The writer has attempted in the preceding few pages to show, from the Koran and from such writers as the late Dr. Jesup of Beirut (Syria) and the late Dr. Washburn of Constantinople, who had been in contact with Mohammedanism and Mohammedans almost half of a century or more, whose authority and integrity cannot be questioned, what Mohammedanism is and what it teaches. No Mohammedan ruler, or a common believer in Mohammed’s religion, especially one who claims to be his successor, dare do otherwise than what the Koran and the example of the prophet teach him. Not one of the grants, permits, promises of reform, liberty of religion, protection of persons, honor and property of the Christian subjects in the empire, made by the sultans under pressing circumstances, or by pressure from without, were ever intended to be kept. Because they could not conscientiously fulfill those promises and remain faithful Mohammedans. One more thing which deserves to be noted is the missionary fire kindled in the heart of every Mohammedan by the Koran and the Mohammedan divines; we refer to the propagation of Islam by the sword. The extension of the Mohammedan religion depends on the expansion of the Mohammedan reign. Hence the sword is the great Mohammedan Missionary. “Under the head of the civil laws [of Mohammedanism] may be comprehended the injunction of warring against the infidel, which is repeated in several passages of the Koran, and declared to be of high merit in the sight of God; those who are slain fighting in defense of the faith being reckoned martyrs, and are promised immediate admission into paradise. Hence this duty is greatly magnified by the Mohammedan divines, who call the sword the key of heaven and hell.”[119] Mohammed himself inaugurated this by his teaching and example as the following incident--one of many--shows: There was a Jewish colony settled within a short distance from the city of Medina. They have been happily and prosperously living there for a long time in all things like the Arabs except their religion. They adhered to their ancestral faith and refused to believe in Mohammed as the apostle of God. This was like a thorn in Mohammed’s flesh. He gathered a sufficient force and attacked them. The Jews thought their fortified town was a secure refuge for them wherein they sheltered themselves. Mohammed besieged the town and in a short time reduced it to submission by starvation. Then followed the terrible slaughter of all the men--about eight hundred. It took a whole day, beginning early till late at night, to chop off their heads and throw their bodies into a trench. And the booty, and some women and children, he divided among his faithful warriors, and the rest he sold to the Arabs. But for himself--for his sensual gratification--he selected the most beautiful Jewess, Rihanah by name, and he kept her.