Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/713

MOHAMMED tions from various tribes who announced their submission. He proclaimed a holy war against the Byzantine empire, which proved a com- plete failure, and he was obliged to return to Medina amid the reproaches of the soldiers. In the following year Mohammed made his last pilgrimage to Mecca at the head of at least 40,- 000 pilgrims. The rites of this pilgrimage have ever since been regarded as the standard rule for pilgrimages. Three months after his re- turn to Medina he was taken seriously ill. He called his wives together, and requested that he might be allowed to remain in the house of Ayesha, his favorite, which adjoined the mosque. He himself announced in the rnosque the approach of his death. During the last days of his life he liberated his slaves, caused seven denars to be distributed among the poor, and prayed : " God support me in the agony of death." He expired in the arms of Ayesha. After a long dispute respecting the place of his interment, he was buried in the house in which he died. This spot lies now within the en- larged mosque. His only surviving child was Fatima, the wife of Ali, and the ancestress of all the sherifs or nobles of the Mohammedan world. Mohammed is said to have been of middle stature, and to have had a strong beard and thick hair, a noble mien, a brown and lively complexion, brilliant eyes, white teeth, and a modest bearing. He possessed natural eloquence, a keen intellect, an overwhelming fluency, and great courage. Conjugal love he regarded as one of the great incentives to de- votion. The wish to have a son to succeed him has been alleged as the reason why he took so many wives. In his infancy as well as in after life he was afflicted with epilep- tic attacks, which at first were considered by himself and by his enemies to be the effect of demoniacal possession. The same spas- modic convulsions accompanied him while he received his revelations. Mohammed was ac- quainted with the doctrines of both Jews and Christians, but charged them with having cor- rupted their Scriptures. He attributed to both of them opinions which they do not hold, but most of these statements may rest on the au- thority of the apocryphal books of the ancient Christian church. Before the 12th century it was hardly understood in the West that Ma- homet was a man, and not a pretended divin- ity, and still earlier he was known as Mapho- met, Baphomet, or Bafum, and believed to be a false god to whom human sacrifices were offered. Later it was common among Christian writers to represent him as a conscious im- postor. This opinion has now but few rep- resentatives. Among the Mohammedan biog- raphies of the prophet, those of Wakidi, Ibn Ishak, and Tabari are the most important, and some of them have been translated into French, German, and other languages. Among the best European and American biographies of Mohammed are those of Marracci (Padua, 1698), Gagnier (Amsterdam, 1732), Hammer- MOHAMMED II. 695 Purgstall (Leipsic, 183T), Weil (Stuttgart, 1843), George Bush (New York, 1832), Washington Irving (1850), A. Sprenger (Allahabad, 1852 ; German, Berlin, 1861-'5 ; 2d ed., 1869 et seq. Muir (London, 1858), Arnold (" Ishmael, or a Natural History of Islamism," 1859), and Nol- deke (Hanover, 1863). See also Essai snr Vhis- toire des Arabes avant Vlslamisme pendant Vepoque de Mahomet, etjusqu'd la reduction de toutes les tribussous la loi mumlmane, by Caus- sin de Perceval (8 vols., Paris, 1847-' 8) ; Ma- homet et les origines de V Islamisme, by Ernest Renan, included in his fitudes d'histoire reli- gieuse (Paris, 1857; 7th revised ed., 1864) ; an English biography of Mohammed with critical commentaries by Moulvi Syed Ameer Ali, an oriental lawyer residing in London (1873) ; the essay "Islam" in " Literary Remains of Emanu el Deutsch " (1874) ; and " Mohammed and Mo- hammedanism," by R. Bosworth Smith (1874). MOHAMMED II., a Turkish sultan, surnamed the Great and the Victorious, born in Adri- anople in 1430, died near Scutari in Asia Minor in May, 1481. He was the eldest son of Amurath II. by a Christian princess of Servia, and succeeded him in 1451. He began his reign by murdering his two brothers, call- ing his father's treasurers to a strict account, and repelling a Caramanian invasion. He next invested Constantinople, April 6, 1453, with a large fleet and an army of more than 250,000 men. The city was taken by storm, May 29, and for three days given up to pillage and massacre. Having determined, however, to make Constantinople his capital, he proclaimed religious toleration and various privileges and immunities to the inhabitants. He completed the conquest of Servia in 1454, but in 1456 was baffled by Hunyady in the siege of Bel- grade, where the Turks were repulsed with the loss of 25,000 men, while the sultan himself was severely wounded and compelled to raise the siege. He next turned his arms against the Morea, which was still held by two Greek princes, Demetrius and Thomas, the latter of whom made a gallant though unsuccessful re- sistance. The conquest of the Morea was completed in 1460, with the exception of a few fortified seaports held by the Venetians. In 1461 he conquered Trebizond, and had its emperor David Comnenus put to death. He also seized Wallachia and most of the islands of the Archipelago. The prince of Mytilene defended his island for a month, when he sur- rendered on condition of receiving an indem- nity ; but Mohammed soon put him to death. Several Christian powers now agreed in a con- ference held at Mantua to enter on a new cru- sade against the Turks ; but owing to the in- ternal difficulties of the European kingdoms this scheme fell through. Scanderbeg gave the first serious check to Mohammed by defeat- ing several Turkish armies sent against him. The sultan at length (1465) invaded Albania in person with about 200,000 men, and laid siege to Croia, Scanderbeg's capital ; but after