The Koran (Al-Qur'an). Anonymous
a bird named Hâmah, which once in a hundred years visited the sepulchre; though others say this bird is animated by the soul of him that is unjustly slain, and continually cries, Oscûni, Oscûni, i.e., "give me to drink"-meaning of the murderer's blood-till his death be revenged, and then it flies away. This was forbidden by the Korân to be believed.3 I might here mention several superstitious rites and customs of the ancient Arabs, some of which were abolished and others retained by Mohammed; but I apprehend it will be more convenient to take notice
6 Safio'ddin. 7 Poc. Spec. 97. 8 Abulfeda. 9 Ebn al Athir. al Jannab. &c. 10 Poc. Spec. 98. 11 Kor. c. 2. 12 Al Mostatraf, al Jauhari. 1 Al Mostatraf, al Jannâbi. 2 Abulfarag, p. 160. 3 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 135.
of them, hereafter occasionally, as the negative or positive precepts of the Korân, forbidding or allowing such practices, shall be considered. Let us now turn our view from the idolatrous Arabs, to those among them who had embraced more rational religions. The Persians had, by their vicinity and frequent intercourse with the Arabians, introduced the Magian religion among some of their tribes, particularly that of Tamim,4 a long time before Mohammed, who was so far from being unacquainted with that religion, that he borrowed many of his own institutions from it, as will be observed in the progress of this work. I refer those who are desirous to have some notion of Magism, to Dr. Hyde's curious account of it,5 a succinct abridgment of which may be read with much pleasure in another learned performance.6 The Jews, who fled in great numbers into Arabia from the fearful destruction of their country by the Romans, made proselytes of several tribes, those of Kenânah, al Hareth Ebn Caaba, and Kendah1 in particular, and in time became very powerful, and possessed of several towns and fortresses there. But the Jewish religion was not unknown to the Arabs, at least above a century before; Abu Carb Asad, taken notice of in the Korân,2 who was king of Yaman, about 700 years before Mohammed, is said to have introduced Judaism among the idolatrous Hamyarites. Some of his successors also embraced the same religion, one of whom, Yusef, surnamed Dhu Nowâs,3 was remarkable for his zeal and terrible persecution of all who would not turn Jews, putting them to death by various tortures, the most common of which was throwing them into a glowing pit of fire, whence he had the opprobrious appellation of the Lord of the Pit. This persecution is also mentioned in the Korân.4 Christianity had likewise made a very great progress among this nation before Mohammed. Whether St. Paul preached in any part of Arabia, properly so called,5 is uncertain; but the persecutions and disorders which happened in the eastern church soon after the beginning of the third century, obliged great numbers of Christians to seek for shelter in that country of liberty, who, being for the most part of the Jacobite communion, that sect generally prevailed among the Arabs.6 The principal tribes that embraced Christianity were Hamyar, Ghassân, Rabiâ, Taghlab, Bahrâ, Tonûch,7 part of the tribes of Tay and Kodâa, the inhabitants of Najrân, and the Arabs of Hira.8 As to the two last, it may be observed that those of Najrân became Christians in the time of Dhu Nowâs,9 and very probably, if the story be true, were some of those who were converted on the following occasion, which happened about that time, or not long before. The Jews of Hamyar challenged some neighbouring Christians to a public disputation, which was held sub dio for three days before the king and his nobility and all the people, the disputants being Gregentius, bishop of Tephra (which I take to be Dhafâr) for the Christians, and Herbanus for the Jews. On the third day, Herbanus, to end the dispute, de-
4 Al Mostatraf. 5 In his Hist. Relig. Vet. Persar. 6 Dr. Prideaux's Connect. of the Hist. of the Old and New Test. part i. book 4. 1 Al Mostatraf. 2 Chap. 50. 3 See before, p. 8, and Baronii annal. ad sec. vi. 4 Chap. 85. 5 See Galat. i. 17. 6 Abulfarag, p. 149. 7 Al Mostatraf. 8 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 137. 9 Al Jannab, apud Poc. Spec. p. 63.
manded that Jesus of Nazareth, if he were really living and in heaven, and could hear the prayers of his worshippers, should appear from heaven in their sight, and they would then believe in him; the Jews crying out with one voice, "Show us your Christ, alas! and we will become Christians." Whereupon, after a terrible storm of thunder and lightning, Jesus Christ appeared in the air, surrounded with rays of glory, walking on a purple cloud, having a sword in his hand, and an inestimable diadem on his head, and spake these words over the heads of the assembly: "Behold I appear to you in your sight, I, who was crucified by your fathers." After which the cloud received him from their sight. The Christians cried out, "Kyrie eleeson," i.e., "Lord, have mercy upon us;" but the Jews were stricken blind, and recovered not till they were all baptized.1 The Christians at Hira received a great accession by several tribes, who fled thither for refuge from the persecution of Dhu Nowâs. Al Nooman, surnamed Abu Kabûs, king of Hira, who was slain a few months before Mohammed's birth, professed himself a Christian on the following occasion. This prince, in a drunken fit, ordered two of his intimate companions, who overcame with liquor had fallen asleep, to be buried alive. When he came to himself, he was extremely concerned at what he had done, and to expiate his crime, not only raised a monument to the memory of his friends, but set apart two days, one of which he called the unfortunate, and the other the fortunate day; making it a perpetual rule to himself, that whoever met him on the former day should be slain, and his blood sprinkled on the monument, but he that met him on the other day should be dismissed in safety, with magnificent gifts. On one of those unfortunate days there came before him accidentally an Arab, of the tribe of Tay, who had once entertained this king, when fatigued with hunting, and separated from his attendants. The king, who could neither discharge him, contrary to the order of the day, nor put him to death, against the laws of hospitality, which the Arabians religiously observe, proposed, as an expedient, to give the unhappy man a year's respite, and to send him home with rich gifts for the support of his family, on condition that he found a surety for his returning at the year's end to suffer death. One of the prince's court, out of compassion, offered himself as his surety, and the Arab was discharged. When the last day of the term came, and no news of the Arab, the king, not at all displeased to save his host's life, ordered the surety to prepare himself to die. Those who were by represented to the king that the day was not yet expired, and therefore he ought to have patience till the evening: but in the middle of their discourse the Arab appeared. The king, admiring the man's generosity, in offering himself to certain death, which he might have avoided by letting his surety suffer, asked him what was his motive for his so doing? to which he answered, that he had been taught to act in that manner by the religion he professed; and al Nooman demanding what religion that was, he replied, the Christian. Whereupon the king desiring to have the doctrines of Christianity explained to him, was baptized, he and his subjects; and not only pardoned the man and his surety, but
1 Vide Gregentii disput. cum Herbano Judæo.
abolished his barbarous custom.1 This prince, however, was not the first king of Hira who embraced Christianity; al Mondar, his grandfather, having also professed the same faith, and built large churches in his capital.2 Since Christianity had made so great a progress in Arabia, we may consequently suppose they had bishops in several parts, for the more orderly governing of the churches. A bishop of Dhafâr has been already named, and we are told that Najrân was also a bishop's see.3 The Jacobites (of which sect we have observed the Arabs generally were) had two bishops of the Arabs subject to their Mafriân, or metropolitan of the east; one was called the bishop of the Arabs absolutely, whose seat was for the most part at Akula, which some others make the same with Cûfa,4 others a different town near Baghdâd.5 The other had the title of bishop of the Scenite Arabs, of the tribe of Thaalab in Hira, or Hirta, as the Syrians call it, whose seat was in that city. The Nestorians ahd but one bishop, who presided over both these dioceses of Hira and Akula, and was immediately subject to their patriarch.6 These were the principal religions which obtained among the ancient Arabs; but as freedom of thought was the natural consequence of their political liberty and independence, some of them fell into other different opinions. The Koreish, in particular, were infected with Zendicism,7 an error supposed to have very near affinity with that of the Sadducees among the Jews, and, perhaps, not greatly different from Deism; for there were several of that tribe, even before the time of Mohammed, who worshipped one GOD, and were free from idolatry,8 and yet embraced none of the other religions of the country. The Arabians before Mohammed were, as they yet are, divided into two sorts, those who dwell in cities and towns, and those who dwell in tents. The former lived by tillage, the cultivation of palm trees, breeding and feeding of cattle, and the exercise of all sorts of trades,1 particularly merchandising,2 wherein they were very eminent, even in the time of Jacob. The tribe