Title: Mohammed, the Arabian Prophet. A Tragedy, in Five Acts
Author: George H. Miles
Publisher: Phillips, Sampson & Company
City: Boston
Year: 1850
Printing Information: First Edition
Binding Style: Hardcover
Pagination: viii/166 pages plus 1 page of appendix
Width: 5.25" Height: 7.75"
Book Details: "The design of this play is to explain the life of Mohammed, from the age of forty to his death, a period of twenty years. Many a single fact, in his extraordinary career, furnishes ample material for a play: many a fable, too, as Voltaire has proved. The love and apostasy of Ali and Fatima, breaking Abu Taleb's heart, -- Ayesha bethrothed to Omar, but wrested from him by her father, and consigned to the Prophet's arms, -- Omar's hypocrisy for the sake of revenge; -- plots like this, sparkling with brilliant scenes, occurred to tempt me from my original design.
But I found the naked history superior to all the inventions of imagination. Where the charm is in plot and surprise, repetition sickens us; where the characters themselves attract, it delights.
After all that has been said, the true character of the great founder of Islam is but imperfectly understood. Had he not sincerely believed in the Unity of God, had he not detested idolatry, had he not most fervently wished to redeem Arabia from her slavish superstition, has he not been in earnest in all this, he could not have accomplished such great and permanent results. Yet, at the very outset of his career, when his motives were purest, his fidelity to Cadijah unimpeached, we know that he was guilty of wilful deceit and imposture. For,, admitting that the appearance of Gabriel and the Mesra were delusions of zealot fancy or of the devil, yeet surely he could not dupe himself so far as to believe that the angel handed him the Koran,which he either wrote himself, or received from a hired scribe. Here is the difficulty: not only have we to reconcile truth and falsehood, sincerity and deceit, -- for, in most historically great men, there is more or less of this, -- but we are dealing with one, who believing himself a Prophet, asserts it by imposture, -- the messenger of Allah, preparing mankind by a deliberate lie for the reception of Eternal Truth.
From this point of view, the play was written. (From author's preface)
Condition / Notes: This antique volume is bound in blind-stamped dark brown cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to the spine. The book shows external wear, with mild staining to the bottom of the front cover and light soiling to the covers. The binding is sound. The endpapers have publisher's advertisements. A contemporary signature appears at the top edge of the title page. The pages exhibit occasional light foxing.

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by National Book Auctions
May 31, 2015 12:00 PM EDT
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