Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/208

CHAPTER X THE RISE AND SPREAD OF MOHAMMEDANISM While monks were spreading Christianity in the West a new Oriental religion arose in Arabia under the leader . , ship of the prophet, Mohammed, who was bon before about 570 in Mecca, a small trading-town fift} Mohammed mileg from the Red Sea Qf conc iitions in Ara bia before Mohammed we know very little. The Arab: or Saracens had made raids into the Byzantine Empin and had also been employed by it as mercenaries. Mos of them led a semi-nomadic life in their desert country much of which is still unexplored by outsiders. From this region waves of invasion had swept over the fertile Tigris Euphrates river basin in ages long before the days o Greece and Rome. The Arabs could not read or write, bui were fond of extemporized poetry, in which they drew < somewhat idealized portrait of themselves as generous hospitable, truthful, and chivalrous bandits. There was nc political organization. Society was in the tribal state anc blood feuds prevailed between the clans. There were however, some social distinctions and a certain amount o wealth and luxury. Slavery and polygamy both existed anc there was a good deal of sexual immorality. The variou: tribes differed considerably in their degree of civilization Some had been more or less converted to Christianity or t< Judaism; others still adhered to simple and rude rites tha were suggestive of primitive man's religion. On the whole we do not know enough of religious conditions in Arabi; before Mohammed to tell how far he was indebted to pre vious faiths and worships. The sources about Mohammed himself are much mor satisfactory, although it is hard for Western historians botl to appreciate and to discount their Oriental spirit an< psychology. The Koran, a collection of the prophetic utter