apostle that shall come after me whose name shall be Ahmed!"^193 Thus the promise of the Holy
Ghost, "the other Paraclete," (John xiv. 16) was applied by Mohammed to himself by a singular
confusion of Paracletos (paravklhto") with Periclytos (perivkluto", heard all round, famous) or
Ahmed (the glorified, the illustrious), one of the prophet’s names.^194
Owing to this partial recognition of Christianity Mohammed was originally regarded not
as the founder of a new religion, but as one of the chief heretics.^195 The same opinion is expressed
by several modern writers, Catholic and Protestant. Döllinger says: "Islâm must be considered at
bottom a Christian heresy, the bastard offspring of a Christian father and a Jewish mother, and is
indeed more closely allied to Christianity than Manichaeism, which is reckoned a Christian sect."^196
Stanley calls Islâm an "eccentric heretical form of Eastern Christianity," and Ewald more correctly,
"the last and most powerful offshoot of Gnosticism."^197
The Ethics of IslÂm.
Resignation (Islâm) to the omnipotent will of Allah is the chief virtue. It is the most powerful
motive both in action and suffering, and is carried to the excess of fatalism and apathy.
The use of pork and wine is strictly forbidden; prayer, fasting (especially during the whole
month of Ramadhân), and almsgiving are enjoined. Prayer carries man half-way to God, fasting
brings him to the door of God’s palace, alms secure admittance. The total abstinence from strong
drink by the whole people, even in countries where the vine grows in abundance, reveals a remarkable
power of self-control, which puts many Christian nations to shame. Mohammedanism is a great
temperance society. Herein lies its greatest moral force.
Polygamy.
But on the other hand the heathen vice of polygamy and concubinage is perpetuated and
encouraged by the example of the prophet. He restrained and regulated an existing practice, and
gave it the sanction of religion. Ordinary believers are restricted to four wives (exclusive of slaves),
and generally have only one or two. But Califs may fill their harems to the extent of their wealth
and lust. Concubinage with female slaves is allowed to all without limitation. The violation of
captive women of the enemy is the legitimate reward of the conqueror. The laws of divorce and
prohibited degrees are mostly borrowed from the Jews, but divorce is facilitated and practiced to
an extent that utterly demoralizes married life.
Polygamy and servile concubinage destroy the dignity of woman, and the beauty and peace
of home. In all Mohammedan countries woman is ignorant and degraded; she is concealed from
public sight by a veil (a sign of degradation as well as protection); she is not commanded to pray,
and is rarely seen in the mosques; it is even an open question whether she has a soul, but she is
necessary even in paradise for the gratification of man’s passion. A Moslem would feel insulted
by an inquiry after the health of his wife or wives. Polygamy affords no protection against unnatural
(^193) Sura 61.
(^194) The Moslems refer also some other passages of Scripture to Mohammed and his religion, e.g. Gen. xvi. 10; xvii. 20;
xxi. 12, 13; xxvii. 20 (the promise of God to bless Hagar and Ishmael); Deut. xviii. 15, 18 (the promise to raise up a prophet
like Moses); Isa. xxi. 67 (where Mohammed is supposed to be meant by the "rider on the camel," as distinct from Jesus, "the
rider on the ass"); John iv. 21; 1 John iv. 23 (where he is the spirit that is of God, because he proclaimed that Jesus was a true
man, not God); Deut. xxxii.2 (where Sinai is said to mean the Jewish, Seir the Christian, and Paran the Mohammedan revelation).
(^195) So by John of Damascus and the mediaeval writers against Islâm. Peter of Clugny speaks of "haereses Saracenorum
sive Ismaelitarum."Comp. Gass, Gennadius undPletho, p. 109.
(^196) Lectures on the Reunion of Churches, p. 7 (transl. by Oxenham, 1872).
(^197) Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, Vol. I. (1871), p. 418.