Irving’s book, Mahomet and His Successors, written in 1849, is a classic. Drawing from his experience as ambassador to Spain and from extensive reading and studying, his book is still as good as any on the subject. On the second page of chapter 16, Washington Irving quoted Mohammed:
“Different Prophets,” said he, “have been sent by God to illustrate his different attributes: Moses His clemency and providence; Solomon His wisdom, majesty, and glory; Jesus Christ His righteousness, omniscience, and power–His righteousness by purity of conduct; His omniscience by the knowledge He displayed of the secrets of all hearts; His power by the miracles He wrought. None of these attributes, however, have been sufficient to enforce conviction, and even the miracles of Moses and Jesus have been treated with unbelief. I, therefore, the last of the prophets, am sent with the sword! Let those who promulgate my faith enter into no argument nor discussion, but slay all who refuse obedience to the law. Whoever fights for the true faith, whether he fall or conquer, will assuredly receive a glorious reward.”
(The Book of Revelations, with which Mohammed was familiar, Chapter 6, verses 3 & 4: “When He broke the second seal, I heard the second animal shout “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword.”)
Since the founder of their religion said “I therefore, the last of the prophets, am sent with the sword.”, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that he thought of himself as that rider.)
Mohammed was absolutely correct in saying, when comparing himself to Moses, Solomon, and Jesus: “None of these attributes (Moses’s clemency, providence and miracles, Solomon’s wisdom, majesty, and glory, and Jesus Christ’s righteousness, omniscience, power, purity, and miracles have been sufficient to enforce conviction”, and, it is implied, obedience to the law. The desire to “enforce conviction” is foreign to Christians, to whom salvation is based on people with free will freely choosing, without compulsion, to believe that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the prophets, that He offers the opportunity to salvation, and we have but to freely choose to believe and obey to be saved.
Catholic Fundamentalists agree with Mohammed that faithful paragons of the past, Moses, Solomon (well, maybe not so much, Solomon), and Jesus, are not able to impose obedience on later times. But, we don’t think they’re supposed to do so. We feel that the only meaningful obedience to God and His Law is the result of a free choice, not compulsion. And, we feel that it’s necessary that all are able to see the ongoing results of choosing sin in the lives of those who choose to disobey. We feel that periodic increases of Moslem power are necessary to curb error among Christian apostates. Constantinople fell in 1453 because its vanity had led itself to think of itself as a second Rome. God gave them centuries of opportunities to return to the Papacy that was instituted by God, Himself, with Peter and his successors as Her only head. It was Peter upon whom He had ordered His Church to be built, but the Greeks refused to honor God’s own choice. God could not have two heads of One Church, so Constantinople was given to the Moslems.
In our time, we see our neighbors, and ourselves, being tempted and often led astray by every sin there is. Since we seem to be unable to purify ourselves, the old sword is being unsheathed. We cannot say we don’t deserve it, but we can ask for His mercy to be delivered from it. We begin by setting ourselves and our houses in order. (Again, we must consider if The Book of Revelations applies in our time as it did in 1453, when Constantinople fell, Chapter 6, verses 3 & 4: “When He broke the second seal, I heard the second animal shout “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword.”)
P.S. In the beginning of Mahomet and His Successors, Washington Irving made a statement new to me, that Mohammed’s mother was Jewish, as was a cousin who was a great help in getting him started. The nice thing about long dead authors is that we don’t have to worry about their information being distorted, at least by our current political correctness.
