leo. 6. Alhadra Virgo 7. Arinzen Libra 8. Alauce Sagitarius 9. Algidi Capricornus 10. Alhamle Scorpio 11. Adalu Aquarius 12. Alhot Pisces I have wrote all this because that thou O Moore who art a good Astrologer shouldst peruse thy books of Astrology and what the Moores Astrologers have written and see whether thou canst find what the Alcoran sayes to correspond with their writings and meanings and so thou shalt see that it is clean contrary and not Consonant to what they say and write of this matter The seventh Argument is upon what he sayes in the eighth Chapter of the fourth book and in the Chapter of Devils where he sayes that a Company of Devils came one night to hear Muhamed and the Moores read the Alcoran and in these two Chapters hee sayes that the Devils took such delight in the Alcoran that they presently beleived in Muhamed and became Moores And the words of the Alcoran in the Chapter of Devils are thus O coluhia c. i. e. O Muhamed tell the Moores that a Company of Devils heard the Alcoran and said one to another that they had heard the wonderfull Alcoran read and that they beleived it and were not miscriants against their Creatour And the words of the eighth Chapter run thus in Arabick O guaid Zarafna c. i. e. And when God sent thee a Company of Devils that they might hear the Alcoran when they heard it read they bad each other be silent
c. i. e. That God hath forbidden the Moores that which is murrain blood Swine that which is offered to Idols and that which hath bin strangled that which dyes by the thrust of a horn or by a casualty and also wild beasts c He forbids all these things in the said Chapter the which also the Moores doe hold for prohibited And in another song in the fifth Chapter of the first Book God commands and chargeth Muhamed to tell the Moores that they should say nothing was prohibited and forbidden to be eaten or drunk but murrain blood Swines flesh and that which is offered to Idols the said verses in Arabick sayes thus O Zolle agido c. So that the Moores in the first Chapter forbad twelve things and in the other Chapter contradicting themselves they forbid but four And if thou wilt say O Moore that the verses of the last Chapter are revoked by the first I prove that the first much less the last are not revoked but are verses which remain in force and vertue and which are called in Arabick Ayetum Mohquemetum i. e. decisory and valid verses Nay it is not found in all the Alcoran that any former verse revokes the second for it may be reasonable that the second may revoke the first but not that the first should revoke the second therfore I say that if the first verse is valid and decisory the second verse must likewise be valid and decisory and this was so concluded amongst the Moores viz. That both the verses should be valid and decisory What sayst thou now O Moore in this great confusion where one verse forbids twelve things and the other forbids but four for hence it plainly appears that these are not verses of God nor of a Prophet sent from God Furthermore the Alcoran in the eleventh Chapter of the second book writes that the use of wine is allowed the words in Arabick say thus O guamin Zamarati c. Which signifies that of the fruit of the dates of the Palme tree and of Grapes ye may drink and take lawfull sustentation By force of which Verse the Moores drank wine lawfully the space of twelve years but afterwards upon a fancy which Muhamed took he forbad it by word of mouth not by the Alcoran so that Muhamed contradicteth the Alcoran and thus in divers Chapters yee find that the Alcoran contradicteth it self Likewise the Alcoran sayes to Muhamed that if he doubted whether the Alcoran was of God or of man he should enquire of the Jews and Christians who had read the Scripture before him the words in Arabick are thus O fainz unte c. i. e. verbatim O Muhamed if thou doubtest or art uncertain of this Alcoran which we have caused to be sent down to thee aske of those who have read the Scripture before thee All the glossers say that they who had read the Scripture are the Jews and Christians and yet in the first Chapter of the first book he sayes that the Jews and Christians have no Law and that they erre and the same Alcoran calls the Jews cursed and the Christians erronious Furthermore in divers places he speaks well of the Jews and Christians and sayes that the Thora or Law is the true book of God and that God sent the said Law of Moses good and true by which Law the Prophets and messengers doe judge and all those who doe not judge by the Thora are unjust and unbelievers in God the words in Arabick in the fourth Chapter of the first book run thus Ogua anzelne c. i. e. verbatim We God sent the Thora which is the Law of Moses a Light and streight path by which the Prophets doe judge and they who doe not judge by this which God sent to the world are Insidels and unrighteous Likewise he says that the Gospell is the Light Life Law and Salvation of men and yet afterwards he says that the Christians and Jews have no Law and that they are cursed and erronious And if thou O Moore sayest as all the Moores generally doe That the Thora and the Evangelists are not now what they were in the time of Moses and in the time of Jesus Christ and that the Christians have altered the Gospell and the Jews have perverted the Thora To that I will answer O Moore and say that that Argument is not good for two reasons The first and principall as concerning the Thora is that the same books and Chapters which the Jews had in the time of Moses and in the time of the Prophets untill Jesus Christ the very same they have still and the Christians have alwaies had them without wanting a tittle not only the Thora which is the five books of Moses but also all the old Testament Now thou knowest O Moore that the Jews and Christians differ in Worship so that if the Jews had changed and altered the Scripture it would not have continued one and the same in the hands of the Jews and in the hands of the Christians as now it is and hath alwaies been The reason O honest Moore is because the Scripture was given by God and that Scripture which is given by God will never be lost as are the books of Muhamed's Suné As we have said above in the third Chapter The second reason is because that when Muhamed published his Reliligion it was already 600. years since the Christian Law or Religion had been Preached to all the world and so long also had the old Testament and the new been united to wit the figure and the thing figured so concordant and harmonious as if they had been both one and the same thing And seeing God commanded Muhamed to inquire of the Readers of this Scripture for his information the Scripture doubtless was then good and true and is likewise at present good and true for the same as it then was it still is and if it had been altered at the time of Muhamed God should have given Muhamed notice of it and have given him to know that at first it was good but then bad so that O Moore thou hast no right on thy side notwithstanding whatsoever the Moores and Musselmen say for he that brings the testimony of two for proof of his own cause doth yield that those witnesses are good and true not bad and reprochable because if they were reprochable and of ill fame they are not worthy to be received for witnesses now if God bids Muhamed to inquire of the Jews and Christians for his own information and satisfie himself from their two Scriptures you must conclude O Moore that those Scriptures at the time of such inquiry were good and true as still they are and will alwaies be and for this Reason O Moore thou must be silent and acknowledge that the Alcoran contradicteth it self in divers places and so I will conclude this point Concerning the superfluous and immodest things which Muhamed hath inserted in the Alchoran the first
they of Mecca and the Jewes of Medina said that this Alcoran was nothing but old stories put in Ryme by Muhamed who was a Poet and this saying is in many places of the Alcoran I think above a hundred calling him in Arabick Sair which we call a Poet and thus O Moore I tell thee that thou hast no other answer but silence And thus thou mayest come to know the Truth and how unprofitable it is to set down the same history so often and to make many verses of one thing thereby to make the writing larger Futhermore thou oughtest O Moore to consider and observe the order which is in the Holy Evangelists of Mathew Mark Luke and John and how they succeed each other in order with their Chapters Acts Mysteries and Miracles and how every one is inserted according to its order and reason and how all the Acts and Miracles are done and set down in their places which is a most necessary thing and not superfluous and shewes that the Evangelists are of God and the work of the Holy Ghost not forged by Cutlers whom Muhamed thought were learned men and of whom he learnt and daily wrote down what they dictated and taught him whereby they ruined Muhamed and made him insert so many vanities in his Alcoran Likewise O Moore thou shouldest consider and observe the Miracles which are set down in the five Books of Moses which Moses did and which thy Alcoran mentions and likewise consider the Miracles which Jesus Christ wrought which are related in the Evangelists and which the Alcoran also mentions and thou wilt see O Moore what difference there is between those Miracles and the Miracles which Muhamed saies he wrote as you may see by some miracles under-mentioned which Muhamed did which when I have related to thee thou wilt O Moore come to know and observe that the Miracles which were done by Moses and by Jesus Christ were done of Charity and according to the need or want which required them and thou wilt see that they were divine true and supernaturall and done in the presence of thousands of men and women and on the other side thou wilt see that Muhamed's miracles were done needlesly without Charity and not in the presence of multitudes of men no not of a few but only done and testified by himself alone for we doe not read of any miracle of Muhamed done in the presence of other men but only himself saies it as is the miracle of the Dream or Vision and of Alborack and of the Angell when he came to him and severall others which I will relate here amongst which miracles you shal not find one man to witness any one Miracle of all those which he hath written The first Miracle is that which is mentioned above in the first Chapter of Muhamed's life when the Angell Gabriel launched his stomack and pulled out his heart and took out the black coar as we have related above concerning which Miracle we doe not read in all the Law of the Moores that any one saw it done The second Miracle is that which Muhamed reports of the Cloud the book Azar saies that Muhamed travelling with the Camels of his Master Gaddiza's husband in the journey one day it chanced to be very hot through the great Sun-shine and a Cloud setled over Muhameds head and followed him and over-shadowed him all the way Muhamed saies this happened when he was 16. or 17. years old but doth not allege any witness that saw the Cloud follow him and overshadow him The third Miracle was when the aforesaid Angell came to him to the Cave and saluted him and began to give him the Law and the Alcoran as it is said in the first Chapter of Muhamed's Law The fourth Miracle was that where Muhamed saies that the beasts stones trees and birds greeted him and spake to him The book Azar saies that when Muhamed had received the Embassage from the Angell Gabriel in the said Cave as he returned home all the beasts birds trees and stones greeted him and said to him Rejoyce O Muhamed for thou art the Prophet and messenger of God and that Muhamed going alongst the Path there lay the Trunk of a Tree in the way insomuch that Muhamed was about to turn another way but because he should not goe out of his way the tree was cleft asunder in the midst and so Muhamed passed through the middle of the tree and assoon as he was passed the tree grew togither again as it was before all this Muhamed saies hapned to him and yet there was no one saw it neither were these Miracles at all needfull nor done of Charity nor in the presence of others The fift Miracle was when the Trees came to be a shadow unto Muhamed and after they had shadowed him they returned to their own places again at his command In the Suné it is said that Muhamed reported that being one day uncovered in the fields he had occasion to untruss during which the Sun shone so hot on his head that he was all in a sweat Whereupon he looked towards certain Trees which were far from him and called them and bade them come and shadow him and he saies that at the same instant there came two trees tearing the earth with their roots till they came to the place where Muhamed was and there they shadowed him and afterward Muhamed commanded the said Trees to return to their places again the which they did and the earth closed up again as it was at first the words in Arabick say thus O Guafidubaique c. i. e. that Muhamed called the trees to come to him and by the Divine will they came very obediently with their boughs And afterwards hee commanded them to return to their places with their roots The sixth Miracle was when the Moon divided it self into two pieces the Alcoran in the Chapter of the Moon in the fourth book saies that the Moon divivided it self in the midst and the gloss and the book of Azar upon this Text say That Muhamed reported that one night an Uncle of his called Bugellin who was the most potent of his Uncles came and said to him O Muhamed if thou wilt doe a miracle which I shall require I will presently become Moore and Musselman and will believe that thou art a Prophet unto whom Muhamed answered and said that he was content Then his Uncle told him that if hee could make the Moon come to the midst of Heaven and be in the Full whereas she was then as the said books report twenty one dayes old and if the Moon did divide it self in the midst and come out of Heaven to the Earth and those two pieces goe the one through the hole of one of Muhameds sleeves and the other piece through the hole of the other sleeve and both pieces come out of the Coller of Muhameds Coat speaking and saying that Muhamed was the Prophet of God and joyn themselves together again
and all that which St. Luke in his Gospell sets down about the mystery of the Incarnation verbatim Concerning the glorious Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ he makes mention in the first Chapter of the third Book wherein he again relates the Salutation and all the mystery of the Nativity which birth was most miraculous and joyfull and the Moores in Arabick call it Almilid and the Moores and Musselmen all the world over doe annually that night use great feasting dancing and great melody especially in the Moresque or mosk of Sciativia in the Kingdom of Valentia and of this glorious Nativity the Alcoran saies in Arabick in the said first Chapter of the third Book thus O Fane dehe c. i. e. That when the Virgin Mary was in Labour she lay under a Palm tree the glossers say that this tree had been dry 30. years and the Chapter goes on and saies that when Jesus Christ was born he told his Mother that if she would shake the tree there should presently good and ripe Dates fall from it the which she did and the tree became green and brought forth good ripe Dates the Moores say that this Palm-tree groweth to this day and is fresh and green and doth annually bring forth dates I Relate this to the end that we may see how great reverence the Moores bear to Jesus Christ and doe esteem him more than any Saint or Prophet in the world which the Alcoran testifies in the second Chapter and fourth Chapter of the first Book saying that Jesus Christ knew the secrets of mens hearts raised the dead healed incurable diseases and caused the blind to see and the dumb to speak all which the Alcoran saies not of Muhamed nor of any other Prophet Furthermore the Alcoran sets down divers excellencies of Christs Disciples whom he calls haguarquin i. e. pure and chaste and saies that they did miracles above nature as he writes in the eighteenth Chapter of the third Book that St. Mathew St. Peter and St. Paul did two miracles in Antioch viz. That they cured a man of a Leprosie and raised the Kings daughter who had been dead five daies by which miracles all the men of Antioch were converted to the faith of Jesus Christ which story the Moores read in the Arabick but understand it not in Arabick it is thus Ogua drib Lehum c. Which is in prose as the Glosserson the Alcoran say that St. Peter and St. Mathew other interpreters say that they were St. Peter and St. John but they all say that St. Peter and another Apostle went to the City of Antioch and without the City found a man full of Leprosie who was called Habib Anajar a very rich man but because of his disease he dwelt out of the City unto whom the two Apostles spake and said that if he beleeved in Jesus Christ and his Law they would cure him and he was content and therupon believed and was Baptized and was presently cured and seeing himself cured hee led the Apostles to his house and set meat before them and laid them down a thousand Crowns of gold for a gratification of his health the Apostles bad him take away his money in regard that they did not those things for money but for love of their Master Jesus Christ The Text in Arabick saies thus Oguagee minazca c. i. e. That when this man saw that he was healed he went about the City crying with a loud voice saying O my people follow these messengers who lead you to the true Law and cure without money all this the Text relates and proceeds saying that because he cryed after this manner the King took him and martyrd him and the Text saies that as soon as this Martyr dyed hee went to Paradise and then he said I would to God that my nation knew that I am in Paradise and doe discourse among the honourable my sins having been pardoned these words in Arabick are Ozule yalli te caumi c. and the history proceeds in the same Chapter and saies that this King after he had martyrd this man took the two Disciples and put them in prison but they were presently helped out by a third man in Arabick the Text saies thus O faahazezne-bicelicin i. e. That God sent them a third man for to help them The Interpreters say that doubtless this third man was St. Paul and the gloss sayes that the assistance that Paul did unto the two Apostles was that he went to the King and told him that he had heard that his Majesty had imprisoned two of the Disciples of Jesus Christ the King answered that it was true then St. Paul prayed the King that his Majesty would be pleased to doe him a favour which was to let the two Disciples be fetcht from prison and brought into his presence because he would examin them what manner of men they were what Law they Preached and what miracles they wrought and that it might be they were delusions whereupon the King caused them to be fetcht out and brought before him and St. Paul then St. Paul began to examine them as though he had not known them and asked them what Law they Preached and what miracles they wrought and they answered that they Preached the Law of Jesus Christ and that in the name and by the power of Jesus Christ they gave sight to the blind and raised the dead then St. Paul desired the King to let one born blind be called for and there was presently a child brought in of five years of age stark blind and St. Paul said to the King O King let us goe to some of your Idols and their we shall see this miracle he saies that they went to the Temple and their Paul desired the King to pray to his Idols to heal the blind Whereupon the King prayd to his Idols to heal the blind child which they did not then said he heal him yee and I will believe in the God whom yee preach then St. Peter took the blind child and healed him and the blind came in seeing with fairer eyes than any one in the City then the King told them that if they would raise his daughter which had been dead five daies he would become Christian and all his people likewise and the Glossers say that at the same time they also raised his said Daughter and that all the people of Antioch were thereupon converted The Text and the gloss of the Alcoran relate all this above now tell me O Moore who bearest great devotion to this Chapter and which amongst the Moores is in as great esteem and value as the Gospell of St. John is amongst the Christians tell me what think you of this above which you never understood behold how thy Alcoran testifies that the Apostles are Saints and that St. Paul did what is aforesaid and for the Martyr the Text of this Chapter testifies that he went into Paradise for being martyred and for dying in
the faith of Jesus Christ why tarriest thou then O Moore why dost thou not become a Christian that thou mayest goe to the place where this Christian Martyr is I believe that divers Moores hear this aforesaid but doe not believe it but bid thou the Moore which denies it to read the gloss of Alzamaxeri and the gloss of Buhatia and if he doe not find what I have set down above word for word in the said two glosses let him call me the greatest lyer in the world This History his Grace Martin Gartia Lord Bishop of Barchinone hath set down in his Book of the Alcoran which I translated out of Arabick into the Spanish tongue by his Graces command and himself hath the said two Arabick glossaries Yee must know that the Alcoran holds forth and attributes three excellencies to our Lord Jesus Christ which it doth not give to any other of the Prophets not to Moses Abraham David no nor to Muhamed The first is that which the Alcoran mentions in the second Chapter of the first Book viz. That he ascended to Heaven in Soul and Body and upon this place the Suné sayes that he must come into the world to judge as a just Judge in Arabick and the Suné he sayes thus Oguayniziolo c. i. e that Jesus the Son of Mary shall come down to the earth and shall be a just Judge therein The second excellency which the Alcoran attributes to Jesus Christ is that it calls him Calimethuallah i. e. The word of God The third is that he is called in the Alcoran Rohc alkodus allah i. e. The holy Spirit of God of which two names never was any man worthy nor ever will be so that having proved that Jesus Christ is the word of God and the holy Spirit of God it is proved that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and very God This appears in the third Chapter of the first Book of the Alcoran which in Arabick runs thus Omet mazeho c. i. e. The Messras Jesus the Son of Mary is no other than the word of God sent to Mary the Spirit of God himself and the messenger of God by which words O Moore thou mayest see that he declares that Jesus Christ is God and Man CHAP. XII The twelfth and last Chapter treateth and sheweth that Christians should not wonder why Muhamed's Sect hath so propagated and that the Moores should not be so presumptuous and say as they usually doe that if their Religion were not good it had never propagated so much for that reason is of no waight It likewise sheweth how Muhamed's Disciples carried themselves after his death and what discords contests and murthers were practised amongst them for dominion and the Vanities of this world and to become Kings Califes and great Potentates NOw to the end that Christians may not have occasion or ground to wonder and much less the Moores to presume I will lay down three causes whereby the Sect of the Moores hath propagated and augmented but not by any goodness in it self The first cause was that Muhamed began and instituted this Law or Religion of the Moores in a Nation very rustick ignorant beastly and Idolatrous being men voyd and destitute of all knowledge and understanding for amongst that people were no Logicians Astrologers Philosophers nor Physicians but they were all earthly given to eating drinking and luxury an ignorant and rude people as the Alcoran calls them in the first Chapter of the first Book in Arabick Sufeha i. e. ignorant people The Countrey likewise was full of Idolaters aswell in Arabia the happy as in Arabia the great and throughout all Persia and Armenia where were twelve sorts or Sects of Idolaters as we shewed in the first Chapter of this book some of them worshiped a tree unto which they Sacrifised and annually celebrated Feasts and a kind of Easter which tree they called Detulanger the Lord and Captain of the Province where this tree was in Muhamed's time was called Azamahinali Others worshipped a great statue made of a black metall which was three fathoms long this Idoll was called Bohinum and it was in the Province of Armenia the Lord and Captain of this Idoll in Muhameds time was called Alquazad Others in Armenia worshipped the Sun and the Prince of that people was called Sanharben Carquar They of Mecca and the Provinces adjacent worshipped Alzete and Alluza as we have said before so that Muhamed began his Sect amongst the most blockish people in the world and unto these Muhamed gave to understand that they were Idolaters and that they ought to worship the God of heaven and earth who was the true God who had Created the Heavens the Planets the earth and the waters that caused rain to fall from heaven and fruits to proceed from the earth for Man and beast that God who caused men to dye and after death to rise again for to reward every man according to his deserts with glory or punishment that God who created the Paradises with so many excellent things for the blessed and that God who created Hell with so many Torments for the Damned All which they of Mecca and the other Idolaters denyed and by his preaching this aforesaid to them which is the Contents of half the Alcoran divers began to believe in Muhameds Law or Sect many likewise were induced to believe Muhamed by reason of the great boasting and threatning which he used when hee read the Alcoran and the scrowles of the Punishment of their predecessors viz. Those who are drowned in the world by the Deluge and who escaped in the Ark of Noah also the People of Lot and of the five Cities which are very neer unto Mecca he also threatned and terrified them with the example of Pharaohs People and the nine plagues which God sent upon them and told them how they were swallowed up in the Sea because they did not believe in Moses hee also terrified them with the pains of Hell and with the horror of the things which hee writes of Hell which is obvious in divers chapters of the Alcoran and thus they beleeved in Muhamed and were perswaded that he who Created all things and hath power over all was the true God so that whereas Muhamed converted them to his own opinion and made them know nine Articles of the Christian faith and those other things of the Christian faith expressed in the precedent Chapter if he had as well given them knowledge of the whole Christian faith and had injoyned them to believe all the 12. Articles and be Baptised he had done very well and they had all been Christians but hee would not doe so because he could not that way have made himself so great as he did The immoderate ambition wherewith Muhamed was transported hath undone the Moores and been the cause of his own and their error and utter perdition Yet this wee must believe that the Moores who believed in God and acknowledged that he