est in the
conviction that his mission was divine, and that, if he countenanced
vindictive revenge, rapine, and lust as a means towards the furtherance
of his teaching, he justified the act in his own mind by what he believed
to be revelations from a spirit other than his own.

A great character has perforce its great faults, and the courage and
ambition which made so mighty a leader were naturally enough the rock
upon which that leader split, blinding his eyes and distorting his point
of view, leading him into compromise and error. But though self-deceived
and fanatical, it is improbable that Mohammed was insincere. By the
spirit of his day he must be judged. His day believed in him.

He died early in the seventh century, sixty-three years old, saying,
"Verily I have fulfilled my mission. I have left that amongst you, a
plain command, the Book of God, and manifest ordinances, which, if ye
hold fast, ye shall never go astray." Within two years of his death the
Mohammedan armies had overrun Syria; Egypt was in their possession, and
the whole northern coast of Africa.

The scraps which contained in writing the sayings of the dead Prophet
were all collected by his chief amanuensis: his followers appointed three
judges to overlook the work. The new collection was written in Mohammed's
own pure Meccan dialect, and every spurious copy was burnt. So carefully
was this done that there is but one and the same Kor[=a]n throughout the
vast Mohammedan world.

Mohammedanism satisfied the East for two reasons: first, because it was a
warlike religion, and therefore appealed to warlike tribes; secondly,
because, deeply underlying it, was the strong, calm spirit of fatalism,
that world-old foundation-stone on which many a man has come to anchor.
The very word Mussulman means, "One who has surrendered himself and his
will to God."

ISLAM is the belief in one God,
one Prophet (Mohammed),
the immortality of the soul,
the resurrection of the dead,
the day of judgment,
angels,
a devil.

There are no subtle intricacies in such a creed, no mysterious
contradictions to puzzle the uneducated mind; it amply satisfies a simple
people; and probably no other dogma makes so many converts.

In Morocco to-day the Mohammedan religion is interwoven with the whole
fabric of life. T