LIFE OF MOHAMMED. CHAPTER I. National Descent of the Arabs-Proved to be from Ishmael, son of Abraham IN tracing the genealogy of nations to their pri mitive founders, the book of Genesis is a document of inestimable value. With those who do not hesitate to receive this and the other inspired books of the Scriptures as authentic vouchers for historical facts, the national descent of the Arabs from Ishmael, the son of Abraham, is a point which will not admit of dispute. The fact of this derivation, however, has been seriously brought into question by several skeptical writers, particularly by the celebrated historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. With his usual dexterity of insinuation, he assails the united authority of Scripture history and Arabian tradition, respecting the pedigree of this remarkable people. Yet in no case does he undertake, in a formal manner, to disprove the fact to which he still labours to give the air of a fiction.* A succinct view, therefore, of the testimonies which go to establish the Ishmaelitish origin of the Arabs, *Decline and Fall, ch. 1. may form no unsuitable introduction to the present work, detailing the life and character of the individual who has done so much towards rendering the race illustrious. From the narrative of Moses we learn not only the parentage, birth, and settlement of Ishmael in Arabia, but the fact also of a covenant made with Abraham in his behalf, accompanied with a prophecy respecting his descendants, singularly analogous to the prophetic promise concerning the more favoured seed of Isaac. "And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah, thy wife, shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation."* In like manner, it will be recolleoted, the nation of Israel sprung from the twelve sons of Jacob, and was divided into twelve tribes. In a subsequent part of the Mosaic records we find the notice of the incipient fulfilment of this prediction concerning the posterity of Ishmael "And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: The first-born of Ishmael, Nebajoth, and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massah, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, • Genesis, xvii. 18-20. Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles: twelve princes according to their nations."* Their geographical residence is clearly ascertained in a subsequent verse. "And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt as thou goest towards Assyria." Havilah and Shur, by the consent of the best sacred geographers, are allowed to have composed part of the region between the Euphrates and the Red Sea, denominated Arabia. From causes now unknown, the tribes of Nebajoth and Kedar appear to have acquired an ascendency over the rest, so that the whole country is sometimes designated from one, sometimes from the other of them, just as the entire nation of Israel is sometimes called Judah from the superior numbers, power, or influence of that tribe. Among the ancient profane historians also we find the names of Nabitheans and Kedarenes frequently employed as an appellation of the roving inhabitants of the Arabian deserts. This testimony is directly confirmed by that of Josephus. After reciting the names of the twelve sons of Ishmael, he adds:-"These inhabit all the country extending from the Euphrates to the Red Sea, giving it the name of the Nabatenean region. These are they who have given names to the whole race of the Arabs with their tribes."§ In the fourth century, Jerome, in his commentary on Jeremiah, de *Genesis, xxv. 13-16. Welis's Sac. Geogr. vol. i. p. 341. † Ver. 18. Ant. Jud. b. i. ch. 12, §4. scribes Kedar as a country of the Arabian desert, inhabited by the Ishmaelites, who were then termed Saracens. The same father, in his commentary on Isaiah, again speaks of Kedar as the country of the Saracens, who in Scripture are called Ishmaelites; and observes of Nebajoth, that he was one of the sons of Ishmael, after whose names the Arabian desert is called. Another source of evidence in relation to the national descent of the Arabs, is their having practised, from time immemorial, the rite of circumcision. Josephus has a very remarkable passage touching the origin of this rite among the Jews and Arabs, in which he first makes mention of the circumcision of Isaac; then introduces that of Ishmael; and states concerning each, as matter of universal and immemorial notoriety, that the Jews and the Arabians severally practised the rite, conformably with the precedents given them, in the persons of their respective fathers. His words are these:" Now when Sarah had completed her ninetieth, and Abraham his hundredth year, a son (Isaac) is born unto them: whom they forthwith circumcise on the eighth day; and from him the Jews derive their custom of circumcising children after the same interval. But the Arabians administer circumcision at the close of the thirteenth year for Ishmael, the founder of their nation, the son of Abraham by his concubine, was circumcised at that time of life."* Similar to this. is the testimony of Origen, who wrote in the third * Ant. Jud. b. i. ch. 10, $5. "The natives of Ju century of the Christian era. dea," says he, "generally circumcise their children on the eighth day; but the Ishmaelites who inhabit Arabia universally practise circumcision in the thirteenth year. For this history tells us concerning them."* This writer, like Josephus, livel near the spot, and had the best opportunities of obtaining correct information respecting the Arabians. It is evident, therefore, beyond contradiction, from his words, that the fact of their derivation from Abraham through Ishmael was an established point of historical record, and not of mere traditionary fame, at the period at which he wrote. The direct testimony to the Ishmaelitish extraction of the Arabs furnished by the earliest records of the Bible, and confirmed as we see by foreign authorities, is strikingly corroborated by repeated references, bearing upon the same point, in later inspired writers, particularly the prophets. Through the long course of sacred history and prophecy, we meet with reiterated allusions to existing tribes of Arabia, descending from Ishmael, and bearing the names of his several sons, among which those of Nebajoth and Kedar usually predominate. Thus the Prophet Isaiah, in foretelling the future conversion of the Gentiles, makes mention of the "rams of Nebajoth," the eldest, and "all the flocks of Kedar," the second of the sons of Ishmael; that is, of the Arab tribes descending from these brothers; a passage which not only affords strong * Orig. Op. tom. ii. p. 16, ed. Bened. |