3 8 Tthe Preliminary Difcourfe. Sedl. II.
•delicacies of the Greeks and P erf tans, and inured to hardfhips of all
forts; living in a moft parfimonious manner, feldom eating any flelh,
i drinking no wine, and fitting on the ground. Their political govern-
■ merit was alfo fuch as favoured the defigns of Mohammed-, for the
division and independency of their tribes was fo neceffary to the firft
propagation of his religion, and the foundation of his power, that it
would have been fcarce poffible for him to have effeded either, had
the Arabs _ been united in one fociety. -But when they had embraced
his religion, the confequent union of their tribes was no lefs necefla-
ry and conducive to their future conquefts and grandeur.
This pofture o f public affairs in the eaftern world, both as to its
religious and political ftate, it is more than probable Mohammed was
well acquainted w ith ; -he having had fufficient opportunities of informing
himfelf in thofe particulars, in his travels as a merchant in
his younger years : and tho’ it is not to be fiippofed his views at firft
were fo extenfive as afterwards, when they were enlarged by his good
fortune, yet he might reafonably promife himfelf fuccefs in his firft attempts
from thence. As he was a man of extraordinary parts and ad-
drefs, he knew how to make the beft of every incident, and turn
what might feem dangerous to another, to his own advantage.
Urjham. Mohammed came into the world under fome difadvantages, which
■ med's con- jje foon furmounoed. His father Abd’allah was a younger fon 1 of
forehebfet Abd'almotaUeb, and dying very young and in his father’s life time,
up for a left his widow and infant fon in very mean circumftances, his whole
prophet; fu bfl.a n c e confifting but of five camels and one Ethiopian fhe-flave 2.
motives Abd’almotalleb was therefore obliged to take care of his grandchild
for fo do- Mohammed, which he not only did during his life, but at his death
ins' injoined his eldeft fon Abu Pdleb, who was brother to Abd’allah by the
fame mother, to provide for him for the future; which he very affectionately
did, and inftruCted him in the bufinefs of a merchant
which lie followed; and to that end he took him with him into Syria
when he was but thirteen, and afterward recommended him to Kha-
dijah a noble and rich widow for her faCtor, in whofe fervice he behaved
himfelf fo well, that by making him her hufband file foon raifed
him to an equality with the richeft in Mecca.
After he began by this advantageous match to live at his eafe, it
was that he formed the fcheme of eftablilhing a new religion, or, as
1 He was not his eldeft fon, as Dr. Prideaux tells us; whofe reflexions built on that foundation
• itiuft neceflarily fail: (fee his life of Mahomet, p. 9.) nor yet his youngeft fon, as M. de Boulain-
villiers (Vie de Mahommed, p.182, &c.) fuppofes; for Hamza and al Abbas were both younger
ihan Abdallah. * Abulfeda, Vit. Moham. p.'2,
he
gedt. II. ‘The Preliminary Difcourfei
he exprefied it, of replanting the only true and ancient one, profefled
by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Mofes, Jefus, and all the prophets by
deftroying the grofs idolatry into which the generality of his countrymen
had fallen,, and weeding out the corruptions and fuperftitions
which the latter Jews and Chrijlians had, as he thought, introduced
into their religion, and reducing it to its original purity,. which con-
fifted chiefly in the worfhip of one only G od.
Whether this was the effedt of enthufiafm, or only a defign to raile
himfelf to the fupreme government of his country, I will not pretend
to determine. The latter is the general opinion of Chrijlian writers,
who agree that ambition, and the defire of fatisfying. his fenfuality
were the motives of his undertaking. It may be fo; yet his firft
views perhaps were not fo interefted. His original defign of bringing
the pagan Arabs to the knowledge of the true G od , was certainly
noble, and highly to be commended; for I cannot poffibly fublcribe to
the afiertion of a late learned writer.2, that he made that nation exchange
their idolatry for another religion altogether as bad. Mohammed
was no doubt fully fatisfied in his confidence of the: truth of his
grand point, the unity of G od, which was what he chiefly attended
to ; all his other doCtrines and inftitutions being rather accidental, and
unavoidable, than premeditated and defigned.
Since then Mohammed was certainly himfelf perfuaded of his grand
article of faith, which in his opinion was violated by all the reft of
the world ; not only by the idolaters, but by the Chrijlians, as well
thofe who rightly worfhipped Jefus as G o d , , as thofe who fu-
perftitioufly adored the Virgin Mary, faints, and images ; and alfo
by the Jews, who are accufed in the Koran of taking Ezra for
the fon of G o d s; it is eafy to conceive that he might think it
a meritorious work to refeue the world from fuch ignorance and fu-
perftition; and by degrees, with the help o f a warm imagination,
which an Arab feldom wants +, to fuppofe himfelf deftined by providence
for the effecting that, great reformation. And this fancy of
his might take ftill deeper root in his mind, during the folitude he
thereupon affedted, ufually retiring for a month in the year to a cave
in mount Kara near Mecca. One thing which may be probably urged
againft the enthufiafm o f this prophet of the Arabs, is the wife
conduct and great prudence he all along, {hewed in purfuing his defign,
which feem inconfiftent with the wild notions o f a hot-brained
religionift. But tho’ all enthufiafts or madmen do not behave with
1 See Koran, c. 2. * Prideaux'sfife pf M a h o m e t 6. 3 Koran, c. 9. 4 Sez Gafaub*
of Enthufiafm. p. 148. the