Modern
History; _Mombert_, Great Lives; _Clarke_, Ten Great Religions;
_Ferris_, Great Leaders; _Laurie_, Rise of the Universities; _Walker,
John Brisben_, The Building of an Empire ("Cosmopolitan," Feb.-Sept.,
1899); "North American Review," Vol. 171, p. 754.

We have thus far described the work of Christian education. Parallel
with this and almost entirely independent of it grew the educational
work of the Moslems. This was a very important movement most valuable to
civilization.

=History of Mohammedanism.=--Mohammedanism dates from the time of the
Hegira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca, A.D. 622. From this
date Moslems reckon their time, as the Christian world reckons from the
birth of Christ. Mohammed first appeared as prophet when forty years of
age. The religion of the Arabs was a most degraded one, and there was
great need of the reformation which Mohammed undertook. The prophet was
not well received at first, and, being obliged to flee from Mecca, he
retired to a cave at Medina, where he meditated and studied. It was
during this retirement that he wrote the Koran, the Bible of the
Mohammedans. He claimed that the angel Gabriel appeared to him, giving
him a new revelation, which was more significant than that of the
Christians. Indeed, these so-called revelations were strangely suited to
the varying ambition of the founder of this religion. The Koran teaches
that as Jesus was greater than Moses, so Mohammed was greater than
Jesus.

There is no doubt that the new religion was an improvement upon the
degraded form of worship that Mohammed found among the Arabs, or that in
the beginning of his activity he did much to purify and elevate his
people. But as he gained great numbers of adherents, and as he acquired
power, Mohammed became a warrior, and attempted by the sword to compel
belief in his doctrines. Moslemism met with such wonderful success that
already, during the life of Mohammed, all Arabia was conquered to this
belief, while his successors spread his teachings into northern Africa,
western Asia, Spain, and Turkey. They carried their triumphant arms into
France, until they were checked by Charles Martel; they overran Austria
and threatened the complete subjugation of southeastern Europe, until
John Sobieski dealt them a crushing blow before the gates of Vienna, and
forever destroyed their ambition for northern conquest; they occupied
Spain for seven hundred years, and still retain Turkey as their sol