He affirms that Mohammed did indeed dream, and (to make the affirmation good for any thing) mistook the dream for reality, that in one night he travelled from Mecca to Heaven, where he conversed with God, and returned to the holy city before morning. Where he received information to this purpose, he has not indeed told us, and therefore we hesitate not on our part to pronounce it an errant falsehood, and to affirm that the impostor mistook no such dream for reality, but boldly fabricated the story to serve his own purposes among the barbarous Arabs.
He observes, however, in farther support of his opinion, that the belief of divine inspirations and missions probably acted so deeply on the mind of Mohammed, that, he believed himself the distinguished man chosen to reveal himself as a servant of God; and for this probability he appeals to the Koran itself, which evinces, he says, that there was no artfully corrupted pen. Now to the very fame Koran we confidently appeal for the direct contrary of all this.
The imposter of Arabia artfully selected from the Jewish and Christian morality, those parts which seemed best adapted to the sentiments and manners of the inhabitants of the warmer climates in particular; blending them, at the same time, with the popular traditions, the superstitious ceremonies, and the religious opinions of his idolatrous countrymen. Hence, as interest required, he now flattered the pride of the Jews, and now appealed to the prejudice of the Arabs: now selecting the Temple of Jerusalem, and now that of Mecca, as the hallowed spot towards which the worship and the prayers of his followers should be directed. Sole master of the oracles of heaven, he even compelled them to speak that language, which was best adapted to his designs. Hence he was possessed of an unfailing resource under every exigency, and thus a satisfactory answer was always prepared to solve every objection, and to remove every scruple which the malice of his enemies, or the pious doubts of his friends might raise against him. All this is so apparent from the Koran itself, that the followers of the imposter attempt to obviate the objections which may be drawn from the glaring contradictions with which their pretended revelation abounds.
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"Reviewers Reviewed : Outines of a Philosophy of the History of Man &c.", an anonymous review of a work of Johann Gottfried Herder, in The Anti-Jacobin Review, Vol XIX (1804, p. 502Holy Prophet Muhammad
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Muhammad, Holy Prophet
Muhammad, Khalid Abdul
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