Читать книгу The Life of Mohammad, the Prophet of Allah - Etienne Dinet - Страница 4

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An existence, so full of stirring events as that of the Prophet Mohammad, cannot be described by us in all its details. As there are limits to all books, we have had to rest content with a selection of the most important episodes, so that each might be developed as we deemed necessary. Thus we present to the reader a series of pictures and not a complete history.

Our scaffolding and sketches are borrowed from very ancient authors such as Ibn Hisham, Ibn Sad, etc., without forgetting a more modern writer, Ali Borhan id-Din Al-Halabi who, in his book known by the title of "Es Sirat'al Halabia," gathered together different versions from all the best-known historians. An incontestable proof of their veracity, in our opinion, is that these narratives, some dating as far back as twelve centuries, fit in perfectly with the manners, customs, hopes and language of the Moslems of the desert; those who at the present day, by their mode of living, are more akin to the Arabs of the Hijaz among whom Mohammad accomplished his Mission.

These remarks will serve to warn the reader that in this work will be found none of those learned paradoxes destined to destroy traditions, such sophisms delighting modern Orientalists by reason of their love of novelty.

The study of innovations introduced in this way into the Prophet's history has caused us to note that they were often prompted by feelings inimical to Islam which were not only out of place in scientific research, but were also unworthy of our epoch. As displayed by their authors, they generally denoted strange ignorance of Arab customs, notwithstanding that these commentaries were accompanied by considerable erudition, although too bookish. In order to refute such new-fangled assertions, it was enough to check each in turn. Being so contradictory, one killed the other. Their extreme improbabilities, from the standpoint of Oriental psychology, only served to enhance with still greater clarity the perfect likelihood of those traditions sanctioned in the world of Islam.

We have been guided by them. We have been satisfied to choose those that seemed most characteristic, setting each in its proper place, thanks to information gleaned in long interviews with pilgrims visiting the Holy Cities of the Hijaz, while reviewing these episodes in the light of our experience of Moslem life, in the Great Desert of Sahara, where one of us two had lived from birth and the other for the last thirty years and more.

In strict agreement with the Qur'an, the only indisputable book according to the Moslem Doctors of the earliest times and those imbued with the modern liberal spirit, such as the celebrated Shaikh Abdu, we have put aside all the posthumous miracles attributed to the Arab Prophet and which only serve to blur his true physiognomy.

Among all the Prophets founders of religions, Mohammad is the only one who, relying solely on the evidence shown by his Mission and the divine eloquence of the Qur'an, was able to do without the assistance of miracles, thus performing the greatest of all—the one which Ernest Renan, forgetting his example, declared to be utterly impossible. "The greatest miracle," said he, speaking of Jesus Christ, "would have been if he had wrought not any. Never would the laws of history and popular psychology have been more violently infringed."

On the other hand, we have taken care not to turn a deaf ear to tales in legendary shape. A legend, and above all, an Oriental legend, is an incomparable means of expression. It serves to paint mere facts in lasting colours and make them stand out in bold relief, far removed from the icy and so-called impartial account of an up-to-date reporter.

Our readers, enlightened by the foregoing warning, must therefore not let themselves be the victims of the numerous errors committed by Hellenism, Latinism and Scholasticism, when interpreting "literally" the sacred books of the East, while beneath seeming magic allegories scattered here and there in this narrative, will easily be discerned realities, poetically transposed, but not at all disfigured by the imagination of the Arabs.

With still more reason, the Qur'an should be read in the same way, for is it not written: "God setteth forth these similitudes to men that haply they may be admonished." (The Qur'an, xiv, 30.)

It may also seem strange that in the illustrations accompanying the text, no portrait of the Prophet will be found, nor any picturing of events in which he figured as the hero.

And this is why: being sincere Moslems, we do not want to run counter to the true principles of Islam, far less hostile than is supposed to the portrayal of mortals' faces, but strictly forbidding the image of the Divinity, considered to be rank blasphemy leading to idolatry more or less disguised. To represent the likenesses of the Prophets is to belittle them inevitably and sacrilegiously.

And after all, in the eyes of the Believer, what does the prim effigy of one of God's messengers on earth, however marvellously painted, look like in comparison with the sublime idea that the mind of the Faithful creates, under the influence of fervid faith? This has been so well understood by certain Persian painters of miniatures, that, having to sketch Mohammad in the varied phases of his nocturnal ascension, they veiled his face entirely, because they found themselves powerless to picture it, and feared also to impair features so revered. There is no greater proof of their intention than the meticulous care with which in the same pictures all other faces are treated, including that of Buraq, the winged steed with the head of a human being; and also the lineaments of the angels in the celestial procession.

In place, therefore, of an imaginary portrait and necessarily falsified drawings, we have adopted a more indirect style of illustration, but by its means we hope to have succeeded in evoking a few lights and shadows, undoubtedly emanating from the superman who came into the world at Makkah (Mecca).

His features, solely known by the descriptions of those who penned his history, appear to us dimly through a gauzy veil of dreamland that we shall not try to rend asunder, for behind this mysterious filmy mask, the sacred lineaments will enjoy the rare and precious advantage of not having been spoilt, like so many others, by impossible attempts of pictorial reconstitution. On the other hand, his ways and doings have been brought down to our own times, with religious fidelity, by three hundred millions of disciples, scattered all over the earth's surface.

The constant thought of all Moslems, of whatever race, is to imitate in everything, in the most humble as well as in the highest, of life's functions, the habits of the Prophet whose image is engraved in their hearts. And this is so true, that simply by the way in which he washes his hands, the difference can be seen between an Arab Moslem and an Arab Christian.

Looking upon true Believers going to and fro, we consequently view the movements of Mohammad. It is but a pale reflection, but nevertheless incontestably authentic; whereas, despite the perfection of their statues, the Roman Emperors can only offer to us their limbs and faces, stiffened in attitudes of awkward pride; remaining as corpses that our imagination is powerless to resuscitate.

Impressed by these facts, we had the idea of illustrating this history of Mohammad by picturing the religious doings of his disciples; a few scenes of Arab life, and views of the Hijaz, his native land.

Ornamental page - CHAPTER THE FIRST

Praying round the Sacred Temple of the Ka'bah of Mekka.

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.