MAHONIETANS, believers in the doc trines and divine mission of Mahomet, the celebrated warrior and pseudo-prophet of Arabia, who was born at Mecca in the year 571. The father of Mahomet was Ab dollech, descended from the Korashites, tribes who had long enjoyed the regal dignity in Arabia. Notwithstanding the royal descent of the prophet, it appears that a variety of adverse circumstances concurred to render him, in the early part of his lifb, indigent and obscure. His father died before he was two years of age, and his mother when he was about eight ; so that he was left in a manner destitute of subsistence, and his educa tion, in a great measure, if not altogether, neglected. After the death of his mother, he was committed to the care of his grandfather, who dying within a year af terwards, he was taken under the pro tection of his uncle Taleb, a merchant of some respectability. There are various accounts relative to the manner in which Mahomet first began to invent and pro pagate his new system of faith and wor ship. It appears, according to the Ma hometan historians, that his pretended mission was revealed to him in a dream, in the fortieth year of his age. From that time, say his biographers, Mahomet, under the influence of a holy terror, de voted himself to a solitary life. He re tired to a grotto in the mountain of Hira, which overlcioks Mecca. He there pass ed his clays and nights in fasting, prayer, and meditation. In the midst of one of these profound ecstasies, the angel Ga briel appeared to him, with the first chap ter of the Koran, and commanded him to read. Mahomet replied, he was unable ; upon which the angel repeatedly em braced him, and commanded him to read, in the name of his Creator. A few days after, praying upon the same mountain of Hira, Mahomet again saw the angel of the Lord, seated in the midst of the clouds on a glittering throne, with the second chapter of the Koran ; and was addressed by him in the following words : " 0 thou who art covered with a celestial mantle, arise and preach !" Thus the angel Ga briel communicated, by command of the Eternal, to his prophet, in the twenty three last years of his life, the whole book of the Koran, leaf by leaf, chapter by chapter. There are, however, diflerent accounts respecting the portions or par cels in which the Koran was given to Mahomet. See A LCORA.N.
During the first thirteen years of the prophet's mission, he appears to have made very slow progress ; but the last ten were employed with greater success. Finding that visions, ecstasies, revela tions, and arguments, did not succeed so rapidly as he could have wished in mak ing proselytes, he determined to try the more powerful and adventurous induce ments of coercion. After his flight from Mecca to Medina, which took place A. D. 622, and from which his followers com pute their time, the prophet made rapid progress. Thousands flocked to his stand
ard, and he soon convinced his enemies, that if they refused to admit the divinity of his mission, they should feel the weight of his arm. He declared, that God sent him into the world, not only to teach his will, but to compel mankind to embrace it. " The word," said he, " is the key of heaven and hell ; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, or a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer. 'Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment ; his wounds shall be re splendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk, the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim." Who would not die to be acquitted at the bar of heaven 2 Who would not prefer a night in arms to a fast of two months ? And what mortal but would prefer the odours oT musk to the stench of plasters or fcetid ointments; the wings of angels to the cumbrous ap pendages of human limbs ? These repre sentations were attended with the desired effect on the minds and conduct of the prophet's admirers. They assembled in numbers to fight for God and his prophet. Headed by a chieftain of invincible courage, attractive eloquence, and as tonishing genius, guarded by angels (as they supposed), and enflamed by the holy fire of fanaticism, success attended almost all their engagements. Mahomet, thus elevated, formed the stupendous design of creating a new empire. Here again success crowned his efforts. Ilis plan was executed with such intrepidity, that be died, A. D. 632, master of all Arabia, besides several adjacent pro vinces. It is not our business, nor will our limits admit of it, to account for the rapid progress of the Mahometan faith. We may, however, summarily state, as causes of the eastern prophet's success: the terror of his arms ; the artful nature of his law, which offered such rewards to the faithful, and such punishments to the infidels, as were best suited to the luxuriant fancies of the Arabians ; the plainness and simplicity of some of his doctrines ; the adaptation of the duties which his law enjoined to the passions and appetites of mankind ; the profound ignorance under which the Arabians, Syrians, Persians, and the greatest part of the eastern nations, then laboured ; and, lastly, the dissensions and animosi ties that then ravaged the peace, and de stroyed the union of the Christian sects, particularly the Greeks, Nestorians, Euty chians, and Monophysites, and which rendered the very name of Christianity odious to many. These are some of the causes which gave life and strength to the Mahometan religion in the east.
The religion of Mahomet is divided into two general parts : faith and practice. The fundamental article of the Mahome tan creed is contained in this confession : TtscitE. IS BUT ONE GOD, AND MA