on. Yet one might say that a man of
such mighty genius as Mahomet must have been, might have been, fairly
expected to rise superior to the trammels of prejudice and
precedent."[309]

Mohammad never professed to have followed the footsteps of Moses and
Joshua in waging war of extermination and proselytism. He only appealed
to the sword in his and his followers' defence. Never he seems to have
been anxious to copy the practice of the surrounding nations,
Christians, Jews, and Egyptians. His wars of defence, as they certainly
all were, were very mild, specially with regard to the treatment of
children, women, and old men who were never to be attacked; and above
all, in the mildness shown towards the captives of war who were either
to be set free or ransomed,--but were never to be enslaved,--contrary to
the practice of all the surrounding nations. This virtual abolition of
slavery (_vide_ Sura XLVII, 5, and Appendix B) has been a great boon to
mankind in general as a beneficial result of Mohmamad's wars of defence.

[Sidenote: 117. The Revd. Stephens quoted.]

The Reverend Mr. Stephens writes:--

"In the Koran, the Mussulman is absolutely and positively commanded to
make war upon all those who decline to acknowledge the Prophet until
they submit, or, in the case of Jews and Christians, purchase exemption
from the conformity by the payment of tribute. The mission of the
Mussulman, as declared in the Koran, is distinctly aggressive. We might
say that Mahomet bequeathed to his disciples a roving commission to
propagate his faith by the employment of force where persuasion failed.
'O Prophet, fight for the religion of God'--'Stir up the faithful to
war,' such are commands which Mahomet believed to be given him by God.
'Fight against them who believe not a God, nor the last day,' 'attack
the idolatrous in all the months,' such are his own exhortations to his
disciples."[310]

The Reverend gentleman is very much mistaken in his assertions against
the Koran. There is no absolute or positive command in the Koran for a
war of aggression or compulsory proselytism. The sentences quoted by Mr.
Stephens are but mutilated verses forcibly dislocated from their
context. A disjointed portion of a verse, or a single sentence of it
cannot be brought forth to prove any doctrine or theory. Due regard must
be made for the context, the general scope, and parallel passages. The
verses referred to by Mr. Stephens are Sura IV, 86, and Sura IX,