der Muhammad was not particularly celebrated. The
military expeditions undertaken by him in person are variously stated
to have been from nineteen to twenty-seven in number, whilst those in
which he was not present are stated to have amounted to more than
fifty. With the exception of one or two to the Syrian frontier, they
were chiefly directed against the Arabs and the Jews in Arabia, but
none of them were of the magnitude of those undertaken by his
successors, Abu Bakr and Omar, who, with the aid of the generals
Khalid, son of Walid, Mothanna, Amr bin Al'Aasi, and others, made
great conquests, and finally established the Muslim faith on a firm
and lasting basis. The details of these successes are admirably told
in Muir's 'Annals of the Early Khalifate.'

There appears to be a great resemblance between many of the military
and warlike expeditions undertaken by Muhammad in Arabia, and those of
the Jews, as narrated in the historical works of the Old Testament, in
Palestine. In both countries God was used as the authority, and
individuals and tribes were attacked and slaughtered much in the same
way. Indeed, if the numbers slain, as recorded by the Jewish
historians, are to be depended upon, it can only be inferred that the
God of the Jews was more vindictive and bloodthirsty than the God of
the Arabs. At the present time the Soudanese and their Khalifahs seem
to be following very much in the steps of Muhammad, constantly sending
forth military expeditions, and issuing letters to foreign potentates.

In conclusion, the dogmas and precepts of Islam, as embodied in the
Koran, may be summed up as follows:

(1) Belief in Allah or God, or, more correctly, 'The God;' that is,
the only God. 'Al,' the; 'Ilah,' a God.

(2) Belief in the Messengers or Angels.

(3) Belief in the Books or Scriptures, and in the Prophets.

(4) Belief in Hell and Paradise.

(5) Belief in a general resurrection and final judgment.

(6) Belief in the decrees of God, or of His having absolutely
predestined both good and evil.

The five cardinal ordinances of Islam are:

(1) The pious recitation of the Kalimah, or Creed: 'There is no God
but the one God, and Muhammad is his Apostle.'

(2) Prayer.

(3) Fasting.

(4) Legal and obligatory almsgiving.

(5) Pilgrimage.

There are several other points connected with the institutions of
Islam, such as--

(1) Circumcision.

(2) Marriage and polygamy.

(3) Slave