網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

divine decree whether he be idle or not. On the other hand, a glance at the whole system of faith, built on hope and fear, rewards and punishments, paradise and hell, both to be man's portion according to his acts in this life, and the incessant exhortations to virtue, and denunciations of vice, are sufficient to prove that aboriginal predestination, such as St. Augustine taught it, is not in the Koran, where only submission to the Lord's will, hope during misfortune, modesty in prosperity, and entire confidence in the divine plans, are supported by the argument, that everything is in the hands of the highest being, and that there is no appeal against his absolute decrees.

And this is one instance of the way in which most of Mohammed's dicta have been developed and explained-both by sectarians and enemies within and without Islam-in such a manner that he has often been made to teach the very reverse of what he really did teach; and thus monstrosities now found in his creed, if carefully traced back to their original sources, will, in most cases, be seen to be the growth of later generations, or the very things he abrogated. That, again, the worst side of his character, the often wanton cruelty with which he pursued his great mission, the propagation of his faith, should by his successors have been taken as a thing to be principally imitated, is not to be wondered at, considering how brilliant the results of the policy of the bloody sword had proved. Scarcely a century had elapsed after Mohammed's death, and Islam reigned supreme over Arabia, Syria, Persia, Egypt, the whole of the northern coast of Africa, even as far as Spain; and notwithstanding the subsequent strifes and divisions in the interior of this gigantic realm, it grew and grew outwardly, until the crescent was made to gleam from the spires of St. Sophia at Constantinople, and the war-cry "Allah il Allah!" resounded before the gates of Vienna. From that time, however, the splendor and the power of Mohammedanism began to wane. Although there are counted about 130 millions this day all over the globe who profess Islam, and although it is, especially at this present juncture, making great progress among the African races, yet the number of real and thorough believers is infinitely small; and since it has left off conquering, it has lost also that energy and elasticity which promises great things. Its future fate will depend chiefly, we should say, on the progress of European conquest in the east, and the amount of western civilization which it will, for good or evil, import into those parts.

We cannot consider in this place what Islam has done for the cause of all humanity, or, more exactly, what was its precise share in the development of science and art in Europe. We refer to the special articles which treat of these subjects, and particularly to the biographies found in the course of this work of men eminent in every branch of human knowledge who have issued from the ranks of Islam. Broadly speaking, the Mohammedans may be said to have been the enlightened teachers of barbarous Europe from the 9th to the 13th century. It is from the glorious days of the Abbaside rulers that the real renaissance of Greek spirit and Greek culture is to be dated. Classical literature would have been irredeemably lost, had it not been for the home it found in the schools of the "unbelievers" of the "dark ages. Arabic philosophy, medicine, natural history, geography, history, grammar, rhetoric, and the "golden art of poetry," schooled by the old Hellenic masters, brought forth an abundant harvest of works, many of which will live and teach as long as there will be generations to be taught.

[ocr errors]

Besides the Koran, the Sunna, and the native (Arabic, Persian, Turkish, etc.) writers on the foregoing subject, we mention as further references the works of the European scholars Maracci, Hyde, Prideaux, Chardin, Du Ryer, Reland, D'Herbelot, Sale, Do Sacy, Hammer, Burckhardt, Sprenger, Burton, Muir, Garcin de Tassy, Lane, Weil, Geiger, Nöldeke. See KORAN, MOHAMMED, SHIITES, SHAFIITES, SUNÑA, MOHAMMEDAN SECTS.

66

[ocr errors]

MOHAMMEDAN SECTS. "My community," Mohammed is reported to have said, will separate itself into 73 sects; one only will be saved, all the others shall perish.' This prophecy has been largely fulfilled. Even during the illness, and immediately after the death of the founder, many differences of opinion arose among his earliest adherents. We have endeavored to show, both under KORAN and MOHAMMEDANISM, how the fundamental book of Islam left certain points undecided by the very fact of its poetical wording, and how, further, the peculiarity of the Arabic idiom at times allowed many interpretations to be put upon one cardinal and dogmatic sentence. To add to this uncertainty, a vast number of oral traditions sprang up and circulated as an expansive corollary to the Koran. Political causes soon came to assist the confusion and contest, and religion was made the pretext for faction-fights, which in reality had their origin in the ambition of certain men of influence. Thus sects" increased in far larger numbers even than the prophet had foretold, and though their existence was but short-lived in most instances, they yet deserve attention, were it only as signs and tokens of the ever-fresh life of the human spirit, which, though fettered a thousand times by narrow and hard formulas, will break these fetters as often, and prove its everlasting right to freedom of thought and action.

[ocr errors]

The bewildering mass of these currents of controversy has by the Arabic historians been brought under four chief heads or fundamental bases. The first of these relates to the divine attributes and unity. Which of these attributes are essential or eternal? Is the omnipotence of God absolute? If not, what are its limits? Further, as to the doctrine

of God's predestination and man's liberty-a question of no small purport, and one which has been controverted in nearly all “revealed” religions-How far is God's decree influenced by man's own will? How far can God countenance evil? and questions of a similar kind belonging to this province. The third is perhaps the most comprehensive "basis," and the one that bears most directly upon practical doctrines-viz., the promises and threats, and the names of God, together with various other questions chiefly relating to faith, repentance, infidelity, and error. The fourth is the one that concerns itself with the influence of reason and history upon the transcendental realm of faith. To this chapter belong the mission of prophets, the office of Imam, or head of the church, and such intricate subtleties as to what constitutes goodness and badness; how far actions are to be condemned on the ground of reason or the "law," etc.

One broad line, however, came to be drawn, in the course of time, among these innumerable religious divisions, a line that separated them all into orthodox sects and heterodox sects; orthodox being those only who adopted the oral traditions or Sunna (see SUNNITES).

Much more numerous than the orthodox divisions are the heterodox ones. Immediately after Mohammed's death, and during the early conquests, the contest was chiefly confined to the question of the Imamat. But no sooner were the first days of warfare over, than thinking minds began to direct themselves to a closer examination of the faith itself, for which and through which the world was to be conquered, and to the book which preached it, the Koran. The earliest germs of a religious dissension are found in the revolt of the Kharejites against Ali, in the 37th year of the Hegira; and several doctors shortly afterwards broached heterodox opinions about predestination and the good and evil to be ascribed to God. These new doctrines were boldly, and in a very advanced form, openly preached by Wâsil Ibn Atâ, who, for uttering a moderate opinion in the matter of the "sinner," had been expelled from the rigorous school of Basra. He then formed a school of his own-that of the Separatists or Motazilites (q.v.), who, together with a number of other "heretical" groups, are variously counted as one, four,

or seven sects.

We now come to the second great heretic group, the Sefatians. The Sefatians (attributionists) held a precisely contrary view to that of the Motazilites. With them, God's attributes, whether essential or operative, or what they afterwards called declarative or historical, i.e., used in historical narration (eyes, face, hand), anthropomorphisms, in fact, were considered eternal. But here, again, lay the germs for more dissensions and more sects in their own midst. Some taking this notion of God's attributes in a strictly literal sense, assumed a likeness between God and created things; others giving it a more allegorical interpretation, without, however, entering into any particulars beyond the reiterated doctrine, that God had no companion or similitude. The different sects into which they split were, first, the Asharians, so called from Abul Hasan al Ashari, who, at first a Motazilite, disagreed with his masters on the point of God's being bound to do always that which is best. He became the founder of a new school, which held (1) that God's attributes are to be held distinct from his essence, and that any literal understanding of the words that stand for God's limbs in the Koran is reprehensible. (2) That predestination must be taken in its most literal meaning, i.e., that God preordains everything. The opinions on this point of man's free will are, however, much divided, as indeed to combine a predestination which ordains every act with man's free choice is not easy; and the older authors hold it is well not to inquire too minutely into these things, lest all precepts, both positive and negative, be argued away. The middle path, adopted by the greater number of the doctors, is expressed in this formula: There is neither compulsion nor free liberty, but the way lies between the two; the power and will being both created by God, though the merit or guilt be imputed to man. Regarding mortal sin, it was held by this sect that if a believer die guilty of it without repentance, he will not, for all that, always remain a denizen of hell. God will either pardon him, or the prophet will intercede on his behalf, as he says in the Koran: "My intercession shall be employed for those among my people who shall have been guilty of grievous crimes;" and further, that he in whose heart there is faith but of the weight of an ant, shall be delivered from hell-fire. From this more philosophical opinion, however, departed a number of other Sefatian sects, who, taking the Koranic words more literally, transformed God's attributes into grossly corporeal things, like the Mosshabehites, or Assimilators, who conceived God to be a figure composed of limbs like those of created beings, either of a bodily or spiritual nature, capable of local motion, ascent, or descent, etc. The notions of some actually went so far as to declare God to be "hollow from the crown of the head to the breast, and solid from the breast downward; he also had black curled hair." Another subdivision of this sect were the Jabarians, who deny to man all free agency, and make all his deeds dependent on God. Their name indicates their religious tendency sufficiently, meaning "Necessitarians."

[ocr errors]

The third principal division of heretical sects" is formed by the Kharejites, or "rebels" from the lawful prince-i.e., Ali-the first of whom were the 12,000 men who fell away from him after having fought under him at the battle of Seffein, taking offense at his submitting the decision of his right to the caliphate (against Moawiyah) to arbitration. Their " heresy" consisted, first, in their holding that any man might be called to the Imamat though he did not belong to the Koreish, nor was even a freeman, provided

he was a just and pious man, and fit in every other respect. It also followed that an unrighteous Imam might be deposed, or even put to death; and further, that there was no absolute necessity for any Imam in the world.

[ocr errors]

Of the fourth principal sect, the Shiites, or Sectaries," the followers of Ali Ibn Abi Tâleb, we have spoken under that special heading.

It remains only to mention a few of the many pseudo-prophets who arose from time to time in the bosom of Islam, drawing a certain number of adherents around them, and threatening to undermine the church founded by Mohammed, by either declaring themselves his legal successors, or completely renouncing his doctrines. The first, and most prominent among these, was Mosaylima (q.v.). Next to him stands Al-Aswad, originally called Aihala, of the tribe of Ans, of which, as well as of that of a number of other tribes, he was governor. He pretended to receive certain revelations from two angels, Sohaik and Shoraik. Certain feats of legerdemain, and a natural eloquence, procured him a number of followers, by whose aid he made himself master of several provinces. A counter-revolution, however, broke out the night before Mohammed's death, and Al-Aswad's head was cut off; whereby an end was put to a rebellion of exactly four months' duration, but already assuming large proportions. In the same year (11 Hegira), but after Mohammed's death, a man named Toleiha set up as prophet, but with very little success. He, his tribe and followers, were met in open battle by Khalid, at the head of the troops of the faithful, and being beaten, had all finally to submit to Islam.

A few words ought also to be said regarding the "veiled prophet," Al-Mokanna, or Borkai, whose real name was Hakem Ibn Hashem, at the time of Al-Mohdi, the third Abbaside caliph. He used to hide the deformity of his face (he had also but one eye) by a gilded mask, a circumstance which his followers explained by the splendor of his countenance being too brilliant (like that of Moses) to be borne by ordinary mortals. Being a proficient in jugglery besides, which went for the power of working miracles, he soon drew many disciples and followers around him. At last he arrogated the office of the Deity itself, which, by continual transmigrations from Adam downward, had at last resided in the body of Abu Moslem, the governor of Khorassan, whose secretary this new prophet had been. The caliph, finding him growing more and more formidable every day, sent a force against him, which finally drove him back into one of his strongest fortresses, where he first poisoned and then burned all his family; after which he threw himself into the flames, which consumed him completely, except his hair. He had left a message, however, to the effect that he would reappear in the shape of a gray man riding on a gray beast, and many of his followers for many years after expected his reappearance. They wore, as a distinguishing mark, nothing but white garments. He died about the middle of the 2d c. Hegira.

Of the Karmathians and the Ismaïlis, we have spoken under these special headings. We can scarcely enumerate among the prophets Abul Teyeb Ahmed Al-Motanebbi, one of the most celebrated Arabic poets, who mistook, or pretended to mistake, his poetical inspirations for the divine afflatus, and caused several tribes to style him prophet, as his surname indicates, and to acknowledge his mission. The governor of his province, Lûlû, took the promptest steps to stifle any such pretensions in the bud, by imprisoning him, and making him formally renounce all absurd pretensions to a prophetical office. The poet did so with all speed. He was richly rewarded by the court and many princes for his minstrelsy, to which henceforth he clung exclusively; but the riches he thus accumulated became the cause of his death. Robbers attacked him while he was returning to his home in Kufa, there to live upon the treasure bestowed upon him by Adado'ddawla, sultan of Persia.-The last of these new prophets to be mentioned is Baba, who appeared in Amasia, in Natolia, in 638 Hegira, and who had immense success, chiefly with the Turkmâns, his own nation, so that at last he found himself at the head of nearly a million men, horse and foot. Their war-cry was, God is God, and Baba— not Mohammed-is his prophet. It was not until both Christians and Mohammedans combined for the purpose of self-defense, that this new and most formidable power was annihilated, its armies being routed and put to the sword, while the two chiefs were decapitated by the executioner.

MOHA'VE, a co. in n.w. Arizona, having the navigable Rio Colorado for its w. boundary, separating it from California, and the Bill Williams river and Santa Maria creek for its s. boundary; about 6,500 sq.m.; pop. '80, 1,190. Its surface is mountainous, largely covered with timber, and with broad valleys varying from 2 to 10 m. in width. Its soil is for the most part unproductive, but the river banks are susceptible of cultivation, bearing now a wild growth of cottonwood, mezquite, and the nutritious grass that furnishes good pasturage. It contains the celebrated cañon of the Colorado, a stupendous chasm with rocky walls from 3,000 to 6,000 ft. high extending for 300 miles. Gold, copper, and lead are found; and it has rich silver mines and quartz mills. Its trade is principally in miners' supplies. Capital, Mineral Park.

MOHA'VE DESERT, a valley in s. California lying principally in s. Bernadino county. It is a desert only in name, as large parts of it afford good pasturage, and water is easily procurable in wells, though the streams in the valley are small, and do

Mohl.

not flow into the ocean. In some portions the summer heat is intense, and vegetation is scanty. Much of the district is said to be below the level of the sea. Mohave river, in s. Bernardino co., California, flows e.n.e., and is lost in the Mohave desert.

MOHA'VES, the name of a tribe of Indians who occupy lands along the Colorado and Mohave rivers, in Arizona. They belong to a nation of the Pima family-the Yumas-and are naturally a brave and warlike race, though not quarrelsome. They favor agriculture as a pursuit more than most of the tribes, and some of them are semicivilized in their manner of living, occupying decently constructed dwellings. About 100 of them dwell on a reservation appointed by the U. S. government, comprising about 130,000 acres. The remainder, twice or three times as many, are scattered. They are rapidly diminishing in numbers through the influence of disease. No attempt is being made to educate them, nor are there any missions among them.

MOHAWK, a river of New York, named from a tribe of Indians. It rises in Oneida county, 20 m. n. of Rome, and runs e.s.e. into the Hudson at Waterford, 10 m. above Albany. It is 135 m. long, and has numerous and picturesque waterfalls, especially at Little Falls, Cohoes, and Waterford, affording abundant water-power. In its populous valley are the Erie canal and New York Central railway.

MOHAWKS. See AGMEGUE.

MOHICANS, MOHEGANS, or MAHICANNI, once a powerful and warlike sub-tribe of North American Indians, of the great Algonquin family, which, in the 17th c., inhabited the territory n.n. w. of Long Island sound, and e. of the river Hudson, now included in the states of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Being compelled to give way to the conquering Iroquois confederacy, they retired to the valley of the Housatonic river in Connecticut, and were consequently one of the first tribes who came into collision with, and were dispossessed of their territory by the early British settlers. They subsequently lived dispersed among the other tribes, and all traces of them have now nearly disappeared. Their name has become widely known through Mr. J. Fenimore Cooper's celebrated novel, The Last of the Mohicans.

MOHI'LEV, or MOGILEV, a government of European Russia, lying between Minsk and Smolensk, contains 18,500 English sq.m., with a pop (1880) of 1,092,500. The inhabitants are mostly Rusniaks, though there are also many Russians, Germans, Jews, and even Bohemians. The country is generally a plain, with here and there an occasional undulation; the soil is very fertile, and the climate most agreeably mild. Agriculture has here reached a high degree of perfection, and the same may be said of arboriculture and horticulture. The natural pasturage is of fine quality, and affords abundant nourishment to immense herds of cattle. The forests are extensive. The country is watered by the Dnieper and its numerous affluents, which form the means of communication with the Black sea ports, and of the transit of corn, timber, and masts, of which last large quantities are annually floated down to Kherson. Bog iron-ore is found in abundance. The inhabitants are celebrated for their activity and industry; and Mohilev, from its great natural advantages, has now become one of the richest provinces of Russia. In early times, Mohilev belonged to the territory of the Russian prince of Smolensk, but was subsequently conquered by the grand duke of Lithuania, and was, along with Lithuania, united to the kingdom of Poland. In 1772 it was seized by Russia at the first partition of Poland; and in 1796 was joined to the government of Vitebsk, under the name of White Russia; but since 1802 it has formed a separate government,

MOHILEV, or MOGILEV, the capital of the government of the same name in European Russia, and one of the finest towns of Russia, is situated in the center of the government, on the right bank of the Dnieper, 100 m. s. w. of Smolensk. It is the seat of a Greek archbishop, and of the Roman Catholic primate of Russia and Poland, besides being the favorite residence of many of the Russian nobility. It possesses a fine Greek cathedral, built in 1780, 20 Greek, 1 Lutheran, and 4 Roman Catholic churches, several synagogues, and a variety of religious, educational, and charitable institutions. Its streets are wide, straight, and well paved, and there is a fine promenade bordered with trees, whence a beautiful view of the valley of the Dnieper is obtained. Pop. '80, 40,431, of whom one-third are Jews. There is a large export trade to the chief ports of the Baltic and Black seas.

MOHILEV, or MOGILOW, a district town on the s.w. frontier of the government of Podolia, European Russia, is situated on the left bank of the Dniester, 50 m. e. by s. from Kaminetz. Pop. '80, 18,130. It carries on an active trade with the adjacent Russian provinces, and with the Turkish principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The climate is so mild, that silk and other products of warm climates are extensively produced.

MOHL, HUGO, VON, 1805-72, b. Stuttgart: studied medicine and natural sciences at Tübingen, and was professor of botany and director of the botanic garden in Tübingen in 1835. His works were numerous, and he is of high authority on vegetable physiology.

Molay.

MOHL, JULIUS VON: 1800-76; b. Stuttgart: studied Persian and Chinese at Tübingen, Paris, London, and Oxford; was professor of oriental literature in Tübingen, 1826-32; went to Paris and became professor of Persian at the college de France in 1845, and in 1852 director of the oriental department of the national printing-office. His principal work is his edition of Firdusi's Shah Nameh, and many Chinese and other oriental works. He published also Dante et les origines de la littérature italienne.

MOHLER, JOHANN ADAM, one of the most distinguished modern polemical divines of the Roman Catholic church, was b. of humble parentage at Igersheim, in Würtemberg, May 6, 1796. He received his early education at the gymnasium of Mergentheim, whence, in his 17th year, he was transferred, for the higher studies, to the lyceum of Ellwangen; and soon afterward entered upon the theological course in the university of Tübingen. He received priest's orders in 1819, and for & short time was employed in missionary duty; but, in 1820, he returned to college life, for two years was engaged as classical tutor; but, in 1822, the offer of a theological appointment in the university of Tübingen finally decided his choice of the study of divinity. He was permitted, before entering on his studies, to spend some time in making himself acquainted with the routine of the theological courses of other universities-as Göttingen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Landshut; and in 1823 he entered upon his new position. In 1828, in which year he was also admitted to the degree of doctor of divinity, he was appointed ordinary professor of theology. His earliest publication was a treatise on the Unity of the Church (1825), which was followed, in 1827, by a historico-theological essay on Athanasius and the Church of his Time, in Conflict with Arianism. But his reputation, both posthumous and among his own contemporaries, rests mainly on his well-known Symbolism; or the Doctrinal Differences between Catholics and Protestants, as represented by their Public Confessions of Faith (1832). This remarkable book at once fixed the attention of the theological world. It passed through five large editions in six years. It was translated into all the leading languages of Europe, and drew forth numerous criticisms and rejoinders, the most considerable of which is that of Dr. F. C. Baur (q.v.), 1833. To this Möhler replied in 1834, by a work entitled Further Researches into the Doctrinal Differences of Catholics and Protestants. The polemical bitterness evoked by these controversies made it desirable that Möhler should leave the university of Tübingen. He was invited to Breslau, and also to Bonn, but ultimately selected (1835) the university of Munich, then in the first flush of its efficiency, under king Louis. His first appointment was nominally the chair of biblical exegesis, but he really devoted himself to the department of church history, in which his opening course was eminently successful; but, unhappily, a naturally delicate constitution began to give way under the constant fatigues of a student's life; and although he continued, under all these disadvantages, to maintain and to add to his reputation, and although, in 1837, the invitation to the Bonn professorship was renewed in still more flattering terms, he gradually sunk under consumption, and died April 12, 1838. His miscellaneous works were collected and published posthumously, in 2 vols. 8vo (1839-40), by his friend, the now celebrated Dr Döllinger. Möhler may be regarded as at once the most acute and the most philosophical of the modern controversialists of his church. He deals more, however, with the exposition of the points and the grounds of the doctrinal differences of modern sects, than with the discussion of the scriptural or traditional evidences of the peculiar doctrines of any among them.

MO'IDORE, a former gold coin of Portugal, of the value of 4,800 reis, or nearly 27s. sterling. It was also called lisbonine.

MOIGNO (DE VILLEBEAU), FRANÇOIS NAPOLÉON MARIE, 1804; b. in Morbihan, France; educated in Jesuit schools and colleges; was made abbé in 1830. In 1836 his advancement in mathematical studies gave him a professorship in Paris. He afterwards contributed articles on religious subjects to the Univers and other church journals, and in 1840 published Leçons de Calcul Diferential et Intégral. In 1845 he became the scientific editor of L'Époque; in 1849-50 traveled and contributed to the Presse and Pays, in 1852 became editor-in-chief of the Cosmos, a scientific weekly in Paris, and in 1878 professor in the univ. of Rome. His reputation as a linguist and scientist is based on a large number of published works. Among them is one designed to harmonize state with religious instruction, entitled Principes Fondamentaux d'apres laquels Doivent se Résondre les deux Grandes Questions des Rapports de l'Eglise et de l'État et de l'Organization de l'Enseignement, etc., published in 1846 in Paris. He d. 1884.

MOIR, DAVID MACBETH, 1798-1851; b. at Musselburgh, Scotland; was educated at the grammar school, and at the age of 13 was apprenticed for four years to Dr. Stewart, a medical practitioner. At the close of his apprenticeship he finished his course at Edinburgh, and received his diploma as surgeon in 1816. Towards the close of his college course he sent forth an anonymous publication entitled The Bombardment of Algiers and other Poems. In 1812 he appeared in print with two short essays in prose in a local magazine. Returning home he devoted himself to literature. In 1817 he joined Dr. Brown as a partner in an extensive medical practice in Musselburgh. His evenings and nights he spent in literary study. Having previously contributed in prose and verse to

« 上一頁繼續 »