1000000031

M A H

12 )

M A H

howcver of peculiar laws and ccremonies, fome of which

lud beeo

ufcd

in former time!, and others were now

firn

inOinned. And he eomprehcnded ,he \Vhole fubrlanee

of his doétrinc undt!r thefe two propofitions, or :uticlt:s

(lf

("ith,

vi:.

that there is but one Cod, and that him–

fdf was

"~apoOle

of Cad; in eonfequenee of whieh

huer 3n iéle,

0111

rllch urdinances and inflitutions as

,hough, "' to efhblilh muO be reeeived .. obligatory

a nd of d¡\,ine 3uthority.

The

~toh;tmmed3ns

divide

their

religion, which

they

( aH

H1am,

ioto twodiCtiné't

p:lrls;

lman,

e.f.1ith,

t'leory;

and Dio,

rt/~~;1n,

or praétice;

and tearh

.that

is built on tive fundAment.d points, one belonging

to raith, and the other four

praétice.

The fidl is, lhat

Iher,

no god huI Ih, Iru,

Cad;

and

Ihal

Mohammed

hiJ ap,¡il<.

Under whieh ,hey

comprehend fix diflinél. branches,· viz.

Bt:liif jn

God

In hÍl angeb

In hiJ

f crifttJ.uro;

4·

111

hÍl

pro~

p IJel} ;

Ihe reftlrre-Oion and

da) o[

ju9l!mel1l ;

and,

6. /n

Cod',

ahfo/u" d",,< a.d prd,"nl i;'alion hOlh'¡

good and <vil.

T oe four points relatíng to prallice are,

1 .

Prayer,

untler which are comprchended thoCe waOlings or porifi–

cations which are nece{f.¡ry preparations reqoired before

prayer;

Alms; 3. Falliog; .nd, 4' The pilgrimage 'o

Mece•.

That bo,h Mohammed , and ,hofe among his followers

who are reckoned orthouox, had and continue to have

jofl and true notions of God and his attributes, appears

fa plaio from ,he Koran i, fel f, and all ,h.e Mohammedan

divines, thac it would be 10Cs of time tO ..efute thoCe who

fuppofe ,he Cad of Mohammed 'o be differeot from ,he

'rue Cad, and only a Gtlitious dei,y, or idol of bis own

creadon.

The exillence of angels, and ,heir puri,y, are abfolu,ely

required to be believed in the KoraD; and he is reckon–

ao infidel who denies there are Cuch beings. or hates

any

of them, or afT"erts any diflin[tion of fexes among them.

They believe ,hem 'o have pure and fubtile bodies,

created of 6re; that they neither eat nor drink, nor pro·

pag¡ue their fpecies; that they have various forms and

offices; fome adoring God in ditrerent pofiurcs, others

linging pr:üfes to him, or interceding for mankinn. They

hold, that fome of them are employed io writing down

lhe aaions of men, othen in carrying the throne of God

and otber fervices.

T he rour angels, whom they look on :\s more eminent–

Iy in G od's favoor, and often mention on aceoont of the

oAlces a(Jjgned them, are Gabriel. to whom they give

{everal titles. p:¡rticularly lhofe of the

holy

[piril

and

the

ongrl.

r'vdolifJ1/J ,

Cuppofing him to be honollrcd

by G ad with a

gre~ter

confidence than any other. and to

be employed in writing down thedivine decrees; Michael,

,he friend and pro,eélor of lhe Jew. ; Azr.e1, ,he

ang</

á~alh,

who feparates mens fouls from thcir bodies ;

.nd Ifrafil , whofe oRiee i, will be ' o found ,he trumpet

:lt

the rerurreélion. The Mohammedans ...Ifo belicve, {hat

t wo go:udian

an~els

attend on evcry man, to obferve and

write do\Vn his aélions, being changcd every day, and

•herdore e.llcd al Mo.kkibat, or lhe angels who conti·

llU'Uy fueeeed One aoo,her.

The devil, wl" m Moh.mmed n' mes Ebli., from hl.

d{p.lir,

\Vas once one of thoCe ang..!' \Vho are nearen to

(,od's pl'efcn 'e, c ..dled Az,¡ziJ; and fd l, accarding to the

do{trine of

the

Koran, (or refufing

pay bomage to

dam at

,he

eomOland o( God.

Hdidcs angels and dfVíls. the Mohammedans are taught

by the Kor:\n

bdieve í!.n intermedtate order of creaturt:s,

whieh ,hey e.U

~or

C eníi, ereated alfo of Iire, bu, of

a grofTer (abríc {han angels; fince .they eat and drink.

and prop"gtlte theír fpecjes. and are fubjcét to de:tth .

Some or ,hefe are fuppofed 'o be gooJ, and olhers bad.

and

ci~able

of futore falv"'tion or damnation, as men :\re;

whence MohaOlOled pretended lO be fenl for the conver•

fi on of gcnii as

wel~

meno

As 'o ,he fcriplUres , the MQhammedans are laugh,

lhe Koran, that Gud, in divers ages of the world,

g:wc

revelations of his \Viii in writiog to Cevcral prophets,

the

whole and e\'ery word of which it is abfolutely nec<:Írary

for a good MoOem 'o believe. The number of ,hefe fa–

cred books were, according to (hcm.

104.

whiclt

ten wcre gi\'en

tOAd.lm

, fi(ty tO

..&lh, thi,

'E:dris

or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being

the- Pentateuch~he

Pf.·dms. rhe Gofpel,

~nd

the Koran,

were fucceffively delivered 'o Mofes, David, J efus, and

Mohammcd; whieh I.I! being the feal of the prophelS,

thofe revdations are now clofed, and

more are to be

expelled. AIJ ,hefe divine books, exeept the four 1. 0,

they agrre to be now enti rely

1011,

and rheir contents

unknown; though the S"bian6 have feveral books which

they attribu'e 'o fome of ,be anrediluvian prophets. And

of ,hofe four, ,he Pen'aleueh, Pfalms, and Cofpel, ,hey

[ay, have undergone

many alterations and corruplions,

,h.., ,hough ,here may poffibly be fome par! or ,he trae

word of G od therein, yel

credil is to be gi\'en tO the

prefen' copies in ,he hands of ,he.J ews and ChriOians.

The Moh.mmedans have alfo a gofpel io Arabie, allri·

bu,ed ' o St Barnabas, wherein ,he hiOory of Jefus Chrill

is related in a mauner very different from what we 6nd in

the true Cofpels, and correfpoodent lO thofe lraditions

whieh Mohammed has followed in his Kor.n. Of ,his

G ofpel the Morifcoes in Africa have a trannadon in

Spanifh

and there is, in (he library of prince Eugeoc

of Savoy. a manufcript of

Come

antiquity, containing an

Italian tranf)ation of lhe Carne Gofpel, made, it is lO be

fuppofed, for ,he ufe of renegade.. T his book apppears

be no original rorgery of ,he Mohammedan., ,hough

lhey have no do:.:'bt interpolated and altered it fince, the

betler tO Cerve their purpofe; and in particular, infiead

of the Paraclete or Coru(oner, they have in this apocry·

phal gofpel inferted the \Vord Pericly,e, ,hat is, ,he

falJ/ouJ

i1IUjlri011J,

by which Ihey pretend their pro·

phe, was fore,old by name, th.. being ,he fignilieation

!I'Ioh.mmed in Arabie: and ,his ,hey f.y 'o juOify ,hOl

plff.ge

of ,he Koran, \Vhere Jefus ChriU i, formally af.

fcrted to llave foretold his coming. uoder his other name

of Ahmed, which is derived from the fame rOOI as rvro..

llammed, and of the fame impon. From th<fe or fome

other forgeries of the faOle (lamp,

is that the

~1oham·

mcdans quote fcveral pafl:'ges, of which lhere are not {he

leaO

roOl~p,

in ,he

N,'UJ

r<jlamml .

The number of ,he prophelS, which hal'e becn from

time