326 MOHAMMED A PARODY OF CHRIST. [BK. II.

from each other. According to this covenant, the friends of the Apostle of God inherited from one another, till after the battle of Bedr, when that covenant of brotherhood and the assignment of inheritance to one another was abrogated by Divine revelation.' 1 (Rawzat.)

(30.) They introduced a mode of worship in which Jerusalem with its temple ceased to be looked upon as the seat of the Divine Presence or the Kibla, that is, the quarter to which the prayers had to be directed.

a. 'Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what; we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth' (John iv. 19-24). Compare Luke xi. 1-13.

b. 'The traditionists and biographers record that when Mohammed had emigrated to Medina, he, for sixteen or seventeen months, performed his prayers towards the Holy House of Jerusalem, wishing to draw the hearts of the possessors of the Scriptures to Islam, by showing himself in accord with them in the matter of the Kibla. The Jews of Medina used to say, "It is a strange thing that whilst Mohammed is opposed to us in religion, he yet agrees with us in the Kibla." When this reached the blessed and noble

1 The reader will have noticed that as the followers of Christ became a united organised body or church, when Christ, after having ascended the throne of the Majesty on high, sent down the promised Spirit on the day of Pentecost, so also the followers of Mohammed were organised into a politico-religious commonwealth, when Mohammed, after the Hegira to Medina, began to rule over them as lord-paramount, and gave them laws and institutions which were invested with all the sanctity and authority of Divine revelation; and that the introduction of both systems was accompanied by a kind of temporary community of goods. But this communism as to worldly possessions, and the entire organisation of the fraternity itself, was, in the one case, the natural free result of an indwelling Holy Spirit of love, and in the other, the effect of a superimposed external law, soon after formally abrogated, and of the enforcement of a commander's absolute will. How great the difference, therefore, notwithstanding the apparent similarity!
CH. I. 30.] THE KAABA BECOMES THE NEW KIBLA. 327

ear of the Apostle of God, he knew that they would obstinately remain in their own objectionable way. His precious mind, therefore, set itself upon changing the Kibla from the Holy House to the Kaaba, this having been the Kibla of his father Abraham, on whom be peace! He said to Gabriel, "I wish God would change the Kibla to the Kaaba;" but he answered, "Thou hadst better ask God thyself; for thou art highly esteemed by Him." He therefore always looked up towards heaven, waiting for tidings to change the Kibla.

'On a Tuesday of the month Rejeb in the second year of the Hegira, Gabriel brought down the following verse, authorising the change of the Kibla: "We have seen thee turn thy face towards heaven; we will have thee turn to a Kibla which shall please thee: turn, then, thy face towards the sacred Mosque; and, wherever ye be, turn your faces towards that part." The biographers report that, when that prince was in the house of Beshr Ibn Bara's mother, and the time for the noon-day prayers had come, he entered the mosque of that quarter and, with a congregation of his companions, performed the noon-day prayers. It was whilst they were on their knees in the second genuflection, that his Excellency turned round in the direction of the Kaaba, and the companions also, at his back, turned round in the same way and completed the prayers in that position-from which circumstance that mosque was called "the mosque of the two Kiblas."

'It is recorded that when the news of the change of the Kibla reached the public, every section of the population had something to say about it. The hypocrites said, "What has happened that they gave up their Kibla and chose another?" Some of the Jews said, "Mohammed pines after his original fatherland, and turns towards his native city." The polytheists said, "Mohammed is confused on the subject of religion, not knowing what he wants." And the chief men amongst the Jews said, "Mohammed has given up our Kibla from nothing but jealousy." Ibn Akhtab and his followers thus addressed the Mussulmans, "Tell us, whether the prayers which you hitherto offered in the direction of the Holy House were in accordance with revelation or with error: for, in the former case, it is plain that you have now