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
night in the house of one of the most eminent amongst them and held counsell about Muhamed and they all concluded to kill him emprison him or at least to banish him and that this was so consulted of wee may read in the second Chapter of the second book which in Arabick sayes thus Ognaid pamcoro c. i. e. That they of Mecca took Counsell to kill him or to send him into banishment or to imprison him And being so in consultation certain men who were secretly become Moores did the same night give Muhamed notice of it and he presently fled and all the Moores with him and went to Medina a City ten dayes journey from Mecca He had also notice of the preparations of the Citizens of Mecca who had set guards in the wayes perceiving that he and his Moores would flee away that night whereupon Muhamed bid all the Moores that every one should lay a handfull of embers on the heads of his horse and cast another handful into the ayr and tye the raynes of their horses reading a verse which is in the 18th Chapter of the third book of the Alcoran and is thus Oguaihalme minbeym c. i. e. That they tooke a vayl or skreen in their hands and about them so that they blinded them and they saw nothing And the book Azar sayes that by the Embers which were laid over the horses heads and by repeating the said verse the Moores and he passed through their enemies and were not perceived and so they went to Medina otherwise called Tribik where he was received for a Prophet and there dwelt thirteen years there finished his sect or religion and dyed there At Medina he found five families of Jews dwelling there and in the parts adjacent who began to dispute and question those things which he had then inserted in the Alcoran and required him to doe some miracles as Moses and the Prophets deceased had done to whom he answered That God was his witnes and that his testimony ought to suffice and that he came not to work miracles but to reduce those which wandered and went astray unto the Law of God and of Abraham of which questions and answers the Chapters of the Alcoran are full and in many Chapters he excuseth himself of doing miracles alleging unto the Jewes that divers messengers and Prophets wrought miracles and yet were not beleeved yea that those Prophets suffered persecution and with this excuse he quotes in the Alcoran the names of divers men which were never heard of nor are named any where els There he relates the history of a Prophet called Hadin alias Had and of another called Zamud alias Hud and of a third called Zaleh and of their nation called the people of Hud and of a camell who with her foale was a League in length which two beasts one day drank up the water of the City where that people dwelt and the next day swallowed up men whereupon one day they of the City slew them and because of the sin in killing them there fell a great tempest upon that people Thus Muhamed had great disputing and debating with the Jewes and himself extolled their Law that so they might be silent nevertheless they still disputed against him and laughed at the Moores and Mussellmen and set strife betwixt him and his Moores as shall appeare in due place which jarring continued untill he got power and then he began to suppress the Jews and fought eleven battailes with them overcame them and slew most part of them and the survivors had their lives given them by the Moores and became their subjects and tributaries and from thence forward he began to combate against the people of Mecca and they of Mecca opposed him as shall be shewen hereafter But that I may not be tedious I will conclude this Chapter and running through the eleven following Chapters I shall finish this treatise and the life of Muhamed and of all that he did whilst he was at Almedina CHAP II. The second chapter treateth of the Alcoran what it signifies of the matters therein contained and of how many songs it is composed who collected it and reduced it into four books in the order it is now in and how many years Muhamed was making it how it begins and ends and which are the first and last chapters ALcoran signifies a lesson or Collection of Chapters or songs though it be also called by another name Alforzan i. e. scattered verses and Chapters because he was so long in making it and the Chapters thereof are called suar and one alone is called in Arabick Surah The Alcoran treateth of divers things and especially of the Sect or Law of Muhamed and of what the Moores should beleeve and doe of the hope of reward in the world to come for the Good and of torment for the Wicked It also treateth of things permitted and forbidden to the Moores aswell of food and drink as of women with whom they may or may not marry also it speaks of the Creation of the world how God Created Adam and Eve how they sinned and were cast out of Paradise and came to the earth how the evill Angells sinned and what was the cause of their sin and how they lost the Caelestiall glory It also speaks how God sent Moses to bring the people of Israel out of the Captivity and power of Pharaoh how the Jewes received the Law what befell them at their going out of Egypt how they had Manna sinned and worshiped the calf and how they passed the red sea wherein Pharaoh was drowned It also treateth of divers other histories although he hath put them confusedly and out of order as the Cutler 's related them It also speaks of the prophets of the old Testament although he mentions divers which are not named in any author It likewise containeth the admonitions which Muhamed used to the people of Mecca and his threats to induce them to beleeve his Sect. It also speaks of glory and discourseth of the glory which the Moores shall have in Paradise as also of Hell and of the paines and torments which are there It speaks of the wonders which God dayly doth and of the mysteries and divine works which we dayly see in the heaven earth and sea It also speaks of the Virgin Mary of Jesus Christ our Lord of the mysteries of his nativity and life and of the miracles that he wrought and of the Euangelists and of the true Law which Jesus Christ hath given us as it shall fully appeare in the eleventh Chapter of this Treatise Furthermore the Alcoran mentions divers frauds and much filthiness used by Muhamed and divers contrarieties and repugnancies which have no reason in them and divers excuses which God accepted from Muhamed and made for him upon severall dishonest and immodest cases which Muhamed committed in his life as wee shall shew in the Chapter of Offences and Wives Finally in the Alcoran are many examples of Iudgements wherewith
who Created all things visible and invisible was God did acknowledge and believe the Prophets Patriarks and Messengers of God and believed the Scriptures which God sent by his servants and also gave credit to the Evangelists the Thora and the Psalter and believed Jesus Christ and the other things above mentioned so that I say that although Muhamed in his time did some wicked things as we have said before for which divers Moores were offended at him yet nevertheless they never lost the faith which they had of God and the things aforesaid for although they were ignorant they acknowledged that Idolatry was a wicked thing and the way to destruction and so they have continued till our dayes believing all that Muhamed made them believe Wherefore I say that if Muhamed would the Moores had believed in Jesus Christ and had been all saved but he conceived that if they had believed truly he should not have been reputed for a Prophet nor a Law-giver nor a great Lord and this detestable Ambition deceived Muhamed and after him deceived his Disciples as here under will appear so that Muhamed made the Moores believe a great part of the Christian Law but not all for fear lest they should become Christians he also made them believe a great part of the Jewish Law but not all for fear lest they should become Jewes and made them also believe the Alcoran and the Suné and so many other fooleries which wee have mentioned above that he might make them Moores and Musselmen In this manner the Sect of the Moores increased not by any reason or excellency it had in it self for if Muhamed had begun his Sect among Philosophers Logicians and Astrologers and a Nation that had had any Law it had never had any progresse the which the Apostles of Jesus Christ did for they preached the faith of Jesus Christ amongst the most learned of all the Jewes and amongst the Astrologers Logicians and Philosophers of the Gentiles yea without Arms or Battells and only by their preaching the Law of Jesus Christ and his Gospell and by their miracles they converted all the World to the Catholique and Christian faith besides the Disciples of Jesus Christ wrought not that conversion meerly by preaching and doing miracles but also by disputing and arguing of the truth and by confuting Heretiques and wicked men who gainsaid them and thus the Christian faith was agitated and exalted by disputations untill it inlightned all places the which the Law or sect of Muhamed cannot endure for Muhameds sect will not be questioned by Disputation nor be examined by naturall reason for so the Alcoran commands in the ninth Chapter of the third Book where he saies Guale tugedilo c. i. e. never dispute you with the Jewes or Christians Wherefore I say and conclude that Muhamed withdrew the People of Mecca and Arabia from the error of Idolatry and brought them into heresie doing like those who administer fatall Physick which they hide in good tooth some food and they who eat thereof thinking they eat some delicate Cates are poisoned Thus did Muhamed introducing and mingling his false Law and his Impostures and delusions among the holy and good things of the Old and New Testament yea with things of the Law of Nature and so he made a Law and Sect which destroyes those eternally that believe it even as adulterated medicines kill those that take them And let this be sufficient for the first cause or reason of the propagation of Muhameds Law The second Cause of the growth and increase of Muhamed's Law was thus Muhamed seeing that divers rebelled against him for the causes aforesaid and returned to their former opinions and required him to doe miracles and to cause signs to appear from heaven as Noah did with the Ark and Moses who caused Manna to fall from heaven forty years and made twelve Fountains of water to spring out of a Rock and divided the red Sea into twelve Passages and Muhamed not being able to doe the like he thought his Law could not bee advanced any other way than by the Sword to wit by fighting with unbeleevers and bringing them to the obedience of his Law by force and for that purpose he began to make verses in the Alcoran saying that God commanded them to fight against the unbeleevers and rebellious and upon that Argument made a Chapter which is the third Chapter of the second Book all in the Tearms and commands of a Warriour Wherein he sets down one verse which is called the Verse of the Sword and from this Verse the whole Chapter is called the Chapter of the Sword which Verse is in Arabick thus O Zaltihum c. i. e. slay the Enemies and Unbeleevers and so they shall be tormented and confounded by you in the Suné he saies thus Ozatiluanne c. i. e. Kill them untill they all become Moores and beleevers Which command Muhamed hath reiterated in divers Chapters of the Alcoran but indeed he used great policie in it and brought his purpose about very subtilly to wit that in such a kind of War there must be some partiality and certain particular Captains or otherwise it could not be for which purpose he sent for ten Men who were already converted to his Sect of the chiefest of all Arabia felix and Arabia magna men much followed and potent and of themselves expert in Arms and well exercised in the Art of War the first and chief of them was called Ubequar the second Homar and these two were Muhameds fathers-in-law The third was called Hozman who collected the Alcoran The fourth was Alifrello a Cousin of Muhamed and these were all of Muhameds kindred The fifth was called Talha The sixth Azubere The seventh Zadin The eighth Zahedin The ninth Abdorazmen and the tenth Abuhobeyde These he convened and assembled under a Tree abroad in the fields and there began to preach a Sermon to them which were too long to repeat here In brief hee told them that he was sent from God for to withdraw his People from Idolatry and that they knew that there were divers Jewes and severall other Rebellious persons who opposed his Law and that it was necessary that his Law should be advanced and exalted above all other Lawes which Verse is inserted into the third Chapter of the Sword of the second book then he read to them the Verses and Chapters which were in the said Alcoran and told them that God had expresly commanded this way of making warre and that for his part he could doe no good in it without having Captains and Leaders for that purpose These Commanders and Gentlemen found it not good that he should have any other than themselves and were content to take the charge upon themselves and to side with Muhumed and those of his party and resolved to dye both they and theirs in the advancing of the Law of Muhamed and in making war against their own Fathers Mothers Brethren and
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