Sir John Mandeville. Marvellous Adventures. 1895.
Chapter XIIOf the Customs of Saracens, and of their Law. And how the Sultan questioned me, the Author of this Book; and of the beginning of Mohammet
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Also they believe and speak gladly of the Virgin Mary and of the Incarnation. And they say that Mary was taught of the Angel; and that Gabriel said to her, that she was for-chosen from the Beginning of the World; and that he showed to her the Incarnation of Jesu Christ; and that she, a Maiden, conceived and bare Child; and that witnesseth their Book.
And they say also, that Jesu Christ spake as soon He was born; and that He was an Holy Prophet and a true in Word and Deed, and meek and merciful and righteous and without any Vice.
And they say also, that when the Angel showed the Incarnation of Christ unto Mary, she was young and had great Dread. For there was then an Enchanter in the Country that dealt with Witchcraft, that Men called Taknia, that by his Enchantments could make him in Likeness of an Angel, and went oftentimes and lay with Maidens. And therefore Mary dreaded lest it had been Taknia, that came to deceive the Maidens. And therefore she conjured the Angel, that he should tell her if it were he or no. And the Angel answered and said that she should have no Dread of him, for he was the very Messenger of Jesu Christ. Also their Book saith, that when that she had childed under a Palm Tree she had great Shame that she had a Child; and she greet and said that she would she had been dead. And anon the Child spake to her and comforted her, and said, “Mother, dismay thee nought, for God hath hid in thee His Secrets, for the Salvation of the World.” And in other many Places saith their Al Koran, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as He was born. And that Book saith also that Jesu was sent from God Almighty to be Mirror and Example and Token to all Men.
And the Al Koran saith also of the Day of Doom how God shall come to doom all Manner of Folk. And the Good He shall draw on His side and put them into Bliss, and the Wicked He shall condemn to the Pains of Hell. And among all Prophets Jesu was the most excellent and the most worthy next God, and that He made the Gospels in which is good Doctrine and heal-ful, full of Charity and Truthfastness and true Preaching to them that believe in God. And that He was a very Prophet and more than a Prophet, and lived without Sin, and gave Sight to the Blind, and healed the Lepers, and raised dead Men, and ascended to Heaven.
And when they hold the written Book of the Gospels of our Lord called Missus est Angelus Gabriel, that Gospel they, those that be lettered, say often-times in their Orisons, and they kiss it and worship it with great Devotion.
They fast an whole Month in the Year and eat nought but by Night. And they keep them from their Wives all that Month. But the Sick Men be not constrained to that Fast.
Also this Book speaketh of Jews and saith that they be cursed; for they would not believe that Jesu Christ was come of God. And that they lied falsely of Mary and of her Son Jesu Christ, saying that they had crucified Jesu the Son of Mary; for He was never crucified, as they say, but that God made Him to ascend up to Him without Death and without Annoy. But He transfigured His Likeness into Judas Iscariot, and him crucified the Jews, and wot that it had been Jesus. But Jesus ascended to Heaven all alive. And therefore they say, that the Christian Men err and have no good Knowledge of this, and that they believe foolishly and falsely that Jesu Christ was crucified. And they say also, that had He been crucified, that God had done against His Righteousness to suffer Jesu Christ that was innocent to be put upon the Cross without Guilt. And in this Article they say that we fail and that the great Righteousness of God might not suffer so great a Wrong: and in this faileth their Faith. For they acknowledge well, that the Works of Jesu Christ be good, and His Words and His Deeds and His Doctrines by His Gospels were true, and His Miracles also true; and the Blessed Virgin Mary is good, and holy Maiden before and after the Birth of Jesu Christ; and that all those that believe perfectly in God shall be saved. And because that they go so nigh our Faith, they be lightly converted to Christian Law when Men preach to them and show them distinctly the Law of Jesu Christ, and tell them of the Prophecies.
And also they say, that they know well by the Prophecies that the Law of Mohammet shall fail, as the Law of the Jews did; and that the Law of Christian People shall last to the Day of Doom. And if any Man ask them what is their Belief, they answer thus, and in this Form: “We believe in God, Maker of Heaven and Earth and of all other Things that He made. And without Him is Nothing made. And we believe in the Day of Doom, and that every Man shall have his Merit, after that he hath deserved. And, we believe it for Truth, all that God hath said by the Mouths of His Prophets.”
Also Mohammet commanded in his Al Koran, that every Man should have 2 Wives, or 3 or 4; but now they take unto 9, and of Lemans as many as they may sustain. And if any of their Wives mis-behave them against their Husband, he may cast her out of his House, and depart from her and take another; but he shall part with her his Goods.
Also, when Men speak to them of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, they say, that they be 3 Persons, but not one God; for their Al Koran speaketh not of the Trinity. But they say well, that God hath Speech, and else were He dumb. And God hath also a Spirit they know well, for else they say, He were not alive. And when Men speak to them of the Incarnation how that by the Word of the Angel God sent His Wisdom on to Earth and enshadowed Him in the Virgin Mary, and that by the Word of God shall the Dead be raised at the Day of Doom, they say, that it is Truth and that the Word of God hath great Strength. And they say that whoso knoweth not the Word of God he should not know God. And they say also that Jesu Christ is the Word of God: and so saith their Al Koran, where it saith that the Angel spake to Mary and said: “Mary, God shall preach the Gospel by the Word of His Mouth and His Name shall be clept Jesu Christ.”
And they say also, that Abraham was Friend to God, and that Moses was a familiar Speaker with God, and Jesu Christ was the Word and the Spirit of God, and that Mohammet was the right Messenger of God. And they say, that of these 4, Jesu was the most worthy and the most excellent and the most great. So that they have many good Articles of our Faith, albeit that they have no perfect Law and Faith as Christian Men have; and therefore be they lightly converted, especially those that understand the Scriptures and the Prophecies. For they have Gospels and the Prophecies and the Bible written in their Language; wherefore they know much of Holy Writ, but they understand it not but after the Letter. And so do the Jews, for they understand not the Letter ghostly (or spiritually), but bodily; and therefore be they reproved of the Wise, that ghostly understand it. And therefore saith Saint Paul: “Litera occidit; Spiritus vivificat” (“The Letter killeth; the Spirit quickeneth”). Also the Saracens say, that the Jews be cursed; for they have be-fouled the Law that God sent them by Moses: and the Christians be cursed also, as they say; for they keep not the Commandments and the Precepts of the Gospel that Jesu Christ taught them.
And, therefore, I shall tell you what the Sultan told me upon a Day in his Chamber. He made void out of his Chamber all manner of Men, Lords and others, for he would speak with me in Counsel. And there he asked me how the Christian Men governed themselves in our Country. And I said, “Right well, thanked be God!”
And he said to me, “Truly Nay! For ye Christian Men reck not, right nought, how untruly ye serve God! Ye should give Ensample to the Lay People to do well, and ye give them Ensample to do evil. For the Commoners, upon Festival Days, when they should go to Church to serve God, then go to Taverns, and be there in Gluttony all the Day and all Night, and eat and drink as Beasts that have no Reason, and wist not when they have had enough. And also the Christian Men strengthen themselves, in all Manners that they may, to fight and deceive the one the other. And therewithal they be so proud, that they know not how to be clothed; now long, now short, now strait, now large, now sworded, now daggered, and in all manner of Guises. They should be simple, meek and true, and full of Alms-deeds, as Jesu was, in whom they trow; but they be all the contrary, and ever inclined to Evil, and to do Evil. And they be so covetous, that, for a little Silver, they sell their Daughters, their Sisters and their own Wives to put them to Lechery. And one withdraweth the Wife of another, and none of them holdeth Faith to another; but they be-foul their Law that Jesu Christ gave them to keep for their Salvation. And thus, for their Sins, have they lost all this Land that we hold. For, for their Sins there, God hath given them into our Hands, not only by Strength of ourselves, but for their Sins. For we know well, in very Sooth, that when ye serve God, God will help you; and when He is with you, no Man may be against you. And that know we well by our Prophecies, that Christian Men shall win again this Land out of our Hands, when they serve God more devoutly; but as long as they be of foul and of unclean Living, as they be now, we have Dread of them in no kind, for their God will not help them in any wise.”
And then I asked him, how he knew the State of Christian Men. And he answered me, that he knew all the State of the Commoners also by his Messengers that he sent to all Lands, in manner as though they were Merchants of precious Stones, of Cloths of Gold and of other Things, to know the Manner of every Country amongst Christian Men.
And then he let call in all the Lords that he made void first out of his Chamber, and then he shewed me 4 that were great Lords in the Country, that told me of my Country and of many other Christian Countries, as well as if they had been of the same Countries; and they spake French right well, and the Sultan also; whereof I had great Marvel.
Alas! it is great Slander to our Faith and to our Law, when Folk that be without Law shall reprove us and chide us for our Sins, and that they that should be converted to Christ and to the Law of Jesu by our good Ensamples and by our acceptable Life to God, and so converted to the Law of Jesu Christ, be, through our Wickedness and evil Living, far from us and Strangers from the holy and true Belief, and should thus charge us and hold us for wicked Livers and cursed. And truly they say Sooth, for the Saracens be good and faithful; for they keep entirely the Commandment of the Holy Book Al Koran that God sent them by His Messenger Mohammet, to the which, as they say, Saint Gabriel the Angel oftentime told the Will of God.
And ye shall understand, that Mohammet was born in Arabia, that was first a poor Knave that kept Camels, that went with Merchants for Merchandise. And it so befell, that he went with the Merchants into Egypt; and they were then Christian in those Parts. And at the Deserts of Arabia, he went into a Chapel where a Hermit dwelt. And when he entered into the Chapel that was but a little and low Thing and had but a little Door and a low, then the Entry began to wax so great, and so large and so high as though it had been of a great Minster or the Gate of a Palace. And this was the first Miracle, the Saracens say, that Mohammet did in his Youth.
After began he to wax wise and rich. And he was a great Astronomer. And after, he was Governor and Prince of the Land of Cozrodane; and he governed it full wisely, in such manner, that when the Prince was dead, he took his Lady to Wife that hight Kadija. And Mohammet fell often in the great Sickness that Men call the Falling Evil; wherefore the Lady was full sorry that ever she took him to Husband. But Mohammet made her to believe, that all Times, when he fell so, Gabriel the Angel came to speak with him, and for the great Light and Brightness of the Angel he might not sustain him from falling. And therefore the Saracens say, that Gabriel came often to speak with him.
This Mohammet reigned in Arabia, the Year of our Lord Jesu Christ 610, and was of the Generation of Ishmael that was Abraham’s Son, that he gat upon Hagar his Hand-maiden. And therefore there be Saracens that be clept Ishmaelites; and some Hagarenes, from Hagar. And other be properly clept Saracens, from Sarah. And some be clept Moabites and some Ammonites, from the 2 Sons of Lot, Moab and Ammon, that he begat on his Daughters, that were afterward great earthly Princes.
And also Mohammet loved well a good Hermit that dwelled in the Deserts a Mile from Mount Sinai, in the Way that Men go from Arabia toward Chaldea and toward Ind, one Day’s Journey from the Sea, where the Merchants of Venice come often for Merchandise. And so often went Mohammet to this Hermit, that all his Men were wroth; for he would gladly hear this Hermit preach and make his Men wake all Night. And therefore his Men thought to put the Hermit to Death. And so it befell upon a Night, that Mohammet was drunken of good Wine, and he fell asleep. And his Men took Mohammet’s Sword out of his Sheath, whiles he slept, and therewith they slew this Hermit, and put his Sword all bloody in his Sheath again. And at the Morrow, when he found the Hermit dead, he was full sorry and wroth, and would have done his Men to Death. But they all, with one Accord, said that he himself had slain him, when he was drunk, and shewed him his Sword all bloody. And he trowed that they had said Truth. And then he cursed the Wine and them that drink it. And therefore Saracens that be devout drink never any Wine. But some drink it privily; for if they drunk it openly, they should be reproved. But they drink good Beverage and sweet and nourishing that is made of Gallamelle and that is what Men make Sugar of, that is of right good Savour, and it is good for the Breast.
Also it befalleth some-time, that Christian Men become Saracens, either for Poverty or for Simpleness, or else for their own Wickedness. And therefore the Archflamen or the Flamen, like our Archbishop or Bishop, when he receiveth them saith thus; “La ellec Sila, Machomete Rores alla,” that is to say, “There is no God but one, and Mohammet is His Messenger.”