The character of Mohammed has been variously estimated. Moslem writers make him a saint; Christian writers, until Mohammed's recent times, have called him an "impostor." We know that he was a man of simple habits, who, even in the days of his prosperity, lived on dates, barley bread, and water, mended his woolen garments, and attended to his own wants. He was mild and gentle, a lover of children, devoted to his friends, and forgiving toward his foes. He seems to have won the admiration of all with whom he came in contact. We know, too, that Mohammed was so deeply impressed with the consciousness of his religious mission that he was ready to give up wealth and an honorable position and face for years the ridicule and hatred of the people of Mecca. His faults--deceitfulness, superstitiousness, sensuality--were those of the Arabs of his time. Their existence in Mohammed's character should not prevent our recognition of his real greatness as a prophet and as a statesman. 132. ISLAM AND THE KORAN FORMATION OF THE KORAN The religion which Mohammed preached is called Islam, an Arabic word meaning "surrender," or "resignation." This religion has its sacred book, the Koran ("thing read" or "thing recited"). It contains the speeches, prayers, and other utterances of Mohammed at various times during his career. Some parts of the Koran were dictated by the prophet to his disciples and by them were written out on skins, leaves of palm trees, bones, and bits of parchment. Many other parts remained at first only in the memory of Mohammed's followers. Soon after his death all the scattered passages were collected into one book. Since the middle of the seventh century the Koran, every word of which the Moslems consider holy, has remained unchanged. [Illustration: A PASSAGE FROM THE KORAN From a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.] RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS OF THE KORAN The doctrines found in the Koran show many adaptations from the Jewish and Christian religions. Like them Islam emphasizes the unity of God. The Moslem cry--"_Allah Akbar!_" "God is Great!"--forms its cardinal principle. Like them, also, Islam recognizes the existence of prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, but insists that Mohammed was the last and greatest of the prophets. The existence of angels and demons is recognized. The chief of the demons, Iblis, bears some resemblance to the Jewish Satan and the Christian Devil. The account of the creation and fall of man is taken, with variations, from the Old Testament. The description of the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, and the division of the future world into paradise and hell, the former for believers in Islam, the latter for those who have refused to accept it, seems to have been based on Persian and Jewish ideas. These borrowings from other religions facilitated the spread of Islam among eastern peoples. OBSERVANCES OF ISLAM