I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….

THE WO R LD’S G R EAT R ELIGIONS.
BY P R OF. LEVI EDGA R YOUNG, OF THE UNIVE R SITY OF UTAH .
Improvement Era, 11.12 October, 1908

MOHAMMEDANISM.

1.—THE A R ABIANS.

Says Washington Irving :

During a long succession of ages, extending from the earliest period of recorded history down to the seventh century of the Christian era, that great peninsula formed by the R ed sea, the Euphrates, the Gulf of Persia, and the Indian ocean, and known by the name of Arabia, remained unchanged and almost unaffected by the events which convulsed the rest of Asia, and shook Europe and Africa to their centre. While kingdoms and empires rose and fell; while ancient dynasties passed away; while the boundaries and names of countries were changed and their inhabitants were exterminated or carried into captivity, Arabia, though its frontier provinces experienced some vicissitudes, preserved in the depths of its deserts its primitive character and independence, nor had its nomadic tribes ever bent their haughty necks in servitude.

The Arabs carry back the traditions of their country to the highest antiquity. Arabia was peopled, they say, soon after the deluge by the progeny of Shem, the son of Noah, who gradually formed themselves into several tribes. All these primitive tribes are said to have been either swept from the earth in punishment of their iniquities, or obliterated in subsequent modifications of the races, so that little remains concerning them but shadowy traditions, and a few passages in the Koran. They are occasionally mentioned, in oriental history, as “the primitive Arabians,” the “lost tribes.” Irving continues by taking the traditions of the Arabs, and tells how Kahlan, or Joctan, a descendant of Shem, became the father of the Arabic race, and how later Hagar and Ishmael, exiled from the patriarchal home of Abraham, were received kindly by wandering tribes in northern Arabia . The Arabs, before the dawn of Islam, were wandering tribes who understood the “personality of law.” Each tribesman was bound to avenge the blood of his fellow tribesman. There was constant warfare among them, and this ceased only at certain times during the year, when for the sake of the gods a peace would be proclaimed. Each tribe had its god to whom sacrifice was offered. This was generally a female god, which is typical of all the older Semitic religions. The lower gods presided over the forces of nature, and were represented as gigantic men. Every household had its god, which was called Allah. The god of all the gods was also Allah, who dwelt in heaven. This being was an abstract personage who inspired no ideals, nor incited to noble action. The Arabs were also star worshipers, and offered sacrifices to their gods. Their polytheism had the same effect upon them as polytheism has had on all peoples. No high standard of morality resulted from it, but, on the other hand, a very low standard of moral law was the result. They were very idolatrous, and it was the mission of Mohammed to teach them the principles of monotheism.

2.—MOHAMMED.

Toward the close of the sixth century, A. D., when the Germanic peoples had settled permanently in northern Italy and in France, and when they had accepted the doctrines of Christ, as they had been interpreted by the fathers of the church, there was born in Mecca, of Arabia, one of the most remarkable characters of history. Mohammed, born about 570 A. D., came of a good family, but was left an orphan in early childhood, and was placed under the care of relatives, who reared him as a herdsman. It was during his youth that he made extensive trips to Syria and Palestine , where he came in contact with Judaism, and heard the doctrines of Christ as taught by travelling monks. Impressed with what he had heard, Mohammed began the study of Judaism under a Jewish sect of the Hanifs who lived near Mecca . His thoughts, however, were turned to the vocation of merchant, and in going and coming from Syria , he became acquainted with a beautiful and wealthy woman, whom he afterwards married and who was the first convert to his doctrine. He continued his work as a merchant, going from country to country, until nearly forty years of age, when he began to withdraw from society and to incline toward an ascetic life. He was naturally possessed of a pensive nature, and, even in his youth, was said to have received visions, and to have seen wonderful things in strange dreams and fancies. Withdrawing to a great mountain, not far from Mecca , known as the Hira, Mohammed began his life of prayer and fasting, and one day when on the highest peak of the mountain, the angel Gabriel appeared to him. The heavenly messenger unrolled a scroll which he made Mohammed read. “I cannot read,” said the man. Answering, the angel said, ” R ead, in the name of thy Lord, who created man from a drop. R ead, for thy Lord is the Most High, who hath taught by the pen, hath taught to man what he knew not. Nay, man walketh in delusion when he deemeth that he sufficeth for himself; to the Lord they must all return.” He was advised “to rise and warn.”

From this time on Mohammed had revelations. He began preaching to the people in Mecca that the only true and living God had spoken to him, and had called his last great prophet. His new doctrine brought upon him the wrath of the people, and he was soon driven from Mecca , whence he went to Medina . This journey to the more peaceful city is called the Hegira, and is taken by his followers to begin a new era. From this year the Mohammedans still reckon time. In Medina , Mohammed became a powerful person. He set up a theocracy, and in a few months had a large following who took up arms against his enemies in Mecca . After a war of some eight years, Mohammed re-entered Mecca and established it as the religious center of Arabia . The neighboring chiefs soon submitted to him and accepted the new faith of Islam (submission to God.) In the year 632 the prophet of Islam made his last journey to Mecca . With a large army he marched to the borders of Syria , receiving the homage of Syrian princes; and, returning southward with a band of pilgrims, possibly one hundred thousand followers, he made for his native city. Before entering Mecca he delivered to his people the ninth sura, wherein “he renounces peace with all unbelievers, heathens, Jews and Christians, and declares perpetual war against the infidel.” The following is in part his declaration before the assembled multitude:

“A declaration from God and his apostle, unto the idolaters, with whom ye have entered into league. Go to and fro in the earth securely four months, and know that ye shall not weaken God, and that God will disgrace the unbelievers. And a declaration from God and his apostle unto the people, on the day of the greater pilgrimage, that God is clear of the idolators, and his apostle also. Wherefore if ye repent, this will be better for you; but if ye turn back, know that ye shall not weaken God: and denounce unto those who believe not a painful punishment. Except such of the idolaters with whom ye shall have made with them, until their time shall be elapsed; for God loveth those who fear him. And when the months wherein ye are not allowed to attack them shall be past, kill the idolators wheresoever ye shall find them, and take them prisoners, and besiege them, and lay wait for them in every convenient place ..,. O true believers, verily the idolators are unclean; let them not, therefore, come near unto the holy temple after this year. And if ye fear want by the cutting off trade and communication with them, God will enrich you by his abundance, if he pleaseth, for God is knowing and wise. Fight against them who do not believe in God, nor the last day. … The Jews say Ezra is the Son of God, and the Christians say that Christ is the Son of God. … They take their monks and priests for their lords besides God, and Christ, the Son of Mary; although they are commanded to worship one God only. … On the day of judgment their treasures shall be intensely heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads and their sides and their backs shall be stigmatized therewith; and their tormentors shall say, This is what ye have treasured for your souls; taste, therefore, that which ye have treasured up. … O true believers, wage war against such of the infidels as are near you, and let them find severity in you, and know that God is with those who fear him.”

Mohammed died in the eleventh year of the Hegira, or 632 A. D. His successor was Abu Beker, who prosecuted the war against the infidel with vigor, and under him began the great Mohammedan conquest which was finally checked in Europe on the battlefield of Tours , 732 A. D.

During the seventh century, the Arabs had established a great empire with its capital at Damascus , and from that city as a center all Arabia , Persia , Syria , and Egypt were ruled, and eventually, in the early part of the eighth century, most all of the land of Spain .

3.—THE KO R AN.

The sacred book of Islam is the Koran. The word is derived from the Arabic verb Karaa, which signifies that which ought to be read. The syllable Al in the word AlKoran is the definite article the. The Koran is made up of one hundred and fourteen chapters, called Surahs, arranged very loosely together. The book comprises all the recorded sayings and so-called revelations of Mohammed, which for nearly fifteen hundred years have been the absolute law and gospel of the Mohammedan religion. According to the Mohammedans, the revelations came direct from God and were couched in a language easily understood. They were first delivered orally, but after the prophet’s death, his disciples inscribed them on palm leaves, bits of wood, and other articles used for writing material. The book on the whole is very uninteresting, and contains doctrines that are anything but ideal and inspiring. In fact, the whole work of Mohammed seems to be the bold attempt of adapting Judaism and Christianity to the Arabs. * * * The power and personality of the man must be left as a problem of psychology.

4.— R ELIGION OF MOHAMMED.

Whether or not Islam is an outgrowth of Judaism and Christianity is a much discussed question. Herbert Spencer in his Psychology traces all religions back to the worship of the ancestors of a people. The fathers of a clan or tribe are made gods, and they are worshiped as embodiments of great spiritual powers. Every person that has ever lived has a perception of the infinite, and this makes him long to know what lies beyond this world and life. This statement of Spencer’s accounts possibly for the polytheism of the Arabs before Mohammed lived, but does not explain the problem of Islam. We know from Mohammed’s life that he came in contact with tribes of Jews from whom he must have learned the old Mosaic law. On the other hand, his travels into Syria and along the Mediterranean coast would throw him with the Christian communities, from whom he would hear much about Jesus Christ and Paul the Apostle. It appears to us quite certain that Mohammedanism is in no sense an outgrowth of the old religion of the Arabs. It was evidently the result of a superstitious interpretation of Christianity and the old religion of Judaism combined. The German historian Frederick von Schlegel suggests that the expectation which the Jews still entertained of the future coming of a deliverer and prophet might have operated very powerfully on the mind and imagination of Mohammed. Carlyle suggests that Mohammedanism is Christianity adapted to a poor, inferior people by one who was a genius and prophet.

The principal dogma of Islam (which means submission) is: “There is but one God and Mohammed is his prophet.” We have here a monotheism resembling that of Judaism. Allah is Yahwe or Jehovah, the God of Israel. Sura 112 of the Koran reads: “God is God: the eternal God: he begetteth not, neither is he begotten: and there is not any one like unto him.” Again do we get the Mohammedans view of God in the celebrated “throne verse” one of the most sacred in the Koran:

“God. There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the ever silent seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, unless by his permission? He knoweth what (hath been) before them, and what (shall be) after him, and they shall not compass aught of His knowledge save what He willeth. His throne comprehendeth the heavens and the earth, and the care of them burdeneth Him not. And He is the high, the Great.”

Mohammed taught the existence of paradise and hell. To paradise go those whose deeds are pronounced pure and righteous by Allah and his angels. There the good live by beautiful, flowing rivers, “where grow fragrant flowers and delicious fruits.” But the “people of the left hand,” the bad, in other words, “they shall dwell amidst burning wind and scalding water, and a shade of blackest smoke, not cool and not grateful.”

Of the day of resurrection, the Koran says:

When the earth is shaken with her shaking,
And the earth hath cast forth her dead,
And man shall say, “What aileth her?”
On that day shall she tell out her tidings,
Because thy Lord hath inspired her,
On that day shall men come one by one to behold their works,
And whoever shall have wrought an ant’s weight of good shall behold it,
And whoever shall have wrought an ant’s weight of ill shall behold it.

In speaking of the reward of the righteous, the Koran teaches:

When one blast shall be blown on the trumpet,

And the earth shall be raised, and the mountains broken to dust with one breaking,

On that day the Calamity shall come to pass:

And the angels on the sides thereof; and over them on that day, eight of the angels shall bear the throne of God.

On that day ye shall be presented for the reckoning; none of your secrets shall be hidden.

And as to him who shall have his book given to him in his right hand, he shall say, “Take ye, read my book.”

Verily, I was sure I should come to my reckoning.

And his shall be a pleasant life

In a lofty garden,

Whose clusters shall be near at hand.

“Eat ye and drink with benefit, on account of that which ye paid beforehand in the past days.”

The wicked, however, will bear a great burden and punishment in the life to come:

But as to him who shall have his book given to him in his left hand, he shall say,

“O would that I had not had my book given to me,
Nor known what was my reckoning.
O would that my death had been the ending of me.
My wealth hath not profited me.
My power is passed from me.”
“Take him and chain him,
Then cast him into hell to be burnt,
Then in a chain of seventy cubits bind him:
For he believed not in God the Great,
Nor urged to feed the poor;
Therefore, he shall not have here this day a friend,
Nor any food save filth
Which none but the sinners shall eat.”

The Koran expressly forbids idolatry in any form, and this accounts for the absence of pictures of men and animals in all the noted Mohammedan buildings of the world.

Mohammed accepted all the prophets of the Old Testament, and believed that Jesus Christ was a prophet, but not the R edeemer of the world. Hence we find nothing about the Trinity in the Koran. In fact, it opposes the Christian doctrine of the Godhead. Mohammed also taught the doctrine of predestination, something as was taught by Calvin nearly a thousand years later. One of the most important duties of the Mohammedan is to pray. A form of prayer in the Koran, corresponding to the Lord’s prayer in our Bible, runs:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE, THE ME R CIFUL.

Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds,
The Compassionate, the Merciful.
The King of the day of judgment.
Thee do we worship, and of Thee seek we help.
Guide us in the right way,
The way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
Not of those with whom Thou art wroth, nor of the erring.

The five most important duties imposed on the faithful Mohammedan are: 1. The belief in Allah and his prophet Mohammed. 2. Five times each day must he stand facing Mecca and utter a formal prayer. 3. He must give alms, which in Mohammed’s time were used in war. 4. He must fast at certain fixed times. 5. He must make his annual pilgrimage to Mecca .

Such in brief is Islam. Gibbon and Carlyle put Mohammed among the greatest prophets of history, while Voltaire and Luther denounce him as the greatest imposter in the history of Christendom.

There are, at the present time, according to Dr. Crawford H. Toy, of Harvard University , some two hundred million followers of Islam. Most of them live in Arabia and northern Africa .

Salt Lake City, Utah.

One of the noteworthy examples of the Latter-day Saint commitment to treasure up true principles is the admiration that Church leaders have expressed over the years for the spiritual contributions of Muhammad.

As early as 1855, at a time when Christian literature generally ridiculed Muhammad, Elders George A. Smith (1817–75) and Parley P. Pratt (1807–57) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles delivered lengthy sermons demonstrating an accurate and balanced understanding of Islamic history and speaking highly of Muhammad’s leadership.

Elder Smith observed that Muhammad was “descended from Abraham and was no doubt raised up by God on purpose” to preach against idolatry. He sympathized with the plight of Muslims, who, like Latter-day Saints, found it difficult “to get an honest history” written about them. Speaking next, Elder Pratt went on to express his admiration for Muhammad’s teachings, asserting that “upon the whole, … [Muslims] have better morals and better institutions than many Christian nations.”

Mormonism and Islam

Kevin, I left a question about your JBMS article in your January 6, 2007 post about the latest LDS independent journals. I know I commented late in the life of the post, but do you mind taking a look?

1841 Nauvoo City Council, “An ordinance in relation to Religious Societies”, Section 1: Be it ordained by the City Council of the City of Nauvoo, that the Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Quakers, Episcopals, Universalists, Unitarians, Mohammedans, and all other religious sects and denominations whatever, shall have free toleration, and equal privileges, in this city. [History of the Church 4. 306]

In 1855 Jules Remy, a French newspaper correspondent, traveled across the US. He stopped in SLC in September where he attended services at the Tabernacle, during which two speakers spoke “from the sacred pulpit” in favor of Mohammadanism. He went on to ask “who could have seen a person educated in Protestantism become the apologist of Mohammadanism in the 19th century?” The two speakers were most likely Apostles George A. Smith and Parley P. Pratt (September 23, 1855; Journal of Discourses 3.30-34 and 3.38-40). The significance of their comments can be seen by the statement of historian Montgomery Watt, What is Islam? (New York 1968), page 1: “On Friday, 8 May 1840, Thomas Carlyle delivered a public lecture in Edinburgh [Scotland] on Muhammad and Islam…. Here for the first time in a prominent way was it asserted that Muhammad was sincere and the religion of Islam basically true.”

Apostle George Q. Cannon: “In every nation men have been raised up and been called of the Lord to effect reforms among their fellow men and to teach important truths….Other nations and races have not been forgotten by the Lord. They have had great truths taught to them; and in many instances, they have profited by them. There have been millions of pagans whose lives have been as acceptable to the true God as the lives of the same num-ber of so called Christians. The reason [for] this is plain: they lived up to the light which God had given them, and this is all that He could require of them.” Journal of Discourses 21. 248.

Elsewhere Cannon identifies some of these people by name: Zo-roaster, Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, and those of the western traditions. JD 21.74-77; cf. JD 12.30.

The joint activities resulted from adult friendships and contacts. They got comfortable with each other, set some ground rules and got the kids together. I think the first one was at the mosque, and that was a success, so there was a follow-up at the stake center. (I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of detail; this occurred in the stake just to the north of mine.)

Can you tell us more about the Mormon-Muslim youth activities in your area? How did they come about? Last year the local mosque held an open house (on Good Friday!). I guess that would have been a good time for me to ask about such an idea. I don’t have a calling in the youth program right now, but I always support interfaith efforts.