MOHILEFF
42S
MOHILEFF
or probable offspring, must wait throe moiitlis before
she miirries again. A widow, on tlie otlier hand,
must wait four months and ten days. Immorality in
{jeiieral is severely condemned anil |nmished by the
Koran, but the moral laxity and tlepraved sensualism
of the Mohanunedans at large have practically nulli-
fied Koranic ethics.
SIa\ery is not only tolerated in tlie Koran, but is looked upon as a practical necessity, while the manu- mission of slaves is regarded as a meritorious deed. It must be observed, however, that among Moham- medans, thechihlren of slaves and of concubines are generally considered e(]ually legitimate with those of legal wives, none being accounted bastards ex- <-ept such as are born of public prostilvites, and whose fathers are unknown. The accusation often brought against the Koran that it teaches that women have no .souls is without foundation. The Koranic law concerning inheritance insists that women and or- phans be treatecl with justice and kindness. Gener- ally speaking, however, males are entitled to twice as much as females. Contracts are to be conscientiously ilrawn up in the presence of witnesses. Murder, manslaughter, and suicide are exphcitly forbidden, although blood revenge is allowed. In case of per- sonal injury, the law of retaliation is approved.
In conclusion, reference must be made here to the sacred montlis, and to the weekly holy day. The Arabs had ayear of twelve lunar months, and this, as often as seemed necessary, they brought roughly into accordance with thesohu-yearby the intercalation of a thirteenth month. The Mohammedan year, however, has a mean duration of .3.54 days, and is ten or eleven days shorter than the solar year, and Mohammedan festivals, accordingly, move in succession through all the seasons. The Mohammedan Era begins with the Hegira, which is assumed to have taken place on the 16th day of July, a. d. 622. To find what year of the Christian Era (a. d.) is represented by a given year of the Mohammedan Era (a. h.), the rule is: Subtract from the Mohammedan date the product of three times the last completed number of centuries, and add 621 to the remainder. (This rule, however, gives an exact result only for the first day of a Mohammedan century. Thus, e. g., the first day of the fourteenth jentury came in the course of the year of Our Lord 1883.) The first, seventh, eleventh and twelfth months of the Mohammedan year are sacred; during these months it is not lawful to wage war. The twelfth month is consecrated to the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, and, in order to protect pilgrims, the pre- ceding (eleventh) month and the following (lirst of the new year) are also inviolable. The seventh month is reserved for the fast which Mohammed substituted for a month (the ninth) devoted by the Arabs in pre- Islamic times to excessive eating and drinking. Mo- hammed selected Friday as the sacred day of the week, and several fanciful reasons are adduced by the Proi)het himself and by his followers for the selection; the most probable motive was the desire to have a holy day different from that of the Jews and that of the Christians. It is certain, however, that Friday was a day of solemn gatherings and public festivities among the pre-lslarnic Arabs. Abstinence from work is not enjoined on Friday, but it is commanded that public prayers and worshij) must be performed on that day. Another custom dating from anti(|uity and still universally observed by all Moliammedans, al- though not explicitly enjoined in the Koran, is cir- cumcision. It is looked upon as a seuji-religious prac- tice, and its performance is preceded and accom[)anied by great festivities.
In matters political Islam is a system of despotism at home and of aggression abroad. The Prophet com- manded absolute submission to the imam. In no case was the sword to be raised against him. The rights of non-Moslem si^bjects are of the vaguest and
mo.st limited kind, and a religious war is a sacred
duty whenever there is a chance of success against
the "Infidel". Medieval and modern Mohaniiiicdan,
especially Turkish, persecutions of both .lews and
Christians are perh.aps the best illustration of this fa-
natical religious and polilical spiiil.
Sl'RENQEn, Das Lchrn uifl ,1,,- l.'lin , I, s Af,il„immc(l (Hi-rVm, 180.5); V/eil. Das Lebcn .\f../»imm, ./ (Si iil iL-.irl. Ist.l): Mrrii, Li/e of Mohammed O^ndim, ls.-,s. I.s'i?:. Iiim, i;- '.,,.„.. ,,.,,/
Islam (London, 18S7); Syed Ami iii Ai i M ; ,„
of the Life and Teachings of M'lhijuiivi i Iii, i , I i m.
The Spirit of Islam: or. The Life ami 7, ,,,/,, ,,. , . 1/. /,„.,,. .; ,i .,!- cutta, 1902): KoELLE, Mohammed and M/ihammedmn^m Criti- cally Considered (London, 1888); Noldeke, Das Leben Muham- meds (Hanover, 1863) ; Idem, Islam in Sketches from Eastern History (London, 1892), 61-106; Wellhausen, Muhammed in Medina (Berlin, 1882): Ksehl, Mohammed (Leipzig, 1884): Grimme, Mohammed (2 vols., MUnster, 1892-94); Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. (London, 1905) ; Zwemer, Islam a Challenge to Faith (New Yorlt, 1907) ; Caetani, Annali dell' Islam (Milan, 1905 — ) ; Maracci, Prodromi ad refutalionem Alco- rani (4 parta, Padua, 1698) ; Arnold, Islam, its History, Charac- ter, and Relation to Christianity (London, 1874); Kremer, Ge- schichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams (Leipzig, 1868): Idem Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen (2 vols., Vienna, 1875-77); Hughes, Otrfionarj/ o/ Jsfam (London, 1895) ; Idem, Notes on Mohammedanism (3rd ed., London, 1894): MuiR, The Coran, its Composition and Teaching (London, 1878) ; Perron, L'Islamisme, son institution, son itat actuel et son avenir (Paris, 1877) ; Garcin de Tassy, L' Islamisme d'apr^s le Coran, I'enseigne- ment doctrinal et la pratique (2nd ed., Paris, 1874) ; MtJLLER, Der Islam im Morgen- und Abendland (2 vols., Berlin, 1885-87); GoLDZiHER, Muhammedanische Studien (2 vols., Halle, 1889-98); Idem in Die Orientalischen Religionen (Leipzig, 1905), 87-135; Lhereux, Etude sur I'Islamisme (Geneva, 1904) ; Encyclopedia of Islam (Leyden and London, 1908 — ) ; Smith, Mohammed and Mohammedanism (London, 1876): Khehl, Beitrdge zur Muham- medanischen Dogmatik (Leipzig, 1885): Tool, Studies in Moham- medanism, Historical and Doctrinal (London, 1892); Sell, The Faith of Islam (London, 1886) ; Wollaston, Muhammed, His Life and Doctrines (London, 1904): Idem, The S^vord of Islam (New York, 1905); Johnstone, Muhammed and His Power (New York, 1901) ; Literary Remains of the Late Emanuel Deutsch (Lon- don, 1874), 59-135; Pizzl Ulslamismo (Milan, 1905); Arnold, The Preaching of Islam, A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith (London, 1896); MacDonald, Development of Muslim Theology, Jurisprudence, and Constitutional Theory (New York, 1903): Idem, The Religious Attitude and Life in Islam (Chicago, 1908): Zwemer, The Mohammedan World To-day (New York, 1906): Carra de Vaux, La doctrine de V Islam (Paris, 1909); Lammens, A tracers V Islam in Etudes (Paris, 20 Oct., 1910); Mares, Les Musulmans dans V hide, ibid. (Jan. 5 and 20).
Gabriel Oussani.
Mohilefl, Archdiocese of (Mohtloviensis), Latin Catholic archdiocese and ecclesiastical province in Russia. For the few Catholics in Russia before the partition of Poland, some mission stations sufficed. The Jesuits, who came in ambassadorial suites, la- boured in Moscow from 1648, and in 1691 built the first Catholic church there. The free exercise of the Catholic religion, granted in 1706 by Peter the Great, was also allowed by his immediate successors, on condi- tion that the missionaries did not attempt to secure converts. The Capuchins, Franciscans, and Domini- cans also laboured among the immigrant Catholics with fruitful results. When the Jesuits were suppressed in 1773, many of t hem found a refuge in Ru.s.sia. How- ever, no special diocese for Catholics was erected. The partitions of Polanil brought under Russian sway many hundred thousand Catholics, whose treatment was in striking contrast to that meted out to the Uniats. While Uniate churches and monasteries were confiscated and delivered to the Orthodox, and such Uniats as refused to join the Orthodox Church were subjected to flogging, imprisonment, and confis- cation of property, policy and slirewdness led the em- press to treat the Latin Church very differently. VVishing to attach it to herself, she entrusted the Franciscans with the parishes of St. Petersburg and the neighbourhood, pernultcd the foundation of schools, and relea.sed churches and schools from all taxes.
As in the first partition of Poland none of the old Pol- ish sees fell to Russia, the empress decided to found a diocese for her Latin Catholic subjects, and to exclude all foreign pricstsfrom Ru.ssia. Wit liout consult ing the pope, she erected the Diocese of While Russia with Mo- hileff as its see (1772), and ai)i)ointed as first bishop
