Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/415

THE SPANISH ARABS. 271 set, — the dexterity with which, unlike all other religions, it was raised upon, not against the prin- ciples and prejudices of preceding sects ; the mil- itary spirit and discipline, which it established among all classes, so that the multifarious nations who embraced it, assumed the appearance of one vast, well-ordered camp ; ^ the union of ecclesias- tical with civil authority intrusted to the caliphs, which enabled them to control opinions, as abso- lutely as the Roman pontiffs in their most despotic hour ; ^ or lastly, the peculiar adaptation of the doctrines of Mahomet to the character of the wild tribes among whom they were preached. ^ It is CHAPTER Vlll. 2 The Koran, in addition to the repeated assurances of Paradise to the martyr who falls in battle, con- tains the regulations of a precise military code. IMilitary service in some shape or other is exacted from all. The terms to be pre- scribed to the enemy and the van- quished, the division of the spoil, the seasons of lawful truce, the conditions on which the compara- tively small number of exempts are permitted to remain at home, are accurately defined. (Sale's Koran, chap. 2, 8, 9, et alibi.) When the algihed, or Mahometan crusade, which, in its general de- sign and immunities, bore a close resemblance to the Christian, was preached in the mosque, every true believer was bound to repair to the standard of his chief. " The holy war," says one of the early Sara- cen generals, " is the ladder of Paradise. The Apostle of God styled himself the son of the sword. He loved to repose in the shadow of banners and on the field of bat- tle." 3 The successors, caliphs or vicars, as they were styled, of Mahomet, represented both his spiritual and temporal authority. Their office involved almost equal- ly ecclesiastical and military func- tions. It was their duty to lead the army in battle, and on the pil- grimage to Mecca. They were to preach a sermon, and offer up pub- lic prayers in the mosques every Friday. Many of their preroga- tives resemble those assumed an- ciently by the popes. They con- ferred investitures on the Moslem princes by the s)anbol of a ring, a sword, or a standard. They com- plimented them with the titles of " defender of the faith," " column of religion," and the like. The proudest potentate held the bridle of their mules, and paid his homage by touching their threshold with his forehead. The authority of the caliphs was in this manner founded on opinion no less than on power ; and their ordinances, however frivolous or iniquitous ia themselves, being enforced, as it were, by a divine sanction, became laws which it was sacrilege to disobey. See D'Herbelot, Bib- lioth^que Orientale, (La Haye, 1777 - 9,) voce Khalifah. ■* The character of the Arabs,