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 Alexandria -C airo -Khartoum 
 
 SAOULLI A 
 CHRISSANTHOU
 
 THE STORY OF THE NATLONS 
 
 t 
 
 SUBSCRiraO] 
 
 EDITION 
 
 « 

 
 Cbe %mj) of tSe jaationg> 
 
 THE SARACENS.
 
 THE STORY OF THE NATIONS. 
 
 ROME. By AKTIII'K Gilman, 
 the' jews. 15y Prof- J- ^^ 
 
 . GERllANy. By Rev. S. Baring- 
 c"iOi;i.i). M-A. 
 
 . CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfrei. 
 
 ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE. I^y 
 
 Prof I P. MAIIAl'l'Y. 
 
 , THE MOORS IN SPAIN. By 
 
 SianlkyLank-Poole. 
 , ANCIENT EGYPT. By Prof. 
 
 OI-OKGE KAWUNSON. 
 
 I HUNGARY. By Prof. ARMlNius 
 
 3 THe'sARACENS. By ARTHUR 
 
 Oilman, M.A. it,„tv 
 
 D. IRELAND. By the Hon. EMILI 
 
 LAWLESS. „ . . „ . 
 
 1. CHALDEA. By Zenaide A. 
 
 2. THE GOTHS. By Henry Brad- 
 
 3. ASSYRIA. By ZiNAlfDE A. RA- 
 
 GOZIN. , „,,, 
 
 [4 TURKEY. By Stanley Lane- 
 Poole. 
 ir HOLLAND. By Prof. 
 
 THOKOLD ROGERS^ 
 
 16 MEDIEVAL FRANCE. 
 
 GL'STAVE Masson. 
 17. PERSIA. By S. G. W 
 
 jamin. ^ „ , 
 
 18 PHCENICLA. By Prof 
 
 rawlinson. , _ , p, 
 iQ. MEDIA. By ZENAiDE A. RA- 
 
 . THE^HANSA TOWNS. By 
 Hflen Zimmekn. 
 EARLY BRITAIN. By Prof 
 
 ALFRED 1. <^»L;K'^";nT,5.rRs 
 . THE BARBARY CORSAIRS 
 ■■ Bv Stanley Laxe-Poole. 
 5 RUSSIA. By \V.R^MoKnLL,I>Li^ 
 THE JEWS UNDER THE 
 '• ROMANS. By W. U. MORRISON 
 5. SCOTLAND. By John Mackin 
 
 5 SWITZERLAND. By Mrs. LINA 
 ■ HUG and R. stead. 
 
 7 MEXICO. By SUSAN HALE 
 
 8 PORTUGAL.' By H. MoRSE 
 
 Stephens. 
 
 J. E. 
 
 By 
 
 . Ben- 
 
 . Geo. 
 
 THE NORMANS. By Sarah 
 
 OHM' h.wii I . _ 
 
 THE ' BYZANTINE EMPIRE. 
 
 IWC. W. C O.MAN. 
 
 SICILY : Phoenician, Greek antt 
 Roman. P.y Uic lute Pn.i. l' 
 
 THE TUSCAN REPUBLICS 
 i;v Bella DUFFY. 
 . POLAND. By W. R. Mori ill 
 
 PARTHIA. By Prof. GEORGE 
 
 AU s't R ALIA N COMMON 
 WEALTH. P^y Greville 
 Tregarthen. 
 ,. SPAIN. By H. E. Watts 
 L JAPAN. By DAVID MURR.\Y, 
 
 ^ SOUTH AFRICA. By George 
 
 M. TllEAL. „. ^, • 
 
 n VENICE. r,v Al.ETHEA WIEL. 
 o THE CRUSADES. By 1. A. 
 ARCHER and C. L. KiNGSFORD 
 I. VEDIC INDIA. By /. A. RA- 
 WEST INDIES and the SPANISH 
 
 MAIN. By James Rodway. 
 
 BOHEMIA. By C. Edmund 
 
 Maurice. , Li^i-^- 
 
 THE BALKANS. By W. Millf.r. 
 
 , CANADA. By Sir J. G. Bouui- 
 
 NOT, LL.D. , 
 
 . BRITISH INDIA. By R. W. 
 
 Frazer, LL.B. 
 . MODERN FRANCE. By Andre 
 
 ;. THE FRANKS. By Lewis Ser 
 
 GEANT. xTTuTT 
 
 ). AUSTRIA.. By Sidney Whit 
 
 , MODERN ENGLAND. Before 
 the Reform Bill. By JUSTIN 
 
 I CHINA^^'BvVrof. R. K. DOUGUXS. 
 . MODERN ENGLAND. From the 
 '■ Reform Bill to the Present 
 Time By Justin McCarthy. 
 ;, IIODERN SPAIN. By Martin 
 
 A. S. HUME. 
 54, MODERN ITALY. By Pietro 
 
 .= NORWAY. By H. H. Boyesen. 
 56. WALES. By O. M. Ldwarus. 
 
 London : T. 
 
 FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER Square, E.G.
 
 THE SARACENS 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE 
 FALL OF BAGDAD 
 
 BV 
 
 ARTHUR OILMAN, M.A. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE STORY OF ROME," ETC. 
 
 WITH MAPS, MANY ILLUSTRATIONS, A CHRONOLOGICAL 
 
 TABLE, AND A LIST OF BOOKS TREATING 
 
 THE SUBJECT 
 
 " / like the Mussnlmin ; he is not ashamed of his God; his life is a/airly 
 pure one." — General Gordon 
 
 ifCURTH EDITION 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
 
 COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1887 
 
 (For Great Britain).
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 When the Greeks and Romans mentioned the 
 tribes that ranged the deserts west of the Euphrates, 
 they caUed them Saracens {2apam^voi — Saraceni), 
 a name of which no philologist has yet given the 
 signification. Perhaps it meant " The People of the 
 Desert," from the Arabic sahra, a desert ; or, " The 
 People of the East," from sharq, the rising sun.* 
 
 After this name had been used in an indefinite 
 manner for all the unknown tribes of the desert, it 
 was given to the followers of Mohammed ; and it is 
 used in that sense in the following pages, thus com- 
 prising many different nations, scattered at times 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 
 When Pierre Vattier, counsellor and physician ta 
 the Duke of Orleans, ventured, in the year 1657, 
 to translate into French Elmacin's story of the kalifs, 
 he thought it necessary to apologize to his polite 
 readers for introducing to them a host of barbarians, 
 enemies of the Christian faith. He argued well, 
 however, that Frenchmen were accustomed to study 
 
 * It may be objected that it is improbable that the Arabs should 
 have originated their own name in that way. It is possible that they 
 might have called themselves "Sons of the Desert," but, certainly, 
 they were not to themselves "The Eastern People."
 
 iv rKF.FAcE. 
 
 with interest the history of Rome, which was a coun- 
 try of sworn enemies to the true relif^ion, and that 
 the kahfs would be found much more Christian, in 
 their deahngs with other nations, than the Roman 
 emperors were. 
 
 One is no longer obliged thus to apologize for con- 
 ducting any historical investigation, and wc may 
 study the career of the Saracens as one of the most 
 interesting that the past can spread before us. 
 
 Though the present volume is mainly devoted to 
 the period before the Crusades lent brilliancy to the 
 subject, and does not include the thrilling narrative 
 of the Moors in Spain, the greatest embarrassment 
 of the author has arisen from the amplitude of the 
 theme. The life of the founder of Islam has alone 
 given rise to many volumes more extensive than 
 this one is allowed to be ; and the conquests of the 
 roving tribes of Asia as they progressed westward, 
 might well occupy more pages than are now at 
 command. The author can only hope that he has 
 not carried the process of condensation to a point 
 that will deprive his most interesting story of the 
 value that intrinsically belongs to it. 
 
 A. G.
 
 k.^.^^-^^^^^1— ^^-1^-^— — ^^_^— ^^^^^— ^^_i..i. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I- I-AGE 
 
 How THE Story Begins .... 1-13 
 
 The strange land south of Palestine, i — The proud sons of 
 the sands, 2 — A change coming, 2 — Rome and Persia, 3 — 
 Constantinople the Roman capital, 4 — The Jews, 6 — Ara- 
 bian commerce, 7 — Region of Pctra and Mount Hor, 8 — 
 The queen of Rlieba, 10 — A visit to Solomon, 12 — Solo- 
 mon's wondrous ring, 13. 
 
 II. 
 
 Creatures of Fire, Light, and Clay . 14-21 
 
 Guesses at Arabian belief, 14 — Jinns made of fire, 15 — The 
 Jinns rebel against Allah, 16 — Angels made of pure light, 
 17 — Eavesdroppers at the gates of heaven, 18 — Doings of 
 the Jinns, ig — Late conceptions of paradise, 19 — The month 
 Ramadan, 20. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Times of Ignorance .... 22-33 
 A pure white stone falls, 22 — The Kaaba, 24 — Traders be- 
 tween Palestine and Arabia, 25 — Rome penetrates the mys- 
 terious land, 26 — The position of Mecca, 28 — Hejaz, the 
 land of pilgrimage, 28 — Kossai and the Koreish, 30 — Rites 
 of the pilgrimage, 31 — Strife, 32 — Abdalla born, 32. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Year of the Elephant . . , 34-40 
 
 Abraha of Abyssinia, 34 — Taif directs him to Mecca, 35 — 
 Abd al Muttalib, 36 — A miracle, 37 — Abdalla's marriage 
 with Amina, 38 — Birth of a wonderful boy, 39 — Moham- 
 med, the praised one, 40.
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 V. PACK 
 
 The Sacrilegious War .... 41-49 
 
 Halima, the foster-mother, 41 — Boy-life in the mountain 
 wilds, 42 — Mohammed an orphan, 43 — Abu Talib interests 
 his nephew in the worship of the Kaaba, 44 — Mohammed 
 goes to Syria with a caravan, 44 — A boy without books, 
 46 — Letters at Okatz, 47 — War in holy time, 48 — A victory 
 of peace, 49. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Camel-Driver of the Desert . . 50-58 
 
 Signs of good omen, 50 — A group of Ilanifs, 51 — Seekers 
 for good, 52 — Mohammed's solitary days as a shepherd, 54 — 
 Kadija appears, 55 — Mohammed's appearance, 55 — Court- 
 ship and marriage, 57 — A benediction, 58. 
 
 VII. 
 The Man of Affairs Meditates . . 55-67 
 
 Domestic peace, 59 — Leisure for thought, 6o^The faith of 
 the Arabians, 62 — Customs, 63 — Mohammed as an ancho- 
 rite, 63 — Ecstasies and trances, 64 — Powerful cries, 65 — 
 Mohammed's prestige growing, 66. 
 
 VIIL 
 The Month Ramadan .... 68-77 
 
 A change in the husband of Kadija, 68 — The month of fast- 
 ing and prayer, 70 — The blessed night " al Kadar," 71 — 
 Gabriel appears, 72 — " Cry, in the name of Allah ! " 74 — 
 Thoughts of suicide, 75 — Strong faith, 76 — Abu Talib ad- 
 heres to the faith of his ancestors, 77. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A Prophet with Little Honor . . 78-86 
 
 The career of the prophet, 78 — Idolatry to be overthrown, 
 79 — Converts, 80 — Revelations more frequent, 80 — Islam, 
 the revival of the faith of Abraham, 81 — The Koran, 82 — 
 The Koreishites invited, 82 — Ali called " kalif," 83 — The 
 Koreishites threaten, 84 — Abu Talib's emotion, 85 — The 
 blind man, 86.
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 X. 
 
 Fugitives in a Strange Land . . , 87-94 
 An explanation needed, 87 — Policy of the enemy, 83 — 
 Fratricidal war imminent, 89 — Yathrib warns against dis- 
 cord, 8g — Hamza, the lion of Allah, 90 — Mohammed tempted, 
 91 — A rash act, 92 — Emigration to Abyssinia, 93 — Omar 
 converted, 93 — Mohammed under a ban, 94. 
 
 A Twofold Cord Broken . . 95-101 
 
 A sad prophet, 95 — Kadija dies, 96 — Abu Talib dies, 96 — 
 A mission to Taif, 97 — Discomfiture, 98 — The Jinns listen, 
 99 — Convert-pilgrims from Yathrib, 100 — The first pledge 
 of Akaba (pledge of the women), loi. 
 
 XII. 
 To the Seventh Heaven . . . 102-in 
 
 Dreams and visions, 102 — Mohammed's vision, 104 — The 
 Borak, 105 — At the temple in Jerusalem, 106 — In the sev- 
 enth heaven, loS — The muezzin's call to prayer, no — A 
 change in Mohammed, in. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 In a Cave . . . . . . 112-119 
 
 Confident but not aggressive, 112 — The second meeting on 
 the hill Akaba, 113 — The second oath of Akaba, 115 — 
 "Depart to Medina!" 116— Anxious to start, 117 — The 
 Hejra, 118 — Refuge in a cave, 119. 
 
 XIV. 
 The Year One . = . . 120-128 
 
 Various chronologies, 120 — Beginning of the Arabian era, 
 121 — The three days in the cave, 122 — Journeying to Ya- 
 thrib, 123 — Hope and fear on the way, 124 — Arrival at Koba, 
 125 — The triumphal entrance, 127 — Parties at Yathrib, 127 — 
 Mohammed's difficult task, 128.
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 XV. PAGB 
 
 Islam ....... 129-137 
 
 A grand conception, 129 — The simple doctrines, 130 — The 
 jjaradisc, 131 — A mixture of good and evil, 132 — Differences 
 in the length of the suras, 133 — Evolution of Mohammed's 
 claims, 134 — The wondrous effect of the prophet's preach- 
 ing. 135 — Good traits of Islam, 136. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The Sword is Drawn .... 138-150 
 
 Yathrib called Medina, 138 — The national kibla, 139 — The 
 muezzin's call established, 140 — The prophet's simple life, 
 141 — A brotherhood formed, 142 — The different Semitic 
 prophets, 143 — The Meccan caravans threatened, 144 — Abu 
 Sofian, 146 — Angry passions rise, 147 — Mecca alarmed, 148 
 — Victory at Bedr, 149 — Sorrow at Mecca, 150. 
 
 XVII. 
 Victory for Mecca .... 151-158 
 
 Change in the prophet's trust, 151 — Secret assassination, 
 152 — Battle of the mealsacks, 153 — Mohammed girds on 
 his armor, 154 — The jagged flanks of Ohud, 156 — Islam 
 defeated, 157 — Powei of the prophet's eloquence, 158. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The Battle of the Ditch . . . 159-167 
 
 Breaking down the Jewish power, 159 — Mohammed enam- 
 oured of Zeyd's wife, 160 — Fatima marries Ali, 161 — Rules 
 for wives, 162 — Estrangement from Ayesha, 162 — The new 
 style of warfare, 164 — Allah said to have interfered, 165 — 
 Jews slaughtered, 166 — An enchantment, 167. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Exiles IN AN Empty City . . . 168-177 
 
 Mohammed irritated, though strong, j68 — An attempted pil- 
 grimage, 169 — Confronted by an enemy, 1:70 — The pledge of 
 the tree, 172 — A disappointing" victory," 173 — i^. signet ring
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 PACB 
 
 engraved, 173 — Jews of Keibar exiled, 175 — The Moslems 
 perforin the pilgrimage, 176 — Kalid and Amr converted. 
 
 177. 
 
 XX. 
 
 The Mother of Cities Conquered 178-185 
 
 Mohammed's summons to the nations, 178 — He opposes the 
 empire, 179 — A repulse, 180 — An attempt upon Mecca, 
 182 — Abbas joins Islam, 183 — Mohammed enters Mecca, 
 184 — Mercy of the conqueror, 185. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 How Taif was Besieged and Taken . 186-197 
 Taif alarmed, 186 — A battle at Ilonein, 187 — Taif besieged, 
 188 — Mohammed mobbed at Medina, 189 — Ibrahim horn, 
 190 — Christians send a deputation to Mohammed, 192 — Taif 
 still unconquered, 194 — It surrenders, 195 — An expedition 
 against the Romans, 196 — Is war over ? 197. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 A Farewell Pilgrimage . . . 198-207 
 
 Idolaters cowed, 198 — They are to be killed, 199 — The 
 prophet's power increasing, 200 — He makes a progress to 
 Mecca, 201 — A sermon in the mosque, 202 — Rivals appear, 
 203 — Osama, son of Zeyd, sent against the Romans, 204 — 
 The prophet's end approaching, 205 — Last words, 206 — 
 Death, 207. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The Fir3t Successor .... 208-217 
 
 Feelings of the people on the death of Mohammed, 208 — 
 His form and behavior, 210 — His system, 211 — His reforms, 
 212 — His idea of God, 213 — He was not an impostor, 214—- 
 Sadness in Medina, 215 — Abu Bekr chosen kalif, 216 — His 
 policy foreshadowed, 217.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Can Islam be Shaken Off ? . . . 218-225 
 
 Who was Abu Bekr? 2i8 — Claims of others on the office of 
 kalif, 219 — All's " right," 220 — Nedj wants to pray but not 
 pay tribute, 221 — The kalif's reliance upon Kalid, 222 — 
 The rivals defeated, 223 — The Koran in danger of being 
 lost, 224 — Islam not to be shaken off, 225. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Reaching out to Chaldea and Babylonia, 226-232 
 
 The dependence of despots upon war, 226 — Mesopotamia 
 attracts the Moslems, 227 — Kalid offers the Persians Islam, 
 or death, 228 — Bloody battles, 229 — Campaigns against the 
 Romans in Syria, 230 — The struggle at Wacusa, 231 — 
 Abu Bekr dies, 232. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Palestine and Mesopotamia Conquered, 233-241 
 
 Great changes coming, 233 — Omar's policy, 234 — Mesopota- 
 mia conquered, 235 — The strugle at Kadesia, 236 — Kufa 
 and Bassora hotbeds of faction, 238 — The attempt upon 
 Damascus, 239 — Its success, 240 — All of Central Syria con- 
 quered, 241. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Jerusalem Captured .... 242-250 
 
 Courage and ambition increasing, 242 — Aleppo ingloriously 
 gives up, 243 — Jews expelled, 245 — Campaign of Amr in 
 Palestine, 246 — Omar goes to Jerusalem, 248 — Terms made 
 at Jerusalem, 249 — Omar enters the city, 250. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 How Egypt and Persia were Conquered, 251-262 
 
 Omar founds a mosque and returns, 251 — The Romans 
 routed by the Moslems, 252 — The year of plague and 
 drought, 253 — Amr's campaign in Egypt, 254 — Fostat 
 founded, 254 — Yezdegird overcome, 256-258 — The era of 
 the Ilejra established, 260 — Omar's assassination, 261.
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 XXIX. PAGE 
 
 Favoritism and Intrigue , . 263-271 
 
 The golden age passed, 263 — Wrangling between rival fac- 
 tions, 264 — Tabular view of the genealogy of the kalifs. 
 265 — Character of Othman, 266 — Rebellions in Persia, 267 
 — Unhappy choice of governors, 258 — The kalifate under- 
 mined by conspirators, 269 — Othman insulted, 270 — Assas- 
 sination of the kalif, 271. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The Misfortunes of Ali, Father of Hasan, 272-287 
 A gloomy outlook, 272 — Ali becomes kalif, 273 — Mecca a 
 centre of intrigue, 274 — Ayesha goes to Bassora, 275 — An 
 appeal to Kufa, 276 — The day of the camel, 277 — Victory 
 for Ali, 278 — Moawia enters the struggle, 279 — The battle 
 at Siffin, 280 — Moawia gains the advantage, 281 — The 
 Karejites, 282 — Moawia enters Bassora, 284 — Desperate 
 Karejites conspire, 285 — Character of Ali, 286 — Moawia 
 kalif; 287. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 The Tragedy of Moharrem . . . 288-307 
 
 Damascus becomes the capital, 288 — Ziyad becomes a sup- 
 porter of Moawia, 290 — Obeidalla, 291 — The first attempt 
 upon Constantinople, 292 — A treaty, 293 — Advances in 
 Africa, 294 — -Yezid made heir-apparent, 295 — Moawia's 
 last counsels, 296 — Death and character of Moawia, 297 — 
 Hosein called to the kalifate, 298 — Yezid opposes him, 301 — 
 Death of Hosein at Kerbala, 303 — The commemoration of 
 the event, 304 — Abdalla rises at Medina, 305 — Mecca be- 
 sieged, 306 — An opportunity lost. 307. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 The Victories of Abd el Melik . . 308-320 
 
 Importance of the death of Hosein, 308 — More troulile with 
 the Karejites, 310 — Abd el Melik comes to the throne, 311 — 
 Moktar, 311 — A division of the kalifate, 312 — Musab slain.
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 VKKZ 
 
 313 — Gruesome transactions, 314 — Bloody IlejaJ, 315 — 
 Wasit founded, 316 — Karejitcs rise again, 3:7 — Tiie Berbers 
 overcome, 318 — Letters encouraged, 320. 
 
 XXXIII, 
 
 The Glory of the Omiades . , . 321-333 
 
 Walid kalif, 321 — Conquest and luxury, 322— Musa in Africa, 
 324 — Roderick, the last of the Goths, 325 — Count Julian's 
 treachery, 326 — Tarik and Tarif, 328 — Roderick, killed, 329 
 — Spain conquered, 330 — Musa's magnificent plan, 332 — 
 The fall of Musa and Tarik, 333. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 The Stroke of the Hammer . . 334-346 
 
 The glories of the Omiades passed, 334 — Musa's report, 
 335 — A defeat at Constantinople, 336 — Another reverse, 
 337 — Invasion of France, 338 — Fury of the Saracens, 339 — 
 Grasping governors, 340 — The battle near Tours, 341 — 
 Charles Martel victor, 342 — The mysterious Kazars, 345. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 The Black Flag of Abbas . . , 347-353 
 Years of civil war, 347 — Rise of the Abbassides, 348— A de- 
 ceptive peace, 349 — Conspirators at Merv, 350 — A decisive 
 battle on the Zab, 351 — Destruction of the Omiades, 352 — 
 A plan to establish a dynasty, 353. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 By Bagdad's Shrines .... 354-365 
 
 A pilgrimage to Mecca, 354 — Muslim at Nisibis, 355 — Rise 
 of the Rawendites, 356 — Bagdad founded, 357 — The Barme- 
 cides appear, 358 — Hopes of the Alyites cast down, 359 — 
 Death of Mansur, 360 — A luxurious pilgrimage, 361 — The 
 veiled prophet of Korassan, 362 — Luxury weakens the 
 kalifate, 363 — Constantinople pays tribute, 364 — Rise of 
 Freethinkers, 365.
 
 CONTENTS, Xiii 
 
 XXXVII. PAGB 
 
 Aaron the Orthodox .... 366-377 
 
 A brilliant period, 366 — The Bagdad of story, 367 — Art and 
 letters flourish, 36S — Correspondence with the emperor, 370 
 — Fall of the Barmecides, 371 — The orthodoxy of Harun, 
 372 — Revolt in Korassan, 373 — Death of Harun, 374 — Per- 
 sians and Arabs jealous, 375 — A fratricidal strife, 376 — Ma- 
 mun proclaimed, 377. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 Gold and Dross 378-389 
 
 Fadhl the prime-minister, 378 — Anarchy in Bagdad, 379 — A 
 sop to the Alyites, 380 — Mamun acts vigorously, 381 — Dis- 
 simulation, 382 — Persian influence grows stronger, 383 — 
 Rationalism, 384 — The nature of the Koran discussed, 385 
 — A war for a philosopher, 386 — Death of IMamun, 387 — 
 His encouragement of science and art, 388 — His tolera- 
 tion. 389. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 <Jlimmerings and Decays . . . 390-403 
 
 The orthodox persecuted, 390 — Babek and his sect, 391 — 
 War with the empire, 392 — The Turks advanced in the 
 kalifate, 394 — Persecutions of Moslems and Christians, 395 
 — Turks almost masters of the government, 396 — A great 
 palace at Samarra, 398 — Motawakkel assassinated, 399 — 
 The Turkish body-guard supreme, 400 — Enthusiasm for 
 war a thing of the past, 401 — Wathek exalts the Korau 
 again, 402 — Primitive principles, 403. 
 
 XL. 
 The Grip of the Turk Tightens . . 404-422 
 
 The Taherites of Korassan, 404 — The Soffarides, 405 — The 
 Tulunides, 406 — The Alyites, 407 — The Karmathians, 408 — 
 Rise of the Samanades, 408 — Amr, brother of Yakub, meets 
 a ludicrous mischance, 409 — End of the Soffarides, 410 — The 
 Karmathians give trouble in Syria, 411 — A young kalif, 412 
 — The Fatimites in Africa, 413 — Expectation of a mahdi,
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 414 — An embassy from Constantinople, 416 — Oriental mag- 
 nificence, 41S — The Karmathians in Syria, 420 — Terror in 
 Bagdad, 421 — Moklader murdered, 422. 
 
 XLI. 
 The Fatal Blow .... 423-442 
 
 The germs of decay, 423 — Strong helpers become masters, 
 424 — Kaher deposed, 425 — The Buvides from Persia, 426 — 
 The fall of Radi, 427 — The power of the kalifs lost, 428 — 
 The princes of princes supreme, 429 — The Fatimites once 
 more, 430 — Letters flourish again, 431 — The Gaznivides 
 and Seljuks, 432 — The Old ]\Ian of the Mountains, 434 — 
 A glimpse of Bagdad, 436 — Jengis Kahn, 440 — Hulaku cap- 
 tures Bagdad, 441 — The frightful end, 441. 
 
 Noldeke's Order of the Suras of the Koran . 443 
 
 A Chronological Table, a.d. 565-1261 . 445 
 List of Books Used in Preparing The Story 
 
 OF the Saracens 451 
 
 Index 471
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 5 
 
 VIEW OF MECCA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 
 
 FROM MULLER's " ISLAM " 
 RUINS OF FEIRAN, SHOWING TWO WADIES 
 MOUNT HOR, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO PAL 
 
 ESTINE . 
 
 CAMEL-RIDERS OF THE DESERT 
 
 MODERN PILGRIMS BATHING IN ZEM-ZEM . 
 
 AN ENCAMPMENT OF ARABIAN PILGRIMS 
 
 THE MOSQUE AT MECCA . 
 
 VIEW IN PETRA, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO 
 
 PALESTINE ..... 
 
 A DESERT SOLITUDE . . . , 
 
 TOMB OF FATIMA AT DAMASCUS 
 BEDAWIN WOMEN FROM BAALBEK. 
 VIEW FROM MOUNT HOR .... 
 THE KAABA, SHOWING MODERN PILGRIMS 
 INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM 
 THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM 
 ARABIAN WEAPONS OF DIFFERENT PERIODS 
 HELMET OF AN ARABIAN PRINCE OF EGYPT 
 ARABIAN WOMEN, WATER-CARRIERS 
 A PILGRIM ENCAMPMENT NEAR MEDINA 
 A YOUNG COPTIC WOMAN 
 VIEW IN MEDINA .... 
 MOHAMMED , . - . . 
 
 9 
 II 
 
 23 
 26 
 29 
 
 45 
 
 53 
 61 
 69. 
 73 
 
 85 
 107 
 
 109 
 
 145 
 
 155 
 
 163 
 
 171 
 191 
 193 
 
 209i
 
 XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SEALS OF THE EARLY KALIFS, ABU BEKR, OMAR, OTH- 
 
 MAN, ALI ........ 
 
 MAP OF DAMASCUS AND THE REGION AROUND . 
 VIEW OF A PORTION OF THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM, 
 INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF AMR AT CAIRO . 
 
 A MOSQUE AT ISPAHAN 
 
 RESTORED ELEVATION OF THE MOSQUE AT TABRIZ, 
 
 CAPITAL OF AZERBAIJAN IN NORTHERN PERSIA, 
 GENEALOGICAL LINE OF THE KALIFS, FROM ABU 
 
 BEKR TO RADI ...... 
 
 A YOUNG SYRIAN GIRL 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE AT ISPAHAN, SHOWING 
 
 AN ISLAMITE PREACHING- PLACE 
 MAUSOLEUM OF TAMERLANE AT SAMARKAND . 
 ANCIENT MOSQUE OF KAIRWAN 
 VIEW OF TUNIS ..... 
 
 VIEW OF THE MOSQUE OF HASAN AT CAIRO 
 COIN OF THE OMIADES, ABOUT 725 A.D. . 
 COINS OF THE EARLY KALIFS .... 
 
 A BERBER VILLAGE ..... 
 
 ENCLOSURE OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM 
 AN ALGERIAN BERBER ..... 
 
 A BERBER WOMAN ...... 
 
 PLAIN OF THE TOMBS AND MOSQUE OF MEHEMET ALI 
 
 AT CAIRO ...... 
 
 COURT OF THE GREAT MOSQUE OF DAMASCUS , 
 COIN OF MEHDI . . 
 
 WATER-MERCHANTS AT CAIRO 
 COIN OF THE KALIF MAMUN .... 
 
 A VIEW IN CONSTANTINOPLE .... 
 
 A SUBURB OF DAMASCUS . . . , , 
 
 COIN OF TULUN, A.D. 876 .... 
 
 AN ARABIAN ENCAMPMENT . , , , 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF CAIRO .... 
 
 237 
 247 
 
 248 
 
 259 
 
 265 
 280 
 
 283 
 289 
 
 299 
 305 
 317 
 319 
 323 
 327 
 331 
 
 343 
 
 349 
 361 
 
 369 
 
 379 
 
 393 
 
 397 
 
 405 
 409 
 
 415
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 XVll 
 
 MAP OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE REGIONS ABOUT, 417 
 
 VIEW OF A MOSQUE AT BAGDAD .... 419 
 
 COIN OF THE KALIF RADI . . . . . 427 
 
 GOLD COINS OF THE FATIMITE KALIFS, IO50 AND 
 
 1072 A.D. ....... 430 
 
 ARABIAN BREAD-SELLER AT JERUSALEM . , , 435 
 
 WALLS OF DAMASCUS , . , ^ . , 439
 
 ^ B 
 
 GREATEST EXTENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SARACEN DOMINIONS 
 
 .Shows boundary of Saracen Dominions. 
 
 Eighth Century of the Christian Era. 
 
 L 
 
 London 
 
 T. Fisher Unwin, Paternoster Square, E.G.
 
 THE SARACENS. 
 
 I. 
 
 now THE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 East of the Red Sea, and just south of I'ulestine, 
 there lies a strange land, belonging, we sometimes 
 think, neither to Europe, nor to Asia, nor to Afriea. 
 Its rocky borders are washed by water on three sides, 
 while on the fourth there lies a sandy desert of such 
 little importance that men hardly care to own it, and 
 no boundary line is drawn to show where one na- 
 tion's possessions end and the territory of the r.ext 
 neighbor begins. Sandy and rocky, almost without 
 rivers or lakes, except in favored regions, with a great 
 part entirely unknown, save, perhaps, to a few lonely 
 wanderers or enthusiastic travellers, who have ven- 
 tured to explore its barren wastes, this land was, at 
 the time of which we write, strange to all the world. 
 Roman and Macedonian, Jew and Gentile, had wan- 
 dered around it ; but no nation cared to inquire 
 what secrets lay hidden in its broad and treacherous 
 deserts. The haughty inhabitants looked back 
 through many generations and assured each other
 
 2 now THE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 that they were the aneient ones, — that they had 
 Adam and Noah and Abraham and Ishmael for their 
 fathers, and they cared as httle for the rest of the 
 world as the rest of the world cared for them. 
 
 For how many <;enerations these peculiar sons of 
 the sands had lived in their primitive simplicity; for 
 how many centuries they had fought the terrible 
 simoons, and had carried their small merchandise 
 over the deserts in a venerable commerce ; for what 
 length of time they had dwelt in tents, feeding their 
 dusky children with the dates and tamarinds that 
 clustered on the branches which shaded them from 
 the tropical sun, we cannot tell. They had no books, 
 and their traditions were so evidently framed to 
 bolster up a national pride that we cannot depend 
 upon them as truth. 
 
 At the time at which our story begins a change 
 was about to come over this strange people ; they 
 were to be known of all men. They were no longer 
 to be simply mysterious sons of the desert, but 
 something more. Mystery was certainly to be 
 always about them, but they were to have dealings 
 with men which were destined to carry their name 
 and their fame to all lands and to the end of time. 
 
 It is to this people that the story of the Saracens 
 calls us. It carries us back to a period several cen- 
 turies before the Norman invasion of England ; to a 
 time when our ancestors were bowing their heads to 
 Woden ; but it introduces us to quite a different world, 
 — it shows us a Semitic instead of an Aryan type of 
 social life. It interests us, people of another race 
 of humanity, for the reason that it is new.
 
 OPPOSING EMPIRES. 3 
 
 Hundreds of years before our story begins Greece 
 had fallen before Alexander, and Rome had become 
 master of it and of Macedonia too. Rome had 
 passed through its age of myth, its heroic and its 
 golden ages, — had been a kingdom, a republic, and 
 an empire by turns, and at last, after all its conquests, 
 had been humbled by the army of barbarians which 
 l)oured into it from the land of the Hyperboreans. For 
 two hundred years, indeed, she had mourned the ruin 
 wrought by Alaric, Attila, and Genseric ; and now 
 the very sceptre had been removed from the Tiber 
 to the Bosphorus. There, on the shores of the 
 Golden Horn, the emperor of Constantinople stood 
 over against the king of Persia, dividing, as he 
 thought, the empire of the earth with him, and ever 
 and anon making incursion into his territories. Thus 
 was continued a struggle which lasted seven centuries ; 
 as Gibbon says, — " from the death of Crassus to the 
 reign of Heraclius," — the emperor hoping that some 
 day he might grasp the whole vast realm of Chosroes 
 and sit monarch in his very palace. 
 
 One day, when forced to flee from his own king- 
 dom, a Chosroes found asylum in the dominions of 
 the Emperor Maurice ; but the kind treatment he 
 received did not insure peace. When the hospitable 
 Llaurice was killed by a usurper (a. D. 602), the 
 Persian pretended a desire to avenge the crime, and 
 the next year entered upon the most deadly war that 
 was waged between the two peoples. After the 
 fighting had been going on a few years, Heraclius 
 overcame the usurper Phocas, put him to death, and 
 gracefully yielded to the popular entreaties that he
 
 4 I/O IV THE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 should assume the purple (A. 1). 6io). He then 
 took up the war with Chosroes, ventured far into the 
 Persian country, won a decisive victory at Nineveh 
 on the river Tigris (a. D. 627), forced the Persian 
 king to flight, and celebrated triumphs both at Con- 
 stantinople and Jerusalein.* 
 
 Before this time Europe had been overrun by the 
 Iluns, who, for a while, fed their flocks on the pas- 
 ture-lands of Southern Russia, in Poland, and in 
 Hungary ; -the Vandals, the Goths, the Burgundians, 
 and the Franks had also formed a portion of the 
 seething mass of fierce humanity which had surged 
 through the regions watered b\' the Rhone, the Rhine, 
 the Seine, the Danube, the Po, and the Dnieper. 
 
 The sovereigii who held his seat at Constantinople 
 was not a Greek emperor; the Roman power had 
 simply been joined to that of the East at the time 
 (a. D. 476) when it is customary to say that the 
 Western empire " fell." Our story will bring us 
 also into contact with the hordes of shifting tribes 
 that had been for generations, all unknown to other 
 peoples, strengthening their sinews and increasing 
 their numbers on the northern plains of Asia, and 
 throughout the mountains and valleys of Turkestan, 
 and the regions beyond. 
 
 * It is to be remarked that at the moment when Heraclius was 
 enjoying these triumphs his troops were cut to pieces at a small town 
 in Southern Syria by some Saracens (see chap. :;x.); and that when, 
 in 711, the dynasty which he established was extinguished at Con- 
 stantinople, tlie then insignificant Arabian tribe ruled from Damascus 
 its most extensive dominions (see chap, xxxiii.). For an interesting 
 account of the relations between Heraclius and Chosroes II., sec 
 Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter xlvi.
 
 
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 6 HOir THE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 In the Bible, wc have the history of a nation that 
 dwelt quite near the people of whom we are writ- 
 ing. The Jews of Palestine were curiously con- 
 nected with the men of the deserts, and yet, in most 
 respects, they were strangely separate in their busi- 
 ness, their religion, and their lives. Through Ish- 
 mael, the Saracens looked back to the same ances- 
 tors, and many among the inhabitants of the 
 Arabian deserts worshipped the God of Abraham ; 
 yet the religious faith and customs of the larger 
 number of them were very different, though their 
 habits of life were in many respects the same. In 
 early times, people of influence from among the 
 *' Scriptur^d People," the " People of the Book," as 
 the Jews were called by the Arabians, had left their 
 homes in Palestine to find new ones in the city of 
 Yathrib, the Medina of after-times. In the sixth 
 century of our era, a whole tribe living in the far 
 south of Arabia had been led to give its allegiance to 
 the faith of the children of Israel, and, according to 
 their strange traditions, the people of the deserts be- 
 tween that region and Palestine had seen a sight, a 
 thousand years before Christ, the story of which im- 
 pressed the People of the Book very deeply upon 
 the Arabians all along the shores of the Red Sea. 
 
 The land of the Saracens lies four square, and com- 
 prises a territory about eight times as large as the 
 islands of Great Britain. On its western coast roll 
 the waters of the Red Sea ; to the South is the In- 
 dian Ocean, which sweeps also along the western 
 coasts of India and distant Australia ; on the east are 
 the Persian Gulf, the Euphrates, and the Tigris;
 
 THE CAMEL GOES EA'O.U IVADV TO ll'ADY. 7 
 
 while on the north is a broad belt, over which the 
 wild saiuls whirl and drive eternally. The outside bor- 
 der of this great territory is the only portion which, 
 so far as we certainly know, is generally inhabited. 
 Towards the middle country the land rises, and there 
 vast table-lands and lofty mountains frown upon all 
 attempts at colonization.* In a riverless land, water 
 is scarce, and wherever a spriiig rises to the surface 
 to refresh the parched earth the inhabitant rejoices 
 and pitches his tent with thankfulness. In imitation 
 of the Greeks, we call such a green spot an oasis, but 
 it is better named a wady, which is, in the mind of 
 an Arab, a place watered by a river or a spring that 
 is likely at any time to sink from sight. 
 
 In our day commerce finds that broad continents 
 arc not so favorable for the transportation of mer- 
 chandise as boisterous oceans ; but it was not always 
 so, and in the early days, when ships were small and 
 compasses were not known, goods were sent from 
 country to country across the deserts. In the land 
 of the Saracens they were carried from wady to 
 wady, the merchants finding grass for their beasts 
 and shade for themselves at those green .spots that 
 were watered by springs or brooks. The unwield}' 
 camel was the beast upon which the burdens were 
 carried, and it w^as able to plod over the sands with 
 its freight at the rate of some sixteen miles a da}'. 
 Patiently it bore its rider in the face of the pitiless 
 
 * The table-lands lying between Yemen on the south, Hejaz on the 
 west, and Irak on the northeast, are known as Nejd. According to 
 Palgrave, the name signifies "highlands." See "A Pilgrimage to 
 Nejd," by Lady Anne Blunt, pp. xviii.-xxvii. Hejaz is the region 
 about Mecca and Medina.
 
 5 I/Oir 'rHE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 simoon, and under the heat of the burning sun, 
 enabling him to traverse vast stretches of territory, 
 and to exchange the myrrh, frankincense, gold, and 
 precious stones of Saba and Ophir'-^ for the purple 
 of Tyre and the sword-blades of Damascus. The 
 long lines of camels and horses would sometimes 
 journey from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the 
 eastward, skirting the Persian Gulf, and would bring 
 their weary march to an end on the banks of the 
 Tigris. On other occasions they would start to the 
 north, and, halting from day to day in a succession of 
 convenient wadies by the side of the Red Sea, they 
 would make the acquaintance of a different sort of 
 Semitic civilization from their own in the borders of 
 Palestine. By this route they would pass very near 
 to wondrous Petra, and to Mount Hor, on the top 
 of which Aaron, brother of Moses, breathed his last. 
 Yemen was the name of the southern portion of 
 Arabia, but the Greeks called it Happy Arabia, on 
 account of the fertility. Saba was the name of a 
 city there of great importance in early times. In 
 that region Joktan, the mythical great-grandson of 
 Noah's son Shem, became father of a people living 
 in rich and populous cities of commercial importance. 
 A thousand years before Christ the rich King Solo- 
 mon was reigning at Jerusalem, and wondrous were 
 the stories told about him, — stories that travellers 
 slowly carried along the shores of the Red Sea, so 
 tradition asserts, until they got quite down to the 
 Indian Ocean, where they reached the ears of Balkis, 
 
 * It is not necessary to enter upon the vexed question of tlie geo- 
 grapliical position of Ophir ; it may have been in Arabia.
 
 lO IIOJV THE STORY BEGINS. 
 
 tlic queen in Saba.'-^ llcr people were Sabcans; 
 they stood on their rich wadies and on their h)nely 
 sands, and gazed up to heaven in wonder, as the 
 stars, the sun, and the moon shone out upon them, 
 and they thought that sucli bright hghts must be 
 gods. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped 
 the hosts of heaven. 
 
 The queen of Saba (we still follow tradition) medi- 
 tated upon the wonders that travellers told of the 
 great northern king, and in spite of the threescore 
 and more of stages that the camels w^ould have to 
 make before reaching that far-off land, she determined 
 to go herself and see and hear what Solomon could 
 do and say. It was no small labor to prepare for 
 such a journey. It would take but a few days to 
 accomplish the distance in our country, but there 
 and at that time circumstances were different. The 
 queen was going to visit a powerful potentate ; the 
 richest, the wisest of whom she had ever heard ; a 
 king so great, indeed, that even her wildest Arabian 
 
 * The capital of Yemen, the seat of the Himyaritic dynasty to 
 which the queen of Saba is said to have belonged, was Mareb, two 
 days' journey northeast of a city called Sana, and great numbers of 
 finely cut stones, inscriptions, coins, and jewels still give evidence 
 that a city of importance once stood there. Ealkis is represented to 
 have been descended from one Afrikis, who, according to tradition, 
 gathered the remnants of the Amalekites after Joshua overthrew that 
 people, and led them to the other side of the Red Sea, where they 
 multiplied and were known from their barbarous dialect as Berbers. 
 Magreb (western), the country in which legend makes this mixed 
 people to have settled, may be said to have extended from the Red 
 Sea to the Atlantic. See Caussin de Perceval, " Essai stir V Histoire 
 des Arabes," vol. i., pp. 67, 75-77, etc. De Slane's " Histoire des 
 Berberes," vol. i., pp. 168, 186.
 
 CAMEL RIDERS OF THE DESERT.
 
 12 HO IV THE STORY BEGHV.^^ 
 
 imagination could not deinct his t,doric.s. She could 
 not take a camel and start off alone ; she would be 
 obliged to take many camels, and scores of men, be- 
 sides numbers of women to attend upon her, and she 
 was obliged also, according to the customs of her 
 country, to take rich presents to offer to the great 
 king. 
 
 Let us imagine her starting from the city of the 
 sons of Joktan with her long train of camels and 
 their drivers ; with their tents for covering by night 
 as she encamped in the wadies by the way, and with 
 her precious gifts. Day after day we follow her, and 
 night after night we see her resting beneath the clear 
 and cloudless sky of that wondrous land. A week 
 passes, and she has but begun her tedious journey; 
 still the train pushes forwards. Another week passes 
 and another and another ; seventy days and more 
 she holds persistently to her purpose. She had 
 travelled as long as Columbus took to cross the broad 
 Atlantic. 
 
 At last the gilded turrets of the temple come in 
 sight, and in time the curious queen is in the 
 presence of the wise king. She connects his name 
 with a knowledge of the great Jehovah, and she 
 brings hard questions for him to answer, such, per- 
 haps, we imagine, as those which Job and his friends 
 discussed in their truly Arabian manner. Probably 
 she asked him to solve riddles, for her people loved 
 such sportive queries ; but surely she had besides 
 more serious matters about which to speak, for she 
 talked " of all that was in her heart "; and she 
 listened in admiration to Solomon's words, confessing
 
 MARVELS IX THE LAND OF JOKTAN. 1 3 
 
 that in spite of the exaggerations of travellers, the 
 half of what she saw and heard liad not been carried 
 to her far-away hind.'"' 
 
 No wonder that stories of Solomon increased in 
 number and in marvellousncss in the land of Joktan's 
 sons ; no wonder that he was there said to wear a 
 ring by means of which he could get any information 
 that he wanted ; no wonder that it was believed that 
 his temple was the foundation of all architectural 
 knowledge, and that he was himself thought to effect 
 his wonders through the agency of the jinns, or genii, 
 inhabitants of the mountain of Kaf in Jinnestan or 
 fairyland, over which he was said to have had com- 
 plete swa}\ No wonder that the people of Arabia, 
 from Saba to the northern deserts, naturally looked 
 upon Palestine as a land of a civilization far beyond 
 theirs, and willingly received legends and religious 
 inspiration from its people. 
 
 * An account of this legendary visit of the queen of Sheba to Solo- 
 mon is to be found in the Koran, the Arabian Bible (Sura xxvii.). 
 The word Koran means " reading," and a sura is a chapter, a con- 
 tinuous portion, like a brick in its course in a wall.
 
 II. 
 
 CREATURES OF EIRE, EIGHT, AND CEAY. 
 
 The Arabs were an imaginative people ; they lived 
 in a wonderful land, and they found something strange 
 wherever they looked ; were it into the clear blue of 
 the starlit heaven, or over the desert, often start- 
 lingly illuminated by the marvellous mirage ; they 
 saw a fairy, a ghost, a goblin, a spook, a genius of 
 some sort in the rock and the flower, in the tree and 
 the stream, — everywhere they felt that supernatural 
 agents were above and around them. Out of this 
 nature grew up in process of time a mythology, — out 
 of the nature of this active, meditative, enthusiastic, 
 deep-hearted people, these Frenchmen of the East. 
 At wdiat times it was put into the form in which it 
 appears to us, and how much of it was known in the 
 earliest days, we are not able to determine. One of 
 the most thorough students says,* that we can but 
 guess at the state of the Arabian belief in those 
 days, but that " from what broken light is shed by a 
 few forlorn rays, we may conclude this, that they 
 worshipped, to use that vague word, the Hosts of 
 Heaven"; that others seemed to have ascribed 
 every thing to nature, and that some worshipped 
 
 * Emanuel Deutsch, in tlie London Quarterly Reviezv, Oct., 1869.
 
 FRO.y KAF TO KAF. !5 
 
 stones and other fcticlics ; wliile the I'hantonis ot 
 the Desert, tlie Fata Morgana, angels and demons 
 and the rest of embodied ideas or ideals, formed 
 other objects of pious consideration. 
 
 Two thousand }X'ars before Adam was created, 
 according to the stories of the myth-makers of this 
 people, Allah made a different order of beings from 
 man. They were known as jinns; and were not 
 formed of clay, but of pure fire unmixed with smoke. 
 They moved from place to place without being seen ; 
 they loved and married ; they had children and they 
 died, just as the creatures of clay did and still do. 
 Some of them were good and some bad ; and they 
 were divided into classes in respect to other traits. 
 Some of them haunted ruins, and markets and 
 cross-roads ; some dwelt in rivers and oceans ; and 
 some were found in baths and wells ; but their 
 chief resort was a mysterious mountain named 
 Kaf, which, in the imagination of the Arabs, 
 was founded upon an immense emerald and en- 
 circled the world, so that indeed the sun rose and 
 went down behind it. When they wished to speak 
 of the entire earth, they said " from Kaf to Kaf." 
 It was this emerald, they thought, which gave 
 its azure tint to the sun's rays ; it surrounded the 
 earth as a ring surrounds a finger, and, in some way 
 that we do not understand, it was connected with 
 the earthquakes which, in accordance with the orders 
 of Allah, shook Arabia. 
 
 All the jinns were once good, and had their laws, 
 prophets, religion, and regular government ; but long 
 before the time of Adam, they became uneasy under
 
 l6 CREA TURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLA V. 
 
 a monotonous and regular litu, and tried to over- 
 turn the original condition of things. They rebelled 
 against the prophets, who, avc must remember, were 
 not persons who foretold future events, but, like 
 those of their neighbors, the Jews, were preachers, 
 and expounders of the will of heaven. Allah sent 
 against them legions of creatures who were still more 
 spiritual than they, angels, who had been created not 
 from ckiy, not even from smokeless fire, but from 
 pure light. Was it not a bright thought of someone 
 in those early ages, that of peopling space with such 
 creatures as these, made of fire and light ? 
 
 Well, the angels went forth and made consterna- 
 tion among the jinns, scattering them to the islands 
 and mountains, and to all sorts of out-of-the-way 
 places, but also capturing many of them. The evil 
 jinns were known by several names, one of which 
 was Ifrect or Efrect. Some accounts says that one 
 of those that the angels frightened became an angel 
 himself, and was named Azazil, or Iblis; but no one 
 knows what the original belief was, and it is well 
 enough for us to think of Iblis as at first an angel who 
 rebelled against Allah, at the time of the creation of 
 Adam, and became an evil demon corresponding 
 with our idea of Satan. Like Satan, he was proud 
 in his first estate, and was called the Peacock of the 
 angels. 
 
 When an Arabian whirlwind was seen carrying 
 sand and dust over field and desert, it was said that 
 some evil jinn was riding forth with sinister intent, 
 and the beholder Avas vv^ont to cry out : " Iron ! Iron ! 
 thou unlucky!" for the jinns were cowed by the tear
 
 ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS. 1 7 
 
 of iron ; or they exclaimed : " Allah is most great ! " 
 as if thinking that Allah, thus complimented, would 
 protect them from the threatened harm. So when 
 they ventured to sea in their h'ttle boats, and saw a 
 waterspout, they thought that a jinn was abroad, 
 against whom they needed protection. 
 
 The angels were deemed quite different from 
 jinns ; they never disobey Allah, nor are they 
 troubled by the bad passions that stir jinns, and, it 
 must be confessed, stir men, also ; some did join in 
 the rebellion against Allah, but since that time all 
 find their food in celebrating his glory, their drink 
 in proclaiming his holiness, and their pleasure in his 
 worship. They were supposed to have difTerent 
 forms ; but as they are made of pure light, it would 
 of course, take sharper eyes than those of the creat- 
 ures of clay to tell what their beautiful shapes are. 
 Four are archangels : Gabriel, the faithful spirit, who 
 reveals the will of Allah; Michael, guardian of the 
 Jews; Azrael, the angel of death; and Israfil, the 
 angel of the trumpet, who is at the end of the world 
 to blow a blast which will kill all creatures, and 
 another which will raise them all for judgment. 
 
 One angel was supposed to stand ever at the right 
 side of each man to record his good deeds, and an- 
 other at his left to write down his evil acts. At 
 every man's death Nakir and Munkir, two of the 
 creatures of light, examine him in his grave concern- 
 ing his faith. If he acknowledge Allah to be the one 
 God, they permit him to rest in peace, but otherwise 
 they pound and beat him until he roars so loudly that 
 he is heard, by all but men and jinns, from Kaf to Kaf !
 
 1 8 CREA rURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CIA V. 
 
 Men were thouy,ht to be not entirely at the mercy 
 of the jinns, but were permitted to command their 
 services, and even to gain from them some informa- 
 tion of future events through the inedium of certain 
 invocations and tahsmans. One would think that 
 jinns could not know any more about the future 
 than ordinary mortals, but we are told that they 
 were eavesdroppers at the gates of heaven, and thus 
 gained a great deal of information about the doings 
 of the angels and the plans of Allah. Up to the time 
 of the birth of Jesus, so they say, they were allowed 
 to enter any of the seven heavens, but after that 
 they were excluded from three of them, and after 
 the birth of Mohammed they were forbidden the 
 other four ; still, however, as they go as near the 
 lowest heaven as possible, they glean a great deal 
 that men cannot learn. When the Arabians saw 
 bright shooting-stars in the sky, they were wont to 
 say that the angels were driving these inquisitive 
 jinns from their positions near the gates of the low- 
 est heaven. 
 
 Solomon's seal-ring by which he was supposed to 
 control the jinns, was said to have been sent to him 
 from heaven. It was of iron and brass, and had 
 engraven on it the name of Allah. When he sent a 
 command to the good jinns, he stamped the letter 
 with the brass, and when the order was intended for 
 the evil ones, it bore the imprint of the iron, for the 
 reason that has been mentioned. By the power he 
 possessed over the jinns he forced them to assist in 
 building the temple at Jerusalem, and in many of the 
 Other great works of his reign. The marvellous ring
 
 CONCEPTIONS OF PARADISE. 1 9 
 
 gave him power also over winds, over birds, and even 
 over wild beasts. It is mentioned in Llie "Arabian 
 Nights," in the tale of the fisherman and the jinn, or 
 genii. It was truly a wondrous ring. By it the rich 
 owner converted many evil jinns to the true faith, 
 and confined others in strong prisons because they 
 would not yield. It were well if other mortals could 
 have owned such a ring, for the evil jinns worked a 
 great many wrongs upon men. They carried off 
 beautiful women ; they went upon roofs and threw 
 bricks and stones down upon passers-by, they stole 
 provisions, they haunted empty houses, some of 
 them, called ghouls, ate men and made their homes 
 in graveyards, and they did many other diabolical 
 acts. 
 
 Though we cannot tell at what time the different 
 portions of this weird mythology were taken up, we 
 know that the belief in jinns was an original portion 
 of it, though it is equally evident also that the heaven 
 of the Arabian imagination was a creation of after- 
 times. Mohammed conceived Paradise to be a place 
 where all the enjoyments grateful to dwellers in a 
 hot and barren land, — shade, rest, water, fruit, com- 
 panionship, and service, — were perennially furnished 
 to the faithful. Allah is the ruler there : he is eter- 
 nal and everlasting, without form or limit, including 
 every thing and included by nothing ; he is invoked 
 under ninety-nine attributes which represent him as 
 merciful and glorious, exalted and righteous ; the 
 guardian and judge, the creator and the provider. 
 
 Heaven was to him in its seven-fold division, the 
 Garden of Beauty, the Abode of Peace, the Abode
 
 20 CREA TURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLA V. 
 
 of Rest, the Gartlcn of Eden, the Garden of Resort, 
 the Garden of Pleasure, the Garden of the Most 
 High, and the Garden of Paradise.* Hell was like- 
 wise divided into seven parts: Gehenna, the P^lam- 
 ing Fire, the Raging Plre that splits every thing to 
 pieces, the Blaze, the Scorching Fire, the P'ierce Fire, 
 and finally the Abyss. In the first hell wicked Islam- 
 ites were confined temporarily; in the second are 
 the Jews; in the third the Christians ; in the fcnirth 
 the Sabeans ; in the fifth the Magians ; in the sixth the 
 idol-worshippers ; and in the bottommost, hypocrites 
 who have falsely professed some religion. This hell 
 in all its departments was a place which men accus- 
 tomed to the trials of a hot country would consider 
 an abode of direst misery. 
 
 The ninth month of the Arabian year, called 
 Ramadan, is and was held to be a sort of Lent, during 
 the entire duration of which it was a sacred duty to 
 fast from the rising of the sun to the going down of 
 the same ; but when its setting was announced, all 
 restrictions were off, and the hungry and thirsty 
 hastened to eat and drink to full content. During 
 the day they would even hold the hand before the 
 mouth should they chance to pass in the street a 
 man smoking, lest a whiff of the forbidden fragrance 
 should pollute them ; but when it was too dark to 
 distinguish a white thread from a black, they might 
 unrestrictedly enjoy their pipes. Some, of course, 
 did not observe this month with the religious faith, 
 that others held, and some looked at it in the spirit 
 
 * The Jewish rabbis likewise taught that there were seveu 
 heavens.
 
 THE REST OF RAMADAN. 
 
 21 
 
 of the Magians, with whom it was a spell. There 
 were not lacking those, however, who sought the 
 quiet of spots remote from the ])us}^ haunts of men, 
 and communed with their thoughts as they looked 
 towards the abode of Allah.
 
 
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 III. 
 
 THE TIMKS OK KINORANCE. 
 
 When Adam fell from Paradise, so the stories of 
 the East tell us, there fell also a pure white stone, 
 which, through all the ages, has been kept with re- 
 ligious care, and worshipped as something pure and 
 holy. As stones do sometimes fall from the heavens, 
 it may well be that this one so fell in the early days 
 when men knew nothing about aerolites, and at such 
 a period they would naturally have given :l rever- 
 ence. We can trace this particular stone to a time 
 long before the birth of Christ ; and Diodorus, the 
 Sicilian, a writer of the golden age of Rome, who 
 made it the business of his life to get accurate infor- 
 mation about all nations, said that it existed in his 
 days, was then most ancient, and was revered ex- 
 ceedingly by the whole Arab race. 
 
 We remember that when Jacob dreamed his won- 
 derful dream, he set up a stone in commemoration 
 of the event, on the top of which he poured oil, and 
 that he called the placed " Beth-El," or the House of 
 God. The Arabs also call the place where their pre- 
 cious stone is, the House of Allah, and they seem to 
 worship the shapeless mass, as Jacob did not. It 
 was, in fact, not at all uncommon in the early times
 
 24 THE TIMES OE IGNORANCE. 
 
 for the Arabs to bow down to inisshapcn stones; but 
 this one became the most noted and at last the onl)' 
 one remembered. It did not remain white, and is 
 now of a redtlish-brown color, either because it has 
 wept so much for the sins of the world, as its worship- 
 pers aver, or because it has been handled and kissed 
 for so many hundred years. It is worn and broken, 
 and bound together by silver bands, and is often de- 
 scribed as black, so begrimed has it become. 
 
 The sacred stone is embedded in the walls of a 
 building, known as the Kaaba, or Cube, around 
 which a mosque has been built, which includes, be- 
 sides the Kaaba, a well, called from the purling 
 sound of its gently gurgling waters, Zem-zem. It is 
 related that when Hagar was sent into the desert by 
 Father Abraham, she laid little Ishmael down on the 
 sand (though ive think that he was a young man of 
 some sixteen years), and that, as he threw his limbs 
 about, he discovered the spring, which afterwards af- 
 forded refeshment to both him and his mother. They 
 say that Seth, s^n of Adam, had built the Kaaba 
 there, but that tlie deluge had washed it away. When 
 Ishmael became a man, and had married a princess 
 of the land, he undertook the pious work of rebuild- 
 ing the holy house. In this he was assisted by his 
 father, Abraham, who was directed by the angel Ga- 
 briel, sent from heaven for the express purpose. The 
 angel discovered the sacred stone, which had been 
 hidden by the slime left after the flood. 
 
 The period to which all these remarkable events 
 are relegated by the Arabians, they well call the 
 Times of Ignoran-ce, and utterly improbable as we
 
 COMMERCE IiV EARLY DAYS. 2 5 
 
 may think them, they arc necessary to be told in 
 connection Avith our stor}'. The I^ible records 
 that in the days of Isaac and Jacob there were 
 traders in Palestine, Avho came from and returned to 
 Arabia, cxchanL^iny; the productions of the two lands. 
 As we follow the history along, we find that in the 
 reign of Solomon the "kings of Arabia" and her 
 merchants traded still Avith Judea, and that the pro- 
 phet Ezekiel, in his lamentation for the wealthy 
 city of T}'re, graphically refers to the trafifickers from 
 Dedan and Aden and Saba as bringing to that great 
 Mediterranean seaport rich spices and precious stones, 
 bright sword-blades and chests of costly apparel, 
 gold, and wrappings of blue and embroidered work.* 
 
 This was hundreds of years before Christ ; and we 
 learn from Roman writers that the lucrative com- 
 merce was kept up until a time came at which men 
 began to carry on their trade over the waters of the 
 Red Sea. Then the ship of the ocean took the 
 place of the ship of the desert, and the camels were 
 no longer needed in vast numbers for transportation, 
 nor the drivers to direct them. Mercantile stations 
 and halting-places had been established along the 
 shores, from the Persian Gulf to tlie northern ex- 
 tremity of the Gulf of Akaba, which were then de- 
 serted, and many men were obliged to scatter and 
 seek occupation in other places. The number of 
 Bedawins, or wanderers over the deserts, was much 
 increased. 
 
 During the years of ignorance, the world knew 
 little of the peninsula of Arabia. In the reign of 
 
 •''Ezekiel, xxviii., 3g-24.
 
 26 
 
 THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE. 
 
 Augustus, a quarter of a century before Christ, a 
 Roman army, under command of yElius Gallus, pre- 
 fect of Egypt, had crossed the Red Sea at the com- 
 mand of the emperor, with the intention of making 
 treaties with the people, or of conquering them, if 
 they should dare to oppose Roman progress. For 
 
 AX ENXAMI'MENT OF ARABIAN PILGRIMS. 
 
 six months the army wandered about in the extreme 
 south of the country, penetrating as far as Saba, 
 under the direction of a treacherous guide ; but the 
 hot sun burned them, and the bad v/ater made them 
 ill. The force melted away under the disease ; u^lius 
 could not conquer the Arabs, and was obliged to has- 
 ten from the inhospitable region most ingloriously,
 
 THE rOSTTION' OF MECCA. 2^ 
 
 occupying but sixty clays in liis rapid retreat. The 
 poet Horace mentions the proverbial opulence of the 
 Arabians, which had tempted tlie emperor to send 
 out this ill-fated expedition, and \vc learn frcnn him 
 with what avidity it was entered upon. Though it 
 failed in its immediate purpose, it resulted in consid- 
 erable addition to the world's knowledge of the land 
 of the Saracens, for Gallushad been accompanied by 
 his intimate friend Strabo, and when that writer 
 found himself .safe in Egypt again, h.e gave him the 
 information he had gained, which we ma}' still read 
 in the sixteenth book of the geographer's great 
 work. 
 
 Five himdred years after this (in the sixth century 
 of our era), when Christianity had been introduced 
 into the same part of the countr}-, the Romans inter- 
 fered again. From time immemorial the dynasty of 
 the Himyarites had governed both Yemen and Had- 
 ramawt, the region to the east ; but at this time a 
 Jewish usurper had seized the throne, and u'as tr}'ing 
 by means of frightful persecutions to turn the Chris- 
 tians to his faith. A refugee managed to find his 
 way across Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor to the 
 court of Justinian at Constantinople, and there hold- 
 ing up a half-burned gospel, pleaded for retribution. 
 A prince of Abyssinia undertook the task, and 
 crossed the Red Sea. He grasped the supreme au- 
 thority, and ruled for a while, but fmally his govern- 
 ment was throAvn off, and Yemen at least became 
 tributary to Persia. 
 
 The position of Mecca, which made the Kaaba a 
 centre for the f:iithful to congregate about, is verv
 
 28 THE TIMES OE IGNORANCE. 
 
 convenient, for it is midway on the road from the 
 Gulf of Akaba to Saba. It is about fifty miles 
 from the shores of the Rod Sea, and some thirt}^ 
 from the granite pe.iks of Jeljel Kora. Last of 
 this mountain there lies a smiling country clothed 
 with verdure and beautified by shady trees, while 
 apples and figs, pomegranates and peaches, abound 
 in perfection. The region about Mecca is, however, 
 a great contrast to this loveliness. There rugged 
 rocks look sullenly down upon barren valleys, sandy 
 and stony, and the labors of the farmer are rewarded 
 by doubtful crops. 
 
 The irregular valley in which Mecca lies is about 
 two m.iles in length, the Kaaba and the principal 
 portions of the city being in an amphitheatre about 
 a half mile in width, surrounded by precipitous rocks 
 that frown upon it from elevations of two hundred, 
 three hundred, and even five hundred feet. Such 
 was the spot in which Hagar and Ishmael were 
 imagined to have found a haven of refuge ; and 
 surely it was a fitting place for the cradle of a race 
 of wild, hard}-, active, agile men, whose hands were, 
 in the language of Scripture, to be against every 
 man and every man's hand against them ; of men 
 who were to be strong, and destined to dwell over 
 against their brethren, ever threatening them. 
 
 At some time, probably long before history records 
 any thing of it, a tide of pilgrimage turned towards 
 this forbidding valley, and the western-central region 
 of Arabia came to be called Hejaz, the land of pilgrim- 
 ages. Commerce had to a great extent deserted its 
 ancient route down the shores of the Red Sea, but
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 1 
 
 ii 
 
 r 
 
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 1 1 iS!!' 
 
 I! I '1 1'\ 
 
 
 
 
 
 IpLi 1 
 
 li/h 
 
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 ■i 
 
 1 
 
 
 liiaaMI'J 
 
 
 
 iii{iii!iif 
 
 !!:yii:iHi:;!vi:l^^!liiB 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 30 THE TIMES OE IGNORANCE. 
 
 fcticisni still poured its tiiousands of devotees into 
 this valley. They thronged especially about the 
 " Mountain of Mercy," Arafat, which is a slight 
 elevation rising but two hundred feet above the 
 plain on which it stands, on ;:ne sacred summit of 
 which it was said that Adam, had built a house 
 of worship, and had been taught by the angel Gabriel 
 how to pray. 
 
 These vast numbers brought much money to the 
 place, and schemers saw that the control of their 
 supplies would give power and fortune to whoever 
 should obtain it. The so-called descendants of Ish- 
 mael asserted that it was their privilege, and for 
 a time they actually held it ; but envious neighbors 
 deprived them of their birthright, and held it until 
 one Kossai arose with ambition and force enough to 
 claim, and at last to concentrate in his person, the 
 attributes of chief of the city. He was descended 
 from Fihr, surnamed the Koreish, or trafficker, 
 whose pedigree has been carefully traced, but of 
 whom little is known except that he was powerful. 
 Kossai brought many of his kindred into the valley 
 about the year 440 A.D.; built a palace, and a house 
 for the transaction of important business ; directed 
 the coming and going of the caravans; held the 
 keys of Kaaba ; monopolized the supplies of bread 
 for the pilgrims ; and controlled the refreshing 
 waters of Zem-zem, — in short, he made a city of 
 Mecca and firmly ruled it.* 
 
 * The business of conveying the thousands of jjilgrims who still 
 go to Mecca (from India, at least) has just been placed in the harids 
 of the toufists, Cook and Sons, who, by contract with the British gov- 
 ernment, carry them in well-appointed steamships.
 
 PERFORMING THE PILGRIMAGE 31 
 
 Kossai grasped at once all civil, political, and re- 
 ligious authority, gave circumstance to the duties 
 and ceremonies required of the pilgrim ; and the 
 willing and superstitious Arabs hesitated not to follow 
 his commands. When they came in after-times to 
 perform the pilgrim.age, they put on a dress known 
 as the ihram, dutifully visited the Kaaba, and kissed 
 the sacred black stone ; they performed the tawaf, 
 by walking seven times around the building, three 
 times impetuously and four times at an easy pace , 
 seven times they ran up the hills Safa and ]\Iarwa 
 and down again ; of an early morning they rushed 
 tumultuously to the summit of the mount Arafat, 
 and hastened back again ; they threw stones at three 
 pillars, in mystic memory of Abraham, or, perhaps, 
 of Adam, who met Iblis there, and in like manner 
 drove him away ; they sacrificed some animal and 
 then took off the ihram and rested three days, after 
 which they repeated the seven circuits of the Kaaba, 
 and were at liberty to turn their faces homewards 
 and return to the usual duties of life, ever after- 
 wards honored wath the title Haj, or pilgrim. The 
 offerings made by the devotees were in memory of the 
 sacrifice of Ishmael that Abraham intended to make, 
 for they put their ancestor in the place of Isaac. 
 What the duties of pilgrims were at first we cannot 
 tell, nor do we know the names of the idols that were 
 worshipped in the Kaaba, though there were in early 
 times over three hundred and sixty-five of them in 
 the pantheon. 
 
 The honors and privileges of chief at Mecca were 
 not enjoyed in peace by the descendants of Kossai,
 
 32 THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE. 
 
 and many struggles arc recorded among them, Ir 
 time there arose in the regular line one Abd Menaf, 
 who was strong enough to obtain and convey to his 
 son Hashim the hereditary right of entertaining the 
 pilgrims. Omia, a nephew of Hashim, proved a de- 
 termined opponent, and the enmity was bequeathed 
 to their sons, so that the struggles between the 
 Hashimites and the Omiades became historic and 
 bloody. Once the holy well was, strangely enough, 
 covered up and forgotten, until Abd al Muttalib, son 
 of Hashim, miraculously uncovered it, whereupon 
 he immediately increased in dignity and fame and 
 continued to be honored until his death. 
 
 In an hour of weakness Abd al Muttalib had once 
 vowed that if he should ever be so greatly blessed as 
 to have ten sons, one should certainly be devoted to 
 Allah. In process of time the number was fulfilled, 
 and the sorrowing father reluctantly gathered his off- 
 spring in the Kaaba and cast lots for the one to be 
 sacrificed. The lot fell upon Abdalla, the beautiful 
 son of his old age, and the sacrificial knife was sol- 
 emnly prepared. Then the sisters of Abdalla rose 
 up and besought their father to cast lots between 
 their brother and ten camels — in those days consid- 
 ered the proper fine for the blood of a man. Abd 
 al Muttalib consented, and lo ! the lot a second time 
 fell upon the beloved son. Again resort was made 
 to the lot — the number of beasts being doubled ; 
 but still it fell upon the son. Time after time the 
 trial was made, at the urgent appeal of the sorrow- 
 ing sisters, until one hundred camels had been prof- 
 fered, when to their joy the lot fell upon the beasts;
 
 ABDALLA'S LIFE SAVED. 33 
 
 Abdalla was spared, and the inhabitants of Mecca 
 feasted upon the carcasses that had been forfeited.* 
 Before the days of Kossai there had been no real 
 government in Arabia ; every man did that 'which 
 was right in his own eyes, acknowledging but indefi- 
 nite allegiance to his own tribe ; and even now gov- 
 ernment depended upon force, and was liable at any 
 time to be overthrown. Such was the condition of 
 affairs as the years of ignorance approached their 
 end ; at the time when the outer world was destined 
 to interfere in the affairs of the peninsula and an 
 Eastern miracle was to be seen. 
 
 * The price of the blood of a man after this time was one hundred 
 ramels — a number which the great prophet of the people confirmed.
 
 IV. 
 
 THE YEAR OF THE EEEPHANT. 
 
 During the life of Abd al Muttalib there ruled in 
 Yemen a powerful viceroy of the Prince of Abys- 
 sinia, whose name was Abraha. He had his capital 
 at Sana, to which city he had brought the commerce 
 of Persia and of his own country, and had established 
 in it a power that has not yet faded away, for Sana 
 is said to possess even now many attractive build- 
 ings, gardens, fountains, and palaces, and to be still 
 the centre of a considerable trade. Representing a 
 Christian prince, Abraha had erected a temple of 
 some magnificence, which he hoped would draw 
 worshippers away from the Kaaba, but in this he 
 was disappointed, and his Christianity did not 
 prove powerful enough to keep his angry passions 
 from rising as he contemplated his failure. He de- 
 termined to accomplish by force that which he hkd 
 failed to bring to pass by persuasion. In his wrath 
 he gathered an army with which he purposed to at» 
 tack Mecca, marched towards that place with ban- 
 ners flying, and easily thrust aside the opposition 
 made to his progress by the unorganized tribes that 
 he found in the first portion of his route. 
 
 As he pushed onward his hot anger boiled in him
 
 ABRAHA FORGES ALONG. " 35 
 
 ?.s the difficulties of the way increased d:;y after day. 
 Sana is said to be about fifteen days' journey from 
 Mocha and Aden, and if this be true, it must be not 
 less than forty days' journey from Mecca.* Three 
 days' march from the Holy City lies the town of 
 Taif (pronounced Ta-eef,) now considered almost as 
 sacred as the Mother of Cities herself. At that time, 
 for some reason, the men of Taif did not care to 
 claim any interest in Mecca, and said as much to 
 Abraha. They even went so far as to offer him a 
 guide through the desert to the place that he sought 
 to destroy, — not a very neighborly act. Ages have 
 passed since that memorable march, but the perfidy 
 of the traitorous guide is not forgotten. For centu- 
 ries passers-by were accustomed to cast stones upon 
 his tomb, for he suddenly died by the way, and did 
 not live long enough after making his offer to com- 
 plete the march of three days. An angry man is not 
 easily stopped, however, and Abraha forged along, 
 sending out troops in advance, who were ordered to 
 take what cattle could be obtained, and probably to 
 spread among the scattered people whom they met 
 stories of the prowess of the viceroy. They told of 
 his strong army, of the riches of the city of Sana, and 
 above all, we may be sure, they described a huge ele- 
 phant that he had in his train — an animal that was 
 quite new to the Arabians and very frightful. Two 
 hundred camels of Abd al Muttalib were swept away 
 by this raid of Abraha's advance guard. 
 
 Before reaching Mecca the viceroy sent messen- 
 
 * Abulfeda, an Arabian geographer of the thirteenth century, would 
 make the distance but thirty days' journey.
 
 36 THE YEAR OF THE ELKPIIANT. 
 
 gers to the city, who said, in the flowery language of 
 the East : " Abraha, viceroy of the king of -Abys- 
 sinia, desires not to injure you, O ye men of the 
 Holy City ; he wishes but to destroy the Kaaba, 
 which in his eyes is a polluted house, the home of 
 idols, the shrine of a false religion. This done, he 
 will retire without shedding the blood of any among 
 you." It may well be imagined that a message like 
 this did not accomplish its purpose, for there was no 
 object so much venerated and so carefully guarded 
 by the inhabitants of Mecca as their sacred building. 
 They were ready to sacrifice life and every thing 
 they possessed for its preservation, and though they 
 had before thought that any effort to oppose so 
 powerful an enemy would be fruitless, they were 
 now stimulated to put forth their utmost strength 
 in its behalf. They conveyed their decision to 
 Abraha by an embassy, and Abd al Muttalib himself 
 went to the enemy's camp to emphasize the mes- 
 sage. Abraha endeavored by all means in his power 
 to induce the guardians of the sacred building to 
 betray their trust. He returned the stolen camels of 
 Abd al Muttalib ; he offered him riches ; but all in 
 vain ; the negotiations were broken off. Abraha 
 was proudly informed that the Kaaba was under the 
 care of Allah ; and then the men of Mecca, almost 
 in despair, returned to their homes, leaving him to 
 act as he thought best. 
 
 The host of the elephant, as it was called, was 
 deemed invincible, however, and after a while the 
 Meccans losing hope of being able to resist it, sor- 
 rowfully decided to retreat to the surrounding hills.
 
 AN EASTERN MIRACLE. 37 
 
 When this determination had been reached, Abd al 
 Muttahb took hold of the rin<j of the door of the 
 sacred house and prayed aloud : " Defend, O Allah, 
 thine own house, for thy servants are too feeble to 
 oppose violence with force ; suffer not the cross to 
 triumph over the Kaaba ! " After these words he 
 retreated with the other citizens to the hills, and 
 calmly awaited the result. To the surprise of the 
 whole population they saw the invading army begin 
 to beat a retreat ! The huge elephant had refused 
 to advance upon the city; and besides, the invaders 
 had been suddenly attacked by an irresistible foe. 
 A pestilence had broken out in their ranks, and in 
 fear of death, they hastened to get away from a spot 
 that seemed to them the abode of death. Soon 
 after they started they were abandoned by their 
 guides, and many died in the way in the intricacies of 
 the wadies. Many others were swept away by a flood 
 that seemed to be sent upon them by the wrath of 
 Allah, and Abraha himself, stricken by the foul disease, 
 only reached Sana to find in it a grave. The men of 
 Mecca gave thanks that they had been delivered, and 
 still the Moslem mosques reverberate with the sound 
 of the voice of the Islamite priests, as they cry: 
 
 " In the name of Allah the merciful and compas- 
 sionate ! Hast thou not seen what Allah did with 
 the fellows of the elephant ? Did he not make their 
 stratagem lead them astray, and send down on them 
 birds in flocks to cast upon them stones of baked clay, 
 and make them like munched stalks of grain ? " * 
 
 * It is supposed that the disease which attacked the host of Abraha 
 was the small-pox, the hard pustules of which are, by a violent meta-
 
 38 THE YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT. 
 
 For twelve hundred years these words have been 
 constantly repeated, and the faithful thus reminded 
 of the time M-hen Allah was implored by Abd al 
 Muttalib to interpose for the preservation of the 
 Kaaba. The event gave greater stability to the 
 power of the descendants of Abd Mcnaf, while it 
 deepened the strife between tin: Omiades and the 
 Hashiniites. 
 
 Another event of the Year of the Elephant marks 
 it still more strongly, and but for it the Story of the 
 Saracens had never been told. The year previous, 
 the young and beautiful Abdalla, whose name means 
 " Servant of Allah," had espoused a charming maiden 
 descended from a brother of the famous Kossai, 
 Amina by name. So lovely was the son of Abd al 
 Muttalib, and so beautiful, that the old story-tellers 
 afifirm that when he married Amina two hundred 
 fair maidens of Mecca died of sorrow that he had 
 not married them ! He was, it is a pleasure to add, 
 as good as he was handsome. Not long after his 
 wedding he was called to go on business to Gaza, in 
 Southern Syria, the strong city of the Philistines, 
 from which Samson carried away the gates and tow- 
 ards wdiich the minister of Candace, Queen of 
 Ethiopia, journeyed after his visit to Jerusalem, as 
 
 phor, likened to small stones which birds cast down under direction 
 of Allah. — The Koran, sura xciv. (In making extracts from t'ne 
 Koran the author has not confined himself to any single version, out 
 has endeavored to take that one in each instance which seemed to 
 give the sense in the most appropriate English. The versions of 
 Palmer, Rodwell, Kazimirski, Sale, and others have been constantly 
 consulted, and all the extracts have been carefully compared with the 
 Arabic.)
 
 AMINA'S FAMOUS BOY. 39 
 
 related in the book of Acts, On his way homewards 
 Abdalla was attacked by disease at Medina (then 
 called Yathrib), and before fair Amina or any of her 
 friends could visit him he died. He left but poor 
 provision for his }-oung wife — only a few inferior 
 camels, a slave-girl, and a flock of goats. 
 
 Tradition, which magnifies every event in this his- 
 tory, relates that a few weeks afterwards, in a day 
 towards the end of summer, ^^ Amina became the 
 mother of a boy who, marvellous to tell, exclaimed 
 as soon as he came into the world : 
 
 "Allah is great ! There is no god but Allah, and 
 I am his prophet ! " 
 
 It is said that men in distant places were startled 
 by wondrous events that same August day ; that a 
 violent earthquake shook the palace of great Chos- 
 roes in Persia to its very foundations, so that its 
 tall minarets toppled to the earth ; that a certain 
 high officer saw in a vision a wild camel overcome 
 by an Arabian charger ; that the sacred fire which 
 for a thousand years had burned incessantly on the 
 altar of Zoroaster, under watch of the Magi, went 
 out ; that Iblis was cast into the depths of the sea, 
 and the malignant jinns were thrust out by the 
 pure angels. The boy's grandfather took him to 
 
 * Caiissin de Perceval gives this date August 20, 570 A.D. ; and 
 Professor E. A. Freeman, in the revised edition of his " Lectures on 
 the Saracens," puts it in 569 ; but Prof essor E. 11. Palmer, the schol- 
 arly translator of the Koran, gives April 20, 571, though he adds 
 that any date is uncertain. Dr. Emanuel Deutsch gives the same 
 year. The latest authority, Dr. August Mliller, in " Der Islam," 
 vol. i., p. 44, says that 570 is correct, and that April 20, 571 is the 
 '"'conventional date."
 
 40 7^ HE YEAR OE THE ET.EriTANT. 
 
 the Kaaba, where, holdincj him higli in his arms, he 
 solemnly gave thanks to Allah for his birth, and 
 named him Mohammed, " the Praised One." This 
 name, we are assured, had never been used before, 
 and there were great expectations on account of the 
 boy's birth ; but there are grave doubts in this re- 
 spect, and some writers say that the baby was origi- 
 nally called Kothan, a name which was changed at a 
 later period, for reasons which will become apparent 
 in the course of our story.* 
 
 Doubtless the miracles are all exaggerated inven- 
 tions of after-times, and it is not necessary to believe 
 them, marvellous as Mohammed's career proved. 
 There is no reason to doubt, however, that when he 
 was seven days old his venerable grandfather gave a 
 feast to the men of the powerful tribe of the Koreish- 
 ites, and presented the babe as one destined to 
 bring glory to their race, a destiny of which the 
 name Mohammed, if given afterwards, was intended 
 to seem prophetic. 
 
 * See Emanuel Deutsch's article on " Islam."
 
 V. 
 
 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR. 
 
 It was the fashion among the ladies of high birth 
 at Mecca, in the olden time, to give their children to 
 nurses, who took them off to the mountains and 
 cared for them in the fresh air, where they had am- 
 ple opportunity to develop their bodies, and to grow 
 strong. Amina was of high birth, and surely her 
 little boy had a pedigree long enough, for it reached 
 to Adam, and she followed the custom of the time 
 by entrusting Mohammed to a woman of the tribe 
 of Beni Sad, whose pedigree also ran back to remote 
 antiquity. The name of this foster-mother was 
 Halima. She accepted the care of the fatherless 
 child rather from compassion than desire, and took 
 him off to a valley among the mountains that run 
 southward from Taif. Poor Amina, like many 
 another person with a long pedigree, had so little of 
 the goods of this world that there was no great 
 promise of reward for the nurse's labor. Imagine 
 this woman of Sad riding away from the young 
 widow, carrying an only son, to be gone, no one 
 could tell how long. 
 
 At the end of two years both nurse and child re- 
 turned, and Amina was so much pleased by the fresh
 
 42 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR. 
 
 and ruddy appearance of her son, that she said : 
 '' Take him back to the desert ; let him grow and be 
 strong." He accordingl)' returned and remained 
 three years longer, though, during that period he 
 was at one time attacked by disease, which aroused 
 the superstitious fears of Halima and her husband, 
 and they carried him home to Amina, fearful lest he 
 might be under the influence of an evil jinn. Halima 
 loved her little charge, however, and was persuaded 
 to take him back again, though after that she never 
 allowed him to wander from her sight. In spite of 
 her 2:)rccautions, the jinns managed, as she thought, 
 to get access to him, and a " seal of prophecy" was 
 placed upon him between the shoulders, which did 
 not disappear during all his life. Those who did not 
 believe that he was a prophet at all saw nothing in 
 this mark but a mole, nor do they give more faith to 
 another story, which relates that one day Gabriel 
 came down with a companion angel, and gently 
 taking Mohammed's heart out of his body, washed it 
 from all uncleanness, filled it with faith, knowledge, 
 purity, and light, and replaced it as painlessly as it 
 had been taken out. 
 
 For whatever reason, Mohammed was returned to 
 Amina at about the age of five, and did not leave 
 her again. The following year she took him to the 
 city of Medina, on a visit to relatives, but on the 
 return trip she died, and for the remainder of the 
 journey he was left to the care of a faithful slave- 
 girl. She conducted him to his aged grand- 
 father, who, for the next two years, cared for him 
 with fondness. At the end of that brief period, Abd
 
 THE GROWING BOY. 43 
 
 al Muttalib died, leaving his grandchild to be pro- 
 vided for by his uncle, Abu Talib, who had inherited 
 also the care of the Kaaba. Abu TaJib was a man 
 much respected for his noble traits, and he proved a 
 good friend to his nephew. He placed Mohammed's 
 bed by the side of his own, gave him a seat at 
 his table, and allowed him to accompany him wher- 
 ever he went, thus making him familiar to the fullest 
 extent with the rites and ceremonies of the tradi- 
 tional religion, and perhaps inspiring him with re- 
 spect for them. 
 
 Meantime, the prestige of the family was over- 
 shadowed by the branch of Omia, which held the 
 leadership in war, for there was no member of the 
 tribe of Hashim of sufificient strength to retain the 
 ascendancy. Among the Hashimites, too, the privi- 
 leges held by Abd al Muttalib were divided, for Abu 
 Talib transferred to his younger brother. Abbas, the 
 control of the well Zem-zem, and he himself did not 
 obtain any commanding public position in Mecca. 
 
 Let us for a moment look at our growing boy. 
 He was now twelve ; his earliest years had been 
 passed among an ancient tribe, the speech of which 
 was as celebrated as the atmosphere of the mountains 
 forits purity. He had been practised in all the feats 
 of an active people which strengthen and give agility 
 to the bodily frame ; and with the free air of the 
 region he had drunk in the freest spirit of the freest 
 tribe of his nation.* Healthy, independent, self- 
 
 * "The Arab was free, but his freedom was not like that of the 
 old Greek, or the modern Englishman or American, a civil freedom 
 enjoyed in common with his brethren ; it was the mere absence of
 
 44 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR. 
 
 icliant, he was well prepared for a life in whicli all 
 these traits were destined to be of the greatest use. 
 
 The good uncle was not only interested in the 
 Kaaba and its worship, but he was also one of the 
 most active among the traders who did so much to 
 increase the wealth of Mecca. Mohammed doubt- 
 less saw the crowds of camels which at times filled 
 the streets of his native city, and we can imagine 
 how his young mind, excited as it already had been 
 by his musings among the mountains, and by his 
 associations with those older than himself, often fol- 
 lowed in thought the long trains as they disappeared 
 from sight over the roads to the northward and the 
 southward, as they journeyed to Yemen or to Syria; 
 and many a time he must have asked what the dis- 
 tant lands were like, and what their people might 
 be. When, on one occasion, Abu Talib was himself 
 setting out for Syria, Mohammed clung to him and 
 pleaded to be permitted to go too, urging his peti- 
 tion by saying, " Who, O my uncle, will care for me 
 when once iJiou. art gone ? " The request was granted 
 and the boy of twelve started out on the long 
 journey. 
 
 The country through which the train passed was 
 peopled with all the creatures of the Arabian my- 
 thology ; there the jinns, good and bad, wandered at 
 their own free will, and engaged in enterprises 
 adapted to excite the youthful mind ; there, in 
 
 any legal restraint upon his action. Every man of a free tribe was 
 himself his own Cassar and Chosroes ; every man asserted the royal 
 prerogative of avenging his injuries by the sword." — E. A. Freeman, 
 " The History and Conquests of the Saracens," page 27.
 
 
 U; , ' .;' ■''(■:
 
 46 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR. 
 
 deserted and silent caves, it was said that the chil- 
 dren of Thamud, often mentioned by Mohammed in 
 the Koran, dwelt, and there the gigantic she-camel 
 had issued miraculously from a mountain side ; there 
 old men had been transformed into swine, and young 
 men into monkeys, as the wondering boy learned 
 from the tales related by his elders under the even- 
 ing stars. 
 
 Uncle and nephew visited the old town of Bozra 
 (Bostra), on the road to Damascus, and they were 
 hospitably entertained in that busy city of merchant- 
 men, the market-place of Syria, Irak, and the Hejaz. 
 Long were the opportunities for conversation af- 
 forded, and we may be sure that they were used in 
 discussing the differences between the religious 
 faiths professed by the men of the South and the 
 men of the North. The worship of idols may have 
 been one of these topics of conversation ; it could 
 hardly have been otherwise, and perhaps this was 
 one reason why Mohammed afterwards became such 
 a devoted preacher against the idolatry of his coun- 
 trymen. He journeyed along the eastern shores of 
 the Dead Sea, and must have heard the stories of 
 the destruction of the cities of the plain, stories 
 which would have made a person, young or old, shud- 
 der, hearing them at that age of the world for the 
 first time. 
 
 We are to think of this boy as without books to 
 study about times gone by, or to fill the vacancy 
 of the passing hour ; and thus, as obliged to allow 
 hismind to wander time and again through well-worn 
 regions of fancy, and over the traditions of his people.
 
 ARABIA/^ POETRY. 4/ 
 
 Ic is not easy to put ourselves in the pkice of such 
 a person, we who have all our lives read books, and 
 have lived with the men of every age as though they 
 were present with us. Did it breed in the young 
 man a stronger wish to see into the past and to know 
 what other parts of the world were like ; or, did it 
 make him taciturn, as we know he was, thoughtful 
 and wrapped up in himself and in thoughts of some 
 wonderful mission that he imagined was before him, 
 or which he laid out for himself? We cannot tell. 
 We may only see what his life was, and vaguely 
 guess. 
 
 Though the Arabians had at this time no books, 
 they were interested in letters, and had literary con- 
 tests, in which large numbers of persons joined with 
 intense spirit. There was about the town of Okatz, 
 a place a little east of Mecca, a pleasant region where 
 merchant and traveller comforted themselves after 
 toilsome journeys, and where at certain times a gen- 
 eral fair was held. On these occasions, so tradition 
 asserts, bards recited poems ; each praised the virtues 
 of his lady-love, dwelt upon the charms of the en- 
 campment she had rested in, mourned over the soli- 
 tude that she had left when she deserted the spot, 
 or, perchance, they proclaimed their own personal 
 prowess, the greatness and antiquity of their tribes, 
 the gentleness and beauty of their favorite camels. 
 To the most worthy, prizes were awarded, their 
 poems being written out in elaborate characters.* 
 
 * It is said in most books on the subject that the prize poems, thus 
 brilliantly written out, were hung up in the Kaaba ; but this has been 
 denied since the days of Pocock, who deemed it entirely improbable
 
 48 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR. 
 
 Great was the competition on such occasions, and at 
 the period to which we are now giving our attention, 
 the rivalry resulted in a war bloody and long, called, 
 from the period of the year in which it began, " sac- 
 rilegious." 
 
 As it became necessary in Europe during the 
 Middle Age to have a Truce of God and a Peace of 
 God, during which men were not to assert the right 
 of private vengeance, so in Arabia, in early times, 
 men who might pursue to the death those who had 
 wronged them, were not allowed to exercise tJieir 
 bloody prerogative during certain sacred periods of 
 the year, and it was at one of these that this war 
 broke out. 
 
 One poet, who came up to the fair at Okatz in the 
 year 580 (when Mohammed was about nine years of 
 age), from the country between Mecca and Taif, 
 vaunted the superiority of his tribe so eagerly, that 
 he incited the mercurial Koreishites to draw their 
 swords, and thus blood flowed in a contest that 
 ought to have been a triumph of peace. Passions, 
 when once excited in this way, often run riot for a 
 long time, and so it happened on this occasion. It 
 resulted in the establishment of a rule that every 
 man coming to the fair should surrender his arms, 
 but this proved ineffectual ; the strife was continued ; 
 caravans were attacked and pillaged ; lives were lost 
 
 (see his " Specimen," p. 159). Deutsch expresses the present opinion 
 of most scholars when he says that the story is "unfortunately a 
 myth," the fact being that the poems were simply compared for their 
 imaginative beauty to " pearls loosely strung together," not hung up. 
 See also Dr. August MiiUer, *' Der Islam," page 42, note, for a dis- 
 cussion of the subject.
 
 A UNION FOR PEACE. 4$ 
 
 in the convoys ; and in time the struggle spread to 
 the allies of each tribe ; and the boy who was nine 
 when the first blood was spilled, was nineteen when 
 peace was established. Mohammed had not himself 
 been a fighter, but he had attended his uncles at 
 times, and had sent some arrows towards the enemy 
 with his boyish bow. 
 
 This war had one good result ; it led to the forma- 
 tion of a union between certain tribes for the sup- 
 pression of injustice and violence and the promotion 
 of peace. When a wrong had been done, and the 
 separate tribes neglected to punish the offender, this 
 confederacy was pledged to be the champion of the 
 injured. An uncle of Mohammed is credited with 
 the honor of this movement. 
 
 The representatives of Hashim, with other de- 
 scendants of Kossai, met at a feast and solemnly 
 swore by Allah al-Muntakim, the avenging deity, 
 that they would thus champion the oppressed and 
 see their claims adjusted so long as a drop of water 
 remained in the ocean ; or they would satisfy the 
 just demand from their own wealth. It was the 
 proud exclamation of Mohammed in after-years that 
 he would not exchange for the choicest camel in all 
 Arabia the memory that he had been present when 
 the oath was taken at the house of Abdalla binding 
 the confederates to stand by the oppressed !
 
 VI. 
 
 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT. 
 
 If we may believe the traditions through which we 
 are threading our way, there were other signs of good 
 omen in the Arabian horizon at this time. They 
 say that on the occasion of the celebration of one of 
 the most carefully observed idol feasts, four Ara- 
 bians who saw farther than their countrymen into 
 the future, met in solemn and secret conclave to 
 question the truth and reality of their religion. 
 " We Arabians," they said one to another, " are 
 walking in a false way ; we have strayed from the re- 
 ligion of Abraham. What, indeed, is this pretended 
 divinity in honor of whom we sacrifice victims, and 
 about whom we make our solemn processions ? It 
 is nothing more than a block of senseless stone, and 
 it cannot do us good or evil. Come, let us seek 
 truth ; let us look for the pure religion of our Fath- 
 er Abraham ; and for this holy purpose let us leave 
 our native land and learn what strangers can tell us.'" 
 
 One of these skeptics (or Hanifs) was Waraka, a 
 man who had had dealings with both Christians and 
 Jews, and was better educated than his fellow-citi- 
 zens. It is asserted that he was persuaded that a 
 messenger from heaven (some Mahdi), was then 
 about to come into the world. Waraka had learned
 
 SIC EP TICS SEEKING LIGHT. 51 
 
 the Hebrew language, and finally after long study he 
 became a convert to Christianity.* The second of 
 the group of enquirers was a cousin of Waraka ; he 
 had fought in the sacrilegious war, and now he started 
 off to travel into far countries seeking light. At 
 last he found himself at the court of Rome, where 
 he became convinced of the truth of Christianity 
 and was baptized. The third was a grandson ot 
 Abd al Muttalib, who, after much dif^culty and 
 many wanderings, found a home also in the Christian 
 Church. The fourth was Zeyd, a Koreishite ; he 
 struggled long with his doubts, going day by day to 
 the Kaaba, where he piously meditated, leaning 
 against the wall of the building, and giving voice to 
 his feelings in these words : " Lord, if I knew in 
 what manner thou wouldest that I should serve and 
 adore thee, I would obey thy will ; but I do not 
 know. O give me light ! " The meditations and 
 prayers of Zeyd brought him neither to the religion 
 of the Jews nor to that of the Christians, but to a 
 faith of his own invention ; he worshipped a god who 
 was one, and declaimed with energy against the false 
 divinities and superstitions of his countrymen, warn- 
 ing them of the sinfulness of certain of their abom- 
 inable customs. His preaching was so full of 
 feeling that it excited lively opposition, and finally 
 he was himself put into prison. Escaping from con- 
 finement, Zeyd wandered through Mesopotamia 
 
 * Sir William Muir considers "such anticipations" "altogether 
 puerile," though he admits that it is highly probable that a spirit of 
 religious enquiry, a disposition to reject idolatry, and a perception of 
 the superiority of Judaism and Christianity, existed in some quarters.
 
 52 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT. 
 
 (Irak) and Syria, learning all that he could about the 
 religions of the peoples he visited, until finally he 
 encountered a band of Arabs who robbed him of 
 his goods and put him to death. 
 
 Is there truth in these traditions? No one can 
 tell us ; but even if the details are baseless, there is 
 still ground for believing that at this time the Ara- 
 bian mind was waking up to a sense of the need of 
 some better religion than that of the fathers. Sel- 
 dom does any great movement astonish the world by 
 rising unannounced. Never does a great invention 
 startle us but we find that many minds have been, 
 for a long time, perhaps, studying in the line that 
 was followed by the man who finally succeeded. 
 There is such a thing as sympathetic groping for 
 light by persons who have no communication with 
 each other, and there is such a thing as united search- 
 ing by men who find not what they want until they 
 learn that another Galahad has actually seen the 
 holy Grail. So it must have been at this time (as 
 it ever has been) ; perhaps there were more men 
 than these four asking themselves at the same mo- 
 ment : " What am I ? What is life ? What is death ? 
 What am I to believe? What am I to do? What is 
 this unfathomable thing I live in which men call 
 the universe?"* Perhaps Waraka and his fellows 
 were but a few among many " Hanifs," as these 
 seekers after light were called, and doubtless they 
 influenced Arabian opinion generally.f 
 
 * See Carlyle's essay, " The Hero as a Prophet." 
 ■j- " These Hanifs forma very curious and most important phase of 
 Arabian faith before Mohammed — a phase of Jewish Christianity, or
 
 54 THE CAMKL-DRIVEK OF THE DESERT. 
 
 Meantime young Mohammed was watching his 
 sheep on the hills and in the valleys about his native 
 city, for as he himself said long afterwards, there 
 never was a prophet who was not once a shepherd, 
 and we shall find that he was to be a prophet. Not 
 many of us know what it is to be alone. Perhaps 
 we do not stop to think how few moments of our 
 lives are spent in solitude* We may think we find 
 it if we walk forth by night or wander through 
 the most sparsely inhabited regions that we can find 
 in our civilized lands ; but such journeys give us no 
 adequate idea of the solitude that the lonely shep- 
 herd of Arabia knew hundreds of years ago. Noth- 
 ing human detracted from his thoughts if he wished 
 to reflect upon any of the great problems that seem 
 to us now to have been then attracting attention 
 from all who reflected at all. We cannot think of 
 Mohammed as other than thoughtful. He must 
 have looked to the sky and the wide-spreading world 
 for some replies to the questions the Hanifs asked. 
 
 He was not, however, so given to reflection as to 
 
 Christian Judaism. They loved to call themselves also ' Abrahamitic 
 Sabians,' and Mohammed, at the outset, called himself one of them. 
 They were to all intents and purposes ' heretics.' They believed in 
 one God. They had the I>aw and the Gospel, and further, certain 
 Rolls of Abraham and Moses, called Ashmaat, to which Mohammed 
 at first appeals." — "Islam, "by Emanuel Deutsch. " The worship 
 of one supreme Allah seems to have always been the basis of Arabian 
 religion. The Semitic race has never tonceived of any other gov- 
 ernment of the universe e.\cept an absolute monarcliy." — Renan 
 " Etudes d' Hisioire religieuse," p. 273. 
 
 " Since the time of Abraham," says Barthelemy St. Ililaire, " wor- 
 shippers of one God had always been numbered among the Arabians." 
 — " Mahomet et le Coran," p. 67.
 
 MOHAMMED— IFTS APPEARANCE. 5$ 
 
 be entirely impractical, and wc find him going to 
 Syria and to Yemen as agent of caravans. His uncle 
 said to him : " I am, as thou knowest, a man of 
 small substance ; and verily the times go hard with 
 me ; now lo, a caravan of the tribe of thy fathers is 
 preparing to go to Syria with merchandise. Kadija, 
 the widow, asketh for sons of Koreish to go. and 
 she is ready to accept thy services." 
 
 " Be it as thou hast said," replied the young 
 man. 
 
 A bargain was made with Kadija, that for four 
 camels Mohammed should conduct a caravan over 
 the same route that he had taken when he went to 
 Bozra ; and the old associations must have come 
 back to him with great force as he looked upon the 
 scenes after an interval of thirteen years, which com- 
 prised all of his youth. Every thing added to his 
 knowledge of men and of life, and prepared him for 
 success. He disposed to advantage of the merchan- 
 dise that Kadija had committed to his care, and ob- 
 tained other products to be sold at Mecca. Thus 
 his title "The Trusty" was more than ever fixed in 
 the estimation of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 Mohammed was a man of little over the medium 
 stature, with a commanding presence ; his wide chest 
 and broad shoulders were surmounted by a long and 
 finely moulded neck, and a massive head, from which 
 looked out a frank, oval face marked by a prominent 
 aquiline nose ; large, restless, and piercing black 
 eyes, over which long, heavy lashes drooped ; and a 
 bushy beard fell upon his breast. He was continu- 
 ally meditating; never speaking except from neces-
 
 $6 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT. 
 
 sity, and then uttering but few and those pregnant 
 words. His organization was exceedingly sensitive, 
 and he had strong passions, which were, however, 
 controlled by reason. His habits were extremely 
 simple, and his acts merited the reputation for mod- 
 esty that he was accorded by all who knew him. 
 Kind and thoughtful towards his friends, he was 
 almost unrelenting towards enemies. Such was the 
 camel-driver whom Kadija obtained through the 
 intervention of Abu Talib. 
 
 Kadija, whose lineage was the same as that of 
 Mohammed, was a widow who had been twice mar- 
 ried. Her husbands had left her with a considerable 
 fortune, to which she had added by her good judg- 
 ment, and by the skill of the agents she had em- 
 ployed. Though forty years of age, she was of 
 fairer countenance than many who were younger, 
 and her personal and other charms had led some of 
 the chief men among the Koreishites to endeavor to 
 tempt her to renounce the dignified and indepen- 
 dent widowhood that she seemed to enjoy. She 
 failed to have affection for any of them aroused in 
 her heart. 
 
 What changed her feelings now, we do not know, 
 but the success of her new agent, and his personal 
 character attracted her to him, and when he returned 
 from Syria, she seems to have been on the look-out 
 for his arrival; like some Jewish watchman on the 
 tower over the gate, she gazed into the distance, 
 and lo, as Mohammed approached the end of his 
 long journey, her ardent imagination pictured to her 
 two angels shading him with their wings from the
 
 THE GOOD KADIJA. S7 
 
 intense heat of the Arabian sun ! The " faithful one" 
 was to her mind under the immediate watch of 
 Allah, and her sentiments, already warm, became 
 deeper, — she wished for him as husband. 
 
 Mohammed soon received a visit from a sister of 
 Kadija, who said to him : " Why, O Mohammed, 
 is it that at your mature age, you do not marry?" 
 The question would have been a strange one to 
 come from a young woman to a young man of twen- 
 ty-five in our day, but as it was not usual for an 
 Arabian to remain single after reaching adult age, it 
 was not so remarkable then. Mohammed replied 
 that he had no fortune to offer to a bride ; and this 
 made it easy for the question : " Perchance that diffi- 
 culty may be removed ; a lady of sufficient wealth 
 misfht offer to share it with thee ; then what wouldst 
 thou say ? " 
 
 " Is there such a lady ; and who is she?" asked 
 the young man. 
 
 " Kadija ! " 
 
 " Is it possible for me to ingratiate myself with 
 her?" 
 
 " Leave that to me," 
 
 It appears that the father of the widow was still 
 living, and refused to give his consent to his daugh- 
 ter's plan. Though there seemed to be danger that 
 blood would be shed, in an angry discussion that 
 followed, all obstacles to the union were at last re- 
 moved, and Mohammed, who was then twenty-five, 
 became husband of Kadija, aged forty. The mar- 
 riage proved admirable in all respects ; the wife ap- 
 preciated the character and capacity of the husband.
 
 58 
 
 THE CAMKI.-DKI]'KK OF THE DESERT. 
 
 and he loved her with an affection so sincere that 
 nothing could rob him of it, and the influence of the 
 good Kadija remained with him throughout his life. 
 It was characteristic of Mohammed not to forget his 
 friends, and on this occasion he remembered Halima 
 who had watched over his tottering first steps. She 
 was called from the pastures of Beni Sad to rejoice 
 at the wedding, and when she returned to continue 
 her life of simple content, she took with her a flock 
 of forty sheep, a present from her foster-son. 
 
 Well did Abu Talib, in view of this marriage, lift 
 up his voice in these words : " Praises be unto Allah, 
 who has given us birth in the line of Ishmael ! 
 Praised be Allah, that Mohammed, not blessed with 
 the good gifts of fortune, has asked and received the 
 hand of Kadija. He has no equal. This marriage 
 will be blessed of the Lord of Majesty and Liberal- 
 ity ; a future full of glory is open to Mohammed 
 the son of Abdalla ! "
 
 VII. 
 
 TIIK MAX OV AFFAIRS MEniTATES. 
 
 Years of domestic happiness followed, and it was 
 the joy of Mohammed and Kadija to become, in 
 process of time, parents of a son. An event of this 
 kind causes so much rejoicing in an Arabian house- 
 hold, that the fathers call themselves after the sons, 
 and thus the " Son of Abdalla " became the " feather 
 of Kasim." Another son and four daughters fol- 
 lowed, but none of them all has much interest for us, 
 except Fatima, one of the youngest of the daughters, 
 upon whom much of our future history will be found 
 to depend. The sons died very young. 
 
 During these peaceful years Mohammed busied 
 himself as a man of affairs in the management of 
 Kadija's caravans, going to distant places, as he had 
 before, but he did not prove so capable as a husband 
 as he had when simple agent, and the wealth of his 
 wife rather diminished than increased. Kadija's 
 fortune had, however, raised Mohammed to a high 
 social position in his native city, a rank to which, 
 it is true, his birth in the tribe of Koreishites had 
 already entitled him. 
 
 The wealth acquired by marriage seems to have 
 exerted another noteworthy influence ; it gave Mo-
 
 6o THE MAX OF AFFAIRS MEDITA TFS. 
 
 hammed more leisure to indulge his habitual habit of 
 meditation, and for study in the religions of his fathers, 
 as well as in those of the Jews and Christians. It is 
 probably true that he could neither read nor write, 
 but in this he was not behind his contemporaries in 
 Arabia ; letters, as we have observed, were but little 
 cultivated before his da}-, and there is no probability 
 that there existed a single volume of prose, the prod- 
 uct of the Arabian mind, Avhich he could have read 
 had he been better instructed. There were a few 
 poems, such as had gained prizes at the fairs, but 
 that was all, and he who wished to cultivate his 
 mind was forced to look to Jewish or Christian 
 sources. In these directions Mohammed did not 
 learn from books, but from oral tradition, and what he 
 took into his mind was distorted, disconnected, and 
 fragmentary; but, though it was a mixture, there 
 ran through it all certain general principles which 
 took root and bore fruit. 
 
 During this period the Arabians were becoming 
 better acquainted with their neighbors to the east- 
 ward. A commercial expedition had visited the city 
 of Hira, capital of Irak, a city situated in the valley 
 of the Euphrates, not far south of the site of Bab}'- 
 lon. The men who had accompanied this caravan 
 returned with rich profits, and adorned the city of 
 Taif with new buildings, erected by laborers sent by 
 the Persian ruler specially to make a memorial of 
 his good-will towards them ; for he had been very 
 favorably impressed by their sagacity and spirit. At 
 this time the empires of Rome and Persia were, as 
 we have seen, the two prominent powers of the
 
 62 THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES. 
 
 worltl, dividing between them the fairest and most 
 famous regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The 
 Eastern empire, with its capital at Constantinople, 
 still extended over nearly all the countries around 
 the Mediterranean, and the commands of Caesar 
 were obeyed from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. 
 The illustrious dynasty of the Sassanidce now ruled 
 Persia, and its greatness is one of the most remark- 
 able phenomena in the history of the world. Rome, 
 or the Eastern empire, represented Christianity, and 
 Persia the Zoroastrian fire-worship.* 
 
 Under the influence of his new wealth, we find 
 Mohammed gradually withdrawing from commerce 
 and devoting his time to reflection upon the con- 
 dition of his country, and the possibilities of improv- 
 ing it. We must remember that while the Bedawins 
 roamed the interior desert free from all dictation by 
 outside rulers, the Arabs of Yemen and of some 
 other sections were under Persian influence ; those of 
 Syria were governed from Constantinople ; while 
 those of Irak or Mesopotamia vacillated between 
 allegiance to the one great power and the other. 
 
 Judaism and Christianity existed alongside of feti- 
 chism and paganism ; but the largest portion of the 
 people worshipped the numberless divinities of the 
 Kaaba, though admitting that there was an Allah, 
 supreme above all others. The belief in jinns and 
 angels, which has been outlined, was not systemati- 
 cally expressed at any time, though it had long ex- 
 isted as a vague and poetic superstition. There was 
 
 * " The History and Conquests of the Saracens," by E. A. Free- 
 man, pp. lo, 17.
 
 WAA'AA'A THE LEARNED IIANIF. 63 
 
 also an uncertain faitli in the resurrection to another 
 life, after the separation of the soul and the body. 
 The people were grossly addicted to gaming, and to 
 the abuse of wine ; and every man married as many 
 wives as he could support, some of these relations 
 being of the most odious character. The ferocious 
 custom of burying female offspring alive as soon 
 as born was followed, either as considering women 
 not worth bringing up, or from an exaggerate sense 
 of honor, as though fearing that the helpless ones 
 might some day be carried ofT by an enemy ! 
 
 The most learned man of his time was that War- 
 aka who chivalrously entered upon the search for 
 a better religion than that of his fathers, and of his 
 society and wisdom Mohammed enjoyed the advan- 
 tage. Like him, Mohammed was cast down by re- 
 flections upon the condition of his people ; and like 
 him also, he had dim impressions that there might 
 be something elevating for them in the scriptures of 
 other lands. 
 
 On the side of the mountain Hera, two or three 
 miles to the north from Mecca, there was a small 
 cavern in the red-granite rock, in which Mohammed 
 found a quiet place for nursing his thoughts, and 
 there he was sometimes accompanied by his faithful 
 Kadija. Like a Christian anchorite, he secluded 
 himself for days at a tim^e, brooding with ever deep- 
 ening anxiety upon the weighty problems that had 
 presented themselves to his soul. Here he was 
 accustomed to pass the Arabian Lent, the month 
 Ramadan, in fasting, meditation, and prayer, looking 
 from his lofty vantage-ground upon a natural scene
 
 64 THE MAjV Of AFFAIRS MFD IT A TFS. 
 
 quite in consonance with the upheavals of his soul. 
 Not a green object did his weary eye rest upon ; all 
 was barren and black ; save when the white sand of 
 the valley fell within his view. 
 
 Under such an unnatural strain Mohammed's 
 mind became the sport of dreams by day and of 
 dreams by night ; ecstacies and trances came upon 
 him, and oftentimes, losing all consciousness of sur- 
 rounding objects, he lay upon the ground as dead.* 
 Good Kadija sometimes witnessed these accesses of 
 enthusiasm, and vainly enquired their cause. Her 
 husband made mysterious responses ; at times he 
 gave utterance to almost frenzied language, some of 
 which has been preserved. One of his rhapsodies, 
 though not the earliest, is repeated as a sort 
 of Pater Nostcr in the public and private worship of 
 Arabia still : 
 
 Praise be to Allah, the Lord of creation, 
 The All-merciful, the All-compassionate ! 
 Ruler of the day of reckoning ! 
 
 * We need not trouble ourselves to enquire into the nature of these 
 trances upon which so much discussion has been based. Syed 
 Ahmed, in his "Essays," says "Mohammed was vigorous and 
 healthy, both in his infancy and his youth. . . . Through the 
 whole of his life he was exposed to great perils and hardships, all 
 of which he bore with unflinching patience and courage." Sprenger 
 believes that they were epileptic fits ; but Lake (" Islam : its Origin, 
 Genius, and Mission," pp. 37, 41) says : " This state of mind is not 
 peculiar to any religion. It is found among all religious enthusiasts, 
 not excepting the idolaters of India, Greece, and Rome, and amongst 
 Christians of most shades of opinion, — in convents, in nunneries, and 
 with hermits in the wilderness. ... It was the paroxysm of a 
 soul struggling from darkness into light, although the light was only 
 that of natural religion. "
 
 ENTHUSIASTIC RHAPSODIES. 65 
 
 Thee we worship and thee we invoke for aid. 
 
 Lead us in the right path ; 
 The path of those to whom thou art gracious, 
 Not of those thou art wroth with, nor of those who err. 
 
 — Sura i. 
 
 Perhaps, overcome by a sense of the ungratefulness 
 of man, when forgetting that he was supported by 
 Allah most gracious, he exclaimed : 
 
 " By the snorting chargers ! 
 
 And those who strike iire with the hoof ! 
 
 And those that make unexpected raids, 
 
 And darken with the dust of the desert, ' 
 
 And dash through a host therein ! 
 
 Verily man is to his Lord ungrateful. 
 
 And is himself a witness thereof ; 
 
 Verily he is keen in loving this world's goods. 
 
 Ah, knoweth he not when the graves shall be opened 
 
 And what is in the graves shall be brought forth ? 
 
 Verily on that day Allah shall learn what is in them." 
 
 — Sura c. 
 
 At another time the lost state of human kind forced 
 .'vSelf upon him with vividness, and he cried out: 
 
 " By the declining day ! 
 
 Verily man rushes to destruction. 
 
 Save such as believe and do righteousness. 
 
 And urge one another to truth and patience." 
 
 — Sura ciii. 
 
 These are not the ravings of an unbalanced mind, 
 but the powerful cries of one in earnest for the good 
 of others. They were forced from the prophet by 
 intense feehng, and are the utterances of one who, 
 in the words of a master of emphatic expression, had 
 " found it all out ; was in doubt and darkness no 
 longer, but saw it all. That all idols and formulas
 
 66 THE MAM OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES. 
 
 were notliini^, miserable bits of wood ; that there 
 was one God, in and over all ; and we must leave all 
 idols and look to Him. That God is great ; and 
 that there is nothing else great ! He is Reality. 
 Wooden idols are not real; he is real. He made us 
 at first, sustains us yet ; we and all things are but a 
 shadow of Him; a transitory garment, veiling the 
 Eternal Splendor. 'AllaJiu akbar' — Allah is great. 
 * Is/am,' — We must submit to Allah! " * 
 
 Meantime, the prestige of Mohammed was grow- 
 ing. On one occasion, when a flood had rushed 
 down the valley, or when perhaps a fire had de- 
 stroyed a portion of the Kaaba, it was rebuilt up to 
 the point at which the sacred white stone was to be 
 put in its former place. Then a strife for the honor 
 of inserting the precious symbol arose, and hot words 
 passed between the devout but quick-tempered 
 builders as to which tribe should furnish the man 
 to perform the coveted duty. A solemn convoca- 
 tion was called in the sacred enclosure, where, at 
 the suggestion of the head of the Koreishites, it was 
 agreed that the person who should, at a specified 
 time, enter a certain door, should be commissioned 
 to replace the stone. At the moment, Mohammed, 
 — "el Amin," the Faithful one, entered, and was in- 
 formed of the agreement. With a sagacity that as- 
 tonished the simple-minded folk, he threw down his 
 mantle, placed the stone upon it, and asked the four 
 
 * Carlyle, " The Hero as a Prophet." The late Emanuel Deutsch 
 differs from this interpretation, and says that a Moslem means 
 " one who strives after righteousness withhis own strength." Islam 
 is the religion of a Moslem.
 
 MOHAMMED MAKES AN IMPRESSION. 
 
 ^7 
 
 chief men of the four principal famiHes to grasp each 
 a corner. Thus they lifted the stone to the proper 
 height, and then Mohammed gently pushed it into 
 its place in the wall. So deep an impression did the 
 circumstance make upon the people of Mecca, that 
 the names of the four men who held the mantle 
 have, with religious care, been kept in memory to 
 the present time. Not only was peace preserved by 
 this act, but the character of Mohammed for wis- 
 dom and judgment was much raised ; probably, 
 also, he was himself impressed by a feeling that he 
 was no ordinary person, a sentiment that seems to 
 have been strong in his mind throughout life.
 
 vin. 
 
 THE MONTH RAMADAN. 
 
 Years passed, and Mohammed continued his life 
 of meditation in desert places. At times he heard 
 voices calling to him and saying: "Hail! thou 
 messenger of Allah ! " but when he looked about to 
 see who spoke to him, lo, only trees and rocks were 
 about him on all sides. We cannot believe that 
 Mohammed lived such a life, and kept in his own 
 heart all the stimulating impulses which he possessed 
 at these times without betraying the fact to the 
 people about him. They must have discussed 
 among themselves the change that had come over 
 the husband of Kadija, the man whom they had once 
 so highly esteemed for his practical character. 
 
 Doubtless he spoke to them of the religion of the 
 Jew and the Christian, and in his presence they may 
 have attended to him, saying: "Truly, Allah does 
 hold the heavens and the earth, lest they fall ; if he had 
 given us a prophet as he gave prophets to the other 
 peoples, we should have been guided by them even 
 as they were guided." Perhaps, when they went 
 their way from him, they uttered hard things about 
 him, and it may well be that it was to such double- 
 faced persons that he spake when he uttered the 
 words of the sura of the Slanderer :
 
 BEDAWIN WOMEN FROM THE ENVIRONS OF BAALBECK. (SYRIA.)
 
 yo THE MONTH RAMADAN. 
 
 " Woe unto thc'backbiter and the defamer ! 
 Unto them who lay up wealth and number it, 
 Who think that riches will make them to stay forever ! 
 Nay ! They shall be hurled into the Fire that Splitteth. 
 What shall make them understand what the Fire that Spliltelh is ? 
 It is the fire kindled of Allah, 
 Which flameth above the hearts, 
 Verily, it shall be as arches above them, 
 As arches upon lofty columns I " 
 
 — Sura civ. 
 
 Was it not to such, also, that he exclaimed ? — 
 
 " Surely we have created man in trouble ; 
 
 Doth he indeed think nought can prevail against him ? 
 
 He saith, ' I have wasted much wealth.' 
 
 Doth he think that none seeth him ? 
 
 Have we not made him two eyes, a tongue, and two lips, 
 
 And shown hini the two roads ? 
 
 Yet he attempteth not the ascent. 
 
 What shall make thee know what the proof is? 
 
 It is to free the captive. 
 
 Giving food in famine 
 
 To the orphan near of kin, 
 
 Or to the poor lying in the dast ; 
 It is to join with the believers 
 To stir one another to patience, and to encourage one another to 
 
 compassion. 
 These shall sit on the right hand : 
 
 They who misbelieve our signs shall be on the left hand. 
 Above them shall the flames arch ' " 
 
 — 5//ra xc. 
 
 The name of the month Ramadan, the annual 
 period of fasting and prayer, signified originally a 
 time of great heat ; but the Arabian year was divided 
 into lunar months, and there having been no allow- 
 ance for the fact that twelve of them do not corre-
 
 THE BLESSED NIGHT A I. KADAR. /I 
 
 spond with a revolution of the sun, they f,n-achially 
 lost their proper positions in the solar year, and at 
 the time which we are now considering", Ramadan, 
 instead of coming at the i)eriod of great heat, corre- 
 sponded with portions of December and January. 
 When it fell on the long summer days, the fast was 
 excessivel)' severe in such a climate. 
 
 Mohammed was now at the mature age of near 
 forty years. We have come to the month of De- 
 cember in the year 6io of our era. He was wander- 
 ing over the wild but fascinating hills, for it was the 
 sacred month, though most of it had indeed passed.* 
 The strain of the long vigil was nearly over, but its 
 effects were at their highest ; he was ready for im- 
 pressions. It was the "blessed night Al Kadar," of 
 which the Koran says: 
 
 What shall make thee understand how excellent the night 
 
 Al Kadar is ? 
 The night Al Kadar is better than a thousand months ! 
 Therein do the angels descend, 
 
 And the spirit also, 
 By permission of their Lord, 
 With his decrees concerning all matters, 
 It bringeth peace until the rosy dawn ! 
 
 — Sura xcvii. 
 
 The name Al Kadar signifies "power," "honor," 
 "dignity," and also "the divine decree," for it is on 
 that night that (according to tradition) the decrees 
 for the ensuing year are annually settled, or, per- 
 
 * This was the year in which Heraclius went from Alexandria to 
 Constantinople, slew Phocas, the usurper, and placed himself upon 
 the throne of the Roman empire.
 
 ^2 TlfE MONTrr RAMADAN, 
 
 haps, merely taken from the table before the throne 
 of Allah, and given to the angels to be executed. 
 At midnight Mohammed awoke and thought he 
 heard a voice. Twice was it repeated, and twice 
 he made efforts to avoid hearing it, but it could not 
 be ignored ; he felt as if a fearful weight were upon 
 him, and as though his last moment had arrived. 
 A third time he heard the sound, and could not stop 
 his ears against it. Now there came audible words 
 from the sky, addressed to him by .an angel in bright 
 apparel, whom his imagination showed him. 
 
 " O Mohammed, I am Gabriel ! " 
 
 Terrified at this apparition, for it was new to him, 
 though he had often before heard voices, he hastened 
 to Kadija, his ever constant comforter in trouble, 
 and exclaimed : " I have ever truly abhorred those 
 who hold communication with jinns, and, lo, now I 
 fear that I am to become a soothsayer myself ! " A 
 great trembling came upon him, and the perspiration 
 ran down to his feet. 
 
 " Never, O father of Kasim ! " she replied, " Allah 
 will not allow his servant to fall " ; and she hastened 
 to let Waraka know what she had heard. 
 
 " Allah be praised ! " cried the old man ; " the son 
 of Abdalla speaks the truth ; this is the beginning of 
 prophecy ; there shall come unto Mohammed the 
 great Law, like unto the law of Moses ; charge him to 
 keep hope in his heart ; I will stand by him ! " 
 
 Whether during the first interview or at another 
 — it is not quite certain — Gabriel said, holding up 
 a broad piece of silken stuff covered v/ith written 
 characters :
 
 
 f^ ^ -
 
 74 THE MONTir RAMADAN. 
 
 ' Cry ! in tlie name of Allah ! 
 In the name of Allah who hath created, — 
 Wlio hath rrealed man of thick bloorl ! " * 
 
 " ]^iit I cannot read," cried the trcnililini^- father of 
 Kasim," " I am a man untaught." 
 
 " Cry ! " repeated the heavenly visitor, — 
 
 ' ' Cry, by the most beneficent Allah, 
 Who taught the pen to write. 
 Who taught man what he knev/ not ! 
 Verily, verily, man is rebellious ; 
 Is insolent, because he groweth in riches. 
 Truly unto Allah h the return of all ! 
 What of him who hokleth back. 
 Who forbiddeth a servant when he prayeth? 
 What of him ? Doth he follow right. 
 Or command unto piety ? 
 
 Dost not see that he rejecteth truth and turneth back ? 
 Doth he not know that Allah seeth ? 
 Verily, verily, if he desist not, we will drag him by the 
 
 forelock. 
 The lying, sinful forelock. 
 Let him call his assembly ; 
 We will call the guards of the Abyss ! 
 Nay, obey him not, but adore and draw nigh ! " 
 
 — Sia-a xcvi. 
 
 Despite the assurances of Waraka, Mohammed 
 was filled with doubts and perplexities ; he had been 
 
 * The principal words bear a striking identity with those in Isaiah, 
 the fortieth chapter: " The voice of one saying ' Cry ! ' and one said 
 'What shall I cry ? ' " The word " cry," says Emanuel Deutsch, " is 
 one of those very few onomatopoetic words still common to both 
 Semitic and Indo-European." Its significations range from the 
 vague sound of a bird or a tree to the silent weeping of a person ; 
 the crying of " deep unto deep ; " the weird " scJirei " of the Ger- 
 mans ; the technical " reading of the Scriptures," in Aramaic ; and 
 even the solemn proclamation of a Greek herald. From it is derived 
 Koran, the reading.
 
 "7 RISE A ND PRE A C// / " 75 
 
 spoken to by Gabriel, and felt as though a book had 
 been written in his heart, but lie was not sure that 
 liis mission was to preach ; besides, certain of the 
 Korcishites reviled him. In this condition of per- 
 plexity he sought the weird mountain, intent on 
 self-destruction, but at every attempt he was re- 
 strained, and he sat wrapped in his mantle or rug, 
 after the Eastern fashion, when the angel again ap- 
 peared. He said : 
 
 " O thou that art covered ! 
 Arise and preach, 
 And magnify Allah ! 
 
 Purify thy garments, 
 And shun abominations ! 
 Grant not favors for increase ; 
 Wait patiently for Allah. 
 When the trump shall blow shall be distress for misbelievers ! ' " 
 
 — Sura Ixxiv. 
 
 Now, Mohammed had, he thought, been in direct 
 communication with the messenger of Allah ; he 
 had distinctly been commissioned to preach ; had 
 been told what to say, and had been assured that he 
 was the Prophet of the Most High, There was no 
 more to be uncertainty nor trembling on his part; 
 " Thus saith Allah ! " was henceforth to be his cry. 
 Did he reflect upon the apparent hopelessness of his 
 mission ? He was to tell a nation of idolaters, a na- 
 tion that held in honor hundreds of idols, and pre- 
 served their images on their altars, that there was 
 one God, and only one. If he stopped to think, he 
 must have deemed it hopelessly impracticable. No 
 one, surely, would listen, even to "the faithful one," 
 bringing such a message. True, there were four
 
 76 THE MONTH RAMADAN. 
 
 seekers, but of them one had been murdered, and 
 one had found a religion of different character. 
 They afforded very little ground for hope ; but the 
 true reformer does not ask much encouragement. 
 
 He rose superior to all his trembling forebodings 
 and exultantly cried : 
 
 " By the splendor of midday ! 
 
 By the stilly night ! . ' 
 
 The Lord hath not forsaken thee, 
 
 Neither doth He hate thee ? 
 Verily the life to come shall be better than the past * 
 
 In the end Allah shalt award thee, 
 
 And thou shalt be pleased. 
 Did He not find thee an orphan, and give thee a home? 
 
 Find thee erring, and guide thee? 
 
 He found thee poor and made thee rich. 
 "Wherefore oppress not the orphan. 
 
 Nor repel the beggar. 
 But declare the great bounty of Allah ! " 
 
 < — Sura xciii. 
 
 The new prophet did not seem to have any ulterior 
 objects in his mind as he entered upon his mission ; 
 fasting and prayer it had begun with ; and faith was 
 stron^T in his mind that Allah would in due time "'ive 
 his blessing. He did not hasten to make converts 
 from idol worship ; neither did he hesitate to stand 
 firmly for the principles that he had accepted. 
 Still he went to the mountains and the dark valleys 
 to make his prayers and hold his fasts; and in one 
 of these lonesome retreats he was one day encoun- 
 tered by his uncle, Abu Talib. 
 
 " What calls you here," asked the uncle, " and 
 what religion do you profess?" 
 
 ** I profess the religion of Allah, of his angels, of
 
 ABCr TALIB'S PROMISE. 
 
 77 
 
 his prophets," replied the son of Abdalla — "the 
 religion of Abraham. Allah has commissioned me 
 to preach this to men, and to urge them to embrace 
 it. Naught would be more worthy of thee, O my 
 uncle, than to adopt the true faith, and to help me 
 to spread it." 
 
 " Son of my brother," replied Abu Talib, " I can 
 never abjure the faith of my ancestors ; but if thou 
 art attacked I will defend thee." Then, turning to 
 Ali, his son, he added : " Mohammed will never lead 
 thee into any wrong way ; hesitate not to follow any 
 advice he giveth."
 
 IX. 
 
 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR. 
 
 History is crowded with wrecks of systems of 
 religion which have been outgrown by mankind. 
 The career of the prophet is never an easy one ; he 
 may pipe, but his audience may refuse to keep time 
 to the march he entunes. It is comparatively easy 
 to make good and far-reaching plans, but more difKi- 
 cult to carry them out. Least of all is it easy for a 
 prophet to gain a hearing in his own country and 
 among his own kin ; among those who have known 
 him as a child, as a boy, as a growing young man, 
 and finally as a man, liable to the inconsistencies of 
 a man, to the irregularities of a man, to the failures 
 to which humanity is ever exposed. Yet this, all of 
 this, is what Mohammed, the unlearned Arabian, the 
 camel-driver of the widow Kadija, attempted. He, 
 who perhaps could not write his own name, set him- 
 self up not only as a teacher, but as the only teacher 
 who was to be listened to hi the most important mat- 
 ter that concerns humanity, in the regulation of its 
 loftiest duties — its duties to the Most High God. 
 Was this not either the sublimest impudence, or the 
 most wonderful faith? 
 
 His effort, if successful, promised to break down
 
 WHAT WOULD HE SUIT. 79 
 
 the commercial importance of his native city, to sap 
 the fountain from which his own tribe derived its 
 wealth and importance. He would put a stop to 
 the worship of the three hundred and sixty-five 
 deities of the Kaaba ; turn away the thousands of 
 pilgrims that adored them ; dry up the demand that 
 for so many years had been supplied by the Koreish- 
 ites to the innumerable caravans which threaded 
 their devious ways among the wadies and over the 
 deserts from Hadramawt and Akaba, from Nejd 
 and Yemen, toward the house of the sacred black 
 stone that had fallen from heaven in the days of the 
 fathers. It did not require the wisdom of the seer 
 to know that every Koreishite must, of necessity, be 
 opposed to such a movement, and opposed to it to 
 the death ; they would be ready to cry, in the spirit 
 of the silversmiths of Ephesus, " Great is the Kaaba 
 of Mecca!" for it brought no small business unto 
 them.* The worship of the Kaaba was intrenched 
 not only behind the religious sentiments of hundreds 
 of thousands of men on the Arabian peninsula, but 
 also behind the mercantile interests of the entire 
 tribe of the Koreishites and of all those who earned 
 their honest living in Mecca, no less than in the 
 
 * Sir William Muir nalurally thinks also of the tumult at Kphesus, 
 and says, in this connection, " There was no antagonism of a privi- 
 leged class or of a priesthood supported by the temple ; no ' crafts- 
 men of Diana ' deriving their livelihood from the shrine ; but there 
 ■was the strong hereditary affection for practices associated from 
 infancy with the daily life of every inhabitant of Mecca, and 
 patriotic devotion to a system which made his city the foremost in 
 Arabia. These advantages he would not lightly aliandon." — " Tlie 
 Life of Mohammed" (ed. 1876), page 67.
 
 8o A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR. 
 
 interests of those along the hnc followed by the 
 caravans for thousands of miles, who furnished them 
 supplies and cover. 
 
 Kadija was ready to give allegiance to the faith 
 that her husband preached, as she always was to 
 afford him her countenance and support. We have 
 seen that the aged Waraka was likewise prepared to 
 accept all that Mohammed declared. These two, 
 therefore, became the nucleus of a new religion that 
 was afterwards known as Islam, the doctrine of the 
 just man (Moslem), of the striver after righteousness, 
 the doctrine of complete submission to the will of 
 Allah. It was not long after Kadija had communi- 
 cated to her husband the words of Waraka that he 
 came to the city from his retreat on the mountain- 
 top, and his first duty was to make the tawaf, or 
 seven-fold circuit of the Kaaba. In doing this he en- 
 countered Waraka, to whom he gave additional de- 
 tails regarding his vision, and the aged man repeated 
 to him the assurance that he was to be the prophet 
 of his nation, warning him at the same time of the 
 persecutions that he would inevitably be called to 
 suffer. Waraka died soon afterwards, during a con- 
 versation with Mohammed. 
 
 The prophet now received more frequent revela- 
 tions through the angel Gabriel ; his faith in the one 
 God became firmer, and he boldly determined to en- 
 dure all the troubles and dangers that might be 
 necessary in announcing the divine will to mankind. 
 To Kadija he fully repeated all the revelations of 
 Gabriel, and she began immediately to practise the 
 rites that were afterwards characteristic of Islam.
 
 THE riRSr CONVERTS. 8 1 
 
 Her consolation and advice sustained him uhcn 
 called to bear the railleries and rebuffs of his country- 
 men. 
 
 Gradually and in mysterious words he communi- 
 cated to a chosen few the same particulars, Ali, the 
 little son of Abu Talib, being naturally among the 
 first so trusted. He was only about eleven years 
 old, but apparently of maturity beyond his years, 
 and he became the companion of Mohammed when 
 he went on his solitary visits to the neighboring hills 
 and valleys, praying with him and imitating his 
 actions. After Ali, Zeyd, a freedman whom Mo- 
 hammed had adopted as son, became a member of 
 the new body, and then there was a still more im- 
 portant conquest. One Abd el Kaba, instructed in 
 the pedigree of the Koreishites, who exercised a sort 
 of magistracy among them, and was wise in the in- 
 terpretation of dreams, embraced the faith, and be- 
 gan with fervor the work of making converts. For 
 a reason which will be mentioned, this important 
 man is better known as Abu Bekr, a title which has 
 been interpreted to mean the Father of the Virgin. 
 
 These and a few others professed faith in one 
 God ; in rewards for the good and punishments for 
 the evil in a future life ; in Mohammed as the prophet 
 whom they were bound to obey ; they practised 
 purifications by water, and they prayed after forms 
 prescribed. They looked upon Islam as not at all a 
 new religion, but as a revival of the ancient faith of 
 Abraham, and believed that the knowledge Mo- 
 hammed had about it was derived directly from 
 Allah. This knowledge, when written down or 
 
 7
 
 82 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR. 
 
 committed to memory, as it was proclaimed by the 
 }^roplict, was known as Al Koran, the Reading, or 
 the Recitation. 
 
 For some three years the faith was professed in 
 comparative secrecy, but then Mohammed deter- 
 mined to give to the members of his tribe generally 
 the good news that he had up to that time commu- 
 nicated to the few. It is sometimes said that this 
 change of method was in pursuance of a divine mes- 
 sage couched in these words : * 
 
 Invoke no other god with Allah, 
 
 Lest thou be of the tormented. 
 
 Utter warnings to thy near kinsfolk, 
 
 And lower thy wing [be meek] to the faithful who follow thee. 
 
 If they prove disobedient, say, 
 
 " Verily, I am clear of what ye do ! " 
 
 Rely thou upon the Mighty, Merciful One, 
 
 Who seeth thee when thou risest up. 
 
 And when thou fallest among the worshippers, 
 
 Verily, he both heareth and knoweth ! — Sura xxvi. 
 
 For the purpose of enlarging his influence, Moham- 
 med, according to tradition, now invited the Ko- 
 reishites to a repast, f after which he addressed them, 
 saying : " Never has an Arab offered to his people 
 such precious advantages as I now present to you — 
 happiness in this life and joys forever in the world 
 to come. Allah has commisioned me to call men to 
 him ; who among you will join me in the sacred work, 
 and become my brother, my kalif ?" 
 
 * The sura of which this is but a small fragment is now, however, 
 considered a later revelation. 
 
 \ Muir treats this feast as " apocryphal," but Caussin de Perceval, 
 following Abulfeda and Desvergers, gives the details substantially 
 as above, without qualification. — Histoire des Arabes, i. , 360-362.
 
 AIJ PROMISES SUPrORJ. S3 
 
 A profound silence fell upon the whole assembly, 
 until Ali, the youngest of them all, cried out with 
 zeal : " I, prophet of .\llali, I will join you ! " 
 
 Mohammed embraced Ali, and said : " Behold my 
 brother — my kalif ; my commissioner. Listen to 
 him; obey his commands!" 
 
 A smile ran through the assembly as they wit- 
 nessed the boyish enthusiasm of the young man, 
 and the kinsfolk withdrew, making light of the 
 whole transaction. They told Abu Talib that he 
 would have to obey the orders of his son, — the 
 height of absurdity. Mohammed was not at all 
 daunted by his want of success in this semi-public 
 effort ; he continued to urge his relatives to embrace 
 Islam, though without much greater effect. Soon 
 he became bolder, and began to preach with no un- 
 certain voice the truth that the divinities of the 
 Kaaba were nothing but senseless wood and 
 stones, and then stubborn and bitter opposition 
 took the place of pleasantry. The Meccans came 
 out with zeal in support of the religion of centuries; 
 they railed at the innovator and demanded that he 
 should be silenced. At first they merely pointed at 
 the would-be prophet the finger of scorn, saying: 
 "There goeth the son of Abdalla who speaketh 
 about the heavens ! " When converts were made 
 and they began to follow their leader's habit of 
 retiring to the wilds for prayer — when it seemed 
 as though something might possibly come of the 
 preaching, then the unbelievers followed the faith- 
 ful to these mountain passes and even attacked 
 them ; and thus it was that a camel-goad in the
 
 §4 A PROPHET IVTTH LITTLE HONOR. 
 
 hand of a disciple of Mohammed drew the- first 
 blood that was shed in Islam. 
 
 Mohammed seemed to be safe under the {)rotec- 
 tion of Abu Talib, and therefore a delegation 
 of the tribe of Korcish appealed to him, saying: 
 "The son of thy brother asperses our religion. 
 He accuses our wise men of folly — our ancestors 
 of errors and impiety. As thou hast not embraced 
 his impious faith, permit us, we pray thee, to exter- 
 minate it and punish him for so audaciously attack-' 
 ing a religion which is thine as well as ours." 
 
 To this demand Abu Talib gave a courteous 
 but firm refusal, and it was followed by another 
 appeal. A second time the dignitaries of the tribe 
 came to the aged man, dnd said : " We respect, 
 as in duty bound, thy age, thy personal nobility, 
 and thy rank ; but there is a limit. We have 
 asked thee to shut the mouth of thy nephew 
 and thou hast not done it. We can no longer 
 submit to these outrages upon our fathers, our 
 wise men, and our gods. Cause Mohammed to 
 hold his peace or we will take up arms against thee 
 as well as against him ; and we shall fight until our 
 party or thine is exterminated ! " So saying, they 
 withdrew. 
 
 Abu Talib, now alarmed, sought his nephew, and 
 said : " Deliver us from the evils that hang over 
 thee and over our family." 
 
 "O my uncle," replied Mohammed, "should the 
 sun descend upon my right hand and the moon on 
 my left to fight against me, and should the alterna- 
 tive be presented to me of renouncing my mission or
 
 ABU T A LIB'S SECOND PROMISE. 
 
 s-^ 
 
 of perishing in accomplishing it, I would not waver 
 from my purpose ! " 
 
 So saying, overcome by the thought that he was 
 to be abandoned by his beloved relative, he turned 
 away with eyes filled with tears. 
 
 " Come back, O my nephew ! " exclaimed the old 
 man, in turn broken down by emotion ; " preach 
 
 THE KAABA, SHOWING MODERN PILGRIMS. 
 
 whatever doctrine thou wilt. I swear to thee that 
 not for a moment will I desert thy side 1 " 
 
 The opposition did not end here; though, as the 
 sacred period of the year was approaching, hostilities 
 were postponed for awhile. It was at about this time 
 that Mohammed first occupied a building facing the 
 Kaaba belonging to a convert named Arkam, before
 
 86 A rKOPirKT with ijtti.i-: honor. 
 
 which the pili;rinis were obliged to pass in the course 
 of their orthodox devotions. It became the meet- 
 ing-house — the preaching station. There the doc- 
 trines of the new faith were expounded and many 
 converts were made, so that the place was called in 
 after times " The House of Islam." 
 
 At this period Mohammed was very desirous of 
 engaging the influential members of the community 
 on his side, and it is related that as he was once en- 
 grossed in conversation with one of this class, a 
 blind man came to him, saying: " O apostle of Allah, 
 teach me some part of that w4iich Allah hath taught 
 thee." In the earnestness of his desire to enlist the 
 rich man, he was disturbed by the importunity of the 
 poor one, and turned away with a frown. A repri- 
 mand was conveyed to him for his respect of persons 
 in one of the suras: 
 
 [The prophet] frowned and turned hi? back 
 
 Because the blind man importuned : 
 
 And what shall tell thee if perchance he may be purified, 
 
 Or may be admonished and profited ? 
 
 Thou dost attend on the rich, 
 
 And carest not for his cleansing ; 
 
 But thou turnest from the earnest one 
 
 Coming in the fear of Allah. 
 
 By no means ! — Sura Ixxx. 
 
 Mohammed ever after looked upon the blind man 
 with great respect, and whenever he sau^ him he w^as 
 accustomed to say : " Welcome to him on whose 
 account Allah reproved me ! "
 
 X. 
 
 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND. 
 
 The crowds that regularly came to worship at the 
 Kaaba were now beginning to gather, and the oppo- 
 nents of Mohammed consulted as to how they should 
 reply to the enquiries of strangers about the 
 "prophet " of whom they had heard. 
 
 " Let us tell them that he is a seer," said one. 
 
 " No," promptly replied another, " he has none of 
 the abrupt and emphatic tone of the seer, neither 
 does he utter his sentences in their rhythmical style." 
 
 " Shall we pronounce him a fool? " 
 
 " No, his appearance would belie us." 
 
 " That he is a poet inspired by an evil jinn ? " 
 
 " He ignores the language of poetry." 
 
 " Shall we call him a magician ! " 
 
 " He does naught supernatural ; he pretends to no 
 miracle nor magic art." 
 
 " Nay, verily, his art is simply the use of able 
 words and of an insinuating manner." 
 
 " But we uiiist give some explanation ; we can 
 only say that he is a new magician possessed of 
 unknown charms, by which he brings discord into 
 the family, separates brother from brother, son from 
 father, and wife from husband."
 
 88 FUGITIVES IX A STRANGE LAND, 
 
 This, then, was to be the policy of the opponents 
 of the rising dehision, as these men desired to consi- 
 der the doctrines held by the little band protected 
 by Abu Talib. They posted themselves on the 
 roads converging at Mecca ; engaged in conversation 
 with the faithful going to the Kaaba ; insinuated 
 themselves into their confidence, and warned them 
 to beware of the father of Kasim, whom they de- 
 scribed as a dangerous magician who might do them 
 the utmost harm. Thus they frightened some, but, 
 to their discomfiture, excited curiosity in the minds 
 of a larger number. The result was that when the 
 devout pilgrims returned to their homes, they carried 
 to the remotest corner of the peninsula the marvel- 
 lous stones of Mohammed, the rising prophet, the 
 magician whom no one could understand. The new 
 movement became the staple of neighborhood gos- 
 sip and of curious enquiry everywhere, and pene- 
 trated regions to which no direct effort of Moham- 
 med could have carried it in many laborious years. 
 
 The interestwas still more increased by Abu Talib, 
 who published in verse his complaints against the 
 Koreishites who, in their hatred of one of its sons, 
 had forgotten the rights of the illustrious house of 
 Hashim. He vaunted the virtues of Mohammed; 
 painted him as the friend of the widow and the 
 orphan, and said : 
 
 " You lie, if you say that we will let the blood of 
 Mohammed flow without bringing to the struggle 
 our bows and our lances ; and I swear it by the holy 
 Kaaba ! 
 
 " If you say that we will abandon him without
 
 MEDINA COUNSELS PEACE^ 89 
 
 Strewing the ground with our corpses, yea with the 
 bodies of our wives and of our children ! " 
 
 When the threatening news that fratricidal war 
 was imminent, reached Medina, then called Yathrib, 
 wise counsels of peace were sent to Mecca. 
 
 " Beware of discord," the writer said, " thrust from 
 you the vase of which the water is bitter and danger- 
 ous ! Remind yourselves of the horrors of past wars 
 among us ; he who writes to you knows but too 
 well the horrors of those sad scenes ; knowledge is 
 the fruit of experience. 
 
 " An honorable man has adopted certain beliefs ; 
 to Allah only belongs the right to judge the con- 
 science. 
 
 " Continue to practise the true religion ; our eyes 
 are fixed upon you. 
 
 " Worship Allah and purify yourselves by confi- 
 dence in the corner-stone upon which the mountains 
 around you rest. 
 
 " Did not Allah give you a token of his great 
 power in the day when Abraha was driven back 
 from your very gates without your aid ? " 
 
 Such counsel had some effect, but it did not re- 
 strain the envious Koreishites from giving vent to 
 their feelings as they encountered the prophet jn 
 the streets, and he was often saluted with bitter and 
 insulting words, besides suffering personal injuries. 
 These violences and petty exhibitions of spite, led to 
 a reaction in the case of an adversary as deter- 
 mined as any that Mohammed ever had. On re- 
 turning from the chase one day, Hamza, who was 
 uncle to the prophet, heard of a new insult, and on
 
 90 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND. 
 
 the moment he repaired to the Kaaba and to the 
 astonishment of all, presented himself as the cham- 
 pion of the prophet. Advancing to the midst of an 
 excited group, he exclaimed, " Hold ! I am of the new- 
 religion ! Return that, if you dare ! " at the same 
 time striking one of the company a vigorous blow 
 with the bow that he had not yet had time to lay 
 down. The blow was not returned. Hamza, after- 
 wards known as the Lion of Allah, continued one of 
 the most proud and energetic among the partisans of 
 Mohammed, and the cowed Koreishitcs began to 
 treat the prophet with outward respect. 
 
 Temptation was their next resort. Some of the 
 chiefs came to Mohammed ; one of them took a 
 seat by his side, and began with the following words 
 to test the strength of his faith : 
 
 " Son of my friend, though thou art a man distin- 
 guished by birth, thou dost stir up the land : thou 
 makest division in families ; thou castest reproach 
 upon our gods ; thou hast taxed our ancestors and 
 our wise men with errors and impiety : but we wish 
 to treat thee with consideration and moderation. 
 Listen to the proposals we have to make, and reflect 
 if it would not be well for thee to accept one of them." 
 
 " Speak on," said Mohammed, " I listen." 
 
 " Son of my friend," the other began, " be it thy 
 aim to acquire wealth by this thy strange conduct, 
 we will assess ourselves to make thee the richest 
 man of the house of our father Koreish ; if it be 
 honor that thou desirest we will make thee our lord, 
 and will plan nothing without thy advice ; if it be an 
 evil jinn that dominateth thee, we will bring to thee
 
 A DISCOURSE THAT STR/A'ES HOME. 9 1 
 
 the most able physicians, and wc will pour out our 
 gold until they cure thee." 
 
 " Is it all? " said the prophet. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Well, now listen to me : — 
 
 " In the name of Allah the merciful and compassionate ! A revel- 
 ation from the Merciful One ; a book whose signs are explained ; an 
 Arabic Koran for a people who understand ; a herald of glad tidings 
 and a warning. Most turn aside and listen not, and say, ' Our 
 hearts are veiled from the doctrine, our ears are dull, there is a cur- 
 tain between thee and lis : act thou ; verily we shall act.' Say, ' I 
 am but a mortal like yourselves, but a mortal to whom it has been 
 revealed that Allah is one : go make your way straight to him ; im- 
 plore his pardon. Woe to those who follow other gods, who give 
 not alms, and reject the future life." — SiiraxM. 
 
 " Thou hast heard," said Mohammed, after having 
 prostrated himself ; " choose what thou wilt ! " 
 
 Turning to his companions, the one who had ven- 
 tured to address the prophet exclaimed, " Never did 
 man hear a discourse like this! It strikes home ; it 
 is not poetry, nor the language of the magician. Let 
 us leave him ; let him work and persuade whom he 
 can ; peradventure some man of a strange tribe will 
 take him off for us ; but if he succeed, then his 
 power and glory will be ours and the Koreishites 
 will be remembered in the land." 
 
 " He has cast his spell upon thee ! " they all cried. 
 
 " I tell you frankly my opinion," the other replied. 
 
 Not satisfied with this trial, the men came a second 
 time to the prophet offering the same temptations, 
 and again they encountered the same haughty re- 
 fusal. Then they demanded a miracle, — the enlarge- 
 ment of their narrow valley, for example, as an
 
 92 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND. 
 
 assurance that indeed Allah spoke through him ; but 
 Mohammed replied : " Allah has sent me to preach 
 his law ; I am fulfilling; my mission, and I tell you 
 again it will be for your good in this world and in the 
 next if ye accept my message. If ye reject my 
 words, Allah will be your judge." 
 
 " At least," they urged, ask that an angel be sent 
 down to testify to thy veracity, and to command our 
 faith." " No," persisted Mohammed, " my duty is 
 simply to preach." Never could they force him to 
 attempt a miracle, — that favorite resort of so many 
 false prophets. 
 
 " Well, then," they replied, " let your lord make 
 the sky fall upon us ; he will make it fall upon you, 
 too, if he wish. All that thou tellest us thou hast 
 heard from a false prophet of Yemen to whom we 
 have never given ear. Know that we shall cease not 
 to repel thy attacks upon our faith until thou or we 
 perish in the strife." 
 
 In pursuance of these threats, all were forbidden 
 to listen to Mohammed, and when he visited the 
 Kaaba, the Koreishites took positions at a distance 
 from him. It was at this time that one Abdalla de- 
 termined to force them to hear the Koran read, and 
 placing himself among them in full day, he raised 
 his voice and cried, 
 
 " In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate ! 
 The merciful one taught the Koran ; 
 He created man. 
 And endowed him with speech, 
 The sun and the moon have their appointed times ; 
 Herbs and trees adore him ; 
 And the heavens, he raised them and set the balance." 
 
 — Sura Iv.
 
 LIGHT FROM A DARK CLOUD. 93 
 
 " What is the fellow reciting? " was the cry. 
 
 " Passages from the Koran of the proscribed ! " 
 
 These words were the signal for an attack upon 
 Abdalla, but in spite of the blows that rained upon 
 his face and body, he continued the recital until he 
 was thrown out of the holy place. 
 
 " But I forced them to hear mc ! " he exultantly 
 cried to his friends. The act was not, however, 
 likely to help forward the cause that he had with 
 so much intrepidity espoused, and the persecutions 
 of the Korcishites increased, the disciples were cru- 
 elly tortured, and Mohammed, cast down by their 
 sufferings as well as by his own impotence to protect 
 them, encouraged them to seek an asylum in Abys- 
 sinia. Accordingly, in the year 615, a number of 
 them crossed the Red Sea and sought the protec- 
 tion of the Christian king. 
 
 The intense hatred of the Koreishites followed 
 them even to the strange land, and the exiles were 
 haled before the ruler for examination. The recital 
 of some verses of the Koran affected this dignitary 
 to tears, and he refused to send the strangers back 
 to their tormentors. The Koreishites were downcast 
 at this failure, and still more did they lose heart when 
 they found that Omar, a cousin of Mohammed, and 
 one of the most powerful among the opponents of the 
 new faith, had come out as its equally ardent cham- 
 pion. It was indeed light from a dark cloud to 
 Mohammed, when this strong man cried out in his 
 presence, " Verily, I testify that thou art the prophet 
 of Allah ! " and well might he exclaim at the sound 
 of the words, " Allahu Akbar ! " (" Great is Allah ! ")
 
 94 FUGITIVES IN- A STRANGE LAND. 
 
 Still the Korcishitcs remained firm in their opposi- 
 tion, and the exiles were not free to return to their 
 homes. Mohammed was placed under a ban, and, 
 with his brethren of the children of Hashim, was 
 shut up in a quarter of the city,* A decree was 
 written and hung up on the walls of the Kaaba 
 warning all from having any intercourse, civil or 
 commercial, with the Hashimitcs. No marriage 
 was to be made with them ; no goods were to be 
 sold to them ; no stuff was to be bought of them. 
 As the years wore on, the hearts of the idolaters, 
 against whom the prophet preached, were moved 
 to pity for the brethren in distress. From time 
 to time provisions were secretly sent to them, and 
 at last, after they had suffered three years, the ban 
 was dissolved. It is said that it was found that the 
 decree hung up in the Kaaba had been miraculously 
 destroyed, so that at this time there remained only 
 the opening words : " In the name of Allah most 
 merciful ! " 
 
 * A secluded region, known as tlie Sheb of Abu Talib. It was 
 formed by one of the defiles of the mountains, where projecting 
 rocks pressed upon the eastern outskirts. The entrance from Mec- 
 ca was by a low gateway, through which a camel passed with diffi- 
 culty. Cliffs and buildings separated it from the rest of the town on 
 all other sides. (See Muir's " Mahomet," p. 99.)
 
 XI. 
 
 A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN. 
 
 The prophet had for nine years been offering 
 the blessings of Paradise to all who would accept his 
 doctrines and give up their idols ; and, though he 
 now was freed from the ban under which he had been 
 oppressed, his condition was very gloomy. He 
 claimed that his mission was for all the world, and 
 yet he failed to make progress even at home. There 
 were the strong Hamza and the valiant Omar — but 
 what were they and the little band that they led 
 in comparison with the thousands who stood aloof ? 
 Sad indeed must have been Mohammed's heart as 
 he walked out into the freedom of his native city 
 and reflected upon the slight progress that his cause 
 had made, despite his confidence in the help and 
 guidance of Allah al Razid, the Rightly Directing. 
 
 During all these years of meditation, prayer, fast- 
 ing, and preaching, Kadija had been the good angel 
 of the prophet. She believed in him and in the 
 truth of his revelations; she was the first who had 
 put her trust in the Allah whom he proclaimed ; she 
 strengthed him in all his purposes ; through her he 
 believed that Allah sent him comfort ; whenever 
 she heard aught that was disagreeable or contradic
 
 96 A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN. 
 
 tory, she counselled him to hope ; she roused him in 
 his state of lethargy and made his burdens light ; she 
 assured him that all the babble of his opponents 
 would come to naught. Now the end of all this 
 had arrived ; Kadija died. (End of the year 619.) 
 
 Not only did this affliction deprive Mohammed of 
 a trusty adviser, but it reduced him to a condition 
 of comparative poverty. Islam, also, that but for 
 her might never have received its first inspiring im- 
 pulse, lost in purity, and the revelations that were 
 to form the growing Koran, lost in dignity. The tics 
 of affection and interest that for a quarter of a cen- 
 tury had been growing stronger and stronger, were 
 in an instant forever broken. No wonder that the 
 prophet, always open to accesses of uncontrollable 
 emotion, was inconsolable, and mourned as one who 
 could not be comforted. Though he was to have 
 many other wives, he was never to forget the mem- 
 ory of good Kadija, nor was he ever to lose the in- 
 spiration of her life ; so little destructible is the influ- 
 ence of a good woman. The lover was never lost in 
 the husband, and how much dearer the wife was than 
 the bride, none but those who have felt a stimulus 
 such as she gave can know. 
 
 At about this time the sky was again darkened. 
 Abu Talib, the uncle, who, through all the years 
 of obliquy, had stood as a wall between Moham- 
 med and his enemies, was also taken away. Thus, 
 spiritual counsel and temporal aid alike seemed to 
 be passing from him at once. The chivalry of Abu 
 Talib in protecting the prophet when he did not be- 
 lieve in his mission is remarkable, and it is a strong
 
 A MEETING AT TAIF. 
 
 97 
 
 t3Ctimony to the honesty of Mohammed that he 
 could make such an impression on a man of so 
 much force of character. The Koreishites, under 
 the leadership of Abu Sofian, now returned to their 
 annoying attacks upon Mohammed. They cast dirt 
 upon his head in the street, and there was none to 
 take his part. Converts were few, and he saw that 
 if some positive advance were not promptly made, 
 idolatry would soon destroy what little there was of 
 the new faith. 
 
 Hopeless as the outlook at Mecca seemed, Mo- 
 hammed thought that perhaps at Taif some one 
 miglit be found who would embrace the truth. Ac- 
 cordingly he took the pilgrim-road towards Arafat: 
 he passed through the rocky defiles and dismal 
 wastes to the farther heights ; thence he descended 
 into the valley of flowers and fruits with reviving 
 hope — into a region so bright and charming that it 
 was fabled to have once been a part of Syria that 
 had floated off during the deluge. Alas, there were 
 other shrines at Taif, and other gods were firmly 
 fixed in the regard of the inhabitants ! The chiefs 
 consented to meet him, but they repelled his argu- 
 ments with the invincible logic of ridicule. 
 
 " Allah is one and I am his prophet," said Mo- 
 hammed. 
 
 " Allah has no other apostle but thee to send to 
 us ? " asked one. 
 
 "I cannot dispute with thee," said another; "if 
 
 thou art a prophet, thou art too grand a personage 
 
 for me to pretend to meet in discussion ; if thou art 
 
 an impostor, I will not deign to talk with thee ! " 
 
 8
 
 98 A TWOFOLD CORD B NO A' EN. 
 
 Mohammed left the assembly in chagrin, only to 
 encounter greater indignities from the people with- 
 out, who, stirred up by the chiefs, followctl him 
 through the streets with cries and insults. Slaves 
 and young roughs hurried him along as the\' made 
 targets for missiles of his legs; and if he crouched 
 down for a moment to protect himself from their 
 bloody weapons, they forced him to rise and drag 
 his lacerated body rapidly along. Then, when his 
 spirit was almost gone, a pitying citizen gave him 
 temporary shelter and a few grapes to strengthen 
 and rest him ; and the pursuing crowd allowed him 
 to get out of the city in peace. Scarcely daring to 
 look behind, he hastened towards Mecca, to which 
 city his faithful servant, Zeyd, who had accompanied 
 him to Taif, had gone to seek a place of abode for 
 them both. 
 
 In the interval after these exciting scenes, it was 
 not strange that the overstrained sensibilities of the 
 prophet should render him vulnerable to attacks 
 from visions, and accordingly tradition tells us that 
 at this time his nervous imagination showed him 
 certain of the jinns coming to listen to him. He 
 halted at a place where there were an idol temple, a 
 garden, and a grove, and, as his custom was, recited 
 portions of the Koran. Seven, or it may be nine, or 
 even more of the jinns, overheard his words, and 
 they cried : " Give ear ! " When the reading was con- 
 cluded, they returned to their haunts, and preached 
 to their fellows, saying : 
 
 " O our people ! 
 Verily we have heard a book sent down since Aiosca,
 
 THE yiNNS LISTEN. ()i) 
 
 Attesting Scripture that went before, 
 
 Guiding to truth and showing the right way. 
 
 O our people ! 
 
 Obey the preacher of Allah, 
 
 And believe in him, 
 
 That he may forgive your sins, 
 
 And save you from awful woe.'' 
 
 — Sura xlvi. 
 
 It was a comfort to the prophet in his low estate 
 to feel that if men would not listen to him, these 
 beings, made of pure fire, were prepared to give 
 adherence to his cause ; and thenceforward he was a 
 preacher sent to jinns as well as to the creatures of 
 clay. The vision did not make his way towards 
 Mecca any more hopeful, however, and he was 
 obliged for a time to loiter in his former mountain 
 haunts. At last Mutaim, one of those who had pro- 
 cured the removal of the ban, summoned his sons 
 to his assistance, buckled on his armor, and said to 
 Mohammed and Zeyd : " Enter ! " while at the same 
 time he addressed the Koreishites in these brave 
 words : 
 
 " O ye Koreish, verily I have given to Mohammed 
 the pledge of my protection ; let not any among you 
 harm him." 
 
 At this time of gloom (a.d. 620) Mohammed took 
 to wife a widow named Sawda, for whom he had, as 
 it seems, little affection ; and also espoused a daugh- 
 ter of Abd el Kaba, named Ayesha, a mere child of 
 some seven years, who became his favorite. Her 
 father now changed his name, as has been already 
 intimated, and was thereafter known as Abu Bekr, 
 usually supposed to signify " the Father of the Vir-
 
 100 A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN. 
 
 gin." * These were tlie first of a series of polyga- 
 mous marriages which mar the remainder of the 
 prophet's career. The actual marriage with Ayesha 
 was postponed for several years, but she was still 
 suf^ciently a child to take her babyish playthings 
 with her when she left her father's house. 
 
 The time of pilgrimage of the year 621 brought to 
 Mecca strangers of different tribes, and Mohammed 
 sought to ingratiate himself with them in the hope 
 of finding some who would listen to his message and 
 offer the home for his followers, as well as the disci- 
 ples themselves, which Mecca and Taif promised 
 never to furnish. Among the pilgrims Mohammed 
 discovered twelve persons who had already given 
 their adherence to Islam. They came from Medina 
 and were pleased to have the opportunity of con- 
 versing with one whom they had from a distance 
 looked upon as the coming Messiah (Mahdi). Mo- 
 hammed sat down with them on the hill Akaba, out- 
 side of Mecca, and there expounded the duties of his 
 religion ; teaching them that they should adore but 
 one god; that they should not plunder; that they 
 should not kill their infants ; nor do any other evil 
 deeds ; and he assured them that Allah would judge 
 
 * Dr. August Mliller, in " Der Islam," asserts that this almost 
 universally received interpretation of the new name is erroneous, and 
 that it arose from a mistranslation. Abu Bekr, he says (page 57), was 
 a common name, though he gives no reason for its having been thus 
 assumed. Fathers were commonly called after their sons, and, so far 
 as we know, never after their daughters ; but the case of Ayesha was 
 so separated from that of all other daughters, that it is not unreason- 
 able to believe that her father felt it an honor to have his relatiou tt 
 her expressed in his name.
 
 ON THK HILL AKABA. 
 
 lOI 
 
 them, giving them paradise if they fulfilled their 
 vows, and burning them in gehenna if they failed. 
 They bound themselves by an oath to follow these 
 simple precepts, though it is to be observed that 
 there was no obligation to take up arms in defence 
 of the cause. The twelve men returned to Medina, 
 but promised to come back again at the sacred 
 month of the following year, hoping that they 
 might then report additions to their little number. 
 In this expectation they were not disappointed ; 
 there was a sudden renunciation of idols at Medina, 
 and the Jews even begged Mohammed to send 
 them a teacher to give them instruction in the new 
 faith that had worked so remarkable a change in the 
 community.
 
 XII. 
 
 TO TIIK SKVENTli IFKAVKN. 
 
 In ancient times men held dreams and visions 
 either in great respect or in terrible dread ; they 
 supposed that when the body was asleep, and the 
 imagination active ; when the powers by which we 
 receive sensations were awake and the reason and 
 judgment by which those sensations are controlled 
 were asleep, the gods were wont to send to men in- 
 dications of their will, and revelations of the future 
 or of the remote. Thus in the old book of Job, 
 which contains so much to remind us of the Ara- 
 bians, Elihu, the young Buzite, says: 
 
 " God speaketh in one way, 
 
 Yea, in two, though man regardeth it not. 
 
 In a dream, in a vision of the night, 
 
 When deep sleep falleth upon men, 
 
 In siiiinterings upon the bed ; 
 
 Then he uncovereth the ears of men, 
 
 And scaleth their instruction. 
 
 That he mt.y withdraw man from his purpose. 
 
 And hide pride '"lom man. . . . 
 
 If there be with him an angel. 
 
 An interpreter, one among a thousand. 
 
 To show unto man what is right for him." 
 
 Likewise Eliphaz the Temanite, very likely him- 
 self an Arabian, said to Job, in the course of his
 
 DREAMS ANCIENT AND MODERN. IO3 
 
 calm and elaborate argument for the righteousness 
 
 of God : 
 
 " A thing was secretly brought to me, 
 And mine ear received a whisper thereof. 
 In thoughts from the visions of the night. 
 When deep sleep falleth on men, 
 Fear came upon me and trembling, 
 Which made all my bones to shake. 
 Then a breath passed over my face ; 
 The hair of my flesh stood up : 
 A form was before mine eyes ; 
 
 It stood still, but I could not discern the apjiearance thereof ; 
 Silence, — and I heard a voice, — 
 ' Shall mortal man be more just than God ? 
 Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? ' " 
 
 Though modern science has carried its researches 
 into every department of creation, and has attempted 
 to ravel all the secrets hidden since the foundation 
 of the world, it cannot yet tell us what a dream is, 
 nor what it means. Psychology stands by the side 
 of the dreamer and says in effect that these mys- 
 teries are yet to be explained. It is not a matter of 
 surprise that when Mohammed found that visions 
 were held in respect by the " Men of the Book," as 
 he called the Jews, and considered a means by which 
 their god revealed and wai"ncd his people, he should 
 adopt the same view ; and accordingly we find him 
 laying some stress upon dreams. He did not know 
 that in the New Testament they are not represented 
 in the same light as in the Old. He had heard of 
 Moses, of Jacob, of Joseph, and of the prophets, to 
 whom so many messages had been sent while their 
 bodies were asleep, and he was not surprised when 
 visions came to him. One occurred at this juncture.
 
 104 TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN. 
 
 Doubtless, it was prc^iiiint with meaning, and he 
 cried out : 
 
 " Praise be unto him, who by night took his servant from the 
 sacred Kaaba to the farther temple of Jerusalem, the precincts uf 
 which we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs ! Ver- 
 ily Allah heareth and seeth ! " — Sura xvii. 
 
 It was a dark night (tradition tells us) ; such a 
 solemn silence had never been known in Mecca ; no 
 owl hooted, no cock crowed, not a cur barked in the 
 streets, nor did a wild beast howl on the surrounding 
 hills. Even the waters seemed to cease their gentle 
 murmurs in the purling well Zem-zem ; the wind 
 went down and the heavy atmosphere was not 
 stirred by the slightest zephyr ; all nature was 
 smitten with a weird, uncanny hush. At the deep 
 hour of midnight the prophet started at the sound of 
 a voice : 
 
 " Awake, thou that sleepest ! " 
 
 One stood before him with a face as white as snow ; 
 his forehead was serene and unruffled ; hair of radiant 
 beauty, plaited finely, hung in graceful curls about his 
 shoulders ; dazzling brightness made the many hues 
 of his great wings illuminate the precious stones with 
 which his robes were strewed ; and gracious perfumes 
 from ten thousand scent-bags filled the air with 
 fragrance. 
 
 The wondrous visitor was Gabriel, with whom the 
 prophet was not entirely unacquainted ; he pro- 
 ceeded to take out Mohammed's heart, which he 
 washed in a golden vessel filled with the water of 
 faith. He then brought near a new sort of beast 
 called the Borak, a name that signifies lip-htning. It
 
 THE BORAK GENTLY A'/SES. 10$ 
 
 had the face of a man, eyes of emeralds as great as 
 two stars ; pearls and other precious jewels adorned 
 its wings, which were resplendent with light ; and it 
 was so endowed that it understood what was spoken 
 to it, though it could not reply. Mohammed pre- 
 pared to mount the steed at the instigation of the 
 Angel, but it started back and refused to permit 
 him, until Gabriel interceded ; then it gracefully re- 
 lented, and when the prophet was seated, gently rose 
 into the upper air and with the swiftness of hghtning 
 bore him along towards the north. At Sinai, Gabriel 
 bade the rapid beast stop in its course, to permit 
 Mohammed to pray on the spot where God once 
 communed with Moses ; at Bethlehem, where Jesus 
 the son of Mary was born, the same duty was re- 
 peated. As they rose into the air after the second 
 stop, Mohammed heard a voice crying : 
 
 " O Mohammed, tarry a moment, I pray, that I 
 may speak with thee ; thou art he to whom of all 
 created beings I am most devoted." 
 
 Still the Borak pressed forwards, and soon a second 
 voice was heard crying : 
 
 "Stop!" 
 
 Mohammed tarried not ; and, behold, after a little 
 a damsel of the most ravishing beauty appeared, and, 
 with the most alluring smiles, beckoned to the proph- 
 et, uttering the same appealing words ; but not for an 
 instant did he deviate from the direct line of his 
 progress. Then Gabriel congratulated him that he 
 had not halted ; telling him that the first appeal 
 came from a Jew, and that if he had listened to it, all 
 his people would have become followers of the re-
 
 I06 TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN. 
 
 Hgion of Moses. He said that the second was the 
 voice of a Christian, who would have brought him to 
 Christianity ; and the third was the appeal of the 
 world, to which had he given ear, his fellow-country- 
 men would have sought their blessings in the present 
 life, would have cast aside the rewards of eternity, 
 and thus would have been forever lost. 
 
 The Eorak soon set down her burden at the gate 
 of the temple at Jerusalem, where she was fastened 
 to a ring to which, indeed, prophets had fastened her 
 before, and Mohammed gave himself up to prayer. 
 A ladder of light soon invited him to rise to the 
 first heaven, and afforded him the means. He made 
 the ascent with rapidity by the aid of Gabriel, and 
 the gate was opened. Pure silver formed the walls, 
 and stars suspended by chains of gold afforded light. 
 As the prophet entered, a venerable form approached, 
 and he did him reverence. It was father Adam, who 
 embraced Mohammed, calling him greatest among 
 the sons of men and first among the prophets. 
 
 When the wonders of this place had been some- 
 what examined, the angel and his companion pro- 
 ceeded to the second heaven, which was of steel; 
 and there Noah hailed Mohammed £,s the greatest 
 among prophets. The third heaven, in which Joseph 
 was discovered, was gorgeous with precious stones 
 and too brilliant for mortal eyes. In it was the 
 angel of death, writing in a book the names of all 
 who were to be born, and blotting out the names of 
 those who had lived their allotted time. As each 
 name was blotted, its owner immediately died. In 
 the fifth heaven Aaron was found, and the angel of
 
 INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM.
 
 I08 rO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN. 
 
 vengeance, with eyes flashing h'ghtniiig, in whose 
 hand was a lance of flame ; fire blazed on every side 
 of his throne, and red-hot chains were not far from 
 him round about. 
 
 In the sixth heaven, Mohammed was met by 
 Moses, who wept at the sight, because he beheld one 
 who was destined to lead to Paradise more of his 
 nation than followed the teachings of their prophet 
 among the chosen children of Israel. The seventh 
 heaven was found to be formed of divine light, and 
 tongue cannot describe its glory. Abraham was 
 honored with a chief place there. It was exactly 
 over the Kaaba. Gabriel could go no farther ; but 
 Mohammed was allowed to go on through vast spaces 
 to the presence of Allah, who, though veiled, spake 
 to him, giving him many of the doctrines afterwards 
 incorporated in the Koran, and prescribing that his 
 followers should utter fifty prayers a day. 
 
 When Mohammed returned to Moses, he assured 
 him that he would find it impossible to lead the 
 Arabian people to make so many prayers, and urged 
 him to go back to obtain a diminution of the num- 
 ber. Allah permitted him to reduce the number to 
 forty ; but Moses insisted that humanity was even 
 too weak to bear such a burden. Mohammed re- 
 turned several times, gaining repeated reductions of 
 the number, until it was left at five, beyond which 
 he refused to ask ; and at this number it has re- 
 mained unto the present day. Daily between dawn 
 and sunrise the faithful muezzin goes to his tower 
 wherever the religion of Islam is professed and 
 cries :
 
 
 fly
 
 I lO TO THE SE VENTH HE A VEN. 
 
 " Allahu akbar ! . . . Prayer is better than sleep \ . . 
 There is no God but Allah ! . . . lie giveth life and he dieth 
 not ! . . . O thou bountiful ! . . . Thy mercy ceaseth not ! 
 . . . My sins are great, greater is thy mercy ! . . . I extol 
 his perfection ! . . , Allahu akbar ! " 
 
 At the Other appointed hours he Hkewise utters 
 his well-known but peculiar cry, and in whatever 
 place the Moslem may find himself at the moment 
 he drops into the attitude prescribed for worship 
 and repeats the words that his religion directs shall 
 be said : — 
 
 " La illah il' Allah ! The Faithful heed, 
 With God and the Prophet this hour to plead ; 
 Whose ear is open to hear their need." 
 
 When Mohammed related this vision to his friends, 
 they advised him to keep it to himself, for, said they, 
 men will surely call you a madman or a liar; but he 
 knew that if he could only find some one to believe in 
 it, his prestige would be increased, and he accord- 
 ingly determined to publish it and face the ridicule 
 that would be excited. The result was that while 
 not a few railed at him and insulted him, his fol- 
 lowers were so firmly bound to him that they never 
 hesitated thereafter to give credence to any thing 
 that he said, and he was enabled to establish an oral 
 as well as a written law, indefinitely drawing upon 
 that which he declared he had seen written in 
 heaven. 
 
 At this time Mohammed seems to have changed 
 his plans somewhat ; for while he had been, through- 
 out the earlier years of his mission, seeking to estab- 
 lish a religious following only, he now looked for a
 
 CHANGES JN MOHAMMED. 
 
 Ill 
 
 temporal kingdom. Perhaps the case is correctly- 
 stated thus : Beginning his career filled with an en- 
 thusiastic desire to reform his country's religion, he 
 had grown to have a confidence that his aspirations 
 and designs were approved of Allah ; then that they 
 emanated directly from him. After years of hard 
 labor in this honest direction, supported by the good 
 Kadija and the strong Abu Talib, he was rejected 
 by many and believed that he had practically failed ; 
 then, determined to succeed at whatever sacrifice of 
 principle or consistency, he turned to the pursuit 
 of political advantage^. Desperate, indeed, must 
 the outlook have been which caused Mohammed 
 the Faithful One to look to any other than Allah for 
 aid \ 

 
 XIII. 
 
 IN A CAVE. 
 
 When Mohammed came back from the land of 
 dreams he must have felt a great shock ; his eyes did 
 not open upon walls of gold or silver; no, nor even 
 ot steel ; there were none of the blazing inscriptions 
 to be seen that his fond imagination had pictured, pro- 
 claiming on every wall : " There is no God but Allan ; 
 Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah ! " No angels 
 filled his apartment with celestial glory ; no prophets 
 bowed down to him ; scarcely a man showed him- 
 self interested in the great mission. He had verily 
 descended from heaven to earth ! 
 
 He was now confident, bur. not aggressive ; he still 
 preached the unity of Allah, but desisted from very 
 positive onslaughts upon idolatry ; he cried out from 
 time to time to the opposers : 
 
 "Have ye not heard the story of those who were before you? 
 Apostles came unto them with tokens ; but they thrust their hands 
 into their mouths in indignation; and said, ' Verily we disbelieve.' 
 " And the misbelievers said to the Apostles, ' We will drive 
 you from our land, if ye return not to our faith ! ' Then Allah spake 
 by revelation to them. ' Verily we shall destroy the wicked ! ' " — 
 Sura xiv. 
 
 " Prophets before thee have been mocked ; but they who laughed 
 them to scorn were encompassed by the vengeance that they ridi- 
 culed. "
 
 ANOTHER MEETING ON AKABA. 1 13 
 
 " 'Nay,' say they, 'a jumble of dreams; nay! he hath forged 
 it ; nay ! he is a poet ; but let him bring us a sign.' " — Sura xxi. 
 " But it shall cause sighing unto the unbelievers, 
 And it is the TRUTH, the Certain TRUTH ; 
 Wherefore, praise the name of Allah the glorious ! " 
 
 — Sura Ixix. 
 " None wrangle concerning the signs of Allah save the misbe- 
 lievers. ... In the fire shall they be baked." — Sura xl. 
 
 Thus the prophet warned unceasingly; thus he 
 threatened unbeHevers with punishments that must 
 have seemed to them of the most frightful severity 
 and the utmost indignity ; but the Meccans stead- 
 fastly refused to listen. Meantime the year Avas 
 wearing away at the end of which the twelve from 
 Medina were to return with reports of their succes: 
 or failure. With them, when they left him, Moham- 
 med had sent Mussab, one of the most able of his 
 disciples, to preach Islam in his name. So success- 
 ful was the zeal and eloquence of this missionary, 
 and so ready were the people to hear him, that 
 before a twelvemonth had passed he was able to 
 boast of converts in every one of the tribes among 
 the people of Medina. When the holy month 
 arrived, he led to Mecca threescore and ten men 
 who met Mohammed on the hill Akaba, eager to 
 invite him to turn his back upon Mecca, and make 
 their city his future dwelling-place. 
 
 Had the Koreishites been aware of this meeting 
 they would have come forth in their strength, and 
 the small nucleus of a kingdom would have sud- 
 denly been brought to naught. A night was chosen 
 toward the end of the sacred season, and the con- 
 verts found the place of rendezvous singly, or by 
 
 9
 
 > J 4 IN A CA VE. 
 
 twos or threes, under cover of the darkness ; they 
 ** waked not the sleeper nor waited for the absent." 
 The spot where they met was in a secluded glen not 
 far from the road used by the pilgrims, beneath the 
 hill, near the valley of Mina ; a place much fre- 
 quented during the holy season. Even the faithful 
 Moslems of Mecca were not informed of the meeting, 
 so necessary was it thought to keep it secret. 
 
 Midnight arrived, and the dim light of the hour 
 showed the forms of the seventy slowly finding their 
 way to the spot. When they were seated, Abbas, 
 uncle of the prophet, the wealthiest of the sons of 
 Abd al Muttalib, rose in the gloom and addressed the 
 spectral assemblage : 
 
 " Children of the tribes of Yathrib ! Ye know 
 the high rank that this my kinsman holdeth 
 among the sons of Hashim. Though opposed to 
 his new faith, we have supported him, and we will 
 support him ; but he hath found favor in the eyes 
 of your people, and is ready to become one of you. 
 Wherefore, consider well the matter : if ye are 
 strong to defend him against all who may rise up 
 to harm him ; if ye be men of war, willing to sacrifice 
 your lives and your goods in his cause, well ; if not, 
 abandon him now, and you will not be tempted to 
 betray him later ! " 
 
 " We are men of war," they promptly replied, 
 "and we will be faithful to our promises, though it 
 cost us our lives. Our resolution is taken ; it is now 
 for thee, O prophet, to speak, and tell us the con- 
 ditions that thou demandest for thyself and for 
 Allah."
 
 THE SEVENTY RETURN TO MEDINA. II5 
 
 "Ycwill bow to Allah only," began the prophet ; 
 "yc will be faithful to the precepts of Islam ; ye will 
 obey me ; ye will receive my fellows and me; ye will 
 fight for our defence as for the defence of wives and 
 children." 
 
 " Our recompense ? " they asked. 
 
 " Paradise ! " 
 
 " If we win triumph for Islam, wilt thou not one 
 day quit us for thy native city ? " one enc^uircd. 
 
 " I will live and I will die with ye ! " exclaimed 
 Mohammed, a smile of pride and satisfaction playing 
 about his lips. 
 
 " Give us thy hand ! " they said, and a confused 
 noise arose from the seventy throats as they swore 
 the second oath of Akaba. 
 
 ** Hush ! " cried Abbas ; " spies are upon us ! " 
 
 Suddenly the party separated, after Mohammed 
 had designated twelve among them as his representa- 
 tives at Medina, and before the sun had risen upon 
 the valley they were again with their caravan. Their 
 idolatrous companions had not noticed their ab- 
 sence. Soon all were ready for the return to 
 Medina ; the seventy burdened with the solemnity 
 of a strong oath, and the twelve dignified by the 
 addition of new responsibilities that perhaps might 
 cost them their lives. The spy, or the chance passer, 
 who had so suddenly broken up the conference, 
 brought his vague information to the Koreishite 
 chiefs, and they sent to the parting caravan to ask if 
 any men of Medina had conferred with Mohammed ; 
 if they had promised to take him away ; if they had 
 bound themselves to his fortunes, for the Koreishites
 
 ri6 IN A CAVE. 
 
 declared that they deprecated war with their breth- 
 ren of Medina. The idolaters ainonj^ them of the 
 caravan, men of position, hastened to give assurance 
 that they had had no sort of communication with 
 the prophet ; and one of the chiefs ventured to add 
 that it was not probable that any among his com- 
 pany had entered into such a bond, for a matter of 
 so much importance would surely have come to his 
 notice. 
 
 Further investigation, after the pilgrims had left, 
 satisfied the Korcishites, however, that their suspi- 
 cions were correct, and they hurried armed envoys 
 after the caravans. Two pilgrims were brought 
 back, and after some maltreatment they were per- 
 mitted to rejoin their friends ; but the gravity of the 
 situation was apparent to the Meccans, and they en- 
 tered upon a second persecution of the followers of 
 the prophet, more cruel, if possible, than that which 
 had led to the emigration to Abyssinia. As in that 
 instance Mohammed had said to his followers : 
 " Emigrate," so now he commanded them : " Depart 
 unto Medina ; Allah hath verily given you brethren 
 there and a home in which ye shall find refuge." 
 
 The faithful were not slow to follow their leader's 
 advice ; by twos they took their tedious way over 
 the sands to the northward on camels ; singly they 
 trudged along the same weary way on foot, if the 
 price of a camel was beyond their ability ; and the 
 Koreishites found now a dwelling empty, now a street 
 deserted, now a quarter of the city that was once 
 alive with humanity quiet and forlorn. Still Mo- 
 hammed, with Abu Bekr, and AH and their families
 
 VENGEANCE THREATENED. 11/ 
 
 did not leave, the prophet thinking, probably, that it 
 was his honorable duty to stand by the last who re- 
 mained. 
 
 Daily Abu Bekr urged Mohammed to start, but he 
 replied time and again that Allah had not given him 
 the command to emigrate. With worldly wisdom 
 Abu made ready swift camels against the day which 
 was sure to come, for the anger of the Koreish was 
 rising. They were, indeed, made more excited by 
 the dilatoriness of their proposed victim. They 
 held a council to discuss the state of affairs and to 
 enquire into the motive for the prophet's strange 
 action. With one voice they determined that some 
 aggressive step should be taken against him ; but 
 what should it be ? Should they chain him in 
 prison ? His friends might deliver him. It was 
 plain that his life must be sacrificed for the good and 
 tranquillity of the city. He could not be exiled, for 
 then he would run through the tribes and excite them 
 to rise and unite against Mecca. It was at last de- 
 cided that a man from each principal family should 
 be chosen, and that at the same moment all should 
 give a death-blow to the prophet. Thus the children 
 of Hashim would be unable to take vengeance 
 upon any particular family, and would be forced to 
 accept the price of blood, which would freely be 
 offered. 
 
 Mohammed, in turn, was informed of the plot (by 
 the angel Gabriel, as the faithful believe), and made 
 his arrangements accordingly. Leaving AH covered 
 with his own mantle and lying in his bed, Moham- 
 med escaped in the darkness by the back of his
 
 Il8 IN A CAVE. 
 
 house to Abu Bckr, to whom he explained that the 
 time had come to flee. Abu Bekr had long been 
 hoping for the privilege of accompanying Moham- 
 med when he should leave Mecca, and now he asked 
 it. The prophet graciously gave his consent, and 
 Abu Bekr shed tears of joy at the prospect. There- 
 upon the two stole away to the south. 
 
 While the prophet was thus seeking safety, his 
 enemies went to his house. There they found Ali 
 and asked him where Mohammed was. He replied 
 that he had no knowledge of him ; was not his 
 keeper, and supposed that as he had been ordered 
 to leave the city, he had gone. In every direction 
 scouts were sent to search for the fugitives, but no 
 trace of them could be found. 
 
 Mohammed and Abu Bekr had walked quickly to 
 a mountain distant only an hour and a half from 
 Mecca, but in the direction away from Medina 
 towards which it was naturally supposed that they 
 would go. There, on the rocky summit, approached 
 by a ragged and difficult path, in the midst of a bar- 
 ren and wild tract, over a portion of w^hich they 
 were forced to drag their bodies on their hands and 
 knees, they found a small, low opening barely suffi- 
 cient to admit them singly. Into this Mohammed, 
 the prophet of Allah, fresh from dreams of the 
 seventh heaven, and Abu Bekr, the " Second of the 
 Two," as he was afterwards called as a mark of 
 special honor, crept stealthily just as day dawned. 
 Though he had been so exceedingly desirous to have 
 the honor of accompanying Mohammed, Abu Bekr 
 now became fearful lest their place of refuge should
 
 FEARFUL ABU BEKR. 
 
 119 
 
 be discovered, and said to the prophet : " What if 
 our pursuers should find our cave ? We are but 
 two." 
 
 " We are three," said Mohammed ; " Allah is with 
 us!
 
 XIV. 
 
 THE YEAR ONE. 
 
 When wc say that Ouccn Victoria ascended her 
 throne in 1837, we mean, if we stop to think, that 
 she began to reign 1837 years after the birth of 
 Christ ; but if we were to count back to the year 
 one, we should find that at that time Christ was a 
 little boy about four; which shows that there must 
 be some error. The truth is that a mistake was 
 made. It was not until six hundred years after the 
 birth of Christ that the world began to date its let- 
 ters and documents from that event, and there were 
 no men cf science living who could tell exactly the 
 year when it occurred. 
 
 We find the same dif^culty in regard to all dates 
 and eras. Some nations date from the beginning of 
 the world, but none of them know when the world 
 began ; the Jews say that it was 3750 years before 
 Christ ; the people of Constantinople that it was 
 5509 years before, and so on. The Romans dated 
 from the year of the founding of their city, but they 
 did not even know when th?.t event occurred ; and 
 now we find the Arabians dating from their year 
 One, but the world cannot tell exactly when it was. 
 We know more nearly about this than we do when
 
 THE COMMAND TO EMIGRATE. 121 
 
 our own era begins, because the Arabian year One 
 was so many hundred }ears after ours. The farther 
 we go back in our studies of history, the more misty 
 all matters appear. We are not surprised, therefore 
 to find in some books the statement that the Arab- 
 ian year One began on the i6th of July in the year 
 622 after Christ, in another that it was the 22d of 
 September, and in another still that it was the 20th 
 of June. It is said to have been the tenth, the 
 thirteenth, or the fifteenth year after the Angel 
 Gabriel had so wonderfully commanded Mohammed 
 to read the marvellous words that he held up before 
 his eyes. The difificulty arises from the fact that the 
 Arabians did not call their months by the same 
 names that we call ours, and did not make them of 
 the same length ; so that their years were irregular, 
 and a long calculation is required to establish any 
 date that is given us by them. Such a calculation 
 has been made by a noted French scholar learned in 
 these subjects, and as it seems the best that has yet 
 been offered, we shall accept it, and assume that it 
 was on the 19th of April, 622, A.D., that Moham- 
 med said to his disciples, " Emigrate ! " and that it 
 was on the 20th of June of the same year that he 
 and Abu Bekr started for their mountain cave. Dr. 
 August Miiller makes it Septem.ber, however. 
 
 The cave, lonely and remote as it was, could not 
 have been a safe place for the two flying men, for 
 the search was active ; the scouts actually came 
 once to its mouth, and the prophet and his compan- 
 ion heard their voices. According to the legend 
 Allah had commanded a tree marvellously to grow
 
 122 THE YEAR ONE. 
 
 up before it, a spider to weave its delicate vvcb ovci 
 it, and a wild pigeon to lay eggs in a nest that it 
 most quickly made in its branches. The searchers 
 saw the web, and said that of course no one could 
 be in a hole so small and covered up by a screen that 
 would have been broken if any person had attempted 
 to enter. So the danger passed by. 
 
 Three days the two remained hidden ; a shepherd 
 who tended the flocks of Abu Bekr driving a few 
 goats to the cave every evening, and giving them 
 milk, and one of his sons bringing them food every 
 day that his sister had cooked. The son was also 
 watching the movements at Mecca, and with the 
 food he brought the news of what was going on. He 
 finally reported that the city was quiet ; that it was 
 believed the prophet had gained such a start that it 
 would not be worth while to follow him. Then the 
 refugees ventured from their lowly hiding-place, and 
 two camels that had been provided in advance were 
 brought to a spot near the summit, as though they 
 had wandered there ; the faithful daughter supplied 
 also more food, and after Mohammed and Abu 
 Bekr had mounted they began the descent of the 
 mountain. When the valley was reached they dared 
 not take the usual road, but struck off to the westward 
 in the direction of the Red Sea, until they found the 
 track of the caravans going to Syria — a track that 
 may well have been familiar to Mohammed at least. 
 
 By evening they were well started on the journey, 
 and when they fondly thought that they were be- 
 yond the probability of pursuit, they beheld in the 
 distance the approaching form of a man who, tempted
 
 'I/IC HEJRA. 123 
 
 by the sum set upon the head of the prophet, had 
 not yet given up the search. At the sight, Abu 
 Bekr cried out, " We are lost ! " Mohammed, on the 
 contrary, said : " Allah will protect us" ; and lo, as 
 the grim leader of the troop advanced, his shaggy 
 locks and Esau-like arms giving him a threatening 
 appe?.rance, his charger stumbled and threw his rider 
 into the dust at the prophet's feet ! Mohammed took 
 advantage of the moment to make an eloquent ap- 
 peal, and the warrior, assured that heaven really had 
 interfered, cried out : 
 
 " Hold ! listen to me ! You have nothing to fear." 
 
 "What do you wish?" asked Abu Bekr. 
 
 " I wish a writing testifying that Mohammed has 
 received mc into the number of his followers." 
 
 On the instant, the words were written by Abu 
 Bekr on a fragment of bone, and the prophet was 
 again free to pursue his journey. As he went slowly 
 along, often not far from the side of the sea, he and 
 his companion must had many a thought of those 
 they had left behind them. "What of Ayesha?" 
 " How was AH treated by the Koreishites aftey they 
 found that he had known of the prophet's flight ? " 
 " How was Fatima, and were the other daughters 
 safe?" They could only trust that Allah would in- 
 cline the hearts of the members of their clans to pro- 
 tect the helpless from harm ; there was no possibility 
 of getting intelligence from them for a long time, 
 either on the journey or at its end. Passers whom they 
 encountered carried news of their progress to Mecca, 
 however, and it was soon certainly known there that 
 Medina was the place for which the prophet v/as
 
 124 THF. YEAR ONE. 
 
 bouiul. As for Ali, he was not molested, and after 
 a few days lie started himself for the same cit)'. 
 Neither did the daughters nor the wives of the 
 prophet suffer any inconvenience from the citizens so 
 lately enrai^ed against Mohammed. 
 
 Men from Medina were met also by the prophet, 
 and he was encouraged by good news of the faithful, 
 who were said to be anxiously awaiting his arrival. 
 In due time, the travellers turned off to the east, 
 and leaving the vicinity of the sea, took the road 
 towards the mountains which hid from view the fruit- 
 ful territory about Medina. Only inhospitable granite 
 frowned upon them ; the road led up-hill ; the sum- 
 mer sun shone out upon them with intensity, and 
 progress was difficult for both man and beast. One of 
 the camels, indeed, broke down under the severity 
 of the journey ; the incident bringing to mind the 
 words of the poet : 
 
 " ' Droop not my faithful camel ! Now 
 
 The hospitable well is near. 
 Though sick at heart and worn in brow, 
 I grieve the most to think that thou 
 
 And I may part, kind comrade, here ! 
 O'er the dull waste, a swelling mound, 
 
 A verdant paradise I see ; 
 The princely date-palms there abound, 
 And springs that make it sacred ground 
 
 To pilgrims like to thee and me.' 
 The patient camel's eye, 
 
 All lustreless, is fixed in death. 
 
 Beneath the sun of Araby 
 The desert wanderer ceased to sigh, 
 
 Exhausted on its burning path ! " 
 
 Medina lies three thousand feet above the sea
 
 IN THE BRIGHT SUBURB KOBA. 125 
 
 level, and is a contrast to Mecca ; instead of the 
 narrow and barren valley, it boasts beautiful gar- 
 dens and rich foliage ; a river flows through its plain, 
 and all around lie green fields, evidences of the gen- 
 erous returns that nature affords there to the labors 
 of the husbandman. Of all the bright spots in the 
 beautiful region, the suburb of Koba, two miles to 
 the south of the city and connected with it by unin- 
 terrupted gardens, most attracts the eye. Upon this 
 scene of loveliness Mohammed looked down as he 
 achieved the difficult ascent of the mountains. Per- 
 haps his appreciation of the view was enhanced by 
 sweet but dim memories of the day when his mother, 
 Amina, had taken him to visit his relatives, on which, 
 alas, she had given up her young life ! Other thoughts 
 must have been mingled with these sad-sweet remi- 
 niscences, however, for in spite of all the assurances he 
 had received from friends, Mohammed could but 
 have doubted what his reception was to be. 
 
 He determined not to enter Medina directly, and 
 turned his camel towards Koba, where he alighted 
 beneath a tree. As it was not known that he had lost 
 three days in the cave, his friends had already ex- 
 pected his arrival for some time ; and everyday they 
 had watched for him on the road a mile or so be- 
 yond the city. This morning they had returned from 
 their perch, which was on the rocks west of Medina, 
 but when Mohammed came in sight, a Jew who saw 
 him from his house-top, cried : " He has come ! He 
 for whom the Refugees have been looking has at last 
 come ! " If the calculations are correct, this was 
 Monday, June 28th. It was not long before the
 
 126 THE YEAR ONE. 
 
 streets echoed and re-echoed with the joyful cr> : 
 " lie is come ! He is come ! " From every quarter 
 the excited people flocked to greet the prophet, who 
 did not fail to bear himself with his usual dignity, 
 and said, very much as modern rulers say when they 
 call upon their people to give thanks : 
 
 " O people, show your joy by giving to your 
 neighbors the salutation of peace ; send portions to 
 the poor ; bind close the tics of kinsmen ; pray while 
 others sleep ; and thus shall ye enter paradise ! " 
 
 For several days Mohammed rested at Koba, and 
 then, fully assured that his entrance into the city 
 would be welcome, he determined to take up his 
 abode there on the following Friday. By that time, 
 Ali had arrived, and accompanied him. In the morn- 
 ing he mounted his favorite camel, with Abu Bekr 
 behind him. A host of followers surrounded them; 
 a powerful chief at the head of seventy horsemen 
 acted as guard of honor ; disciples took turns in 
 holding a canopy of palm-leaves over his head; one 
 enthusiast unfolded his turban, and, tying it to the 
 point of his lance, bore it along as a standard. Be- 
 fore entering the city limits, the prophet halted at a 
 spot still pointed out as the place of Friday prayer, 
 and preached a sermon, after performing religious 
 services. It was the first of a series of Friday 
 services that has continued to this day. 
 
 The inhabitants, clad in holiday garments, streamed 
 forth to welcome the coming hero, calling upon him : 
 " Alight here, O prophet ! here is abundance ! here 
 is room! here is protection ! " Mohammed replied: 
 " Let the camel go free ; she will show the place at
 
 PARTIES A T MEDINA. 12/ 
 
 which Allah wills that I shall alight." Slowly the 
 triumphal procession moved along among the grace- 
 ful palms and green gardens of the southern portion 
 of the city ; and finally the beast halted and sat down 
 in the eastern district, in a large court-yard contain- 
 ing a few date-trees. By thus giving a supernatural 
 character to the selection of the place, Mohammed 
 wisely avoided all the jealousies that might other- 
 wise have been aroused by his choice of a home. 
 His first duty was to purchase the ground ; for he 
 refused to accept it as a gift, though it was urged 
 upon him. 
 
 After the triumph, came sober thoughts of what 
 was to be done to ensure the success of the mission 
 to a people who might not all be in sympathy with 
 the faithful. There were among the inhabitants of 
 Medina the band of emigrants from Mecca (Muajcrin), 
 and the new converts (Ansars), upon whom reliance 
 might, of course, be put ; but there were also many 
 known as the Disaffected, who asked : " For what do 
 we people of Medina throw ourselves at the feet of 
 this foreigner } " " Is it not merely to lose our liber- 
 ties, and bring ourselves and our children into bond- 
 age?" These covered up their animosity for the 
 present, but it was living hatred, and the prophet 
 knew that at any moment that they might think 
 promising, it would break forth into declared and 
 vigorous opposition. 
 
 There were also in Medina Jews, with whom the 
 prophet's relations were peculiar; for he had bor- 
 rowed many things in his faith and practice from 
 them, and professed much sympathy with their re-
 
 128 
 
 THE YEAR ONE. 
 
 ligious views. Some of these were ^ainetl over and 
 became faithful adherents of Ishuii. but others cast 
 ridicule upon the prophet. A^^ains!: these latter he, 
 in turn, inveighed as rebels, as men judicially blind, 
 as belonging to the generation of those who had 
 killed the prophets in other days, and had rejected 
 the Messiah. 
 
 " O People of the Book," he cried, " why do ye disbelieve in the 
 signs of Allah, the while ye witness them ? Why do ye clothe the 
 truth with falsehood, and hide the truth that ye know ? " — Sura iii. 
 
 In the second sura, which dates from the first year 
 of the Ilejra, the prophet reconmiended his followers 
 to avoid the use of wine. Four years later he de- 
 cided that total abstinence was the only safe policy, 
 and forbade both wine and games of chance. 
 
 It was no easy task that Mohammed had before 
 him; he knew as well as we do now that a public 
 triumph is often the forerunner of a fall. Still, he 
 continued to profess that he looked to Allah only 
 for support and guidance.
 
 XY. 
 
 ISLAM. 
 
 Let us stop now at the threshold of the new era 
 and ask what was the doctrine that Mohammed had 
 up to this time preached, and what he was expected 
 to bring to Medina. It was ** strikingly new and 
 orieinal," as Professor Palmer has said ; for the first 
 time it put before the Arabian the grand conception 
 of one God, the faith of their father Abraham, which 
 the ignorant worship of stocks and stones had long 
 obscured. It was a radical and noble reform that, 
 when the sons of the wind-swept plains gave up 
 fcticism for the worship of Allah. The nation was 
 not turned from all evil ; they saw, for instance, that 
 Abraham and Isaac and Jacob married more wives 
 than one, and had concubines from among their 
 slaves ; and they did not feci called to renounce their 
 like customs ; they looked at Christianity through 
 the dim light of obscured tradition, and they did not 
 see its grandeur, nor feel attracted to doctrines in it 
 which they could not understand ; they scorned the 
 dogma of the trinity, because it presented to their 
 imagination Allah, Miriam, and Issa (Jesus), — a 
 confused mixture of a divinity which they most 
 fervently worshipped, a prophet whom they never 
 
 lO
 
 I30 ISLAM. 
 
 mentioned without asking blessings upon him, and a 
 woman whom they confounded both with the sister 
 of Ilarun (Aaron) and the virgin-wife of Joseph. 
 
 The doctrines of Mohammed before the Hejra, or 
 emigration to Medina, were simple indeed. They 
 consisted of these articles : Allah is one ; Mo- 
 hammed is his messenger ; the dead are to be 
 raised, the good rewarded, and the bad punished ; 
 prayer must be observed morning, evening, and at 
 night; alms must be given the poor; there must be 
 honesty in weighing and measuring ; truthfulness in 
 words, and faithfulness to wives and concubines ; 
 agreements must be strictly kept. It was a religion 
 of works, and there was no looking forward to any 
 other dispensation ; it was represented to be com- 
 plete and unchangeable. There was not, and there 
 has never been since, any Sabbath in which the 
 hours are hallowed and the thoughts confined to 
 holy things.* 
 
 There was a paradise parodied from that of the 
 Rabbis, a heaven brilliant with precious stones, 
 watered by rivers, and adorned with the most pro- 
 fuse vegetation, the description of which was inter- 
 preted literally by the people, and not in a spiritual 
 sense. It spoke of " princely bowers," of a " land of 
 flowers," of 
 
 " Unfading lilies, bracelets 
 Of living pearl"; 
 
 * Mohammed called his followers to the mosques on Fridays to 
 hear sermons, but they did not intermit their usual occupations the 
 whole day. They had been accustomed to have gatherings on that 
 day before the prophet's time.
 
 NO HEAVEN-LY HOMESICKNESS. I3X 
 
 it looked to a physical realization of such a picture 
 as that of DamianI : 
 
 "Where arise the pearly mansions, shedding silvery light afar; 
 Festive seats and golden roofs which glitter like the evening star. 
 Wholly of fair stones most precious are those radiant structures 
 
 made ; 
 With pure gold like glass transparent are those shining streets inlaid. 
 Stormy winter, burning summer, rage within those regions never, 
 But perpetual bloom of roses, and unfading spring forever ; 
 Lilies gleam, the crocus glows, and dropping balms their scents 
 
 deliver," 
 
 In it was a golden city " with milk and honey 
 blest," where was heard the " shout of them that 
 feast"; the inhabitants walked over "pathways of 
 gold," and gazed upon walls decked with jewels rare • 
 but the Arabians who sang of such things did not 
 cry, with the " heavenly homesickness " of a Fabc 
 or a Meyfart — 
 
 " Hark ! hark ! my soul ! Angelic songs are swelling 
 O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore ; 
 How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling 
 Of that new life where sin shall be no more ! " 
 
 " Jerusalem ! high tower thy glorious walls, 
 
 Would God I were in thee ! 
 Desire of thee my longing heart enthralls, 
 
 Desire at home to be : 
 Wide from the world outleaping. 
 
 O'er hill and vale and plain, 
 My soul's strong wing is sweeping. 
 
 Thy portals to attain ! " 
 
 We hear no cry from them like that of George 
 Eliot ;
 
 132 ISLAM. 
 
 '• Oh may I join the choir invisible 
 Of those immortal dead who live again 
 In minds made belter by their presence ; live 
 In jnilscs stirred to generosity, 
 In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 
 Of miserable aims that end with self, 
 In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars 
 And with their mild persistence urge men's minds 
 To vaster issues ! " 
 
 On the contrary, the paradise of Islam was a place 
 of sensual ecstasy, where the pleasures of the present 
 life were to be intensified a hundred-fold ; where 
 things spiritual and pure were no more cultivated 
 than they arc in the mortal state of existence. The 
 conception M-as a sad mixture of good and evil, and 
 was even more sensuous than the paradise of the 
 Rabbis. The four wives permitted to the Moslem 
 here were multiplied many times in that blissful 
 abode, and were immensely increased in beauty; in 
 this respect the materialism of the rabbinic concep- 
 tion was both aggravated and debased. In it were 
 
 rivers of water without corruption, and rivers of milk the taste 
 whereof changes not, and rivers of wine delicious to those who 
 drink, and rivers of honey clarified ; and there shall they have all 
 kinds of fruit and forgiveness from Allah. — Sura xlvii. 
 
 Faces on that day [the Day of the Overwhelming] shall be 
 comfortable, content with their past endeavors, in a lofty garden 
 wherein they shall hear no foolish word ; wherein is a flowing foun- 
 tain ; wherein are couches raised on high, and goblets set down, and 
 cushions arranged, and carpets spread. — Sztra Ixxxviii. 
 
 It does not appear that Mohammed was a man 
 given over to sensuous enjoyments ; on the contrary, 
 his personal habits were very simple, and he de- 
 scribed this heaven of earthly delights during that
 
 Differences im the suras. 133 
 
 happy period when his love for Kadija was one of 
 the stays of his Hfe. He must have simply set down 
 the particulars of the future life as he found them 
 described by the magi and the Rabbis ; probably 
 curtailing their excesses, for he never made his 
 religion an easy one. He permitted indulgences 
 that would be criminal for us in the present age 
 of the world ; but he found them unquestioned, 
 practised from immemorial time in Arabia, and he 
 certainly restricted them on many sides. 
 
 There is a singular difference in the suras, as we 
 examine them, in regard to their length, a difference 
 which has a significance. If we divide them into 
 sections chronologically, we shall notice that the 
 earlier utterances are exceedingly brief, and the 
 later sometimes very long.* The first twent}*two, 
 according to one good arrangement of them, average 
 but five lines each ; the next score average sixteen 
 lines; the fifty following, seventy-seven lines; and 
 the last twenty-two average one hundred and ten 
 lines. The earlier utterances possess the character- 
 istics of rhapsodies, and seem to be the real cries of 
 a spirit deeply in earnest ; they are impetuous and 
 wild. The latest are narrative, argumentative, de- 
 scriptive, and denunciative ; they sound like the 
 words of a man who has a system to support before 
 an opposing people. 
 
 At the beginning of his teaching Mohammed pro- 
 fessed simply to recall the Arabs to the service of the 
 
 * Tentative chronological arrangements are given in this volume. 
 The translation of the Koran by the Rev. J. M. Rodwell gives 
 another.
 
 134 ISLAM. 
 
 God of yVbraham, with no relation to any previous re- 
 ligion, though he said that there had been Moslems 
 in the past, meanini^, probably that there had been 
 men fully resigned to the will of Allah. When he 
 became personally acquainted (though perhaps indi- 
 rectly) with the contents of the sacred books of the 
 Jews and Christians, he announced his own as a con- 
 firmation of them, saying : 
 
 " This Is the Book which we have sent down ; follow it then and 
 fear ; lest haply ye may obtain mercy ! Lest ye say ' The Book was 
 only sent down to two sects before us ; verily we care not for what 
 they read.' " — Sura vi. 
 
 At a later period, Mohammed rises superior to the 
 former revelations, and claims that he is the last of 
 the six prophets, — the others being Adam, Noah, 
 Abraham, Moses, and Issa, or Jesus, — and that his 
 coming was foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 Those whom we have given the Book know him, as they know 
 their sons ; and O ye people of the Book ! our apostle has come 
 to you to explain much of what ye had hidden in the Book, and to 
 pardon much. — Sura v. Issa, the son of Mary, said: "O chil- 
 dren of Israel ! verily, I am the apostle of God to you, verifying the 
 law that was before me, and giving you glad tidings of an apostle 
 who shall come after me, whose name shall be Ahmed ! " — Sura xli. 
 
 At first he thought that there were three revelations 
 of God's will, the Law, the Gospel, and the Koran : 
 
 We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to thee, and 
 to Abraham, and to Ishmael, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and the 
 tribes ; and what was given to Moses and Issa, and to the prophets 
 from Allah ; nor make no distinction between them. — Sura iii. 
 
 Finally, he makes the Koran rise above the others, 
 declares that its original was in heaven, and becomes
 
 A WONDROUS CHANGE. 1 35 
 
 himself antagonistic to both Jews and Christians, and 
 appeals to no previous revelation. 
 
 The simple duties prescribed by Mohammed at 
 first were not essentially added to during the period 
 previous to the emigration to Medina, though the 
 number of daily prayers was at the time of the vision 
 of the seventh heaven increased to five ; but the peo- 
 ple of Mecca had been raised from a condition of 
 spiritual torpor to a state of active discussion of 
 matters that before had possessed no interest for 
 them ; their feelings had now indeed become so 
 lively that the entire community was rent into fac- 
 tions.* Several hundred persons had taken so deep 
 an interest in the preachings of the new teacher that 
 they were willing to bear persecution and exile for 
 the sake of them. But a few years since sunk in 
 superstition and practising all sorts of vice, they now 
 prostrated themselves five times a day in prayer to an 
 invisible Allah, whom they had before known only im- 
 perfectly at best, and were honestly trying to follow 
 the precepts that they believed had been sent directly 
 from him to them. The change is comparable to 
 nothing but to that arousing of men which followed 
 the first preaching of the Gospel. 
 
 The prophet himself draws the picture of his faith- 
 ful people, in these words : 
 
 The servants of the Merciful are they who walk, upon the earth 
 softly, and when the ignorant address them, reply, Peace ! 
 
 Those who pass the night adoring the Lord, prostrate and 
 standing ; 
 
 * Mohammed declared that the large number of sects in Islam was 
 a proof of its truth.
 
 136 ISLAM. 
 
 And who say, " O our I-ord, turn from us llic t(jruicnt of licll ; 
 verily, from the torment tliercof there is no release ; verily, it is an 
 evil abode and place." 
 
 Those who invoke not anutlicr yod willi Allah. 
 They who testify not falsely ; and wlicu thc-y jiass liy vain words, 
 pass it by with dignity. 
 
 They who when admonished by tlie signs of the Lord, fall not 
 down as if deaf and blind ; 
 
 Who say, " Grant us wives and children such as shall be a comfort 
 to us, and make lis models unto the pious." 
 
 These shall be rewarded with high places in Paradise, for that 
 they were patient ; and they shall meet therein salutation and peace, 
 to dwell therein for aye : a fair abode and resting-place ! — Sura 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Seemly unto men are the pleasures of women and children ; fair 
 are the hoarded treasures of gold and silver ; and of horses well-bred, 
 and cattle and corn-fields. Such is provision for the life of this world ; 
 but Allah, goodly is the home with him. 
 
 Shall I tell you of better things than these ? For those who fear, 
 are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow, and in which 
 they shall abide for aye, with pure wives and grace from Allah, for 
 Allah regardeth his servants who say, " Lord, Ave believe, pardon our 
 sins and keep us from the torment of the fire." They are the pa- 
 tient, the truthful, the devout, they who ask pardon as each day 
 breaks. 
 
 " With the exception of Christianity," says Bartlic- 
 Icmy St. Hilairc, " founded on the Old Testament 
 and the Gospels, with all their marvellous conse- 
 quences, the world can boast no religion that may 
 properly be compared with Islam, or that merits 
 even a remote comparison with it." Dr. Weil says 
 that though we cannot regard Mohammed as a true 
 " prophet," we are not at liberty to deny him the 
 merit of having presented the most gracious doc- 
 trines of the Old and New Testament to the Arab- 
 ians at a time when they were enlightened by no
 
 GOOD TRAITS OP ISLAM. 
 
 137 
 
 single ray of faith, and that therefore he must be 
 considered in some sense commissioned by God. 
 The Count de BoulainviUiers said a century and a 
 half ago, that outside of the Christian revelation 
 there is no doctrinal system so plausible as Islam ; 
 none so reasonable, so comforting to well-doers, and 
 so terrible to sinners.
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE SWORD IS DRAWN. 
 
 Medina, which had up to this time been known 
 as Yathrib, now received the name, by which it has 
 been called ever since, The City. One of the first 
 duties of Mohammed was to begin the erection of 
 a place of worship, and his plans for this were of the 
 simplest nature. Trees were cut down at the place 
 where his camel first knelt for him to descend ; 
 walls of earth and brick were built ; and trunks of 
 palms were used to support a roof, which was 
 framed of their branches and thatched with their 
 leaves. In this structure, which was of ample pro- 
 portions to accommodate a good congregation, the 
 prophet was wont to preach, standing on the ground 
 and supporting himself against one of the palm-trees, 
 until, after a time, a pulpit was constructed for his 
 use. 
 
 The Jews, when they prayed, were accustomed to 
 turn their faces toward the temple at Jerusalem, in 
 accordance with the prayer of Solomon at its dedica- 
 tion. When they could, they entered its sacred 
 precincts, but if they were at a distance, they fol- 
 lowed the example of the prophet Daniel,— opened 
 the windows of their houses towards the city of
 
 THE NATIONAL KIBLA. 1 39 
 
 David and uttered their petitions. At first, Moham- 
 med estabHshed no rule in this regard ; but after the 
 emigration to Medina, he advised that the example 
 of the Jews be followed, perhaps as one of his con- 
 ciliatory measures. It was not long before he saw 
 that he could strengthen his position more by giving 
 his followers a distinctively national kibla — that is, 
 "place towards which to look in prayer," {kabala, to 
 be before), and it is said that he prayed to Gabriel 
 for direction. The archangel referred him to Allah, 
 and soon he received the revelation recorded in the 
 second sura : 
 
 We have made you a middle nation to be a witness against 
 men. . . . We appointed the kibla to which thou didst turn, 
 only that we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him 
 who turneth upon his heels. . . . We have seen thee often turn 
 thy face about towards heaven with doubt ; but we will surely give 
 thee a kibla that thou shalt like. . . . Turn, therefore, thy face 
 toward the sacred temple ; wherever ye be turn your faces towards 
 it. . . . From what place soever thou comest forth, turn thy 
 face toward the holy kaaba ; for this is truth from Allah ; neither is 
 he regardless of what ye do. . . . Every sect hath a certain 
 quarter to which they turn themselves, but do ye strive to run after 
 good things. 
 
 In the midst of a public service, Mohammed 
 raised his face towards Jerusalem, and twice pros- 
 trated his body in that direction, when he abruptly 
 recited the substance of the above words. He 
 immediately turned himself towards the south, and 
 the entire congregation followed his motions. Thus 
 the link that bound Islam to Judaism was forever 
 broken. Never, in all succeeding ages, have Mos- 
 lems turned their faces towards the Jewish capital
 
 14^^ THE SWORD IS DRAIVJV. 
 
 ill worship. So [Treat has been the influence of tk 
 momentary motion of the prophet's botl)- ! 
 
 It was at this period that the formal call to prayer 
 was settled as it exists at the present day. liefore 
 this time the muezzin had simply cried, " To public 
 prayer ! " but this seemed to lack the formality that 
 was demanded by the increasing importance of wor- 
 ship at Medina, and a discussion arose on the subject. 
 Some suggested the bells of the Christians ; others, 
 the trumpet or the timbrel ; and some the lighting 
 of fires on high places ; but the " true " way was at 
 last revealed to a citizen in a dream. He met in his 
 revery a man carrying a bell, and asked him to sell 
 it for the purpose of calling the Moslems to worship. 
 The man said, " I will show you a better mode," and 
 proceeded to repeat the form of words now used. 
 The citizen went to Mohammed immediately, and 
 the prophet saw that the vision was " from Allah." 
 He directed his negro muezzin to carry out the sug- 
 gestion. Accordingly, the servant went to a high 
 building by the side of the new mosque, and watched 
 for the break of day. When the first ray of sunlight 
 greeted his eyes, he raised his voice and roused the 
 slumberers around by the now familiar words, uttered 
 at the top of his powerful lungs. Thus another 
 time-honored custom was begun.* 
 
 It was not long after his arrival at Medina that 
 Mohammed formally married the child Ayesha, to 
 whom, as we know, he had been espoused while at 
 Mecca, and she became his favorite. As he added 
 wife to wife, he built new apartments for each one 
 * For some of the words of this call, see page no.
 
 — HOW MOriA AIMED LIVED. 14-1 
 
 jdjoining the mosque. These were of the simplest 
 description ; plain cabins not more than twelve feet 
 square, of sun-burnt brick, thatched with palm- 
 branches, and so low that one might reach the roof 
 with the hand. The mode of living was as simple 
 as the apartments. Ayesha said : " For a whole 
 month together we did not light a fire to dress our 
 food, which was only dates and water, unless some 
 one sent us meat. Our people never had wheat 
 bread two days in succession."" Between the door 
 of Ayesha's cabin and the entrance of the mosque 
 there was an ante-room, used by the prophet for his 
 evening devotions ; but save this he had no apart- 
 ment of his own ; his time was divided between his 
 wives. The plain mattresses were laid upon the 
 ground, and the mud-daubed walls were hung with 
 skins used to hold water, milk, or honey. Ayesha's 
 wedding-feast was provided with dates and olives ; 
 and her portion comprised but two skirts, one head- 
 tire, a pillow of leather stuffed with palm-leaves, two 
 armlets of silver, a drinking cup, a hand-mill, two 
 water-jars and a pitcher. This simplicity was agree- 
 able to the demands of one who had grown up as a 
 camel-driver, and who loved to commune with nature 
 in her wildest aspect on mountain-tops ; of one who 
 could rest his weary head upon a stone in a rocky 
 cave ; but it did not suit the taste of the more 
 wealthy followers of the prophet, whose luxurious 
 living became more and more a contrast to the habits 
 of their leader. 
 
 In his efforts to strengthen his position at Medina, 
 Mohammed formed a brotherhood between those
 
 142 THE SWORD IS DRAWN. ^ 
 
 emigrants who had come from Mecca (Muajerin) and 
 the faithful wlio had always hved in the City of the 
 Prophet (Ansars). One of the new converts was 
 Hnked with one of the old in a bond more close than 
 that of kindred, for they were to be mutual heirs in 
 preference to blood-relations ; and thus the strangers 
 were comforted, and in their days of homesickness 
 and illness were made calm and resigned. It is to 
 these times and this brotherhood that reference is 
 made in the eighth sura. 
 
 Remember when ye were few and weak in the land, fearing lest 
 men should do you harm ; then Allah sheltered you and gave you 
 victory ; providing you with good things. . . . Verily those 
 who believed and fled and fought for the faith with their bodies and 
 their goods, and they who have given refuge, they shall be called 
 next of kin to each other. 
 
 This was an expedient that served its purpose un- 
 til the new faith and its followers found themselves 
 established in the land, when it gradually gave way, 
 and its rules were abrogated. The prophet had, 
 however, become convinced that not brotherhood 
 and love alone were to be successful in establishing 
 his mission ; that more forceful weapons were re- 
 quired in the battle that was before him. 
 
 We have noticed that there was a fundamental 
 difference between the two covenants of Akaba; 
 the second requiring of the disciple that he should 
 support the claims of Islam with the sword, a de- 
 mand that the first did not make. It did not com- 
 mand aggressive warfare. There were not wanting 
 other warnings that a change had begun in the 
 prophet's mind. Mohammed declared that the
 
 AN UNCOMPROMISING SPIRIT. T43 
 
 different prophets, who had been sent by Allah, 
 illustrated his various attributes : Moses showed his 
 providence and clemency ; Solomon his wisdom, 
 majesty, and glory; and Issa his righteousness, 
 power, and knowledge ; but that none of these attri- 
 butes had proved sufficient to conquer unbelief; 
 that even the miracles of Moses and Issa had been 
 ineffectual. " I, therefore, the last of the prophets," 
 he exclaimed, " am sent with the sword ! Let the 
 champions of the faith of Islam neither argue nor 
 discuss ; but slay all who refuse to obey the law or 
 to pay tribute. Whoever fights for Islam, whether 
 he fall or conquer, will surely receive the reward. 
 The sword is the key of heaven and hell ! " 
 
 If we look into the Koran, we find many tokens 
 of this uncompromising spirit. 
 
 Fight in the cause of Allah ! . . . Kill them wherever you 
 find them, and drive them out from whence they drive you out ; for 
 temptation is worse than slaughter ; but fight them not by the 
 sacred mosque until they fight you there ; then kill them. — Sum ii. 
 
 Permission is given to those who fight because they have been 
 wronged ; and verily Allah has power to help them. — Stira xxii. 
 
 When ye meet those who misbelieve, then strike off heads, until 
 ye have massacred them, and bind fast the bonds. . . . And 
 those who are slain in the cause of Allah, their work shall not go 
 wrong. — Sura xlvii. 
 
 Ye shall be called out against a people endowed with vehement 
 valor, and shall fight them, or they shall become Moslems. . . . 
 Allah promised you many spoils. — Stira xlviii. 
 
 The spoils are Allah's and the prophets. — Sura viii. 
 
 After Mohammed left Mecca, its trade much in- 
 creased on account of the quiet that the town en- 
 joyed. The prophet watched this extension of traffic 
 with interest, especially because he had now deter-
 
 144 THE SWORD IS DRAWN. 
 
 mined upon conquest. The well-laden caravans that 
 went tliither promised to furnish him objects for 
 attack and plunder, as well as opportunity to gratify 
 his revetigc against his kinsmen who had thrust him 
 from them. When we reflect upon the Arab char- 
 acter, and remember that Ishmael and his descend- 
 ants had always been predatory in their habits, we 
 can understand the reception that these new plans 
 met. Now, there was some thing in the prophet's 
 mission that they could understand, some thing that 
 directly appealed to their national tastes ; there was 
 a promise of activity and of the gratification of their 
 baser appetites, and they flocked to his standard with 
 enthusiasm.* 
 
 Laden with precious merchandise, the long lines 
 of camels carried from Taif and Mecca produce val- 
 ued at hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly, and 
 when they made their way through narrow ravines, 
 or passes, among the mountains, they were always 
 open to attack from predatory bands of small num- 
 
 * " Mohammedanism grasped the sword not to destroy all infi- 
 dels and pagans, not to force men to become Moslems at the 
 sword's point, but only to proclaim that eternal truth, the unity 
 of the God-head, throughout the whole extent of the then known 
 globe." — Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador (London, 1870), "Essay" 
 iv., p. 30. 
 
 On the other hand, another Moslem, Seyed Ameer AH, a descend- 
 ant of the prophet, in his "Critical Examination of the Life and 
 Teachings of Mohammed," London, 1873, says: "We deny alto- 
 gether that Islam ever grasped the sword for the purpose of prosely- 
 tizing. Islam siezed the sword only in self-defence, and held it in 
 self-defence. Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any moral 
 faith, never persecuted, never established an inquisition." Never- 
 theless, the sword was drawn, and the Moslems grasped it with will- 
 ingness.
 
 'iRABIAN V'E*PONS OF DIFFKRENT EPOCHS 
 
 II
 
 146 THE SWORD IS DA'AlV.v/ 
 
 bcrs, if the assailants were bold antl determined. 
 Sometimes almost every citizen of Mecca woidd be 
 financially interested in a single caravan, the rich 
 investing of their abundance and the poor trusting 
 their slender savings to the responsible person who 
 took the direction of the venture. It may very 
 readily be imagined, therefore, with what interest 
 the people of the prophet's birthplace now looked 
 towards Medina, as they sent out their caravans to 
 Syria, and reflected that their exiled enemy was 
 watching their movements with a vigilant and de- 
 termined eye. 
 
 Before the first year had much more than half 
 passed by after Mohammed's emigration to Medina, 
 he sent out one of his uncles to intercept a Meccan 
 carav:in returning from Syria, and an encounter was 
 only prevented through the intervention of a chief 
 friendly to both parties. A month afterwards an- 
 other expedition went out, but the Koreish were too 
 strong for it, and nothing was effected. A few 
 weeks later, in the autumn of 623 A.D., still a 
 third party stole from Medina, by night, as, indeed, 
 the others had, in search of an expected caravan con- 
 ducted by Abu Sofian ; but thfj Meccans escaped 
 the trap that was laid for them. To each of the 
 leaders of these parties the prophet had presented a 
 white banner, but the emblem of his authority failed 
 to ensure success ; he therefore determined to take 
 the lead himself, and actually went forth on several 
 other expeditions, which proved, however, no more 
 ;5atisfactory. 
 
 The first predatory enterprise of much note was
 
 ANGRY PASSIONS RISE. I47 
 
 sent out during a sacred month, when all devout 
 Arabians held that war was forbidden. In spite of 
 the holiness of the period, Mohammed gave the 
 leader instruction to go to the valley in which he 
 had preached to the jinns, there to watch for an ex- 
 pected caravan, of which he might "bringtidings to 
 him." The caravan w^as encountered and pillaged at 
 Nakla, one man being killed in the struggle (Nov., 
 623). The scandal that this " sacrilegious " act 
 aroused, led Mohammed to pretend to be angry with 
 the leader, and he refused to share the booty ; it led 
 also to an addition to the Koran, found in the sec- 
 ond sura : 
 
 They will ask of the sacred months, and fighting therein. Say, 
 Fighting therein is grievous, but to obstruct the way of Allah, and to 
 deny him and hinder men from the Kaaba, and to turn his people 
 thence, is a greater sin in the sight of Allah. Tempting is more 
 grievous than killing. 
 
 While the angry passions were rising at Medina, 
 there seemed to be in contrast quite a Christian 
 spirit at Mecca ; and we read of no acts of retalia- 
 tion nor bloodshed on the part of the Koreishites. 
 In the month of January, 624, scouts brought in- 
 formation to Mohammed that the caravan of Abu 
 Sofian which had eluded the vigilance of his forces 
 the previous autumn was then on its return from 
 Syria with the extraordinary train of a thousand 
 camels bearing rich produce of the north. He de- 
 termined that it should not again escape, and gather- 
 ing a small but sufificient force, comprising seventy 
 fleet camels, and troops of exiles from Mecca em- 
 bittered by their troubles there, and bodies of Medi-
 
 148 THE SWORD IS DRAWN. 
 
 nan converts, each under its own banner, he sallied 
 forth with his usual confidence. Taking the direc- 
 tion of Mecca for a certain distance he then turned 
 towards the Red Sea, and encamped in a fertile spot 
 watered by the brook Bedr, where he Avaited for the 
 Meccans. 
 
 Meantime, the Holy City had been thrown into 
 the direst confusion by the appearance of a messen- 
 ger from the caravan, who, hurrying at the utmost 
 speed of his camel, had rent his garments before and 
 behind to show that he was the bearer of alarming 
 news. As the citizens crowded about his kneeling 
 beast, he cried, in tones of the utmost intensity: 
 " O ye Koreish ! O ye Koreish ! Mohammed pursues 
 your caravan. Help ! Help I " Nothing more was 
 needed to stir the city throughout its length and 
 breadth ; thousands and thousands of precious gold 
 were at stake ; the competence of many, the whole 
 living of more. The sword had been unsheathed 
 in the valley of the jinns, and blood had been 
 spilled ; there must now be repression ; there must 
 be revenge, or this Mohammed would ride over 
 Mecca to its ruin. Seven hundred camels and a 
 hundred horse, well equipped, were promptly on 
 the road to the northward ; but it was soon learned, 
 to their great thankfulness and surprise, that the 
 rich caravan had, by the sagacity of Abu Sofian, 
 been able to escape from its danger. Should the 
 force go on, and punish the Moslems? Pride and 
 hate both cried out : " Forward! " and on the army 
 rushed. 
 
 Mohammed, on his part, pressed southward with
 
 THE VICTORY OF BEDR. T49 
 
 equal enthusiasm, crying to his men : " Go forward, 
 with the blessing of Allah ! He hath promised the 
 army or the caravan. Methinks I see now the bat- 
 tle-field strewn with the dead Koreishites ! " The 
 careful prophet did not neglect, however, to prepare 
 a swift camel near his head-quarters with which he 
 might himself escape to Medina in case of need. 
 There was no such need ; the forces meeting near 
 the fountain of Bedr, rushed together with sounds 
 of trumpets, and the Mcccans, though many more in 
 number than their opponents, were discomfitted. 
 Mohammed declared that Gabriel with three thou- 
 sand angels had taken part in the conflict, and that 
 the victory was from Allah, to whom, and to whose 
 prophet, the spoil belonged. The battle was the 
 most celebrated of all in the history of Islam, and of 
 great historical importance. The booty was not 
 large, because the caravan had escaped ; but there 
 were, nevertheless, arms and camels, clothing and 
 carpets, all of which were collected on the field, 
 and, after a fifth part had been set aside for the 
 prophet, the remainder was divided equally among 
 his followers. Those who had been engaged in the 
 thickest of the fight felt aggrieved that the others 
 received as much as they, and a " revelation " was 
 found necessary to settle the disaffection. The law 
 of the division of the spoil was accordingly estab- 
 lished as follows : " Know that whatsoever thing ye 
 plunder, verily one fifth thereof is for Allah and the 
 prophet, and for the orphan and the poor and the 
 wayfarer." 
 
 There was joy in Medina, v/hen the swift drome- 
 dary of Mohammed appeared at the place of prayer,
 
 ISO THE SIVORD IS DRAWN. 
 
 and a messenger announced that the Koreishites had 
 been overthrown ; small children, we arc told, were 
 excited with the dreadful triumph of the warrior, 
 and ran about the streets crying out in exultation 
 over the fallen enemy. In Mecca far different feel- 
 ings were excited ; sullen hate was aroused, and the 
 natural grief for the lost that rose unbidden was 
 stifled by the determination to have bloody revenge. 
 " Weep not for 3'^our slain," they cried, " bewail not 
 their loss, neither let the bard mourn for them. Show 
 yourselves men, — heroes ! Let not wailing and lam- 
 entation diminish your hate for Mohammed and his 
 fellows. They will scorn us and make us the butt 
 of their laughter if we expose to them our weak- 
 nesses ! We shall again go forth, and verily, we 
 shall have revenge ! " Thus, for days, even for 
 weeks, the spirit of hate sustained the people ; but 
 the time came when nature could bear the strain no 
 longer, and all the wild demonstrations that mark 
 the expression of Oriental sorrow broke forth in 
 every quarter, for there was hardly a house in which 
 kindred did not mourn their captives or their dead. 
 In every quarter except one, — for Hind, the stern 
 wife of the leader of the caravan, gave no expression 
 to womanly feeling ; she declared : " Not till ye again 
 wage war against Mohammed and his fellows, shall 
 tears flow from my eyes ! If tears would wash away 
 grief, I would now weep, even as ye ; but it is not so 
 with me ! " 
 
 " What though the field be lost? 
 All is not lost ; the unconquerable will, 
 And study of revenge, immortal hate, 
 And courage never to submit or yield ! "
 
 XVII. 
 
 vk:tory for mecca. 
 
 Mohammed would have the Moslems believe that 
 angels fought for them, and that Satan took the 
 part of the Koreishites ; but it was not the being of 
 the " unconquerable will " that Milton painted ; it 
 was a jinn of the utmost cowardice. " Iblis bc- 
 praised their works, and said : ' There is no man who 
 can prevail against you this day, for, verily, I am 
 your sworn brother ! ' When the two troops came 
 face to face, he quickly turned his heels and cried : 
 ' Verily, I am quit of you ; verily, I see that which 
 ye do not see ; verily, I fear Allah, for Allah is keen 
 to punish ! ' " The arrant coward saw the thousands 
 of angels, and left his confederates to their fate ! 
 
 By such a fiction Mohammed impressed his fol- 
 lowers with the belief that Allah and the angels were 
 on their side, that Iblis and the evil jinns were with 
 their enemies ; that it was the sword which was to 
 prove the truth of his mission. Victory in battle 
 was his only trust henceforth ; his former depend- 
 ence upon measures of peace had left him ; no seer 
 is needed to tell what the harvest is to be. The 
 Koreishites had been defeated not because they 
 were enemies of the people of Medina, but because
 
 2 5 2 VICTORY FOR MECCA. 
 
 they were opposed to the religion of Allah ; and this 
 fact which the prophet impressed upon all about him 
 had its lesson for those who still refused to adopt 
 Islam, and there were not a few such among the in- 
 fluential citizens besides the Jews, The first among 
 them to suffer was a woman who composed some 
 couplets that went from mouth to mouth in Medina 
 after the battle of Bedr, in which the folly of putting 
 trust in one who had killed chief men among his own 
 tribe was denounced. In the dead of night, sur- 
 rounded by her little ones, this woman was stricken 
 by the dagger of an assassin, who was the next day 
 applauded by Mohammed in the mosque for his 
 hideous deed. Some weeks after this another versi- 
 fier met death in the same way, at the direct insti- 
 gation of the prophet, who had been again stung by 
 readily remembered poetry. This time it was a 
 pervert to Judaism, and his taking off gave those of 
 his adopted faith new cause to dread the anger of 
 Mohammed. The denunciations of the Jews in the 
 Koran were followed by their persecution, exile, and 
 slaughter, until they were all removed, and the suras 
 contain no further notices of them.* 
 
 * " There were no police, or law-courts, or even courts-martial at 
 Medina ; some one of the followers of Mohammed must therefore be 
 the executer of the sentence of death, and it was better it should be 
 done quietly, as the executing of a man openly before his clan would 
 have caused a brawl, and more bloodshed and retaliation, till the 
 whole city had become mixed up in the quarrel. If ' secret assas- 
 sination ' is the word for such deeds, secret assassination was a neces- 
 sary part of the internal government of Medina. The men must be 
 killed, and best in that way." — " Studies in a Mosque," by Stanley 
 Lane-Poole, page 69,
 
 MOHAMMED A TRIUMPHANT CJIIKFTAIN. 153 
 
 While these and other petty affairs disturbed the 
 tranquillity of Medina, the wrath of the Meccans was 
 only smouldering. The chief, whose caravan had 
 been saved before the battle of Bedr, had vowed 
 vengeance. In the spring following that event he 
 collected a small force and made an ineffectual raid 
 towards Medina ; was chased by Mohammed, and in- 
 gloriously hastened homewards despite his terrible 
 threats. Each of the two hundred fleet horsemen 
 who accompanied him had carried at his saddle-bow 
 a sack of meal as his provision for the raid, and when 
 the leader fled each threw off his sack, from which 
 circumstance the affair has been called the Battle of 
 the Mealsacks. 
 
 Mohammed was no longer a simple prophet, but 
 had become a triumphant chieftain, and his utter- 
 ances changed to those of a law-giver and king. His 
 simple artlessness of living and behavior did not de- 
 sert him, however, in spite of the wishes of some of 
 his followers that he should assume some thing of the 
 royal magnificence of the other rulers of the East. 
 When one spoke to him on the subject, he replied : 
 '* Art thou not content that thou shouldest have the 
 portion of futurity, and they the portion of the pres- 
 ent life ? " While he spoke thus, he took no delight 
 in unnecessary asceticism, and taught that Allah was 
 not a friend of those who wantonly harm their 
 bodies ; he permitted the weak and sickly to omit 
 fasts, and to shorten the prescribed prayers ; and 
 when he wished any necessary thing that money or 
 power could obtain, he supplied the innocent de- 
 mand. He required the customary reverential salu-
 
 154 VICTORY J- OR MECCA. 
 
 tations from his subjects, ]:)Iacin;^r in llur thirty-tliird 
 sura an order to that effect. 
 
 About a year after the victory of Bedr, the prophet 
 was ill the mosque at Koba, when a breathless mes- 
 senger startled him by suddenly appearing at his 
 side and placing in his hand a sealed letter from his 
 double-faced uncle Abbas, who informed him that 
 the hero of the Battle of the Mealsacks was again 
 prepared to engage in hostilities. The caravan that 
 the Meccans had saved had been set aside, and a fund 
 provided with which a powerful army was equipped 
 and provisioned ; the Bedawins around had been 
 called upon to unite in a determined onslaught upon 
 the threatening Moslems of Medina ; and even then 
 the northward march had begun. Kindling their 
 fury by the help of verses chanted to the music of 
 timbrels by women who had, like Hind, the Tear- 
 less One, so loudly demanded war, they cried out 
 for vengeance as they marched ; they devastated 
 fields, and drove the frightened farmers before them 
 in search of places of refuge. Fugitives brought to 
 the prophet exaggerated estimates of the vastness 
 of the horde that was approaching, and Medina was, 
 indeed, alarmed. Counsel was divided ; the advan- 
 cing army seemed, however, to loiter by the way, and 
 the time was employed in discussion ; the result was 
 that Mohammed decided to gird on his armor and 
 take the field outside the city. 
 
 After the Friday prayers had been said in the 
 afternoon, the people assembled before the mosque 
 armed for the strife ; and with all the circumstance 
 he could command, the prophet issued from his
 
 THE HA UGH TV PROPHET ARMED. 
 
 155 
 
 apartment, his sword hanging from his girdle, a 
 shield slung over his shoulder, his head covered with 
 a helmet, and his body with mail armor. Now was 
 he a warrior indeed ; but his people, who had urged 
 him to take the step, seem at the last moment to 
 
 HELMET OF AN ARABIAN PRINCE OF EGYPT. 
 
 have feared lest harm should come to him, and asked 
 him to listen to the dictates of his own judgment. 
 Haughtily he replied to their request, that it did not 
 become a prophet to lay off his helm when once 
 he had put it on, until Allah had decided between
 
 156 VICTORY FOR MECCA. 
 
 him .iiul his foe. " Wait on Allah ! Only be stronj^ 
 and he will send you the victory ! " 
 
 Three miles to the northeast of the city the scared 
 and jagged flanks of Mount Ohud rise from a bare 
 and sloping plain like masses of iron ; and on its 
 western side, the prophet took up his position, after 
 tracing his path through the fields and gardens that 
 lay between. It was Saturday morning and as day- 
 light enabled the army to descry the hosts from 
 Mecca in the distance, the faithful muezzin raised 
 the usual call to morning prayers, and the prophet 
 gave his followers the example of prostration in sol- 
 emn worship. When this was over, preparations for 
 the onset of the enemy were completed, and the 
 struggle was begun with single combats, Mohammed 
 starting the cry " Alahu akbar ! Great is Allah ! " 
 which was repeated throughout the army in one over- 
 whelming shout whenever a Moslem champion gained 
 advantage. Meantime the frenzied women of Mecca 
 urged their brethren forward with song and timbrel: 
 
 " Daughters of the brave are we ; 
 On carpets step we softly : 
 Boldly advance, we smile on you ! . 
 Turn your backs, we shun you, 
 Shun you with contempt ! " 
 
 The combat became general ; the prophet's men 
 felt that they had made an impression on the enemy, 
 and lost some of their impetuousity ; the enemy 
 rallied ; the cries arose from the Moslems : " Amit ! 
 Amit ! " " Death, death ! " " Help is from Allah ! 
 Victory is ours ! " the enemy staggered for a mo- 
 ment; then a stone struck out a front tooth of the 
 prophet ; an arrow wounded his cheek ; Hamza, the
 
 THE DEFEAT AT OFTUD. I 57 
 
 Lion, was cut down ; the cry resounded among the 
 rocks : " The prophet is slain ! Where now is the 
 promise of Allah ? " The Moslems were flying ; the 
 Meccans cried : " War hath its revenges ; Ohud suc- 
 ceeds to Bedr ! " " Allah is ours ; he is not yours ! " 
 
 The Moslems found out too late that their leader 
 was not killed ; they rallied ; but the day was lost, 
 and there was nothing to do but collect the wounded 
 and bury the slain. The prophet, in his impotent an- 
 ger, cried out : " Let the wrath of Allah burn against 
 the men who have besprinkled the apostle's face with 
 his own blood ! " The road to Medina was thronged 
 with men and women hastening to nurse the wound- 
 ed and search for the dead ; the sister of Hamza 
 among them, called upon the prophet for her 
 brother: "He is among the people," he replied. 
 She found the mutilated corpse ; sat by it and sob- 
 bed ; Fatima came and wept also ; and Mohammed 
 vowed deeper vengence against his enemies. When 
 prayers were said over the closed graves, the popula- 
 tion, by twos and by threes, sadly and silently found 
 their way back to the desolate and downcast city. 
 
 If the victory at Bedr had been a mark of the ap- 
 proval of Allah, what was the defeat at Ohud? Here 
 was a question that demanded answer at the prophet's 
 mouth. The people murmured at the loss of pres- 
 tige ; the Jews ventured to join in the reproaches , 
 the faithful were at their wit's end ; but the assur- 
 ance of the prophet was equal to the emergency. 
 
 Be not cast down, neither be ye grieved ; victory will yet come, 
 if ye are true believers ; if ye are wounded, verily, your enemy is 
 wounded also ; these battles we make to alternate among men, tha*;
 
 158 VICTORY FOR MECCA. 
 
 Allah mny know tl\e l)C-licvers. . . . No soul dicth but by the 
 permission of Allah, written down for the time appointed. 
 And truly Allah had already made good unto you his promise, what 
 time ye cut them to pieces by his will, until ye showed cowardice and 
 wrangled and rebelled. Amongst you are those who love this W(jrld, 
 and amongst you are those who love the next, . . . Verily those 
 of you who turned the back on that day when the two armies met, it 
 was but Iblis who made them slip. . . . But Allah hath for- 
 given them, for Allah is forgiving and compassionate. — Sura iii. 
 
 We are to picture to ourselves the venerable 
 prophet coming before his faithful people as the 
 spokesman of the great Allah with utterances like 
 these, which he delivered amid the deep hush that 
 fell upon them as they dropped their business and 
 politics and assumed the attitude of worshippers in 
 the area about the sacred mosque. With the pre- 
 cision of veterans and the solemnity of devotees, 
 they follow every motion of their leader ; kneeling, 
 prostrating, almost trembling, in unison, as the awful 
 words purporting to come from the throne of Allah 
 fall upon their ears. No scoffer scoffs within this 
 enclosure ; fear dominates every heart ; hell's fires 
 blaze before timid eyes at the magic words of the 
 prophet ; Paradise discloses its glories as his voice 
 conjures up its well-known delights ; life sinks into 
 insignificance as eternity opens; and the Moslems 
 walk from the precincts awe-stricken, willing to stand 
 or fall with the apostle ; to them there is nothing 
 worth accepting, — joy, wealth, paradise, death, life, 
 except at his hands, for to them at the moment he is 
 the vicegerent of the governor of the universe. Thus 
 the mystery of eloquence and the power of mind en- 
 ables the prophet to give some thing like the effect 
 of victory to a defeat.
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH. 
 
 The importance of breaking down the Jewish 
 power, to which reference has been made, was so 
 p^reat in the eyes of Mohammed, that he devoted an 
 entire sura to a single victory which he gained over 
 the Nadhir, a people whose rich possessions were dis- 
 tant three miles from Medina. Before attacking 
 them, the prophet sent an expedition against a tribe 
 that ranged over the great central tract of Arabia 
 known as Nejd, and silenced them ; he crippled an- 
 other by ordering the assassination of its chief ; and 
 then felt prepared to turn to the Nadhir, cutting off 
 their supplies and putting their chief city in a state 
 of siege (a.D. 625). It was not long before they 
 were forced to offer to abandon their lands to the 
 prophet, and when the proposition was accepted, 
 they gladly emigrated to Syria, carrying with them 
 their household goods, their doors, their very lintels. 
 Singing to the music of tabrets, they joyfully took 
 their pilgrim-way towards Jericho. The prophet 
 likewise sang : 
 
 That which is heaven and that which is in the earth celebrates 
 the praises of Allah : he is the mighty and the wise. He it is who 
 lUOve out the People of the Book, who believed not, to join the for-
 
 i6o ■>///■; n.-irr/.F. of the rircir. 
 
 nier exiles. ^■L• ihimglit iidI lliat they \\<iiil<l j^o foitli ; verily, //•(;]' 
 thouglit that tlie fortresses would defen<l them against Allah, but 
 Allah came upon them from a (juartcr unex]K'Cte(l and covered tlieir 
 hearts with dread. They ruined their houses A\ith their own hands 
 and with the hands of the believers : wherefore, take warning, ye 
 who can see. . . . They set themselves up against Allah and 
 hi-; jirophct ; and whoso opposeth Allah — verily, Allah is keen to 
 jninisli ! — Sura lix. 
 
 Not long after the defeat at Ohutl, Mohammed 
 took an additional wife, who was, like most of his 
 otiicrs, a widow. She had a son, to whom the 
 prophet promised to be a father. Not yet satisfied, 
 he soon afterwards become enamoured of Zcinab, 
 the handsome wife of Zeyd, his own adopted son, 
 and she proved as ambitious to share the prophet's 
 home as he was to take her to wife. When Zeyd sus- 
 pected that Mohammed wished his wife, he did not 
 become indignant, but very willingly divorced her, 
 with the proper dutifulness of a prophet's son, and 
 an apartment was built for her adjoining those of 
 <!\.yesha and the others. The sense of propriety of 
 the people of Medina was scandalized by this union, 
 not because they saw the prophet's harem growing 
 too rapidly, but because of the relationship that ex- 
 isted between Zeinab's first husband and her second 
 It was to allay this feeling that Mohammed " re 
 ceived " the revelation contained in the thirty-third 
 sura, to the effect that Allah does not conside! 
 adopted sons real children, and that no offence 
 ought to be taken because Zeyd's wife was joined 
 to Mohammed after Zeyd had voluntarily divorced 
 her. This " revelation," which was in reality an act 
 or legislation, seems to imply an advance or change
 
 ALI AND FATIMA MARRIED. l6l 
 
 in the Arabic idea of relationship, from the tube (son 
 by adoption), to individual (son by blood). 
 
 This revelation made the favorite Ayesha not un- 
 naturally solicitous lest Zeinab should pride herself 
 overmuch on the fact that she was given to the 
 prophet directly by Allah, while none of the other 
 wives could boast such an honor. Zeinab, on her 
 part, was not slow to perceive the advantage that 
 she had in this respect. It may be noted here, inci- 
 dentally, that Zeyd's is the only name of a follower 
 or contemporary mentioned in the Koran. 
 
 It was two or three years before the time of this 
 marriage (about 624), that Mohammed gave his 
 daughter Fatima to Ali to wife, and the marriage is 
 one to be remembered, because from it sprang a line 
 of great importance in this history. Ali, of whom 
 Mohammed was wont to say : " I am the city of wis- 
 dom, but Ali is its door," was son of Abu Talib ; but 
 had been brought up in the household of the proph- 
 et, and was, as we know, one of his first disciples. 
 Fatima was daughter of the beloved Kadija, and 
 was one of the " four perfect women " mentioned by 
 the prophet.* 
 
 The attention of Mohammed being at this time 
 directed towards the subject of domestic life, he made 
 many regulations in regard to it. As he would not 
 have fallen in love with Zeinab had he not acciden- 
 tally seen her without her veil, it was now prescribed 
 that all of his wives should veil themselves from the 
 
 * At about this time (625) Mohammed tleclared wine and games of 
 chance prohibited {Stira v.). He had, however, soon after coming to 
 Medina, recommended abstinence from them {Sura ii.). 
 
 12
 
 1 62 rilF. HATTI.E Oh' I'lIE DITCH. 
 
 ijjazc of llic world , that when Avalkiii^- out they 
 shoiilil rvcii conceal their oriiaiiieiits; that tliey 
 shouhl not harbor feelin^^s of jealousy the one for 
 the others, but should be content with whatever 
 share of his society the i)rophet should ^ive them. 
 The faithful were warned not to enter the apart- 
 ment of Mohammed except by special invitation and 
 not to indulge in familiar discourse there ; indeed, 
 they were not to venture into any dwelling without 
 first asking leave and offering salutations to the 
 family. These arc but a few of many such like " re- 
 velations " as to conduct made in the suras. 
 
 The wives of Mohammed were henceforth each to 
 be honored with the title " Mother of the F'aithful," 
 and it was declared that it should be unlawful for 
 him to add to their number, even though their 
 beauty might please him. The command is still re- 
 peated in the daily service ; but it did not prove 
 adequate to its avowed purpose at the time it was 
 promulgated, and has of course, no relevancy what- 
 ever to present affairs. 
 
 At about this time, there was a temporary es- 
 trangement from Ayesha, but a suspicion upon 
 which it was based was removed by a passage in the 
 twenty-fourth sura, and the persons who had calum- 
 niated the lady were scourged. Ali did not accept 
 the decree establishing the innocence of Ayesha with 
 cordial promptness, and thus won her inalienable 
 enmity which led to important results years after 
 the prophet's death. The occasion was embraced 
 to lay down rules regarding the relations between 
 husbands and wives, which though much needed in
 
 ARABIAN WOMEN, WATER-CARRIERS.
 
 164 THE n.iTTI.E OF THE DITCH. 
 
 a community where men were permitted more com- 
 panions than one, were, notwithstanding, powerless 
 to insure agreeable rehitions between the members of 
 a household. The mother of Aycsha struck the evil 
 directly when she tried to comfort her at the time 
 of her calumniation : " It is not often that a woman, 
 who is beautiful, married to a man who loves her, is 
 free from scandals raised by less favored and less 
 loved wives." Patience is the only resource of such, 
 and Ayesha cried out, in the bitterness of her soul : 
 "Allah is my helper ! " 
 
 Military operations against the tribes about 
 Medina were frequent, and in the spring of 627, the 
 Meccans, who were always nursing their wrath and 
 preparing themselves to break forth against their 
 exiled prophet, gathered a large army, comprising 
 fifteen hundred camel-riders, and reaching a total of 
 some ten thousand men, to march towards Medina. 
 Mohammed saw that he could not successfully go 
 out against such a force, and that there was no al- 
 ternative but to fortify his position and await the 
 onset. He erected earthworks and dug a ditch, him- 
 self carrying his share of the earth, and joining in 
 the song with which the workers endeavored to 
 cheer themselves. The Arabs had up to this time 
 been unaccustomed to any style of warfare that al- 
 lowed such a mode of defence as this, and the Mec- 
 cans taunted Mohammed with his pusillanimous re- 
 sort to a foreign artifice unworthy of a free-fighter of 
 the desert. 
 
 Medina was surrounded and put in a state of siege ; 
 there was great alarm, and much actual suffering for
 
 VENGEANCE ON THE JEW 5;. 1 65 
 
 a brief period during which inconsequent skirmishes 
 marked the days as they passed, but neither side 
 gained any positive advantage. The Meccans were 
 encamped on the heights to the east of the town 
 and in the lower part of the valley ; and as the Ko- 
 ran expresses it, 
 
 The enemy came down upon you from above and from below ; 
 and the sight of the eyes was obscured ; and your hearts came up 
 into your throats ; and ye imagined concerning Allah strange imag- 
 inations ; there were the believers tried, and made to quake with 
 a severe quaking. . . . Remember the favors of Allah towards 
 you, when hosts came to you, and we sent against them a wind and 
 angels. — Sura xxxiii. 
 
 Strategy was worth more than force at this time, 
 and Mohammed endeavored with success to create a 
 sense of mutual distrust among his enemies. The 
 forage of the Koreishites and their provisions were 
 falling short, and they became tired of the ineffectual 
 siege. At this juncture, there arose one night a very 
 penetrating and chilly wind, which upturned the tents, 
 extinguished the fires, and made the besiegers only 
 too happy to hasten away. The prophet was quick 
 to teach his followers that Allah had interfered, and 
 the streets of Medina were the next day filled with 
 rejoicing throngs, uttering the paeans of victory. 
 
 Among those who had taken the part of the Kore- 
 ishites, was a tribe of Jews, the Koreitza, and Moham- 
 med now hastened to take vengeance upon them. 
 The People of the Book, were difificult to suppress, 
 and after every punishment that they received, 
 seemed to start up in a new quarter to harass 
 the Moslems. Siege was laid to the town of these 
 latest disturbers, and the privations of the inhabitants
 
 l66 THE BATTLE OE THE DITCH. 
 
 soon made them sue for peace and, finally, surrender 
 themselves. After the travesty of a trial, the men 
 were executed by the hundred with the most heart- 
 less deliberation, and the women and children sold 
 into slavery in exchange for horses and harness. 
 Mohammed seems to have imitated at this time the 
 directions laid down in the Old Testament, as at 
 Deuteronomy xx., 1 8, where the Children of Israel 
 were instructed not to leave one of their heathen 
 enemies alive, but t<> utterly destroy them. In the 
 thirty-third sura the circumstances of this butchery 
 are made the subjects of thankfulness, and it is 
 vaunted as done by the direct decree of Allah. 
 
 The Arab at this time was a devoted believer in 
 spells, enchantments, and the evil eye, and still is, 
 and Mohammed was as superstitious in this respect 
 as any of his countrymen. In the chapter entitled 
 " Of the Daybreak," he exclaims : 
 
 I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak from the evil of what 
 he hath created ; from the evil of darkness when it coveretli the 
 earth ; from the evil of women blowing upon knots ; and from the 
 harm of the envious when he envieth. — Sura cxiii. 
 
 The customs of the people in this respect are illus- 
 trated by the case of a necromancer, who, just before 
 the land was cleared of the Jews, injured the prophet 
 as was believed, by mystic enchantments. He took 
 a small waxen image, wound it about with hairs pro- 
 cured from the prophet's head, pierced it with eleven 
 needles, tied eleven knots in a bowstring, blew upon 
 each knot the breath of the mouth, wound the cord 
 around the efifigy, and finally sunk it in the bottom 
 of a well and placed a stone over the mouth. Mo-
 
 MYSTIC ENCHANTMENTS. 1 67 
 
 hammed began immediately to suffer from a lan- 
 guishing iUness, against which no remedies were effi- 
 cacious until the incantation was discovered. Day 
 by day he wasted away, but the ever-ready angel 
 Gabriel came to his rescue, and revealed the mys- 
 tery. AH discovered the image in the well ; Mo- 
 hammed repeated over it the eleven verses that 
 form the last two suras of the Koran, which were 
 at the moment " revealed " as a charm against simi- 
 lar influences. It is soberly recorded that as each 
 verse fell from the prophet's lips, a knot loosened 
 itself from the bowstring, a needle was consequently 
 released, and strength returned to the victim. As 
 the last needle fell away, Mohammed rose in health 
 and vigor, as though he had himself been bound by 
 the cords and pierced by the needles. These two 
 chapters have been since that time often used in the 
 same way ; they are written out and worn as amu- 
 lets, or committed to memory and repeated as 
 charms. It is said that Mohammed visited the 
 well in which the effigy had been hidden, and found 
 in the date-trees about it resemblances to devils' 
 heads ! He caused the well to be destroyed. 
 Whether having any foundation in fact or not, 
 this tale well illustrates the superstition prevalent 
 in Arabia at the time, a superstition that it does not 
 become us to be surprised at when we reflect upon 
 the persecutions of so-called "witches" in England 
 and America that history records with horror, perse- 
 cutions that took place centuries after the days of 
 the unlettered prophet of the desert.
 
 XIX. 
 
 EXTI.ES IN AN EMPTY CITY. 
 
 Mohammed's position was now strong ; the 
 Koreishites of Mecca had been baffled in their 
 attempts to overthrow his power at Medina under 
 circumstances which added to the acuteness of their 
 disappointment ; the Jews had been terribly harried 
 and finally cast out, and there seemed to be no great 
 impediment to the extension of Moslem power to 
 regions beyond. These facts made it all the more 
 irritating to Mohammed that he should be shut out 
 of his native city and not permitted even to see the 
 sacred Kaaba nor to perform there the devotions 
 which had for so long been the right and the privi- 
 lege of his clan. The six years that had elapsed 
 since last he had been inside of Mecca had been a 
 period of mental anxiety and of strife, and now he 
 longed to show anew his devotion to the ancient 
 faith, or to punish those against whom he had 
 launched his unfruitful denunciations in the name 
 of Allah, for obstructing the approach of the pious 
 worshippers.* In his visions, which came with some 
 of the ancient fervor in view of these thoughts, he 
 actually entered the sacred city, and performed the 
 
 * See the second Sura, quoted in part on page 147.
 
 A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 1 69 
 
 ceremonies of the pilgrim ; when he awoke, he de- 
 termined with the strong will of the first years of his 
 mission, that he would make the dream a reality. 
 
 The sacred month of the year 628 (assigned for 
 the Lesser Pilgrimage) was approaching ; in it war 
 was prohibited, and Mohammed determined to make 
 his attempt then, because he thought there would 
 be less opposition to his enterprise than at the time 
 of the Greater Pilgrimage. Every precaution was 
 taken to ensure the expedition against the opposi- 
 tion of the Koreishites : the number of pilgrims was 
 made as large as possible by inviting the people 
 around who had not taken the prophet's part to 
 join in the ceremonies, in which, though idolators, 
 they had the same national interest as the Moslems. 
 Every effort was made to give a peaceful appearance 
 to the caravan ; while the numbers were sufficient to 
 enable it to protect itself, if necessary, against any 
 military demonstration whatever. Seventy camels 
 were prepared to be taken for sacrifices ; the appro- 
 priate mark was set upon their right sides, their 
 necks were hung with ornaments, and their heads 
 were turned toward the holy city. Mohammed pre- 
 pared himself for the occasion by permitting his hair 
 and nails to grow ; he refrained from all ordinary 
 luxuries, renounced the perfumes which he so much 
 enjoyed ; dressed himself in the ihram, and appeared 
 before his people, when ready for the journey, armed 
 only with the sheathed sword of the pilgrim. 
 
 The Koreishites naturally doubted the peaceful 
 nature of this unusual demonstration ; but they 
 ieared to oppose it with force, though absolutely
 
 I70 EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY. 
 
 Liotcnnincd to forbid the entrance of the would-be 
 pilgrims to their city. Mohammed, on his part, was 
 not willintj to precipitate hostilities, and when one of 
 his spies reported that the enemy was encamped not 
 far from him, clothed in panther's skins, emblematic 
 of their fixed determination to fight to the last like 
 beasts of prey, he turned from the usual route and 
 passed with difficulty thn^ugh an unfrequented 
 defile o\er a rough road to tlie verge of the sacred 
 territor)-. .\11 at once the march was arrested by 
 the refusal of the prophet's camel to proceed farther. 
 It was the same beast that had carried Mohammed 
 from Mecca six years before ; it was the same which 
 had marvellously refused to enter Medina and had 
 pointed out at Koba the spot for the mosque ; and 
 any intimation from her was certain to be considered 
 almost equal to a revelation that could not lightly 
 be ignored, even though, as in the present instance, 
 it might be the evident result of fatigue. 
 
 " The beast is weary and balky," said the Moslems. 
 
 " No, she is neither balky nor weary," said Mo- 
 hammed, " but the hand that held back Abraha in 
 the Year of the Elephant, and kept him from enter- 
 ing Mecca, now restrains her : if the Koreishites 
 make any demand of me this day, I shall grant it, by 
 the name of Allah ! Let the caravan halt ! " 
 
 " There is no water here, O prophet," they ex- 
 claimed ; " how can we halt ? " 
 
 Without a word, Mohammed ordered that an 
 ancient well, then covered with sand, should be 
 opened, and to the surprise of all, water bubbled up 
 so rapidly that those at the top of the well were able 
 to draw it with ease.
 
 172 EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY. 
 
 It was not long before negotiations were opened 
 with the Mcccans, and Mohammed sent positive 
 assurances that he had only peaceful intentions. 
 One of the envoys of the Koreishitcs reported at 
 Mecca that he had been at the court of Persia and » 
 had visited the proud emperor at Constantinople, 
 but that he had never seen such respect for a sover- 
 eign as the Moslems showed towards Mohammed. ' 
 Did he wash his hands, the water became in their 
 eyes holy ; did he pare his nails, the scrap was caught 
 up as a sacred relic ; did a hair fall by chance from 
 his locks, a follower was certain to throw himself 
 upon the ground to secure it ; should a person but 
 touch his beard, it was accounted an act of sacrilege. 
 
 An envoy of the prophet was, during the negotia- 
 tions, detained at Mecca longer than was expected, 
 and Mohammed, suspecting treachcr}^, gathered his 
 followers beneath an acacia, and called upon them 
 one by one to pledge by a solemn oath, confirmed by 
 striking hands with him, that they would stand by 
 the absent one, as well as by the cause, to the death. 
 The Pledge of the Tree, as this is called, is mentioned 
 in the Koran — " Allah beheld with satisfaction the 
 believers who gave thee their hand in the oath of 
 allegiance beneath the tree " (Sura xlviii.), — and all 
 who took part in the ceremony, which excited both 
 religious feeling and warlike spirit of the strongest 
 sort, were proud to refer to it in after days 
 
 The trial of this loyalty, so romantically asserted, 
 was unnecessary, for the envoy soon appeared safe 
 and sound, and the Koreishites, fearing the result of 
 a battle, announced their willingness to enter into a
 
 A DISAPPOINTMENT. 1 73 
 
 treaty under which future pilgrimages should be per- 
 mitted, though they refused to allow the prophet to 
 enter their city at that time. Mohammed, equally 
 apprehensive, willingly refrained from pressing for- 
 ward, and the sura entitled " The Chapter of Vic- 
 tory " was revealed : 
 
 Verily, we have given thee a manifest victory ! That Allah may 
 pardon thee the bin that is past and that which is to come. 
 
 The desert Arabs who were left behind shall cry, " Our wealth and 
 our people occupied us ; ask pardon then, for us. . . . Let us fol- 
 low you ! " 
 
 Allah it was who restrained the hands of the Koreishites from you 
 and your hands from them, in the mid-valley of ]\Iecca, after he had 
 given you the victory over them ! 
 
 It was not this sort of a " victory " that the Mos- 
 lems had looked for, and they were sadly disappointed 
 when Mohammed returned, after sacrificing the de- 
 voted camels, and performing as many of the duties 
 of the pilgrim as were practicable at a distance 
 from Mecca ; though he was right in feeling that he 
 had achieved an important act. He had been recog- 
 nized by those who had thrust him out, as a power 
 to be feared and treated with, and this filled his 
 mind with the audacious ambition, inspired by ig- 
 norance of the greatness of the project and by an 
 almost insane confidence in his own apostleshij^, to 
 summon all the nations of the world to bow to 
 Islam. 
 
 In this spirit, Mohammed caused a signet ring to 
 be engraved with the words '' Mohammed, the Apos- 
 tle of Allah," and commissioned messengers to visit 
 the courts of Chosroes, king of Persia, whose son 
 Siroes, after murdering his father, was soon to con-
 
 1/4 EXILES I.V AN' EMPTY CITY. 
 
 elude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire ; of 
 tlie Roman emperor Ilcraclius himself, then returning 
 from his Persian campaign ; of the rulers of Abys- 
 sinia, Syria, and Egypt ; and of the Christian tribes 
 of Yemen. These sovereigns cared little for such a 
 message from a son of the desert of whom they 
 could know little, and they treated it lightly, proba- 
 bly thinking that it did not merit the honor of 
 serious discussion. 
 
 The Moslems did not recover from their dissatis- 
 faction A\ith the " victory " over the Meccans, and 
 Mohammed found that he must in some way appease 
 the longing for plunder that he had roused, but had 
 not satisfied. lie looked earnestly for some act of 
 aggression on the part of a surrounding tribe which 
 might give him excuse for a raid, but none occurred, 
 and at last, after months of waiting, he determined 
 to make an attack upon the fertile lands of some 
 Jews at Keibar, living at a distance of three or four 
 days' march to the northeast of Medina. F'ortified 
 towns dotted their pleasant land, and nature smiled 
 upon them as they cultivated their farms which they 
 had occupied from ancient times, though surrounded 
 by a people to whom permanence of habitation was 
 almost unknown. They were with good reason im- 
 placable enemies of the Moslems, and they labored 
 unceasingly to stir up against them the Bedawin 
 tribes with whom they had an ancient alliance. 
 Against these people Mohammed set out with a 
 powerful force. One by one the strongholds fell 
 before him, until at last he found himself confronted 
 by a fortress more redoubtable than any that Moslem
 
 BOOTY FROM THE JEIVS. 1 75 
 
 arms had ever encountered. It seemed probable that 
 it could resist all efforts that might be made against 
 it ; the siege was long, and it was not until the com- 
 mand had been given to Ali, son of Abu Talib, that 
 success was attained (a.d. 628). The usual shedding 
 of blood followed, though the carnage was not so 
 horrible as on some other occasions, and the rich 
 booty — rich beyond all former experience — was di- 
 vided among the happy warriors. It included money, 
 jewels, herds of camels and flocks of sheep ; honey, 
 oil, dates, grain, and every sort of treasure that the 
 Arabian valued ; and all the murmurs that the so- 
 called " victory " over the Meccans had given rise to 
 were turned into glad acclaim. 
 
 Now the Moslems were in a proper state of mind 
 to enjoy the promised pilgrimage to Mecca ; and as 
 the time approached elaborate preparations were 
 again made (a.d. 629). Sixty camels were driven 
 in advance, the company comprised several hundred 
 more persons than had formed the caravan of the 
 previous year, and each was armed as agreed, with a 
 sword only ; though as a precautionary measure, a 
 large quantity of armor was carried separately. Mo- 
 hammed well understood the treacherous character 
 of the Arabians, but the precaution he took was not 
 necessary at this time, for the Koreishites adhered 
 faithfully to the terms of the treaty. Instead of in- 
 terfering, the inhabitants with one accord left their 
 homes, climbed the hillsides, and sheltered them- 
 selves beneath tents and other temporary dwellings, 
 looking down as opportunity permitted, to see the 
 strange ceremonial that was performing in the streets
 
 X'jC't EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY. 
 
 they h.ul deserted. When before had there been 
 such a scene ? When since ? When did a populace 
 go out of their houses to permit a body of rehgion- 
 ists to whose observances they were hostile, enter in 
 and occupy, not their streets and their houses only, 
 but their very temples and their altars? 
 
 The devotees, — let us look at them. There is the 
 prophet himself, dressed in the ihram, proudly riding 
 into his native place, still upon the faithful camel 
 that bore him northward seven years before to the 
 place of refuge. Can we imagine his thoughts, as he 
 remembers his flight with Abu Bckr, and the three 
 days in the mountain cave ? Behind him are the 
 many followers, shouting the pilgrim-cry of exulta- 
 tion as their long repressed feelings are allowed free 
 utterance, and hurrying to perform the tawaf, imita- 
 ting the rapid motion of their leader, that the look- 
 ers-on may know that their vigor has not been less- 
 ened by their journey. The prophet touches the 
 holy black stone gently with his staff as he passes it, 
 and the crowd cry aloud, 
 
 " There is no god but Allah ! He hath upholden his servant and 
 exalted his army. He alone hath discomfited tlie hosts that were con- 
 federate against him ! " 
 
 The words echo and re-echo through the little val- 
 ley, and the host is newly stimulated by the sound 
 of its own voices. The next day the prophet wor- 
 ships in the Kaaba until the hour of the mid-day 
 prayer, when his muezzin ascends to the place ap- 
 pointed, and vociferates the Moslem call to worship, 
 and Mohammed conducts the service in the form 
 familar at Medina.
 
 THE GREAT A'ALIJ) CONFER 'TEE). 1/7 
 
 For three full days the Meccims adhere to their 
 promise, but then they warn Mohammed that the 
 allotted time is over, and that he must return from 
 his holy mission. The prophet endeavors to concilia 
 ate the chief men towards Islam, but in vain ; they 
 will have none of it. Still, Mohammed saw enough 
 to convince him that the Koreishites did not hold 
 their former power, and he knew that his own pres- 
 tige was much enhanced by this pilgrimage, both in 
 Mecca and at Medina. When he reached his home, 
 at the opening of April, 629, he felt stronger and 
 more confident than ever before. 
 
 If the Koreishites as a tribe, held aloof from Mo- 
 hammed he was successful in winning the allegiance 
 of two important men among them, — Kalid, a war- 
 rior famous for his prowess and strategy at the bat- 
 tle of Ohud, well known as the " Sword of Allah," 
 and Amr, who was destined to carry the standard of 
 the prophet into foreign lands. These men came to 
 Medina in June to accept the rising faith, and their 
 acquisition to the cause gave it a new strength at 
 Mecca also, where it now took a place by the side of 
 the ancient worship, as something to be mentioned 
 with respect if not with reverence. 
 
 i^
 
 XX. 
 
 THE MOTHKK OF CITIES CONQUERED. 
 
 The letters that Mohammed wrote to foreign po- 
 tentates cannot be said to have accomplished much 
 in ])rinL;in(^ him and his mission before the world, 
 though the time was rapidly approaching when the 
 Moslem should be known everywhere. It was very 
 little like what the world calls war, to fight as the 
 Bedawins fought, — to meet an enemy on the open 
 desert where there was no embarrassment from walls 
 and ditches ; but this was the the sort of warfare that 
 the Moslems had practiced up to the eighth year from 
 the Hejra. Little did the prophet know of the tac- 
 tics of the Romans, and of the implements of war 
 used by those great nations of the earth of which he 
 had only heard enough to embolden him to summon 
 them to submit to Islam. 
 
 Among the envoys that Mohammed had sent to 
 call the nations to obedience was one who went to 
 Bostra, on the road to Damascus, near the eastern 
 borders of Palestine, familiar to the prophet since 
 his early experience in the caravan trade. Syria 
 was at the time under Roman dominion, though 
 probably law was not very well established any- 
 where in its limits. This envoy had fulfilled his
 
 OPPOSING THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 179 
 
 mission, how effectually we are not told, and was re- 
 turning to Medina, when he was arrested and put to 
 death -at Muta, a place three days' journey east of 
 Jerusalem, by order of a Christian ruler of the tribe 
 of Ghassan, who represented the emperor Heraclius. 
 Such an indignity was not to be suffered without re- 
 monstrance, and Mohammed, nothing daunted by 
 the prestige of Roman power,* hastened to raise an 
 army of some three thousand men, the command of 
 which he confided to his beloved Zeyd, supported by 
 a number of valiant soldiers, among whom were the 
 two latest converts from Mecca (September, 629). 
 
 Gaily and with confidence, the little army set forth 
 from Medina, the prophet accompanying it a short 
 distance and expressing his farewell in the words, 
 "Allah shield you from every harm, and bring you 
 back in peace, rejoicing, with much spoil ! " The en- 
 terprise was no secret, and word was speedily carried 
 to the representative of Heraclius in Palestine that 
 the Moslems were on the march. The former petty 
 raids of Mohammed had probably served to unite 
 the inhabitants of the region in some league for 
 mutual defence, and it was not difficult to collect 
 an overpowering force to repel the invaders, consist- 
 ing, so some writers assert, of one hundred thousand 
 men. The Moslem authorities add that Heraclius 
 himself led the army, but that seems hardly credible. 
 
 * The prophet had no doubt been diligently watching the course of 
 the war [between Rome and Persia] which is once, at least, directly 
 alluded to in the Koran. [Sura xxx.] He could but see the immense 
 advantage which he gained by finding tlie two greatest powers of the 
 world utterly exhausted by the tremendous struggle." — E. A. Free- 
 man, " History and Conquests of the Saracens," page 24.
 
 l8o THE MOTHER OE CITIES CONQUERED. 
 
 When Zeyd reached tlic extreme southeast Hmit of 
 Palestine, on the borders of the Arabian desert, he 
 learned of the reception that was prepared for him, 
 and called a council of war, in which some were 
 for sending a letter to Mohammed for advice, since 
 the enemy was so much more formidable than had 
 been expected ; but a poet among them cried out, 
 " We fight for the faith ! If we fall the joys of Par- 
 adise are ours. On, to victory or to martyrdom ! " 
 With the fire of fanaticism and the daring of the 
 Bedawin, the host marched forward crying, " By Al- 
 lah ! thou spcakest truth ! Onward ! " But when the 
 glittering armor and the vast numbers of the ap- 
 proaching host were revealed to them, they fell back 
 in dismay, and were pressed down by the solid Ro- 
 man phalanx, Zeyd seized the white flag of the 
 prophet, and led his men to the struggle, until the 
 lances of the enemy brought him to the dust ; leader 
 after leader followed his example, but the Moslems 
 were forced back and back ; there was no hope. 
 
 Then Kalid, the " Sword of Allah," won the right 
 to his name. The men who but a moment before 
 had been chanting 
 
 " Paradise ! Oh paradise ! how fair a resting-place ! Cold is the 
 water there and sweet the shade ! Rome ! Rome ! the hour of thy 
 woe draweth nigh ! When we close with her, we shall hurl her to the 
 earth ! " 
 
 now thought that they were doing well if they fol^ 
 lowed the skilful manoeuvres of their new leader in 
 retreat. 
 
 None dared to counsel delay, but with one mind 
 all hurried towards Medina, where they were greeted
 
 A VICTORY INDEED. l8l 
 
 with shouts of derision : " Ah, ye runaways ! Do ye 
 indeed flee before the enemy when fighting for 
 Allah ? " It was a sad downfall and cut Moham- 
 med to the quick. However, he soon sent Amr into 
 the field, who restored the lost prestige, and many 
 Bedawin tribes bowed to Islam (October, 629). As 
 the number of subjected clans increased so did the 
 ambitious projects of Mohammed grow. 
 
 If it had been a " victory " to gain simple permis- 
 sion to enter Mecca and sojourn three brief days in 
 the enjoyment of the ancient religious privileges, 
 what would it be to become master of the Sacred 
 City and to hold it against the world ? Thoughts 
 like this played through the prophet's mind as he 
 contemplated the increasing number of his loyal sub- 
 jects, and he longed for the day when a pretext 
 should be presented him under which he could at- 
 tack the city of his birth. It came not long after the 
 retreat from Muta. 
 
 The Korcishitcs became involved in an attack 
 upon the Kozaitcs, a tribe that had ranged them- 
 selves among the partisans of Mohammed, and a 
 deputation from the injured people called upon the 
 prophet for help. The Koreishites were much 
 alarmed, and sent their chief, the same who had 
 before besieged Medina and had scoffed at Moham- 
 med as an impostor, to sue for peace. It was a sore 
 trial to this proud man thus to plead with his despised 
 enemy, it was still more mortifying to him to find 
 that Mohammed was determined to give him no sat- 
 isfaction whatever ; and harder still on his return to 
 Mecca to be received with insults by his own people 
 because he had failed at Medina.
 
 l82 THE MOTHER OE CITIES CONQUERED. 
 
 Scarcely had this envoy left Medina, when Moham- 
 med began with the utmost secrecy to prepare for an 
 attack upon Mecca ; he gathered the largest force 
 that the city had ever put into the field ; and on the 
 first of January, 630, the march began. The prophet 
 prayed publicly : " O Allah ! let no spy treacherously 
 bear tidings to the Koreish ; blind them, that they 
 see not until I come upon them suddenly and sieze 
 them unawares ! " The prayer was not impressive 
 enough to keep one of the most trusted among the 
 Moslems from sending a letter to Mecca by a woman 
 named Sara, who for ten pieces of gold, undertook 
 the venturesome duty. She was overtaken on the 
 way by Ali ; the letter was found hidden in her hair, 
 and the writer discovered and summoned before the 
 prophet. He asserted that he was a true believer, 
 but that having a wife and children at Mecca, he had 
 sent the warning in order to ensure protection for 
 them. Mohammed pardoned him, but the opening 
 verses of sura sixty were revealed to warn others 
 against doing likewise : 
 
 O, ye faithful ! take not my enemies and yours for patrons ; if ye 
 show mercy to them, they will reject the truth that has been revealed 
 to you. They will thrust you from them, the apostle and you, because 
 you have faith in Allah. 
 
 When ye go forth from your hearths fighting valiantly for Islam, 
 will ye show favor to them ? I know what you conceal at the bottom 
 of your hearts, and what you fering to the light of day. He who in- 
 terests himself in the cause of the infidel, he it is who has wandered 
 from the strait path. 
 
 The worldly-wise idolator Abbas, who had up to 
 this time refused to bow to Allah, now saw that his 
 nephew was on the road to power. He came out
 
 A MESSAGE TO MECCA. 1 83 
 
 from Mecca, where he had controlled the distribution 
 of the waters of Zemzcn, claiming that he had for a 
 long time been a true Moslem at heart. Mohammed 
 received him, saying in gentle irony, " The last of 
 the prophets greets the latest of the emigrants ! " 
 When the heights overlooking Mecca had been 
 reached, Mohammed ordered his ten thousand fol- 
 lowers each to light a watch-fire, and hoped thus to 
 strike sudden fear into the sleeping inhabitants. It 
 happened that the chief of the Koreishites, he who 
 had been repulsed with indignity by the prophet, 
 walked forth that night to reconnoitre ; in the dark 
 he was met by Abbas, who, also had gone out to see 
 if by any chance he might do something to save the 
 devoted city from slaughter. " Yonder," said Abbas, 
 as he pointed to the myriad fires, " is Mohammed en< 
 camped with ten thousand followers ; believe, and 
 cast in thy lot with us, or thy mother and thy clan 
 shall shed tears for thee ! " 
 
 In the morning the captured chieftain, threatened 
 with immediate death, was brought before the proph- 
 et, after whom he tremblingly repeated the creed of 
 Islam, and was sent back to his home by Moham- 
 med, who said : " Every Meccan who is found in 
 ^thy dwelling, and all who take refuge in the Kaaba; 
 and whosoever shutteth the door of his own house 
 upon his family, shall be safe: haste thee home!" 
 As he departed, Mohammed gave the signal for his 
 army to march, but with fearful anticipations. His 
 constrained convert, had, however, been true : as 
 soon as he entered the city, he cried : " Mohammec? 
 is upon us, O ye Koreishites ! Whose entereth my
 
 1 84 TIIR MOTHER OF CITIES CONQUERED. 
 
 house shall be safe this clay; whosoever sliutteth his 
 door upon himself shall not be harmed ; whosoever 
 entereth the holy Kaaba shall find refuge ! " 
 
 When Mohammed, mounted on the same camel 
 that had so faithfully carried him on other occasions, 
 rode into the city, his heart rose in thankfulness, for he 
 saw empt}' streets again, and knew that his reception 
 Vv\as to be peaceful. It is greatl)' to his praise that on 
 this occasion, when his resentment for ill-usage in the 
 past might naturally have incited him to revenge, he 
 restrained his arm}' from all shedding of blood, and 
 showed every sign of humility and thanksgiving to 
 Allah for his goodness. Kalid, it is true, did meet 
 force with force at one point, but he was rebuked by 
 Mohammed. 
 
 The prophet's first labor was the destruction of 
 the idol-images in the Kaaba, and after that had 
 been done he ordered his original muezzin to sound 
 the call to prayer from the top of the Kaaba, and 
 sent a crier through the streets to command all per- 
 sons to break in pieces every image that they might 
 possess. (January, 630.) 
 
 Ten or twelve men who had on a former occasion 
 shown a barbarous spirit, were proscribed, and of 
 them four were put to death, but this must be con- 
 sidered exceedingly humane, in comparison with the 
 acts of other conquerors ; in comparison for example, 
 with the cruelty of the Crusaders, who, in 1099, put 
 seventy-thousand Moslems, men, women, and help- 
 less children, to death when Jerusalem fell into their 
 hands ; or with that of the English army, also fight- 
 ing under the cross, which, in the year oi grace, -1874,,
 
 A MERCIFUL CONQUEROR. 
 
 185 
 
 burned an African capital, in its war on the Gold 
 Coast. Mohammed's victory was in very truth one 
 of religion and not of politics ; he rejected every 
 token of personal homage, and declined all regal 
 authority ; and when the haughty chiefs of the 
 Koreishites appeared before him he asked : 
 " What can you expect at ni)^ hands ? " 
 " Mercy, O generous brother." 
 " Be it so ; yc arc free ! " he exclaimed.
 
 XXI. 
 
 HOW TATF WAS liKSIKCKI) AND TAKEN. 
 
 Among the tribes that yet resisted the- claims of 
 Islam, the most important were the Bedawins who 
 ranged the hill-country to the south and east of 
 Mecca, brethren of some of the inhabitants of the 
 strong city of Taif, to which the prophet had gone 
 to preach when he thought that his mission was to 
 be rejected by his own kinsfolk. The people of Taii 
 were devoted to their idols, and as their relations 
 with Mecca were close, and the distance between the 
 two cities not great, they feared lest Mohammed, in- 
 spired by his easy conquest, might descend upon 
 them. Accordingly they determined to check his 
 arrogance, and assembled for counsel in a mountain- 
 valley northeast of Taif. 
 
 The chiefs said : " The Koreishites are mere traf- 
 fickers, and know not how to make war ; they have 
 naturally been overcome easily ; proud of his suc- 
 cess, the prophet will now make plans to subjugate 
 us ; let us forestall his schemes and march upon him 
 before he has time to make an attack." The advice 
 found favor, and an army was quickly gathered. Of 
 these facts Mohammed had prompt knowledge, and 
 collected the forces that he had brought with him*
 
 A VICTORY AT I/ONEIN. 1 87 
 
 to which two thousand more were added from the 
 wilhng people of the holy city, and four weeks from 
 his unexpected appearance at Mecca, he began his 
 march towards the new enemy, his followers exult- 
 ing as they gazed at the array of flaunting banners 
 and the long lines of troops. 
 
 The leader of the Bedawins was a young warrior 
 who thought to inspire his soldiers with deadly de- 
 termination by causing their wives and children, 
 their flocks and herds to follow in the rear ; though 
 one of the aged chiefs when he learned of the plan, 
 uttered an expression of disgust and exclaimed, 
 " When fear overtakes a soldier, nothing will stop 
 his flight ; if we conquer, these women and children 
 will be only an embarrassment ; if we fail, they will 
 be prey for the enemy ; alas, we are dishonored, 
 ruined ! " 
 
 The armies met on the first of February, 630, in a 
 valley called Honein, behind Arafat ; the first onset 
 threw the Moslems into confusion, and notwithstand- 
 ing the desperate efforts of Mohammed to reassure 
 them, it seemed as though certain defeat was to be 
 their fortune, in spite of their overwhelming num- 
 bers ; the band from Medina proved steady, how- 
 ever, and the Moslems rallied before it was too late, 
 utterly routing the Bedawins and capturing their 
 women and children. There were taken six thou- 
 sand prisoners, twenty-four thousand camels, forty 
 thousand sheep and goats, and four thousand ounces 
 of silver ; and Mohammed resolved to press on to 
 Taif, confident that his troops, inspired by a victory 
 so much greater than they had ever before known,
 
 1 88 I/Oir T.l/F WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN. 
 
 would feel strong to attack even so well fortified a 
 place as that. In the ninth sura, he alludes to the 
 victory at Ilonein, attributing the first repulse to 
 over-confidence in numbers, and the final success to 
 the angelic aid that he was ever ready to promise 
 and direct his followers to expect : 
 
 Verily, jVllali halli liolpen you in many a battle ; and on the day 
 of Ilonein, when ye ^\•ere so puffed up by the multitude of our host, 
 though that did not give you strength ; the valley was too strait for 
 you, though it was truly broad. Ye turned your backs and fled. 
 
 Then Allah sent down his grace upon his prophet and upon the 
 faithful, and hosts that ye saw not, and jiunished the misbelievers ; 
 for that is the reward of the unfaithful. 
 
 The city of Taif is situated in the midst of a ter- 
 ritory of much fertility ; it is a veritable oasis among 
 barren mountains, and rejoices in the richness and 
 abundance of its fruits ; at this time it was surround- 
 ed by high and broad walls, and was supplied with 
 enough water and provisions to last for many 
 months. Mohammed's efforts were fruitless against 
 strong masonry, and after a time he determined to 
 weaken his enemy by devastating the gardens and 
 orchards about the city. This work was entered 
 upon with vigor, but the besieged expostulated, and 
 the prophet graciously desisted ; though at the same 
 time he proclaimed that all slaves who might flee 
 from the city to him should be free. Only twenty- 
 two embraced the offer, and the people of Taif lost 
 no courage on account of so small a defection. 
 
 Mohammed continued his efforts for twenty days, 
 but then determined to withdraw, confident that the 
 vcity was, asone of his followers expressed it, "like a
 
 A MOB lAT MEDINA. iSg 
 
 fox in its hole ; if you remain long enough you will 
 take it, if you leave it, it cannot harm you." An op- 
 portune dream supported this view of the case, and 
 saying : " We shall return again, by the will of 
 Allah," Mohammed retired with his army, making 
 presents to the Bedawins who professed allegiance 
 to him, and returning to them their wives and chil- 
 dren which had been captured at Honein. 
 
 The prophet's mercy was politic, but it was none 
 the less mercy ; it gained friendship for Mohammed 
 at the south, but aroused jealousy and discord among 
 the Moslems. The prophet was mobbed by those 
 who thought that they had been deprived of their 
 just share of the captives. Calling around him the 
 men of Medina wdiose friendship he much appre- 
 ciated, he said, " Hearken, O ye men of Medina ! 
 When I came unto you, were ye not wandering, and 
 did I not bring harmony to you ? Were ye not in 
 error, and I turned you to the truth ? Were ye not 
 poor, and I made you rich ? " 
 
 " It is even as thou sayest ? " they honestly 
 replied. 
 
 " Nay, more, by Allah ! Ye might have answered, 
 ' Thou earnest to us stigmatised as a liar, and yet we 
 believed thee ; thou camest a fugitive and we shel- 
 tered thee ; an outcast, and we gave thee a home ; 
 destitute and we gave thee meat.' Think ye that I 
 do not feel all this ? Ye complain that I give gifts 
 to these, and not to you : I give them worldly goods 
 to win their worldly hearts ; to you, the true, I give 
 my own heart : they return home with sheep and 
 camels ; ye go back with the prophet of Allah ; for.
 
 igo //oil' r.iiF WAS he sieged and taken. 
 
 by liiiii in \\ hose liaiul arc- llic souls of us all, though 
 the whole World should go one way and ye another, 
 I would never leave you ! Which have I most 
 rewarded ? " 
 
 " O prophet of iVllali ! " they cried through their 
 rising tears, " we are content ! " 
 
 For twelve days Mohammed rested at the place 
 where the spoil of Honein had been divided, and 
 then returned to Mecca dressed in the ihram, to per- 
 form the rites of the lesser pilgrimage. This was 
 early in March, 630. At the end of the same month, 
 he re-entered Medina. In the course of his journey 
 the prophet passed the spot where fair Amina, his 
 mother, had fallen by the way so many years before, 
 and filial feeling brought tears to his eyes at the 
 sight of her tomb. Just then the words were revealed 
 to him, 
 
 " Let not the prophet nor other believers ask pardon for idolaters, 
 though of their own kindred." 
 
 He prayed Allah to allow him to offer a prayer for 
 his mother, but the request was not granted. He 
 must have sincerely believed that an intimation of 
 the heavenly will was sent to him, and he said sadly, 
 " I asked Allah that I might visit my mother's grave, 
 and he permitted it. I asked that I might pray for 
 her, and he denied me." 
 
 His long postponed desire for a son was gratified 
 by the birth of Ibrahim, child of a Coptic maid, 
 Mary, who had been given to him as a slave by the 
 governor of Egypt. The wives were very jealous of 
 Mary, as the mother of the prophet's only son, and 
 he in turn became much displeased with them. The
 
 A YOUNG COPTIC. WOMAN.
 
 192 I/Oir TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN. 
 
 sixty-sixth sura was " revealed " as a warning to the 
 refractory spouses, who were therein told of the 
 two wicked wives of these good men Noah and 
 Lot, to whom it was said, on their approach to the 
 other life, " Enter \\\c fire with those who enter! " 
 
 The beloved son died at the age of fifteen months, 
 and the father, who had been devotedly attached to 
 him, mourned with sincerity, but with resignation. 
 There was an eclipse of the sun at the time, which 
 the people thought was occasioned by the sadness of 
 nature in consequence of the child's death ; but the 
 prophet nobly said, " The sun and the moon, are 
 signs appointed by Allah ; but they are not eclipsed on 
 the death of any mortal : when ye observe an eclipse, 
 betake yourselves to prayer until it passeth away." 
 
 The conquest of Mecca gave Mohammed great 
 spiritual power, and in its train came absolute secu- 
 lar jurisdiction. The raising of the siege of Taif did 
 not detract from his prestige ; he was, in fact, so 
 crowded with embassies from the various tribes 
 which wished to unite their fortunes with his, that 
 the ninth year after the Hejra was called, in conse- 
 quence, " The Year of the Deputations." 
 
 Among these emissaries were fourteen men be- 
 longing to a Christian tribe, who came to see what 
 Islam was and to form a judgment of its merits. 
 They were received by Mohammed in the mosque, 
 and an opportunity was given them for conference, 
 which turned entirely upon the second person in the 
 Trinity, concerning whom the deputies cited pas- 
 sages in the Gospels. To these the prophet opposed 
 verses from the Koran, such as these :
 
 rrTF. ORDEAL OF T/FE CURSTNG. 
 
 193 
 
 Verily, the likeness of Jesus to Allah is as the likeness of Adam : 
 he created him from the earth, and said to him, " Be," and he was ; — 
 truth from Allah, so be thou art not of those who doubt. And 
 whoso disputcth, after the truth had come to thee, say, ' ' Come, let 
 us call our sons and your sons, and our wives and your women, and 
 ourselves and yourselves, and let us call down the curses of Allah 
 upon those that lie." 
 
 VIEW OF MEDINA. 
 
 Verily, this is true, there is no god but Allah, and he is the 
 mighty and the wise ; but if they turn back, — Allah knoweth the 
 evil doers ! 
 
 The ordeal of the Cursing, or the Judgment of 
 Allah, was agreed upon as a means of settling the 
 discussion, and an open place outside of the city was 
 chosen for the ceremony. When the morrow ar- 
 rived, Mohammed presented himself, accompanied 
 
 14
 
 '94 //C/r TAIl- WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN. 
 
 by Fatiiiui and All and their two sons ; but the 
 Christians were not to be seen ; they had been turned 
 from their purpose through fear of the terrible 
 punishment that would fall upon them in case of 
 failure, at least so the Moslem historians assert. It 
 is added that the prophet graciously offered to allow 
 them to return to their homesafter they should prom- 
 ise to pay him an annual tribute, or renounce their 
 religion. They chose the tribute, and it may well 
 be questioned whether they ever really consented to 
 the ordeal, which must have certainly appeared to 
 them an unsatisfactory mode of settling a theologi- 
 cal dispute, though history records many ordeals 
 quite as absurd, which were familiar to Christian 
 peoples in Europe centuries after this epoch. 
 
 The mosque of the prophet at Medina now be- 
 came the centre of busy life ; embassies were re- 
 ceived there ; there tithes and tribute were paid ; 
 there disputes were discussed and settled ; and there 
 honors and powers were conferred upon those who 
 came to submit to Islam. Mohammed was now well 
 known in all quarters of his native land, and his fol- 
 lowers began to be counted by thousands. 
 
 While the inhabitants of castle after castle and 
 city after city were thus hastening to win the favor 
 of the vicegerent of Allah, the stubborn people of 
 Taif still bowed their heads only to their idols, and 
 trusted to their strong walls and mountain heights 
 to make them secure from the vengeance that the 
 mild words of the prophet plainly warranted them 
 to expect, if they did not embrace Islam. As time 
 wore on, they began to feel that their position was
 
 A COMPLETE SURRENDER. I95 
 
 no more strong than it was lonely, for they found 
 themselves surrounded by a constantly narrowing 
 cordon of believers, and it was at last impossible for 
 them to venture beyond their walls in safety. 
 The " fox " had remained long enough in its hole, 
 and now was to be caught. The people sent embas- 
 sadors to Mohammed to ask conditions of peace. 
 He declined to listen to any terms but the complete 
 surrender of their idols, and submission to Islam. 
 The emissaries were willing to embrace the faith 
 themselves, they said, but pleaded that a sudden 
 revolution might shock the people of Taif ; might 
 they not be allowed to worship the idols three more 
 years ? 
 
 " No ! " replied the prophet. 
 
 " May we not have a month's time in which to 
 prepare the minds of the people ! " 
 
 " No ! Allah cannot be served by those who bow 
 to idols." -^ 
 
 " May our people at least be absolved from the 
 oft-repeated daily prayers ? " 
 
 " There is no true religion without prayer," was 
 the only answer. 
 
 Upon this a surrender was made, and a messenger 
 was sent to destroy the famous idol of stone in the 
 temple at Taif. It was left in fragments on the 
 earth, surrounded by weeping women lamenting the 
 fall of their hopes. 
 
 It was during this year (a.d. 630) that word came 
 to Medina from the north that the Romans and 
 their allies in Syria were gathering a host to march 
 upon the Moslems, and Mohammed determined
 
 196 HOW TAIF WAS BESfECED AiYD TAKEN. 
 
 upon the most ainhilious enterprise tliat lie luid yet 
 engaged in. He made no secret of his real inten- 
 tions, but boldly called upon the faithful to gather 
 under his banner, and an army of thirty thousand 
 warriors was formed, which set out under the per- 
 sonal command of the prophet. All being left at 
 Medina to care for his family and exercise the duties 
 of governor. No such force had probably been seen 
 in Arabia, and it marched with great difficulty over 
 burning sands and through regions destitute of 
 water. Desertions were not infrequent, but they 
 were not sufificient to reduce the vast numbers ma- 
 terially, and the expedition struck fear into the dwel- 
 lers along its line of march. Many tribes came to 
 offer their allegiance, and the great army that Rome 
 was supposed to have prepared was not encoun- 
 tered ; whether its commanders were alarmed by the 
 rumors of the force sent against it, or whether Mo- 
 hammed sagaciously kept out of its range, cannot be 
 determined. True it is that the Spirits of the Moslem 
 army w^ere dampened, and when the campaign was 
 but partially completed, Mohammed called a council 
 of war, at Tabuk, in the course of which he asked 
 Omar whether the advance should continue or not. 
 
 " If thou hast the command of Allah to go for- 
 ward, advance ! " he replied. 
 
 " If I had received the command of Allah, I should 
 not have asked Omar ! " the prophet responded. 
 
 The usual rejoicings were heard in Medina when 
 the prophet returned from this expedition, though 
 all the populace could not join in them, because 
 many had refused the invitation to go to Syria, and 
 some had even ventured to rail at the prophet for
 
 "SELL NOT THLNE ARMS!" 1 97 
 
 undertaking it. One had cried out, " Verily the 
 prophet thinks it a matter of sport to go to fight 
 the Romans ; but he will find it different from war- 
 ring with the desert tribes. A fine season, this, indeed, 
 to march over the deserts in defiance of the heat of 
 the sun and the dryness of the burning sands ! " 
 Against such, a passage in the ninth sura was revealed : 
 
 Those who staid behind, were glad of their holding back from 
 the prophet of Allah, and refused to fight sharply with their goods 
 and their strong arms for the cause of Allah, and said, " Go not forth 
 to war in the heat ! " Say, the fire of Gehenna is a fiercer heat, if ye but 
 knew ! Verily, they shall laugh little and weep much as their reward ! 
 
 The sura bristles with sharp utterances aimed at 
 those who held back from this memorable expedi- 
 tion, which had, however, so effectually established 
 the prophet's authority to the northward that some 
 of the Moslems were on the point of selling their 
 arms, as though all need of them in the propagation 
 of Islam were at an end. Mohammed saw farther 
 into the future than his disciples, and said, " Sell not 
 thine arms ; verily there shall not cease from the 
 midst of my people a fighting band, no, not till Anti- 
 christ * shall come ! " 
 
 * The Moslems say that the Jews give Antichrist the name " Mes- 
 siah ben David," and pretend that in the last days he is to restore the 
 kingdom to them. He is to appear somewhere between Irak and 
 Syria, is to be followed by thousands of Jews, and will lay waste all 
 places except Mecca and Medina. See Sales Koran, " Preliminary 
 Discourse," section iv. On the other hand, it was formerly custom- 
 ary for Christians to speak of Mohammed as Antichrist. On this 
 Professor Freeman says: "Whether Mahomet be personally the 
 Antichrist of Scripture, I do not profess to determine, but I do know 
 that his religion, approximating as it does so closely to Christian- 
 ity, without being Christian, has eventually proved, above all others, 
 emphatically Antichristian," "The History and Conquests of the 
 Saracens," page 72.
 
 XXII. 
 
 A FAR1-:WELT- PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 Idolatry was now reluctant to lift its head 
 among the tribes of Arabia from distant Hadramawt 
 to the Gulf of Akaba ; but Islam had not made 
 great progress in the valley of the Euphrates, in 
 Mesopotamia, or in Syria, and offensive rites were 
 still mingled with the observances of the faithful 
 during the holy months at Mecca. Mohammed 
 found it repugnant to his feelings to be present on 
 such occasions, and he therefore sent Abu Bekr at 
 the time of the greater pilgrimage to sacrifice thirty 
 camels in his name in the valley of Mina, in the 
 spring of the year 631. Three hundred pilgrims ac- 
 companied him, and in the midst of the great assem- 
 blage that gathered he preached to the people the 
 rites and doctrines of Islam. 
 
 At the height of the ceremonies Abu Bekr was 
 surprised to see Ali rise in the assembly, and an- 
 nounce himself a special messenger from the prophet. 
 Scarcely had the pilgrims left Medina when a " rev- 
 elation " of the utmost gravity was made to Moham- 
 med, and this it was which he had committed to Ali 
 for publication. Abu Bekr protested in vain that
 
 "KILL THE IDOLATERS!" I99 
 
 he was in command of the pilgrimage, and Ali pro- 
 ceeded to declare his message : 
 
 " A RELEASE by Allah and his prophet from obligations to those 
 idolaters with whom ye have leagued yourselves, 
 
 "Go ye [idolaters] to and fro in the land securely for four months, 
 but know that ye cannot contravene Allah, and that Allali will verily 
 bring the misbelievers to naught. 
 
 "A PROCLAMATION from Allah and his prophet unto tlie peo- 
 pie on the day of the greater jnlgrimage ; lo, Allah is quit of the 
 idolaters and his prophet also . . . 
 
 "When the forbidden months have passed, then kill the idolaters 
 wheresoever ye find them ; take them captive, besiege them, and lay 
 wait for them in every place convenient . . . How can there be 
 to the idolaters a treaty with Allah and with his apostle, save to those 
 with whom ye have made a league at the sacred Kaaba ? . . . 
 
 " Will ye not fight a people who broke their oaths, and intended to 
 expel the apostle ? They began with you, at first, — are ye afraid of 
 them ? . . . If ye be believers, kill them ! . . . 
 
 "It is not for idolaters to enter the house of Allah. . . . He 
 only shall enter who believes in Allali and in the last day, and is 
 steadfast in prayer and gives alms. . . . Take not your fathers 
 nor your brethren for associates if they love misbelief and hate the 
 true faith. . . , If your fatliers and your sons and your brethren 
 and your wives and your clansmen, and the wealth which ye have 
 gained, and your merchandise ^\■hich ye fear may be slow of sale, and 
 the dwellings wherein ye delight, are dearer to you than Allah and 
 his prophet, than fighting sorely in his way, — then wait, and see the 
 salvation of Allah, for Allah careth not for a generation that worketh 
 abomination. . . . 
 
 " Verily the misbelievers are unclean ; wherefore, let them not 
 approach the holy Kaaba after this year ; and if so be ye fear want 
 from the stoppage of traffic, verily, Allah will make you rich ; for 
 surely Allah is knowing and reasonable. 
 
 " Attack the idolaters in all the months, as they fight you in all ! " 
 
 — Sura ix. 
 
 When the pilgrims had finished their duties, they 
 returned to their near and remote homes, and all 
 Arabia soon learned the lesson that the Moslem
 
 200 A FA RE WELL PILGKIMAGR. 
 
 never fori^ot : — " Figlit ! rii;ht ! rii,^ht ! Let no idolater 
 perform the i)ilgrimagc 1 Keep no faith with them 1 
 Kill them by fair means, beguile them by stratagem ; 
 disregard all ties, blood, friendship, humanity, — 
 r.wecp the misbelievers fiom the face of the earth, — 
 in the name of Allah and of the jDrophet ! " The 
 sword had been imsheathed before ; now there was 
 to be no (piarter, no rites of refuge, no sanctuary in 
 the sacred months. Verily, the prophet appreciated 
 the foundation that had been laid for building up his 
 already strong sovereignt)-. 
 
 Vast is the power of the man who is at once king 
 and priest, who can speak with the authority of a 
 prince, and add to his temporal laws the force de- 
 rived from threats of punishment in a future world. 
 Mohammed at Medina was a king ; at Mecca he was 
 a priest ; but in both cities he presented himself to 
 his admiring vassals as powerful in time and in 
 eternity, as holding authority over both body and 
 soul. The meditation of his early years, the mild 
 faith in his mission that dominated his middle age, 
 both had given way before a fanaticism which over- 
 whelmed him in these his final months. 
 
 As his political and priestly power thus increased, 
 Tie found that age was slowly making its inevitable 
 inroads upon his vigor, and he announced his de- 
 termination to perform both the lesser and the 
 greater pilgrimage in the year 632, hoping to accom- 
 plish some thing more in the way of confirming his 
 religion by his personal presence than was possible 
 to effect through any deputy however closely allied 
 to him.
 
 MOHAMMED A T MECCA. 20I 
 
 The prophet had not performed the c^reatcr pil- 
 grimage, since his emigration to Medina, and the 
 announcement of his intention created a veritable 
 sensation throughovit all the regions around ; a vast 
 concourse eagerly craved the privilege of accom- 
 panying him, and five days before the opening of 
 March (the month of the lesser pilgrimage that 
 year), he donned the ihram and started for the holy 
 city, followed, according to the lowest estimate, by 
 eighty thousand men ; with all of his wives around 
 him in litters,* and driving before him many camels 
 adorned with festive garlands, ready for the sacri- 
 fices. As the long cortege passed from one halting- 
 place to another, Mohammed frequently uttered 
 prayers, ascribing praises and honor to Allah, and 
 declaring again and again his unity. 
 
 " Behold me, O Allah ! To thee belongeth the all 
 honors, all praises, all power ! Thou art ONE ! " 
 
 His first visit upon reaching Mecca was made to 
 the Kaaba, where he devoutly kissed the black stone, 
 and lifted up his voice in earnest prayer for continual 
 blessings upon the edifice. He performed the usual 
 duties of both pilgrimages with the utmost scrupu- 
 lousness, for he wished to leave to the people a pat- 
 tern which they might copy in ages after he was 
 gone, and he sealed the whole with the words, — 
 
 " This day have I perfected your religion unto you, 
 and fulfilled my mercy upon you, and appointed Is- 
 lam for you to be your religion forever." 
 
 * It has not been found necessary for the purposes of this story to 
 give the names of all of the prophet's wives, in fact the list is not the 
 same in the various histories, but the number had now probably risen 
 \o fifteen, Including those who had been tak?n away by death.
 
 202 A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE. 
 
 On one of the days, he took a prominent position 
 among the pilgrims and addressed them somewhat as 
 follows ; 
 
 " O yc People ! Hearken unto my words ! I 
 know not that ever I shall speak to you here 
 again. 
 
 "Your lives and your goods are sacred among you 
 until the end of time. 
 
 " You must one day appear before Allah to give an 
 account of your doings. 
 
 " Let every man be faithful. 
 
 " No more shall vengeance be allowed for blood 
 shed in the days of your idolatry. 
 
 "Ye husbands have rights and ye wives, ye have 
 rights. Husbands, love your wives, and nourish 
 them. 
 
 " I leave you a law that shall always preserve you 
 from error ; a law clear, positive, — a Book dictated 
 from heaven. 
 
 " Listen to my words and fix them in your minds. 
 
 " Verily all Moslems are brothers. Take not that 
 which belongs to thy brother ; beware of injustic. 
 
 " O Allah; I have fulfilled my mission ! " 
 
 Thousands of voices responded as one, 
 
 " Yea, verily thou hast fulfilled it ! " 
 
 The prophet added, " O Allah, I beseech thee, bear 
 thou witness to my message ! " 
 
 As the sermon, from which the few sentences 
 above are taken was delivered, a Koreishite, en- 
 dowed with a resounding voice, repeated each sen- 
 tence to the throngs, thus adding to the deep im- 
 pressiveness of the unusual scene. The ceremony
 
 RIVALS ARISE. 203 
 
 finished, the prophet sacrificed the sixty-three cam- 
 els he had provided, and Ali who had returned from 
 a mission to Yemen just in time to take part in 
 all the solemnities of the occasion, added thirty- 
 seven. The aged Abu Bekr, as he reflected upon 
 the events of the years since he was with the prophet 
 in the mountain cave, and looked forward to the 
 coming dissolution of the eartlil}^ bond that held 
 him to Mohammed, shed sympathetic tears. 
 
 The flesh of the sacrificed beasts was distributed 
 and the prophet took up his journey towards 
 Medina. 
 
 The ascendancy Mohammed now enjoyed created 
 rivals, and three men in different parts of Arabia 
 arose and attempted to grasp some thing of the 
 power that he swayed, imitating his assumed in- 
 spiration from heaven, and endeavoring to unite in 
 their persons his religious and civil authority. They 
 heard that Mohammed was growing weaker physi- 
 cally, and they knew also that some of the wander- 
 ing Bedawins who had given allegiance to Islam were 
 becoming discontented with its irksome restraints and 
 wearisome rites. They deemed the moment propi- 
 tious for the undertakings that they meditated. 
 
 The first of these, Tuleya, belonging to a tribe 
 ranging the deserts of Nejd, and allied to the Kore- 
 ishites, was promptly overcome by Kalid ; the sec- 
 ond, nicknamed Maslama or Muselima, the Little 
 Moslem, was, as we shall see, not so easily put 
 down ; the third, Aswad, was a person of some au- 
 thority in Yemen, and succeeded in driving out the 
 representatives of Mohammed ; but his insurrection
 
 204 -■/ FAREWELL PLLGRLMAGE. 
 
 seems to have been deemed by the prr^phet of small 
 importance, and it did not long endure. He was 
 killed a few days before Mohammed's death. These 
 " false prophets," as they are called, serve to show 
 that though the authority of Mohammed was wide 
 and his power great, his iron rule was galling to 
 many of his disciples, and that there were not want- ! 
 ing those who wi-rc ready to rebel if opportunity 
 should but present itself. 
 
 With apparent unconsciousness of these facts, the 
 prophet proposed to organize another expedition 
 into Roman territory, and appointed as its director 
 Osama, son of his adopted son Zeyd, who, as we re- 
 member, had perished in the same region at the 
 battle of Muta. He knew that his restless subjects 
 required activity of this sort, and he desired also that 
 his mission should be recognized among the tribes 
 to the northward. The preparations were, however, 
 interrupted by an illness. 
 
 One night the prophet found himself in so much 
 pain that he could not sleep ; and calling an atten- 
 dant he passed through the quiet city streets to the 
 cemetery without the walls, where he saluted the in- 
 habitants of the tombs, called upon them to rest in 
 peace, waiting for their brethren, and then fell to 
 praying for the souls of the faithful buried around 
 him. When he returned to Ayesha's apartment he 
 was in a high fever, and he said to Abu Bekr that it 
 was the travail of inspiration which brought it on. 
 
 Doubtless the ecstasies into which he had for so 
 many years been accustomed to fall when overcome 
 by those reflections which issued in "revelations,"
 
 THE END APrROACIIES. 20$ 
 
 were exceedingly weakening ; but it seems that they 
 would have shown some thing of their effect before 
 he had arrived at the age of more than three score 
 years. The same may be said of the epileptic fits or 
 hysterical attacks to which he is said by some to 
 have been subject, for they did not interfere with 
 the sound development of his bodily system, nor 
 keep him from the exposures and fatigue of active 
 campaigns. 
 
 Mohammed now knew that the end of his earthly 
 pilgrimage was rapidly approaching, and he said : 
 "Verily Allah hath offered unto one of his servants 
 the choice between this life and the one that is near 
 unto him, and he hath chosen that which is nigh 
 unto Allah." It is said that he often repeated the 
 one hundred and tenth sura, which is interpreted to 
 mean that when many should press to Islam, then 
 the career of the prophet should be near at end: 
 
 " When the help of Allah comes, and victory, 
 And thou shalt bee men entering Islam by troops, 
 Then sing thou the praises of Allah, and ask forgiveness 
 of him, for verily, he is merciful." 
 
 For a while Mohammed, though feeble, continued 
 to lead the public devotions in the mosque, but at 
 last he found himself too much weakened to perform 
 the dut}% and even the doors of the building were 
 closed to keep the hum of busy life away from his 
 apartment. He then appointed Abu Bekr to take 
 his place in the mosque, perhaps intimating in this 
 v;ay that he desired his priestly and political au- 
 thority to fall upon his tried friend when he should 
 himself be no more.
 
 2o6 A FAREWELL P LLC RIM AGE. 
 
 His pains increased, and in liis agony he cried 
 out: " I^y him in whose hands my hfc is, there is 
 not iij)on earth a believer afflicted with calamity or 
 disease, but Allah by it causeth his sins to fall from 
 him, yea, even as leaves shed from the trees in 
 autumn ! " At another time he called for pen and 
 paper, saying that he would write a book that would 
 preserve his followers from error. There seems to 
 be an indication here that the prophet wished to 
 revise the Koran to fit it to be a guide for his people 
 when their numbers should be increased in different 
 portions of the world. In a former illness he had 
 prayed for recovery, but now he cried, O my soul, 
 why seekest thou refuge other than Allah only ? " 
 
 Once he rallied and suddenly appeared in the 
 mosque when the assembly was in the act of prayer, 
 and as he entered he said in a whisper to an atten- 
 dant, " Verily Allah hath granted me cooling of the 
 eyes in prayer ! " He then moved to the side of 
 Abu Bekr and remained there on the ground until 
 the services were finished. Then he sat a little 
 while in the courtyard and spoke in faint tones to 
 the throng, but the exertion weakened him, and he 
 sought his couch in the apartment of Ayesha. 
 
 There he sighed, " O Allah, succour me in the 
 agonies of death ! " " Gabriel, come thou close to 
 thy servant ! " Ayesha prayed the whiles, and the 
 prophet in his last throes muttered, " O Allah, grant 
 thy servant pardon, and join him to the companion- 
 ship on high . . . Eternity in paradise . . . 
 Pardon . . . Yes . . . The companionship 
 of the blessed on high ! " . . . The head was
 
 THE DEA TH OF THE PROPHE T. 
 
 207 
 
 heavy on Ayesha's bosom. Peace had come to him 
 after his stress and storm. It was Monday, June 8, 
 63.5 A.D., and in the tenth year after the Hejra. 
 
 Thus died the only man mentioned by history, 
 who was at once legislator and poet, the founder of 
 a religion and of an empire.
 
 xxin. 
 
 TIIK llkSr SICCKSSOR. 
 
 Can wc put ourselves iii the jDlace occupied by 
 these volatile Arabs as they heard that the prophet 
 was dead ? Can we tell what they thought of him 
 and his mission in their inmost hearts ? For ten 
 years he had gone in and out before the people of 
 Medina, and they knew the secrets of his unassum- 
 ing life ; his simple dress, his spare table, his lack of 
 parade, his charity, his sobriety, his abstemiousness, 
 his fasts, his prayers, his noble counsel and tender- 
 ness, his goodfellowship. They did not forget how 
 he gave gifts to his old nurse, lialima, when she 
 visited him in his manhood, nor his tears at the 
 grave of gentle Amina, when he passed by it on the 
 way from Mecca ; they remembered with loving 
 sympathy his tender outburst of sorrow when little 
 Ibrahim, his hope and his treasure, was torn from 
 his arms. 
 
 Could they forget his public teachings? How he 
 counselled children to cultivate love, honor, and 
 humility towards their mothers,'" no less than to- 
 wards their fathers ; how he declared that husband 
 and wife had equal rights to love and affection from 
 
 * He said, beautifully, " The son gains Paradise at the feet of the 
 mother."
 
 MOHAMMED. 
 
 '5
 
 210 THF. FIRST SUCCESSOR. 
 
 the otlu r ; how lie raised widows to an estate of 
 honor from their former humihation ; how he Hmited 
 the number of wives that a man might take ; how he 
 raised the Arabs as a nation from the grade of idola- 
 ters, and pointed them to AHah, who is one, and will 
 not share his honor with another. 
 
 Did they not remember his dignified form as it 
 had passed up and down their streets, or appeared 
 regularly in the nioscpie ? His sympathetic, dark 
 eye, which won their confidence at the first inter- 
 view, his graceful smile and flowing beard, his 
 piercing glance, his stern frown, — were they not all 
 hnprcssed upon their memory? Did any ask why 
 he allowed himself fifteen wives, when he limited 
 them to four? Did they taunt his memory with his 
 cruelty to enemies? Did any enquire how the 
 " faithful " young man of Mecca had changed and 
 become the ''' crafty " ruler of Medina? Not one; 
 they were ready to bury his faults in his grave, if, 
 indeed, they acknowledged that he had any. Even 
 if they had been disposed to criticism, no Arabian 
 could accuse Mohammed of craftiness nor cruelty, 
 nor could he think of him in any other light than 
 that of a heaven-sent reformer. 
 
 His honesty was patent, despite those convenient 
 " revelations " that had in so suspicious a manner 
 contributed to further his personal desires.* What- 
 ever faults we may detect in him to-day, and we 
 may properly be more critical than his followers 
 
 * '■ The old notion that Mohammed was a mere impostor appears 
 so difficult of belief that no one of any recognized skill in historical 
 enquiry now upholds it." — W. W. Ireland, " The Blot on the Brain." 
 page 23.
 
 TRA ITS OF ISLAM. 2 1 1 
 
 were able to be, are faults of the Arabian character and 
 of the seventh century ; and that is not saying that 
 Mohammed was a perfect man. He had the incon- 
 sistencies of humanity ; he was led into weaknesses 
 by the very strength of his position, a position that 
 he had largely made for himself. He had some 
 light from perverted Judaism, a little also from a 
 less perfect phase of Christianity ; and of these, in 
 his ignorance, he took advantage to frame a moral 
 and social code that he trusted, and trusted to the 
 last, would be used by Allah for the regeneration of 
 the whole world. It was marred by polygamy ; it 
 was blotted by slavery ; but in both of these re- 
 spects, it was an improvement upon what had pre- 
 ceded it. It was bloody, and was made horrid by 
 hate, but the time did not come for ages after his 
 day when all Christians even understood the gentle 
 law of love that their Leader laid down for their 
 guidance, and for centuries they acted upon the law 
 which permitted direst hate to exist towards all 
 beyond the pale of their own faith. 
 
 Can we find fault with Mohammed for the presen- 
 tation of Allah, the merciful and compassionate, the 
 One God as opposed to the hundreds of divinities in 
 the Arabian pantheon? Was it not an original idea 
 in the eyes of his countrymen? Was it not to them 
 a veritable revelation ? Did it not show the great- 
 ness of Mohammed's mind that from the sources at his 
 command he was able to evolve an idea so sublime, 
 and so strange in view of all his early teachings ? 
 The intensity with which Mohammed appreciated 
 the evils of idolatry led him to overlook his oppor-
 
 212 THE FIRST SUCCESSOR. 
 
 tunity to overturn polygamy and to elevate woman ; 
 and thus to make Islam a great power for good in 
 after time. Was not his sincerity proved, too, by the 
 firmness with which, to his dying moment, he clung 
 to the one grand thought of all his life? If he had 
 been more than man, he would have seen the error 
 of fixing a religion so inelastic, so unprogressive, and 
 laws so rigid and unadapted for the use of future 
 ages upon a people whom he thought destined to 
 bring all nations under their sway and to hold them 
 for all time.* 
 
 The reforms that he wrought were relative, not 
 absolute ; they raised the standard in Mecca and in 
 all Arabia, but they were lower, if he had only 
 known it, than the perfect law of purity and love 
 which a greater than he had laid down. It was his 
 misfortune not to have seen Christianity in its full 
 brightness, and it has been the misfortune of his fol- 
 lowers ever since.f To him Issawas not the perfect 
 man that Jesus was, but though he was seen by him 
 through the veil of the degenerate, the vulgarized 
 
 * Dr. August Weil says of the Koran : " Like the Books of Moses, 
 it contains ordinances that are not useful or even applicable to all 
 lands and all mankind, nor yet for all time. . . . As a reformer, 
 which Mohammed originally was and desired to be, he is entitled to 
 our unqualified recognition and admiration. . . . He merits the 
 name of prophet." 
 
 f " All this was extremely natural on the part of one in Mahomet's 
 position ; but he was clearly blameworthy in not more fully inform- 
 ing himself on such all-important questions. Consequently his sys- 
 tem became one of mere retrogression and bitter antagonism to the 
 truth." " A little more enquiry, and Mahomet might have proved a 
 Christian missionary." — E. A. Freeman, " The History and Con- 
 quests of the Saracens." pp. 53-72.
 
 MOHAMMED'S IDEA OF GOD. 213 
 
 tritheistic Christianity of Arabia, he appeared always 
 to his mind as the true Spirit and Word of Allah, as 
 one to be respected and honored as an apostle, 
 though not allowed to be the Son of God. No 
 more could have been expected of Mohammed short 
 of the miraculous. 
 
 Maurice has shown that the Arabian prophet 
 adopted the Old-Testament idea of God — of a being, 
 living, acting, speaking, ruling ; as one who makes 
 his will known to men by books and apostles ; as 
 one whom man could not find out, who must reveal 
 himself ; as one to whom his people may offer their 
 petitions, with faith that he will hear; and to this 
 divinity he bound a scattered nation, who for cen- 
 turies had been without a temple or a capital, scorned 
 and hated by all people, and bound them so firmly 
 that they were ready to sacrifice their goods, yea, 
 their very lives in its support, because they believed 
 with a mighty conviction that they were verily called 
 of God to a work, that they were his witnesses and 
 responsible to him only.* 
 
 Mohammed depended not at all upon " miracles," 
 as many would-be prophets have ; he declared that 
 his only miracle was the Koran, and this he truly 
 believed to be some thing not evolved from himself, 
 for when its suras were brought to his mind he was 
 so deeply wrought up by consideration of the par- 
 ticular themes they respectively treated that he verily 
 believed that they were not of him, but came from 
 on high. 
 
 * See " The Religions of the World," by Frederick Denison 
 Maurice, chapter I., part i, and chapter I., part 2.
 
 214 THE FIRST SUCCESSOR. 
 
 Many another thinker, without for a moment 
 claiming that he hasl)een tlie subject of supernatural 
 communications, has nevertheless been entirely un- 
 able at times to explain the genesis of his own works, 
 or perhaps even to feel that they proceeded from his 
 own mind ; they had been produced after mental 
 throes, often with physical pains, and when once 
 brought to the light they seemed to their composer 
 like something entirely outside of his being; they 
 were as fresh and interesting to him as to any one 
 else. Such, in a transcendent degree, was the case 
 with Mohammed ; he seems to have been unaware 
 of the reaction of his mind upon itself in his early 
 anxiety for reformation, and after the idea had be- 
 come fixed in his belief that he was in communica- 
 tion with higher powers, he never was able to release 
 himself from the agreeable and flattering hallucina- 
 tion. 
 
 It was a true man who talked to Ayesha during 
 the " night Al Kadar," which is " better than a 
 thousand months," and expressed his reliance for 
 salvation on the mercy of Allah.* 
 
 "O prophet, do none enter paradise except by the 
 mercy of Allah ? " she asked. 
 
 " No, no, none enter but by the favor of Allah." 
 
 " But you, O prophet, will you not enter paradise 
 except by the compassion of Allah ? " 
 
 * " Surely nothing but a consciousness of real righteous intentions 
 could have carried Mahomet so steadily and consistently, without 
 ever flinching or wavering, without ever betraying himself to his 
 most intimate companions, from his first revelation to Khadijah to 
 his last agony in the arms of Ayesha." — E. A. Freeman, " The His- 
 tory and Conquests of the Saracens," "p. 57.
 
 SADNESS IN AfEDrNA. 21$ 
 
 The prophet placed his hand upon his head and 
 said solemnly thrice: " I shall not enter except Allah 
 cover me with his mercy ! " 
 
 On another occasion he said : " I am no more than 
 a man ; when I order you any thing respecting re- 
 ligion, receive it ; and when I order you about the 
 business of this life, then I am nothing more than a 
 man." 
 
 There was sadness in Medina when the news came 
 to the people that the prophet was no more. " How 
 can we let him die, — he who told us how to act and 
 warned us of judgment to come ? " " No, no, he is 
 not dead," cried strong Omar, "■ he has but gone like 
 Musa (Moses) to talk to Allah ; Ave shall see him. 
 among us again." Abu Bekr hastened to the house 
 of mourning, placed his hand upon the cold cheeks 
 and the quiet heart, and then appeared before the 
 throng, saying with Oriental vehemence : 
 
 " O Moslems, if ye would adore Mohammed, know 
 that he is dead ; if ye would adore Allah, know that 
 he lives, and never dies ! Do ye forget already the 
 verse of the Koran, that he gave you aforetime ? 
 ' Mohammed is but a man with a mission ; apostles 
 have passed away in other days ; what if he die or is 
 killed, will ye then turn upon your heels ? ' (sura iii.). 
 Do ye forget that other word, ' Verily, O Mohammed, 
 thou shalt die, and they shall die '? " (sura xxxix.). 
 The words of the old man calmed the multitude and 
 showed Omar too that he was wrong. 
 
 Before the body could be buried, it was necessary 
 to decide upon the successor (kalif) who should 
 wield the power that death had wrested from the
 
 21^ THE FIRST SUCCESSOR. 
 
 prophet, and iIktc were several claimants, but Abu 
 Bekr liad, they tliout^ht, been too plainly pointed 
 out as the choice of Mohammed to allow him to be 
 overlooked, and the authority was laid upon him 
 after a slifjht discussion. Omar cried out to him, 
 "Hold forth thy hand!" and seizing it, declared 
 in a loud voice that he recognized him as chief, and 
 swore to him allegiance. 
 
 The next morning Abu Bekr appeared as usual in 
 the mosque, and Omar saitl to the people: "The 
 apostle of Allah has been takcni from us, but the 
 Koran remains ; Allah gave it as a guide to the 
 prophet, it will continue to keep us in the right way! 
 To-day Allah has placed at our head the best man 
 among us, the friend of the prophet, his companion 
 in the cave. Come, then, take the hand of Abu 
 Bekr, and solemnly swear obedience and allegiance 
 to him ! " 
 
 The multitude hastened to grasp the hand of the 
 honored leader, and then Abu Bekr spoke : 
 
 " Behold me charged with the cares of governor. 
 I am not the best among you ; I need all your advice 
 and all your help ; if I do well, support me ; if I 
 mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person 
 commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance ; to con- 
 ceal it is treason. In my sight the powerful and the 
 weak are alike ; to both I wish to render justice. As 
 I obey Allah and his prophet, obey mc : if I cast 
 behind me the laws of Allah and the prophet, I have 
 no more right to your obedience." 
 
 The successor, or kalif as he was called, thus 
 peacefully inaugurated, the funeral ceremonies were
 
 ISLAM'S FUTURE POLICY. 21/ 
 
 the next care. They occupied parts of Tucsdiiy and 
 Wednesday, after which the body, honored in death, 
 was placed lovingly in a tomb prepared in the house 
 of Ayesha, the favorite wife. She continued to 
 occupy a portion of the apartment afterwards, a 
 division being made between the dwelling of the 
 living and the dead, and there her father, Abu Bekr, 
 was also buried when he died. 
 
 The first use that the kalif made of his new 
 authority was prophetic, for it marked out the policy 
 of Islam for the future. He sent Osama on his ex- 
 pedition of vengeance and conquest, and after twenty 
 days he returned in triumph, having avenged his 
 father's death at Muta by fire and blood. He had 
 burned villages and crops, had slain all who ventured 
 to oppose his progress, and had enslaved those who 
 had remained at home, leaving behind him a whirl- 
 wind of fire and smoke. He was met by Abu Bekr 
 and the citizens outside the town with lovid acclama- 
 tions, and together they marched to the mosque, the 
 white banner of the prophet flying over them, and 
 there they offered thanksgiving for the bloody 
 success !
 
 XXIV. 
 
 CAN ISLAM V,K SHAKEN OFF? 
 
 The new ruler, the Successor of the Prophet of 
 Allah, as he was humbly called, was a man of about 
 the same age as Mohammed. His principal recom- 
 mendation for the ofificc to which he had so sud- 
 denly been raised, was found in the fact that he had 
 been with the founder of Islam in the cave, for which 
 reason he had received the title, " the Other of the 
 Two," a sobriquet of which he was exceedingly 
 proud. Mohammed called him Al-Siddik, on ac- 
 count of his truthfulness, and that title also adhered 
 to him through life, the people as well as their 
 prophet always placing the utmost confidence in his 
 integrity. 
 
 The form of Abu Bekr was spare, and he stooped ; 
 his face was thin, and his countenance gave the im- 
 pression of a man of resolution and wisdom ; but his 
 expression was mild, truly representing his dispo- 
 sition, though on account of the firmness of his faith 
 in the prophet he had become one of his most reso- 
 lute and unyielding disciples. His handsome features 
 were smooth and fair, and his thin beard and hair, 
 though naturally white, were, in accordance with an 
 Oriental custom, dyed red.
 
 CANDIDATES FOR KAIJF. 219 
 
 Though there were reasons for asserting that Abu 
 Bekr had been indicated by Mohammed as his suc- 
 cessor, there were not lacking grounds for thinking 
 that Ali also had a good claim upon the office. Not 
 only was he son-in-law of the prophet, but it will be 
 remembered that he was, according to the tradition- 
 ary story, the first one to rush to his support when 
 the mission was announced, and had at that most 
 critical moment received the title "kalif," joined 
 with the promise that his commands should be 
 obeyed.* 
 
 There was another strong claimant, the redoubt- 
 able Omar, whose conversion in the early days of the 
 prophet's mission, had appeared almost miraculous. 
 Since that moment he had been the right arm of 
 Islam, and to his martial ability most of its victories 
 in war were due. He showed a generosity that 
 could not be forgotten in giving up his claims with 
 so much cordiality in favor of Abu Bekr. 
 
 Othman was another who might well have ex- 
 pected recognition, for he had married two of Mo- 
 hammed's daughters, and had received from him one 
 of those compliments that he was perhaps too much 
 inclined to scatter promiscuously among his follow- 
 ers : " Each thing has its mate, and each man his 
 associate; my companion in paradise is Othman." 
 The prophet showed special consideration for thi.o 
 man at the time of the Oath under the Tree, for 
 Othman was not present, but Mohammed took the 
 oath for him, striking one of his own palms upon the 
 other in token of his allegiance. 
 
 * See page 83.
 
 220 CAN- ISLAM BE SHAKEN OFF? 
 
 Of all these, AH seems to have had the strongest 
 right to the place (if " right " there was), and so great 
 was the feeling of his partisans on his rejection that 
 a body known by his name still exists, the Islamites 
 of Persia to-day adhering to the interpretation of the 
 Koran in accordance with his views, and believing 
 that Abu Bekr was an usurper. The two great sects 
 arose in consequence of this rejection of Ali ; they 
 are those of Persia, just referred to, known as the 
 Alyites, Fatimites, or Shias, the latter title signify- 
 ing secretaries : and the Sonnites or Traditionists, 
 the orthodox adherents to the claims of Abu Bekr 
 and the three kalifs after him who held the ofHce 
 before Ali. Thus it seemed that Islam v/as ready to 
 break up into sects as soon as the bond that held the 
 prophet and his followers together was broken. 
 
 If there was discontent with the restrictions of the 
 new religion before the prophet's death, when he was 
 merely beginning to show the infirmities of age, they 
 tvere increased many fold when it was known 
 throughout Arabia that he was actually dead. 
 Many were ready to say, " If he had really been a 
 prophet of Allah, he would not have died ; and there 
 were few like the chief of Taif to rise up and say: 
 "Children, ye were the latest converts to Islam, will 
 ye be the first to renounce it?" There were many 
 ready to exclaim : " We will continue to pray, but 
 we will no longer bring tribute to Medina." All 
 who were bound by interest only loosened their al- 
 legiance ; all who had been converted only by the 
 sword looked to that weapon for help in breaking 
 their bonds: all whoAvere uneasy under the rites and
 
 NO COMPROMISE. 221 
 
 ceremonies of the faith thought that the moment for 
 relief had arrived. From the Persian Gulf to the Red 
 Sea there was a general cry: "Can Islam be shaken 
 ofT?" and the same question was reiichoed from the 
 Indian Ocean to the sands of the Syrian desert. 
 
 The first duty of Abu Bekr — the mild, but the 
 forcible also — was to quiet these premonitory ebul- 
 litions of rebellion before opposition to Islam should 
 gain such strength as to be irresistible. He had 
 cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war with effect 
 when he commissioned Osama to establish the quiet 
 of death upon the northern borders, and he deter- 
 mined to use equally strong means in settling the 
 troubles that now threatened. He divided the en- 
 tire territory of Arabia into districts, and eleven 
 separate expeditions were prepared, commissioned 
 to summon every province to allegiance or destruc- 
 tion, in accordance with a proclamation that was now 
 issued. 
 
 The spirit that was to control the future move- 
 ments is shown in the case of certain of the inhabi- 
 tants of Nejd, who came offering to keep all their 
 tribes quiet if they might be permitted to pray but 
 not pay tribute. A solemn convocation discussed 
 the question whether this compromise should not 
 be allowed ; whether it was right, indeed, to wage 
 war against a people who professed the unity of 
 Allah and said the prayers prescribed by the 
 prophet. Abu Bekr settled the question once for 
 all, by declaring that Islam was one and indivisible; 
 that they who refused a part of the demands were 
 apostates with whom the Koran permitted no cove-
 
 222 CLV /Sr.lAr BE SHAKEN OFF? 
 
 nants to be ukuIc, and that it made no difference to 
 him how numerous they might be, he should pro- 
 ceed against them after the manner of Mohammed, 
 who had never counted the number of any opposing 
 forces. Even strong Omar was surprised at the 
 firmness of the kahf. He liad at first been will, 
 ing to acquiesce in the compromise, but now he 
 exclaimed: "Abu ]k-kr has more faith alone than 
 all we together! " 
 
 To whom should the new kalif look for support 
 in the performance of the weighty duties of his po- 
 sition ? Doubtless, one would think, to the warriors 
 upon whom the prophet had relied ; but, no : he 
 kept these strong men at home, saying that he 
 needed them for counsel. They had been his ri- 
 vals in candidacy for the office he held, and per- 
 haps he did not care to place them in command of 
 great armies and send them out among those from 
 whom they might recruit partisans to oust him from 
 his position. Thus, Omar and Othman and Ali were 
 kept at home, while the greatest reliance was placed 
 upon that Kalid who had, as we know, before the 
 death of the prophet, won. the sobriquet, "The 
 Sw^ord of Allah " ; and it was to his bravery, dar- 
 ing, and dash, to his cool self-possession in the face 
 of danger, that Islam owed its remarkable progress; 
 he it was who was destined to bring to fealty again 
 the detached tribes all over the peninsula. Kalid 
 ranged first to the north and east from Medina, car- 
 rying devastation and terror in his train, and proudly 
 receiving the trembling Bedawins back to their lost 
 allegiance. Complaint was carried to Abu Bekr that
 
 MANY ''READERS" JCILIED. 223 
 
 Kalid was over cruel, but the kalif pardoned liim, 
 alleging that his orders had been misunderstood, and 
 adding when Omar demanded his deposition : " I 
 shall not sheathe a sword that Allah has drawn 
 against the infidels!" In the course of his cam- 
 paigns ICalid encountered tUc last remaining 
 "false" prophet, Muselima, the "Little Moslem," 
 who ranged the province of Yemana, eastward from 
 Mecca (a.D. 633.). 
 
 By the juggling tricks of the necromancer, this ad- 
 venturer had deceived many of the tribes of that 
 region, and had, by pretended miracles, led them 
 to embrace his wretched imitation of Islam. Kalid 
 met him on the sandy plain of Akraba, and the hosts 
 fought with the utmost desperation. With the 
 "false" prophet it was the fury of despair; with 
 the host of Kalid the infatuation of fanaticism. 
 A Moslem lance brought the leader of the Bedaw- 
 ins to the dust and Kalid was victorious. The con- 
 flict was so remarkable among the many bloody fields 
 of Arabia that the place took the name, "The Gar- 
 den of Death." 
 
 The inhabitants of Yemana had been thus con- 
 quered at great cost, for large numbers of the Mos- 
 lems fell before their enemies ; and among those 
 thus cut off were many who belonged to the im^ 
 portant class known as Readers, — men who pre- 
 served the Koran in their memory. So many of 
 these fell, indeed, that it gave rise to a well-grounded 
 fear lest the precious book itself might be lost 
 through the death of all those who knew it. The re- 
 sult was that a plan was formed for collecting the
 
 224 C.iX ISLAM HE SIM KEN OFF? 
 
 text, \<.^\- HI) to this time there had been no complete 
 copy of it, the parts that the " Companions of Mo- 
 hammed," and tlie Readers did not carry in their 
 memory bcin|^^ written on scattered pieces of skins 
 and leaves of the pahn, on bones and leather. The 
 sacred duty of collecting these fragments was de- 
 volved upon a commission composed of the most 
 capable of tlie two classes just mentioned, and an 
 official text was prepared. It was deposited for 
 preservation with Hafsa, one of the widows of the 
 prophet, daughter of Omar. The collection was 
 made in a style that we should call haphazard ; and, 
 as we read it now in the translations of Sale, Lane, 
 and others, seems disconnected, obscure, and even 
 incoherent. Of arrangement there seems to be none, 
 unless the principle of placing the longest suras at 
 the beginning be considered a plan, and even this is 
 not systematically adhered to.'^^ 
 
 Kalid continued his fierce work of reconstruction 
 until the interior was quiet ; others carried the con- 
 viction of the sword throughout the region along 
 the shores of the Persian Gulf, through Oman, to 
 Mahra, and afterwards Yemen and Hadramawt were 
 brought to terms, though not without the interposi- 
 
 *In " The Speeches of Mohammed," by Stanley Lane-Poole, one 
 gets a good idea of the best portions of the Koran, without being 
 obliged to search through many tedious suras. In the translation by 
 the Rev. John Medows Rodvvell, the suras are arranged in a probable 
 chronological order, and the difference between the poetical passages 
 and the prose chapters plainly indicated. The paraphrastic version of 
 Sale is prefaced by a valuable introduction, and the same is true of 
 the very scholarly and much more sinewy translation by Professor 
 Palmer.
 
 DEA TH OF FA TIM A. 22$ 
 
 tion of several " miracles " which greatly helped the 
 faithful. Thus the first year of the kalifate passed ; 
 it was successful in bringing back the apostacised, but 
 at an enormous expense of blood and misery, and no 
 one could tell how securely the irresponsible wander- 
 ers of the desert were now vmited to the old faith, un- 
 accustomed as they ever had been to own any allegi- 
 ance besides that acknowledged to their own tribes. 
 
 During the year (633) Fatima died, and Ali then 
 joined the other " Companions of the Prophet," in 
 attending upon the kalif's court, setting aside the 
 grievance that he had felt at being passed over in 
 the election. He probably found that it was better 
 policy to fall in with the current, at least to appear- 
 ance, than to fight against popular feeling, though 
 he never forgot that he had been the only person 
 called kalif by the prophet. 
 
 The tribes of the desert and the Arabs of the 
 towns and cities began to feel, before the first year 
 closed, that Islam was not to be shaken off. 
 
 16
 
 XXV. 
 
 REACHING OU'I TO ClIALDEA AJTD BABYLONIA. 
 
 Despots have always found it necessary to employ 
 their subjects in foreign war from time to time, in or- 
 der to keep them from feeling the galling chains by 
 which they are bound or to hear their clanking ; and 
 it came to pass that when the kalif had all the tribes 
 of Arabia under control, he saw no better way to re- 
 strain them from new revolts than by tempting them 
 to make inroads upon their neighbors. Nothing could 
 have been better planned by a ruler acquainted with 
 the volatile nature of his subjects. There was no 
 question about the direction that the fighting should 
 take ; there was no outlook to the southward, nor to 
 any quarter, in fact, except to the region of the 
 Tigris and the Euphrates, and to the land of Syria. 
 
 Extending from the head of the Persian Gulf to 
 the Dead Sea, there is a range of desert wilderness 
 which is shaded off to the north until it is lost in the 
 fertile plains of Southern Asia Minor. Chaldea and 
 Babylonia occupied the rich region south of the 
 river Tigris, watered by the Euphrates, and were 
 known as Irak of the Arabs, as distinguished from 
 Irak of the Persians, which corresponded somewhat 
 nearly to the modern kingdom of Persia. North-
 
 MESOPOTAMIA. 22/ 
 
 west of Irak was Mesopotamia, literally the land 
 between the rivers, called also the Island, the rich 
 land from which Abraham came. Irak of Arabia 
 was at this time under the jurisdiction of Persia, and 
 the wandering Arabs who roamed over the broad 
 desert were tributary to Persia when they pitched 
 their tents on the eastern side, and to Rome when 
 sojourning on the side towards Syria ; though they 
 were at no time trusty allies or subjects. The region 
 of Irak contains many relics of a former civilization ; 
 there are the mounds that mark the site of old 
 Babylon.* 
 
 " 'T was here, beneath this dark and silent mound, 
 Where ages heap their nameless wrecks around, 
 That he, the last great king, before his fall. 
 Spread his famed feast, and lit his gorgeous hall." 
 
 Farther to the south are the ruins known as the 
 Tower of Babel, and to the north, at the time of 
 which we are writing, was a city called Medain (the 
 Twin City) because it occupied the site of two more 
 ancient towns. 
 
 " Two cities moulder here — and can it be, 
 Selucia ! Ctesphon ! we gaze on ye ? 
 Boast of the Greek and pride of Parthia's kings. 
 How has your glory flown on eagle wings ! . . . 
 And here dwelt Kosroes, Persia's tasteful king. 
 Lapped in each joy that power and splendor bring ; 
 Here blazed that throne, all formed of pearls and gold. 
 Like sunset cloud round Mythra's chariot rolled. . . . 
 The soul in dreams half thought her in the skies, 
 Mistaking earth for star-bright paradise ! " 
 
 Some distance south of Birs Nimrud, the pile 
 
 * For an account of these localities, see " The Story of Chaldea,' 
 chapter one, and also other portions of that volume.
 
 22R CI I A /./)/: A AND BABYLON/A. 
 
 wroiij^ly supposed to mark the site of the Tower 
 of H.ibel, and hut three miles from the site of 
 the future city of Kufa, was tlic city of Ilira, the 
 rich caj)ital of the province of tlie same name. This 
 was the first point toward which Abu 15ckr deter- 
 mined to send his armies. He directed KaHd, fresh 
 from the victories of which we have just given a 
 brief account, to advance from the southward, and 
 ordered another army to approach from the north, 
 in the spring of the year 633. KaHd was the first to 
 encounter the enemy, and, in true Arabian fashion, 
 he sent a haughty letter, saying: "Accept the faith 
 of Islam and thou art safe ; or else pay tribute, thou 
 and thy people ; if thou refusest, thou shalt have 
 thyself to blame ; for a people is upon thee loving 
 death even as thou lovest life." The Persians 
 thought that an army of Arabs could be easily dis- 
 persed, and hastened to find the approaching enemy. 
 They encamped by some water-springs, and when 
 Kalid came up there was a desperate struggle for 
 possession of them. It is said that the Persians 
 were bound together by ropes or chains, determined 
 to perish if they could not conquer. Kalid fell upon 
 them with his usual fury, and was victorious after 
 great carnage. The Battle of the Chains was the 
 name given to the conflict (spring of 633). 
 
 Again and again was Kalid victorious over the 
 Persians ; and as he advanced he sang to his soldiers : 
 " Behold the riches of the land ; its paths drop fat- 
 ness ; food is as the stones of Arabia. It were 
 worth our while to fight here for worldly advantage 
 only, but in a holy war, — how much more noble !
 
 THE BUTCHEr.Y OF KALID. 229 
 
 These fair fields and paradise ! " Thus he went on- 
 ward to Hira, sackinj^ towns on his way, and stop- 
 ping once to send some of the rich spoil to the 
 kalif, to give him a taste of what was to come. 
 After reaching Hira, it did not take long to bring it 
 to terms ; its commander fled, and the people were 
 very glad to effect a treaty binding themselves to 
 pay a yearly tribute to the kalif. 
 
 The inhabitants of the region about followed 
 the example of those of Hira, and thus the career 
 of conquest was successfully begun. Five times 
 a day the muezzin climbed to his tower in this 
 Persian capital, as he did at Mecca and Medina, and 
 called the faithful to prayer ; and besides, Kalid 
 celebrated there a special service in honor of his 
 victory. 
 
 We can well spare description of many of the 
 battles that preceded and followed the capture of 
 Hira ; — the Battle of the River of Blood (May, 633), 
 and such like, do not offer attractions to us, and we 
 pass them over ; sufficient that after victories and 
 repulses many, Kalid fought a notable battle at 
 Firdah, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, at a 
 point where Mesopotamia, Irak, and Syria may be 
 said to touch, if, indeed, any thing so exact may be 
 predicated of territories so little defined (January 21, 
 634). It was a long and frightful struggle, and as 
 many as one hundred thousand are reported, in the 
 exaggerated rhetoric of the East, to have bitten the 
 dust. Kalid was restrained from attacking Medain, 
 though he much wished to; and as the sacred month 
 had now returned, he determined to refresh his soul
 
 230 CIIALDEA AND BABYLONIA. 
 
 by a pilt^i'iinagc to Mecca. Unknown and almost 
 alone, lie found his difficult way over the interven- 
 ing desert, and actually returned to camp before his 
 absence had been noticed. Thus the great general 
 mixed his bloodshedding with his devotion. 
 
 The campaign against the Romans in Syria was 
 entrusted to a less successful general ; but it com- 
 prised a larger number of veterans of the wars of the 
 prophet, who were expected to be invincible now as 
 then ; but it was not so. The expedition was forced 
 to retreat after its first campaign, and Abu Bekr 
 sent out reinforcements, which he personally bade 
 farewell in words intended to stimulate them to the 
 utmost exertions for the cause, but even this did not 
 suffice, and Kalid was called from Irak to give his 
 powerful aid. 
 
 Heraclius, on his part, was determined to repel the 
 invasion at whatever cost ; he bethought him of his 
 victories over the Persians, and asked himself if he 
 could allow a band of wandering Arabs to put a 
 stop to his progress or even interrupt his career for 
 a day. 
 
 Abu Bekr massed all his forces on the banks of 
 the Yermuk River,* east of the sea of Galilee, be= 
 
 * Laurence Oliphant, who travelled through this region, gives in 
 *' The Land of Gilead " (p. 94, Am. ed. ; p. 87, Eng. ed.) a sketch 
 of a gorge of the Yermuk, which shows the appearance of the cele- 
 brated battlefield. He speaks of sitting on a broken column on the 
 verge of the precipice and looking down at the winding river five 
 hundred feet below, while "traces of a departed grandeur" lay 
 strewn in every direction. There are abundant remains of an ancient 
 city surrounded by wails apparently impregnable, built in three 
 tiers.
 
 THE STRUGGLE OF IVACUSA. 23 1 
 
 tween Damascus and Bostra, and there Heraclius 
 also brought his great army, estimated at ninety- 
 thousand men. Week after week these vast bodies 
 faced each other, engaging in petty skirmishes from 
 time to time, but neither accomplishing any thing 
 decisive. It was when matters were in this condi- 
 tion that Kalid was peremptorily, and against his 
 will, called to march from distant Irak to the Yer- 
 muk ; but he was undaunted. In a few days he fell 
 unexpectedly upon Tadmor (Palmyra) and took it. 
 Some accounts say also that he captured Bostra, 
 which became the first important city of Syria to 
 yield to Moslem power. ''^ 
 
 The plain of Wacusa, in which the armies lay, is 
 described as bounded on three sides by sheer preci- 
 pices, with a ravine on the remaining side which left 
 only space sufificieni; for the passage of a military 
 road by which it was commanded^ The Romans 
 occupied the plain, and the Moslems commanded 
 the entrance to it. The Roman army was increased 
 by large reinforcements and threatened to annihilate 
 the Saracens ; but when, in September, 634, the 
 conflict was finally precipitated, the soldiers of 
 Kalid fought with their usual desperation, and the 
 Romans began to fall back, until, finally, vast num- 
 bers of them were driven into the deep chasm, and 
 thousands perished in this humiliating manner. On 
 the morrow, Kalid took possession of the tent of 
 the Roman commander, the great booty was divided, 
 
 * Ockley describes the siege of Bostra with romantic detail, and the 
 accurate Caussin de Perceval (iii., 435) treats it as a fact ; but Sir 
 \Vm. Muir says that he iinds no foundation for the narrative.
 
 23 r? ClIALDEA AXn BABYLONIA. 
 
 and the thousands of dead Moslems were buried on 
 the field. Syria Avas conquered ; but the news ar- 
 rived at almost the same time that Abu Bekr was 
 no more, and the kalif s death was followed by an 
 order that Kalid should deliver up his command. 
 
 While these stirring events were happening, the 
 aged Abu Bekr had been truly approaching his end. 
 During the summer he had failed considerably under 
 the weight of anxiety caused by the difficult opera- 
 tions in the field that he was obliged to oversee, 
 though he remained strong enough to the very close 
 of his -life to attend to his official duties. lie de- 
 volved upon Omar the duties of pwblic prayer, as 
 Mohammed had laid them upon him, and finally he 
 issued a decree appointing him kalif in his stead, 
 giving him upon his dying bed a caution to temper 
 his natural severity with moderation. The first act 
 of the new kalif was to send to Kalid the despatch 
 depriving him of his command, an act that promised 
 little for the magnanimity of the coming reign, since 
 it was the result of a long-treasured desire, formed 
 at the time when Abu Bekr had refused to depose 
 Kalid for alleged cruelty.
 
 XXVI. 
 
 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA CONQUERED. 
 
 The seeds planted b}' the prophet were now 
 springing up and bearing fruit ; and the fruit was 
 not that to be expected from lives dominated by 
 fasting, prayer, and dependence upon Allah. The 
 purest teachings of the Koran were generally 
 ignored ; and it was the license that it gave which 
 seemed to have the greatest influence upon the 
 faithful. When, for example, the prophet wrote the 
 restrictions of marriage and concubinage, he had in 
 mind the simple condition of affairs around him at 
 the time; he did not look forward to the days 
 when the Moslems should go forth as conquering 
 hosts.* 
 
 Great changes were now coming over his people ; 
 ihey were shedding the blood of their fellow crea- 
 tures in torrents. At the Battle of the River of 
 
 * " Mahomet, in the act of restricting, necessarily sanctioned this 
 enormous evil. His limit was then and there a prodigious moral 
 reform, but it must always stand in the way of any more complete 
 reform. . . . The difference between one wife and two is every 
 thing. . . . His followers have found it much easier to remem- 
 ber that he allowed four wives than that he allowed only four." — E. 
 A. Freeman, "The History and Conquests of the Saraceiis/* 
 page 69.
 
 234 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 Blood (a.d. 633) seventy thousand men of Irak 
 were butchered, if the accounts are to be believed, in 
 order that the Arab might pitch his tents at will 
 throughout the rich valleys of the Eastern rivers; 
 and when the Romans were pushed by scores of 
 thousands into the gulf at Wacusa, it was that the 
 Moslems might riot in luxury, add to their harems, 
 and enrich themselves with spoils. Each soldier 
 received permission to take as slaves all the women 
 of the conquered territories that he wished, and 
 thus the basest passions were encouraged in a 
 manner that the prophet had never imagined pos- 
 sible. 
 
 When Omar took up the reins of government, 
 he declared with an oath that he would guide the 
 Moslems in the way in which they ought to go, and 
 no one who was acquainted with his character 
 doubted that he would guide them with a strong 
 hand. His first act has already been mentioned ; 
 his next was to prepare more soldiers to go to Irak; 
 and these did not volunteer with much alacrity, for 
 the Persians were now feared more than they had 
 been when unknown. Meantime the Moslems were 
 obliged to retire from Hira, and encountering the 
 Persians at a place not far from Babylon, where 
 the Euphrates was spanned by a bridge of boats, 
 they were routed by a great army reinforced by 
 elephants, which trampled them under their feet, 
 and obliged them to flee down the river towards 
 the site of the Battle of the River of Blood, where 
 they had surfeited their own sanguinary ambition 
 but a few months before. Four thousand Mos-
 
 BOWEIB AN'D KADESIA. 235 
 
 lems were cut off, and two thousand more rushed 
 in confusion away from the field, carrying the news 
 of defeat to Medina (Oct., 634). The haughty Omar 
 met them with firmness, but did not chide them, 
 though it must have been a sad reverse, coming, as 
 it did, but seven weeks after the wonderful victor}^ 
 of Wacusa. 
 
 Recruits were immediately provided, but they 
 could not be sent to Persia in time to serve the 
 needs of the army there, and if additions had not 
 been received from other sources, the Moslems must 
 have been forced out of their position. As it fell 
 out, they were able to make advances, to repos- 
 sess themselves of Hira, and finally to make them- 
 selves masters of Mesopotamia, and to ravage the 
 rich region almost at will, gaining immense stores of 
 provisions and spoil of all sorts.* This victory 
 excited the Moslems to greater efforts, but it also 
 nerved the Persians to put forth their utmost 
 strength to repel the Invaders, who, though they had 
 been in the land but two years, were making unex- 
 pected progress. 
 
 The decisive battle was fought in November, 635, 
 at Kadesia, a place lying southwest of Hira.f There 
 
 * The important battle in this campaign (a.d. 635) was that of 
 Boweib, near Kufa, at which Motanna, a noble and tried commander, 
 led the Saracen troops. The struggle was long and severe, but the 
 Persians were utterly defeated, and great spoil encouraged the Mos- 
 lems. Motanna, who never recovered from the wounds received on 
 that day, is ranked second only to the great Kalid for coolness, 
 strategic skill, and desperate courage. See Sir William Muir's " The 
 Early Kalifate," page 139. 
 
 f Caussin de Perceval puts this battle down under date February- 
 March, 636, and Miiller gives 637 as the year.
 
 2-if) PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 the hosts of the rersians gathered during the sum- 
 mer, until over a hunilred thousand troops were mar- 
 shalled against the comparatively small army of 
 Moslems, and they were supported by many elephants 
 and large bodies of cavalry. As the day for the 
 struggle approached the Moslems nerved them- 
 selves for the fight by listening to verses from the 
 Koran. 
 
 Stir up the faithful to the fight ! Twenty of you who stand 
 firm shall vanquish two liundred, ami a hundred shall put a thousand 
 to flight. 
 
 Say to the infidels, Ye shall be worsted, and in gehenna shall ye 
 be gathered together. 
 
 Victory is from Allah, ho is mighty and wise. 
 
 When ye confront a troop, stand firm, and make oft mention of 
 Allah, that it may fare well with you. 
 
 Verily, he that turneth his back shall draw down upon him the 
 wrath of Allah. 
 
 Let the faithful trust in Allah ; he hath already succored yoii at 
 Bedr, when ye were the weaker. 
 
 And ye be steadfast, and fear Allah, and the foe come upon you in 
 haste, Allah will succor you with five thousand angels. 
 
 When the day for the battle arrived no Arab stirred 
 until the hour for mid-day prayer had passed, but 
 then carnage began in earnest. The Moslems fought 
 with the conviction that paradise was before them, 
 hosts of angels around them, and Iblis behind them. 
 Believing that Allah would bring them the victory, 
 they slaughtered without mercy, and finally put to 
 flight the huge elephants that had been roaming 
 about like great castles on foot, carrying con- 
 sternation with them ; but the victory was not yet 
 gained. The second day gave the Moslems new 
 courage and depressed the Persians, for Omar had
 
 THREE DAYS AT KADESIA. 
 
 23? 
 
 ruar.aged to get his reinforcements to the field from 
 Syria, and the elephants were not in a condition to 
 be placed in the ranks. The Arabs shouted Allahu 
 Akbar! and recited their endless genealogies; they 
 saw two thousand of their men fall in their tracks, 
 
 ALL 
 
 SEALS OF EARLY KALIFS. 
 
 but rejoiced that ten thousand Persians had bitten 
 the dust. The third day found the elephants aiding 
 the Persians again, but more Syrians had arrived to 
 support Islam, and all day long the carnage contin- 
 ued, not even stopping when darkness fell upon the
 
 238 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 scene. The Nicjht of Clangor, as it has been called, 
 is said not to have had its equal for intensity of tur- 
 moil and for tiger-like ferocity ; it ended in the com- 
 plete route of the Persians and decided the fate of 
 the lantl. The news was carried to Omar, who had 
 been intently waiting; — "Allah hath scattered the 
 Persians! " He knew at once that he was placed in 
 the front rank of the world's sov^ereigns ; but his 
 pride was not stirred ; he bore himself with the 
 same calm majesty as before. 
 
 The victory of Kadesia was followed by the com- 
 plete subjection of Mesopotamia, and the capture of 
 the royal city of Medain with rich booty (a.d. 637). 
 Another result was the foundation of two new 
 capitals (a.d. 638) : Bassora, in the delta of the 
 Euphrates, some seventy miles from the Persian 
 Gulf ; and Kufa, about the same distance south of 
 the site of Babylon ; both of which were afterwards 
 very influential in the world of Islam. They were 
 endowed wMth confiscated lands, and became hotbeds 
 of faction and centres of the most characteristic 
 Oriental luxury. Literature, politics, and theology 
 were cultivated in them, and their population is said 
 to have reached nearly two hundred thousand per- 
 sons ; though the unhealthy situation of Bassora 
 caused it to fall behind. At the present time Kufa 
 is in ruins, and Bassora is a city with some trade 
 carried on with little enterprise. 
 
 While these important operations had been going 
 forward in Ihe east, the forces of Omar were by no 
 means idle in the west, and Palestine was the scene 
 of movements to which we now turn. It is not easy
 
 A MOVE UPON DAMASCUS. i'39 
 
 to present to our minds a picture of the civilization 
 that before this time existed along the route from the 
 mouths of the Euphrates to Damascus and the Medi- 
 terranean ; nor to remember that there was a com- 
 merce of considerable proportions carried on through- 
 out the vast region. After the slaughter on the 
 Yermuk, the Moslem army received directions to 
 move upon the far-famed city of Damascus, though 
 it was learned that it had been largely reinforced in 
 view of the dangerous proximity of the Arab hordes^ 
 The famous city, combining reminiscences of Abra- 
 ham and Paul, of David and Ahab and Alexander 
 the Great, claimed to have been founded by Uz, 
 grandson of Shem., in remote antiquity. Despite the 
 changing fortune of many ages, it still continues the 
 centre of large trade, and comprises an active popu- 
 lation of one hundred and fifty thousand souls ; and 
 it is now as it was then, a place of the deepest in- 
 terest. The beauty of the surrounding country and 
 the richness of the outlying pleasure-grounds were a 
 revelation to the warriors of the desert as they gazed 
 upon the plain in which the city lies ; and they fondly 
 imagined that there was nothing more entrancing in 
 paradise ; they were ready to enter with enthusiasm 
 upon a campaign for its possession. 
 
 Damascus was not greatly alarmed by the approach 
 of an army of wanderers from the desert, which, it 
 was believed, would flee before the approaching cold 
 that might be expected in that latitude, at an eleva- 
 vation of two thousand feet above the sea. In the 
 minds of the Saracens, however, there was no thought 
 of giving up, and month after month passed, while
 
 ?}0 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA. 
 
 they still sat ilowu before the massive walls y\.l;. 
 635). There were cpiscjcles of bravery and daring, 
 which tradition has exaggerated into stirring, though 
 savage, tales of prowess ; but we must pass them 
 over. As the Medes and Persians of old had taken 
 advantage of the occurrence of a festival to capture 
 ancient Babylon unawares, so now the Moslems, 
 learning that the Roman governor was celebrating a 
 feast in honor of a son's birthday, ordered a general 
 assault upon Damascus. Surprising the unwatchful 
 guardians of the walls, they entered, crying " Allahu 
 Akbar!" and penetrated to the very heart of the 
 city, when they learned to their disgust that the 
 Roman governor, promptly making up his mind that 
 resistance would be hopeless, had hastened to sur- 
 render. By the terms of the capitulation, the Mos- 
 lems w^ere to receive one half of all the buildings, 
 public and private, of the gold and silver .md lands ; 
 the entire imperial domain and all the jDroperty of 
 such citizens as had fled during the siege. Besides 
 this, an annual tribute was to be paid to the kalif. 
 
 After so great a success, the Arabs wished to ad- 
 vance upon Homs, ancient Emesa, situated on the 
 eastern bank of the Orontes, some ninety miles 
 farther to the north ; but there was an army in the 
 rear at about the same distance, at Fihl, ancient 
 Pella, a few miles below the outlet of the Sea of 
 Galilee, and against that it was thought necessary to 
 make the next movement. The army accordingly 
 marched back upon the pilgrim-road towards Me- 
 dina, until a point was reached at which the turn 13 
 made towards the Jordan ; the Yermuk was re-
 
 THE FALL OF FLHL. 2A.I 
 
 crossed, and an encampment was effected before the 
 doomed town. After a time, in the summer of 635, 
 the Romans in Fihl found their resources failing, and 
 determined to make an attack upon the Moslems, 
 but they encountered a fierce repulse ; their leader 
 was killed, their army routed, and the whole of the 
 region of the Jordan, as well as all of Central Syria 
 as far east as Tadmor in the Wilderness, fell under 
 the sway of the impetuous Moslems. The court of 
 Byzantium was listless, and the patriotism of the 
 Syrians was never strong ; the Bedawins of the 
 country welcomed the change of rulers. 
 
 After the fall of Fihl, a portion of the army was 
 sent to co-operate in Irak, and gained the success 
 that we have already noticed. 
 
 17
 
 XXVII. 
 
 JERUSALEM CAPTURED. 
 
 Every new victory gave the Arabs increased 
 courage and ambition ; and well might they be ex- 
 cited as they thought of the wonderful progress that 
 they had already made in their encroachments upon 
 the domains of those two vast empires which had pre- 
 viously hemmed them in, — those two empires that 
 had so lately divided the civilized world between 
 them. It verily looked as though the prophet had 
 reason, when he commanded his followers to go 
 forth and bring the nations to allegiance to Allah, 
 for surely they could not have been more completely 
 successful in their sanguinary work. 
 
 There was no reason now for not advancing upon 
 Homs, and consequently, leaving a governor to rule 
 Damascus and an army to continue the work of con- 
 quest in Palestine, the main force took the route to 
 the northward, crossing the Yermuk again, passing 
 by the ruins of the splendid city of Gadara^ beyond 
 Jordan, (where the miracle of healing the demoniac 
 was performed, where the tombs, cut in the rocky 
 hillsides, its most interesting remains, are still in- 
 habited by dangerous troglodytes,) and leaving Baal- 
 beck and Mount Lebanon on their left hand, they
 
 A MOVE UPON ANTIOCH. 243 
 
 invested the city. The Romans thought to make a 
 dash upon Damascus, but their intention became 
 known and was thwarted. Heraclius, who was him- 
 self present, retired to the ancient city of Edessa, in 
 the northern borders of Mesopotamia, evidently ex- 
 pecting to rouse the Bedawins in his behalf, but he 
 was not successful, and the town surrendered, leaving 
 the Moslems free to carry their devastation north- 
 ward. (Spring of 636 A.D.) 
 
 As they progressed, one city after another gave up 
 without resistance * (excepting that Laodicea was 
 taken by assault), and they appeared before Aleppo, 
 fortified with the strongest castle in all Syria. There 
 was a division of counsel among the inhabitants of 
 this wealthy city of trade, and though there was 
 some hard fighting, the timidity of capital forced 
 the people to give way, and they offered a ransom 
 for the place. The bargain was fairly made, but the 
 more soldierly inliabitants would not permit it to be 
 carried out, and the siege was prolonged. At last 
 the Saracens feigned to retire, and sent a secret band 
 to storm the castle, which was then taken with great 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The next move was upon the capital of the Ro- 
 man government in the East, the luxurious and 
 beautiful city of Antioch, lying directly west from 
 Aleppo. It was strongly fortified, but the courage 
 of the warrior had not been cultivated by the in- 
 habitants. A single sharp encounter outside of the 
 waUs served to dishearten them, and the city was in- 
 
 * Baalbeck (ancient Heliopolis) and Kinnisrin (ancient Chalcis) ob- 
 tained a truce on payment of a considerable tribute.
 
 244 JERUSALEM CAPTURED. 
 
 gloriously given up. The emperor, wlien he saw the 
 result that was sure to come, called a meeting of 
 bishops and wept over the fate of Syria ; he even 
 gave his consent to an attempt to assassinate the 
 kalif, and a messenger was sent to Medina to ac- 
 comphsh the deed ; but finally, despairing of his 
 cause, he secretly hurried from the city, and reaching 
 the sea, took ship for Constantinople. The Saracens 
 had now made their most direct thrust at the religion 
 of the People with the Book, for no city that they 
 had yet taken was nearly so closely connected with 
 the early history of the Christian church as this. 
 There the followers of Jesus had received their 
 name ; there St. Paul had first exercised his minis- 
 terial ofifice ; thence he went out on his first, second, 
 and third missionary journeys ; there Ignatius had 
 been condemned by Triijan to be torn by wild 
 beasts ; and there the golden-mouthed Chrysostom 
 had first displayed his remarkable gifts as a preacher. 
 Its walls were lofty and thick, and extended for 
 miles over ravines, and even mountain summits ; so 
 beautiful was it, indeed, that it was called the Queen 
 of the Orient. It had been captured by the Great 
 Pompey, almost destroyed by an earthquake the 
 following century, had been the seat of the Mace- 
 donian rulers of Syria, and the Roman governors, 
 and it was destined to have still more noteworthy 
 vicissitudes in after centuries. 
 
 While the armies of Islam were thus pushing their 
 faith at the point of the lance, the kalif at Medina 
 was not forgetful of his mission as a soldier of the 
 creed of the prophet who had left it as his dying
 
 A DIWAN ESTABLISHED. 245 
 
 order that in Arabia there should be but one re- 
 Hgion. There were Jews and Christians in the land 
 still, and some of them had accumulated much 
 wealth ; they were not accused of being traitors to 
 the government, but they were aliens to the faith, 
 and as such were not to be suffered to contaminate 
 the peninsula. They were peremptorily directed to 
 give up the graves of their forefathers and the homes 
 of their childhood. Other abiding-places were, it is 
 true, offered them, and they were not ousted with 
 sudden haste, but it was none the less a grievance 
 hard to be borne ; and, though history gives little 
 account of the circumstances of their expatriation, 
 we may imagine without difficulty the heartrendings 
 with which it was accompanied. 
 
 The increase of national revenue from conquest 
 called at this time for orderly arrangements for the 
 distribution of spoil, and Omar organized a Diwan, 
 or Department of the Exchequer (named from the 
 Persian word for the register in which its records 
 were kept), under the rules of which the booty was 
 assigned to the different classes authorized to receive 
 it, in accordance to their rank, from the " Mothers 
 of the Faithful " down to the ordinary women, who 
 each received one tenth of a man's share ; and even 
 lower, for the slaves were not forgotten. This scale 
 afforded the basis upon which the aristocracy of the 
 nation was founded. It perpetuated the military 
 spirit, by making this income dependent upon suc- 
 cessful war; and it firmly united the whole popula- 
 tion by interesting all in national aggrandizement. 
 Large numbers of citizens emigrated at this time to
 
 246 JERUSALEM CAPTURED. 
 
 Kufa and Bassora, and still held their rights as 
 recorded in the registers of the Diwan. 
 
 At the same time that Abu Bekr had sent out his 
 armies into Northern Palestine, he had commissioned 
 that Amr, who had been converted to Islam when 
 the great Kalid had given it his allegiance, to 
 advance upon Palestine, or Filistin, by which name 
 he signified the region south and west of a line 
 drawn from Mount Carmcl on the Mediterranean to 
 the northern end of the Dead Sea. The province of 
 Jordan, called Ordonna by the Arabs, had fallen into 
 their hands after their victories in the north, but 
 the Romans in Filistin felt more secure, since they 
 had the seaport of Caesarea open on one hand for 
 reinforcements, while Egypt was on the other, and 
 because its strong places were well garrisoned. 
 
 In the spring of 636 Amr prepared to begin 
 active operation in his department, and first attacked 
 the Romans at Ajnadein, a place west of Jerusalem. 
 We have no details of the struggle, but are simply 
 told that the battle was as fierce and bloody as that 
 in the gorge of the Yermuk, which is as emphatic 
 an expression as the historian thought he could pos- 
 sibly use. The Romans fell back upon Jerusalem, 
 and Amr quickly took possession of Joppa, Gaza, 
 and all the other strongholds that might interfere 
 with his proposed attempt upon the Holy City. The 
 Roman general in command lost courage before Amr 
 actually arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, and 
 hastily retreated in the direction of Egypt, leaving 
 the patriarch to act as he thought best. He asked 
 terms of peace, only stipulating that Omar should
 
 DAMASCUS AND THE REGION AROUND.
 
 248 
 
 JER USA LEM CA P TURKD. 
 
 coTic in person to receive the capitulation, because, 
 as tradition asserts, there was a prophecy in the 
 books of the Jews that the city should one day be 
 captured by a kin^^ having but three letters in his 
 name, and that of Omar comprised no more in the 
 Arabic tongue. It is said that this tradition, and 
 the military successes of Amr, caused the Roman 
 [general to lose heart, and the explanation redeems 
 his courage at the expense of his superstition, Vvhich 
 we must confess, however, was only that of his age. 
 
 VIEW OF A PORTION OF THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 The sight of a man travelling over the deserts 
 from Medina to Syria is no new one to us ; but on 
 an occasion so exceptional as this, we might well 
 expect to see some circumstances differing from the 
 ordinary. No successor of the prophet had before 
 this journeyed beyond the limits of Arabia ; the 
 kalif was now more powerful than the king of Persia 
 or the emperor of the Romans; would he not make 
 through the dominions that he governed so auto- 
 cratically a progress that would strike admiration 
 and awe into his subjects? No ; clad in the plainest
 
 OMAR'S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 249 
 
 of clothes, he rode a sorrel camel, over the back of 
 which rough saddlebags were thrown containing 
 parched grain in one pouch, and dates and dried 
 fruit in the other; before him hung a sack for water, 
 and behind, a platter of wood out of which he and his 
 companions ate together, as they had at his invitation 
 when he took his meals on the steps of the mosque 
 at Medina. At night he laid himself down beneath 
 a tree or under a tent ; in the morning he bowed 
 toward Mecca and offered his devotions before pro- 
 ceeding on his way, and he stopped as occasion 
 demanded to dispense the primitive justice that his 
 subjects called for. Sometimes he varied the mon- 
 otony of the tedious journey by dismounting and 
 walking while a slave took his seat upon the beast. 
 
 When Omar arrived within a day's journey of Je- 
 rusalem he was surprised to see his representatives 
 approaching to welcome him ; their beasts and them- 
 selves caparisoned in the rich stuffs of Damascus ; 
 and he cried out in disgust : " Is it thus that ye come 
 out to meet me ? Have two years effected such a 
 change?" at the same time casting a handful of 
 gravel in the faces of the astonished generals. They 
 threw aside their gay robes and displayed their 
 armor, at which the kalif cried : " Enough ! Go for- 
 ward ! " Upon Omar's arrival at Jerusalem, an inter- 
 view was arranged with the patriarch, and terms 
 settled for the surrender. 
 
 The Christians were bound to build no new 
 churches, and the Moslems were always to be ad- 
 mitted to those then standing ; the doors of their 
 homes were ever to be open to all strangers and
 
 250 JERUSALEM CAPTURED. 
 
 travellers ; Moslems journeying were to be enter 
 tained free of expense for three days at a time ; Jews 
 should not interfere with the conversion of any to 
 Islam ; should rise and stand before Moslems as sign 
 of respect : they should adopt different dress from 
 the Moslems, have different names, a different style of 
 parting the hair, and different modes of talking ; they 
 could not use the Arabic tongue, sell wine, ride upon 
 saddles, bear arms, ring the bells of their churches, 
 set up crosses, nor take any servant that had be- 
 longed to a Moslem ; they could not have windows 
 overlooking Moslems in their houses, and were al- 
 ways to wear the same style of dress, and have gir- 
 dles about the waist. 
 
 These terms agreed upon, Omar entered the city 
 on foot, accompanied by the patriarch, with whom 
 he conversed about the antiquities that met his eye ; 
 the patriarch the while, according to Christian tradi- 
 tion, loathing from his very heart the filthy son of 
 the desert as he looked at his coarse garments of 
 wool, patched as they were with sheepskin and soiled 
 by the long journey. When, at last, he saw the 
 kalif seated in the Church of the Resurrection, he 
 exclaimed: "Verily, this is the 'abomination of 
 desolation ' predicted by Daniel the prophet, stand- 
 ing in the holy place \ "
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 HOW EGYPT AND TERSIA WERE CONQUERED. 
 
 Omar did not care to remain long at Jerusalem. 
 He had left AH in charge of affairs in Medina, and 
 felt no uneasiness on that account ; but it was some 
 thing new for the kalif to be absent from the City 
 of the Prophet at all. During his stay he selected as 
 a site on which to build a mosque, the place from 
 which tradition affirmed that Mohammed had taken 
 his departure to heaven on the occasion of his re- 
 markable 'visit ' to paradise, — a spot marked, too, by 
 the stone on which Jacob had rested his head, where 
 the faithful were long permitted to lay their hands 
 in the indentation left by the prophet's foot! He 
 made arrangements for governing Syria in two di- 
 visions, and prepared for an invasion of Egypt, then 
 weak and ready to fall into the hands of any master 
 strong enough to make an attempt to win the prize. 
 
 The kalif accomplished the return to Medina in the 
 same lowly manner that he had journeyed thence ; 
 and he was welcomed with great joy, for the people 
 had somewhat feared lest the city at which they ex- 
 pected all mankind would be assembled at the resur- 
 rection might have so much charmed him as to 
 tempt him to make it his permanent abode.
 
 252 EGYPT AND PER ST A CONQUERED. 
 
 It seems evident tluit Omar now began to feel se- 
 cure of the conquests his army had made, for at 
 about this time he renewed his alienation from Kalid, 
 who had been so valiant in the support of Islam. Af- 
 ter his return from Jerusalem, he gave him a brief 
 command at Kinnesrin (Chalcis), a city not far from 
 Aleppo, which, as we have noted, Kalid had himself 
 captured ; but in 638, he brought him to trial at 
 Homs for alleged misappropriation of funds, and 
 condemned him to be deposed and fined. Upon 
 this, the broken-down general died in neglect at 
 Homs, in the year 642. The kalif was mortal, and 
 if he had supposed there was to be need of the ser- 
 vices of this valiant man, doubtless he would have 
 found some means to keep him in authority. 
 
 During the year 638, the Romans made a last 
 effort to drive the Arabs from Syria ; and it failed, 
 though the danger was at one juncture so threaten- 
 ing that the kalif left Medina the second time with 
 the intention of giving his personal assistance to his 
 followers. There was no need, however, for the 
 Bedawin allies of the invaders became alarmed by 
 movements in Mesopotamia, and deserted, after 
 which the Romans were routed by the Moslems. It 
 was in the same year that Caesarea, the last city in 
 Palestine to succumb, surrendered to Amr, who had 
 long besieged it. 
 
 The conquest of Syria was followed in Arabia by 
 months of famine, called the Year of Ashes, because 
 the dry dust of the desert, scattered by the winds, 
 rendered the atmosphere hazy (639). There was also 
 a devastating plague in Syria the same year, which
 
 THE YEAR OF ASHES. 253 
 
 spread to the valley of Mesopotamia, and down the 
 rivers as far as the new metropolis of Bassora. 
 Though Omar generously set out for Syria to see in 
 what manner he might alleviate the condition of his 
 suffering subjects, he was obliged to yield to tlie en- 
 treaties of his counsellors and return again, after 
 ordering the Arab population to be removed from 
 the infected regions to more salubrious and elevated 
 lands. He said, as he returned to his capital : " I flee 
 from the decree of Allah unto the decree of Allah," 
 
 The large number of deaths that occurred in Syria 
 during the plague occasioned great confusion in 
 settling estates. Omar was after all obliged to visit 
 the region, and he went from one end to the other, 
 bringing order out of the confusion. The governor- 
 ship was left in the hands of Moawia, son of Abu 
 Sofian, a man who, as we shall soon learn, was pos- 
 sessed of great ability and wisdom, and controlled by 
 overweening ambition. On his departure for Medina, 
 Bilal, the aged muezzin who had proclaimed the 
 hour of prayer during the life of the prophet and 
 had resigned the ofifice at his death, once more 
 performed his duties. As the well-remembered cry 
 arose, the strong warriors to whom it had been 
 familiar aforetime were affected to tears, and the air 
 was filled with their sobs. Two years afterward the 
 aged servitor died at Damascus. 
 
 Amr was eager to carry out the commission that 
 he had received to make war upon Egypt, and set 
 out in 640 with an army of some four thousand men, 
 which was, however, augmented materially before he 
 reached his destination, when it numbered perhaps
 
 254 EGYrr and Persia conquered. 
 
 four times as man}-. The luxurious capital, Alex- 
 andria, was the point at which Amr aimed ; it was 
 the second city in the Byzantine empire, and through 
 its vast commerce at this time sent provisions of 
 grain to Constantinople, as it formerly had supplied 
 Rome. Commerce is naturally unwarlike and timid, 
 as we have had occasion already to notice ; and 
 Egypt was rich as well as weak. Amr lost no time 
 in beginning a siege of Alexandria, and the Byzan- 
 tines, who might have sent the city succor by sea, 
 allowed the opportunity to pass, owing to their own 
 slackness, and the death of Heraclius which occurred 
 during the progress of the siege (March 1 1, 641). At 
 last the general in command, and the citizens, lost 
 hope of being able to protect themselves, and sur- 
 rendered on condition that the place should not 
 be sacked ; agreeing to pay the tribute that the 
 Moslems were accustomed to demand, Omar say- 
 ing: "Tribute is better than spoil, for it continueth ! " 
 (a.D. 641) Amr established his head-quarters near 
 Memphis, where, on the site of Babylon, which he 
 destroyed, a station grew up, known as Fostat, " the 
 Encampment " (the present Cairo), and there he laid 
 the foundation of a mosque, which still bears his 
 name. He left the land in the hands of the Egyp- 
 tians, having established communication by sea with 
 the port of Medina, through which means grain was 
 carried from the country of the pyramids to Arabia.* 
 
 * Many writers, following Abulfaraj, affirm that after the capitu- 
 lation of Alexandria the vast library was destroyed, and its books used 
 in the four thousand baths of the city for fuel, six months being 
 almost too short a time to exhaust the supply. In spite of Dean 
 Milman's assertion, the story is now discredited.
 
 A SAGACIOUS OBJECT LESSOAT. 
 
 255 
 
 It is related that Amr was not satisfied with the 
 haughty bearing of the natives towards his country- 
 men, and in order to raise their respect for their 
 conq"j:erors, adopted a singular expedient. He pre- 
 pared a feast of camels for his army, after their native 
 fashion, and then called the Egyptians to come and 
 see the repast. The next day he prepared a sump- 
 
 INTERIOR OF MOSQUE OF AMR AT CAIRO. 
 (From a drawing by Coste.) 
 
 tuous banquet, with all the delicacies of the Nile 
 region, and showed that his warriors feasted with the 
 same good appetites as they had on the previous 
 occasion. Another day he brought his troops out 
 for parade, and when the Egyptians thronged to see 
 the sight, he said to them : " I have shown you the 
 simple mode of life of my people at home ; I have
 
 2S6 EGYPT AND PERSIA CON QU PIPED. 
 
 shown )'ou IIklL ihcy relish the dainties of other 
 lands also ; and I show you now that they are strong 
 in arms notwithstanding." As the natives went away 
 from the scene, they said one to another: "The 
 Arabs have but to raise the heel upon us and it 
 sufifices!" The kalif was naturally much pleased 
 at the success of his general's expedient. 
 
 Omar was cautious and did not seem to be in as 
 much haste to advance towards Persia, as he had tow- 
 ards Egypt ; but the time was coming for the sub- 
 jugation of that great and powerful land. Hostili- 
 ties opened in 637, and continued with varying 
 fortunes, until Yezdegird, its king, overpowered, de- 
 prived of his kingdom and his fortunes, and deserted 
 by his followers, finally died (651 A.D.), a refugee, 
 in a miserable hut, bej'ond the distant Oxus, whither 
 he had fled, taking his way through Ispahan and 
 Merv.* 
 
 In the campaigns that thus closed, armies had 
 been sent from Kufa and Bassora ; they had besieged 
 and taken Sus, the royal Shushan of ancient Persian 
 memories, making by the way permanent provision 
 for the preservation of the tomb of Daniel the 
 prophet ; they had marched east as far as Persepolis, 
 and they had gone northward to Nevahend. At the 
 last place, under the shadow of the lofty peaks of 
 Elwand, they had fought a fierce battle which 
 
 * Merv (sometimes written Merou), was one of the capitals of Kor- 
 assan in the reign of the next kalif. The rule of the Saracens there 
 ended in 874. Like Samarkand and Bokkara, it was the seat of a 
 school of science and letters. Mamun was brought up there. The 
 Seljuks took possession of it in 1037, and there Alp Arslan was 
 buried. In 1221, Merv suffered from Mongol butchery,
 
 A MOSQUE OF ISPAHAN. 
 (From a drawing by Coste.)
 
 25«S EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED. 
 
 brought llic inhabitants of Western Persia to terms 
 (642 A.D.). Vast sums had been sent to the treas- 
 ury at Medina after these successes, but the strong 
 will of the Persian king was not yet broken, and he 
 gallicrcd forces that prolonged the struggle until at 
 last both armies met at Rei (643 A.D.), five or six 
 miles south of Teheran. There Yezdegird was 
 forced upon his fatal flight. Teheran and in fact all 
 Persia was at the mercy of the generals of Omar, 
 whose exploits rivalled those of the great Alexander 
 in the same regions.* 
 
 The kalif was now nearing the close of his career; 
 he had been unflinchingly just in his government at 
 home, and inexorable in his severity towards the 
 foes of Islam abroad, and many enemies had been 
 raised up who w^ere ready at any opportune moment 
 to put an end to his life. A mythical story relates 
 that one of those who had smarted under his im- 
 partial justice determined to have him assassinated, 
 and sent a man to perform the deed, who climbed 
 into a tree overlooking a place that Omar fre- 
 quented. When the moment for the murderous 
 act arrived, the man prepared to descend, but, lo, a 
 guardian lion walked about the kalif, ever and anon 
 kissing his feet ; and the assassin was led through 
 surprise and fear, not only to desist from his wicked 
 enterprise, but to become a devout Moslem. 
 
 Omar was accustomed to visit Mecca annually at 
 the time of the pilgrimage, and on one of these oc- 
 casions he enlarged the precincts of the Kaaba, and 
 laid out the grand square around 't. He found his 
 
 * See " The Story of Alexander's Kingdom," by J. P. Mahaffy.
 
 26b F.GYrr and Persia conquered. 
 
 colonics at Kufa and Bassora troublesome to man- 
 age ; discontent and turbulence disquieted those 
 cities, in which intrigues were destined to grow 
 rankly in the future. 
 
 In the seventeenth year after the emigration of 
 Mohammed from Mecca, Omar took pains to estab- 
 lish the era for his people, and made the first new 
 moon in the month Moharrem, of the year of the 
 Ilcjra, the point for the purpose. Historians have 
 generally made this the i6th of July, 622, though 
 Caussin de Perceval, a most careful investigator of 
 the subject, calculates that it was really the 19th of 
 April. 
 
 Among the slaves that had been marched to 
 Medina from the battlc-field of Nevahend, was one 
 familiarily known as Abu Lulu, who wrought at the 
 carpenter's bench, making windmills and giving his 
 gains to his Moslem master. One day in the autumn 
 of the year 644, he appeared before Omar asking that 
 he mieht be relieved from somewhat of his master's 
 oppression. The kalif heard him patiently, but re- 
 fused to interfere, and Abu Lulu was deeply irri- 
 tated. The following morning he might have been 
 seen among the worshippers in the mosque, occupy- 
 ing the foremost place. The kalif entered and 
 opened his mouth with the words " Allahu akbar ! ' 
 when the keen dagger of Abu Lulu was thrust into 
 his back, and he fell to the ground. The Moslems 
 threw themselves upon the assassin, but he killed 
 
 ' See Caussin de Perceval," Essai stir rUistoire des Arabes," vol. 
 iii., p. 20, and Muir's " Life of Mahomet," p. 486, and " The Early 
 Califate," pp. 145, 271, See also, p. 121.
 
 DEATH OF OMAR. 26 1 
 
 some and wounded others, running about in a wild- 
 ness of irrational despair, and finally stabbed himself 
 to death. 
 
 The Commander of the Faithful, as Omar was 
 then called, lingered several days, during which he 
 appointed a commission of five, of the chiefest 
 among those who had been companions of the 
 prophet, to nominate his successor, uttering as his 
 last words the following advice to him who should 
 be chosen : 
 
 " Give it as my dying bequest, that he be kind to 
 the men of this city, which gave a home to us and 
 to the faith ; that he make much of their virtues and 
 pass lightly over their faults. Bid him treat well 
 the Arab tribes, for, verily, they are the backbone 
 of Islam ; the tithe that he taketh from them, let 
 him give it back unto them for the nourishment of 
 their poor. Let him faithfully fulfil the covenant of 
 the prophet to the Jews and Christians. Oh ! Allah, 
 I have finished my course ; to him that cometh 
 after me I leave the kingdom firmly established and 
 at peace ! " 
 
 Thus ended the eventful life of the second kalif. 
 He had entered upon ofifice ruler of Arabia only ; 
 he closed his career master rJso of Egypt, Palestine, 
 Irak, Mesopotamia, and Persia. In the exaggerated 
 ianguage of his people, he had taken from the infi- 
 dels " thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed 
 four thousand temples or churches, and founded or 
 endowed fourteen hundred mosques " ; but there is 
 no need to magnify his achievements ; they are suffi- 
 ciently remarkable if recounted in simple truth.
 
 262 
 
 EGYPT AND PERs/A CONQUERED. 
 
 Mumble as the most lowly, he was accustomed to 
 sit on the steps of the mosque at Medina eating his 
 barley-bread and dates, and he ofttMi slept on its 
 porcli or in a tree, while wieklint^ a sceptre that the 
 most powerful nations of his time felt and feared. 
 
 Omar breathed his last on a Friday in November, 
 644, and was buried the following day by the side of 
 Abu Bekr and the prophet.
 
 XXIX. 
 
 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE. 
 
 The golden age of the Saracens was now behind 
 them ; they were never again to enjoy a period of un- 
 interrupted internal harmony and of external con- 
 quest ; they were now to be plunged into strife. 
 sedition, jealous intrigues, and fratricidal bloodshed- 
 ding, but none the less were they to go on conquer- 
 ing ; in spite of every drawback, their religion and 
 the kingdoms that it dominated were to continue, 
 and to remain the same. As there was but one 
 Allah so there could properly be but one prophet, 
 who was not only the mouthpiece of Allah, but also 
 the temporal autocrat whose government was indi- 
 visible ; so that the success of Islam, if complete, 
 would have placed all the kingdoms of the earth 
 under the kalif of Medina. 
 
 When death interrupted the career of Mohammed, 
 it forced him to leave undone some things that he 
 intended to have finished ; and the chief of these, 
 v/e may suppose, was the revision of the Koran. 
 We can never know what difference this would 
 have wrought in Islarr but it is fair to believe 
 that it would have made clear the method by which 
 Moslem rulers were to be chosen, and thus have
 
 264 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE. 
 
 relieved the people of the fear of anarchy that came 
 to them when he died, when Abu Bekr died, and, in 
 still larger measure, when the dagger of Abu Lulu 
 took off the great Omar. The commission that 
 Omar had appointed sat for three days in tumultu- 
 ous conference while the kalif still wrestled with 
 death, and then adjourned to await the result. 
 When the members again met, they wasted still 
 more time in wrangling, — for they represented 
 pretty fairly the rival familes of Islam, — the Hashi- 
 mitcs, descended from Abd Mcnaf, and the Omiades, 
 children of Omia son of Abd Shems, who also was a 
 son of Abd Menaf. The kalifate was offered to Ali 
 on condition that he would agree to govern in ac- 
 cordance with the precedents established by Abu 
 Bekr and Omar ; but he declined, saying that he 
 should follow, first, the Koran, secondly, the posi- 
 tive laws of Mohammed, and, where these failed, 
 his own judgment. Both of the former kalifs had 
 been directed by Ali's exposition of the law and 
 interpretation of the traditions. The strife resulted 
 accordingly in the election of Othman, himself one 
 of the commission, who readily agreed to govern in 
 accordance with the Koran and the example of the 
 kalifs who had gone before. 
 
 As differing from him in fundamental views, and 
 as a great-grandson of Omia, Othman was highly 
 displeasing to Ali, who belonged, as we know, to 
 the Hashimites ; and the dissensions engendered at 
 the moment still endure, though they have lost 
 some of their bitterness. Islam is to-day divided 
 into two principal sects : the Sonnites or Tradi-
 
 GENEALOGICAL LINE OF THE KALIFS. 
 
 265 
 
 
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 266 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE. 
 
 tionists, who acknowledge the first four kaHfs to 
 have been legitimate successors of Mohammed ; and 
 the Shias, or Followers (sometimes called Sectaries, 
 who deem Ali the first rightful Imam, for they pre- 
 fer this title (found in sura ii., verse 1 18) to that of 
 k.dif. The Shias count twelve Imams, the last of 
 whom, Mohammed al Mehdi (a.d. 873), they sup- 
 pose to be still living in retirement, ready to appear 
 as the Mahdi prophesied to reunite Islam in the last 
 days. In general terms, the Persians are Shias and 
 the Turks Sonnites. 
 
 Othman differed in character from his prede- 
 cessors ; he was fond of wealth, though he had used 
 his riches at a time of dearth in distributing pro- 
 visions among the people, and had thereby won 
 their affection ; he was narrow and weak ; he prac- 
 tised nepotism, though the kinsmen whom he ad- 
 vanced had been inveterate opponents of Islam ; and 
 he lacked the important faculty of conciliating his 
 subjects and of encouraging unity among them. It 
 was unfortunate for him that besides the jealousy, 
 which was now intensified between the rival families, 
 there was also a growing antagonism between the 
 nation at large and the Koreishites. This spirit 
 found a congenial soil at Bassora and Kufa, where 
 the inhabitants were rapidly realizing that they had 
 power and influence which they might use for their 
 own purposes against the kalif even, if he should 
 oppose himself to their desires. Omar had kept 
 down dissensions at home by waging wars abroad, 
 and Othman did the same. 
 
 One of the early mistakes of Othman lost Alex-
 
 REBELLIONS IN PERSIA. 26,7 
 
 andria to the kalifate. He gave the prefecture of 
 Egypt to a near relative, and the emperor of Con- 
 stantinople sent a fleet against Alexandria, which 
 wrested it from him (a.D. 646). Amr was reinstated 
 in authority, and, after a long siege, he took the city 
 by storm, gave it up to plunder, razed its walls, and 
 deprived it of all its former importance. Fostat 
 gained what Alexandria lost. 
 
 The Persians, who had been scattered by the 
 armies of Omar, did not remain quiet, and risings 
 and rebellions were frequent throughout Irak Ajemi, 
 many expeditions being sent to quell them ; and to 
 these Kufa and Bassora contributed largely. These 
 were not always successful, but they carried the fame 
 and the name of the Saracens throughout the vast 
 regions watered by the Indus and the Oxus, made 
 them familiar in Korassan, Kabul, and Turkestan, and 
 on the borders of the Caspian Sea. On the western 
 shore of the Caspian there w^as trouble (653 A.D.) 
 with the Turks, in which the Arabians were beaten, 
 and Othman sent reinforcements from Syria to assist 
 an army from Kufa, but the Syrians objected to 
 serving under the Kufan captain, and the breach 
 was begun which led to long-continued strife in the 
 future. 
 
 Before this an army had been sent into Asia Minor 
 which penetrated Armenia, ventured nearly to the 
 Caspian from the southwest, and then marched as 
 far north as the Black Sea. The Moslems were 
 meantime confirming their position in Egypt, and 
 pushing their conquests along the Mediterranean 
 coast almost to Carthage. Though Omar had op-
 
 268 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE. 
 
 posed operations at sea, Othman permitted them, 
 and, in 649, a naval force made a successful attack 
 upon Cyprus, which became iiributary, and a large 
 number of captives were carried from the island. 
 Three years after this a fleet of several hundred 
 Byzantine vessels defied the Arabs off Alexandria; 
 the opposing ships grappled, but after a desperate 
 hand-to-hand struggle the Romans sailed away to 
 Syracuse, beaten by the Saracens, with great slaugh- 
 ter. It was " a splendid victory," but, cither because 
 it was not followed up, or for some other reason, it 
 resulted in dissatisfaction with the kalif and in open 
 threats against him. 
 
 Othman was unhappy in his choice of governors 
 at Kufa and Bassora, among whom were some of his 
 own relatives, and the disaffection towards him con- 
 stantly increased ; large numbers of the Koreishites 
 emigrated thither also, and certain concessions made 
 to them, added to their own pretentions, tended to 
 increase the jealousy and unfriendliness. Othman 
 was no less unfortunate in Arabia ; he enlarged and 
 beautified the grand square of Kaaba, but even in 
 this pious work managed to give offence ; he re- 
 buked a growing fondness for gambling and other 
 forbidden pastimes, and made still more enemies; 
 he prescribed changes in the ceremonial connected 
 with the pilgrimage and created scandal, for he thus 
 overturned some of the precedents that had been 
 established by the prophet. He had this faculty 
 for making enemies, but not for vvinning friends; 
 and to all his real and imagined offences he added 
 one against the superstitious feelings of the people.
 
 MOHAMMED'S SIGNET LOST. 269 
 
 He was one day superintending the deepening of a 
 well, distant some two miles from Medina, when he 
 had occasion to point towards the workmen, and the 
 ring of Mohammed, which, following the example 
 of Abu Bekr and Omar, he wore, fell from his finger 
 and disappeared. In vain were large sums offered 
 for the recovery of the sacred relic ; in vain was the 
 water drawn out ; in vain were the mud and sand 
 searched ; the ring was gone beyond recovery. The 
 kalif was saddened, for he believed that the circum- 
 stance was portentous of evil, and probably he had 
 reason. 
 
 Not only was Othman lacking in discernment in 
 making choice of governors for the colonies on the 
 Euphrates, but his representatives there seemed to 
 share his faculty for unpopularity, or to have special 
 fondness for stirring up ill feeling among the sub- 
 jects. When factious spirit showed itself in actual 
 rebellion, he failed to act with decision and 
 force, and thus wounds were left that rankled long 
 after they should have healed. Ali remonstrated 
 with him for dealing softly with offenders because 
 they were his kinsmen, and probably he was right ; 
 but the kalif appealed to the people, and in doing 
 it only roused their ill feelings more. 
 
 The entire kalifate was soon undermined with secret 
 conspiracy ; and Ot^Mnan, in his helplessness, sent 
 men to Egypt, to Kufa, to Bassora, and to Damas- 
 cus to find out and report to him the state of affairs. 
 He learned nothing satisfactory from these, of course, 
 and he then issued an edict to the provinces calling 
 the governors together at the time of pilgrimage in
 
 2/0 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE. 
 
 the year 655. These officials came to Medina, but 
 they could ^ive no information, for the plotters were 
 everywhere workini,^ in the dark. Othman was more 
 bewiklered than before. There was treason in the 
 air, and the hand of the law could not be placed 
 upon it. 
 
 In the sprincj and summer of 656, the scheme of 
 the conspirators was brought to a climax ; they had 
 determined to come in force from Egypt and Meso- 
 potamia in the guise of pilgrims ; to present long 
 lists of grievances ; to demand redress ; and if the 
 objectionable governors could not be removed, to 
 call for the abdication of Othman himself, enforcing 
 it if necessary at the point of the sword. When 
 they reached Medina they were disconcerted to find 
 that the citizens would not unite with them, and as 
 the kalif consented to make some changes, they re- 
 tired towards their homes, in pretended satisfaction, 
 and peace settled down upon Medina. 
 
 Three days later, Othman was disturbed while 
 leading prayers, by the startling news that the three 
 factious bands were again at the gates. \X\ went 
 forth to ask the reason of their return, and they 
 exhibited an order from the kalif, confirmed by 
 his seal, directing that they should be punished 
 with vigor. Othman disclaimed all knowledge of 
 the document, and it is still disputed whether it was 
 a forgery or not ; but it gave the conspirators an op- 
 portunity to demand the kalif's abdication, and also 
 enabled them to remain in the city. They insulted 
 Othman in his pulpit ; they drove the men of Medina 
 from the mosque and kept them out ; they shut the
 
 MURDER OF OTHMAN. 
 
 271 
 
 l^aiif up in his palace, and caused him great distress ; 
 finally, fearing that he might obtain relief from the 
 colonies, on the 17th of June they stormed the pal- 
 ace, seized him by his beard as he sat in the 
 apartment of the women, with the Koran open on 
 his knees, and smote him with their swords. Deeply 
 wounded, he fell, pressing the leaves of the sacred 
 book to his bosom and staining them with his ebb- 
 ing life-blood. After a scene of frightful riot, the 
 insurgents suddenly rushed from the palace, crying : 
 " To the Treasury ! " The palace gates were barred ; 
 the mutilated body of the kalif was buried at dusk ; 
 the rebels pelting the bier the while with stones ; 
 and ana.'"cb.y reigned at Medina.
 
 XXX. 
 
 TIIK MISFORTUNES OK ALI, FATHER OF HASAN. 
 
 The outlook for the kalifate was now far from 
 promising. We remember that at the death of the 
 prophet there had been the anxious inquiry, on the 
 part of many of the alHed tribes, " Can the yoke be 
 thrown off?" Abu Bekr had died in his bed, but 
 Omar and Othman had lost their lives by the assas- 
 sin's knife ; and now no one was found willing to 
 accept the once coveted ofifice. The conspirators 
 who had come from Egypt, from Kufa, and from 
 Bassora, indicated the feeling of dissatisfaction in 
 those distant portions of the kalifate, and each 
 of them now brought forward a different candidate 
 for the chief office. 
 
 The Egyptians favored Ali, who represented the 
 direct line of descent, for his offspring were grand- 
 children of the prophet ; Kufa presented the name 
 of Zobeir, a convert of Abu Bekr in the day of small 
 things, who had been of the Abyssinian emigrants, 
 had fought under the prophet, had been one of the 
 electoral commission appointed by Omar, and had 
 married one of his widows ; and Bassora nominated 
 Talha, likewise a convert of Abu Bekr, who had 
 been trusted by Mohammed, and appointed by Omar
 
 ALI BECOMES KALIF. 273 
 
 (who was his brother in-law) one of the electoral 
 council. 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Othman, the 
 Egyptians and the men of Medina offered to swear 
 allegiance to AH, but he was not willing to risk the 
 anger of the partisans of the other candidates. 
 He urged them to wait until there had been time for 
 deliberation, and said that though he had once 
 desired the ofifice, he now thought that the most 
 comfortable position in life was that farthest removed 
 from power, and that he was ready to submit to 
 whoever might be lawfully proclaimed. The same 
 advances were made to both Zobeir and Talha, with 
 similar results. The men of Medina urged Ali again 
 and again, but to no purpose ; the crowd called now 
 upon one and now upon another ; they bewailed the 
 want of a chief ; they prophesied civil war if the 
 strangers then at IMedina should return to their 
 provinces and announce that no kalif had been 
 proclaimed. 
 
 At last Ali was moved by the i)athetic demands 
 of the people and consented to go to the mosque 
 and receive their allegiance. There Talha and Zobeir 
 offered him their hands in token of approbation, and 
 there the Companions of the prophet and the other 
 chiefs did the same. This appearance of peace was 
 deceptive ; and it soon became evident that Ali was 
 expected to reward with offices those who supported 
 him, or sise become the target for their vengeance. 
 Some asked that the murderers of Othman should 
 be punished, but Ali thought best to postpone such 
 an attempt, inasmuch as considerable numbers would 
 
 19
 
 274 THE MISFORTUNES OE ALL 
 
 be involved, and he did not feel strong enough to cope 
 with such a party. 
 
 Among the claimants for office the loudest were 
 Talha and Zobeir, -who dcm_anded to be made gov- 
 ernors of Kufa and Bassora, respectively ; but though 
 All had resolved to remove all the governors ap- 
 pointed by his predecessor, he declined their demand, 
 saying that they were his wisest counsellors and he 
 needed them near him at Medina. Ayesha, who was 
 equally opposed to Ali and to Othman, united with 
 Talha and Zobeir to breed dissatisfaction with all his 
 acts, and each of the intriguing trio made use of the 
 friends of the late kalif to stir up malice against his 
 successor. The blood-stained garment of Othman 
 was carried to Syria and there ostentatiously dis- 
 played by Moawia to create enmity against Ali, and 
 clamorous cries were made for vengeance upon the 
 murderers, all v>{ which were hypocritically re-echoed 
 by Ayesha, Talha, and Zobeir, the real instigators 
 of his murder. The condition of affairs was indeed 
 involved and desperate, and AH was not the man for 
 the moment. 
 
 Thus for a time Mecca became the centre of the 
 intrigue. There Talha, Zobeir, and Ayesha formed 
 a faction determined upon war, calling to it all mal- 
 contents, especially the members of the family of 
 Omia, to which Othman had belonged. A proc- 
 lamation was issued, declaring that the Mother 
 of the Faithful was about to go to Bassora with 
 Talha and Zobeir, and calling upon all who desired 
 to strengthen Islam, were ready to fight, and wished 
 to revenge the death of Othman, to join the standard
 
 ALT PURSUES A YE SIT A. 275 
 
 o( revolt. Under the lead of Ayesha, a force of a 
 thousand mounted on camels started out, and the 
 number was soon swelled to three times that num- 
 ber.* When Bassora was reached the governor was 
 called upon to surrender, and after but slight resist- 
 ance he was overpowered, his beard and eyebrows 
 were torn out by the roots, and he was dismissed. 
 
 The news of this reverse was carried to Medina, 
 where Ali, entering the mosque with hearty thanks 
 to Allah, announced that war was upon the nation 
 and called for volunteers. The parties W'ere pretty 
 evenly balanced in the city, and there was no alacrity 
 in coming forward to the help of the kalif, despite 
 the fact that he was beloved and was believed to 
 have been fairly elected, and though his eloquence 
 was the greatest of all the sons of Arabia. The tide 
 turned, however, and Ali unexpectedly found himself 
 at the head of a thousand earnest men, who marched 
 out of the city with hopes of overtaking Ayesha and 
 her company. This was soon proved impossible, and 
 a halt was made for consultation. It was decided to 
 send an appeal to Kufa — not for aid in war^ but for 
 mediation between AH and the separatists, for Ali 
 was convinced by assurances that had been sent to 
 
 * Efforts were made to induce Omm Selma, another widow of the 
 prophet, to join this revolt, but she would not, and endeavored to 
 restrain the conspirators from precipitating civil war. Ayesha was 
 troubled by superstitious qualms on the journey, but they were over- 
 come by deceit, and the first falsehood recorded in the annals of 
 Islam was invented to urge her forward to ruin. The women 
 of Mecca accompanied Ayesha a short distance, and as they separated 
 from her, wept over the fortunes of the faith. " The Day of Tears " 
 is remarkable for weeping such as never had been known before nor 
 has been since, according to the Moslem writers.
 
 276 TUE MISFORTUNES OF ALL 
 
 liim lluiL miiny of the citizens uf Kufa were ready 
 to take his part 
 
 Ali wrote letters also to Medina and received gen-' 
 erous contributions of horses, arms, and necessaries 
 of life. He sent likewise to Egypt and elsewhere 
 for assistance. When his letter reached Kufa it did 
 not meet the reception he hoped for ; there was 
 reluctance to take the part of the kalif against the 
 rebels; but it was finally overcome by the skill of 
 Hasan, his son, and at last a body of nine thou- 
 sand men marched out to meet the kalif's ap- 
 proaching troops. When this accession was received, 
 Ali felt comfortable, and advancing toward them, 
 said, *' O men of Kufa ! may ye become the kibla 
 of Islam and the centre of the true faith ! From 
 the times of Omar ye have fought manfully to carry 
 the religion of the Moslem farther into the Orient ; 
 now I appeal to you for help against opposing 
 brethren whom I wish to lead back to their allegiance. 
 If they listen to me, I will receive them, and pardon 
 the past ; if they refuse, we shall wait ; if they attack 
 us, we shall pray Allah to deliver them into our 
 hands. We seek peace by every means." Ali had 
 before this assured the Kufans that he preferred 
 them to all others and intended to make his home 
 among them. 
 
 We now approach one more scene of carnage nota- 
 ble even among those that mark the track of Islarn 
 with a gory trail. The several combatants entered 
 upon the struggle with quite different motives and 
 feelings ; Zobeir, having brought to his mind the 
 early affection that he had enjoyed in the lifetime
 
 THE DAY OF THE CAMEL. 2/;^ 
 
 of the prophet, wished to make peace ; and Talha 
 acknowledged the wrongfulness of their cause, but 
 Ayesha, remembering how Ali had made reflections 
 upon her at the time she was under suspicion by the 
 prophet, — and the remembrance was at the bottom 
 of all her enmity to him, — was determined not to 
 allow moderation or patriotism to restrain in any 
 degree her vindictive spirit. War there must be. 
 
 The armies lay opposite to each other at a place 
 called Kariba, not far from Bassora, neither willing 
 to join battle ; Ali because he was ever averse to 
 shedding Moslem blood, and the separatists because 
 though their forces numbered more than those of 
 the kalif, they were not inspired with the same im- 
 petuous enthusiasm nor controlled b}' the same mili- 
 tary skill, and because, besides, there was division 
 among the leaders. 
 
 When the sun rose on the winter morning (it was 
 in November or December, 656,), the battle began, 
 though no one knew exactly how ; and Ayesha was 
 seen going up and down the field on a camel pro- 
 tected by an iron cage, while the contest ever raged 
 fiercest about her. Talha soon received his mortal 
 wound, and died vainly endeavoring to undo his 
 mistake by renewing allegiance to Ali ; later, Zobeir 
 was decapitated while in the act of enforced prayer; 
 and the widow of the prophet found her litter stuck 
 so full of arrows and javelins that it looked like a 
 porcupine, and her camel itself was Avounded so that 
 it could no longer carry her. This was called the 
 Day of the Camel. 
 
 Victory complete perched upon the kalif's ban-
 
 278 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALT. 
 
 ners, and his prestige and power were immensely in- 
 creased. He treated Ayesha with courtes}^ sending 
 her under escort of a retinue of women to Medina, 
 where she was forbidden to leave her house or to in- 
 termeddle more in the affairs of state. Leaving a 
 governor at Bassora, AH established the seat of his 
 kalifate at Kufa, and governed Persia, Mesopotamia, 
 Egypt, Arabia, and Korassan, — all that rightfully be- 
 longed to his dominions except Syria, about which, 
 however, he had but little solicitude when he contem- 
 plated his present success. 
 
 In his complacency Ali was fatally mistaken, for 
 the governor of Syria was a man in the prime of 
 active manhood, possessing, as some one has said, 
 the courage, eloquence, and affability of Julius Cae- 
 sar, the ambition, facility, and tardy clemency of 
 Augustus, and the policy, dissimulation, and cruelty 
 of Tiberius. Descended from Omia, son of the 
 archenemiy of Mohammed, Abu Sofian ; born the 
 year that the prophet sought refuge in the Cave, 
 Moawia, had long before become a convert to Islam, 
 and had fought valiantly in its wars. In 651, he had 
 been governor of Cyprus, which he had lost and re- 
 gained ; thesameyear he had taken Rhodes, destroy- 
 ing the celebrated Colossus, as doubtful tradition 
 asserts, and selling its brass to a ]q.\\ ; he had swept 
 the eastern Mediterranean, overthrowing the navy of 
 Rome and making the name of the Arabian feared 
 everywhere on the sea. Appointed governor of 
 Syria, by Omar, and continued in authority by Oth- 
 man, he had laid the foundation for vast personal 
 power throughout that region. To increase this he
 
 THE STRUGGLE AT SIFFIN. 279 
 
 had stirred up a terrible hate at the time of the mur- 
 der of Othman, by setting up on the pulpit at Da- 
 mascus as a standard the bloody garment of the 
 murdered Commander of the Faithful, and calling 
 upon his subjects to rally to extirpate all the men 
 who had been engaged in the detestable deed. It 
 was said that fifty thousand men * whose cheeks and 
 beards were never dry from tears, and whose eyes had 
 never ceased weeping blood, had drawn their swords 
 with a solemn oath to give themselves no rest, and 
 to bequeath their determination to their children's 
 children, until the blood of the kalif should be avenged. 
 Such was the man and such were the soldiers that 
 AH was now destined to confront in desperate war- 
 fare ; but, with all his advantages, Moawia was not 
 willing to enter upon the struggle without the as- 
 sistance which he hoped to obtain from that Amr 
 who in the days of Omar had so valiantly fought in 
 Egypt. It happened that this hero, who had been 
 removed from ofifice by Othman, was at the time 
 hving quietly in Palestine, and he now readily ac- 
 knowledged Moawia to be the rightful kalif and 
 agreed to take part with him, provided he might 
 himself have the rule of Egypt again in case of their 
 success. By such means, an army of some eighty 
 thousand men was gathered to menace Ali, who, 
 however, brought against it, from Kufa, ninety 
 thousand, and marching toward the confines of 
 Syria, came in sight of his opponents at a place 
 called Sififin, on the Euphrates, north of Palmyra, 
 not far from the northern limits of Mesopotamia. 
 
 ♦Taliari makes the number 30, 000. — "Chronicles, "jit. iv.. ch, xcviii.
 
 28o 
 
 THE MISFORTUNES OF ..I. I. 
 
 Tlic two armies met ia the summer of 657 A.D 
 A month was occupied in consequent efforts at con- 
 cihation, and then for three months and more there 
 were equally indecisive skirmishes, ia which thou- 
 sands perished on both sides, each of the combatants 
 professing a wish to avoid the shedding of Moslem 
 blood. The deadly struggle was inevitable, how> 
 
 A YOUNG SYRIAN GIRL. 
 
 ever, and v.hen the bravest of both armies were 
 biting the dust, and heads of the warriors were roll- 
 ing about the field like tennis balls, as the chronicles 
 say, when streams of blood polluted the earth in 
 every direction, and the Syrians were falling before 
 their opponents, Amr sent for Moawia in great haste, 
 and ordered him to cause his men to thrust the
 
 THE KAREJITES OPPOSE ALT. 28 1 
 
 Koran at their enemies on the points of their lances, 
 crying: " This is the book o Allah ; this it is that 
 should decide differences between Moslems ; if the 
 inhabitants of Syria and Irak are exterminated, who 
 then will profess Islam ? " The ruse had the desired 
 effect ; the followers of AH replied that they will- 
 ingly acknowledged the Koran ; and in spite of the 
 efforts of the kalif to continue the struggle, which he 
 saw was destined to end in his favor, the glorious 
 victory was snatched from him, and it was agreed to 
 submit the claims of the rivals to the arbitration of 
 two chosen men. Moawia then retired to Damascus 
 and the kalif to Kufa. 
 
 It happened that the representative of Ali in this 
 arbitration was a well-meaning but simple-minded 
 person, while that of Moawia was no less than the 
 strong and ready Amr, everywhere acknowledged to 
 be the most quickwitted man of the age. The two 
 met at Kufa eight months later, and by another, but 
 rather transparent ruse, Amr managed to throw the 
 decision in favor of Moawia. The arbitration deter- 
 mined nothing, and the parties became more and 
 more intense in their animosity, excommunicating 
 each other with great freedom and constancy. Mean- 
 time, an insurrection was stirred up against Ali by 
 certain Karcjites,* who denounced him for submitting 
 to the arbitration of men a matter which Allah only 
 
 * Karejite meant " one -who goes forth," a radical reformer, a 
 " come-oiiter, " as Theodore Parker used that expressive word. The 
 Karejites sought to establish a theocracy, and declared that a Just and 
 pious man, of whatever tribe or nation, might be called to the kalif- 
 ate, though they did think a kalif at all essential to the state. They 
 numbered twelve thousand at this time.
 
 282 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALL 
 
 should have decided. The insurgents collected at a 
 place called Nehrwan, not far from the site of the 
 future city of Bagdad, cast of the Tigris, and there 
 Ali met and overcame them with an army that he 
 had prepared to march against Moawia in Syria (a.D. 
 658). The victory Avon, Ali called upon his army to 
 follow him to Syria, but they refused, and he was 
 obliged to allow them to return to Kufa. The 
 remnants of the Karejites were scattered through- 
 out the Moslem world. They were called also 
 Motazilites, * and as such still exist, a vigorous off- 
 shoot of the Shias. The germs of the sect are 
 traced to the time of Mohammed, but the real 
 founder was Wasil ben Ata, who, in the reign of 
 Hashim, protested against the current teachings on 
 the subject of free-will and predestination. He 
 urged his views impulsively and with success upon 
 the advanced thinkers of Bassora, whence they were 
 carried in time to all parts of the Moslem world. 
 
 Syria was still the only region not under the sway 
 of Ali, though trouble was rising in Egypt, for 
 Moawia managed to compromise All's governor 
 there and he was recalled, Mohammed, son of Abu 
 Bekr, being placed in his stead. Moawia stirred up 
 further dissensions ; made use of that characteristic 
 Eastern weapon, poison ; broke up All's plans gen- 
 erally, and made the way ckai .or Amr to take pos- 
 session of the government, which he did with all 
 speed. He captured Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr, 
 and burned him alive in the skin of an ass ; an act 
 
 * See " The Personal Law of the Mohammedans," by Seyed 
 Ameer Ali (a Motazilite himself). Introduction, pp. 6, y, 10, n, etc.
 
 28.}. THE MISFORTUNES OF A LI. 
 
 which aroused the wrath of hi.s sister Aycsha, who 
 impotcntly invokxd upon both Amr and Moawia the 
 direst cur.ses of Allah. Moawia meantime, ceased 
 not to make incursions into the domains of the 
 kalif, thoui^h a growing opposition to continuing the 
 struggle was making itself felt both at Damascus and 
 at Kufa. In 659, Moawia captured Ba.ssora, which 
 had been temporarily left with a weak garrison, but 
 AH overcame his forces in turn, and the city resumed 
 its allegiance to him. 
 
 The misfortunes of Ali were increasing constantly. 
 The year after the capture of Bassora was fatal for 
 him. He became despondent as he contemplated 
 the di-stracted state of his dominions, and still more 
 so when in the year 660, Moawia, who had been 
 secretly corresponding with partisans in Mecca and 
 Medina, sent forces against those cities, which after 
 shedding some Moslem blood, forced them to surren- 
 der and swear allegiance to him. Ali at Kufa, and 
 Moawia at Dama.scus, Avere now both striving for 
 the mastery of Yemen. Moawia was successful, and 
 several thousands of the citizens of that " happy " 
 region were put to the sword. AH in desperation 
 decided upon one more effort against his powerful 
 antagonist, the enemy of the true faith, as he thought 
 him. All the time the kalif at Kufa was daily offer- 
 ing prayers in the mosque for Moawia, and Moawia, 
 at Damascus, was careful never to omit the names of 
 Ali and his sons, Hasan and Hosein, when he led 
 the devotions of the faithful in the mosque in distant 
 Damascus. 
 
 In the year 660, forty years after the emigration
 
 ^ DESPERATE CONSPIRACY. 285 
 
 of the prophet from Mecca, three desperate zealots 
 from among the Karcjitcs met to discuss the dis- 
 tracted condition of Islam. They looked to Egypt, 
 and there was Amr, ambitious and determined ; 
 they turned their eyes to Damascus, and behold 
 the son of Abu Sofian, burning with ambition and 
 panting for vengeance upon the kalif whom they 
 themselves, as they smarted under their defeat at 
 Nehrwan, looked upon as ambitious and dangerous. 
 They were three narrow-minded and impracticable 
 zealots; they did not have the power of building up, 
 but only of breaking down, and though they knew 
 not what plan to lay out for the future, and, per- 
 haps, cared not for any, felt sure that for the mo- 
 ment it was desirable that three such factors in the 
 public distraction should be out of the way. As- 
 sassination was their only resort ; they knew no legal 
 method of gaining relief (probably there was none) ; 
 and upon assassination they cheerfully decided. One 
 agreed to rid the state of AH ; a second eagerly 
 offered to be responsible for Moawia's death ; and 
 the third offered to journey to Egypt to make way 
 with Amr. The seventeenth of the holy month 
 Ramadan was chosen for the work, and it happened 
 to fall on Friday, the day for sacred meeting in the 
 mosques. 
 
 When the diiy and the moment arrived, not one, 
 but three poisoned daggers cut their way to Ali's 
 heart; another inflicted a severe though not a mor- 
 tal wound upon Moawia ; but the one intended for 
 Amr missed him, because his place in the mosque 
 was that day taken by another. Amr ordered his
 
 286 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALT. 
 
 would-bc murderer to immediate death ; MoaAvia's 
 assailant was condemned to such mutilation that he 
 did not survive ; AH the compassionate, ordered that 
 his assassin should not be tortured, but kept with 
 care until the result of his wound was known. Ac- 
 counts vary in regard to his ultimate punishment, 
 but he was probably executed, for in three days AH 
 died. 
 
 As we are brought to the sad end of the husband 
 of Fatima, we cannot resist the impulse to stop a 
 moment to look back upon his career, since that day, 
 long before, when, in the exuberance of youth, he 
 eagerly asserted his wish to be a follower of Moham- 
 med ; and to reflect upon the pertinacity with which 
 he held to the purpose that seemed at the time but 
 the inspiration of the moment. We remember the 
 assistance he rendered Mohammed at the time of the 
 Hejra ; his valiant deeds in the battles that followed ; 
 his allegiance to Abu Bckr; his reluctance to assume 
 the kalifate himself, though well knowing that the 
 honor of the position was his by right, as the person 
 indicated, by ]\Iohammed ; and we feel that his life 
 was one of sadness and discomfiture. He was a man 
 of mild and forbearing character, cultivating luxury 
 and pleasure, and preferring compromise and pro- 
 crastination to energy and promptness. His wisdom 
 in counsel, and his reputed sagacity in framing sen- 
 tentious proverbs, were great, though he was not 
 wise enough to escape the doom that was the cer- 
 tain result of a policy so little characterized by 
 strength as was that which he followed. 
 
 AH never bound the faithful to him, and though
 
 HASAN MADE KAFJF. 287 
 
 at a later period he was glorified with almost divine 
 honors, and a magnificent tomb was erected for his 
 remains, his grave was at first neglected, and the in- 
 difference in which he was held during life followed 
 him long after death. He is to be honored as the 
 first kalif who cultivated letters, and a body of wise 
 sentences bears his name, which had they really 
 emanated from him, would have been truly credit- 
 able to his mind and his heart. Many ingenious and 
 entertaining anecdotes are on record regarding him, 
 in which he is made to appear in a most favorable 
 light ; but in spite of all, he must remain for us an 
 unfortunate and uncommendable man. 
 
 Ali refused to name his successor ; but the choice 
 of his followers fell naturally upon h.'j son Hasan, 
 and he immediately took up the duties of the office. 
 Even less inclined to a military career than his father 
 had been, he entered upon the still impending con- 
 flict with Moawia with an irresolution and lack of 
 ability that made him an easy victim of his oppo- 
 nent's superior shrewdness. In less than half a year 
 he had resigned all claim upon the kalifate, and Moa- 
 wia became Commander of all the Faithful. Eight 
 years later, Hasan died of poison, in the year 669, 
 and the line of " orthodox, or " rightly-directed " ka- 
 lifs, elected by the suffrages of the Moslems, ended.
 
 XXXI. 
 
 TIIK TRAGEDY OK ArOHARRTsM. 
 
 MoiIAAEMKi) had moved from llic Holy City to 
 Medina ; AH had taken the head-quarters of the 
 kah'fate from Medina to Kufa ; and now a third re- 
 moval was about to be made. When Moawia had 
 estabhshed himself upon the throne he chose Damas- 
 cus as his capital, and founded there the kalifate of 
 the Omiades, a dynasty that was to continue in 
 power for almost a century. Another important 
 change was made at the same time ; the kalif him- 
 self was no longer the choice of the body of the 
 Faithful, but the sceptre was to be transmitted in an 
 hereditary line. 
 
 Thus, during this dynasty, the relative importance 
 of Arabia, and especially of the two capitals of 
 Hejaz, which, up to the time of Ali, had been chief 
 among cities, rapidly declined, owing both to the 
 increase of the empire of the Saracens and to the re- 
 moval of the capital beyond its limits. The duty of 
 pilgrimage was indeec" observed, and is still observed 
 in our own day; b'li even in the performance of 
 those sacred rites the rulers visited the land of the 
 desert at rare intervals only. The empire of the 
 kalifs was destined to increase still more ; but its
 
 MAUSOLEUM OF TAMERLANE AT SAMARKAND.
 
 290 7"///: TKACr.J^Y OF MOIIARREM. 
 
 different parts were to liavc less and less a united 
 history, ami final!)' the interest that attaches to 
 them was to become wellni<,di tlistinct from that 
 with which we look upon the cradle of the great 
 social and religious revoluti<^n fr<jm which it derived 
 all its life and consequence. 
 
 Though Moawia had overcome most of his op- 
 ponents, there still remained one of the most power- 
 ful of them, an illegitimate son of the famous Abu 
 Sofian, and consequently the kalif's own half- 
 brother, a warrior named Ziyad, a man of reputa- 
 tion, of resources, and of some following. He was 
 at this time fortified in a stronghold, and Moawia 
 knew that it was his desire to see a member of the 
 prophet's family placed upon his throne. Since the 
 Karejites were opposed to him, it was of the utmost 
 moment that Ziyad should be brought to his sup- 
 port, and accordingly, he resorted to the remarkable 
 expedient of owning him as brother, in order to en- 
 sure his allegiance. This plan was successful ; Ziyad 
 was secured as an all)' ; b)^ his assistance the Kare- 
 jites were put down ; and Ziyad was in turn raised 
 high in the kalif's esteem. He was made succes- 
 sively governor of Bassora, Kufa, Korassan, India, 
 and other parts : all of which he ruled with such 
 force and equity that good order was established ; 
 and then, in his restlessness, he longed for other 
 arenas in which to display his ability. Moawia, ever 
 happy to favor his supporter, gladly offered him the 
 governorship of Arabia Petraea ; but as Ziyad was 
 about to set out for that region he was attacked by 
 gangrene in the hand, and the imperfect medical
 
 ATTEMPT ON CO'NSTANTINOPLF.. 29I 
 
 skill of the age was unable to afford him relief. 
 He died at the age of fifty-four, in the year 674 A.D. 
 
 Moawia hastened to show his appreciation of 
 Ziyad by appointing his son, Obeidalla, then twenty- 
 five years of age, governor of Kufa, Bassora, and 
 Korassan, and the young man soon proved that he 
 had inherited the spirit and some of the ability of 
 his father. He invaded Bokhara and conquered it, 
 bringing to Bassora many prisoners and much booty; 
 he pushed the Turks out of Korassan, forcing them 
 to flee to Samarkand, that venerable centre of 
 Asiatic commerce and learning, famous now for the 
 tomb of the great Tamerlane, conqueror of Persia, 
 and Korassan, of Delhi, Damascus, and Bagdad. 
 
 The reign of Moawia was remarkable for two great 
 enterprises : the first attempt of the Saracens to 
 capture Constantinople, and the extension of the 
 dominion of the kalif in Northern Africa. His de- 
 sire to found an hereditary monarchy led to the 
 former expedition, for he wished to bring his son 
 Yezid forward as a leader among men, a character 
 that the youth's love of luxury and pleasure entirely 
 unfitted him to sustain. The design of Moawia thus 
 to make Yezid his successor was in contravention of 
 an arrangement made when he became kalif, to the 
 effect that upon his own death the office should re- 
 turn to Hasan. The partiality of the father did not 
 permit him to gauge correctly the weakness of the 
 son, and accordingly a vast army was collected and 
 sent towards the Byzantine capital. Like the Cru- 
 sades, destined in a future age to be waged against the 
 Moslems themselves, this was considered a " holy ''
 
 292 THE TRACFDY OF MOflARKEM. 
 
 war, and it had llic i)rc.stigc of bcini^ a fulfilment of 
 the desire of the projihet himself, who had hoped that 
 at some day the banner of Islam would wave over 
 the capital of the C.xsars. It was at about the year 
 670 or 672 that the expedition started for its distant 
 destination : battered soldiers of the prophet's wars; 
 the flower of Moslem chivalry ; the young Hosein, 
 son of AH ; and the aged Sofian ; Abu Ayub, who 
 IkuI l)Lin at Ik-dr and at Oluid ;— all rekindled the 
 fires of martial enthusiasm and girded on the sword 
 to win victory over the infulcl, or paradise, the cer- 
 tain reward of death in such an effort. 
 
 It is to be regretted that no details of this great 
 effort have been preserved ; the historian Tabari 
 passes over it without mention ; and we only know 
 that the siege was long and the bloodshedding fright- 
 ful. Tradition asserted that Mohammed had prom- 
 ised plenary indulgence to all who should be 
 counted in the first army to take the capital of the 
 Eastern Empire, and under such an incentive every 
 Moslem dared to do his utmost. The fleet reached 
 a point seven miles distant from Constantinople 
 without difficulty, but so great had been the prep- 
 arations to resist the invaders, that all their efforts 
 against it were vain and their only satisfaction was 
 found in ravaging the neighboring coasts. Greek 
 fire, a buring composition discharged from tubes in 
 some manner not now understood, was at this time 
 used with success against the Moslem fleet. 
 
 The ineffectual contest continued year after year, 
 the attacking forces slowly melting away the mean- 
 time, and when six or seven years had been thus
 
 REACHING INTO AFRICA, 
 
 293 
 
 wasted, it was decided to retreat, one portion of the 
 forces being sent by sea and the other by land. 
 Each was alike unfortunate ; wind and waves dis- 
 persed and broke to pieces the fleet, and the gen- 
 erals of the emperor pursued and cut up the demoral- 
 ized land army. Wearied and feeling the approach 
 
 AXCIENT MUSyUK OF KAIRWAN. 
 
 of age, Moawia concluded a treaty in 678, by which 
 peace was assured for a generation by the annual 
 payment of a large sum of gold and many slaves, be- 
 sides fifty horses of the purest Arabian blood. 
 
 Against this ill success, we may offset the exten- 
 sion of Moslem power in Africa, the result of an ex- 
 pedition undertaken, as some assert, at the request
 
 294 THE TRAGEDY OE MOHARREM. 
 
 of Roman inhabitants of that region. The army of 
 the kahf, commanded by his bravest warriors, made 
 its way with all celerity from Syria to Alexandria, 
 increasing in numbers as it advanced, and thence it 
 progressed into the deserts to the west of Egypt. 
 This extensive region was at the time in a con- 
 dition of anarchy. Its conquest was committed to 
 Okba, a general of daring bravery, who advanced 
 towards the present limits of Tunis. At a spot some 
 one hundred miles south of ancient Carthage, this 
 conquerer cleared away the woods and founded a city 
 often referred to in the history of the times, known 
 as Kairwan, intended as a place of refuge. The 
 date at which this city was begun is variously given, 
 and it may be set down as about 6"]"] A.D. From 
 Kairwan the victorious Okba marched as far as the 
 shores of the Atlantic Ocean, beyond Ceuta and 
 Tangier (passing through the regions now known as 
 Algiers and Morocco), and when he reached that 
 then impassable barrier to his progress, he plunged 
 his steed into its waters, and raising his glittering 
 scimetar aloft, cried out in the name of Allah, that 
 if the deep waters had not hindered him, he should 
 have carried the knowledge of the law and a rever- 
 ence for the true faith to still more distant realms, 
 slaying all who bowed to other gods, after the fash- 
 ion of Julkarnein.* While he was uttering these 
 proud words, the conquered peoples, Berbers f and 
 
 * The reference is to an obscure passage in sura xviii. Julkar- 
 nein, the " two-horned," is interpreted to mean Alexander the Great, 
 king of the East and the West, or some other powerful conqueror. 
 See Price's " History of Arabia," chapter two. 
 
 \ The Berbers were an African people of unknown antiquity, who 
 appear in history as Libyans, Numidians, and Moors.
 
 THE DEFEA T AT TEHUDA. 
 
 295 
 
 Others, were rising in the rear of the conqueror, and 
 he found it necessary to hasten towards his Eastern 
 home ; but it was too late ; the enemy surrounded 
 his army in a pass called Tehuda, and after a terrible 
 struggle the Saracens were defeated, and almost an- 
 nihilated. 
 
 The increasing infirmities of Moawia caused him 
 
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 i 
 
 
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 m/tSSSSSt^^i9^^^^k.\ ^ &€y^»r^^^^ 
 
 S 
 
 i 
 
 ^^a 
 
 
 &H|^^^^MiS| 
 
 ^g!|3 
 
 ^9 
 
 HSHHSI 
 
 
 BWiW 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 ^■H 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 P1^^?|rTW^ ^KWf?^^*^S 
 
 VIEW OF TUNIS. 
 
 to be more and more desirous that Yezid might be 
 assured of the succession during his lifetime, and in 
 the year 678 he called the inhabitants of Damascus 
 together to take the oath of allegiance to his son. 
 He had asked Ziyad some years before to give him 
 advice on the subject, and he had said that a young 
 man so completely given over to pleasures was not 
 fit to be Commander of the Faithful. In conse- 
 quence of this advice, the father had waited until
 
 296 I'HR TRAGEDY OF MO/I.t A'KKM. 
 
 three years after tlie dc:alli of Zi)ad before taking 
 the step he desired, and in the meantime Yezid 
 had, to some extent, reformed his habits. At 
 least four persons refused to take the oath of 
 allegiance to tlie young prince : Hosein, son of 
 Ali ; sons of Abbas, of Omar and of Zobeir. To 
 these a son of Abu Bekr ought perhaps to be 
 added. So important were these men that Moavvia 
 determined to make a personal effort to induce them 
 to change their determination. They all lived at 
 Medina, excepting the son of Abu Bekr, a blind man 
 who lived at Mecca. To Medina accordingly Moawia 
 took his journey, under pretence of visiting the holy 
 places. Arrived at his destination, he called upon 
 Hosein to take the oath, and he declined unless the 
 others would do the same. Moawia then summoned 
 the others to him separately, and each made the 
 same reply, for not one was ready to take the lead. 
 Disappointed in his mission, Moawia proceeded to 
 perform the pilgrimage, and then returned to his 
 capital. He scandalized the faithful by making an 
 effort to remove the prophet's walking-stick and 
 pulpit to Damascus, but was obliged to give up that 
 plan also, for the citizens opposed it, and an eclipse 
 of the sun which occurred at the time was taken as 
 an indication of Allah's displeasure. 
 
 The end of the kalif was now rapidly approach- 
 ing, and he called his son to him to give him last 
 counsels regarding the conduct of government. He 
 told him to trust the Arabs as the foundation of his 
 power, to prize the Syrians, and to endeavor to keep 
 the turbulent people of Irak quiet by gratifying their
 
 CHAiXGES IN THE KALI FATE 297 
 
 demands ; and lie solemnly warned him to beware of 
 those men at Medina who had refused to swear 
 allegiance to him. Moawia died in the spring of 
 680, and was buried in the capital, which he had 
 made a place of great luxury. Under him the 
 kalifate had entirely lost the simplicity of the early 
 days, and the change of scene from Mecca and Me- 
 dina to the wealthy city of the north was followed 
 by a complete alteration in the character of the 
 kalifs themselves. 
 
 The greatness of IMoawia had been established 
 before he became kalif, and nothing that he accom^ 
 plished after his accession would have been sufficient 
 to give him the reputation that the chroniclers award 
 him. The fundamental change in the kalifate that he 
 effected, was not for good ; he added to the extent of 
 the kingdom, but the increase was not greatly to its 
 advantage; he left it under tribute to the Byzantine 
 empire, which must have been intensely offensive to 
 every member of the proud tribe of Koreish to which 
 he belonged. 
 
 Moawia was the first kalif who sat when he spoke 
 to the people in the mosque ; he was munificent in 
 his presents to hi3 favorites, and made large gifts 
 to Ayesha and Hasan ; he encouraged letters and 
 put post-horses upon some roads. 
 
 The change in affairs is still more emphasized in 
 the reign of Yezid than it had been in that of his 
 father. He was not present when Moawia died, but 
 messengers were sent to recall him from a small 
 town in the territory of Horns or Emesa, whither 
 he had eone. A follower of the kalif ascended the
 
 29S THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM. 
 
 pulpit in the mosque, bearing Moavvia's winding, 
 sheet in his hand, pronounced an eulogium upon him, 
 and said the burial prayers over the body before it 
 was committed to the tomb. Yezid entered upon office 
 quietly and without the formality of an election, but 
 he did not enjoy the throne in peace. Hosein, son of 
 AH, was living, though Hasan was dead, and he 
 laid claim to the office of kalif with some right ; 
 Abdalla, son of Zobeir, wlio had retired to Medina 
 after the battle of the Camel, also raised the stand- 
 ard of revolt, and thus the scene of action during 
 the brief reign of Yczid was for a portion of the 
 time transferred again to Medina and Mecca. 
 
 Upon the change of sovereigns, the people of 
 Kufa turned their eyes to Hosein, then living at 
 Mecca, and sent a secret messenger to him to say : 
 " We are thy followers, as we were thy father's ; we 
 are enemies of all the Omiades, and as we fought 
 for thy father against Talha and Zobeir, and against 
 the Syrians at Siffin, so now we are ready to take up 
 arms for thee. Come to us at once ; we will put the 
 governor out of the way ; we will deliver the city to 
 thy hands, and we will swear allegiance to thee. 
 There are more than a hundred thousand men who 
 are ready to give up their lives in thy cause, and to 
 fight against Yezid as they have fought against Moa- 
 wia." One messenger did not lead Hosein to move ; 
 he suspected the Kufans, whose fickleness was pro- 
 verbial ; but another and another came to him, and 
 at last a poll of a hundred and forty thousand names 
 was sent across the desert. Then he determined to 
 go. More than one hundred and fifty letters also are
 
 VIEW OF THE MOSCiUE OF HASAN AT CAIRO.
 
 300 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM. 
 
 said to h.ivc been sent over the desert to Ilosein 
 before he yielded." In one of these, recited in the 
 annual celebration of the event, the invitation is 
 couched in the following glowing Oriental phrases: 
 
 O solar orb of the sphere of faith, although the country of Kufa 
 is a tulip-field, yet without the rose of thy face all are but thorns in 
 my eyes. The blow of thy separation has rendered me disabled, and 
 the fire of thine absence has set my weary soul in flames. Come 
 quickly to Kufa, for all the people of the country earnestly desire to 
 see thee, O most excellent Imam ! Have the condescension, O 
 Sphere of Generosity ! to move hithervvard as soon as possible, that 
 thou mayest afford direction in the paths of virtue to a people who 
 are cheerfully expecting thy arrival ! 
 
 The extravagant partisans represented that the 
 land of Kerbala, from end to end a beautiful rose- 
 garden carpeted with tulips and lilies, was anxious 
 for his coming ; that the very Euphrates, restless as 
 quicksilver, was longing for him, and that the entire 
 region had worn out its eyes looking for him.f It 
 looked like rashness to his friends at Mecca, but he 
 listened not to their counsel ; he bundled up his let- 
 ters and the list of his supposed supporters, and set 
 out accompanied by his wives, his brothers, and his 
 children, besides forty horsemen and a hundred foot- 
 soldiers. 
 
 Meantime Noman, governor of Kufa, was not igno- 
 rant that a movement was on foot in favor of the 
 son of AH. He called the people together and ex- 
 horted them to hold to their allegiance, assuring 
 them that if they supported Hosein, he would surely 
 fight against them to the last. The news was car- 
 
 '■• See Muir's " Early Caliphate," p. 435. 
 
 Y See Felly's " Miracle Play of Hasan and Ilusain," vol. i., p. 216
 
 HOSEI/V'S INFATUATIOiX. 30I 
 
 red to Yezid, of course, and he took means to pre- 
 pare for the coming of the new claimant. He sent 
 messages to him, warning liim not to approach Kufa, 
 One met him near the site of tlie battle of Kadesia, 
 but it did not cause him to stop, though he was told 
 plainly by friends that, even if the hearts of Kufa. 
 were with him, their swords were against him. 
 
 It was the beginning of the month Moharrem, 
 when Hosein arrived at Kerbala, some twenty-five 
 miles north of Kufa on the west branch of the 
 Euphrates, where his little band was confronted by 
 an army of four thousand men. Retreat was im- 
 possible, and there was no alternative but death in 
 battle. He had alread}" fortified himself by the 
 Moslem fatalism, and had said, when he left Mecca, 
 in response to the entreaties of his friends, " It must 
 be as Allah wills ! " 
 
 A friend urgently begged permission to lead him 
 to a place of safety, but he refused the ofTer; and 
 when desired to accept an escort to Kufa that had 
 been sent by order of Yezid, he also declined that ; 
 neither would he agree to acknowledge Yezid as 
 kalif. He offered to return to Arabia ; to go to 
 Damascus and negotiate directly with Yezid, or even 
 to go to the frontiers of Korassan and there fight for 
 the nation. Neither of these alternatives were 
 granted, and at last, as delay followed delay, Yezid 
 became impatient, and wrote to his governor: "If 
 Hosein and his followers submit, and take the oath 
 of allegiance, treat them kindly ; if t! ey refuse, slay 
 them, ride over them, trample them under the feet 
 of thy horses ! " The messenger who bore the let-
 
 302 77//-. 'IRAGKDY OF MOHAKKEM. 
 
 ter was ordered to strike off the governor's head if 
 he should neglect to carry out its instructions with 
 promptness. 
 
 Ik'fore this lloscin had been troubled by presenti- 
 ments and now heavy fancies again overcame him ; 
 but still his solicitude was rather for his companions 
 than for liimself, and he said to them : " These 
 troops seek no life but mine ; hasten ye to a place 
 of safety and leave me to my fate ! " Not one would 
 stir from his side. Taking a camel, he rode before 
 the reluctant soldiers of Kufa, reminding them, as a 
 body and individually, of the invitations th;it had 
 been sent him, and of the promises that they had 
 made ; but it was to no purpose ; hope vanished. 
 Then, with tears streaming from his eyes, he em^ 
 braced each member of the " Family of the Tent," 
 as his devoted followers have been called, saying : 
 " May Allah recompense you ! " They responded : 
 " May peace rest upon thee, thou son of the apostle 
 of Allah ! " 
 
 The morning of the tenth of Moharrem dawned ; 
 it was the day upon which it was supposed that 
 Allah created Adam and Eve ; the battle was joined, 
 but it was a slaughter rather. Thirty of the troops 
 of Yezid could not resist the appeal of Hosein, and 
 deserted to his forlorn hope ; but nevertheless the 
 devoted band fell, one by one, before the heartless 
 host that remained. The night before, Hosein had 
 formed a frail rampart around his little group by 
 throwing together all the tents, and he had caused a 
 ditch to be dug, which was filled with logs and 
 brushwood, but it did not resist the onslaught of the
 
 DEATH OF HOSE IN. 303 
 
 !-;nemy. At last but five reii'^ined besides Hosein, 
 and they were tormented by thirst and overpowered 
 by the heat ; all at once these threw themselves 
 upon the assailants and were cut down. Still the 
 kalif's host seemed restrained from striking the son 
 of Ali. On the march from Mecca a child of but a 
 single year had been of the party ; and now its cries 
 of distress at the hour of prayer attracted Hosein ; 
 he caught it to his arms, and at the moment its ear 
 was pierced by an arrow ; it fell lifeless to the 
 ground. Hosein laid it down with a pious ejacula- 
 tion and started to the water to drink, when he was 
 himself struck upon the lips by a random shot ; his 
 enemies surrounded him ; a lance Avas thrust through 
 his back and he fell over, a corpse. The spot has 
 been marked by tradition, and a sepulchre, called 
 Meshed Hosein (the Sepulchre of Hosein), was in 
 after times erected there. 
 
 The ages that have passed since that Moharrem 
 day have magnified every incident of the struggle, 
 and Hosein is looked upon as a martyr, sacrificed to 
 the hate of the Omiades, — as one who gave himself 
 for his people. The Persian loves to think that his 
 dying in this way had been prophesied by Moham- 
 med ; Hosein is even represented as standing at 
 the grave of the prophet before starting for Irak, 
 and there saying : '* How can I forget my people, 
 since I am about to offer myself for their sake ? " 
 
 The whole story of the " Family of the Tent " has 
 been idealized and dramatized ; regularly, as the first 
 month comes around, Persia gives itself up for ten 
 days to a grand festival of mourning, in which thr.
 
 304 THE TRAGEDY OF MO//ARREM. 
 
 entire story is re-enacted with a realism so terrible 
 that on some occasions the actors are really sacri- 
 ficed, as tlu'ir prototypes are represented to have 
 been. 
 
 Nowhere else on earth can we see " such passion 
 of grief, such grandeur of selfless sympathy as here, 
 where the people forget the passing of time and the 
 changing of place, and taking the rude platform for 
 the real scene of the martyrdom, and the actors for 
 those they represent, furiously stone the soldiers of 
 Yezid and drive them from the stage ; and the 
 murderer-actor so loses himself in his part that he 
 thinks he sees the real Hosein in the man before 
 him, and actually beheads him before all eyes ! " ""•' 
 "It is a long way from Kerbala to Calvary," says 
 Matthew Arnold, " but the sufferers of Kerbala hold 
 aloft to the eyes of millions of our race the lesson so 
 loved by the Sufferer of Calvary, for he said : ' Learn 
 of me, for I am mild and lowly of heart, and ye shall 
 find rest unto your souls.' " f 
 
 During the opening days of the month Moharrem 
 the entire populace of Mohammedan India is wrought 
 up to this intense excitement, especially on the 
 tenth day, which is honored by the Sonnis as well as 
 by the Shias, and it is not strange that the period is 
 considered critical by the government. 
 
 The slaughter of Hosein and his followers did not 
 
 * "Studies in a Mosque," by Stanley Lane-Poole, chapter vii., 
 " The Persian Miracle Play," page 211. 
 
 f "Essays in Criticism," "A Persian Passion Play," page 264. 
 The whole essay is worthy of reading in this connection, though, 
 perhaps, the character of Hosein has been too much idealized ano' 
 purified by the poet-essayist.
 
 HOSE I A' CALLED A MARTYR. 
 
 ;o5 
 
 g".'ve Yezid peace, for among the other pretenders to 
 the throne, Abdalla, that son of Zobeir, still remained 
 at Medina ; and though he had been an aspirant to 
 the same power that Hosein had grasped at, and was 
 therefore during his lifetime one of his rivals, he now 
 dared to call loudly upon the faithful to revenge his 
 death ! He depicted in glowing Avords the marvel- 
 lous character of the son of Ali, set him up as a 
 martyr, called to mind his particular virtues, his 
 watchings, his prayers, his fastings, his lofty heroism, 
 all the frightful circumstances of his taking off ; 
 and denounced in unmeasured terms the perfidy of 
 
 COIN OF THE OMIADES. (ABOUT 725 A.D.) 
 
 the people of Irak, especially of the Kufans, the 
 blackest villains, as he assumed to think them, on the 
 face of the earth. " Never," he exclaimed, " did 
 this holy martyr prefer the sound of music to the 
 reading of the Koran ; effeminate songs to the com- 
 punctions produced by the fear of Allah ; bacchana- 
 lian orgies to abstemiousness ; the pleasures of the 
 chase to pious conversation " ; and as he uttered the 
 words doubtless his hearers made mental compari- 
 sons quite to the disadvantage of Yezid.* 
 
 * See " Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne," par R. P. A. Dozy, 
 torn, i., pi 80.
 
 306 77/ A" TRAGEDY OF MOIIAKREAf. 
 
 Abdalki entered into this hibor witii all the spirit 
 of one relieved of a rival, of one who had sought an 
 opportunity to excite popular feeling against a ruler 
 w iio IkuI abandoned the sacred cities of olden time 
 to make a luxurious capital at distant Damascus. 
 Abdalla was of attractive manners and adroit policy 
 a sort of Marc Antony among the Arabians, and he 
 so skilfulK' worked upon the feelings of the Hashi- 
 niites that ihey incontinently proclaimed liim kalif 
 and gave him their willing allegiance. 
 
 Vain were the efforts of Yezid to put down the re- 
 bellion ; Abdalla met his orders with insult, and the 
 people cast off their allegiance boldly with suggestive 
 gestures, throwing in piles their shoes and their tur- 
 bans and crying : " I cast off Yczid as I cast away 
 this shoe ! " "I cast off Yezid as I cast ofT this 
 turban ! " the growing heaps showing the unanimity 
 of their feelings. 
 
 The Omiades were chased from the city, and 
 closely besieged ; but they managed to convey to 
 the kalif a petition for help, and he sent twelve 
 thousand cavalry and five thousand foot-soldiers to 
 them, under command of Meslim, son of that Akba 
 who had founded Kairwan. These troops found 
 Medina protected by a deep ditch ; but after four 
 days they successfully stormed the city, and a scene 
 of slaughter and rapine ensued which was too 
 dreadful for description (a.D. 683). The army 
 marched on to Mecca, where Abdalla was himself 
 besieged for three-score days, thougli Meslim died 
 before he reached the holy city. Showers of stones, 
 darts, and burning naphtha were the meantime
 
 DkATH OF YFZTD. SO" 
 
 pourcd down upon it, and upon the scarred Kaaba, 
 by order of the Hasan, the new commander. Still 
 the town held bravely out ; the holy house was 
 burned and became a heap of ruins, but even that 
 disaster did not bring the sturdy Meccans to terms. 
 In the midst of the city's great distress a swift 
 Arab of the desert brought to Abdalla the welcome 
 intelligence that Yezid was no more. He had 
 breathed his last at Hawarin, in Syria, at the early 
 age of thirty-nine, after a reign of less than four 
 years (a.D. 683). This event was, as usual, a signal 
 for new commotions. The critical moment for Ab- 
 dalla had arrived, and he knew it not. Hasan raised 
 the siege immediate!}-, and offered to support the 
 claims of Abdalla, provided he would go with him to 
 Damascus, for he said that Moawia, who he heard 
 had been proclaimed kalif there, was entirely unwor- 
 thy of the office. Abdalla feared to trust him, and 
 the opportunity passed away.
 
 XXXII. 
 
 TIIK YICTOKII'.S OF AP.D F.T, MF.LIK. 
 
 The death of Iloscin proved to be the most im- 
 portant event in the history of the Saracens, except- 
 ingthc mission of the prophet. It marks an outbreak 
 of the long-threatened schism in Islam which con- 
 tinues to divide it to this day : the Persians whose 
 watchword is "the murdered Hosein," being Shias 
 (Sectaries), and the Turks, who hold to the rightful- 
 ness of the kalifs before AH, being known as Son- 
 nites (Traditionists) 
 
 The time had indeed changed since the days when 
 the prophet lived with his faithful Kadija upon dates 
 and water; since Omar satisfied himself with the 
 same simple diet ; since the times of simplicity when 
 the humble and strong kalifs were patterns of 
 abstemiousness and frugality in diet and dress. 
 Moawia had lived in pomp at Damascus, and Yezid 
 dressed in silks, surrounded himself with dogs and 
 dancing women, neglected the sacred hours of wor- 
 ship, drank the forbidden wines, and emulated all 
 the vices and the display of the other sovereigns 
 whom he had seen or heard of. He was not the man 
 to build up a religion or a kingdom, nor was his 
 feeble and incompetent son better adapted to these 
 ends. He ascended the throne as Moawia II., upon
 
 ABDALLA THE ONLY KALIF. 309 
 
 his father's death, but at the end of six months 
 renounced the power which he honestly but weakly 
 confessed that his grandfather had wrested from a 
 better man ; which his father had not merited nor 
 used as a great trust for the good of the people ; and 
 of which he was himself equally unworthy. He 
 called to him the chief men of his court and said, 
 with a singular plainness of speech : " I have decided 
 to abdicate the throne, but less happy than Abu 
 Bekr, I find no Omar whom I can name as my 
 successor ; less fortunate than Omar, even, I find 
 about me no body of men upon whom I dare impose 
 the task of choosing a ruler for the empire ; I there- 
 fore call upon you to seek the proper person, and give 
 him the crown!" Upon this Moawia II. returned 
 to his palace and remained in his chamber until death 
 took him from the gloomy existence (a.D. 684). 
 
 Now Abdalla, son of Zobeir, at Mecca, was the 
 only kalif, but the men of Damascus had not ac- 
 knowledged him, and they determined to remain true 
 to the family of Abu Sofian, the family of the Omi- 
 ades. Looking for a candidate, they found none so 
 promising as Merwan, son of Hakim, then at Me- 
 dina, who though past the vigor of manhood was 
 still strong and able. He had made his mark as 
 secretary of Othman, and was well versed in the 
 duties and traditions of the ofifice, to which, indeed, 
 he eagerly aspired. Meantime the governor of Bas- 
 sora, he who had caused the massacre of Hosein, 
 managed to have himself declared kalif for the in- 
 terim ; but his authority was not destined to endure. 
 The Kufans opposed him and excited the people of
 
 3IO THK VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK. 
 
 Bassora to rise against him. He fled in disgrace 
 dressed in the clothes of a woman, and for a while 
 Bassora united with all Arabia, with Korassan, Irak, 
 and Egypt in supporting Abdalla. Merwan did not 
 live a year, and in that brief time was not permitted 
 to enjoy the dignity of liis office in peace. He died 
 in the month Ramadan, 684. 
 
 The same Puritans, known as Karejites, who had, 
 on the field of Siffin, demanded the establishment of 
 a theocracy, now burst from the fastnesses in which 
 they had hidden themselves, and rushed through 
 Irak carrying devastation and slaughter everywhere. 
 At the same time there arose on the part of certain 
 persons at Kufa Avho repented of their actions 
 at the battle of Kerbala, a violent desire to revenge 
 the slaughter of Hosein, and placing at their head 
 one Soliman, they assembled outside the walls and 
 sent men through the streets crying : " Vengeance 
 for Hosein ! Vengeance for Hosein!" They visited 
 the scene of the carnage at Kerbala, and there at the 
 tomb of the martyr, prayed for forgiveness ; then 
 thousands of them plunged into the rugged ravine 
 that lay towards Damascus. They hastened for- 
 wards, only to meet a large army w^hich the kalif 
 had sent against them, and to be cut to pieces_by the 
 overpowering numbers, despite the prodigies of valor 
 that they wrought in their desperation. Vengeance 
 for Hosein was as far away as ever; but another 
 champion came immediately to the front, called by 
 that feeling inherent in humanity which often urges 
 men to undertake projects in which there is neither 
 prospect of success nor of reward.
 
 TRO UBLE FROM SOLIMAN AND M OK TAR. 3 1 1 
 
 When Moawia II. died, his son, x^bd el MeHk, 
 then not quite forty years of age, was inaugurated 
 kalif, notwithstanding the fact that his father had 
 agreed that a son of Yezid should then enjoy the 
 throne. Abd el IMelik found himself involved in war 
 with the followers of Soliman, then directed by a 
 daring leader named Moktar, who claimed to be lieu- 
 tenant of the Mahdi promised by the prophet, and 
 supported the claims of a Mohammed, then living in 
 retirement at Mecca, a son of Ali by another wife 
 than Fatima. Moktar was accustomed to harangue 
 the soldiers in verse. He claimed that the Angel 
 Gabriel appeared to him in the form of a dove. He 
 had fought Hosein on the plain of Kerbala. 
 
 This bloody general is said to have executed fifty 
 thousand men besides those he had killed in battle. 
 In the struggle which ensued, quarter was neither 
 given nor expected, and warriors who were them- 
 selves on the point of death, jauntily ordered their 
 enemies cut down by the hundred. Moktar made 
 himself master of Kufa, and ruled it with an iron 
 hand, persecuting all who did not do honor to the 
 memory of Hosein. Abdalla sent his brother Musab 
 to govern Bassora, and Moktar advanced against him 
 with an army of twenty thousand men. A battle 
 was fought not far from Kufa, and Moktar was 
 obli^red to retreat within the walls. With six thou- 
 sand men he shut himself up in his palace, but was 
 closely besieged, and at last, having no provisions, 
 he proposed to sally out to cut the way through the 
 enemy. Only nineteen men consented to take part 
 in the forlorn hope, and they, wrapping winding-
 
 312 ^ THE VlCTOklES OF ABD EL MELIK. 
 
 sheets about them, rushc-d forth and met instant 
 death.* Musab entered, and binding the hands of 
 the remainder (jf the garrison behind them, led them 
 out to the market-place and butchered them every 
 lone (a.D. 687). 
 
 This pious man (after the Moslem style of piety), 
 now that the enemy was overcome, turned his 
 thoughts towards religion, and crossed the desert to 
 Mecca as pilgrim. As recompense for his success, 
 Abdalla gave him the government of Irak, and he 
 established his capital at Bassora. Abd el Melik, all 
 the time irritated at the division of the kalifate, was 
 planning how he might circumvent Abdalla and 
 Musab, who not only possessed Mecca, but also that 
 rich country watered by the Euphrates and the 
 Tigris, which he felt was rightfully his, as it was, if 
 he was rightfully kalif. His Syrian subjects could 
 not perform the pilgrimage to the Kaaba without 
 hearing imprecations pronounced by those whom 
 they would naturally respect, upon the ruler to 
 whom they had given their allegiance, and their 
 loyalty was consequently endangered. For these 
 reasons, Abd el Melik bethought himself of a 
 radical move ; he established at Jerusalem altars to 
 which the faithful at Damascus might resort as pil- 
 grims ; but none the less did he feel the necessity 
 of pushing both Abdalla and Musab from their posi- 
 tions. 
 
 * We shall see (in chap, xxxv.) how the expectation of a coming 
 Mahdi continued to be encouraged among the Alyites, until it re- 
 sulted in the establishment of a dynasty of Fatimites in Egypt, which 
 wrenched from the kalif that extensive province, and kept it for 
 nearly three centuries.
 
 MUSAB IS SLAIN. 313 
 
 In the year 690 he set out for Irak, leaving the 
 government of the capital in the hands' of a cousin 
 named Amr. This man had, it seems, long cherished 
 ill feelings against Abd el Melik, and took the op- 
 portunity to arrogate the supreme authority, which 
 he thought he had some right to enjoy, as he was the 
 head of the family of the Omiades. Information of 
 this was promptly sent to Abd el Melik, and he re- 
 turned and laid siege to his own capital. The gar- 
 rison then refused to obey the usurper, and as the 
 result of a bloody battle fought in the streets of the 
 city, Amr fell into the hands of the kalif. After a pre- 
 tended reconciliation, Abd el Melik treacherously 
 executed his cousin, put his supporters to death, and 
 banished his family. This accomplished, he took 
 up his march for Irak again, accompanied by all 
 the troops that he was able to gather. He sent 
 letters in advance intended to lead prominent men 
 to desert the standard of Musab, and they appear 
 to have had considerable effect. Musab endeavored 
 to anticipate his enemy, and advanced to a place 
 called Maskam, said to have been on the borders of 
 the desert near Palmyra, where the usual miracles of 
 valor and horrors of butchery were performed, and 
 at last Musab was slain. After the battle, Abd el 
 Melik proceeded to Kufa, entered it in triumph, 
 ordered large sums of gold to be distributed among 
 the people, and taking a position in the palace, gave 
 audience to the citizens and received their informal 
 allegiance. 
 
 While thus sojourning in the palace, the head of 
 Musab was brought to him, and as he noticed one of
 
 314 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MF.LIK. 
 
 the bystanders shudder at the not uncommon sight, 
 he asked the reason. " In this place," the other re- 
 pHed, " I saw the head of Hosein placed before the 
 governor of Kufa ; I saw the governor's head in like 
 manner placed before Moktar ; I saw the head of 
 Moktar placed before Musab ; and now I see the 
 head of Musab placed before thee ! " Horror seized 
 the kalif at the ominous recital, and he gave orders 
 that the hall which had witnessed the gruesome 
 transactions should be destroyed, in order that his 
 own head might not at some future time be there 
 presented to some other conqueror. Forty days 
 more Abd el Melik remained at Kufa in order to 
 carry out the engagements that he had made with 
 the inhabitants, and to appoint officers to govern 
 for him. 
 
 The success of Abd el Melik in the East made him 
 confident, and upon his return to Damascus he deter- 
 mined to proceed against Abdalla. It was the year 
 691. While the kalif was meditating upon the ex- 
 pedition, there appeared to him a man born at the 
 time that the Kufans had refused to give their aid to 
 Ali. He had, so the story goes, rejected all nourish- 
 ment in his infancy, until his life was despaired of, 
 when Iblis appeared and advised that he should be 
 offered the blood of a kid, of a goat, of an adder, and 
 in this way his appetite had been first satisfied. In 
 youth he found himself unable to refrain from shed- 
 ding blood, and as he grew up his chief delight was 
 in carnage. His name was Hejaj. He now said to 
 the kalif : " I have had a vision, and in my dream, I 
 have slain Abdalla, the usurper of Mecca; wherefore
 
 THE BLOODY SUCCESS OF HEJAJ. 315 
 
 send me against him, and I will surely deliver him 
 into thy hands ! " 
 
 To this unnatural man the kalif accordingly com- 
 mitted the command of the expedition, giving him a 
 sufficient army. Hejaj hastened to accomplish his 
 mission ; he appeared before Abdalla, having passed 
 Medina without molesting it, and after resting a 
 while at Taif, gained a victory at the first onset. 
 He then sent for more men, and sat down before the 
 city to reduce it by a regular siege. Day by day and 
 month by month the supporters of Abdalla gave 
 way before the silent potency of famine and the 
 force of the well-directed lances of the besiegers, un- 
 til even the relentless Hejaj wrote to Abdalla urging 
 him to capitulate, and relieve the Holy City of its 
 horrors. With true Arabian infatuation Abdalla re- 
 fused, in spite of the fact that the citizens were 
 deserting his banners, and his sons were calling upon 
 him to have pity upon the people. 
 
 At last the end came; in imitation of the examples 
 of Hosein and of Musab, Abdalla, with a handful of 
 companions, thrust himself into a breach that the 
 enemy had made, astonished even his opponents by 
 his reckless acts, and fell, struck upon the head by 
 one of the invaders. The cry " Great is Allah ! " 
 which arose from the army of Hejaj, announced that 
 Abd el Melik was undisputed kalif of Islam ; and 
 that the cities of Mecca and Medina had lost all 
 their pristine importance. Hejaj was left in com- 
 mand of the forces at Mecca, and, in fact, of all 
 Arabia. He pulled down the Kaaba (which had 
 been partially burned, and afterwards repaired, in
 
 3l6 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK. 
 
 the time of Abclalla) and put it in order ; he ruled 
 the poor Meccans with a rod of iron, and tormented 
 them apparently for no other purpose than to see 
 their pain. 
 
 In the year 695, a rebellion in distant Korassan 
 caused Abd el Melik to need the help of a strong 
 man to the eastward. Hejaj was made governor of 
 Irak, and he repaired to Kufa, which he entered 
 in extremely impressive style, riding into the city at 
 the head of a large military force. He went directly 
 to the mosque, where he ascended the pulpit, and 
 announced to the trembling people that he had 
 " come to make the wicked man bear his own 
 burdens and wear his own shoe " ; that he saw be- 
 fore him " heads ripe for the mowing, and turbans 
 and beards sprinkled wath blood." " Servants of 
 rebellion and perfidy ; I am not a weak one ; I will 
 strip you as the bark is stripped from the tree ; I 
 will scourge you as the camel is scourged which 
 strays from the herd ; I will break you in pieces as 
 the stones are broken on the highway. I am He- 
 jaj, son of Yusuf ! If I shave, I raze the skin ! " 
 At Bassora he made like speeches, which naturally 
 stirred up much opposition against him ; but he 
 kept the turbulent people quiet, and that was the 
 duty which his master required of him. He likewise 
 defeated the rebellious governor of Korassan and 
 brought that region under the kalif's sway. It was 
 at this period that Hejaj founded Wasit, a city half 
 way between Bassora and Kufa, in order that he 
 might from it more easily control the region (a.B. 
 702, about)
 
 P.HEB7P LEADS THE KAREJITEF.. 
 
 
 Ai? this time the fanatical Karejites were stining 
 up the whole eastern portion of the kalifate, and 
 by their desperate infatuation they gave constant 
 solicitude to Abd cl Melik and his governors. They 
 proved the fiercest and most incorrigible enemies 
 that Hejaj had to meet ; but in time, even they 
 were conquered, their last commander, Shebib, who 
 
 ^si^^B^^ 
 
 
 
 COINS OF THE EARLY KALIFS. 
 
 overcame Hejaj in several battles, was drowned 
 when retreating, after an encounter in which his 
 army had been worsted. When Shebib died, Abd el 
 Melik found himself at peace with all parts of his do- 
 minions. From that time (a.d. 696), there was quiet 
 for five years. 
 
 The reign of Abd el Melik is notable as being the
 
 3i8 Tirr i'ictorifs of abd fl mft.ik. 
 
 period wlu-n first the Saracens coined money for 
 themselves, 'llic time for the jjayment of tribute 
 to Constantinople had almost come to an end, and 
 this kalif refused to pay it longer in the coin of the 
 empire. Arabia and Syria and Irak had all depended 
 u})on Persia and the Roman empire for their currency, 
 and when Abd cl Mclik now began to pay the em- 
 peror of Constantinople in Arabian coin, that mon- 
 arch refused to accept it ; upon which the kalif de- 
 clined to pay the tribute longer in any form, and 
 being one of the most powerful rulers of the world 
 he was able to persist in his refusal, and thus to add 
 to his independence. 
 
 During the time that the wars had been going on 
 between the kalifs of Damascus and Mecca, the Afri- 
 cans who had formerly acknowledged allegiance to 
 the Saracens, renounced it, and as soon as Abd el 
 Melik found himself in a condition to make an effort 
 to bring them back to their loyalty, he sent an army 
 in that direction under Hasan (a.D. 692). It ad- 
 v^anced along the northern coast to Kairwan, and 
 thence to Carthage, which was reduced after a long 
 siege, its inhabitants being scattered to Andalusia 
 and Sicily. The Berbers of the region were not so 
 easily overcome ; but even they finally gave way, and 
 the whole land came under the sway of the kalif. 
 
 The Saracens were afterwards led by their guides 
 to a mountain to the southwest of Carthage, where 
 the Berbers made a stand under the command of 
 their queen, Kahina (a.d. 698). The struggle was 
 severe, and for a while doubtful, but at last the 
 queen was captured and beheaded in the presence
 
 THE TirTRD CONQUEST OF AFRICA. 
 
 319 
 
 o' the Saracenic commander. Tliis was not accom- 
 plished, however, until the Africans had themselves 
 laid their territory waste from Tripoli to the Straits 
 of Gibraltar. Twelve thousand Berber warriors were 
 incorporated in the Saracenic army, and imm.ense 
 accumulations of spoil were taken from the con- 
 quered cities to Damascus. This was the third time 
 
 A BERBER VILLAGE. 
 
 that the Saracens had conquered Africa, but their 
 supremacy was shortly overthrown again, and the 
 Roman and Greek inhabitants were fain to call the 
 Arabs back to relieve them from the Barbarian rul- 
 ers, whose government they soon found unbearable. 
 The reign of this powerful kalif came to a close 
 in 705, and he was succeeded by his eldest son, Wa-
 
 'i9.o T/rr. VICTOR n:s oi' abd ft. melik. 
 
 lid, with whom thi- L;l<)ry of the (l)'nasty cuhiiinatcd. 
 Al)(l cl IMi'lik \\iis a man of more than ordinary mili- 
 tary ability, as the extension of his kingdom and the 
 subjection of his rivals amply prove; but lie was 
 also addicted to letters, and encouraged literary 
 men, giving tlu-m extravagant presents from his 
 royal fortune. During his reign the three great 
 poets of the early kalifate, Aktal, Farazdak, and 
 Jerir flourished, and they were overwhelmed with 
 honors and riches by the kalif. Aktal was the 
 chief favorite and his good fortune proved too 
 much for him ; he dressed in superb garments of 
 silk, ornamented his person with golden chains, and 
 indulged in unbecoming familiarity with his patron.
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 THE GLORY OF THE OMIAUES. 
 
 When Walid assumed the reins of government 
 that had fallen from the hands of his father, he 
 naturally sought to continue some of the lines of 
 public policy that he knew had been successful. He 
 was a man of luxurious habits and elegant tastes, as 
 tastes went at that period ; he delighted in piling up 
 grand edifices, in adorning them with all the gor- 
 geousness for which Oriental architecture is famed, 
 and he evidently wished to leave monuments of this 
 kind which should keep him forever in memory. In 
 this he was successful. He erected a grand mosque 
 at Cairo on the site of one that then stood there, 
 and adorned its pillars with gilded capitals ; he 
 beautified and enlarged the mosque at Jerusalem 
 that his father had built, and encouraged pilgrimages 
 in that direction ; he sent architects from the capital 
 to tear down and build up those structures at Mecca 
 which the faithful so greatly venerated, and he 
 scandalized the feelings of the men oi the olden 
 time by thus continuing the departure from the 
 simplicity that they remembered from their youth. 
 His efforts were not all made at a distance from 
 home, for he dispossessed the Christians of Damas-
 
 322 THE C/.ORV OF 77 fE OMIADES. 
 
 cus i)f tlicir ancient church of St. John the Baptist, 
 on which Roman cnipcrors hatl lon*^ lavished their 
 i^old, and in which they had accumidatcd many 
 reHcs of martyrs and saints, and on its site he em- 
 ployed workmen by the thousand in erecting a 
 mosque in which, by uniting the architecture of 
 Greece and Persia, he laid the foundation of the 
 Saracenic style, from which some of the graces and 
 ornamentations of the Gothic were to be borrowed 
 in another age. 
 
 While Walid was living in luxury at Damascus 
 and gratifying his artistic tastes, his generals were 
 fighting for his empire in Asia Minor, in Korassan, 
 in Africa, and making his authority everywhere felt. 
 They ravaged Cappadocia, Armenia, Pontus, and 
 Galatia, and brought to Damascus the usual crowds 
 of captives bearing rich spoils. They crossed the 
 Oxus, drove before them the hordes of Turkestan, 
 and captured the city of Bokhara ; they went again 
 to Samarkand and, after a siege, obliged it to pay a 
 great tribute annually in gold and to contribute 
 three thousand human beings every year to the slave- 
 marts of Damascus ;* and they undermined the re- 
 ligion of the Magians ; they overran Scinde, and 
 penetrated in that direction as far as the great river 
 of India (a.D. 708). 
 
 On the water, their fleets ravaged Sicily and Sar- 
 dinia, sacking cities and carrying off booty, prisoners, 
 
 * " There is no place in Central Asia \vhich has so impressed the 
 imagination of Europe as Samarkand," Schuyler's " Turkistan, " vol. 
 i., p. 236. In 1497 the city \vas described as one of the most de- 
 lightful for situation in the habitable world, and being of ' ' wonderful 
 elegance. "
 
 324 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES. 
 
 and many beautiful maidens f(jr the slave-market 
 .uid the imperial harem. Everywhere the dread of 
 tin: Saracens was becoming a new terror, for these 
 were the times when international law was unknown 
 and rulers did not expect to govern except by 
 irresponsible despotism. So extensive was the sway 
 of the kalif, indeed, that there seemed to be little 
 left for his arms to conquer. They found their limit 
 at the Pillars of Hercules. 
 
 We have seen a general rushing into the waves 
 of the Atlantic, and complaining, like a lesser 
 Alexander, that he had no world to conquer ; now 
 another Saracen, pursuing his career of conquest to 
 the same limit, finds a means of carrying his standard 
 farther. Success is not always good fortune in the 
 struggle of life, and in earlier ages, when law was 
 weaker and rulers arbitrary, a general was never sure 
 of winning lasting favor by advancing the projects 
 of his king. . 
 
 At the beginning of his kalifate, Walid had sent 
 one Musa into Africa to reconquer and quiet that 
 revolutionary land. This general advanced to the 
 spot where the continents of Africa and Europe 
 approach within fifteen miles of one another, and at 
 the town of Ceuta, situated on a rocky promontory 
 facing the great rock of Gibraltar, met his first 
 effectual repulse. It proved but the forerunner of 
 victory and conquest more notable than any he had 
 before accomplished. Through the Pillars of Her- 
 cules he was destined to carry Moslem supremacy 
 into a continent on which it had before been all but 
 unknown.
 
 RODERICK THE LAST OF THE GOTHS. 325 
 
 Three centuries before this time the furious West 
 Goths had entered the peninsula of Spain and had 
 overcome the Roman power ; but now they were 
 themselves weakened and rent by internal dissen, 
 sions and ready to fall before a determined antago- 
 nist. More than a century had passed since the 
 Goths had embraced Christianity, and they therefore 
 now represented the same enemy that the Moslem 
 had encountered on the banks of the Bosphorus. 
 
 " Famine and pestilence had wasted them ; 
 And treason, like an old and eating sore, 
 Consumed the bones and sinews of their strength." 
 
 The ruler of the Goths in Spain at the time was 
 Roderick, whose name was destined to become the 
 favorite of poets and ballad-writers, and to be sur- 
 rounded with a halo of romance such as has fallen 
 to the lot of few heroes of his class. Rom.ance has, 
 indeed, almost obliterated the true story of this ill- 
 fated monarch. He was son of a duke of Cordova, 
 and under King Witica had risen to a great renown, 
 of which he had taken advantage to seize the throne 
 and to banish the king (a.D. 708). Witica's sons, 
 unable to make head against him, had passed over 
 to Africa, where Count Julian, then commanding 
 Ceuta, hao. received them, taken their part, and 
 offered to re-establish them upon the throne of their 
 fathers. 
 
 At this juncture the feelings of Julian towards 
 Musa changed completely, and instead of wishing to 
 have him as an enemy, he looked upon him as a 
 most desirable ally. He therefore surprised his
 
 326 77/ A" GLORY OF TIIK OMIADKS. 
 
 Moslem opponent b)- olTcrnif:^ (cither directly, or 
 tlirou^'h Tarik ben Zeyacl) not only to ^'ive up the 
 stronghold of Ceuta, but to lead him to further and 
 much richer scenes of conquest. Musa was not pre- 
 pared for so sudden a change, and naturally doubted 
 the sincerity of his whilom enemy, but he prepared 
 to seize upon the chance it offered. He sent to the 
 kalif, at Damascus, for permission to accept the 
 prop(«ition, telling him that the territory he wished 
 to enter enjoyed a climate milder than that of Syria ; 
 that its fields were more fertile than those of Ye- 
 men ; its vegetation more fragrant that that of 
 India ; its mines richer in precious metals than those 
 of Kathay ; and its shores embroidered with flowers 
 of brighter colors and sweeter perfumes than those 
 of Eden itself. Such a seductive picture was too 
 much for a kalif given over to pleasures of sense, 
 and he sent his permission to Musa with as much 
 eagerness as it had been asked, though he warned 
 his viceroy not to venture until he had assured him- 
 self that the count's sudden change was not simu- 
 lated. 
 
 Musa accordingly sent over the strait a force of 
 four hundred foot-soldiers and a hundred cavalry- 
 men, under command of one Tarif, who debarked at 
 a place that still bears his name, and reminds us in 
 our word "tarif" of a "duty" which was forcibly 
 levied upon vessels afterwards passing through those 
 waters. This expedition realized the general's fond- 
 est hopes, and he returned in October, bearing to 
 Musa rich booty and many captives. A second and 
 more formidable expedition was made ready as soon
 
 AN ALGERIAN BERBER.
 
 328 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES. 
 
 as possible, and sent to the fated country of the 
 Goths. Tarik,* who commanded it, landed on a rock 
 known to the ancients as Calpe, now called Gibraltar 
 (Jebel Tarik: the Mount of Tarik). 
 
 "A countless multitude they came ; 
 Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade, 
 Persian and Copt and Tartar, in one bond 
 Of erring faith conjoined, — strong in youth 
 And heat of zeal. . . . 
 
 Thou, Calpe, sawest their coming ; ancient Rock 
 Renowned, no longer now shalt thou be called 
 From gods and heroes of tlie years of yore, 
 
 * The name Tarik suggests some of the perplexities encountered in 
 this investigation. The difference between " Tarif " and " Tarik" in 
 Aral)ic is but a single dot, and this seems in the passage of centuries 
 to have become so confused that historians are not able to distinguish 
 the two persons, if, indeed, there were two. Makkari, Weil, and 
 Dozy assert that it was " Tarif abu Zora " who passed from Africa 
 to Spain "in 710," Woodward, (Ency. Chron.) and Miniana tell 
 us that " Tarif ibn Malik," went over "in 711 "; and Miniana omits 
 to give the name of the leader in 710. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire, 
 Irving, Conde, Woodward, Sedillot, En-Nowari the Egyptian, and 
 Eopez de Ayala assert that it was " Tarik ben Zeyad " who crossed 
 in 710; though Woodward thus contradicts his previous statement 
 about " Tarif." Most good authorities are agreed that it was Tarik 
 ben Zeyad who led the expedition of 711. Alcantara, Bleda, La- 
 rousse, and the editor of " La Nouvelle Biographie Generale " say 
 that it was the same person who led both incursions, though the last 
 mentioned gives his name as " Tarik," and Larousse as " Tarif or 
 Tarik ;" and, finally Ibn-abd-el-Hakem, Ibn-Khaldun, and Sedillot, 
 know no "Tarif," though Ilakem knows two " Tariks," neither of 
 whom is mentioned by the other writers. " Tarif " was unknown be- 
 fore this time, and does not appear in history afterwards. ' ' See Baron 
 de Slane's " Histoire de Berberes," vol. i., pp. 215, 346 ; Makkari's 
 " Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain" (Gayangos), \o\. i., pp. 265, 516 ; 
 Weil, " Geschichte der Chalifen," vol. i., pp. 517, 518. Rosseeuw 
 St. Hilaire, " Histoire d'Espagne," vol. i., pp, 381, 382.
 
 DEATH OF RODERICK. 329 
 
 '''^ Kroncs or hundred-handed Briareus, 
 Bacchus, or Hercules ; but doomed to bear 
 The name of thy new conqueror, and thenceforth 
 To stand his everlasting monument. 
 Thou sawest the dark-blue waters flash before 
 Their ominous way, and whiten round their keel. 
 Their swarthy myriads darkening o'er thy sands. 
 
 " There on the beach the Misbelievers spread 
 Their banners, flaunting to the sun and breeze : 
 Fair shone the sun upon their proud array, — 
 White turbans, glittering armor, shields engrailed 
 With gold, and cimeters of Syrian steel ; 
 And gently did the breezes, as in sport. 
 Curl their long flags outrolling." 
 
 The invaders encountered the Goths soon after 
 their arrival, and a decisive battle was fought (Jul)-, 
 711) a few miles northeast of Cadiz, known gen- 
 erally as the Battle of Jeres, or Xeres, in which 
 Roderick was killed and his army put to flight. When 
 the news of this victory reached Musa, a mean- 
 spirited fear entered his mind lest his general might 
 gain too much glory, and crossing the strait him- 
 self with a body of ten thousand warriors, he sent 
 orders to Tarik not to pursue the enemy. Indig- 
 nant at receiving such a command, Tarik called a 
 council of war, at which Julian, inspired with the 
 courage of an implacable hatred, spoke plainly for 
 continuing the struggle. " Shall we," he cried, 
 "leave the flying Christians time to rally and to call 
 back their broken courage? No! let us unsheathe 
 our swords and pursue them without stopping for 
 breath ! Let us take their cities ! Our task will not 
 be accomplished until we can hi)^ ourselves down 
 quietly within the walls of Toledo."
 
 330 THE GLOR Y OF THE OM JADES. 
 
 The words aroused the inihtary enthusiasm of 
 all, and Tarik eagerly embraced the moment to 
 divide his army into three portions, and to order an 
 immediate campaign against Elvira, Cordova, and 
 Toledo. The corps sent against Elvira, captured 
 that city, and also Malaga and Ecija ; the second, 
 took possession of Cordova ; the third body, com- 
 manded by Tarik himself, so much alarmed the peo- 
 ple of Toledo that they fled in large numbers to the 
 valle)'s of the Pyrenees, and those who could not fly 
 surrendered, with the promise to pay tribute to the 
 Moslems. At Toledo Tarik captured a costly table 
 of pure gold, adorned with precious stones, said to 
 have been made by Solomon, son of David, and 
 took off one of its valuable emerald legs. Musa 
 afterward claimed the trophy and caused a new leg 
 of gold to be made for it ; but when he presented it 
 to the kalif at Damascus, Tarik, by producing the 
 missing leg, proved that he, and not Musa, had the 
 first right to it. 
 
 After this victory, Tarik ventured to go still far- 
 ther to the north, and only turned upon his track 
 when he had reached Gigon on the Bay of Biscay 
 and was obliged to stop. Then he returned to Toledo 
 to give an account of himself, — to tell his superior 
 ofificer why he had not stopped in the midst of his 
 career of conquest. He was thrust into prison for 
 his success ; but he was afterwards set at liberty and 
 replaced in command, by order of Walid, and then he 
 joined Musa in a plan to subdue the remainder of 
 Spain. One warrior went to the westward and the 
 other to the north, and after various successes which
 
 A Bi-KiiiiK. WUMAN.
 
 332 THE GI.ORY OF THE OMIADES. 
 
 belong rather to the Story of the Moors in Spain '•" 
 than to our subject, they met a<^ain before Sara^ossa, 
 which city they captured, for " AHah filled the hearts 
 of the infidels with terror/' as a Moslem chronicler 
 avers. 
 
 Inflated by his wondrous successes, Musa planned 
 a magnificent campaign, which, had he carried it out, 
 would have given quite a different phase to subse- 
 quent European history ; he determined to make his 
 way back to Damascus by the way of Constantinople, 
 thus possessing himself of Europe from the West to 
 the East, surrounding the Mediterranean with a con- 
 nected series of Moslem allies and ranging the entire 
 ancient world under the standard of the prophet.f 
 
 Just as this grand idea had been conceived, Walid 
 sent an order calling both Tarik and Musa to the 
 capital. He had begun to fear lest the rivalry be- 
 tween them (they being of Berber and Arabic blood 
 respectively) might cause some great catastrophe, 
 and endanger the success that had been won. Tarik 
 travelled by rapid stages and reached Damascus be- 
 fore Musa, who took in his train thirty thousand 
 captives and immense quantities of booty. Tarik 
 arrived in the presence of the kalif just as that mon- 
 arch was about to breathe his last ; he recounted to 
 
 * See " The Story of the Moors in Spain," by Stanley Lane-Poole, 
 New York and London, 1886. 
 
 f " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," by Edward Gib- 
 bon, chap. li. Gibbon compares this design with that of Mithridates 
 to march from the Crimea to Rome, or with that of Ccesar to conquer 
 the East and return home by the North. All of these magnificent 
 schemes he thinks were surpassed by the successful enterprise of 
 Hannibal.
 
 DEATH OF VVALID. 
 
 333 
 
 him the achievements which had resulted in the- com- 
 plete conquest of Spain, (then called Andalusia after 
 the Vandals), and received from his master many 
 thanks for his services. Further reward was doubt- 
 less to come, but meantime the kalif died. Musa 
 had scarcely finished his laborious journey to the 
 capital. 
 
 Having reigned ten years, Walid thus died at the 
 age of forty-two, in the year 715, after a life of pen 
 sonal ease, during which his generals had filled all 
 the surrounding nations with the fear of the Moslem 
 arms, and had carried his renown from one end of 
 the ancient world to the other. They had pene- 
 trated the region beyond the Oxus, bearing their 
 victorious arms almost to the borders of China (710 
 A.D.), and promising to extend the domains of the 
 kalif through that country to the Pacific Ocean, as 
 they already touched the Atlantic. The greatest 
 glory of the Omiades had been gained.
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 THE STROKE OV THE HAMMER. 
 
 Though Tarik and Musa brought the greatest 
 glory to the Omiades, the fate of one of them, who 
 received simple thanks, shows again the impotence 
 of success to secure good fortune ; but the sadder 
 treatment that Musa suffered emphasizes it still 
 more. When that general reached the capital, bring- 
 ing after him long trains to enrich his sovereign, he 
 found that his actions were to be judged by a new 
 kalif. 
 
 Soliman, brother of Walid, assumed the reins of 
 government without objection by any one, for he 
 was reputed to be endowed with ripe judgment, with 
 a good heart, and a character unstained ; besides 
 possessing that gift of eloquence so highly es- 
 teemed by the Saracens. We may suppose that all 
 the facts in the case of Musa have not been pre- 
 served, for this clement and judicial ruler with unex- 
 plained haste called him immediately to the bar to 
 answer to certain accusations that had been made 
 against him. One of them was based upon his false 
 claim to have discovered the table of Solomon. 
 
 " Hast thou found," asked the kalif, "any people 
 of valor on the peninsula? "
 
 M USA'S A' E PORT. 335 
 
 " Yes, my lord, more vuliant than I can tell thee," 
 replied Musa. 
 
 " And what hast thou to say about the Chris- 
 tians? " 
 
 " They are lions in their castles, eagles on horse- 
 back, women on shipboard, and veritable goats for 
 flight to their mountains when they are vanquished." 
 
 " And the Berbers ? " 
 
 " They resemble the Arabs very much in their im- 
 petuous mode of attack, and in holding out ; like 
 our nation, they are patient, sober, and hospitable ; 
 but they are the most faithless people in the world; 
 neither word nor oath is sacred among them." 
 
 " What about the Franks ? " 
 
 " They cannot be counted for multitude ; they are 
 prompt to attack, and brave in a fight ; but timid 
 and easily discouraged in retreat." 
 
 "And have you defeated these, or have they de- 
 feated you ? " 
 
 " Never, by Allah, has one of my banners fled be- 
 fore them ; my soldiers have never hesitated to 
 attack them, were the enemy eighty to their forty! " 
 
 Thus the aged Musa reported,* and yet in spite of 
 all, the kalif ignominiously doomed him to stripes, 
 stood him bare beneath the scorching sun of a Da- 
 mascus day, and laid upon him a fine which reduced 
 him to poverty. The savage punishment was meted 
 also upon his family, and they were all executed, 
 fined, or otherwise made to feel the displeasure of the 
 kalif. 
 
 * Gayangos gives the report more fully in his translation of Mak- 
 iia-"i, vol. i., page 297, and appendix E, page Ixxxviii.
 
 ^^C) THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER. 
 
 The new ^(wcrnmcnt in Spain proved more moder- 
 ate and liberal than the old, and the i)eoplc rejoiced 
 in the enjoyment of their own religion, manners, and 
 habits; and the privilege of being governed accord- 
 ing to the laws to which they had been accustomed. 
 The old treaties between the Christians and their 
 Saracenic conquerors inform us that " the Christ- 
 ians are not to be molested, their churches are 
 to be respected, and their persons preserved invio- 
 lable, on the sole condition that they remain faith- 
 ful to the government, and pay the tribute agreed 
 upon." 
 
 The new kalif now seemed to wish to concentrate 
 all his efforts against Constantinople, and made ex- 
 traordinary preparations to conquer it. He de- 
 spoiled the mountains of Lebanon to obtain cedar 
 trees to construct at Alexandria a fleet destined to 
 blockade the port, while at the same time a land 
 army was sent thither through Asia Minor. In the 
 summer of '716, the capital of the empire found itself 
 invested by a host of the most implacable warriors, 
 — a host more prodigious than it had ever been at- 
 tacked by. The Greek fire with which the same 
 Saracenic hordes had been dispersed in the days of 
 Moawia I., was now^ used against the invading ves- 
 sels, with success. " This defeat of the Saracens by 
 Leo is really one of the greatest events in the world's 
 history," says Mr. Freeman, " for if Constantinople 
 had been taken by the Mahometans before the na- 
 tions of Western Europe had at all grown up, it 
 would seem as if the Christian religion and European 
 civilization must have been swept away from the
 
 OPERA TIONS A GA INS T CONS TA N TINOPLE. 337 
 
 earth." * Soliman determined that liis personal 
 presence would give life to the troops and set out 
 for the scene of action, when he was attacked by an 
 indigestion produced by intemperance in eating, and 
 suddenly died, leaving his throne to a cousin, who 
 assumed authority as Omar II. 
 
 It was in October, 717, that the new kalif began 
 his reign, too late in the season to permit him to 
 send reinforcements to Constantinople that year ; 
 but in the ensuing spring a fleet was despatched 
 from Egypt, though its commanders were too much 
 afraid of the terrible Greek fire to venture near the 
 city, and anchored off the coast of Eithynia. The 
 seamen were largely men who had once been under 
 the Roman governnient, and they now determined 
 to desert the Moslem cause. They stole some boats 
 and rcwed up to the capital of the empire, crying, 
 " Long live the Emperor of the Romans ! " but 
 their reception was a surprise : the Constantino- 
 politans either suspected them as spies or despised 
 them as traitors, and launched upon them such vol- 
 leys of their fearful fire that the boats began to burn, 
 and the deserters jumping into the water were 
 drowned in large numbers. The Romans pursued 
 their advantage, and burned the entire fleet, leaving 
 the remainder of the besiegers to suffer the lingering 
 pains of famine. Every avenue of escape seemed to 
 be cut off, and the ignominy of the former attempt 
 upon the city was repeated. The kalif was over- 
 whelmed by this failure to overcome a single capital; 
 
 * Edward A. Freeman, " Outlines of History," chap. vi. Leo Hi 
 (rhe Isaurian) came to the throne in March, 717. 
 
 23
 
 33^ THF. STROKE OF THE HAMMER. 
 
 when he reflected that his predecessors had van- 
 quished kingdoms, and in the }-ear 720 he died.* 
 
 A brother of SoHman now succeeded to the gov- 
 ernment as Yezid II., in accordance of an agreement 
 made by the two cousins Omar and Sohman, His 
 immediate soHcitude was regarding an insurrection, 
 against the kahfate by the governor of Korassan, 
 who aspired to independence and had involved in 
 his scheme many inhabitants of Irak. Yezid sent a 
 force against the insurgents, and a battle was pre- 
 cipitated near Bassora, in which the pretender was 
 killed, and the movement thus stopped. A war in 
 Armenia followed, which was not concluded until 
 the following reign. These movements are the only 
 ones to which the historian Tabari gives attention. 
 
 Much more interesting to us are the events which 
 occurred on the peninsula of Spain. There the Sara- 
 cens, not satisfied with their former achievements, 
 began to look towards the rich plains of France on 
 the other side of the Pyrenees. It was during the 
 period of the rois faineants, those pleasure-loving and 
 do-nothing kings ; and the representative of the 
 kalif in Spain thought that he might extend still 
 farther the domains of his master by reaching over 
 the mountains. 
 
 Accordingly, in 721, the armies of the Saracens 
 precipitated themselves upon the region of Aqui- 
 
 * The immediate cause of the death of this intemperate sovereign 
 was, however, an indigestion. A Syrian Christian made him a pres- 
 ent of two great baskets of eggs and figs, and, in his gluttony, lie ate 
 them botli one morning, adding to tlie mass a large number of grapes 
 from Taif, a quantity of marrow and sugar, a kid, six fowls, and 
 seventy pomegranates, — veritably a savage repast !
 
 INCURSIONS INTO FRANCE. 339 
 
 tania, then ruled by King Eudes, formerly Duke of 
 Toulouse, and laid siege to Narbonne, an ancient 
 town not far from the sea, which had before been 
 devastated by the Goths. The Arabian writers say 
 in their exaggerated language that the Christian 
 troops were so numerous that the dust raised in 
 their movements obscured the light of the sun ; but 
 the Saracen commander called to mind the faith of 
 the Koran, " If Allah be for us, who can be against 
 us ? " Terrible was the onslaught when the antag- 
 onists came together ; but in the midst of the strife 
 the leader of the Arabs was stricken down ; his 
 forces were thrown into confusion, and the only re- 
 source for them was to retire, leaving the field cov- 
 ered with the bodies of their slain. Abd er Rah- 
 man, the governor of Spain, came to the rescue and 
 led his defeated troops back beyond the Pyrenees. 
 
 In the year 724, Yezid II. died, and his brother 
 Hisham became kalif. Under him the incursions 
 into France were renewed, Carcasonne, even now 
 surrounded by the strong walls that are said to 
 have resisted the onslaughts of the Goths, was 
 taken and given over to all the fury of an unrelent- 
 ing soldiery ; Nismes opened its gates to the onrush- 
 ing hordes, and gave hostages for its loyalty ; gold 
 beyond estimate was wrung from the conquered 
 towns, until the death of a leader of the Saracens 
 caused a slight respite in 725. It was but tempo- 
 rary, however, for a new commander came to the 
 front, and a wilder fury inspired his soldiery. Then 
 the Moslems spread themselves everywhere, feeling 
 confident that " Allah had put terror into the hearts
 
 34C^ TlIK STROKE OF THE HAMMER. 
 
 of all the Christians, so that if one of them showed 
 himself, it was only to ask mercy." Along the beau- 
 tiful Rhine they rushed ; throughout the valley of 
 the Rhone ; at Vienne, at Lyons, at Macon, at Cha- 
 lons, at Dijon, they left their marks in the shape of 
 the tottering walls of abbeys and churches ; through 
 the region watered by the Loire, they ran, appar- 
 ently wandering hither and thither with no plan but 
 to sack and rob wherever they could find anything 
 to attract their cupidity. France was in a state of an- 
 archy, but the Saracens were not wise enough to do 
 more than ravage; they found themselves unable to 
 effect durable conquests such as they had made in 
 other lands. One leader followed another in rapid suc- 
 cession, each anxious first of all to make his private 
 fortune, after the fashion of the Roman governors, 
 — the Verreses and the Catilines of ancient times 
 When was the terrible scourge to end ? History 
 soon tells us. 
 
 In the year 732, that Abd er Rahman who had 
 led his defeated troops over the Pyrenees eleven 
 years before, ventured again to launch them forth, 
 probably to gather up as much spoil as he could 
 and then retreat to the more congenial South. He 
 hastened by rapid marches towards the city of Tours, 
 ravaging the country, placing the towns under heavy 
 tribute, pillaging the shrines of religion, and loading 
 himself down with an increasing amount of spoil. 
 
 Count Eudes feared to meet t)'.e enemy again 
 alone, and sent for help to Charles, Duke of Austra- 
 sia, who, as Mayor of the Palace, was then ruling the 
 land of the feeble Chilperic H. and controlling that
 
 THE BATTLE NEAR TOURS. 34I 
 
 do-nothing prince himself. He represented the 
 shame that would come to France if it should al- 
 low its mailed soldiers to be defied by an army of 
 almost naked Moslems. Charles replied that their 
 enthusiasm would be less when they had laden them- 
 selves with boot}% and when rivalry among their 
 leaders had divided their counsels. 
 Nor were the Saracens 
 
 " Of victory less assured, by long success 
 
 Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength, 
 Which, surely, they believed, as it had rolled 
 Thus far unchecked, would roll victorious on. 
 Till like the Orient, the subjected West 
 Should bow in reverence at Mohammed's name ; 
 And pilgrims from remotest Arctic shores 
 Tread with religious feet the burning sands 
 Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil," 
 
 " Africa had poured 
 
 Fresh shoals upon the coast of wretched Spain ; 
 Lured from their hungry deserts to the scene 
 Of spoil, like vultures to the battle-field, 
 Fierce, unrelenting, habited in crime." 
 
 Both sides were confident, but it appears that the 
 Saracens were surprised, when they encountered un- 
 expectedly the forces that Count Eudes and Count 
 Charles had collected, spread out on a plain between 
 the towns of Tours and Poitiers. The Frankish army 
 was fresh from victory over the barbarians in Ger- 
 many, but it beheld before it several thousand Ber- 
 bers and Arabs, accustomed likewise to victory, and 
 expecting now the bountiful spoils of a rich land. 
 The Saracen leader, unwilling to meet his enemy on 
 the plain, retreated to a more commanding position.
 
 342 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER. 
 
 and then for several days the two great masses of 
 men looked each other in the face. The generals 
 did not know that upon the result of the combat 
 depended the fate of the Western World, but they 
 must have felt that the position was one of greatest 
 moment, and each wished to make his soldiers famil- 
 iar with the appearance at least of the enemy they 
 were to meet. 
 
 The impulsive Saracen ventured the first move, 
 thrusting a squadron of Numidian cavalry upon the 
 battalion of the Franks bristling with steel. The 
 brave and agile sons of the forest came with a ter- 
 rible shock against the immovable wall formed by 
 infantry, and hour after hour through almost all of 
 the day rank after rank of the Africans fell before 
 their well-drilled antagonists, until finally they were 
 forced to quit the field in disorder and liasten to the 
 protection of their booty. In vain did Abd er Rah- 
 man try to stem the torrent of retreat ; the powerful 
 army of Duke Charles rained blows like those of a 
 sledge-hammer upon the unarmed Numidians, and 
 his soldiers, reminding themselves of their conflicts 
 with the Northern barbarians, fought with equal des- 
 peration, until finally the Saracen leader himself was 
 killed, and the day was lost. 
 
 The onward march of the Moslems towards the 
 north was stopped ; and the rising sun the next day 
 shone upon a deserted camp, which the Franks cau- 
 tiously explored, only to find here and there a relic 
 stolen from some chapel or a little spoil from a pri- 
 vate castle. The Saracens were gone ; excepting that, 
 according to the exaggerations that were long cur-
 
 344 ^^''^ STROKE OF THE IIAMMERT 
 
 rent, the cl':;id bodies of more than three hundred 
 thousand were left on the field. Duke Charles has 
 ever since that day been known as Charles Martel, 
 on account of the hammer-like strokes that he poured 
 upon his enemy. The Christian losses were set down 
 by the partial monks at fifteen hundred, but that no 
 such disparity existed, is made evident from the fact 
 that Charles Martel thought best not to folloM' up 
 his success ; but permitted the Saracens to make 
 good their escape, and allowed his own allies to 
 return to their native German woods.* 
 
 The Saracens themselves were unwilling to make 
 further efforts to invade the land of the Franks, be- 
 cause news reached them that their conquests in 
 Africa were threatened, and that there were also 
 alarming risings among the Eastern peoples, who had 
 become restive under the tribute to which they were 
 subjected. The governor of Africa therefore sent a 
 general to Spain ordered to collect the remnant of 
 the Saracenic army and bring it across the Straits of 
 Gibraltar. The Moslems acknowledged themselv^es 
 beaten not only in word but in deed, and gave up 
 further attempts upon Frankish territory. Thus they 
 left Charles Martel free to consolidate his power, and 
 to transmit it to his son Pepin, through whom it de- 
 scended to his greater grandson, Charlemagne. 
 
 While these momentous operations had progressed 
 in the west, Hisham had made attempts to advance 
 
 * The historian Gibbon gives an account of the decisive battle of 
 Tours (called by the French the battle of Poitiers) in his fifty-second 
 chapter. See also " The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by 
 Sir Edward S. Creasy, and " Magna Charta Stories," edited by the 
 present author. (Boston and London, 1882.)
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS KAZAR3. 345 
 
 in the direction of Constantinople, but had been 
 obliged to return in shame to Damascus. A few 
 years afterwards, he attacked the town of Nicaea, the 
 metropoHs of Bithynia, which was protected by walls 
 fifteen or twenty feet in thickness and thirty or forty 
 feet in height. Here, too, he was unsuccessful. 
 
 After these struggles, there followed disturbances 
 in Armenia, wdiere a powerful race from beyond the 
 Caucasus had fallen upon the possessions of the 
 Moslems. These barbarians were known as Ka- 
 zars.* At first they ravaged the border-lands with 
 success ; then they were repulsed ; again, they gained 
 a victory over the Saracens ; and thus, like the weav- 
 er's shuttle, victory was thrown from side to side. 
 The year at which these disturbances began is not 
 determined, but they were renewed in 728, when the 
 king of the Kazars advanced to the very gates of 
 Mosul in Mesopotamia, not far from the ruins of 
 ancient Nineveh. From this point they were obliged 
 to retreat, and they crossed the Caucasus in safety. 
 A permanent colony of Saracens was' established as 
 a protection against further inroads. The next 5'ear 
 the troops of the kalif penetrated the country of the 
 
 * Much controversy has been waged over the origin of the Kazars. 
 They are supposed to have been Scythians. From remote antiquity 
 they dwelt in a region north of the Caspian, whence, in the sixth cen- 
 tury, they made terrible incursions into Persia, even after the defiles 
 of Daghestan had been closed by the wall and the iron gates of Ko- 
 bad, the father of Chosroes, in 507 A.D. Gibbon describes this wall 
 as being formed of stones "seven feet thick, twenty-one feet in 
 length," framed without cement into a wall running more than 
 "three hundred miles from the shores of Derbend over the hills 
 and through the valleys of Dagliestan and Georgia." — " Decline and 
 Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter xl., par. vi.
 
 34<5 
 
 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER. 
 
 Kazars without effecting any thing of importance. 
 In 731, the Kazars made another invasion, but were 
 speedily forced back again. Thus the battle waged 
 among the half-conquered subjects to the north, un- 
 til, in 743, the kalif died, and his dominions which 
 he had not increased, fell to his nephew, Walid II., 
 who reigned but fifteen months, and was followed 
 by Yezid III., who died of the plague after a reign 
 of five months. Ibrahim followed, but was deposed 
 at the end of three months.
 
 XXXV. 
 
 THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS. 
 
 The conquering career of the Saracens had come 
 to an end. The kahf whose troops had been over- 
 thrown in tlieir pride by Charles Martel, though he 
 did not materially decrease the extent of the domin- 
 ions received from his predecessor, handed them 
 over to his nephew without addition. Walid II. 
 was not at all the man to impart new life to the 
 militar}^ movements ; he had none of the qualities of 
 a successful ruler ; and as he had been away from the 
 capital, he assumed the supreme authority ignorant 
 of the duties it involved, and liable to make fatal 
 mistakes at ever)' step. He was laz}% indisposed to 
 affairs, and gave himself up to unrestrained indul- 
 gence, carr}'ing his dogs with him to the sacred soil 
 of Mecca, and even drinking there the forbidden 
 wines. Thus his actions estranged his people from 
 him, and when, in 743, his cousin aspired to the office 
 of kalif, the citizens of Damascus opened their gates 
 and received him as Yezid III. Walid at last seemed 
 to obtain the mastery of himself, and fought a battle 
 in which, though unsuccessful, he won some admira- 
 tion for his valor. 
 
 Ten years of civil war followed ; the death of Wa-
 
 34'*^ THE BLACK' FLAG OF AL^BAS 
 
 liil (in 744) luit .scrvins4" ^^ *^'^ to (jiiict tlio disturb- 
 ances that his ill conduct had excited. Africa 
 escaped froni the kahfate ; Spain was rent with 
 discord; and above all, Korassan was filled with in- 
 sidious emissaries of the faction that l)ore the name 
 of Ali, stirring up hatred against all tlic family of 
 the Omiades. To these disturbing elements must be 
 added the most powerful of all, that of the descend- 
 ants of tlie uncle of Mohammed, Abbas, son of Abd 
 al Muttalib, known in history as the Abbassides. 
 Their grounds for claiming the kalifate were not 
 so strong as those of the Alyites, but they them- 
 selves were more forcible, and they were united in 
 action, which the Alyites were not. 
 
 At the time of the troubles in Africa and Spain, in 
 the reign of Yezid II., and Hisham, the Alyites and 
 the Abbassides sent emissaries secretly throughout 
 Korassan, preaching discontent and mysteriously 
 bidding the people to expect a new apostle espe- 
 ciall}' sent by Allah, who should be of the blood of 
 the prophet. Hisham had heard of these mission- 
 aries, and had put the governors of Irak and Koras- 
 san on their guard against them. There was now a 
 revolt at Horns (Emesa), and Palestine rose on pre- 
 text of revenging the death of Walid II. In this 
 disturbed condition of the kalifate, Yezid III. died. 
 His brother, Ibrahim (744), was soon overcome by a 
 grandson of Merwan I., then governor of Irak, who 
 ascended the throne as Merwan II. (Nov., 744). 
 
 Hardly had Merwan been saluted as kalif in the 
 mosque at Damascus when a new revolt occurred. 
 He had retired to Harran, which he made his resi-
 
 A REVOLT AT DAMASCUS. 
 
 349 
 
 dencc, when Hoiiis. just noilli of that place, though 
 it had assisted u\ raisins^ liiin to the throne, pro- 
 nounced his deposition. Mervvan intended to visit 
 immediate and condign punishment upon the town ; 
 but he heard that a revolt had broken out almost 
 under the walls of Damascus ; in fact, he found him- 
 self in the midst of uprisings which demanded the 
 most active efforts to repress, and he rose so 
 
 COUKT UK (JKliAl' MOSyUK Ut' DAMASCUS. 
 
 completely to the situation that he was nicknamed 
 from his agility " the Ass of Irak." 
 
 An apparent peace followed, and for two years it 
 seemed as though the Omiades might hold their 
 power a little longer ; but the Alyites and the 
 Abbassides were constant in their secret labors, and 
 under the lead of masters of intrigue, were making 
 sure of every step. By the year 745, they began to
 
 350 THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS. 
 
 ask whether the time had not arrived for throwing 
 off the mask. The governor of Korassan wrote to 
 Merwan : " I sec some sparks scintillating under the 
 ashes, and from them a great fire may be kindled ; 
 let us hasten to extinguish these sparks, if we wish 
 to avoid the conflagration : why must I ask if the 
 children of Omia are awake, or if a leaden sleep 
 shuts their eyes ? " Merwan sent orders for rigorous 
 treatment of all ])ersons guilty of sedition ; but it 
 was too late. 
 
 The conspirators now publicly announced at 
 Merv the beginning of a new dynasty, and no prayers, 
 promises, or reasonings were sufficient to cause 
 them to retrace their steps. The kalif trembled 
 when he heard this news from a province upon 
 which he had so greatly depended ; whose brave 
 and strong inhabitants had furnished his armies their 
 most indomitable soldiers ; and when he reflected 
 that the battle-cry of this revolt was " the Family of 
 the Prophet ! " he awakened himself a second time. 
 Ibrahim, the leader of the movement, was captured 
 and imprisoned at Harran ; but his lieutenant, Abu 
 Muslim, the real heart and soul of the insurrection, 
 pressed on successfully ; captured Merv, and called 
 to his banner all who were willing to unite in a 
 strong blow at the kalif in the centre of his power. 
 Merwan made his captive suffer for his lieutenant's 
 success, and put him to death, but Ibrahim bequeath- 
 ed his vengeance to his brother, Abu Abbas, called 
 el Saffah, the Bloody. In the autumn of 749, Abbas 
 appeared in the capital of Korassan, and was an- 
 nounced as the successor of the prophet ; he then
 
 THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE ZAB. 35 1 
 
 took possession of the palace ^ nrolled the black flag 
 of his family, and called upon all the faithful to join 
 in reconquering the heritage of Mohammed, 
 
 Merwan, with his usual agility, was on the march 
 for Korassan with an army, at the first news of the 
 revolt ; the two claimants for the supreme power 
 over a region extending from the Indus to the 
 Atlantic, found themselves face to face on the banks 
 of the river Zab (in January, 750), some thirty miles 
 southeast of Nineveh and Mosul, not far from 
 Arbela, celebrated as the scene of the last great 
 battle between Darius the Mede and Alexander the 
 Great, B.C. 331.* Battle was joined at mid-day, and 
 continued until the hour of prayer in the afternoon. 
 The enthusiasm of the Saracens seemed to have 
 deserted the Omiades, and though Merwan per- 
 formed deeds of great valor, his men were simply an 
 inert mass ; they carried out the orders badly, and 
 the enemy profited by each evidence of indecision. 
 The fight was renewed the next day ; but at last the 
 troops of the Abbassides gained the advantage, and 
 the soldiers of the kalif sought to recross the river, 
 flying in disorder. Many were cut down by the 
 enemy, large numbers were drowned in the ZaD, and 
 the cause of the Omiades was forever lost. Merwan 
 himself took to flight. At Harran he found his 
 wives and children, and with them went to Kinnes- 
 rin, but he did not stop there. He was robbed of 
 portions of his goods on the way towards Emesa, 
 from which place he hastened to Damascus ; but 
 the gates of the capital of his dynasty were closed 
 * See " The Story of Alexander's Empire," chapter iii.
 
 352 rHK /if.ACA' FLAG OF AFBAS. 
 
 against him, and he conlinnctl (jn to the soutliward. 
 not stopping until lie had reached the delta of the 
 Nile, where he was overtaken and decapitated by 
 soldiers of Abul Abbas. 
 
 The assassination of Merwaii was the beginning of 
 a butchery by Abbas which gave good ground for 
 his name cl Saffah. He had overthrown the family 
 of the Omiades, and now he determined to cut it out 
 root and branch. To this end, he ordered the entire 
 connection executed, in a general proscription — sons, 
 grandsons, friends, were ordered to indiscriminate 
 butchery, of which the details are too heart-sickening 
 for description. Vengeance did not stop w^th the 
 living; the funereal marbles that stood over the re- 
 mains of the dead were broken down, ashes and bones 
 were torn from their resting-places and scattered. 
 This done. Abbas felt secure of his throne. 
 
 In spite of these desperate efforts on the part of 
 the new kalif to root out of the world every 
 rehct of the former dynasty, there remained one at 
 least, Abd er Rahman, son of Moawia, who managed to 
 escape to Egypt. There, avoiding inhabited regions, 
 he trusted himself to the mercies of the wandering 
 Berbers of the desert, and gained their respect by his 
 noble origin, but especially by his princely appear- 
 ance and accomplishments, his courage and manly 
 virtues. Information regarding him reached Spain^ 
 then rent by discord, and, after several years of vi- 
 cissitude, Abd er Rahman w.'is called to become 
 kalif at Cordova. Thus Abul Abbas failed to gain 
 control of the entire dominion that the Omiades had 
 ruled, and a representative of his mortal enemies gov-
 
 At^^TER THE VICTORY. 353 
 
 erned a large portion of the now permanently di- 
 vided kalifate. His reign of thirty-two years was a 
 constant series of struggles, from ail of which he 
 came forth victorious, forcing even his enemies to 
 admire his success. It was during the period 
 covered by this long reign that the defeat of Charle- 
 magne occurred at Roncesveaux (a.d. 778), upon 
 which balladists have built the romantic tales of 
 Roland and his sword Durando, of Ganelon and his 
 despicable treason. 
 
 The first solicitude of Abbas after he had obliter- 
 ated the family of his opponents was to secure the 
 kalifate to his own tribe in succession, and in his 
 efforts to accomplish this he showed considerable 
 misdirected sagacity. He determined to make 
 the interest of the family of Abbas one, and to 
 this end divided the realm into several parts, 
 giving each one to a different member of the 
 family. Thus to Mansur, his brother, destined 
 to be his successor, he confided the government 
 of Irak or Mesopotamia ; to an uncle he gave Yemen ; 
 to another (Abdalla ben Ali, ben Abdalla, ben Abbas), 
 Syria ; to another, Bassora ; to another, Egypt ; and 
 to Abu Muslim, to whom he owed his authority, he 
 assigned Korassan. A nephew was stationed at 
 Kufa, and another relative at Mosul. Africa and 
 Spain gave him no trouble, for they had been taken 
 from him. Having made these arrangements for the 
 permanence of his dynasty, Abul Abbas died at An- 
 bar, on the Euphrates, in the year 754, at the early 
 age of thirty-three. 
 
 24
 
 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 BY Bagdad's shrines. 
 
 The dynasty that Abiil Abbas liad now founded 
 was destined to continue for five hundred years, and 
 in glory and riches to surpass by far any thing that 
 the Omiades had dreamed of. Mansur (" the Victori- 
 ous"), brother of Abbas, who was designated by him 
 as his successor, had been governor of Irak, but at 
 the moment of the kahf's death he was engaged in 
 the performance of the pilgrimage to Mecca in com- 
 pany with that founder of the dynasty, Muslim, who 
 wished to return thanks to Allah for his goodness in 
 giving him success. It was his fortune to be the 
 first to salute Mansur as kalif, and his powerful ex- 
 ample was immediately followed by those pilgrims 
 who surrounded him. 
 
 At the head of the religious troops Mansur then 
 took up the journey towards Irak, but hardly had 
 he come to the borders of his own territory when he 
 was informed that the means which Abbas had 
 taken to strengthen the family feeling and make the 
 dynasty stable had resulted in giving him a formidable 
 rival. His uncle, Abdalla, who had been the first to 
 adopt the black colors which became those of the 
 dynasty, and who had been rewarded for his services
 
 MUSLIM AT NISIBJS. 355 
 
 against Merwan by the government of Syria, 
 claimed the supreme authority, and was then on his 
 way from Damascus towards that portion of Irak 
 in which the Abbassides had held court. 
 
 Muslim was assigned the difficult task of facing the 
 rebellion, and the two former friends met in deadly 
 struggle on the banks of Mygdonius, at primeval 
 Nisibis, that unfortunate city which had been in for- 
 mer ages tossed back and forth between the Romans 
 and their Eastern enemies. Long was victory doubt- 
 ful, but finally it perched on the banners of Muslim, 
 and the army of the revolters was utterly scattered. 
 Abdalla himself found safety for a while in flight. 
 Again had Muslim accomplished the greatest service 
 for the Abbassides ; but his success proved his ruin. 
 The kalif offered him the government of Syria, thus 
 made vacant ; but he declined to remove from Koras- 
 san, in the strong mountain fastnesses of which he 
 loved to roam or rest, where all the inhabitants were 
 united in supporting him. The kalif seemed sus- 
 picious of the successful champion of his cause, and 
 called him peremptorily to court. After some delay, 
 Muslim obeyed, only to be met by feigned cordiality, 
 and to be pierced by the daggers of hired assassins. 
 In the year 754, the mutilated body of the great 
 founder of the new dynasty was cast contumeliously 
 into the Tigris ! 
 
 Spain and Africa having been lost to the kalifate, 
 Mansur recurred to that oft-repeated scheme of his 
 predecessors, and pushed his armies towards the 
 domains of the Roman emperors, sending his first 
 troops to capture Melitene (Malatia), in Eastern
 
 356 BV BAGDAD'S SHRIA'ES. 
 
 Cappadocia, which was at the time a centre of im= 
 portancc. Scmiramis is said to have laid the founda- 
 tions of the place ; Trajan had made it a great city; 
 Justinian had surrounded it with new walls ; and it 
 was celebrated as the site of victory gained by the 
 Romans over the Persians in 577. The stronghold 
 was taken and disarmed, a garrison of four thousand 
 Saracens was placed in command of it, and the vic- 
 torious forces of the kalif pushed on through Cilicia 
 to Pamphylia, where a Roman army was met and 
 cut to pieces on the river Melas. Here the advance 
 was stopped by the news of a fresh rising in Koras- 
 san, among followers of Abu Muslim who belonged to 
 the Karejites, but were known as Rawendites from 
 the fact that they inhabited the city of Rawend. 
 Their tenets are doubtful. 
 
 Mansur made the pilgrimage to Mecca in the year 
 557, purchased some of the buildings which then 
 encroached upon the mosque, and enlarged the en- 
 closure. He then returned to Irak by way of Medina, 
 visiting on the way the tomb of Mohammed and 
 the city of Jerusalem, and took up his residence at 
 Hashimeya, not far from Kufa. Here it was that 
 the Rawendites made their demonstration ; but they 
 were quickly overcome and their leaders thrown into 
 prison. This act of repression led to a more for- 
 midable rising ; the prisons were attacked, the cap- 
 tives delivered, and the kalif actually besieged in his 
 palace. Mansur took the lead in the attempt to 
 drive the insurgents away, placing himself in great 
 danger, and they were finally overcome and com- 
 pletely dispersed. This experience disgusted the
 
 THE NEW CAPITAL. 357 
 
 kalif with Hashimeya and its inhabitants, and as he 
 was equally unvvilHng to trust himself to the Kufans, 
 m whose city he would otherwise have enjoyed 
 living, he decided to establish a capital on a new 
 foundation. The spot which he chose was not far 
 from that Medain, of which we have read so much 
 in the earlier portion of our story, but a little north 
 of it, on the Tigris. Giving it the name Bagdad, 
 and calling it Dar al Salaam, the City of Peace, he 
 erected his palace in the centre, building about it 
 circular walls, in order that it might be approached 
 from all quarters equally well. The waters of the 
 Tigris were carried around the ramparts by means 
 of a ditch, and a hundred and sixty towers served as 
 further protection. Every art of the architect and 
 the designer, of the artist in stone, of the painter and 
 gilder, was made tributary to the grandeur of a city 
 which was intended to embody something of the 
 magnificence of a dynasty that counted its wealth by 
 the hundred million, and hesitated at no outlay that 
 would make a display. Of the scenes of delight that 
 Mansur created at Bagdad, it might be said, as the 
 poet * has written of another Oriental prince's 
 pavilion : 
 
 " A pillared avenue of stately palms 
 
 Slept in the sun ; a fountain rose and fell, 
 Breaking the silver surface at its base ; 
 Goldfish like sunken ingots lay in heaps 
 Beneath the fountaui's rain ; beside its rim. 
 Dipping his long bill in a lotus cup, 
 A black crane stooped ; between the silent palni.^ 
 A length of silken carpet was unrolled ; 
 
 * Richard Henry Stoddard.
 
 35«^ BV BAGDAjy.S S// NINES. 
 
 A white gazelle dangled a silver chain, 
 
 I'icking its way through tufts of broidercd flowers. 
 
 Flowers of all hues and odors strewed the ground ; 
 
 Roses, fire-red ; large tulips, cups of flame ; 
 
 Ranks of snow-lilies, turning dew to pearls, 
 
 And rolling rivers of anemones. 
 
 Broad meadows stretched afar, wherein, dim-seen 
 
 Tlirough winking haze, the still Euphrates lay, — 
 
 The great Euphrates, fresh from Babylon." 
 
 This overweening desire to aggrandize the new capi- 
 tal led to a memorable dissension, which has left its 
 mark in literature as well as history. 
 
 It is said that during the kalifate of Abbas there 
 came to his court from Korassan a representative of 
 a family known since as the Barmecides, named Jaafar, 
 who offered the kalif a ring containing poison, which 
 he said might serve him in case of necessity. His 
 son Kalid became chief vizier under Abbas, and con- 
 tinued to hold the same office under Mansur. The 
 family was rich beyond computation, and Kalid was 
 sage, eloquent, frank, and courageous beyond any 
 other men of his day. So great was the influence of 
 Kalid, that at this time, when Mansur was at the 
 height of his interest in the creation of Bagdad, and 
 proposed to rob the palaces of the Chosroes, at 
 Medain, of their magnificent columns and other 
 masonry, he dared to interpose objections to the 
 plan. With the sagacity of a wary courtier he 
 asserted that to destroy the evidences of the Persian 
 grandeur was to obliterate the proofs of the power 
 of Islam which had overthrown it. The date of the 
 foundation of Bagdad is placed at the year 762. The 
 protests of Barmek were efificient, and the palace of 
 the Persian monarchs was not disturbed.
 
 KUFA AND BASSORA COWED. 31^9 
 
 The great-grandchildren of Ali were at this time 
 living now at Mecca, now in Irak, now in Korassan, 
 now in Egypt, ever biding their chance to interpose 
 and snatch something from the kaHf. Mansur tried 
 hi vain to discover their place of retreat, for he knew 
 that since they had lost the advantage they expected 
 to gain when they aided Muslim in placing the 
 Abbassides upon the throne, they had meditated re- 
 venge and would surely take it when their time 
 arrived. In 762 they thought it had come, and one 
 of them, Mohammed by name, openly assumed the 
 title of kalif, at Medina, where he had collected » 
 considerable number of followers. Mansur sent an 
 army against him, and he was overthrown and killed ; 
 but his partisans in Irak thought themselves strong 
 enough to revenge his death. They set up at Bas- 
 sora his brother, Ibrahim, and he started for Kufa 
 at the head of an army. He was, however, destined 
 to no greater success than his brother, and a bow 
 bent at a venture sent an arrow through his neck. 
 With him fell the last hopes of the Alyites for the 
 time. Mansur directed that the cities of Kufa and 
 Bassora should be surrounded with strong walls, 
 and he placed behind them garrisons sufificient to 
 restrain the fickle inhabitants should they be again 
 tempted to take up the part of any new disturber of 
 the peace of the kalifate. Troubles arose soon after 
 this in Africa, and an army was sent thither, which 
 drove the revolting Berbers to the mountains. It 
 was, however, not long before they returned, and 
 then the general of the Saracens visited condign 
 vengeance upon them (a,d. 772), He also repressed
 
 ',6o BV BAGDAD'S S//A'IJVES. 
 
 a revolt at Tripoli (a. I). 773), and established peace 
 in that portion of the kalifatc, which, no less than 
 Korassan, was ever ready for an insurrection. 
 
 Mansur had now arrived at an age which admon- 
 ished him that there was but little more left of the 
 present life, and he wished to make a final pilgrimage 
 to the holy cities. He had nominated as his suc- 
 cessor Isa, his eldest son ; but before setting out, he 
 caused him to renounce his claim and relieve the 
 peojjle of their oath to him. This Isa finally did, 
 under pressure from Kalid Barmek. He was after- 
 wards referred to as the man who had been *' to- 
 morrow," but had become '' day after to-morrow" ; 
 for his younger brother Mehdi was set in his place 
 and the people were called to swear allegiance to 
 him. Mansur then set out for Mecca, and died at 
 a station three miles from that city. He was 
 interred in the ihram of the pilgrim, his grandson 
 Harun al Rashid saying the last prayers over his 
 body (a. D. 775). Mansur is represented to us by 
 the Arabian historians as a person of uncommon 
 personal beauty, and of brilliant traits of mind, 
 which were beclouded only by an inordinate parsi- 
 mony, for which some of those about him were at 
 times hardly enough to censure him. 
 
 The news of the death of the kalif was carried 
 over the deserts to Bagdad in eleven days, and the 
 grandees convened at once to promise allegiance to 
 Mehdi, in accordance with expectations. The new 
 ruler was of a generous spirit and showed a remark- 
 able willingness to look after the well-being of his 
 people. He not only surrounded himself with able
 
 A LUXURIOUS PILGRIMAGE.' 361 
 
 statesmen, but he gave audience personally to his 
 subjects, and endeavored to redress their wrongs ; 
 he allowed many prisoners, whom the severity of 
 Mansur had deprived of their freedom, to return to 
 the world ; and he reinstated those governors who 
 had suffered from the same cause. 
 
 Before the first year of his reign had closed, Mehdi 
 determined to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and 
 his arrangements for it were of the most luxurious 
 description. Tents were carried to protect the 
 prince and his suite from the sun, and many camels 
 bore freight of snow from Korassan to cool the air 
 still more; every 
 means was taken to 
 guard against all 
 weariness of the flesh 
 and to ensure the en- 
 joyment of the long 
 journey. Arrived at 
 Mecca, the kalif's 
 extravagance became still more manifest : mil- 
 lions of gold coins, brought from Yemen and 
 Egypt, were distributed among the fortunate inhabi- 
 tants ; the rich covers of the Kaaba were taken off 
 and heavy silken stuffs put in their place ; at Medina, 
 too, the mosque was enlarged and adorned in a 
 manner worthy of the great ruler. Even the route 
 to the holy cities was not forgotten ; milestones 
 marked the distance from Bagdad to Mecca ; cara- 
 vansaries were erected at convenient points ; wells 
 and cisterns were dug to quench the thirst of pil- 
 grims; and relays of camels and asses were provided. 
 
 COIN OF MEHDI (A.D. 779).
 
 362 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES. 
 
 not only to Mecca, but also to Yemen, that the 
 transmission of royal messages might be rapid and 
 sure. Such were the extravagant measures by which 
 Mehdi sought to benefit his country. 
 
 Peace did not always perch upon his banners how- 
 ever, and it was in revolutionary Korassan (Province 
 of the Sun) that opposition to the generous ruler is 
 first to be remarked. 
 
 " In that delightful province of the Sun, 
 The first of Persian lands he shines upon, 
 Where all the loveliest children of his beam, 
 Flow'rets and fruits, blush over every stream, 
 And fairest of all streams, the Murga roves 
 Among Merou's [Merv's] bright palaces and groves :— 
 There on that throne, to which tlie blind belief 
 Of millions raised him, sat the Prophet-chief, 
 The great Mokanna. Over his features hung 
 The veil, the silver veil, which he had flung 
 In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight 
 His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light. 
 For, far less luminous, his votaries said. 
 Were even the gleams, miraculously shed 
 O'er Moussa's cheek, when down the mount he trod, 
 All glowing from the presence of his God." * 
 
 Thus the poet introduces to his readers Hakim, 
 called Mokanna, " the Veiled," a prophet who led 
 an obscure sect in Korassan at this time. This 
 order was a reminiscence of the days of Muslim, 
 from whom probably Hakim had learned what he 
 knew about Islam. He appeared at about the year 
 670, and pretended that Allah had been incarnate in 
 Adam, Noah, Muslim, and that at that time he was 
 incarnate in him. His followers became enemies of 
 the Moslems, and made successful predatory excur- 
 
 * Moore's " Lalla Rookh," " The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan."
 
 THE VEILED PROPHET OF KOR ASSAM. 363 
 
 sions into their territory. Mehdi sent an army 
 against them, and so great was their number that it 
 is said that thirty thousand left Hakim's standards 
 when they saw that the cause was lost (about 779). 
 When driven into his strong fortress, Hakim poi- 
 soned and burned ail his family, after which he threw 
 himself into the flames and was completely con- 
 sumed, excepting his hair. He left a message that 
 he was to reappear again in the form of an aged man 
 riding a gray beast, and for many years his second 
 coming was looked for.* 
 
 The former desire for conquest had now given 
 place to the love of luxury, and the armies of the 
 kalifate were hardly sufHcient to perform police 
 duty at home ; but Mehdi was, nevertheless inspired 
 with the desire which had been so strong in his pre- 
 decessors, of making some reprisals upon the Roman 
 empire. The first force that he sent in that direction 
 was obliged to retreat to Syria, after having pene- 
 trated as far as the town of Dorylaeum, in Phrygia, 
 which it had been unsuccessful in attacking. The 
 following year, Mehdi recruited a formidable army 
 among the strong warriors of Korassan, and set out 
 himself at its head, leaving at Bagdad his eldest son, 
 Hedi, and taking with him Harun al Rashid, who, 
 under direction of Kalid Barmek, then received his 
 first lessons in war. 
 
 The year 785 was that in which Irene, widow of 
 Leo IV., took the government of Constantinople in 
 the name of her son, Constantine V. Italy had 
 
 * An account of Mokanna is given by Professor Vambery, " His- 
 tory of Bokhara," pages 42-52.
 
 364 BV BAGDAD'S SHRINES. 
 
 been wrested from the Eastern empire of Charle- 
 magne, and the empress saw that her only hope of 
 conquest was by making head against the Saracens. 
 Accordingly she prepared an army of ninety thou- 
 sand men for this purpose. Mehdi collected one 
 almost as large, and sent it out under command of 
 Harun to invade the domains of the empress. Vic- 
 tory followed the black flag of the Abbassides, and 
 Irene at last saw the camp-fires of the Saracens 
 lighting up the shores of the Bosphorus. A battle 
 for possession of the city followed, and the Saracens 
 were victorious ; then Irene in terror asked terms 
 of peace, and the Saracens ceased their operations, 
 upon her promising to pay an immense annual 
 tribute to the kalif ; besides furnishing guides and 
 provisions for the army on its return, and permitting 
 the kalif to take back with him thousands of prison- 
 ers and beasts, besides large sums of ready money. 
 
 After this success in arms, Mehdi gave attention 
 to putting down the false religionists who had arisen 
 among the people, and in cultivating literature and 
 the arts. In the year 784, he determined, though 
 he was still a young man himself, to ensure the 
 crown to his son Harun ; but before this design had 
 been accomplished, his life came to a sudden end, 
 either by accident in hunting or by means of a 
 poisoned draught designed for another (a.D. 785). 
 He was affectionately remembered by his people as 
 just and generous, as the beautifier of the mosques 
 at Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, and as the only 
 one of his dynasty who did not break the rule of the 
 prophet forbidding the use of wine. The reign is
 
 SKEPTICISM INCREASING. 365 
 
 noted, as Tabari observes, for the increase of heresies, 
 owing probably to the growth of the Persian influ- 
 ences. There had come to be many who horrified 
 the orthodox by expressing skepticism about the 
 Koran and the prophet, immortality and paradise, 
 and indulging in unseemly pleasantries over the sub- 
 jects of fasts and prayers. 
 
 Hedi was promptly proclaimed kalif in the room 
 of his father in 785 ; and the ever restless Alyites 
 took immediate steps towards revolution in their 
 own favor. It happened that they made their de- 
 monstration at Mecca at the time of pilgrimage, 
 when the city was filled with men from all portions 
 of the kalifate, and naturally many of the partisans 
 of the Abbassides were among them. A bloody 
 struggle between the factions ensued, and the un- 
 fortunate children of Ali were again defeated. 
 
 Hedi was destined to enjoy the supreme authority 
 but a few months, and most of his attention was 
 given to putting down certain atheists, nihilists, or 
 materialists, and in making the succession secure to 
 his eldest son, against the known wishes of his father. 
 This design was frustrated by Kalid, who felt the 
 tenderness of a teacher for his pupil, and remembered 
 also the benefits that he had received from Mehdi. 
 Hedi did not live in friendly relations with his 
 mother, who, he thought, exercised too much influ- 
 ence in government. In consequence of this ill-feel- 
 ing, he endeavored to poison her ; but his design 
 was discovered and he w^as himself smothered with 
 pillows in the year 786, after a reign of only fifteen 
 months, at the age of twenty-six years.
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 AARON THE ORTHODOX. 
 
 We have now reached that brilhant period in the 
 history of the world when the heroes of romance 
 were riding at once, — imperial Charlemagne in the 
 West and capricious Ilarun al Rashid in the East, 
 and we can scarcely turn the pages on which the rec- 
 ord of the times are written without expecting to 
 see a paladin of the one start up before us, or to 
 have our ears ravished by the seductive voice of 
 Queen Scheherazade telling her romantic tales. 
 The familiar picture of the period is crowded with 
 jinns, efreets, and ghouls; minarets burnished with 
 gold shine from every quarter ; gayly-lighted pleas- 
 ure barges float on the waters of the Tigris ; deadly 
 scimetars flash before our startled eyes ; we are in- 
 troduced to caves in which thieves gorged with gold 
 have hoarded their ill-gotten wealth ; we tread the 
 streets of Bagdad by night in company with kalifs 
 true and false ; we hear the sound of a voice calling 
 upon us to exchange old lamps for new ; we enter 
 the gorgeous palace of the four-and-twenty windows, 
 and as we behold the unfinished one, exclaim witi] 
 the poet : 
 
 " Ah, who shall lift that wand of magic power, 
 And the lost clew regain ?
 
 THE BAGDAD OF STORY. 3^7 
 
 The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower 
 Unlinished must remain. . . . 
 
 " So I wander and wander along, 
 And forever before me gleams 
 The shining city of songs 
 
 In the beautiful land of dreams." 
 
 It is a land of dreams to most of the world, but it 
 was far otherwise to the citizens of Bagdad then. 
 To them Harun was a flesh-and-blood monarch ; his 
 scimetar was no fantasm of a dream ; his caprices 
 were not the entertaining story of a fascinating Per- 
 sian genius ; the brilliant Oriental imagination had 
 not yet wrought out its rich pages of adventure and 
 despotic marvels ; the people of Bagdad did not 
 smile at the erratic deeds of their chief ruler: to 
 them he was one whose words made every subject 
 tremble, lest the fate of the Barmecides, perchance, 
 might be theirs ; lest the whirling scimetar of the 
 executioner should cut through their own necks. 
 The people who in that day were born " adown 
 the Tigris," 
 
 " By Bagdad's shrines of fretted gold, 
 High-walled gardens green and old," 
 
 who rested beneath the citron shadows, who saw 
 
 " The costly doors flung open wide. 
 
 Cold glittering through the lamplight dim, 
 And broidered sofas on each side," 
 
 did not enjoy the charms of the scenes the}" were 
 surrounded by so much as we may now ; for every 
 step they took was dogged by fear — fear that was 
 based upon ghastly experience of the tyranny and
 
 '.^^ AARON THE ORTHODOX. 
 
 peremptory savagery of the "good" Harun al 
 Rashid, of which poetry so gayly speaks to us to- 
 day. 
 
 The reign of this monarch, who raised the great- 
 ness of the kahfatc higher than it has ever before 
 been carried, was divided into two periods, during 
 the first of which the sovereign, giving himself up to 
 the enjoyment of luxurious ease, permitted his min- 
 isters, the sons of Barmek, to send his armies hither 
 and thither in search of conquests or in efforts to 
 put down risings against his power. This period 
 closed in 803, and the affairs of the kalif then fell 
 into a state of confusion which only grew worse 
 after his death in 809. 
 
 The Barmecides were patrons of art, letters, and 
 science, and encouraged men of learning to make 
 their homes at the capital ; Harun sympathized in 
 this policy, and Bagdad became magnificent almost 
 beyond the power of words to express to readers ac- 
 customed to the comparative simplicity of nineteenth- 
 century magnificence. In the progress of Bagdad 
 the kalif's brother Ibrahim, a man of parts, who af- 
 terwards became a claimant for supreme power, was 
 a helper not to be left out of the account. The chief 
 vizier, who bore the burdens of state, as the title sig- 
 nifies, was Yahya, son of Kalid, son of Barmek ; and 
 he it was who encouraged trade, regulated the inter- 
 nal administration of government in every respect, 
 fortified the frontiers, and made the provinces 
 prosperous by making them safe. Jaafer, his son, 
 governed Syria and Egypt, besides having other re- 
 sponsibilities. The family was an ornament to the

 
 370 AARON THE ORTHODOX. 
 
 forehead and a crown on the head of the kalif, as 
 the chroniclers relate ; they were brilliant stars, vast 
 oceans, impetuous torrents, beneficent rains, the 
 refuge of the afflicted, the comfort of the dis- 
 tressed, and so generous are they represented that 
 the story of their beneficence reads like a veritable 
 page from the Thousand and One Nights. 
 
 The Alyites rose in Africa in 792, and the Barme- 
 cides put them down ; dissensions broke out at Da- 
 mascus, at Mosul, in Egypt, among the Karejites, 
 but they were restrained by the strong ministers, 
 and all the while the kalif pursued his career as pa- 
 tron of arts and letters ; wits and musicians thronged 
 about him ; grammarians and poets, jurists and di- 
 vines, alike were encouraged in their chosen pursuits. 
 In 802, a new emperor came to the throne at Con- 
 stantinople; Nicephorus usurped the place of Irene. 
 He courted Charlemagne on the west, and insulted 
 Harun on the east. He sent a letter to the kalif, 
 saying : 
 
 " From Nicephorus, King of the Greeks, to Harun, 
 King of the Arabs. 
 
 " The queen considered you as a rook and herself 
 as a pawn ""■' ; she submitted to pay tribute to you, 
 though she ought to have exacted twice as much 
 from you. A man speaks to you now ; therefore 
 send back the tribute you have received, otherwise 
 the sword shall be umpire between me and thee !" 
 
 To this haughty note Harun replied : 
 
 * The rook or castle in the game of chess is permitted to make long 
 moves across the boards in lines parallel with its sides, while the pawn 
 may move diagonally but one stjuare at a time.
 
 END OF THE BARMECIDES. 371 
 
 " In the name of Allah most merciful ! 
 
 " Harun al Rashid, Commander of the Faithful, to 
 Nicephorus, the Roman dog. 
 
 " I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbeliev- 
 ing mother ! Thou shalt not hear but behold my 
 reply ! " 
 
 The kalif set forth that very day ; he plundered, 
 burned, and completely conquered the region about 
 Heraclea, in Bithynia. Nicephorus sued for peace, 
 which was granted him on condition that the usual 
 tribute should now be paid twice a year. Scarcely 
 had the kalif reached his palace, when the treacher- 
 ous emperor broke the treaty, and Harun advanced 
 upon him over the Taurus mountains in spite of the 
 inclement winter weather, with an army of one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five thousand men. Heraclea and 
 other fortresses wcxc again taken, and this time dis- 
 mantled, and peace was once more agreed upon. 
 
 At about this period, Harun became jealous of his 
 great ministers, the Barmecides, one of whom had 
 secretly married his sister, and decreed their ruin. 
 With the usual Oriental treachery, the different 
 members of the family were taken and imprisoned 
 for life or slaughtered, to the last man. In this case, 
 as in many others in the Saracen history, no senti- 
 ment of gratitude for all that had been accomplished 
 by the faithful servants was taken into account ; 
 though Harun is said to have shed tears over the 
 fate of the two children of his sister and Yahya, he 
 did not allow such sentimental weakness to interfere 
 with his atrocious purpose. There had been enemies 
 of the Barmecides at court, some of whom had lost
 
 372 AARON 77/F. ORTHODOX. 
 
 their offices on the advent of the favorites, and these 
 had endeavored to prejudice the mind of the kaHf 
 against them. As Persians they were naturally hated, 
 and these enemies accused them of disloyal ambition. 
 When they found themselves unable to carry their 
 point in this way, they accused the Barmecides, with 
 more grounds, of infidelity, and doubtless they were 
 thought nihilists by many, for they had little sym- 
 pathy with Islam. Harun was himself exceedingly 
 orthodox, and very scrupulous in obeying such of 
 the laws of his religion as he did not care to break,* 
 and though at time he paid little attention to this 
 accusation, he found it convenient to remember, 
 when he had determined to ovcrthow his favorites. 
 
 " Fallen was the house of Jaafar ; and its name, 
 The high romantic name of Barmecide, 
 A sound forbidden on its own bright shores, 
 By the swift Tigris' wave. Stern Harun's wrath, 
 Sweeping the mighty with their fame away, 
 Had so passed sentence : but man's chainless heart 
 Hides that within its depths which never yet 
 The oppressor's thought could reach. " 
 
 An Arabian poet thus deplored the fall of the 
 Barmecides : 
 
 " No, Barmek ! time hath never shown 
 So sad a change of wayward fate ; 
 Nor sorrowing mortals ever known 
 A grief so true, a loss so great. 
 
 " Spouse of the world ! thy soothing lireasc 
 Did balm to every woe afford ; 
 And now, no more by thee caressed. 
 The widowed world bewails her lord." 
 
 * Though no kalif had ever performed tlie pilgrimage with mor^ 
 care than Harun, he utterly ignored the canon against the use of 
 wine, which was recklessly drunk at his feasts.
 
 TROUBLE I.Y KORASSAN. 373 
 
 The friends of the Barmecides at Bagdad now 
 proved so many that Harun found it a less comforta- 
 ble place of abode than it had been, and accordingly 
 he took up his permanent residence at Rakka, on the 
 Euphrates, where he had, indeed, been living for a 
 while before this time. 
 
 The truce with Niccphorus did not stand, but it 
 was four years more before the ravages of the Sara- 
 cens, which extended from the shores of Bithynia to 
 those of Cilicia and included the island of Cyprus, 
 had made sufificient impression to force the emperor 
 again to sue for peace, and had punished him enough 
 to make him keep his agreement (about 804). Prob- 
 ably Constantinople was now saved from capture, 
 and the whole Western world from being overrun by 
 the Saracens, by the fact that a new revolt in Koras- 
 san called the attention of the kalif in that direction. 
 At the same time he was disturbed regarding the suc- 
 cession. The rising in Korassan was quickly settled 
 without bloodshed, and the kalif returned home ; 
 but his rest was brief. The following year (807) new 
 troubles called Harun to Korassan. Leaving his son 
 Kasim at Rakka, and Amin, whom he designed as 
 his successor, at Bagdad, he took with him another 
 son, Mamun, and hastened to the seat of the revolu- 
 tion. From the outset of this journey, he felt that 
 his life was nearing its end, but he lived long enough 
 to calm the province. He suffered all the time from 
 a malady, but more from not entirely baseless sus- 
 picions that his sons desired his death and were 
 using means to compass it. 
 
 When Harun was assured that his last moment had
 
 374 AARON THE ORTHODOX. 
 
 almost arrived, he chose his shroud, ordered his grave 
 prepared, and then superintended the savage butch- 
 ery of one of the captured revolters, causing his 
 body to be cut to pieces hmb by Hmb in his pres- 
 ence.* Two days after this ghastly performance, he 
 died, breathing his last at the capital of Korassan 
 (a.D. 809). In accordance with an agreement to 
 which he had caused his sons Amin and Mamun to 
 swear within the sacred enclosures of the Kaaba, 
 on the occasion of the last of his many pilgrimages, 
 Harun was succeeded by his eldest son Amin. 
 
 An Arabian poet addressed the following quite 
 outspoken lines to Harun on the occasion of one 
 of his pilgrimages: 
 
 " Religion's gems can ne'er adorn 
 The flimsy robe by pleasure worn ; 
 Its feeble texture soon would tear, 
 And give those jewels to the air. 
 
 " Thrice happy those who seek the abode 
 Of peace and pleasure in their God ; 
 Who spurn the world, its joys despise. 
 And grasp at bliss beyond the skies." 
 
 By the terms of the will of Harun, Mamun was 
 still to be governor of Korassan ; but as soon as the 
 kalif was dead, the vizier marched a large portion 
 of the troops belonging to that province to Bagdad, 
 in order to support the assumptions of Amin, though 
 this was directly in opposition to the expressed 
 wishes of Harun, and left Mamun comparatively 
 helpless. Harun knew that there was a feeling of 
 
 * See "The Caliph Haroun Alraschid and Saracen Civilization," 
 by E, H. Palmer, page 124.
 
 JEALOUSY OF ARAB AND PERSIAN. 375 
 
 jealousy among his Arabian subjects against the 
 Persian influence, and feared that it would break out 
 in a more intense form after his death. He knew 
 that the ascendency of the Barmecides had strength- 
 ened the Persian party, and that the extinction of 
 that family had made the Arab faction think them- 
 selves of greater comparative importance in state 
 politics. Still, the balance was not complete, and he 
 made a plan which he thought would give the gov- 
 ernment stability in the face of such sectional jeal- 
 ousies. He ordered that Amin should hold his 
 court at Bagdad, and Mamun rule from Merv ; but 
 that upon the death of either brother, the power 
 should be reunited in the hands of the survivor. 
 The plan was the surest to promote the dissension 
 that it was intended to avoid. Amin, not satisfied 
 with taking from his brother the troops that were 
 his, set aside the succession in favor of his own son. 
 He then ordered the sworn agreement, that had 
 been hung up in the Kaaba, to be destroyed ; he 
 omitted Mamun's name in the public prayer, and 
 substituted that of his son ; and at last, he de- 
 manded of Mamun the surrender of certain of his 
 provinces. 
 
 Meantime Mamun had not been idle ; foreseeing the 
 events that actually occurred, he had made every 
 effort to bind his subjects to him ; he had remitted 
 their taxes ; negotiated peace with some distant 
 rebels who might give him trouble, and had held 
 frequent durbars (receptions), at which he dispensed 
 justice personally. He remembered how faithful 
 the people of that province had been to Muslim, and
 
 ^76 AARON THE ORTHODOX. 
 
 he patiently awaited the action of Amin. The two 
 brothers represented, indeed, the different peoples 
 that composed the kalifate, for Amin was son of a 
 woman of Arabia, and Mamun of a Persian mother. 
 They were directed by two men named Fadhl : one, 
 the son of Rabia, leader of the Arab faction, and 
 the other, son of Sahl, descended from the old 
 Persian kings. 
 
 Mamun naturally refused to give up his provinces, 
 and war was precipitated ; armies were raised by 
 both brothers, and the first conflict occurred at the 
 town of Rei (Rhe), where the forces of Amin were 
 routed. Another army and another were sent 
 towards Korassan with no better results, and Bagdad 
 was paralyzed with terror. Kufa and Bassora came 
 to the rescue, however, but their troops were not 
 able to keep peace among themselves. Syria was 
 another source of hope ; but Syria was looking out 
 for its own independence, and proclaimed a rival 
 kalif at Damascus, who declared that he united the 
 rights of Ali and Moawia. All the while the army 
 from Korassan was coming down upon the capital, 
 under command of Tahir, a Persian general of high 
 repute. 
 
 At last the gates were reached; in the }-car 8i2, 
 the Tigris saw the two armies lying one on each 
 bank ; and the rich city was in a state of siege ; the 
 gates were barricaded, — those gates for which the 
 capitals of the past had been robbed ; and the kalif 
 was shut up in his palace. Week by week the 
 circling army of Persians came closer, and the dis- 
 tress within the walls grew more intense. Fourteen
 
 MAM UN- BECOMES KAl.IF. 377 
 
 months passed, and Amin gave up ; surrendering 
 himself in expectation of saving his life ; but he was 
 ingloriously assassinated in spite of all. 
 
 In reference to the facts that Tahir, the general 
 who captured Bagdad, was ambidextrous and blind 
 of one eye, a poet addressed to him the following 
 epigram : 
 
 " A pair of right hands and a single dim eye 
 Must form not a man, but a monster, they cry : 
 Change a hand to an eye, good Tahir, if you can, 
 And a monster, perhaps, may be changed to a man." 
 
 Prematurely old, Amin, unworthy of the office he 
 had so short a time occupied, thus died at the age of 
 less than thirty years, and Mamun, his brother, was 
 the next day proclaimed, in the streets of Bagdad, 
 kalif and Commander of the Faithful. Civil war 
 was over for the time.
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 GOLD AND DROSS. 
 
 The ncwkalif didnot come immediately to the ex- 
 ercir.e of his power, for he found himself ruled by that 
 minister to Avhom he owed his elevation. Fadhl had 
 been educated to the Magian creed, before becoming 
 a convert to Islam, and had been a trusted courtier 
 of Harun, who made him tutor and guardian of 
 Mamun. This familiar relation to the new kalif gave 
 Fadhl an advantage of which he took all possible ad- 
 vantage, and Mamun readily abandoned to him the 
 entire control of public affairs, with complete re- 
 liance upon his wisdom. He was known as " Master 
 of the Pen and the Sword " ; he enjoyed power such 
 as no minister had ever wielded before. Under him 
 the Persian influence became immense ; his brother 
 was made governor of Irak ; Tahir, the conqueror of 
 Bagdad, was made governor of Syria, and of the 
 regions north of it, with his capital at Damascus; 
 and the other provinces were entrusted to men of 
 the same foreign birth. The result was general dis- 
 satisfaction. 
 
 In 814, the Alyites, ever ready for a revolt, rose 
 in great strength, and achieved a victory over the 
 kalif's troops, near Kufa ; a new army was sent out
 
 ANARCHY AT BAGDAD. ^79 
 
 and conquered, and the rebels gained possession of 
 Bassora ; when suddenly their leader died or fell by- 
 poison, and they were forced to surrender. Ten 
 months after the first rising every city in Irak had 
 renewed its allegiance to the kalif. 
 
 The agent in this conquest, Hartama, a general of 
 great skill, was rewarded in the usual manner by his 
 mr.ster ; he was thrust into a dungeon from which 
 he only came out to execution (a.d. 8i6). 
 
 The city of Bagdad fell into a state of complete 
 anarchy ; the streets were filled with thieves and as- 
 
 COIN OF THE KALIF MAMUN. 
 
 sassins, who dared to carry off women and children 
 in full day ; who pillaged the dwellings wherever 
 they wished ; who even organized themselves into 
 bands to rob and destroy in the suburbs. A brave 
 citizen, armed only with the Koran, ventured to op- 
 pose these reckless men, and to call upon them, in 
 the name of Allah and his prophet, to cease their ill 
 deeds. The strange effort was successful ; but 
 scarcely had quiet been restored, when the scourge of 
 a new Alyite rebellion burst forth apparently at once, 
 in Irak, in Yemen, in the region about the holy cities. 
 The dazed kalif looked in vain for some means of 
 putting an end to these constant uprisings of the
 
 3^0 GOLD AND DROSS. 
 
 descendants of Ali, and in his despair thought to 
 bring peace by a total surrender. He called to him 
 at Merv, in 817, one of the great-grandsons of Ali, 
 Ali ben Musa el Rida, born in the reign of Mehdi, 
 a man well known for his learning, piety, and good/ 
 life, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage; 
 he then promised him the throne after his death; 
 coined money in his name ; exchanged the black' 
 garments of the tribe of Abbas for the green clothes 
 which marked the descendants of the prophet ; and 
 sent out letters commanding that the same change 
 of colors should be made by all the civil and military 
 ofificers of the kingdom. 
 
 Much as the Alyites were pleased by this surren- 
 der, it did not bring peace: for the children of Ab- 
 bas, who counted thirty-three thousand men in 
 Arabia alone, whose chief strength was at Bagdad, 
 rose in indignation, and, after a week of rioting and 
 uproar, during which the air was filled with curses of 
 Mamun, and the popular wrath was excited to its ut- 
 most, they finally deposed the kalif, and chose in his 
 stead Ibrahim, son of Mehdi the former ruler (a.Do 
 817). On the summit of such asocial volcano Mamun 
 was lulled to sleep by the intriguing minister, who 
 at first kept all information of the rising from reach- 
 ing him, and then managed to make him believe 
 that Ibrahim was not a rival, but simply his lieuten- 
 ant at the old capital. While the kalif slept, the 
 rioting went on ; property became insecure ; life was 
 of no value ; the farmers forsook their ancestral 
 homes ; the uncultivated lands produced no harvests; 
 and famine followed bloodshed.
 
 VIGOROUS ACTIONS OF MAMUAT. 381 
 
 Musa, the innocent cause of the disturbance, now 
 dared to sacrifice himself ; he craved a private inter- 
 view, and told the kalif that it was not devotion to 
 the house of Ali, but aversion to it, that caused the 
 trouble : " the men of Bagdad are discontented that 
 thou hast chosen me as thy successor ; that thou 
 hast changed the regal color from black to green ; 
 the usurper there is not thy lieutenant, but acts as 
 kalif in his own right ; it is thine to support thy 
 rights ! " The panic-struck Mamun was awake now. 
 
 "Art thou the only one who knows this?" he 
 cried. 
 
 " Nay ; the whole army knows it ! " 
 
 Secretly and instantly the kalif convened his chief 
 advisers, and asked them for further information. A 
 profound silence was all the response he obtained. 
 At last one of them more bold than the others, ven- 
 tured to open his mouth and say that none dared to 
 speak until guaranteed security against the wrath of 
 the chief minister. Tliis the kalif gave under his 
 hand, and thereupon he was told that the murder of 
 Hartama was the act of Fadhl, for political purposes, 
 that the accusation of treason was false ; that all the 
 late changes in government had been made to bol- 
 ster up the cause of the Alyites, and not for the 
 good of the realm. 
 
 Mamun instantly determined to act. He left 
 Mcrv, and hastened towards Bagdad ; on the way 
 thither four ferocious soldiers were sumimoned be- 
 fore him and given private instructions. Fadhl 
 entered his bath soon after, the four men rushed 
 upon him, and he was beyond the power of intrigue=
 
 382 GOLD AND DROSS. 
 
 The kalif when informed of the tragedy, hastened to 
 see his minister ; gazed in apparent horror upon the 
 corpse, and ordered the murderers slain in his pres- 
 ence, in the sacred month Ramadan ; he condoled 
 with Fadhl's stricken mother, and sent special mes- 
 sengers to break the sad intelligence to his bereaved 
 brother. In like manner, Musa, the self-sacrificing 
 successor-elect, suddenly died ; poisoned, as the 
 world thought ; and the kalif wept copiously over 
 the remains, and buried them ostentatiously beside 
 those of the great Harun al Rashid (a.d. 8i8). 
 Then, too, the brother of Fadhl, Hasan, governor of 
 Persia, Hejaz, and Yemen, went mad, and had to be 
 put under restraint. Before this, however, the kalif 
 had asked of him his daughter Buran in marriage, 
 and had given him his own daughter to wife. Thus, 
 in true Oriental fashion, the atmosphere was cleared 
 by means of the assassin's knife and the poisoner's 
 potion, and the chief actor in all the fiendish work 
 performed the part of a bereaved and sympathetic 
 mourner. 
 
 Like some beneficent genius, the dissimulating 
 kalif continued his march towards Bagdad, flattering 
 his blinded subjects the while by gifts and immuni- 
 ties; he resumed the black garments of the Abbas- 
 sides, undermined his rival by cozening the chief 
 men of the capital ; and finally at Nehrwan he was 
 met by the dignitaries of the city and the soldiery, 
 who had come forth to salute him as the kalif. We 
 have now reached the end of the first period in the 
 reign of Mamun, that of the Alyite troubles, in 
 which he was under the control of his minister Fadhl.
 
 FEASTING OVER OPEN GRAVES. 383 
 
 The second stage may well be called the " golden " 
 period, for in it the kalifate increased in riches and 
 magnificence ; but it was also a time in which some 
 of the fruits of the seeds just planted came to per- 
 fection, and great evils threatened the kingdom. 
 
 Now the kalif changed his conduct ; the Persian 
 influence was encouraged and made powerful ; Has- 
 an was released from his restraint ; and soon the 
 marriage with his daughter was consummated as 
 agreed, but in a style of magnificence that startled 
 the residents of Wasit, the city of the bride's father, 
 accustomed though they were to fetes and pageants of 
 the greatest extravagance. The festivities, which 
 seem to us to have been celebrated over open graves, 
 and to have preserved fresh the tragic memory of 
 tales of poison and murder, dissimulation and in- 
 trigue, were prolonged through nineteen days ; the 
 mother of the bride showered upon the head of the 
 illustrious groom a thousand pearls of great cost ; 
 and furnished him a mat woven with golden threads 
 upon which to stand while taking the easily broken 
 vows. 
 
 Balls of amber or musk, and arrows, were thrown 
 among the attendant throngs, each giving the one 
 who received it a title to a fair slave-girl, a pair of 
 horses, a piece of land, or some other valuable, and 
 directing him where to go to claim the gifts dis- 
 tributed by the novel lottery. Coins of gold and 
 silver and eggs of amber were also lavishly cast 
 about, to be picked up by whoever would. The 
 bridal chamber was illuminated by a taper of amber 
 of eighty pounds' weight, supported by a candlestick
 
 384 GOLD AND DROSS. 
 
 of the purest gold ; and the sums of money said to 
 have been lavished were so extravagant that one 
 hesitates to put on record the estimates of the en- 
 thusiastic chroniclers. The kalif, and all his fol- 
 lowers, his camels and camel-drivers, his boatmen 
 and his horses, were guests of the restored vizier, 
 who was cither overjoyed at the brilliant match his 
 daughter had made, or was determined to strengthen 
 his hold upon the office to which he had been lifted ; 
 for he was seated in the place of the unfortunate 
 Fadhl. 
 
 Persians now ruled the provinces, and worse, the 
 rationalism of the Persians was forced upon the 
 faithful ; the memory of Moawia was formally cursed 
 in public (826) ; the following year (827) the pre- 
 eminence of Ali was proclaimed with equal official 
 solemnity ; and to the horror of all true believers in 
 the mission of the prophet, it was also declared that 
 the Koran was no longer to be deemed an eternal 
 and uncreated book. This last was a stroke at the 
 foundation of Islam, and was destined to exert a 
 long and important influence. 
 
 It is related that Mamun had received from Kabul 
 a present of a volume entitled " The Eternal 
 Reason," which attempted to undermine Islam by 
 teaching that reason is the only source of religion, 
 and that revelation cannot be the sure ground upon 
 which to base a universal cult. To seek and develop 
 this religion of reason and conscience became there- 
 after his persistent effort. He insinuated doubts at 
 first by means of meetings for discussion, at which 
 no one was permitted to appeal to revelation, but
 
 SKEPTICAL CLUBS. 3^5 
 
 only to reason. Thus unconsciously Mamun began 
 a process by which that imphcit faith which had 
 been at once the foundation and the inspiration of 
 Islam, which had nerved its warriors in their terrible 
 warfare, and had brought the nation out of its 
 former obscurity to the foremost position among the 
 peoples of the world, was to be taken from them. 
 
 It was a strange situation when the Commander 
 of the Faithful thus strove to overturn the national 
 faith. The kalif was not satisfied with such mild 
 proceeding as the establishment of clubs for debate ; 
 he proceeded, a little later (830 ?), to threaten all 
 who opposed the progress of his private opinions. 
 He convened at Bagdad the most influential jurists, 
 and caused them to be enquired of concerning their 
 opinions regarding the Koran """ (a.D. 827). Beshr, 
 the chief judge, was asked first : " Was the Koran 
 created or not ? " 
 
 " Allah created all things," he replied. 
 
 "The Koran is a thing?" continued the ques- 
 tioner 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Therefore in your opinion the Koran is created ? " 
 
 " It is plain that the Koran is not the creator," 
 Beshr replied. 
 
 " That is not the question ; tell me unequivocally, 
 is the Koran created or not ? " 
 
 Thus pressed, the great judge replied that he had 
 no better replies to make ; and the others were sub- 
 
 * For an extended account of this controversey, see " Histoiredes 
 Philosophes et Theologiens Musulmans," by Gustave Dugat, pages 
 82-105. 
 
 26
 
 386 COLD AlVD DROSS. 
 
 jected to the same sort of an inquisition, and with 
 like results. Orders were given that the jurists 
 should be examined again, and threatened with 
 bodily torture if they still proved obstinate. Torture 
 and the dungeon proved arguments too strong for 
 many of the learned men, and they gave way ; but 
 Beshr and others stood by their orthodoxy and were 
 ordered to be sent to Tarsus, where the kalif was 
 at the moment directing a new war against the 
 emperor of the Eastern empire." 
 
 The war between the kalif and the emperor just 
 mentioned had a nobler origin than any other that 
 we have had to contemplate, for it grew out of the 
 desire that Mamun was inspired with to advance his 
 people in science. It happened that a Greek captive 
 had been brought to his notice on account of his 
 acquaintance with diverse sciences, and Mamun had 
 discovered that he had gained his knowledge from 
 an eminent Byzantine philosopher known to history 
 as Leo of Thessalonica, who was then living in Con- 
 stantinople in indigence, in spite of his wisdom and 
 celebrity. Mamun determined to invite the scholar 
 to Bagdad, and sent him a letter to that effect, which 
 Leo placed in his emperor's hands, thinking it not 
 patriotic to hold correspondence with an enemy to 
 
 * " Nor was this laxity of mind atoned for by any severity of 
 morals. . . . The chief kadi was a man notorious through all 
 Irak for the obscenity of his conversation and the loathsome charac- 
 ter of his vices. . . . The favorite court poet was a scoffer at 
 religion and a man of dissolute life. ' Multiply thy sins to the 
 utmost,' he had said in one of his poems, ' for thou art to meet an 
 indulgent lord.' . . . An extreme license of manners prevailed. 
 The very mosques were ' rat-traps set by Satan." — " Islam 
 under the Khalifs of Bagdad," p. 253.
 
 FIGHTING FOR A PHILOSOPHER. 38/ 
 
 his country. The emperor forbade Leo to leave his 
 dominions, and gave him the use of the Church of 
 the Forty Martyrs as a school, adding a considerable 
 pension. Mamun still persisted in his efforts to 
 gain the scholar, and Theophilus increased his 
 honors and emoluments.* This action on the part of 
 one who had so entirely ignored the great scholar be- 
 fore, made Mamun indignant, and he determined to 
 use force in the effort to carry out his design. In 830 
 he declared war. 
 
 Assuming command of his army in person, the 
 kalif marched through Mosul and Antioch to Tarsus, 
 whence he made incursions into the emperor's realm, 
 taking fortresses and capturing prisoners, but return- 
 ing to Damascus for the winter. The following 
 spring Theophilus made overtures of peace, but in 
 doing it offended the kalif by a breach of etiquette, 
 and he undertook a new campaign, this time ventur- 
 ing as far as Heraclea, and, after doing much de- 
 struction, returning a second time to the capital of 
 Syria for the winter. The war continued during the 
 year 832, and both the emperor and the kalif were 
 personally engaged in it, the seat of operations 
 being in Cilicia. There, in 833, Mamun died sud- 
 denly, after having eaten too freely of fresh dates 
 brought from the East. His last words were coun- 
 sels of mercy, addressed to his brother Motasim, in 
 which he urged him to govern for the good of the 
 
 * Leo was ordained bishop of Thessalonica, and afterwards be- 
 came the head of a mathematical school at Constantinople. It was 
 he who invented the system of telegraphic communication used at 
 this time, which by means of fires, conveyed information of invasion, 
 battles, and other incidents cf war.
 
 388 GOLD AA'D DROSS. 
 
 people, and especially to treat the children of AH 
 with the humanity which the descendants of the 
 prophet deserved. 
 
 Such was the career of one of the greatest rulers 
 that we have to consider in the story of the Sara- 
 cens, a prince celebrated by the chroniclers for his 
 clemency, the purity of his habits, his justice, and his 
 liberality. He was not so accomplished a general as 
 his father ; but he continued and increased, the 
 enli<rhtened cultivation of letters that Harun had 
 begun, and his reign has been compared to the times 
 of the de' Medici in Italy and of Louis XIV. in France. 
 At its beginning science had not advanced beyond 
 the first steps, in spite of the efforts of Mansur and 
 Harun, but his court became its sanctuary and the 
 hearthstone about which the savants freely made 
 themselves at home. He is said to have regarded 
 scientific men as beings chosen by Allah to perfect 
 human reason ; as the lights of the world, the guides 
 of humanity, without whom man would return to 
 primitive barbarism. It is related that when Mamun 
 was blamed for putting a Christian at the head of a 
 college at Damascus, he said : " I chose this learned 
 man not as my guide in religious affairs, but as my 
 teacher in science." 
 
 In the golden middle period of the reign, riches 
 had brought luxury, and science and letters had dis- 
 persed some of the gross customs and the confused 
 ideas of former days. Greek treatises in astronomy, 
 geography, philosophy, medicine, had been trans- 
 lated into the languages of Syria and Arabia, and 
 public instruction had been organized, in which theory
 
 LUXURY AND LEARNING.' 389 
 
 and practice went hand in hand ; and the sovereign 
 was the intelligent director of the whole. 
 
 In this reign the philosopher, Al Kindy (Abu Yusuf 
 ben Isaac) flourished, and also a Christian author like- 
 wise called Al Kindy, whose work, known as " The 
 Apology of Al Kindy," in which he urges a friend to 
 embrace Christianity, is still extant. It is one of the 
 evidences of the toleration enjoyed in Mamun's 
 court, that such a work should have been published 
 and the author not executed for his temerity. The 
 author does not allow the prophetical claim of Mo- 
 hammed, he treats Islam with remarkable freedom, 
 and assails the Koran in a most vigorous style, all of 
 which seems to show the influence of the kalif's 
 decree about the prophet's book. The author, an 
 Armenian Christian, argues in favor of his own 
 religious views and the superiority of the Hebrew 
 and Greek Scriptures with equal force and boldness.* 
 
 * See " The Apology of Al Kindy," by Sir William Muir.
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 GLIMMERINf.S AND DECAYS. 
 
 Mamun had designated as his successor his brother 
 Motasim, but the army was bitterly opposed to him 
 and made a powerful effort in behalf of Abbas, son 
 of the former. Just as an alarming revolt threatened 
 to burst forth, Abbas, with patriotic devotion, threw 
 himself at the feet of his uncle and swore fealty to 
 him. The discord was immediately quieted, but the 
 seeds of decadence had been sown by Mamun, and 
 Motasim, by following the precedents he had estab- 
 lished, nourished and increased them. He continued 
 the persecutions of those who looked on the Koran 
 in the light that Mohammed had commanded, and so 
 greatly did this rouse feeling against him that he was 
 fearful for his personal safety. By surrounding him- 
 self with a body-guard recruited from prisoners cap- 
 tured in Turkestan, he still further favored the foreign 
 influence which Mamun had encouraged, as opposed 
 to that of the Arabians. So much was the un- 
 friendly feeling of the citizens of Bagdad deepened 
 against him, that he determined to remove from the 
 capital, and it was on this account that he founded 
 a new city, at a point some sixty miles to the north- 
 west, which he named Samarra.
 
 THE CAREER OF BABEK. 39 1 
 
 Our attention is now called to a sect which iiad 
 arisen during a former reign among the mountains of 
 Armenia, based upon no loftier principle than oppo- 
 sition to every thing in Islam. Did the Koran teach 
 temperance, these infatuated people practised inso- 
 briety ; did it call for purity, they revelled in animal- 
 ism ; was pillage discouraged, the}' robbed and 
 deprived others of their rights without scruple. 
 With their other absurd errors they mingled some of 
 the tenets of Magianism, a belief in the transmigra- 
 tion of souls, and certain dogmas of the sect known 
 as Ismalians. The chief of the body was a reckless 
 adventurer named Babek (and called Koremi, the 
 sensualist), against whom all opposition had been 
 vain. For a score of years he carried on his nefarious 
 operations almost with impunity, and devastated 
 many fair regions in both Armenia and Irak. 
 
 Now he dared to threaten the capital itself. The 
 emergency was great, and Motasim entrusted the 
 army that was to act against him to a general of 
 Turkish birth, who encountered Babek in Azerbai- 
 jan, the most northern portion of Persia, in the region 
 of Lake Oroomiah, at first put him to flight after a 
 fierce battle, and then captured him. Babek was 
 brought to Bagdad, was exhibited in the principal 
 streets on the back of an elephant, and subjected to 
 the jibes and insults of the populace, after which he 
 was handed over to the executioner (a.d. 837). His 
 doctrines did not immediately die, but the party of 
 which he was the soul lost all political importance. 
 
 The emperor Theophilus took advantage of this 
 disturbance to renew the struggle that had suddenly
 
 392 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS. 
 
 been brought to a close by the death of Mamun,and 
 Cappadocia became the theatre of war. Thcophilus 
 made use of ferocious wild beasts to desolate the 
 regions about the Oxus ; of stratagem to introduce 
 spies into the immediate kingdom of the kalif ; and 
 of gold to purchase the friendship of the fickle citi- 
 zens of Bagdad ; thus by one means and another 
 prolonging the struggle. At last, in 836, he threw 
 an army of a hundred thousand men upon the bor- 
 ders of Syria, sacking cities, and devastating a region 
 almost up to the limits of Mesopotamia. Thence he 
 went to Melitene, in Cappadocia, and finally returned 
 to Constantinople, the army giving itself over to the 
 utmost excesses on the way; but he had overreached 
 himself. The kalif was maddened by the devasta- 
 tion of his dominions. He put himself at the head 
 of an army said to have counted tw^o hundred 
 and twenty thousand men, and advanced upon 
 Amorium, a city reputed to have been the richest 
 and most populous of all that belonged to the em- 
 peror. On the buckler of every soldier was inscribed 
 the name of the place, as evidence of the terrible de- 
 termination with which the expedition set out. Ar- 
 rived at Amorium, after months of journeying and 
 fighting, the Arabs and Turks laid siege to the city, 
 and succeeded in entering it by the aid of a traitor 
 who gave information of the weak spot in the forti- 
 fications. The massacre that ensued has few par- 
 allels among those of Saracenic history. The 
 greater portion of the citizens were put to the 
 sword. The emperor appealed for aid to the 
 princes of Europe, among whom Louis the De-
 
 394 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA VS. 
 
 bonnaire, of France, seemed disposed to take his 
 part, but during the negotiations all three rulers 
 died,— Louis in 840, Motasim in 841, and Theophi- 
 lus in 842. 
 
 Motasim had reigned eight years and eight 
 months ; he left eight sons, eight daughters, and 
 eight thousand slaves ; eight million dinars ; and 
 eighty million dirhcms; for which reasons he has 
 been called the Octave, Under him an element of 
 weakness, which was to bear terrible fruit in the 
 future, was considerably increased. In the former 
 reign the Turks had been made customs-ofificers, 
 in place of the Arabians, but Motasim introduced 
 them to his privy-councils, and thus greatly added 
 to their political importance. 
 
 Wathek, eldest son of Motasim, assumed supreme 
 authority in 842, and immediately issued a decree 
 confirming the laws of Mamun regarding the nature 
 of the Koran, thus continuing the war that had 
 been begun against his own subjects. The suici- 
 dal effect of this pertinacity of the kalifs is illustrated 
 in connection with the struggle with the Eastern em- 
 pire that still continued. It happened that after the 
 Moslem forces had made head against the army of 
 the Greeks, an exchange of captives was arranged, 
 but Wathek ordered that all of his soldiers who did 
 not accept his views regarding the Koran should be 
 left in the hands of the enemy, thus cutting off a 
 considerable number from his available forces and 
 weakening the spirits of those who remained. In 
 consequence of such actions as this, the Saracens did 
 not gain upon their enemy, and the kalif became so
 
 THE NATURE OF THE KORAN. 395 
 
 much discouraged that he died in the year 847. He 
 had not possessed -the elevated personal character of 
 his father, but he had imitated him in his encourage- 
 ment of letters and liberal arts, and is said to have 
 surpassed him in the magnificence of his display. He 
 took Mecca and Medina under his special care, and 
 the whole kingdom prospered so greatly that beggary 
 was almost unknown. Wathek followed Mamun in 
 the favor which he showed to the Alyites. He sub- 
 jected the Christians and Moslems to persecution if 
 they would not conform to his theological views ; 
 though towards the close of his reign he was con- 
 vinced that this policy was inexpedient. 
 
 It is related that a Syrian prisoner of venerable as- 
 pect was admitted to an interview with him, who de- 
 sired to question in his presence the minister of state 
 on this subject of toleration. When permission had 
 been given him, he asked : 
 
 " What is this doctrine that you wish to estab- 
 lish?" 
 
 " That the Koran is a created book." 
 
 "This is essential to the true faith, doubtless?" 
 
 " Yes, verily." 
 
 " Did the apostle oblige the faithful to accept this 
 or did he leave them free?" 
 
 " He left them free." 
 
 " Was the apostle of Allah acquainted with the 
 dogma? " 
 
 " He was acquainted with it." 
 
 " Tell me, then, why you wish to restrict the faith- 
 ful in regard to a matter in which the apostle per^ 
 mitted freedom."
 
 396 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS. 
 
 To this the minister had no rcpl>- ready, and the 
 old teacher, turning to the kahf, continued, 
 
 " In the fifth sura at the fifth verse we read : 'This 
 day have I perfected religion for you, and have filled 
 up the measure of my favor upon you ; and it is my 
 pleasure that Islam shall be your religion ! ' " The 
 old man then proceeded to show that the imposition 
 of an article of faith which the prophet did not re- 
 quire was unauthorized, and the kalif was so thor- 
 oughly convinced, that he desisted from his attempts 
 to base upon the Koran dogmas that had been 
 learned from Aristotle, and there was freedom in the 
 matter during the remainder of the reign.* 
 
 Wathek had died without naming his successor, 
 and his foreign courtiers, the Turks (now almost 
 complete masters of the government), embraced the 
 opportunity to assert themselves again by placing 
 upon the throne a brother of the late kalif, Mota- 
 wakkel, a young man of twenty-six, of light and 
 trifling character, who found pleasure in cruelty, and 
 indulged in bestial intoxication. He had the good 
 sense to know that the Turks who had placed the 
 crown on his head might at any time lift it off, at 
 the risk of taking his head too, and therefore he laid 
 schemes to gain partisans among other classes of his 
 subjects. He issued a decree re-asserting the uncre- 
 ated nature of the Koran, and denouncing all who 
 should deny the fact ; he called about him orthodox 
 theologians, who were encouraged to confound the 
 free-thinkers, who had in the beginning of the former 
 
 * See " The Faith of Islam," by Edward Sell, page 127, for more 
 details of this interview.
 
 398 GLIMMERINGS AND DEC A YS. 
 
 reign been countenanced ; he renounced all sympathy 
 with the Alyites, cursing their memory and throwing 
 down the mosque at Kerbala which covered the 
 tomb of Hosein.* He persecuted the Jews and 
 Christians, ordering that they should never ride on 
 horses, but only on asses and mules, and that without 
 stirrups ; that their dwellings should be marked by 
 figures of dogs and monkeys, and their persons 
 always known by yellow dresses ; he refused them 
 the right to enter the baths frequented by Moslems, 
 or to occupy any office of public service ; they were 
 restricted in regard to their schools and places of 
 worship ; their taxes were doubled ; and the very in- 
 dications of their graves were obliterated. 
 
 The reign was disturbed in 852 by a rising in 
 Armenia, which was not quelled until 856. The 
 Moslem possessions in Egypt were at the same time 
 threatened by the Greeks, and Damietta was pillaged 
 and burned, while struggles in Asia Minor continued 
 without permanent advantage to either side. Dur- 
 ing these wars the royal residence was removed to 
 Damascus, probably that the kalif might the better 
 direct the operations in the field ; but it was finally 
 again established at Samarra, where a palace, surpass- 
 ing in some respects all its predecessors, was erected, 
 from which the kalif continued to encourage the 
 gentler arts of peace to such an extent that his 
 reign, like those of Harun and Mamun, has been 
 
 * " Every one who either in act or word questioned a single syllable 
 of the Koran was regarded as an infidel, and was in peril of being 
 torn in pieces by the devout people of Bagdad." — " Islam under the 
 Khalifs of Bagdad," page 273.
 
 MURDER OF MOTAWAKKEL. 399 
 
 called a " golden age." All the splendor came to an 
 end, however, so far as Motawakkel was concerned, 
 on the night of the twelfth of December, 861, when 
 the chi&fs of the Turkish body-guard who had raised 
 him to power, under direction of Wassif, one of 
 them, assassinated him in his palace in the presence 
 of his son, Montaser, with whom they were in 
 league. Under Motasim the original Turkish body- 
 guard of four thousand increased to seventy thousand, 
 and their influence was augmented in proportion, 
 Is was they who by their fiendish cruelty frightened 
 him from Bagdad ; a step which left them still more 
 powerful, and the kalif was reduced to the condition 
 of a puppet in their hands. It was because Mota- 
 wakkel had endeavored to be independent of them, 
 that he was thus taken off. 
 
 The night that Motawakkel was slaughtered, his 
 son Montaser was proclaimed Kalif by the same 
 Turks who had performed the like duty for the 
 murdered ruler, and the first act of the young man 
 was to endeavor to restrict the terrible power that 
 he now so well knew. He endeavored also to 
 counteract the effects of his father's hatred of the 
 Alyites ; he eagerly entered upon the work of re- 
 building the tombs of Ali and Hosein ; he re- 
 established pilgrimages ; put an end to the persecu- 
 tions of the partisans of the unfortunate descendants 
 of the prophet ; in all this probably trying to smother 
 the upbraidings of his conscience, which constantly 
 reminded him of the part he had taken in the murder 
 of his father. Still, nothing gave him peace ; he re- 
 moved from the palace in which his father had lived,
 
 400 cr.lMMF. RINGS AND DEC A VS. 
 
 ill wliich he had been killed, in which, while the 
 kalifs body remained unburied, he himself had 
 been proclaimed sovereign ; but a horrid melancholy 
 dogged him everywhere ; not even the debaucheries 
 into which he plunged at Samarra could give him a 
 peaceful stupidity, and after a dreary reign of five 
 months he died, poisoned, as some assert, not with- 
 out reason. 
 
 Montaser had intended to have his son take the 
 throne after him, but the autocratic Turks did not 
 agree with him, and it was given to a son of Motasim, 
 who became kalif as Mostain in 862. He came to 
 the throne in pursuance of a bargain with the chief 
 of the Turks, Wassif, the one who had conspired 
 with Montaser to murder Motawakkel, by the terms 
 of which his own brothers were given up to the body- 
 guard. The public had not at the time been 
 sufficiently familiarized with such odious bargains 
 not to be scandalized by this one. The reign of the 
 new kalif was cursed by a succession of bloody 
 quarrels growing out of the indignation of the people 
 thus aroused against their ruler. Horns witnessed 
 the first outburst ; for some days the streets ran 
 blood, and the strife was not quelled until the repre- 
 sentative of the kalif there had been numbered 
 among the killed. 
 
 War in Asia Minor now caused a brief intermission 
 in the strife at home. There the Moslem governor 
 of Melitene had in the previous year made a cam- 
 paign across the country to the very shores of the 
 Euxine, and had attacked the important town of 
 Amissus, desolating the region wherever he went ;
 
 kE VOLUTIONS. /pi 
 
 but his march proved too venturesome, and his 
 army, set upon by the Greeks, was cut to pieces, and 
 its leader himself killed. The impetuous conquerors 
 did not rest until they had actually entered the bor- 
 ders of Mesopotamia. Opposing armies from the 
 kalif were unable to cope with the enemy, and their 
 commander returned to Constantinople to celebrate 
 his victory in the circus. There was no enthusiasm 
 for war left in the Saracens now ; and the Turks, 
 who alone were competent to meet these new 
 enemies, were more interested in promoting their 
 personal advancement than in looking after the 
 public weal. Just at this juncture they were 
 struggling to wrest power from some appointees 
 of the kalif whom they did not approve. Thus the 
 populace and the army found themselves at swords' 
 points in the streets of Samarra, in a general 
 scramble for spoils. Anarchy reigned supreme ; 
 massacre and pillage were the order of the day: 
 buildings were given to the flames ; a bridge over 
 the Tigris \vas burned ; and the carnage did not 
 cease until there were no new victims for the sword. 
 The example of the kalif's capital proved con- 
 tagious • the Alyitcs rose in 864, took possession of 
 Kufa, and proclaimed another kalif: Tabaristan, to 
 the west of Korassan, in modern times a hunting, 
 ground of the Persian Shah, rebelled, and was forever 
 lost to the kalifate ; Horns revolted against its 
 governor .; and, to add to the confusion and the un- 
 utterable strife, the very Turks themselves became 
 the prey of jealousies, and began to assassinate each 
 other in the palaces of Bagdad ; Mostain was soon 
 
 27
 
 402 GLIMMERINGS AND DRCA VS. 
 
 involved, and the insurt^cnts proclaimed his cousin, 
 Mota/., kalif in liis stead ; the capital was besieged 
 by an army of fifty thousand men ; and after sus- 
 taining the horrors of a siege, capitulated. The 
 kalif was given an escort to Bassora ; but on the 
 way was put to death at Wasit (a.d. 866). 
 
 The new ruler repeated the experience of the old, 
 with this exception, that matters grew worse, if pos- 
 sible, from year to year. Determined to free him- 
 self from the slavery to the Turkish body-guard that 
 former kalifs had suffered, he found himself merely 
 forced to increase their powers almost without limits ; 
 and finally the army, when the exhausted treasury 
 proved too much depleted to meet the demand for 
 their pay, revolted against its own leaders, gave the 
 palaces up to pillage, and seized the Commander of 
 the Faithful himself, tore his robes from him, thrust 
 him out under a burning sun, forced him to renounce 
 his authority, and then plunged him into a dungeon, 
 where he was suffered to die of hunger and thirst 
 (A.D. 869). 
 
 Thus the ground was cleared for the Turks again, 
 and they promptly came forward with a son of 
 Wathek, whom they set up as kalif under the title of 
 Motadi, in 869. He came to the throne with a 
 character that promised well for the future ; but it 
 was too late for one man, however influential, to 
 stand against the terrible tide which was whirling 
 the nation onwards to its destruction. He forbade 
 all those infractions of the rules of the Koran that 
 had been common for many years ; wine was de- 
 nounced ; games of hazard were forbidden ; the
 
 THE TURKISH BODY-GUARD. 403 
 
 musicians, dancers, and buffoons who infested the 
 court were driven out ; the primitive faith was re- 
 estabhshed ; justice was awarded by thekalif in per- 
 son ; and the finances of government were systemat- 
 ically ordered. It seemed as though the days of the 
 early kalifs had returned. Alas, the turbulent king- 
 makers of Turkestan could not be brought to act on 
 such primitive principles as these ; they knew and 
 cared nothing for the prophet, and they revolted 
 against the good rule of Motadi ; Samarra was in- 
 vaded, blood was shed, and the powerless ruler was 
 called upon to abdicate. He stood up manfully 
 against riot and misrule, but it availed nothing ; he 
 was ignominiously insulted and tortured. At last a 
 poignard was driven to his heart, on the twenty, 
 first of June, 870.
 
 XL. 
 
 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 Distant Korassan now calls again for notice-. 
 We remember that during the reign of Mamun, 
 Taher, the most popular as well as the most able of 
 his generals, had established himself firmly in the 
 affections of the people of that important region. 
 His descendants had profited by his labors, and 
 though they had nominally always been under the 
 sway of the kalifs, they had really been carrying on 
 a government of their own, their dynasty being 
 known as that of the Taherites, or Taherians. 
 
 During the reign of Motawakkel there had arisen 
 a family known as the Soffarides, Kettle-makers, or 
 Braziers (soffar, a brazier), from the fact that it was 
 founded by a man whose father had followed that 
 useful trade, and who himself began life in that occu- 
 pation. His name was Yakub, and he was noble, 
 generous, and courageous. Quitting the trade of 
 making and patching kettles, Yakub put himself at 
 the head of a body of reckless men and determined 
 to make his way in life by force of arms. Fighting 
 was the noble occupation in those days, as it re- 
 mained for ages after. Yakub managed (in 849) to 
 take a portion of their dominions away from the
 
 YAR'UB THE SOFFAR. 4 05 
 
 Taherites. was applauded for His skill by the people 
 whom he conquered, and after a while was made 
 their ruler. Thus the dynasty of Sof^arides began. 
 When the kalifs were in trouble, in the reign of 
 Motaz, Yakub embraced the opportunity to wrench 
 more of Korassan from the Taherites in 867, and then 
 his sovereignty was acknowledged beyond the limits 
 of his own stolen possessions. In 873 he snatched 
 the remainder of the land from the Taherites, and 
 thus put an end to that dynasty, which had been in 
 existence for about fifty years. 
 
 It was while these events were occurring that the 
 kalif Motadi was taken 
 off by the assassin. Mo- 
 tamed was a ruler to whom 
 the king-making Turks 
 could have no objections ; 
 for he was a complete ^°^^ ""^ ^"^"^ (^•"- ^^o)- 
 nullity, so far as exerting any considerable influence 
 upon public affairs was concerned. He is repre- 
 sented as an amiable person, who enjoyed games 
 and feasts, cultivated society, encouraged letters and 
 literary men, and was instrumental in bringing to 
 notice many essays upon the light topics enjoyed by 
 fashionable society at his court. He allowed Yakub 
 to wrench Korassan from the kalifate, never to be 
 regained ; but he sent a force against him when he 
 found that he was threatening Bagdad. The armies 
 met at a spot not far from Wasit, and Yakub was 
 defeaterl. He died soon after ; but his brother, Amr, 
 became his successor, and he effected a treaty with 
 Motamed by which he was acknowledged sovereign
 
 406 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIC If TENS. 
 
 of the provinces that Vakub had conquered.* Thus 
 the kahf lost, and the Sofiarides gained Seistan, 
 Faristan, Korassan, and other provinces. Greater 
 losses were to come. 
 
 We have to trace another disaster to the days of 
 Mamun, those golden days when it seemed to the 
 polite world as though the bright festivities of the 
 sovereign's marriage were but a prophecy of more 
 extravagant glories in the future, instead of the fate- 
 ful forboding of an oncoming doom. An enfranchised 
 slave named Tulun, had in that reign received some 
 honorable commissions from the sovereign, which 
 succeeding kalifs had continued, and when his son 
 Ahmed, who was born in 835, came to a sufficient 
 age, he was made governor of Egypt. He saw that 
 the kalif was weak, and, like Yakub, thought that by 
 a little warlike enterprise he might win power for 
 himself and his descendants ; and most men in those 
 days were as desirous to make a good position for 
 their children as they were to ensure their own for- 
 tune. From 873, when he took his government, he 
 laid the plans for his undertaking", and in about three 
 years he was prepared for the onset, for he had then 
 made himself master of Egypt. He invaded Syria, 
 took Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Kinnesrin, Antioch, 
 and was not stopped until he reached Tarsus ; and 
 then only because treason had been excited in his 
 
 * It happened that Amr was able also to relieve Motamed from the 
 attacks of a rival kalif, Mohammed, son of Zeid, who had asserted 
 his claims as a descendant of Ali. Mohammed was defeated, and fell 
 into Amr's hands, and was sent to Motamed, either as an evidence of 
 friendship, or as a threat that the kalif himself was not too strong to 
 fear the Soffarides.
 
 THE TULUNIDES PAY TRIBUTE. 407 
 
 camp by the commander of the kaHf s forces, his own 
 brother, Mowafek, whom he designed to be his suc- 
 cessor. Some of the cit4es he had conquered were 
 taken back by Ahmed, but before he had accom- 
 pHshed his complete intentions death overtook him 
 (about 883). The dismemberment of the kalifate 
 did not stop, however, nor was the dynasty of the 
 Tulunides broken off, for it held the captured terri- 
 tories a score of years more.* 
 
 Motamed died at Bagdad in the year 892, and his 
 brother Mowafek just before him, so that the succes- 
 sion did not fall to him as Motamed had desired, but 
 to Motaded, a son of Mowafek. This prince smiled 
 upon the Alyites, and on that account has received 
 slight justice from the historians of his country, be- 
 cause at that time, as well as at the present moment, 
 the Alyites or Shias form but a small fraction of the 
 followers of the prophet.f It was one of the prin- 
 ciples of the prophet, as we know, to demand that 
 all people should either acknowledge the faith he 
 taught, or pay tribute to the treasury of the Saracens. 
 Acting upon this custom, Motaded acknowledged 
 the independence of the Tulunides, but only after he 
 had secured a considerable tribute from them. 
 
 * AH this time Kairwan, which had been founded about 670, was 
 governed by a dynasty known as Aglabites, from Ibrahim, the son of 
 Aglab, who had been appointed by Harun al Rashid about the year 
 800. Between the reigns of Wathek and Motamed, the Aglabites 
 had attacked Italy (842), ravaged Rome (846), had lost most of what 
 they had grasped in Italy (871), and had taken Syracuse (878). 
 The dynasty was overthrown by Obeid Allah el Mehdi, A.D. gog. 
 
 I There are, it is computed, at present about one hundred and 
 eighty million Moslems, and among them but ten millions are counted 
 among the Alyites or Shias.
 
 4oS 77/A GR/r OF rnr. turk ticjtten^. 
 
 The constantly rccurrinf^ outbursts of rclicjtous 
 sectaries gave Motaded trouble, but he proved equal 
 to them. A fanatic named Hamdan and surnamed 
 Karmath had arisen, who had allied himself with the 
 Ismalians (who under Babek made so much disturb- 
 ance during the reigns of Mamun and Motasim), and 
 had obtained a considerable following in the region 
 about Kufa. He taught his disciples that they 
 should practise entire community of goods, have no 
 respect for revelation (excepting, probably, his own), 
 and that they might consider themselves free from 
 the duties of prayer and alms, as well as from all 
 the ordinary considerations of humanity towards 
 their enemies. These Karmathians, as they were 
 called, had for many years desolated large tracts of 
 country in Syria, Arabia, and even in Egypt, but 
 Motaded arrested their destructive progress, and in 
 895 repaired some injuries that they had made in the 
 mosque at Mecca, considerably improving it and en- 
 larging its walls and enclosures. 
 
 Motaded found time also to look to the Soffarides, 
 and remembering how they had conquered the rival 
 kalif in Korassan, felt that they might some day try 
 forces with him. He therefore entered into an 
 alliance with Ismail Samana, a rising warrior who 
 had begun to establish a monarchy in Transoxania, 
 the region beyond the Oxus, with his capital at 
 Bokhara. Ismail was exceedingly pleased to have 
 such an opportunity for war with his rising neighbor 
 and started very promptly towards Korassan with a 
 sufficient army. Amr was sagacious enough not to 
 wait for his comino;, but crossed the border-line and
 
 A LUDICROUS MISCHANCE. 
 
 409 
 
 gave battle. Just at the critical moment, the steed 
 on which Amr rode becoming excited, took the bit 
 in his mouth and rushed into the enemy's lines, car- 
 rying his startled master with him. An accident so 
 unexpected and ludicrous enabled the forces of 
 Ismail to gain a speedy but rather inglorious victory 
 (A.D. 898). 
 
 AN ARABIAN ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 The day of this victor}-, as Amr was sitting in his 
 tent carefully guarded, it is said that he ordered one 
 of his attendants to prepare some food. The only 
 cooking utensil to be found was a bucket in which 
 grain and water were given to the horses, and that 
 was soon placed over a fire upon a crooked stick. It
 
 4IO THE GRIP OF THE TURK TrCJITENS. 
 
 had not been in pc>silit)n lony; when a hungry cur 
 passed b\', and eagerly thrust his head into the 
 bucket to seize the meat that he saw, but drew it 
 back again the moment he felt the heat. Alas, the 
 sudden movement loosened the bucket from its 
 wooden support, and the beast found it hanging to 
 his head by its handle. As he ran away in fright, 
 the general laughed so \-iolently that his attendants 
 were brought to his side in alarm. Amr said that it 
 had just occurred to him that his commissary had 
 in the morning thought a hundred camels hardl}' 
 sufficient to convey the kitchen implements of the 
 chief of the Soffarides ; but that in the afternoon a 
 single cur was able to carry away the only utensil 
 that he could command."" The dynasty was ex- 
 tinguished at the death of Amr (a.D. 901), though 
 he nominally left the government to his grandson, 
 Taher ben Mohammed III. 
 
 The death of Amr, and the extinction of the 
 Soffarides, did not bring peace ; for Ismail, who had 
 aided the kalif, savv the weakness of the Moslems, 
 and determined to set himself up in opposition 
 to them, as we shall soon see. Meantime, however, 
 Motaded died, and left his throne to Moktafi, his 
 son, in the year 902. Moktafi was a sovereign who, 
 under different circumstances, might have added to 
 the glories of the kalifate, but at this time every 
 thing seemed to work against it. The kalif was 
 obliged not only to keep his sword drawn against 
 outside enemies, but his own dominions swarmed 
 with parties of various minds, who were all desirous 
 * Sec Vambe'ry's " History of Bokhara," page 63.
 
 THE KARMATIHANS IN SYRIA. 4II 
 
 to pull down the supreme authority in the state in 
 the wicked hope of dragging themselves up. Among 
 the most determined intriguers were the Turkish 
 body-guards, who were gaining greater and greater 
 strength, and at last were to strangle the head of the 
 state himself. 
 
 When Moktafi came into power he found that the 
 domains of Ismail extended beyond the Gihon orthc 
 Oxus over Turkestan, and from the borders of Koras- 
 san to those of Kathay or China. When the Soffar- 
 ides were put out of the way, he added Korassan to 
 these vast regions, and grasped a considerable portion 
 of Persia, and thus he established a new dynasty of 
 opposing rulers known as the Samanades, who now 
 took the place of the Soffarides as thorns in the 
 kalif's side.* The Karmathians, too, were still able 
 to do great damage to the kalifate, and it very soon 
 becam.e necessary to send forces to Sj'ria to repress 
 their bloody outbursts of murder and brigandage. 
 The general who undertook this enterprise was at 
 first beaten, but his organized troops afterwards 
 overcame the fanatics ; though he punished them so 
 severely that their rage was kindled again, and burned 
 more hotly than before. This time they directed 
 their force against the Meccan caravans, and it is said 
 
 * Professor Vambe'ry says that after the national existence of Irak 
 "had been apparently blotted out by the unfortunate battle of 
 Kadesia, and Persia had been overrun and devastated by the naked 
 barbarians of the Arabian desert, some sparks of Persian civilization 
 still smouldered beneath the desecrated altars," especially in Tran- 
 soxania, in spite of the fact that Mohammedan-Persian habits 
 of thoughts had held sway for two centuries and a half. — " History 
 of Bokhara, " page 67.
 
 412 THE CRIP OF THE TT'RK TIGHTENS. 
 
 that twenty thousand i:)il[;^rims were massacred in the 
 desert as they pursued their peaceable way towards 
 the shrine of the prophet. In all of these attacks 
 and reprisals the kalif could not claim that he was 
 aggrieved, for the Karmathians did but little worse 
 than the prophet himself had done, in sending expedi- 
 tions against similar caravans, when the sword was first 
 unsheathed. The attack of the Karmathians upon 
 the caravans excited all Arabia, however, and by the 
 power of a general outburst they were overwhelmed, 
 and for a little time the distracted Moktafi had rest. 
 
 It did not occur to the kalif that peace was the 
 natural condition of a kingdom, and as soon as he 
 found himself relieved from the fanatics of the des- 
 ert, he began a campaign against those Tulunides 
 who had snatched his Egyptian possessions from 
 him. In this effort he was successful, and the dy- 
 nasty of the Tulunides was overthrown, all its princes 
 were put to the sword, and the Egyptian provinces 
 restored to the kalifatc (about 907). At this happy 
 juncture Moktafi died and the sceptre passed to his 
 brother, Moktader, a boy of but thirteen years of 
 age, in the year 908. 
 
 It was something new in the world of Islam to 
 have a sovereign of such tender years on the throne, 
 and the opportunity for a revolution was too tempt- 
 ing to be permitted to pass by without improvement. 
 A strong party was very soon organized against the 
 young prince, and its members took the oath of al- 
 legiance to Abdalla, son of Motaz. Abdalla sent an 
 insulting order to Moktader to keep within the walls 
 of his palace " with his mother and her maidens,"
 
 THE RISE OF FATIMITES. 413 
 
 and at the same time gave commands to the captain 
 of his guards to seize the palace, not counting upon 
 opposition ; but he was mistaken. The attendants 
 of the kaHf prepared to resist any onslaught, and 
 ivhen the captain of Abdalla's guards came to en- 
 force his orders, he was met with flights of arrows; 
 a sharp skirmish followed ; Abdalla took to his heels, 
 but was overtaken and slain and his partisans dis- 
 banded. 
 
 Probably Abdalla was the better qualified of the 
 two claimants to be ruler; he was of mature years, 
 an author of repute, and a man of considerable wis- 
 dom and judgment. Moktader, on the other hand, 
 was governed by his eunuchs and his wives, and 
 gazed at the agony of his land as its calamities mul- 
 tiplied without the slightest sympathy or emotion. 
 He was incapable of maintaining order in his king- 
 dom, or even of controlling his own palace, and 
 though he remained long on the throne, the record 
 of his reign is crowded with accounts of the falling 
 away from loyalty of cities and provinces, and the 
 revolts of bold chiefs who made him tremble, in mo- 
 ments when he thought at all on the affairs of state. 
 His use of public money was scandalous, even in 
 those degenerate times ; and it is said that he wasted 
 a larger sum than the great Harun had been able to 
 amass in his whole life ! 
 
 During this reign (a.D. 909) there arose in Africa a 
 family known in history as the Fatimites, who pre- 
 tended to be descendants of AH ; though Moez, one 
 of the kalifs of the line, when asked to what branch 
 he belonged, once said, placing his hand upon his
 
 414 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 drawn scimetar: " Here is the founder of my dynas- 
 ty!" and tlirowing a handful of gold coins among 
 his soldiers, exclaimed : " Here is my genealogical 
 line ! " * 
 
 It seems pretty certain that Mohammed declared 
 to Ali, though it is not recorded in the Koran, that 
 at some time in the future there was to rise a 
 Mahdi, one directed by Allah, who should be in 
 his line, destined to bring justice into the world, — 
 a sort of savior. The name Mahdi came into his- 
 tory at about the year 685, in the reign of Abd el 
 Melik, when Moktar made his desperate onslaught 
 upon the kalif and met his overwhelming defeat. 
 From that time, however, the idea of a coming 
 Mahdi spread until it was well established in Per- 
 sia, Africa, Turkey, Egypt, and in our own time in 
 the Soudan, where it brought to the death Gordon, 
 " that last hero of Puritan Christianity, that man 
 who seems to have stepped from the pages of Mil- 
 ton into the jumble of the nineteenth century," — 
 that Gordon who appeared to his Berber murderers 
 to be the Antichrist destined to be conquered by the 
 promised Mahdi. f It was as a protest against the 
 expectations of the Alyites that Mansur gave to his 
 son the name Mehdi. 
 
 Obeidalla was the member of this family who 
 gave a new impulse to its fanatic determination to 
 
 * This anecdote about Moez, and much more about the Fatimites, 
 may be found in the Abbe Marigny's " Histoire des Revolutions de 
 I'Empire des Arabes," vol. i., page 85. 
 
 f See, in connection with the whole subject of the Mahdi, that 
 admirable monograph, " Le Mahdi depuis les origines de I'lslam 
 Jusqu'a nos jours," par James Darmsteter, Paris, 1885.
 
 3=^
 
 4l6 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 win its rights as its members understood them. He 
 announced again the i)rophecy that Mohammed was 
 to be represented by a descendant who should arise 
 within three centuries after his own death ; and, 
 assuming the title Mahdi, subdued the Aglabites 
 and the other tribes which had revolted from the 
 kalif, and soon became master of Africa from Egypt 
 to the Atlantic. He founded a capital, Mahadi, on the 
 site of a Roman town on the coast a hundred miles 
 south of Tunis, not very far from Kairwan, which 
 had then been held by the Aglabites for more than 
 a century. Obeidalla ravaged the shores of Italy 
 and Sicily with impunity, but in his attempts to in- 
 vade Egypt, he did not succeed. 
 
 Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus, born in the 
 purple), a young prince of six years, ascended the 
 throne at Constantinople in the year 911, and his 
 mother, Zoe, who was then living, exerted con- 
 siderable influence over him. The armies of the 
 empire were sent into Asia Minor, and there made 
 many reprisals from the kalifate ; at a later period, 
 they ventured as far as Mesopotamia, and carried in 
 safety a large number of captives to Constantinople. 
 An invasion from Bulgaria gave Zoe so much solici- 
 tude, however, that she sent two ambassadors to 
 the court of Moktader to negotiate for an exchange 
 of prisoners. 
 
 The visitors from Constantinople brought many 
 costly presents from their mistress, and the kalif 
 determined to dazzle them by an exhibition of mag- 
 nificence which he hoped would excel any thing they 
 had ever seen. They were not permitted to visit
 
 28
 
 4i8 THK CRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 him (lircctl)', but were received by his vizier, who 
 gave them audience in a garden-palace. Tlic ave- 
 nues and courts were, wc are told, thronged by pages 
 and soldiers ; the apartments were hung with tapes- 
 try of untold cost ; and hosts of high officers sur- 
 rounded the vizier, and stood at the right, at the 
 left, and behind his seat, as the strangers approached 
 and Lesought an interview with his master. 
 
 On the day appointed for the more important 
 audience, the courts, passages, and avenues of the 
 palace were filled with men in full armor ; all the 
 apartments were furnished with the most gorgeous 
 art of the Oriental upholsterers ; the approach to the 
 palace was guarded by one hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand soldiers standing in formal ranks ; next to them 
 were ranged seven thousand pages of the closets and 
 chief eunuchs, four thousand being whites and three 
 thousand blacks, arrayed in silk, their belts re- 
 splendent with jewels; seven hundred chamberlains 
 were also displayed ; and boats of many shapes and 
 of the most gorgeous colors floated upon the waters 
 of the Tigris hard by. 
 
 The two ambassadors were admitted first to the 
 palace of the chief chamberlain, and, astonished at 
 the magnificence that they saw^, supposed that they 
 were approaching the august presence of the Com- 
 mander of the Faithful. When the royal palace was 
 finally reached, the ambassadors beheld thirty-eight 
 thousand pieces of silk brocade embroidered with 
 gold, and twenty-two thousand magnificent carpets, 
 hanging upon the walls. Two menageries of beasts 
 wild by nature but tamed by art, wandered about
 
 A GORGEOUS COURT. 
 
 419 
 
 eating from the hands of their custodians, among 
 them being a hundred lions, each with its keeper. 
 From these beasts the ambassadors were led to 
 the Palace of the Tree, in which was an artificial 
 tree of eighteen branches, with leaves of varied 
 colors, and birds of gold and silver of every variety 
 and size perched upon its limbs, each of them in- 
 geniously constructed to sing by means of machinery 
 
 VIEW OF A MOSOUE AT BAGDAD. 
 
 in their small bodies. They were next led through 
 a passage, the walls of which were hung with ten 
 thousand coats of mail, into a garden furnished with 
 innumerable articles of great cost and rarity. 
 
 After such displays, they were brought into the 
 presence of Moktader himself, who was discovered 
 sitting on a couch of ebony inlaid with gold and 
 silver, to the right of which hung nine necklaces set
 
 42C THE GRIP OF Tff/< TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 with jewels that outshone the light of day. The 
 ambassadors aiul ihcir interpreter were not permit- 
 ted to approach nearer than within nine hundred 
 cubits oT the kahf. When the interview was con- 
 cluded, they were taken through the palaces and 
 were shown elephants, a giraffe, lynxes, and other 
 animals richly caparisoned ; after which they were 
 themselves clad in costly robes of honor, and were 
 given presents of fifty thousand dirhems each. It 
 should be said that they were brought to the 
 palace at the hour of mid-day w^orship, through " the 
 streets of the minarets,"* and their visit was so timed, 
 that the muezzins chanted the call to prayer simul- 
 taneously, and with such effect that the earth almost 
 quaked at the sound, and the strangers were struck 
 with mortal fear. It is difficult to say how far from 
 reality this extravagant description is, but that it 
 gives some idea of the barbaric display of the court 
 of the kalifs at the time, there can be but little 
 doubt.* 
 
 The exhibition brought peace, but scarcely had it 
 been effected when the terrible Karmathians burst 
 forth again in Syria, and the faltering kalif proved 
 utterly incompetent to make head against them. 
 
 * This account, which is to be found in a number of books on the 
 subject, is taken from the great work of Abulfeda, the most cele- 
 brated Saracenic author, who was a native of Damascus, where he 
 was born about 1273. His "Abridgment of the History of Man- 
 kind," covers the history of many Eastern nations, besides that 
 of the Saracens from the birth of Mohammed to 1328, the date 
 at which it was prepared, three years before the author's death. 
 Abulfeda was a prince and warrior as v/ell as an author, and was 
 ',>resent at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, ia 1281. For the period of 
 the Crusa'les his history is valuable.
 
 THE KARMA THIA.VS A TTACK MECCA. 4.21 
 
 No person but one of the eunuchs of the court 
 seemed to have presence of mind at the moment, and 
 he, though a supporter of the sovereign, deposed 
 him for his incapacity, and placed his brother Kaher 
 on the throne at Bagdad. For three days Kaher 
 enjoyed his exaltation, and then his fickle masters 
 cast him down because forsooth he did not their de- 
 sire for the bounties customar)' to be distributed 
 among the soldiers at the accession of a kalif. The 
 irons were broken from the limbs of Moktader, and 
 he was replaced on the throne of Mohammed ! At 
 this juncture Mosul declared itself independent, and 
 there was not force enough in the kalifate to restrain 
 the city from breaking the slight bond that held it 
 to its allegiance. Then, again, the Karmathians 
 made a dash upon Mecca, and captured it, mas- 
 sacring many pilgrims as they had during the former 
 kalifate ; pillaging the Kaaba ; carrying olT the black 
 stone, and leaving the well Zem-zem obstructed by 
 heaps of dead bodies. 
 
 Encouraged by these disorders a soldier of for- 
 tune ventured a revolution in Persia, and re-estab- 
 lished the worship of the magi in the region that he 
 conquered. Bagdad was thrown in the utmost con- 
 fusion by this irruption so near home, fearing that 
 the days of Yacub, the coppersmith, were to be re- 
 peated ; but the usurper took himself off in the 
 direction of Tabaristan, and the city breathed more 
 freely. The relief was but temporary, however, for 
 an intrigue broke cut in the palace, which led to the 
 disgrace of that eunuch who had deposed Moktader, 
 and he was so irritated that he raised an armv and
 
 422 
 
 THE CRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS. 
 
 laid siege lo the capital, which at the time was the 
 capital of only a small territory lying just about it. 
 At the suggestion of his attendants, Moktader cast 
 about him the cloak of the prophet and advanced 
 upon the revolters accompanied by a number of 
 councillors each carrying a copy of the Koran in his 
 hand. Instead of respecting the sacred habit and 
 the once honored volume, the besiegers forced the 
 kalif and his companions to flight, and when at last 
 he fell into their hands and demanded that they 
 should respect the successor of Mohammed, they 
 exclaimed, as they pierced him with their poignant 
 swords : " We know thee well ! thou art not the 
 representative of the prophet, but of the devil ! " 
 Thus fell the kalif Moktader, and thus did the grip 
 of the Turks tighten upon the weakening kalifatc, in 
 the year 932.
 
 ' S^^Mm^^:^^^^^':^ 
 
 Cs<»^tei!^s^j^^^li^i*s0- 
 
 XLI, 
 
 THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 Hlstorians are agreed that the downfall of the 
 kalifate was caused by the rivalries of opposing 
 rulers, the growth of anarchical and destructive 
 sects, the falling away from their allegiance of remote 
 provinces, and the increasing power and ambition of 
 the Turkish mercenaries, all of which are easily 
 shown to date from the reigns of Mamun and Mo- 
 tasim.* The prophet had given his followers as 
 their guide a book which contained many valuable 
 counsels adapted to the conditions in which he 
 found them ; he had told them to go forth and con- 
 quer the earth to the religion of Islam ; and they 
 had followed his instructions ; but their kingdom 
 had grown to an extent of which Mohammed could 
 scarely have dreamed ; and had thus grown in a 
 period of time so brief that no opportunity had been 
 allowed the rulers to learn how to manage regions so 
 extensive and people so diverse. 
 
 The Berbers of Africa; the barbarians of Turkes- 
 tan ; the lively Saracens of the Arabian deserts ; 
 the proud Syrians with their Biblical memories ; the 
 
 * See Freeman's " Lectures on the Saracens " ; Marigny's " Revo- 
 lutions," vol. i., page xxxix.; and Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the 
 Roman Empire," chapter 111,
 
 424 THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 rich and powerful Persians; the dwellers in Armenia 
 and Mesopotamia ; the K^yptians and the tribes on 
 the borders of Kathay ; the inhabitants of the pen- 
 insula of Spain ; — all these were not to be moulded 
 into a homogeneous nation under one religious faith 
 in the short space of a single century.* Nor was it 
 to be expected that a series of kalifs wielding abso- 
 lute power, and using the sword and the art of the 
 poisoner to uphold tlicir auth<jrity, could endure for 
 any considerable length of time without giving rise 
 to jealousies and intrigues, especially in an Oriental 
 land where cunning and deceit, duplicity and guile, 
 were the usual principles of action in court circles. 
 
 We have seen that the later kalifs were incapable 
 of performing properly the onerous duties of their 
 positions, and that they were wont to call upon one 
 strong neighbor to help them against another. We 
 have seen a powerful ally become in turn an equally 
 powerful antagonist, so soon as he had learned that 
 the kalif depended upon him ; and we know that 
 faith was never kept with a sovereign when there 
 seemed to be any thing to be gained by treachery. 
 We have seen that weak and luxurious kalifs called 
 to their counsels strong ministers who took ad- 
 vantage of their positions to overthrow the masters 
 
 * " The original legislation of Mohammed being made for the 
 Arabs of the desert, it was necessarily narrow in its scope, and there 
 is some difficulty in applying it to the wants of more developed and 
 civilized communities. To accomplish this, it has been necessary to 
 call in tradition, casuistry, and special pleading ; but there are loo 
 few broad principles and too many practical applications and petty 
 details in the Mussulman code to make casuistry r,n easy matter.' 
 Schuyler's "Tuikistan, " vol. i., page 17:.
 
 THE PROCESS OF DECA Y, 42*5 
 
 who trusted them. We have seen provinces fall 
 away from their allegiance merely because they were 
 so remote from the capital that there was no sense 
 of dependance upo^ it, and no sympathy wnth it.s 
 ruler. Thus, as the kalifate became rich, it became 
 also weak ; and as it grew feeble, it began to disin- 
 tegrate. The process was not rapid at first, but 
 every new symptom of dissolution begot another, 
 until at last the entire system was honeycombed 
 with political and religious rivalry and undermined 
 by intrigues and deceit. 
 
 When the life of ]\Ioktader had fled from his 
 pierced body, his fickle murderers turned to that 
 brother whom they had before placed upon the 
 throne and thrust from it, and a second time clothed 
 him with the empty honors of the kalifate. With 
 the usual cunning of his people, Kaher secretly de- 
 termined to break the bonds that held him, and the 
 only means that he knew by which he could make 
 his seat on the throne secure were torture and im- 
 prisonment. He cast one nephew, who threatened 
 to become a rival, into a dungeon, walled him up 
 and left him to perish in slow torment. His own 
 mother was tortured and put to death ; certain of his 
 generals were murdered merely because they seemed 
 dangerous ; and at last his soldiers, thinking that 
 they had found a master instead of a slave, mutinied 
 against him. They entered his palace at every gate, 
 and forced him to flight. He was soon found and 
 deposed (934), and his eyes were put out that he 
 might not again trouble the masters of the state. 
 An author says that as he was in the mosque some
 
 426 THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 time after this, he was approached by a man dressed 
 in clothes which spoke of former wealth, who said : 
 " Good gentleman, pray give me some alms : I was 
 once your kalif, and now am your beggar ! " Kaher 
 subsequently died in misery. His reign lasted 
 eighteen months. 
 
 During this brief reign a new dynasty from Persia 
 began to promise trouble to the kalifate. It origin- 
 ated somewhat as follows : One Kabus, a ruler in the 
 Caspian province of Gilan, came to the court of the 
 Samanides, and found that military employment 
 which was then so often used as a means of over- 
 turning kingdoms. He was entrusted with the gov- 
 ernment of the province of Dilem, in which he 
 exhibited the qualities of a strong ruler, and estab- 
 lished himself so completely that he w-as able to 
 bequeath his throne there to his son Buya, from 
 whom the dynasty of the Buvides (called also the 
 Dilemites) is named (a.D. 933). 
 
 In the year 934 the princely king-makers of Bag- 
 dad went to the prisons and took out a nephew of the 
 late kalif to put on the throne from which Kaher 
 had just been cast down. He is known as Radi. 
 He proved to be of a docile temperament, and look- 
 ing back at the fate of his predecessors who had 
 allowed their natural desire to be rulers, in reality as 
 well as name, to influence them, determined to re- 
 press every rising ambition and manly feeling. To 
 make his masters well-disposed towards him, he 
 appointed one of them prince of princes, or autocrat, 
 giving him such unlimited power as Fadhl had 
 wielded in the reign of Mamun, and depriving him-
 
 RADI'S DEBASED EASE. 
 
 42; 
 
 COIN OF THE KALIF RADI. 
 
 self of tlie right to influence the administration of 
 government or to expend any of its treasure in an 
 independent manner. The office of vizier became 
 utterly unimportant in the presence of this mighty 
 officer. This complete resignation accomphshed its 
 purpose, and Radi was 
 allowed to give himself 
 up to the enjoyment 
 of a debased ease, and 
 to an indulgence in 
 pleasure which brought 
 his miserable existence 
 to a close in the year 940. In the midst of his pleas- 
 ure-seeking, Radi found time to cultivate letters, and 
 the following specimen is a translation by Professor 
 Carlyle of one of his better poems : 
 
 " Mortal joys however pure, 
 
 Soon their turbid source betray ; 
 Mortal bliss, however sure, 
 Soon must totter and decay. 
 
 " Ye who now with footsteps keen, 
 
 Range through hope's delusive field. 
 Tell us what the smiling scene 
 To your ardent grasp can yield. 
 
 Other youths have oft before 
 
 Deemed their joys would never fade, 
 Till themselves were seen no more — 
 
 Swept into oblivion's shade. 
 
 Who, with health and pleasure gav 
 E'er his fragile state could know, 
 
 Were not age and pain to say — 
 Man is but the child of woe?"
 
 428 THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 His lighter style is seen in the following, addressed 
 to a blushing woman : 
 
 " Leila, whene'er I gaze on thee 
 My altered cheek turns pale ; 
 While upon thine, sweet maid, I see 
 A deepening blush prevail. 
 
 '• Leila, shall I the cause impart 
 
 AVhy such a change takes place ? — 
 The crimson stream deserts my heart 
 To mantle on thy face." 
 
 The Prince of Princes, with all his power, was not 
 strong enough to hold back the kalifate from its 
 destruction. The Karmathians raged more effectu- 
 ally than ever, and a shameful treaty was made with 
 them as the only means of enabling pilgrims to 
 approach the holy Kaaba ; governors revolted on 
 the right hand and on the left ; Korassan, the Tran- 
 soxanian possessions, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, 
 Africa, — all were torn away from the feeble kingdom, 
 and the luxurious kalif was shut up with his haughty 
 Prince of Princes in the city of Bagdad. The capi- 
 tal itself became the scene of frightful anarchy, and 
 when its magnificence had been well-nigh destroyed 
 by the oppression and misrule of the masterful 
 Turks, the citizens called upon the adventurer then 
 representing the Buvides to come and rule over 
 them. He came, and found it not necessary to fight 
 a battle : the city fell into his hands in the year 945, 
 and for a century and more it was under the control 
 of the new dynasty. The kalif had renounced all 
 temporal power, and remained simply the spiritual 
 head of the Moslem church.
 
 ENr OF THE POWER OF THE KAI.IFS. 429 
 
 Meantime the miserable existence of Radi had 
 come to an end in the year 940, and with him ter- 
 minated the rule of the kalif.s ; for though a hne was 
 continued for three centuries longer, it was composed 
 of rulers still more under the control of the Turkish 
 guards than he. Radi was the last of the kalifs who 
 in any measure sustained the ancient character of the 
 sovereigns of his line. Never after his time did a 
 kalif write poems that w^ere collected into a volume; 
 no longer did a kalif publicly harangue the faithful 
 of a Friday in the mosque ; nor did another hold 
 train and table after the olden st)'le of magnificence ; 
 no other one disposed the armies and the finances 
 after his own will ; nor even held familiar compan- 
 ionship with his friends, for all power was hence- 
 forth lodged in the hands of the Prince of Princes, 
 and of the ministers who gave that of^cer his su- 
 premac}'. The vizier, like the kalif, was emptied of 
 political influence, and the Prince of Princes usurped 
 an authority not unlike that possessed in Rome by 
 the Praetorian Guards, in France by the Maires dii 
 Palais^ and in Constantinople for five hundred years 
 by the terrible Janizaries.* The foreign masters, as 
 
 * The Janizaries, organized first in 1329, were not disbanded until 
 1826. They passed through the same stages that we have marked in 
 the history of the Turkish body-guards. At first they numbered but 
 one thousand ; in 1362 there were ten thousand of them ; in three 
 centuries they had immensely increased, and in time they became the 
 real masters of the empire, deposing and executing the sultans at 
 will. They were the terror of the world. The Praetorians, organ- 
 ized by Scipio Africanus, were also at first few in number ; but 
 Augustus made them a permanent body of ten thousand (b.c. 27), and 
 their power increased so much that they put up the imperial crown 
 at auction, a.d. 193. The body was not disbanded until a.d. 312.
 
 430 
 
 THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 they followed one after another, kept up the form 
 of supportinfj a kalif, though they thus forced him 
 to be a helpless puppet in their hands. 
 
 The city of Bagdad Avas itself overthrown in the 
 year 1258, but between the death of Radi and that 
 date, two dynasties had been established upon the 
 ruins of the kalifate, while a third had temporarily 
 interjected itself between them. The rule of the 
 
 Buvides came to an 
 end, as we shall see, 
 in 1050, when the Turk- 
 ish dynasty of the Sel- 
 juks was established at 
 Bagdad. 
 
 The sympathies of 
 the Buvides were Aly- 
 
 .|=iiBanr[|:tf»liHi^^R^^ eigns who composed 
 
 ^^ ^^^^ IsU/ ^^^^^^^p^ ^^^^ ^^"^ claiming de- 
 scent from the husband 
 GOLD COINS OF FATiMiTE KALiFs. ^f Fatima ; they ruled 
 
 (A.D. 1050 AND 1072.) , 1 J J 4. 
 
 ^ ^ ' one hundred and twen- 
 
 ty-seven years, during all but nine of which 
 they were sovereigns of the kalifs. The Fatim- 
 ites made themselves masters of Africa and Egypt 
 (953-972), and built the city of Cairo (970). Dur- 
 ing the same period the Gaznivide dynasty, or- 
 iginating, in 961, in the strongly fortified town of 
 Gazni, in Afghanistan, on the confines of Korassan, 
 conquered a region extending from the Ganges to 
 the Tigris, and from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean,
 
 MAHMUD OF GAZNl. 43/ 
 
 It reached its climax in 1032, and ended in 1133. In 
 the period of its glory, Mahmud, sultan of Gazni 
 (997-1032), astonished all Asia by his conquests ; 
 twelve times he invaded India, and every time he 
 brought away vast amounts of spoils to enrich his 
 capital. It is related that he took as much pleasure 
 in propagating Islam as in adding to his military 
 glory, though it must be confessed that he was a 
 bloody apostle, following the example of the prophet 
 after he had drawn the sword, rather than imitating 
 his peaceful earlier days. He encouraged commerce, 
 however, and patronized letters, and it was during 
 his long reign of forty-two }-ears that the greatest 
 poet of Persia flourished, Abul Casem Mansur, bet- 
 ter known as Ferdusi (the Paradisic), who had been 
 compared to Homer for his fecundity, genius, and 
 imagination. 
 
 It is said by the Abbe de Marigny that when the 
 courtiers of Mahmud were assured that death was 
 about to snatch him from his kingdom, they ordered 
 brought into his presence all the precious stones, 
 vessels of gold and silver and chests of gold that he 
 had acquired in his wars, hoping in that way to 
 amuse his closing moments. For an entire day the 
 procession of riches was kept passing by the royal 
 invalid, and when all was over, he exclaimed : " What 
 cruel fatigues, what perils, what torments of body and 
 mind has it not cost me to make these gains ! How 
 uncertain such riches are! How much trouble and 
 fear is endured in keeping them ! Behold the climax 
 of all these evils is found in the last and greatest of 
 them — the owner must part with them when he parts
 
 4^2 77//; FATAL lU.OW. 
 
 with life ! " With such words, Mahinud breathed his 
 last ill a palace adorned with all the magnificence 
 that Oriental art, aided by unlimited wealth, could 
 furnish, — amid w^alls adorned with marble and gold 
 and precious stones, which he had named with unin- 
 tentional sarcasm. Felicity.* 
 
 As the Gaznivide dynasty receded from its great- 
 est power, the teeming north was preparing to send 
 another horde of strong barbarians down upon the 
 still w'eakening Saracens. In Turkestan there lived 
 and fed their numerous flocks a family of four broth- 
 ers descended from one Seljuk, who again traced his 
 line far back into the darker ages of his dark land.f 
 Year by year- the flocks of the brothers increased, 
 and they sought new friends as they added to their 
 riches, in order to make themselves strong in the 
 land. After a time pasturage failed for their im- 
 mense herds, and they looked for new forage-ground 
 in the regions beyond the Oxus and to the south of 
 their original home. 
 
 Not long after the Gaznivides had established their 
 dynasty, these northerners, w^ho called themselves, 
 after their father, Seljuks, found themselves in the 
 region of Bokhara and Samarkand looking over into 
 the lands of their rising neighbors. They asked and 
 finally obtained permission to enter Korassan, and 
 it was not long before the subjects of the Gaznivides 
 were heard complaining that they were constantly 
 
 * Mahmiid built at Gazni a grand mosque, a museum of natural 
 history filled with wonderful specimens, and a library. He is reputed 
 the first Moslem monarch who took the title sultan, and he was the 
 first Moslem emperor of India. 
 
 ■J- See Vambery's " History of Bokhara," chapter vi,
 
 THE SELJUK DYNASTY. 433 
 
 vexed by their new neighbors, and they were forced 
 to send troops against the intruders whom they had 
 permitted to approach so close to them. The Turks 
 had learned war from their able father, and though 
 they were often attacked, they always overcame the 
 Gaznivides ; as the invaders from the north have 
 so often defeated the southerners in this history. 
 This it was that undermined and weakened the pow- 
 erful dynasty, so that after making themselves mas- 
 ters of Korassan (about 1040) and taking Ispahan 
 from the Buvides in 1051, their leader, Togrul Beg, 
 entered Bagdad in 1055, delivered the kalif from the 
 tyranny of the Buvides, and made himself Prince of 
 Princes. Thus again the kalif exchanged the tyranny 
 of one foreigner for that of another. 
 
 The second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty embraced 
 Islam, and extended his dominions greatly ; the 
 third captured Jerusalem, and insulted and op- 
 pressed pilgrims from Christian lands so griev- 
 ously as to give rise to the Crusades. After his 
 death the power of the dynasty became less, though 
 it did not finally succumb until 1299, and then the 
 Turkish empire rose from its ruins. During the 
 reign of the third Prince, Melek Shah (1073-1093), -' 
 the Assassins,* a branch of the Ismailians, came into 
 
 * When Benjamin of Tudela, the intelHgent Jewish traveller from 
 Navarre, reached Jebilee in 1163, he wrote: "In this vicinity live 
 the people called Assassins, who do not believe in the tenets of 
 Mohammedanism, but in those of one whom they consider like unto 
 the prophet Karmath. They fulfil whatever he commands them, 
 whether it be a matter of life or death. He goes by the name of 
 Sheikh-al-Hashishim, or 'Their Old Man,' by whose command all 
 the acts of these mountaineers are regulated. His residence is in 
 
 29
 
 434 7^^^ FATAL BLOW. 
 
 prominence in the person of their chitf, Hasan, a 
 man of Persian descent, known in history as " The 
 Old Man of the Mountains." This order became 
 extensive and powerful, and acting in secret, was 
 difificult to be met and defeated in its nefarious 
 schemes. It finally came to an end at the same 
 time that Bagdad fell (1258). During their career, 
 the Assassins murdered kalifs and other eminent 
 men, both Moslems and Christians ; they captured 
 strong castles, and ravaged extensive regions ; with- 
 out moral restraints, they fortified themselves for 
 their atrocious work by putting their bodies under 
 the intoxicating influence of hashish (whence, prob- 
 ably, their name, Hashishim — Assassins) ; they 
 studied a catechism in which they were taught the 
 most successful means of worming themselves into 
 the confidence of their unsuspecting victims, in or- 
 der to thrust their cruel daggers more surely into 
 their hearts. With fifty thousand men at their com- 
 mand, the Assassins became terrible to the Crusad- 
 ers, as well as to the Persians and the Saracens ; but 
 their order contained in itself the germs of disinte- 
 gration from the operation of which they would have 
 fallen had they not been overcome by the Mongols. 
 On account of the restlessness of their own rulers, 
 the Seljuks did not reign free from embarrassment. 
 Soon after the year 1 100, there was born in Armenia^ 
 or Western Persia, a man known as Ayub, or Job, 
 
 the city of Kadmus, tlie Kedemoth of Scripture, in the land of 
 Sichon " [Joshua xiii : iS]. Wright, "Early Travels in Palestine " 
 (Bohn), page 78. Baudier gives a glowing account of the earthly 
 paradise in which Hashishim v^^as said to live.
 
 ARABIAN BREAD-SELLER AT JERU3ALE.U.
 
 43^ TTir FATAL BLOW 
 
 and surnaincd "The Star of Religion," who became 
 the father of a son called in history Saladin, one of 
 the most interesting heroes of Saracenic annals. 
 Ayub had been governor under the Seljuks, in his 
 native town on the Tigris, but entered the service of 
 a Syrian prince, and from that region his son, who 
 became the beau-ideal of Saracenic chivalry, went to 
 Egypt, where in a short time he rose to influence, and 
 finally established himself as ruler of that country, 
 as well as of Syria, Assyria, Arabia, and Mesopo- 
 tamia. In 1 193 he died, but he left a record as an 
 intelligent sovereign, even his enemies attributing to 
 him the noblest qualities of courage, moderation, 
 greatness of soul, and justice, while for centuries 
 evidences of his wise administration remained in 
 the form of fortresses, roads, dikes, and canals that 
 he had built. 
 
 It was during the kalifate of Mostanjed, in 1164, 
 that Benjamin of Tudela visited Bagdad. There 
 were frightful disorders in Persia at the time ; the 
 governors, unfaithful to their allegiance, were as- 
 suming independence and quarrelling among them- 
 selves for supremacy. The empire of the Seljuks had 
 been divided into four parts at the death of Melek 
 Shah, each ruled by a sovereign calling himself sul- 
 tan ; disorders had followed that event ; and the dy- 
 nasty of the Fatimites was about to be brought to 
 an end in Egypt.* 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela gives us a glimpse of the 
 capital of the kalifate in the days of its decline. He 
 says that the kalif enjoyed the same supremacy 
 ■" 'I'lie Fatimites were overthrown by Saladin in 1:71.
 
 FADING GRANDEUR. 437 
 
 over all Mohammedan kings that the Pope then 
 held over Christian potentates, thougii this was, of 
 course, merely a formal supremacy. The palace 
 of the kalif was three miles in extent (or the 
 grounds, rather), containing a park filled with all 
 kinds of trees and all sorts of beasts. A pond 
 was supplied with water from the Tigris; and 
 whenever the kalif wished to sport and carouse, 
 birds, beasts, and fishes were prepared for him and 
 for his invited guests. He was very friendly towards 
 the Jews, Benjamin is careful to say, understood all 
 languages, was well-versed in the Hebrew law, and 
 could read and write the Hebrew tongue. He en- 
 joyed nothing that he did not earn with his own 
 hands, and therefore made articles that were sold to 
 his nobles. He is represented as an excellent and 
 kind-hearted ruler, though invisible to his subjects, 
 even refusing to be seen by the pilgrims who passed 
 through Bagdad on their way to Mecca. He was 
 wont to respond to petitions from the faithful who 
 wished to see his face, by putting one corner of his 
 garment out of a window and permitting them to 
 kiss it, which the pilgrims did with eagerness. The 
 palace is represented to comprise large buildings 
 with pillars of gold and silver, and hoards of pre- 
 cious stones. 
 
 Once a year, during the month Ramadan, the 
 kalif was accustomed to leave his palace, and allow 
 his visitors, as well as his subjects, to behold his 
 countenance. Then, bestriding the royal mule, and 
 dressed in his oflficial robes of gold and silver cloth, 
 his head ornamented with a turban adorned with
 
 43 S THE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 stones of inestimable value, and covered with a veil, 
 betokening humility, he went in procession from the 
 palace to the mosque, accompanied by a retinue of 
 nobles from Arabia, Media, even from Tibet, likewise 
 adorned with (gorgeous dresses. All who followed 
 were dressed in silk and purple ; the streets were made 
 lively by singing and rejoicing ; and the people cried 
 aloud, " Blessed art thou, our lord and sovereign!" 
 This compliment was duly acknowledged, and the 
 kalif entered the mosque, where he mounted a 
 wooden pulpit, and expounded the law, after which 
 he pronounced a blessing and sacrificed a camel, 
 distributing it to the nobles, all of whom were eager 
 to taste the meat prepared thus by the hands of their 
 king. The kalif returned to his palace by a different 
 way, and the path by which he went was carefully 
 guarded, so that no one should tread in his footsteps. 
 He seems to have been particularly careful for the 
 health of his people, and had provided sixty medical 
 warehouses, where patients were assisted and fed 
 until cured of their diseases. Besides this, he had a 
 large asylum for maniacs, where they were chained 
 and cared for, examinations at regular periods being 
 made to determine who, if any, had been restored to 
 their reason, all of which was done out of pure piety 
 and love of humanity. Bagdad itself is represented 
 as surrounded by gardens and orchards, being rich in 
 palm-trees, and not equalled by any city in Mesopo- 
 tamia. Not only did merchants resort thither from all 
 countries for purposes of trade, but wise philosophers 
 were encouraged, and there were many scientific men, 
 as well as magicians skilled in enchantments.* 
 * Wright : " Early Travels in Palestine " (Bohn), i:>age 95.
 
 440 THE FATA!. BLOW. 
 
 At the very time that Benjamin of Tudela was 
 thus describing the great city of Bagdad, if the 
 chronology be correct, there was born in distant 
 Tartary (properly Tatary,. for the name has no rela- 
 tion to the Latin Tartarus) a man who was destined 
 to overthrow kalif and palace, Bagdad and the whole 
 Saracenic rule. Jengis Khan (his name is spelled in 
 a score of different ways) was a native of the most 
 remote of those unknown regions which had re- 
 peatedly poured their fierce hordes down upon the 
 dominions of the kalifs, and opened his eyec to 
 the light of day at about the year 1 164, in the rough 
 region north of the great wall of China, where his 
 father was a ruler." Jengis was left an orphan at an 
 early age, but he assumed the reins of government, 
 and by the year 1203 had become the most powerful 
 of the khans in the region. Then at a general gath- 
 ering of deputies from the different Tartar tribes 
 that he had subjugated, he was confirmed as " Jen- 
 gis " Khan, or greatest of khans, one of the attend- 
 ant priests declaring that he was destined to become 
 ruler of the whole earth. A few years after this he 
 ventured to invade China, scaling that great wall 
 which for fourteen hundred years had proved a 
 sufficient barrier against the northern enemies, and 
 then Pekin fell into his hands. 
 
 Gradually Jengis gained upon the strong Seljuks, 
 took Bokhara and Samarkand, and extended his do- 
 
 * The astrologers of Islam had predicted that a fearful wind- 
 storm should come from the East in 11 54, and as no such storm 
 came it was said that Jengis Kahn was meant. — Vambery's "His- 
 tory cf Bokhara," page 119.
 
 THE END OF THE KALI FA TE. 44I 
 
 minion from the Sihon to the Persian Gulf (about 
 1220). In 1227, when preparing for other invasions, 
 Jengisdied, and his bloody sceptre was passed over to 
 Jiis son. He had, it is said, by his wars and massacres 
 caused the death of five or six millions of his fellow- 
 beings, but there has been traced a civilizing ten- 
 dency in his laws and in the administration of his 
 vast realm. The sons and grandsons of J engis con- 
 tinued his successful career, and extended their 
 dominions from the sea-board of China through 
 Russia to the borders of Germany and Poland. His 
 grandson Hulaku, who was the first sultan of 
 Persia, overthrew the terrible Assassins, and cap- 
 tured Bagdad, putting the kalif Motasim to death, 
 and with him sacrificing, according to the exagger- 
 ated accounts long believed, sixteen hundred thou- 
 sand citizens of the great capital ! The kalifate thus 
 ended as a temporal kingdom, though one of the 
 uncles of Motasim found an asylum in Egypt in 
 1261, and est:dblished a spiritual power that endured 
 until 1577. 
 
 Thus, amid the groans of dying thousands, and the 
 wild exultation-: of a horde of victorious Tartars and 
 Monguls, the kalifate that had created Bagdad, and 
 for five hundred years had made it a magnificent 
 centre of art, science, and letters, was forever ex- 
 tinguished ; but Islam did not die. 
 
 One hundred and eighty millions of human beings 
 still profess to follow the teachings of the prophet ; 
 five times a day they spread their mats and turn 
 their faces towards the spot made sacred to them by
 
 442 
 
 TBE FATAL BLOW. 
 
 his birth, and utter the prayers he taught ; daily the 
 voice of the muezzin is heard from thousands of 
 minarets boldly calling the faithful from contempla- 
 tion of this world to thoughts of the next ; and 
 yearly, as the month Moharrem goes by, devoted 
 millions express their sorrow for the pains of the 
 "martyr" of Kerbala, and work themselves to such 
 a pitch of enthusiasm that the power of their rulers 
 trembles before them.
 
 
 tf 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 
 o 
 
 m 
 
 ^2 
 
 ^ 
 
 hZ 
 
 ^ 
 
 n O 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ Z 
 
 < 
 
 O 
 
 
 tf 
 
 (^
 
 NOLDEKE'S ORDER OF THE SURAS OF 
 THE KORAN. 
 
 Revealed at Mecca. ( Years one 
 to Jive of Mohammed 's mis- 
 sion.) 
 
 9fK 
 
 The Thickened Blood. The 
 
 
 Prophet's First Call to Cry. 
 
 74- 
 
 The Covered. 
 
 III. 
 
 Abu Laheb. 
 
 io6. 
 
 The Koreisliites. 
 
 103. 
 
 Al Kawthar. 
 
 104. 
 
 The Slanderer. 
 
 T07. 
 
 The Succoring Hand. 
 
 102. 
 
 The Love of Gain. 
 
 105. 
 
 The Elephant. 
 
 Q2. 
 
 The Night. 
 
 go. 
 
 The Land. 
 
 94- 
 
 The E.xpanding. 
 
 93. 
 
 The Forenoon. 
 
 97- 
 
 Al Kadar. (The Night of 
 
 
 Power.) 
 
 86. 
 
 The Nocturnal Star. 
 
 91. 
 
 The Sun. 
 
 80. 
 
 He Frowned. 
 
 68. 
 
 The Pen. 
 
 87. 
 
 The Most High. 
 
 95- 
 
 The Fig-Tree. 
 
 103. 
 
 The Afternoon. 
 
 85. 
 
 The Celestial Zlgus. 
 
 73. 
 
 The Wrapped Up, 
 
 101. 
 
 The Smiting. 
 
 99. 
 
 The Earthquake. 
 
 82. 
 
 The Cleaving Asunder. 
 
 81. 
 
 The Folding Up. 
 
 53- 
 
 The Star. 
 
 84. 
 
 The Rending in Sunder. 
 
 100. 
 
 The Coursers. 
 
 79- 
 
 Those Who Tear Forth. 
 
 77. Those Who are Sent. 
 
 78. The Important News. 
 S8. The Overwhelming. 
 89. The Daybreak. 
 
 75. The Resurrection. 
 83. The Unjust Measure. 
 
 69. The Inevitable Day. 
 
 51. The Dispersing. 
 
 52. The Mountain. 
 56. The Judgment. 
 
 70. The Ascent. 
 55. The Merciful. 
 
 112. The Declaration of the 
 
 Unity of Allah, 
 
 log. The Misbelievers. 
 
 113. The Daybreak, 
 
 114. Men. 
 
 r. Prayer for Guidance. 
 
 Revealed at Mecca. ( Years Jive 
 and six.) 
 
 54. The Moon. 
 
 37. The Classes. 
 
 71. Noah. 
 
 76. Man. 
 44. Smol'e. 
 50. K. 
 
 20. T. H. 
 
 26. The Poets. 
 
 15. Al Hejr. 
 
 19. Mary. 
 
 38. S. 
 36. I. S. 
 
 43. The Ornaments of Gold. 
 
 72. The Jinns. 
 67. The Kingdom.
 
 444 
 
 ORDER OF THE SURAS. 
 
 23. The True Believers. 
 
 21. The Prophets. 
 
 25. Discririinatlon. Al Forkaii. 
 (The Koran.) 
 
 17. The Night Journey. 
 
 27. The Ant. 
 
 18. The Cave. 
 
 Revealed at Mecca between the 
 seventh Year and the Hejra. 
 
 32. Adoration. 
 
 41. The Explanation. 
 
 45. The Kneeling. 
 16. The Bee. 
 
 30. The Greeks. 
 
 11, Hud.. 
 
 14. Abraham. 
 
 12, Joseph. 
 
 40. The True Believer. 
 
 28. The Story. 
 39. The Troops. 
 
 29. The Spider. 
 
 31. Lokman. 
 
 42. The Council. 
 10. Jonah. 
 
 34. Saba. 
 
 35. The Angels, or the Creator. 
 7. AIAraf. 
 
 46. AlAhkaf. 
 
 6. Cattle. 
 13. Thunder. 
 
 Revealed at Medina. 
 
 2. The Heifer. 
 
 98. The Manifest Sign. 
 
 64. Mutual Deceit. 
 
 62. The Assembly. (Friday.) 
 
 8. The Spoils. 
 
 47. Mohammed. (The Battle.) 
 
 3. The Family of Iniram. 
 61. Battle Array. 
 
 57. Iron. 
 
 4. Women. 
 
 65. Divorce. 
 
 59. The Emigration. 
 33. The Confederates. 
 
 63. The Hypocrites. 
 24. Light. 
 
 58. She Who Disputed. 
 22. The Pilgrimage. 
 
 48. The Victory. 
 
 66. Proliibition. 
 
 60. She Who is Tried. 
 1 10. Assistance. 
 
 49. The Sanctuary. 
 
 9. The Declaration of Ini- 
 
 munity. 
 
 5. The Table.
 
 p^^^^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^^T 
 
 ^^ 
 
 mgwmB^i^^TOw^ 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 A.D. 565-1261. 
 
 571 
 
 572 
 
 5S0 
 590 
 
 603 
 610 
 
 613 
 
 615 
 
 617 
 61Q 
 020 
 
 623 
 624 
 
 627 
 
 9 ^30 
 
 The Times of Ignorance. Abra- 
 ha invades Hejaz. 
 
 Mohammed born (Apr 1 zoth). 
 Chosroes Parvis wars with Jus- 
 tinus II. 
 
 Turks attempt to seize Persia. 
 
 Chosroes seeks asylum at Con- 
 stantinople. 
 Sacrilegious war (580-590). 
 Mohammed marries Kadija. 
 
 Chosroes invades the Roman 
 
 Empire. 
 Mohammed begins his prophetic 
 
 career. 
 Mohammed opposed by the Ko- 
 
 reishites. 
 The emigration to Abyssinia. 
 
 Mohammed under the ban-to 620 
 Kadija dies. 
 Abu Talib dies. 
 Mohammed visits Taif. 
 Mohammed leaves Mecca. 
 
 Abu Sofian defeated at Bedr. 
 Battle of Ohud ; Mohammed de- 
 feated. 
 Marriage of AH and Fatima. 
 Battle of the Ditch. 
 
 Mecca overcome. 
 
 Battle of Muta goes against 
 
 Islam. 
 False.prophets arise. 
 Taif beseiged and taken. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 576 
 
 578 
 
 5S2 
 
 615 
 
 627 
 629 
 
 Justinus II. ascends the throne of 
 the Eastern Empire. 
 
 W;ir with the Persians. Chos. 
 roes defeated at Melitene. 
 Tiberius II. 
 
 Mauricius. 
 
 Phocas (a centurion) murders 
 Mauricius and makes himself 
 emperor. 
 
 Heraclius comes from Africa and 
 seizes the sceptre. 
 
 Jerusalem pillaged by Chos- 
 roes II. 
 
 Chosroes II. defeated among 
 the Taurus Mountains. 
 
 Persia overcome by Heraclius 
 Battle near Nineveh. 
 
 Heraclius at Jerusalem. 
 
 Saracens begin warfare with 
 the empire.
 
 44^ 
 
 ClIROXOI.OCICAl. TABLE. 
 
 A.n. 
 til 
 
 63a 
 633 
 
 634 
 63s 
 
 636 
 
 6.i8 
 63Q 
 641 
 
 643 
 
 644 
 
 647 
 653 
 
 656 
 
 658 
 
 658 
 661 
 
 41 ■ C61 
 
 50 C70 
 
 56 j 676 
 
 61 680 
 
 64 I 683 
 
 64 ; 684 
 
 6s j 685 
 
 I 
 73 I 692 
 
 86 
 
 Mohammed's farewell pilgrim. 
 
 ARC. 
 
 Mohammed's death (June 8th). 
 Abii Hekr chosen kalif. 
 
 Osania'sexpcdition to Pales- 
 tine. 
 Musclima defeated at tho bat 
 tic of the (iarden of Death 
 Kalid in Irak. Battle of the 
 
 River of Hlood. 
 Hattle of Wacusa on the 
 Vennuk. 
 Omar I. chosen kalif. 
 Hattle of Boweib. 
 Hattle of Kadesia. 
 Damascus taken. 
 Jerusalem captured. Kin- 
 
 nesrin taken. 
 Kufa and Bassora founded 
 The Year of Ashes. 
 Egypt conquered. Fostat 
 
 founded. 
 
 Battle of Nevahend. Persia 
 
 conquered. 
 
 Othman. Factions at Kufa and 
 
 Bassora. 
 
 Conquests in Africa. 
 
 Conference of governors at 
 
 Medina. 
 Medina attacked. 
 AH chosen kalif. 
 
 Battle of the camel. 
 Karcjites rebel after the bat- 
 tle of Siffin. 
 Karejitcs defeated by Nehr- 
 
 wan. 
 Egypt revolts and is lost. 
 Hasan becomes kalif, after All's 
 
 assassination. 
 Moawia 1. Omiades at Damas- 
 cus. 
 
 Siege of Constantinople. 
 
 (Peace 078). 
 Vezid declared heir-appar- 
 ent. 
 Vezid kalif. Tragedy at Ker- 
 
 bala. 
 Moawia IT. 
 .Merwan I. 
 
 Abdalla, son of Zobeir, 
 
 claims the kalifate. 
 The kaaba rebuilt. 
 Rebellion of Moktar in Irak. 
 Abd el Melik kalif. 
 
 Hejaj besieges Mecca. 
 
 dalla killed. 
 Conquests in Africa. 
 
 Ab- 
 
 Walid I. 
 quered. 
 
 Transoxania con- 705 
 
 64, 
 
 Heracleonas — exnea 
 Constans II. 
 
 668 
 670 
 
 Constantine III. 
 
 Saracens besiege Constcnt'r.ople 
 yearly until 678. 
 
 Justinian II. (dethnaned later). 
 
 Leontius. 
 
 Tiberius III. Aspimar. 
 
 Justinian II. (restored).
 
 CI! A' O A' O LOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 U7 
 
 A.H. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 9' 
 
 711 
 
 Spain invaded at Gibraltar 
 by Tarik. 
 
 7" 
 713 
 
 Philippicus Bardanes. 
 .\nastasius II. 
 
 96 
 
 715 
 
 Soliman. 
 
 
 
 97 
 
 7.6 
 
 Second seige of Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
 716 
 
 Theodosius III. Siege of Constan- 
 tinople by the Saracens. 
 
 99 
 
 717 
 
 Omar II. 
 
 718 
 
 Leo HI., the Isaurian. (Iconoclas- 
 tic controversy begins.) Image- 
 worship forbidden. Saracens 
 
 lOI 
 
 720 
 
 Yezid 11. 
 
 
 repulsed. 
 
 105 
 
 72 + 
 
 Hisham. 
 
 726 
 
 War with the Saracens in Pon- 
 tus and Cappadocia. 
 
 114 
 
 732 
 
 Battle of Tours. Charles 
 -Martel repels the Saracens. 
 
 739 
 740 
 741 
 
 Saracens invade the empire 
 
 with three armies. 
 Great earthquake devastates 
 
 parts of the empire. 
 Constantine IV. (Copronymus.) 
 
 "5 
 
 743 
 
 Walid 11. 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 744 
 
 Yezid ill. 
 
 
 
 126 
 
 744 
 
 Ibrahim. 
 
 
 
 127 
 
 744 
 
 Merwan II. Last of Omiades. 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 750 
 
 Battle of the Zab. 
 
 
 
 132 
 
 75° 
 
 Abtil Abbas. Abbassides at 
 Bagdad. 
 
 752 
 
 Pepin in France, 
 
 136 
 
 754 
 
 Mansur. 
 
 
 
 138 
 
 755 
 
 Abd er Rahman in Spain. 
 
 755 
 
 Temporal power of the popes 
 began. 
 
 15^ 
 
 775 
 
 Mehdi. 
 
 77S 
 780 
 
 Leo IV. The Iconoclast. 
 
 Constantine V. and Irene. 
 
 (Irene unpopular.) 
 
 169 
 
 78s 
 
 Hedi. 
 
 
 
 170 
 
 786 
 
 Harun al Rashid. 
 
 79° 
 
 Constantine V. alone. 
 
 181 
 
 797 
 
 The Aglabites in Kairwan, 
 
 800-909. 
 
 797 
 
 Irene alone, (deposed and slain). 
 
 
 
 800 
 
 Charlemagne emperor. Egbert 
 
 
 
 
 
 in England. 
 
 
 
 
 S02 
 
 Nicephorus I. 
 (Slain.) 
 
 193 
 
 809 
 
 Amin. 
 
 811 
 8.1 
 
 Staurachius reigns a few days. 
 Michael I. 
 
 198 
 
 813 
 
 Mamun. 
 
 S13 
 
 Leo V. (killed in temple). 
 
 204 
 
 820 
 
 The Taherians, 818-902. 
 
 820 
 829 
 
 Michael II., the Stammerer. 
 Theophilus, son of Michael. 
 
 218 
 
 833 
 
 Motasim. 
 
 
 
 226 
 
 841 
 
 Rise of the Turkish body- 
 guard. 
 
 
 
 227 
 
 842 
 
 Wathek. 
 
 842 
 
 Michael III., Porphyrogenitus. 
 
 23i 
 
 847 
 
 Motawakkel. 
 
 
 
 247 
 
 861 
 
 Montaser. 
 
 Increase of the power of 
 Turkish body-guards (861- 
 945)- 
 
 
 
 248 
 
 862 
 
 Mostain. 
 
 
 
 252 
 
 866 
 
 Motaz. 
 
 667 
 
 Basilius 1., the Macedon.an.
 
 448 
 
 CIIKONOI.OGICA L TA BI.E. 
 
 A.H. 
 350 
 
 389 
 395 
 
 A.D. 
 I>69 
 870 
 
 879 
 
 9°2 
 908 
 
 329 
 333 
 334 
 
 356 
 358 
 
 379 
 
 381 
 
 406 
 
 Motadi. 
 iMotaincd. 
 
 The twelfth Imam (Alyiic) 
 
 ilisappears. 
 The Soflarules, 872-901. 
 
 .Motn<lcd. 
 
 The Samanidcs, 901-999. 
 Moktali. 
 Mokiadcr. 
 
 The Kat:m:tcs(or Ismailians; 
 in Africa, 905-1:71. 
 
 932 
 
 934 
 937 
 
 940 
 944 
 945 
 
 967 
 
 969 
 
 974 
 
 991 
 
 1016 
 
 87= 
 
 886 
 
 911 
 
 912 
 
 919 
 920 
 928 
 
 931 
 
 Kaher. _., . ^ 
 
 The Buvidcs (or Dilemites) 
 933-1056. 
 Radi. 
 
 The Emirs al Omra (Princes 
 of Princes) founded. 
 Motaki. 
 Mostakfi. 
 Moti. 
 
 The Fatimites in Egypt. 
 Fatimites conquer Palestine 
 
 Alfred the Great in Hritain. 
 
 Leo V'l., the Philoi ipher. 
 
 Alexander and Constantine \'I. 
 Constantine VI., Porphyrogenitus. 
 
 Zoc regent. 
 Romanus 1. 
 Christopher. 
 Stephen and Constantine VII. 
 
 (Five emperors at once.) 
 Christopher dies. 
 
 [Romanus exiled by his sons. 
 
 Constantine and Stephen who 
 
 are banished.] 
 
 Tai. 
 
 The Seljuks, 974-1288. 
 
 Truce of God originated at 
 Charroux. 
 Kader. 
 
 C;hristians persecuted at Jc 
 
 rusalem, 996-1021. 
 The Gaznevides, 994-1160. 
 
 Truce of God adopted by! 
 Council of Orleans. j 
 
 945 
 959 
 
 963 
 
 973 
 
 976 
 987 
 
 422 1031 
 
 1017 
 1025 
 1028 
 
 Kaim. End of the Omiades in 
 Spain. I 
 
 Truce of God generally 
 adopted, 1033. 
 
 Constantine VII. alone. 
 Romanus II. (.Monster). 
 
 (Theophania, his wife > 
 Nicephorus II. marries Theopha- 
 I nia, who had him assassinated. 
 
 John I. 
 
 Basil II. and Constantine VIII. 
 Hugh Capet in France. 
 
 Mahmud of Gazni invade? 
 India. 
 
 Cnut in Britain. 
 Constantine VIII. alone. 
 Romanus III. (Poisoned by '-oe 
 his wife.)
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 449 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 A.D. 
 
 
 
 
 >°34 
 
 Michael IV. 
 
 
 
 I04I 
 
 Michael V. 
 
 
 
 1042 
 
 Constantine IX. 
 
 
 
 1054 
 
 Theodora. 
 
 •OS5 
 
 TogruL Beg at Bagdad. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1056 
 
 Michael VI. 
 
 
 
 1057 
 
 Isaac I. (Comnenus.) 
 
 
 
 1059 
 
 Constantine X. 
 
 1063 
 
 Alf Arslan, sultan of the Sel- 
 j'lks. 
 
 
 
 
 1066 
 
 William the Norman in England. 
 
 
 
 1067 
 
 Eudosia. 
 
 
 
 I07I 
 
 Michael VII. 
 
 
 
 1073 
 
 Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) pope. 
 
 107s 
 
 Moktadi. Seljuks at Rome. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1078 
 
 Nicephorus III. 
 
 
 
 1081 
 
 Alexius I. 
 
 1087 
 
 The Almoravides in Spain. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1090 
 
 Passion for pilgrimages at its 
 height in Europe. 
 
 1094 
 
 Mostader. 
 
 
 
 109s 
 
 First crusade proclaimed at 
 Council of Clermont. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1099 
 
 Jerusalem taken. 
 
 
 
 III8 
 
 Mostarshed. 
 
 iiiS 
 
 John Comnenus. 
 
 "34 
 
 Rashid. 
 
 
 
 1135 
 
 Moktafi II. 
 
 
 
 
 
 I '43 
 
 Manuel I. (Comnenus). 
 
 "4S 
 
 Second crusade proclaimed. 
 
 
 
 1 146 
 
 The Almoades in Spain, 
 
 
 
 1160 
 
 Mostanjed. 
 
 
 
 1 1 70 
 
 Mostadi 
 
 
 
 1171 
 
 Saladin overthrows the Fa- 
 timites. 
 
 
 
 1178 
 
 Hasan, head of the Assassins. 
 
 
 
 1179 
 
 Nasir. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ij8o 
 
 Alexius II. 
 
 
 
 1 183 
 
 Andronicus I. 
 
 
 
 1185 
 
 Isaac II. (Angelus). 
 
 1187 
 
 Saladin conquers Palestine. 
 
 Rise of the Monguls, \ioo 
 
 (called Moguls in India). 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 189 
 
 Richard I. in England. 
 
 
 
 1 195 
 
 Alexius III. 
 
 1203 
 
 Constantinople stormed and 
 pillaged. 
 
 1203 
 
 Isaac 11., Latin Emperor. 
 
 
 
 1204 
 
 Baldwin I. 
 
 1206 
 
 Jengis Khan (1206-1227). 
 
 1206 
 
 Henry I. 
 
 
 
 1216 
 
 Peter de Courtenay. 
 
 
 
 1219 
 
 Robert de Courtenay (crowned 
 1221). 
 
 1222 
 
 Monguls invade Persia. 
 
 
 
 1225 
 
 Zahir. 
 
 
 
 1226 
 
 Mostanser. 
 
 
 
 
 
 1228 
 
 Baldwin II. 
 
 "33 
 
 Origin of the kingdom of 
 Granada. 
 
 
 
 1240 
 
 Rise of the Ottoman Turks. 
 
 
 
 1243 
 
 Mostasem. 
 
 
 
 1258 
 
 Bagdad falls, 
 
 
 
 
 
 1261 
 
 Constantinople recovered from 
 the Latins by the Greek 
 emperors. 
 
 30
 
 LIST OF BOOKS 
 
 Used in preparing the Story of the Saracens ; together 
 zvith the titles of others of value to the student of 
 the sulfcet. 
 
 The general outline, by Professor Freeman, the 
 more special essay of Deutsch (on Islam), the valu- 
 able papers by Wellhausen, Guyard, and Noldeke, 
 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the chapters of 
 Gibbon, or the article by Guyard in the " Encyclo- 
 pedic des Sciences Religieuses," will give the reader 
 a good point of departure, from which he can pro- 
 ceed through the smaller volume of Muir and the 
 sketch of Bosworth-Smith to the more exhaustive 
 works of Caussin de Perceval, Sprenger, Weil, Muir, 
 Miiller, and others.* 
 
 Opinion on Mohammed and Islam has passed 
 through marked changes since the present century 
 opened, and any investigator will find it advisable 
 to read books presenting directly opposite views ; 
 and probably each student will formulate opinions 
 differing from all who have gone before him, since 
 the last word has not yet been said on the subject. 
 
 * Of encyclopsedias, the reader will find that of Chambers among 
 the most thorough in its treatment of Islam and the Saracens. Poole's 
 " Index to Periodical Literature " gives many valuable references 
 under the titles Arabia, Arabian Language and Literature, Arabs, 
 Mohammed, Mohammedanism, Moors, Persia, Saracens, Spain, etc.
 
 452 LIST OF HOOKS. 
 
 The history of the rehgion of Islam, whicli, from 
 the nature of the case, has been but incidentally dis- 
 cussed in this volume, may be followed in all its in- 
 teresting details in the books mentioned below. The 
 variety of the list is considerable, both as to literary 
 and historical merit. This is intentional. Some of 
 the most valuable works are to be found in the large 
 libraries only, while others of less merit may be had 
 more conveniently. A book in hand though known 
 to be not the best, is more useful than a better one 
 that cannot be obtained. 
 
 The author desires to express his great obligations 
 to the custodians of the Library of Harvard Uni- 
 versity, of the Boston Public Library, of the Library 
 of Yale College, and of the Astor Library, New York, 
 for many favors received in the investigation of au- 
 thorities. The volumes which he has not been able 
 to consult are indicated by being included between 
 brackets. 
 
 The orthography adopted by the authors of the 
 following works is wonderfully various, owing to 
 the fact that it is impossible to express the sounds of 
 the Oriental words in Occidental letters which have 
 no uniform values. Important information on this 
 subject is given in an essay in the introduction to 
 Lippincott's " Pronouncing Biographical Diction- 
 ary," page 17. 
 
 For versions of the Koran, see Lane, Lane- Poole, Kazimirski, Muir, Palmer, 
 Rodwell, and Sale. 
 
 Abulfeda. Annales Muslemici, in Arabic and Latin. Translated by Johfinc 
 Jakob Reiske, and edited by Jakob Georg Christian Adler. Copen- 
 hagen, 1789-1794. Five volumes, quarto.
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 453 
 
 Abiilfeda. Geography. Translated by Joseph Toussaint Reinaud. Two 
 volumes, quarto. Paris, 1848. 
 
 [ La vie de Mahomet, with the Arabian text. Translated by Des- 
 
 vergers into French. Octavo. 1837.] 
 
 Addison, Lancelot. The first state of Mahumedism ; or, An account of the 
 author and doctrine of that imposture. London, 1679. The father 
 of the essayist, Joseph Addison, resided for some years at Tangier, and 
 formed his opinion regarding the prophet there. He speaks of Moham- 
 med as one "' with whose cursed doctrine the greatest part of mankind 
 is at this very day so egregiously befooled." The curious volume is a 
 good expression of the views of Mohammed current two hundred years 
 ago, in the reign of Charles IL 
 
 Ahmed Khan Bahador, Syed. Essays on the life of Mohammed. London, 
 prophet, 1870. This author claims to be a direct descendant of the 
 and his essays are interesting as giving the view of a Moslem. The 
 author wrote a " Mohammedan commentary on the Holy Rible." 
 
 Alc&ntara, Miguel Lafuente. Condicion y revoluciones de algunas razas 
 espanolas y especialmente de la Mozarabe, en la edad media. (In the 
 author's " Historia de Granada." Two volumes. Paris, 1852. Vol. i.) 
 
 [Amari, Michele. La storia dei Musulmani d'Affrica. Author of Guerra del 
 vespro Siciliano. 1842.] 
 
 Ameer Ali, Seyed, Mouk/t\ ^LA., LL.B. A critical examination of the life 
 and teachings of Mohammed. London, 1873. This writer, being a 
 rationalistic (Motazilite) Moslem, his book has the advantage of present- 
 ing the side of the subject which is not familiar to Western readers. The 
 book is readable in style, and clear in presentation of the author's views. 
 
 The personal law of the Mahommedans. (According to all schools.) 
 
 Together with a comparative sketch of the law of inheritance among the 
 Sunnis and the Shiahs. London, 18S0. The author embodies in this 
 work the substance of a series of discourses delivered by him as Lecturer 
 on Mohammedan Law at the Presidency College of Calcutta. His Intro- 
 duction of some forty pages gives a survey of the sects of Islam, and 
 their origin. 
 
 Arnold, Edwin. Pearls of the faith ; or, Islam's rosary. Being the ninety- 
 nine beautiful names of Allah, which comments in verse from various 
 Oriental sources. Boston, 1883. 
 
 Arnold, John Muhleisen. Ishmael: a natural history of Islamism. London, 
 1859. Arnold was a missionary in Asia and Africa. He says of Moham- 
 med : "No ordinary mortal ever exercised such an immeasurable influ- 
 ence upon the human race, in a religious, moral, and political point of 
 view, and this during a period of twelve centuries." 
 
 Arnold, Matthew. Essay on a Persian miracle-play. London, 1871. Gives an 
 account of the festival of Moharrem as described by a witness of it. An- 
 other description is given in Lane-Poole's Studies in a Mosque, and still 
 another (sketchy) in Harper's Magazine for February, i£86. Sir Lewis 
 Pelley has written " The miracle-play of Hasan and Husain." London 
 1879. 
 
 Ayala, Ignacio Lopez de. Historia de Gibraltar. Madrid, 1782. 
 
 Barbier de Meynard, Casimir Adrien. Les prairies d'or, de Masudi. Text and
 
 454 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 translation. Nine volumes, octavo. Paris, 1861-1877. Masudi was a native ot 
 HjU'I-i'I, who <liej, probably at Cairo, 956 A.D. This work is general history 
 with details regarding the " Story of the Saracens." The translator was an 
 Orientalist of superior scholarship. In the Journal Asiati<]ur(V-Ax\^^Vi.ax^- 
 Avril, 1869) he gives a study of the life of Ibrahim, the accomplished brother 
 of Harun al R.nshid. Pp. 201-342. 
 
 3<3rlhdlcniy Sainl-Hilaire, Jules. Mahomet ct Ic Coran, pr6c6dd d'unc introduc- 
 tion snr Ics devoirs niutucis dc la religion et la philosophic. One volume, 
 octavo. Paris, 1865. A v.iluablc preface of more than one hundred pages is 
 a discussion of Islam, and the entire work is worthy of careful study. It is 
 full of references to the best sources of information. 
 
 Bassett, James. Persia, the land of the Imams. A narrative of travel and resi- 
 dence, 1871-1885. One volume, octavo. New York, 1886. The author is a 
 Christian missionary. 
 
 Bate, John Drew, The missionary's vade-mecum First series. An examination 
 of the claims of Ishmael as viewed by Muhammadans. (P)cing the first 
 chapter of section one of Studies in Islam.) One volume, octavo. RenSras, 
 1884. The author, missionary of the Baptists of London, promises othes 
 books on kindred subjects. 
 
 Baudier, Lc Sicur Michel. Ilistoire g6n6rale de la religion des Turcs. Rouen, 
 . The style of this author is heavy, rambling, and uncritical, but his 
 book is not without interest and may be used with profit. 
 
 Bayle, Pierre. Dictionnaire historique et critique. Revised. Rotterdam, 1720, 
 In vol. iii. there is a sketch of Mohammed, with copious notes giving the 
 authorities on which it is based. (The notes are many times more extensive 
 than the text.) 
 
 Bebel, August. Die Mohammedanische-Arabische Kulturperlode. Stuttgart, 
 1S44. One volume, duodecimo. 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela. (See Wright.) 
 
 [Black, C. I. The principles of Ishmael. Being a short historical survey of the 
 Turanian tribes in their western migrations. London, 1880.] 
 
 Bleda, Jayme. Coronica de los Moros de Espafia. One volume, qi:arto. Valencia, 
 i6i8. 
 
 Blunt, Lady Anne Isabella King-Noel. A pilgrimage to Nejd, the cradle of the 
 Arab race. Two volumes. London, 1881. These volumes contain much 
 information about the interior of Arabia. There are cuts of the city of Me- 
 shed Ali, and other places. 
 
 Bosworth Smith, R. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. London and New York, 
 1873. Lectures, to which are appended an important article of Islam by 
 Emanuel Deutsch. The polemical lecturer, in his effort to be just, ven- 
 tures too n'-ar the line of eulogy. Interesting and stimulating. 
 
 Boulainvilliers, Henri, Count de. La vie de Mahomed. Londres, 1730. This is 
 much more fair to the prophet than was customary at the day, and the 
 count (who unfortunately died, 1722, before his work was published or even 
 finished) exhibits a refreshing amount of common-sense. It was his opinion 
 that the world could afford to be just to a man who, despite his faults, had 
 published much truth, after he had been dead more than a thousand years. 
 A translation into English was published 1752. 
 
 [Brfiguigny, Louis George Oudard Freudrix de (1716-1795). La vie de Mahomet.j
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 455 
 
 Briinnow, Rudolf Ernest. Die Charidschiten linter den ersten Omayyaden. Kin 
 Beitrag zur Geschichte des ersten islamischen Jahrhunderts. One volume, 
 octavo. Leiden, 1884. 
 
 Burckhardt, John Lewis. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. London, 1831. 
 The Wahabis were fanatical reformers who arose early in the eighteenth 
 century and almost succeeded in revolutionizing Islam. 
 
 Burton, Richard F. Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca. 
 Three volumes, duodecimo. London, 1855. Republished in New York. 
 
 Bush, George. The life of Mohammed. New York, 1830. Mohammed is here 
 represented to have appeared in fulfilment of the prophecy in Daniel vii., 
 8-26," confirmed and illustrated " by Revelation ix., 1-9 ; commentators "at 
 the present day " being " almost universally agreed in regarding the fifth 
 trumpet as symbolizing and predicting the appearance of the Arabian impos- 
 tor, his spurious religion, and his Saracen followers." 
 
 Cardonne, Denis Dominique. Histoire de I'Afrique et de I'Espagne, sous la domi- 
 nation des Arabes. Three volumes, duodecimo. Paris, 1765. Not of great 
 value. The author was an Oriental scholar, but inferior to Conde. Fournel 
 says that the book is below criticism. 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas. The hero as a prophet, in the volume entitled " On heroes and 
 hero-worship." London, 1840. A stimulating and very interesting delinea- 
 tion of the salient traits of Islam and the life of its prophet ; but some of the 
 lines are emphasized with too much vigor. 
 
 Caussin de Perceval, Armand-Pierre. Essai sur I'histoire des Arabes, avant 
 I'Islamisme. Paris, 1847, 1848. This author (like his father) was a thorough 
 Oriental scholar, and an original investigator of the first rank. He had 
 travelled and lived among the Mohammedans, and was familiar with their 
 customs and history. He was a member of the French Academy. His 
 work is among the very best sources of information. The three volumes 
 carry the history to the year 840, when all the tribes of Arabia were con- 
 quered to Islam. 
 
 [Caussin de Perceval. Les sept Moallakat. Texte Arabe. Quarto. Paris.] 
 
 Ch6nier, Louis Sauveur de. Recherches historiques sur les Maures. Three vol- 
 umes. Paris, 1787. This author resided several years at Constantinople, and 
 became interested in his subject. 
 
 Chesney , Francis Rawdon. The expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates 
 and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 
 1836, and 1837. Two volumes, and maps separate. London, 1850. Chapter^ 
 xiv. to xix. of volume II. comprise many facts connected with " The Story 
 of the Saracens," though they are not abreast with present scholarship. 
 
 Circourt, Anne Marie Joseph Albert, Count de. Histoire des Mores Mudejares, 
 et des Morisques, ou des Arabes d'Espagne sous la domination des Chrfiti- 
 ens. Three volumes, octavo. Paris, 1846-1848. 
 
 Clark, Edson Lyman. The Arabs and the Turks ; their origin and history, their 
 religion, their imperial greatness in the past, and their conditional the pres- 
 ent time. A brief r6sum6 of the " Story of the Sar.icens " is given here in 
 seventy pages. Boston, 1876. 
 
 Clarke, James Freeman. Ten great religions. Boston, 1871. Islam receive; fait 
 treatment in the course of Dr. Clarke's investigations. 
 
 Clerc, Alfred. See Perron, Dr.
 
 4S6 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 Clouston. W.A. Arabian poetry for English readers. Glasgow, 1881. Privately 
 printed. This volume contains translations by Sir William Jones, Professor 
 Josrph Dacrcs C'arlylc, J. W. Rcdhouse, and others, from many Arabian 
 j)octs. The first mentioned was the first Orientalist of his time; Carlyle 
 was professor at Oxford ; and Kedhousc lived twenty years among the Mos- 
 lems. , 
 
 Condc, Jos6 Antonio. Historia cic la dominacion de los Arabcs en Espafia. 
 Three volumes, folio. Madiid, 1820-21. 'Jhe same in English in Bohn's 
 Library, 3 vols., London, 1854. This was long considerably esteemed as an 
 authentic source of information. It was compiled from Arabic works. 
 Gayangos said that it contained many blunders and contradictions, and that 
 though " the foundation of all our knowledge of Mohammedan Spain," it 
 was " far from fulfilling the expectations of the scholar." L>ozy asserts 
 that Condc forged his dates and invented his facts. It should be said that 
 the book was printed after the author's death. 
 
 Coppfie, Henry. History of the conquest of Spain by the .Arab-Moors. Boston, 
 i88i. Two volumes. 
 
 Crichion, Andrew. The history of Arabia, ancient and modern. Two volumes, 
 cightcenmo. London, 1833. New York, 1834. The author made good use 
 of the authorities at hand half a century ago. 
 
 liarmestetcr, James. Coup d'cL-il sur I'histoire de la Perse. Paris, 1885. 
 
 Le Mahdi depuis les origines de I'lslam jusqu'S. nos jours. Paris, i88j 
 
 Valuable and succinct. 
 
 Daumer, Georg Friedrich. Mahomed und sein Werk ; Eine Sammlting orienta- 
 lischer Gedichte. One volume, sixteenmo. Hamburg, 1848. 
 
 Desvergers, Joseph Marie Adolphe Noel. Arable. In a series of volumes entitled 
 L'universe. One volume, octavo. Paris, 1847. Thorough for a sketch, 
 though somewhat heavy. 
 
 Histoire de I'Afrique sous la domination Musulmane Ubn Kaldoun), 
 
 1841. 
 
 [ La vie de Mahomet of Abulfeda.] 
 
 Deutsch, Emanuel Oscar Men hem. Literary remains, London and New York, 
 1874. Besides the essa^ 01 Islam, this volume comprises some other chap- 
 ters on kindred topics. 
 
 Islam. London Quarieriy Review. October, 1869. (Reprinted in Bos- 
 
 worth-Smith's work.) It is a masterly presentation of the subject of the 
 prophet's teachings. 
 
 Diercks, Gustav. Die Araber im Mittelalter, und ihr Einfluss auf die Cultur 
 
 Europa's. One volume, octavo. Leipzig, 1882. 
 Dieterici, Friedrich. Die Lehre von der Weltseele bei den Arabern im X. Jahr- 
 
 hundert. 
 
 Die Naturanschauung und Naturphilosophie der Araber iti Zehnten Jahr- 
 
 hundert. Posen, 1864, Professor in the University of Berlin., and author of 
 " Reisebilder aus dem Morgenlande." Berlin, 1853. Two volurres'. Egypt, 
 Palestine and Arabia Petrea. 
 
 Die Philosophic der Araber im X. jiihrhundert. One volume, octavo. 
 
 Leipzig, 1876. A sketch of the brothers of purity. 
 
 Dods, Marcus. Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ. London, 1877. The first por- 
 tion discusses Islam, with many references to authorities.
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 45;? 
 
 Dozy, Reinhardt Pieter Anne. Essai siir I'histoire de I'lslamisme. Tradiiit du 
 Hollandais par Victor Chauvin. One volume, octavo. I.eyden and Paris, 
 1879. An admirable presentation of the faith of Islam, of its history, 
 legends, and sects. 
 
 Histoire des Rlusulmans d'Espagne, jusq'fl, la conquetc do I'Andalonsie 
 
 par les Almoravidcs. Four volumes, eighteenmo. Leyden, 1861. This 
 learned Hollander has published other important volumes on topics con- 
 nected with the Arabs and the Berbers, and tliey are all of the highest value. 
 He repudiates Conde, declaring his work utterly unworthy of confidence. 
 
 Die Israeliten zu Mekka von David's Zeit bis ins fUnfte Jahrhundert 
 
 unserer Zeitrechnung. Leipzig, 1864. 
 
 Recherches sur I'histoire et la litt6rature de I'Espagne pendant le moyen 
 
 age. Two volumes (third edition), octavo. Leyden, 1881. 
 
 Dugat, Gustave. Histoire des philosophes et des thSologiens Musulmans, de 632 
 d 1258 de J. C. Paris, 1878. A detailed consideration of the subject, with a 
 full index. 
 
 Histoire politique et litt6raire des Arabes d'Espagne. This is a transla- 
 tion of Al Makkari. Five volumes, quarto. Paris, 1854— 1859, 
 
 Dunn, Archibald J. The rise and decay of the rule of Islam. London, 1877. 
 The first hundred pages of this book treat the subject of the " Story of the 
 Saracens " in a very brief but somewhat inexact and sketchy manner, beii\, 
 introductory to the discussion of the " Eastern Question," which occupies 
 the remaining eighteen chapters. The book does not reflect the latest 
 scholarship. 
 
 Elma9in, George. [Historia Saracenica.] L'histoire Mahom6tane,ou lesquarante- 
 neuf chalifes du Macine. Translated by Pierre Vattier. One volume, quarto. 
 Paris, 1657. This book comprises extracts from the great work of Elma9in. 
 The names of the Arabians are disfigured almost beyond recognition. The 
 translator apologizes for introducing his forty-nine heroes (enemies of the 
 Christian faith) to polite French society. The dedication to Cardinal 
 Mazarin and the preface are perhaps more interesting than the rest of the 
 volume. Vattier was an Orientalist of no mean merit, however. 
 
 Ferreras, Juan de. Synopsis historica chronologica de Espafia. New edition, re- 
 vised. Seventeen volumes, square duodecimo. Madrid, 1775-1781. 
 
 Florian, Jean Pierre Claris de. The Moors in Spain. (Translation.) New York, 
 1840. 
 
 Flugel, Gustav Leberecht. Die Geschichteder Araber, bis auf den Sturz des Cha- 
 lifats von Bagdad. Three volumes. Dresden, 1832. Zittau und Leipzig, 
 1838. Leipzig, 1840. These small volumes belong to the " Allgemeine 
 Historische Taschenbibliothek fiir Jedermann." Flugel was professor at 
 Meissen from 1832 to 1850. He published an edition of the Koran, and a 
 concordance to it. 
 
 Fogg, Wm. Perry. Arabistan ; or. The land of the Arabian Nights, being travels 
 through Egypt, Arabia, and Persia to Bagdad, with an introduction by Bay- 
 ard Taylor. London, 1875. The author, an American, illustrates his book 
 with many cuts from photographs which well represent the scenes mentioned. 
 
 Forster, Charles. The historical geography of Arabia ; or. The patriarchal evi- 
 dences of revealed religion. Two volumes. London, 1844. 
 
 -■" Mahometanism unveiled. London, 1829. This author unveiled the animus
 
 45S LI^T OF BOOK'S. 
 
 of Iiis Work ill his title, in wliich lie stated that it was an enquiry into an 
 "arch-heresy." Historians no longer attempt to show their orthodoxy by 
 calling names. Mohammed was to this writer the little horn of the beast 
 mentioned in the eighth chapter of Daniel. 
 
 Fournel, Marie J^rOme Henri. I.es Berbers. £tude stir la conquetc de I'Afrique 
 par Ics Ar.ibes, d'aprAs les tcxtes Arabcs imprim^w. One volume. Paris, 
 1875. The author died in 1876, and this voliinic only was published. In the 
 l>refacc there is a discriminative dissertation on the former writers upon the 
 subjects treated. 
 
 Frp'-cr, James liaillic. Travels in Koordistan and Mesopotamia. London, 1840. 
 The same author, who was an extensive traveller, wrote " My journey into 
 Khorasan," (1821), "Travels and adventures in the Persian provinces," 
 (1826), :ind an account of a journey from Constantinople to Teheran. 
 
 Freeman, Kdward Augustus. The history and conquests of the Saracens. Lon> 
 don, 1856. (Third edition, 1S77.) An exceedingly profitable sketch by a 
 master. 
 
 Fresnel, Fulgence. Lettrcs sur I'histoire des Arabes avant I'lslamisme. One 
 volume, octavo. Paris, 1836. 
 
 Gagnier, Jean. I,a vie dc Mahomet. Amsterdam, 1732. This is one of the first 
 lives of the prophet written from original sources, and contests with the book 
 of the Count de Doulainvillicrs the honor of being the first to oppose the 
 prejudices that had inspired all previous writers on the subject of Islam. 
 It marks a reaction in favor of the historical spirit in such investigations. 
 Gagnier was professor of Semitic languages at Oxford. 
 
 Galland, Antoine. Les mille et une nuits, with a dissertation by Baron Silvestre 
 de Sacy. Paris, 1840 ; originally published in 1704-17. (Twelve volumes.) 
 The best edition of this translation, however, Is that by Caussin de Perceval, 
 1806. Galland lived in the East a long time, and was well acquainted with 
 Eastern manners, customs, and languages. 
 
 Garcin de Tassy, Josephe H61iodore Sagesse Vertu. Exposition de la foi Musul- 
 mane, traduite du Turc de Mohammed-ben-Pir-AIi-el-Berkeri. One volume, 
 octavo. Paris, 1822. This eminent Orientalist, a native of Marseilles, was 
 a pupil of Silvestre de Sacy. 
 
 Gayangos, P.ascual. An historical notice of the kings of Granada from the con- 
 quest of that city by the Ar.abs to the expulsion of the Moors. One volume, 
 sixteenmo. " Crystal Palace LIbrarj'." London, 1854. (Reprinted from the 
 " Plans, elevations, and sections of the Alhambra." London, 1842.) See also 
 Makkari. 
 
 Geiger, Abraham. Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen ? 
 Bonn, 1833. Geiger, an Orientalist rabbi, published this brief study at the 
 age of twenty-three, having previously taken a prize at the university of 
 Bonn for it as an essay on the Llebralc sources of the Koran. Dozy pro- 
 nounces it very instructive, though here and there a little behind the times. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward. Chapters 1., II., HI., of The decline and fall of the Roman em- 
 pire. A wonderfully graphic account of the rise and decline of the Saracens. 
 The many notes refer to the author's autliorltles. 
 
 Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, Count de. Les religions et les philosophies dans I'Asie 
 Centrale. (Second edition.) Paris, 1S66. Chapter Hi. gives an account of 
 Islam, and of the origin of the Alyite schism, and chapter xlii. describes the 
 Persian theatre and the celebration of Moharrem.
 
 LIST OF BOOK'S. 459 
 
 [Goeje, Miclixl Jan dc. Fragmcnta historicorum Arabicorum. Lugd. Batavorum, 
 1869. Two volumes, quarto.] 
 
 Goergens, E. P., Professor in the University of Picrne. Der Islam und die mod- 
 erne Kultur. In " Deutsche Zeit- und Streit-Fragen," viii. Herlin, 1879. 
 Pages 261-308. 
 
 Goldziher, Ignaz. Die Zahiriten, ihr Lehrsystem und ihre Geschichte. Beitragzur 
 Geschichtc der Muhammcdanischen Theologie. Leipzig, 1884. One volume, 
 octavo. 
 
 Greene, Samuel. A brief account of the rise and decline of the Mohammedan em- 
 pire. (From Greene's life of Mohammed.) In a translation of Florian's 
 Moors in Spain. New York, 1840. 
 
 Guignes, Joseph de. Histoire g6n6rale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols, et des 
 autres Tartares Occidentaux. Four volumes, quarto. Paris, 1835. Origi- 
 nally published in five volumes. Paris, 1756-58. The topics of the " Story 
 of the Saracens" are treated in books vi., vii., x.-xii., xv.-xvlii. 
 
 Guyard, Stanislas. La civilisation Musulmane. Paris, 1C84. The author of this 
 able little volume was formerly professor in the College of France, and his 
 work is of the highest authority. The same writer contributed the article 
 on " Musulmans " to the " Encyclopedic des Sciences Religieuses," vol. 
 ix., pp. 501-511. Paris, Feli.-c Lcchtenberger, ed. 1880. Guyard contributed 
 also to the " Encyclopedia Britannica " (ninth edition) an article on the East- 
 ern Kalifate, vol. xvi., pp. 561-597. 
 
 Fragments relatifs fl, la doctrine des IsmaSlis. Texte publi6 pour la prc- 
 
 miSre fois, avec une traduction complete et des notes. One volume, quarto, 
 Paris, 1874. 
 
 Hakem, Ibn-.ibd-el. See Jones, J. H. 
 
 Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Baron von. Gemaldesaal der Lebenbeschreibungen 
 grosser moslimischer Herrscher. Si.x volumes. Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1837- 
 1839. These volumes contain sketches of fifty persons, including Moham- 
 med, Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman, AH, Moawia, Yezid, Merwan, Abd el Melik, 
 Welld, Abul Abbas, Mansur, Harun, Mamun, Motassim, Abder Rahman of 
 Spain, Mahmud the Gaznevide, and Togrul the Seljuk. 
 
 — — — Literaturgeschichte der Araber. Seven volumes, octavo. Wien, 1850-1856. 
 The reputation of this laborious author is not so high as it formerly was. 
 
 Uber die Landerverwaltung unter dem Chalifate. One volume, octavo 
 
 Berlin, 1835. 
 
 Herbelot, Barthfilemy, d'. Bibliothfique Orientale, ou dictionnaire universel, con- 
 tenant tout ce qui fait connoitre les peuples de I'Orient. Edited by Antoine 
 GalanJ, and published after the author's death. Paris, 1697. This exten- 
 sive volume though uncritical, is a mine of information which the Oriental 
 student cannot ignore yet. 
 
 Higgins, Godfrey. Anacalypsis, an attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic 
 Isis ; or an inquiry into the origin of languages, nations, and religions. Two 
 volumes, quarto. London, 1836. Vol. i., pp. 678-688, specially treats Mo- 
 hammed and Islam in a vigorous but erratic style. Higgins published in 
 1829, a life of Mohammed, which Edward Upham pronounces, in the Ccnile- 
 tiiati's Magazine for January, 1830 (p. ic^, " full of errors." Th2 author is, 
 however, cherished with "high esteem and respect" for his learniug anil 
 ability and " correct view" of Islam, by Syed Ahmed.
 
 4<)0 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 Howorth, Henry H. History of ;hc Mongols from the ninth to the nineteenth 
 century. Part I. The Mongols proper and the Kalmuks. London, 1876. 
 Contains a good chapter on Jingis Khan. Marred by a preface of singular 
 self-conscinusness. 
 
 Hughes, Thomas Patrick. A dictionary of Islam, being a cyclopaedia of the doc- 
 trines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theo- 
 logical terms of the Muhammadan icligion. London and New York, 1885. 
 Verj' valuable and modern. The author (now in America) lived many years 
 in India. 
 
 Notes on Mvihammadanism. (Second edition.) London, 1877. 
 
 Ibn-Khaldun. See Desvergers, and Slane. 
 
 Ireland, William. The blot upon the brain. Studies in history and psychology. 
 One volume, octavo. New York, 1886. Paper ii treats " the hallucina- 
 tion of Mohammed." 
 
 Irving, Washington. Mahomet and his successors. Two vols. New York, 1849. In 
 these two volumes this usually fascinating author tells his story in a less en- 
 tertaining style than woidd be expected, and lie does not rank high as a 
 scientific historical student. He wrote before the late studies on the subject 
 were made public, and failed in some cases to give his facts in their proper 
 relation. 
 
 Spanish papers and other miscellanies, hitherto unpublished and uncol- 
 lected. Arranged and edited by Pierre M. Irving. Two volumes. New 
 York (revised edition), 1850. (Also the first edition published by Bohn in 
 London.) The first of the volumes, only, refers to the conquest of Spain by 
 the Moors, and is very interesting in connection with the history of the pe- 
 riod on account of the many romantic episodes that Mr. Irving incorporated 
 in his narrative. The " Fra Antonio Agapida " of the book is a creature of 
 
 the author's imagination. 
 
 Jacolliot, Louis. Manou, Moise, Mahomet. Traditions religeuses compar^es des lois 
 de Manou, de la Bible, du Coran. One volume, octavo. Paris, 1876. 
 
 I Jessup, Henry H, The Mohammedan missionary problem. One vol., i6mo, with 
 map. Philadelphia, 1879. The author (a missionary in Beirut) presents the 
 features of Islam favorable and unfavorable to the spread of Christianity.] 
 
 Johnson. Samuel. Oriental religions. Persia. Boston, 1884. Islam, pp. 530- 
 782. 
 
 Jomard, Edme-Francois. See Mohammed-Aly. 
 
 Jones, John Harris. Ibn abd-el Hakem's history of the conquest of Spain, now 
 edited for the first time. Translated from the Arabic. Goettingen and Lon- 
 don, 1858. This small volume contains the Arabic text, a translation and 
 notes, and an historical introduction, in which there are critical references to 
 authorities. 
 
 Kazimirski, Aleksander von Biberstein. Civilisation Musulmane. Observations 
 liistoriques et critiques sur le Mahometanisme. From the English of Sale. 
 In Lcs livres sacrfis de I'Orient, by Jean Pierre Guillaume Pauthier. Paris, 
 1840, pp. 463-538. Also the Koran, pp. 539-752. The volume contains also 
 the Chou-King and the laws of Manou, with descriptive introductions. 
 
 Le Koran. Traduction faite sur le texte Arabe. Paris, 1859. -^ revised 
 
 edition of this version is given in Les livres sacr6s de I'Orient, by J. P. G. 
 Pauthier, Paris, 1840. Kazimirski was a Polish exile.
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 46 1 
 
 Ke?ne. T, F. My journey to Medinah. London, 1881. An entertainin"' volume 
 of travel. 
 
 Khallikan, Ihn. Sec Slane, Wm. McG. 
 
 Kindy, Al. The apology of. Written at the court of Al Mamun, in defence of 
 Christianity against Islam, with an essay on its age and authorship. By Sir 
 William Muir. London, 1882. 
 
 Krehl, Christoph Ludolf Ehrenfried. Das Leben des Muhammed. Leipzig, 1884. 
 One small and comprehensive volume which the author intends to follow with 
 another on the teachings of the prophet. [Krehl wrote also " Ueber die Re- 
 ligion der vorislamischen Araber." One volume, quarto. Leipzig, 1863.] 
 
 Kremer, Alfred von. Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen. Two 
 volumes, octavo. Wien, 1875-1877. 
 
 ■ Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams. Der Gottesbegrlff, die 
 
 Prophetic und Staatsidee. Leipzig, 186S. 
 
 [La Croix, . Anecdotes Arabes et Musulmanes. Paris, 1772.] 
 
 Lake, John Joseph. Islam : its origin, genius, and mission. London, 1878. A 
 brief, sympathetic outline, in which the author attempts to prove that " the 
 Western World is greatly indebted to the Moslems for Its present state of 
 advancement." 
 
 Lane, Edward William. An account of the manners and customs of the modern 
 Egj'ptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, 1834, and 1835. Two 
 volumes, sixteenmo. London, 1S36, 1837. This is the most accessible source 
 of accurate information about Arabian manners. 
 
 ' — Selections from the Kur-3,n. New edition, revised and enlarged, with an 
 introduction, by Stanley Lane-Poole. [Original edition, London, 1843.] 
 Boston, 1879. 
 
 The thousand and one nights. Edited by his nephew, Edward Stanley- 
 Poole. London, 1865. The three volumes of this beautiful work are a mine 
 of information about the habits and customs of the Arabians. 
 
 Lane-Poole, Stanley. Le Koran : sa po^sleet ses lois. The materials of this vol- 
 ume appeared in English In the same author's Table-talk of Mohammed. 
 It treats the Koran under the heads of poetry , rhetoric, argument, harangues, 
 and laws. Paris, 1882. 
 
 — Studies in a mosque. London, 1883. Contains an Important chapter on 
 
 the festival of Moharrem, an account of the Brotherhood of Purity of 
 Bassora (a.d. 975), and much other matter of interest. 
 
 The speeches and table-talk of Mohammad, chosen and translated, with 
 
 an introduction and notes, by Stanley Lane-Poole. London, 1882. Cor.- 
 tains in brief compass much information concerning the prophet and his 
 teachings. 
 
 Le Bon, Gustave. La civilisation des Arabes. Paris, 1884. This volume is ele- 
 gantly illustrated, and a number of its graphic pictures have been repro- 
 duced for " The Story of the Saracens." A valuable " Bibliographic m^tho- 
 dique " occupies pp. 679-686. 
 
 Lee., Samuel. See Martyn, Henry. Lee was professor of Arabic at Cambridge. 
 Died in 1852. 
 
 Lembke, Friedrich Wilhelm. Geschichte von Spanien. Four volumes. Ham- 
 burg, 1831, 1844. Gotha, 1861, 1881. Vol. i., pp. 249-308 treats the subject 
 as far as it falls within the scope of this volume.
 
 402 /.AS' 7" OF BOOK'S. 
 
 Loltus, \\. K. Travels .-iiid researches in Chaldaea and Susiana. London, 1857. 
 Touches " The Story of the Saracens " at some points. See also La Kevuc 
 Archift>li>£:iqui-, for 1885, vol. ii., article hy Dieulefoy. 
 
 Lopez de Caficte, Cristohal. Compcndio dc los Pron6sticos y baticinios antiKVOS 
 y modernos, que puiilican la dcclinacion general dc la sccta dc Mahoma, y 
 libertad de Hicrusaleni, y I'alestina. One volume small quarto. Granada, 
 1630. Mr. TicUnnr inscribes this volume, " A specimen of the popular no- 
 lions about Mahomet and Islamism in Spain in 1630." Mohammed's birth 
 is put at 556 A.D. 
 
 Macbridc, John David. Mohammedanism explained ; with an introductory 
 sketch of its progress, and suggestions as to its confutation. One volume 
 octavo. London, 1857. The author was Principal of Magdalen Hall, and 
 Lord High Almoner's reader in Arabic in the University of Oxford. 
 
 Maitland, Kdward. Kngland and Islam : or, The counsel of Caiaphas. One vol- 
 ume, duodecimo. London, 1877. 
 
 Makkarf, Ahmed ibn Mohammed, al. The history of the Mohammedan dynasties 
 in Spain. Translated and illustrated with critical notes by Pascual de Gay- 
 angos. Two volumes, quarto. London, 1840-1843. This is the only Arabian 
 author who gives an uninterrupted narrative of the conquests, wars, and 
 settlements of the Moors In Spain from their first invasion to the final ex- 
 pulsion. Makkarf died in (1041 A.n.) 1631 A.D. 
 
 Malleson, George Bruce. History of Afghanistan from the earliest period. Lon- 
 don, 1879. (Second edition.) This volume contains a description of Kabul, 
 P- 6. 
 
 Mariana, Juan de. Historia general de Espaiia. Seven volumes, duodecimo. 
 Madrid, 1794. Continuation by Joseph Manuel Miniana. Three volumes, 
 Madrid, 1795. Mariana's work was originally published in Latin in 1592. A 
 Spanish translation was published in folio, in three volumes, in Madrid, in 
 
 1733-41. 
 
 Marigny, Fran9ois Augier, Abbe de. Histoire des Arabes sous le gouvernement 
 des Califes. Four volumes. Paris, 1750. 
 
 Histoire des revolutions de I'empire des Arabes. Paris, 1750. The first 
 
 of the four volumes of this work is the one specially connected with the 
 present subject. It comprises a geographical table giving some account of 
 the kingdoms, provinces, and cities of the Kalifate and the surrounding 
 peoples, and an account of the dynasties of the Taherians, Soffarides, 
 Samanides, Fatimites (Ismailians), Buvides (Dilemites), Gaznevides, and 
 Seljucldes. The orthography of names is comparatively simple, and very 
 much better than that of Vattier. (Same, edited by I'AbbS Perau, 1752.) 
 
 Markham, Clements Robert. A general sketch of the history of Persia. London, 
 1874. A sketchy account of the Saracens before the fall of Bagdad is to be 
 found in this volume. Genealogies of the Omiad and Abbasside kalifs are 
 given. 
 
 Martin, Joseph Manuel. Historia verdadera de falso profeta Mahoma, sacada de 
 San Eulogio, Juan Sangredo, Fr. Jayme Bleda, y otros historiadores. Val- 
 ladolid. No date. One of a collection made by Mr. Ticknor, of which he 
 says that it " contains the prose tracts most current among the common 
 people of Spain between 1840 and 1850 ; or rather a fair and characteristic 
 selection from them."
 
 *■' LIST OF BOOKS. 463 
 
 M^ityn, Henry. Controversial tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism. 
 Cambridge, 1824. Martyn was aided by some " of the most eminent writers 
 of Persia." The collection was prepared by the Rev. S. Lee. The Per- 
 sians support Islam and Martyn opposes it. Lee sums up the arguments. 
 
 Marvin, Charles. Mcrv, the queen of the world ; and the scourge of the — .an- 
 stealing Turcomans. London, 1881. Vambery is much lauded. 
 
 Masdeu, Juan Francisco de. Historia crftica de F.spana, y de la cultura Espanola. 
 Twenty volumes, small quarto. Madrid, 1783-1805. This work was first 
 published in Italy in 1781. Vols, xii.-xiv. treat the Arabian period, the 
 last-mentioned being occupied with important tables, in which the years of 
 our era are placed opposite those of the Mohammedan calendar. 
 
 Masudi. See Barbier de Meynard. 
 
 Maurice, Frederick Dcnison. The religions of the world and their relations to 
 Christianity. London (and Boston, 1854). Portions of these important con- 
 tributions to the theme treated relate to the religion of the Moslems. 
 
 Mercier, Ernest. Histoire de I'etablissement dcs Arabes dans I'Afrique Septen- 
 trionale. [From about iioo i;.c.] Constantine, Alger, and Paris, 1875. 
 The author has followed Arabian authors, and especially Ibn Khaldun. A 
 good map shows the positions of Kairwan, Ceuta, Tangier, and the other 
 places mentioned in " The Story of the Saracens." 
 
 Merrick, James Lyman. The life and religion of Mohammed, as contained in the 
 Sheeah traditions of the Hyat-ul-Kuloob. Translated from the Persian. 
 One volume, duodecimo. Boston, 1850. 
 
 Miles, George H. Mohammed, the Arabian prophet. A tragedy, in five acts, 
 which won a prize of $1,000, offered by Edwin Forrest. Boston, 1850. 
 
 Mills, Charles. A history of Muhammedanism. London, 1818. (Revised edi- 
 tion.) A somewhat calm study of the subject by an English barrister, v.-hrj 
 read a large number of Oriental books preparatory to writing. 
 
 Milman, Henry Hart. History of Latin Christianity. In six volumes. Second 
 edition. London, 1857. Book iv., chapters one and two. Mohammed and 
 successors of Mohammed. Revised after reading Sprenger's Mohammed. 
 Dr. Weil was among Milman's chief authorities in treating Mohammed's 
 successors. Milman gives a good table of contemporary chronology (on 
 pages 444, 445) from a.d. 604-815. 
 
 Miniana. See Mariana. 
 
 Moallakat. See Caussin de Perceval. [A work by Arnold is, however, later, and 
 valuable.] 
 
 Mohammed AH. Etudes geographiques et historiques sur I'Arabie, avec des ob- 
 servations sur I'etat des affaires en Arable et en Egypte par M. [Edme. 
 Fran9ois] Jomard. Paris, 1839. Jomard accompanied the French army 
 to Egj'pt in 179S, and remained there four years. 
 
 [Mohler, Johann Adam. (1796-1838.; Islam et I'Evangile. Translated by J. P. 
 Menge, with a preface by John Muir. Calcutta, 1847.] 
 
 Morgan, Joseph. Mahometanism fully explained. London, 1723. Antiquated. 
 
 Mozley, James Bowling. Eight lectures on miracles. [Bampton lectures of 1865.] 
 London, 1867. (Second edition.) Lecture vii., page 180, and note, page 354, 
 refer to Islam. Dr. Mozley asserts that " Mahomet was perfectly ac- 
 quainted with the gospel and with the moral standard of the gospel.'' which 
 " he wholly threw aside." This is .9:enerally denied, however.
 
 4^4 
 
 LIST OF BOOK'S. 
 
 MUllcr, Fricdrioh August. Hie Hcherrsclicr dor Glaubigen. r.-imrihlct. Pp.;". 
 Ucrlin, 1883. 
 
 Dcr Islam im Morgen- und Abcndland. Mit Abbildungcn und Karten. 
 
 Erstcr Band. Ucrlin, 1885. This volume belongs to a scries edited I)y Dr. 
 Wilhclm Onckcn, AllRemcinc Goschitlite in Einzeldarstellungen. A valuauic 
 bcok. The latest comprehensive work of its class. 
 
 Muir, Sir William. The Coran, its composition and teaching, and the testimony 
 it bears to the Holy Scripture. London and New York, 1878. This small 
 volume possesses the traits of Muir's other works on the subject. On pages 
 43-47 an analytic and chronological order of the suras is given. 
 
 The early Caliphate. London, 1883. In this volume Sir William con- 
 tinues the history begun in his Life of Mahomet, carrying it down to the reign 
 of Vezid L, though after the death of Ali the story is simply epitomised. Its 
 general traits are the same as those of the former work. 
 
 The life of Mahomet. London, 1876. (Revised edition.) This is the best 
 
 work in the Knglish language on the subject. It is thorough, based on origi- 
 nal study, and, but for some of the author's preconceived polemical views, 
 would be entirely just. Was first published in four volumes. No index. 
 
 Mahomet and Islam. A sketch of the prophet's life from original sources, 
 
 and a brief outline of his religion. London [1884]. A valuable outline, bear- 
 ing the good traits of the author's other works. 
 
 Murphy, James Cavanah. The Arabian antiquities of Spain. London, 1813. 
 One volume, large folio. Illustrated with fine engravings on copper. [Mur- 
 phy wrote also the history of the Mahometan empire in Spain, containing 
 a general history of the Arabs, their institutions, conquests, literature, arts, 
 sciences, and manners, to the expulsion of the Moors. London, 1816.] 
 
 Niebuhr, Karsten. Travels in Arabia and the East. The father of the better- 
 known historian throws much light on the subject by his record. A life of 
 the author is found in " Lives of Eminent Persons." London, 1833. It is by 
 Mrs. Sarah Taylor Austin. In the Library of Useful Knowledge. 
 
 [Noldeke, Theodor. Bietrage zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber. One 
 volume, octavo. Hannover, 1S64.] 
 
 Das Leben Muhammed's, nach den Quellen popular dargestellt. One 
 
 volume, twelvemo. Hannover, 1S63. 
 
 Geschichte des Qorans. One volume, octavo. Gottingen, i860. This 
 
 work was crowned by the French Academy. Noldeke contributed to the 
 ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica a valuable article on the 
 Koran. Vol. xvi., pp. 598-606. 
 
 Ockley, Simon. The history of the Saracens to the death of Abd el Melik. Lon- 
 don, 1708. Late ed. Bohn (1847). This book is a standard, but it has not 
 the interest nor exactness of some of the later works. 
 
 O'Donovan, Edmond. The Merv oasis. London and New York, 1882. Two 
 volumes of travel. 
 
 Oelsner, Conrad Englebert. Des effets de la religion de Mohammed pendant les 
 trols premiers sifecles de sa fondation sur I'esprlt, les moeurs, et le gouverne- 
 ment des peuples chez lesquels cette religion s'est 6tabHe. Pans, i8io. 
 Crowned by the French Academy, July 7, 1809. 
 
 Osborn, Robert Durie. Islam under the Arabs. Lor.don, 1876. Islam under the 
 Khalifs of Bagdad. London, 1878, These two volumes comprise sketches
 
 LIST OF BOOlCS. 465 
 
 of different phases of Islam, but are not intended to be a connected history. 
 
 The author gives many interesting details. 
 [Osborne, Mrs. Willoughby. A pilgrimage to Mecca by the Nawab Sikander, P>c- 
 
 gum of Bhopal. Translated by Mrs. Osborne. London (18S0?). Notable as 
 
 the first book written by an Indian lady, and that lady a queen.] 
 Palmer, Edward H. Haroun Alraschid and Saracen civilization. London and 
 
 New York. 
 
 The Qur'an. Oxford, 1880. Two volumes of " The Sacred Books of the 
 
 East, translated by various oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Miiller." 
 The first volume (vol. vi. of the series) contains an introduction of 118 pages 
 giving an abstract of all the suras, and much other valuable information 
 about Islam. Vol. ii. contains an index. 
 
 Pastoret, Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre, Marquis de. Zoroastre, Confucius, et 
 Mahomet, compares comme sectaires, legislateurs, et moralistes. Second 
 edition. One volume, twelvemo. Paris, 1787. Pastoret exposes some of 
 the calumnies of Prideaux and others (p. 213). His work was crowned by 
 the Academy. 
 
 Pauthier, Jean Pierre Guillaume. See Kazimirski, Aleksander. 
 
 Pelly, Colonel Sir Lewis. The miracle play of Hasan and Husain, collected from 
 oral tradition. Revised by Arthur N. WoUaston. London, 1879. 
 
 IJfirau, I'Abbe. Histoire des revolutions de I'empire des Arabes, by Marigny, 
 Edited by Perau. Paris, 1752. Four volumes. 
 
 Perron, A. Femmes Arabes, avant et depuis I'lslamisme. Paris, 1858. An ex- 
 haustive discussion of the condition of Arabian women in Arabia from the 
 earliest times to the reign of Mamun. 
 
 L'Islamisme, son institution, son influence, et son avenir. Ouvrage post- 
 
 hume, publi6 et annot6 par son ncveu, Alfred Clerc. Paris, 1877. This au- 
 thor was professor of chemistry at Cairo, and a member of the Soci6t6 Asia- 
 tique about 1S66. 
 
 Pocock, Edward. Historia compendiosa dynastiarum Orientalium ; from Abulfa- 
 raj, of Malatia. Oxford, 1663. \)x. Pocock studied Arabic at Aleppo, and 
 was afterwards professor of the language at his native place. Gibbon, in a 
 note to his fifty-first chapter, says : " The English scholar understood more 
 Arabic than the mufti of Aleppo." 
 
 Specimen historisc Arabum. Extracts from Abulfaraj of Malatia, on the 
 
 origin and customs of the Arabs, with notes. Oxford, 1650. The " extracts " 
 are comprised in pages 1-31, and the notes (which have a separate title-page 
 dated 1648) run from page 33 to 390. The extracts are in Arabic and Latin 
 on opposite pages, and the notes are in Latin. This work is the one so fre- 
 quently mentioned by Gibbon as an authority. 
 
 Poole, Stanley Lane. See Lane-Poole, Stanley. 
 
 Porter, Josias Leslie. Five years in Damascus. London, 1855. The giant cities 
 of Bashan. London, 1865. 
 
 Price, David. Chronological retrospect ; or, Memoirs of the principal events o£ 
 Mohammedan history from the death of the Arabian legislator to the acces- 
 sion of the emperor Akbar. From original Persian authorities. Three vol- 
 umes, quarto. London, 1811. 
 
 Essay towards the history of Arabia antecedent to the birth of Moham- 
 med, arranged from Tarikh Tebry, and other authentic sources. One vol- 
 ume quarto. London, 1824. 
 
 31
 
 466 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 Prideaiix, Humphrey. La vie <le Mahomet oil I'on d6couvre amplement la v6rit6 
 tic rimposture. Amsterdam, 1698. A life of Mahomet. London, 1697. This 
 work has been entirely superseded by more thorough and less partial invcsti- 
 (;ations. It reflects the unreasoning denunciation of the prophet current from 
 the times of the Crusades, when the very name of the destroyer of idolatry 
 in Arabia was made a synonyme for an idol. (See " mammet " in Shake- 
 speare, and " mawmet " in Wiclif.) 
 
 Kabbe, .Mphonsc. Compendio de la llistoria de Kspafia. Madrid, 1824. Two 
 volumes. Among the books used by Prescott in his historical work, but not 
 of great importance. 
 
 Ranke, Leopold von. Wcltgeschichte. [Vol. v.] Die Arabische Weltherrschaft 
 and das Reich Karl des (.jrosscn. Leipzig, 1884. 
 
 Rassmusscn, Janus Lassen. Additamenta ad historiam Arabum ante Islamismum. 
 Hafnia: (Copenhagen), 1821. One volume, quarto. This is an addition to 
 the previous quarto by the same writer (1817) on the history of the different 
 Arabian kingdoms before Islam. 
 
 Reinaud, Joseph Toussaint. Extraits des historiens arabes, relatifs aux guerres 
 des Croisades. (New edition.) Paris, 1829. The same writer has also pub- 
 lished " Invasion des Sarrasins en France." Paris, 1836. See also Abulfeda. 
 
 ■ Notice sur Mahomet. ExtraitdelaNouvelle Biographic G6n6rale, publid 
 
 par F. Didot, avec quelques additions. One volume, octavo. Pp. 92, Paris, i860 
 
 Reiske, Johann Jacob. De Arabum epocha vetustissima. Pp. 36, quarto. Leip- 
 zig, 1748. This is an effort to clear up the earliest Arabian history. 
 
 Renan, Joseph Ernest. Etudes d'histoire religieuse. Paris, 1862. Fifth edi- 
 tion, revised and augmented. On pages 217-299 there is a sketch of Islam, 
 characterized by the author's incisive style. Translated by O. V>. Froth- 
 ingham, and published in New York, in 1864, with a biographical sketch of 
 Renan by Henri Harrisse. 
 
 Rodwell, John Mcdows. The Koran : translated from the Arabic, the suras 
 arranged in chronological order ; with notes and index. London, 1871. The 
 author endorses Noldeke's order of the later suras, but he arranges the earlier 
 ones differently. He sees " no evidence that Mohammed had access to the 
 Christian Scriptures," though fragments may have reached him. He thinks 
 that " vituperative language" ought not to be poured out upon the prophet. 
 
 Roebuck, John Arthur. Life of Mahomet. (Lives of eminent persons: Library 
 of universal knowledge.) London, 1833. Roebuck makes good use of the 
 works of Sale, Gibbon, Gagnier, Niebuhr, Ockley, Bayle, Prideaux, and 
 other authorities. He says that Gagnier wrote " precisely as a Mussulman 
 might have written." Roebuck was an active politician. 
 
 Rosseeuw St.-Hilaire, Eugene Fran9ois Achille. Histoire d'Espagne depuis les 
 premiers temps. Paris, 1844-1879. Fourteen volumes. The first volume of 
 this masterly work is the only one treating the topics of " The Story of the 
 Saracens." 
 
 [Ruhle von Lilienstern, Johann Jakob Otto August. Zur Geschichts der Araber 
 vor Muhamad. Berlin, 1836.] 
 
 Ryer, Andr6 du. The life of Mahomet ; together with the Alkoran at large ; 
 translated out of Arabic into French, and thence into English. London, 1718. 
 
 Sale, George. The Koran : commonly called the Alkoran of Mohammed. With 
 explanatory notes and a very valuable preliminary discourse on the entire
 
 li5;t of books. 467 
 
 subject of the Saracenic faith and the religion and government of the people. 
 Eighth edition. London and Philadelphia. Disraeli calls this (though a 
 paraphrase) the first genuine version of the Koran, but it is now superseded 
 by more exact translations. It was published in 1734, and has been often 
 reprinted. The eighth edition contains many notes and various readings 
 from the French version by Claude Etienne Savary. (See Wherry, E. M.) 
 
 Savary, Claude Etienne. Le Coran (with notes and an abridged life of Moham- 
 med). Paris, 1783. The following year the same author published a col- 
 lection of the best thoughts from the Koran with the title " Morale de 
 Mahomet." 
 
 Schuyler, Eugene. Turkistan. Two volumes. Eighth edition. London and 
 New York, 1876. The author is very friendly to Russia. 
 
 S6dillot, Louis Pierre Eugene Am61ie. Histoire des Arabcs. Paris, 1854. This 
 is a comprehensive work, closing with the expulsion of the Moors from 
 Spain (p. 331), and giving a sketch of Saracenic civilization (pp. 332-439). 
 The remainder of the volume is occupied with a sketch of the present con- 
 dition of the race, and an analytical table of contents (pp. 440-510). There 
 are three good maps. The book belongs to Victor Duruy's " Histoire Uni- 
 verselle." The author was professor of history in the Lyc6e St. Louis. He 
 repeats the error regarding the " moallakats " or suspended poems (p. 32). 
 
 Sell, Edward. The faith of Islam. London and Madras, 1880. The author lived 
 for fifteen years in India, and his study of the subject is based upon informa- 
 tion gathered there. 
 
 Silvestre de Sacy, Antoine Isaac. M6moires sur diverscs antiquit^s de la Perse, 
 et sur I'histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet. Quarto. Paris, 1793. 
 
 Slane, William McGuckin, Baron de. Histoire des Berberes et des dynasties 
 Musulmanes de I'Afrique Septentrional. From the Arabic of Ibn- 
 Khaldun. Algiers, 1852-1864. Four volumes, octavo. Extracts are given 
 from other writers besides Khaldun. A philosophical history. 
 
 Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary. Four volumes (in English). 
 
 Paris, 1843. Over eight hundred articles. The author was an Arabian, 
 born at Arbela, in 1211, of the famous family of the Barmecides. His work 
 is a mine of erudition. Translated by Baron McGuckin de Slane, 
 
 [Smith, W. Robertson. Kinship and marriage in early Arabia. Cambridge 
 [England], 1885. The author of this work is Lord Almoner's Professor of 
 Arabic in the University of Cambridge.] 
 
 Sprenger, Aloys. Das Leben and die Lehre des Mohammad. Berlin, 1851-1861. 
 This original investigator enjoyed the greatest advantages for his studies. 
 He lived among the Moslems for j'ears, and wrote other works on related 
 topics. He was professor at Bonn after 1857. He devotes much space to an 
 examination of the condition under which IMohammed received his " revela- 
 tions," in connection with an investigation of the " conversation with spirits 
 and angels" that Swedenborg professed to have had, both of which he 
 attributes to epilepsy. A book of the first importance. 
 
 -^^— The life of Mohammed, irom original sources. One volume, octavo. 
 Allahabad, 1851. This volume did not finish the life of the prophet, and no 
 more seems to have been published. 
 
 Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn. Lectures on the Eastern Church. London, 1861. 
 Chapter VII., Mahometanism. This is not up to the times.
 
 468 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 
 
 fSlcincr, Hcinrkh. Die Mti'tazilitcn, oilcrfliL rrcidcnkcr im Isl.-im. LcipziR, v86s.] 
 
 Stc|phtiis, Willi.im Kicharil Wood. Christianity and Islam: The Hiblc and the 
 Koian. London, 1877. 'I'he author considers Islam the nearest parallel to 
 Christianity, and docs not think Mohammed " a consciously designing and 
 artful impostor," but he argues vigorously against some of the positions of 
 Ilosworth-Smith. 
 
 Stobart, James William Hampson. Islam. London, 1876. Not an original in- 
 vestigation, but brief and useful. 
 
 Swcdcnborg, Kinanucl. The true Christian religion, containing the universal 
 theology of the new church, foretold by the Lord in Daniel vii. 13, 14, and 
 in Revelation x.xi. 12. Translated by Taylor Oilman Worcester. One vol., 
 octavo. Boston, 1833. Treats Mohammed in places, especially on p. 539, 
 where he and his followers arc ranked next to the Christians. 
 
 Tabari, Abou-Jafer-Mo'hammcd-ben-Djarir-ben-Yezid. Chronicle, translated 
 by Herman Zotenbcrg. Nogent-le-Rotrou, 1874. Four volumes, octavo. 
 
 Tassy. See Garcin de Tassy. 
 
 Tela, Josephus. The philosophical library : being a curious collection of the 
 most rare and valuable printed books, both ancient and modern, which treat 
 of moral, metaphysical, theological, historical, and philosophical enciuiries 
 after truth. London, 1818. Vol. iii., pp. 1-92, treats Islam, but not 
 thoroughly. 
 
 Tewfik, Hussein. A lecture giving a few facts on Mohammedanism. Providence, 
 R. I., 1878. A criticism of the work of Kdward A. Freeman, who is chosen 
 as representative of those who desire " the extermination of the Turks." 
 
 Thomson, William McClure. The land and the book : Southern Palestine and 
 Jerusalem ; Central Palestine ; Lebanon, Damascus, and beyond Jordan. 
 New York, 1886. Three volumes, octavo. A number of passages illustrate 
 " The Story of the Saracens." 
 
 Turpin, Francois Henri. Histoire de la vie de Mahomet. Three volumes. 
 Paris, 1773. This author did not sympathize with the indiscriminate preju- 
 dices current at his time regarding Mohammed. He was professor at the 
 University of Caen, where he was born in 1709. He died at Paris in 1799. 
 
 Upham, Edward. The history and doctrine of Buddhism, popularly illustrated. 
 One folio volume, London, 1829. Touches Islam in certain places. 
 
 History of the Ottoman empire, from its establishment to the year 
 
 1828. Preceded by the life of Mahomet. London. American edition 
 (Philadelphia, 1833) contains the life by Roebuck, instead of that of 
 Uphani. There is also addilional matter. 
 
 V4mb6ry, Arminius. History of Bokhara from the earliest period down to the 
 present. London, 1873. Eight chapters of this work treat topics related 
 to "The Story of the Saracens." 
 
 Viardot, Louis. Essai surl'histoiredes Arabes et des Mores d'Espagne. Paris, 
 1833. One volume, octavo. Viardot borrowed his facts from Conde, but 
 says that he gave that author's compilation " a sort of control " [which 
 it very much needed], by comparing it with the works of Ferreras, Mas- 
 deu, Hurtado de Mendoza, Bleda, and others. 
 
 Weber, George. AUgemeine W'eltgcschichte. Fifteen volumes, and three 
 volumes of indexes. Leipzig, 1857-1880. Indexes, 1865-1881. Volume 
 v., pages 1-206, contains a good outline of " The Story of the Saracens."
 
 LIST OF BOOKS. 469 
 
 Weil, Gustave. Geschichte der Chalifen, nach handschriftlichen, grosstentheils, 
 noch unbeniitzten Quellen bearbeitet. Three volumes with index, 
 Mannheim, 1846, 1848, 1S51. Two volumes additional, with index. 
 Stuttgart, i860, 1862. A continuation of the author's " Leben Moham- 
 med's." A work of the highest rank. The author was long resident in 
 Mohammedan lands. 
 
 Geschichte der islamitischen Volker, von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des 
 
 Sultan Selim. Stuttgart, 1866. 
 
 Historische-kritische Einleitung in den Koran. Bielefeld, 1844. 
 
 Das Leben Mohammeds. Two volumes, octavo. Stuttgart, 1864. 
 
 Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre. Stuttgart, 1S43. 
 
 ■ • Die poetische Literatur der Araber. Stuttgart und Tiibingen, 1837. 
 
 A historical and critical sketch. 
 
 Wherry, E. M. A comprehensive commentary on the Quran. Five volumes. 
 [Four published (1886)] London, 1882- 1886. This contains Sale's para- 
 phrase and copious notes. There is to be an index, which promises to be 
 valuable. (Also published in Boston.) 
 
 White, Joseph. Bampton lecture of 17S4, and a sermon on the duty of propa- 
 gating the gospel among the Mahometans. American edition, Boston, 
 1793. One of the texts is i Kings xiii., 18. Gives an idea of the views of 
 intelligent men regarding Islam at the date. 
 
 Whitney, James Lyman. Catalogue of the Spanish library and of the Portu- 
 guese books, bequeathed by George Ticknor to the Boston Public Li- 
 brary. Boston, 1879. The student of the history of the Moors in Spain 
 will be much aided by the note, on pages 237, 238, in which Mr. Whitney 
 mentions authorities in detail. Nowhere else is the information given 
 in so compact a form, if, indeed, it is brought together at all elsewhere. 
 
 Wolff, Joseph. Researches and missionary labors among the Jews, Moham- 
 medans, and other sects. Second edition. London, 1835. 
 
 Wollaston, Arthur N. Half hours with Mohammed. Being a popular account 
 of the prophet of Arabia and of his more immediate followers. One vol- 
 ume, octavo. With maps and illustrations. London, 1886. 
 
 Wortabet, John. Researches into the religions of Syria. London, i860. Part 
 n. Mohammedanism. A polemical book by a missionary in Moham- 
 medan lands. 
 
 Wright, Thomas. Early travels in Palestine, comprising the narratives of 
 Benjamin of Tudela (1164), Sir John Mandeville, and others. London, 
 1848. (Bohn.) The first edition of Benjamin's work was published in 
 Hebrew, in Constantinople in 1543. 
 
 WUstenfeld, Heinrich Ferdinand. Das Leben Muhammeds. Gottingen, 
 1857-59. Three volumes. 
 
 Geschichte der Stadt Mekka, und ihres Tempels. Leipzig, 1857-186:. 
 
 Four volumes. The author was professor in the University of Gottingen. 
 
 Die Geschichtschreiber der Araber und ihre Werke. Quarto, Got- 
 tingen, 1882. 
 
 Unknown. The Arabs in Spain. Two volumes. London, 1840. 
 
 Unknown. The life of Mahomet ; or, the history of that imposture which was 
 begun, carried on, and finally established by him in Arabia. Second 
 American edition. New York, 1813. Stilted in style and partial in spirit.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abbas, uncle of Mohammed, ob- 
 tains control of Zem-zem, 43 ; 
 address of, at the hill Akalja, 
 114 ; gives notice of an attack 
 from Mecca, 154 ; takes the 
 part of Mohammed, 182, 183 
 
 Abbas (Abul) the Bloody, claims 
 of, to the kalifate, 348 ; ap- 
 pears in Korassan, 350 ; butch- 
 ery of, 352 ; efforts to found a 
 dynasty, 353 ; death of, 353 
 
 Abbassides (spelled also Abas- 
 sides and Abbasides), the, Vic- 
 tory of at Constantinople, 364 ; 
 indignation of,against Mamun, 
 380 
 
 Abd al Kaba (Abu Bekr) ac 
 cepts Islam, 8 1 
 
 Abdalla, birth and devotion of, 
 32 ; marriage and death of, 38 
 
 Abdalla forces Meccans to hear 
 the Koran, 93 
 
 Abdalla opposes Mansur, 355 
 
 Abdalla, son of Motaz, a rival 
 kalif, 412 
 
 Abdalla, son of Zobeir, claims 
 the kalifate, 293 ; at Medina, 
 calls Hosein a martyr, 305 ; 
 loses an opportunity, 307 ; the 
 sole kalif, 309 ; death of, 315 
 
 Abdalla, uncle of Abbas, made 
 governor of Syria, 354 
 
 Abd al Muttalib (properly Abd 
 al Mutallib), receives the 
 rights of Hashim, 32 ; loses 
 camels, 3"; 
 
 Abd el Melik, becomes kalif, 
 
 311 ; shut out from the Kaaba, 
 
 312 ; supreme, 315 ; refuses 
 tribute to Constantinople, 31S ; 
 death of, 319 
 
 Abd er Rahman, governor of 
 Spain, withdraws from France, 
 339 ; defeated at Tours, 342 
 
 Abd er Rahman, first Omiade 
 kalif at Cordova, 352 
 
 Abomination of Desolation, The, 
 of Daniel, 250 
 
 Abraha, viceroy of Abyssinia, 34 ; 
 discomfited, 37 
 
 Abraham assists Ishmael to re- 
 build the Kaaba, 24 
 
 Abrahamitic ideas of God, 54 
 
 Abstinence from wine first recom- 
 mended, then commanded, 
 128, 137, 161. (See Wine.) 
 
 Abu Bekr, name of, 99, 100 ; acv 
 cepts Islam, 81 ; escapes froni, 
 Mecca with Mohammed, iiS ; 
 conducts pilgrims to Mecca, 
 198; takes the place of Mo- 
 hammed in the mosque, 205 ; 
 address of, after the p-'^]ihet's 
 death, 215 ; chosen kriif, 216 ; 
 description of, 2i8 ; forcible 
 policy of, 221 ; death of, 232 ; 
 and Ali, with Mohammed dur- 
 ing the last pilgrimage, 203 
 
 Abulfaraj affirms the destruction 
 of the library at Alexandria, 
 
 254 
 
 Abulfeda mentioned, 35 ; " His- 
 tory of Mankind," 420 
 
 Abu Lulu assassinates Omar, 260
 
 472 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abu Solum, conducts a caravan, 
 140, 147, 14S ; at tlie l)allle of 
 Ohu<l, if;4 ; K"i''* against Con- 
 stantinople, 292 
 
 Aim Talib (U1)U Talcl)). blesses 
 the mr^rriage of Mohanune<l, 
 58 ; supports Mohaniineil, 7(), 
 77 ; proteils Mohunnned, 84, 
 86, 88 ; dies. 96 
 
 Abyssinia, summoned to accejit 
 Islam, 174; the first emi^'ra- 
 tion to, 93 
 
 Adam, fall of, 22 ; al Arafat, 30 ; 
 and Kve, day of the creation of, 
 302 
 
 Adojition, children by, 100 
 
 Africa, Saracenic conquests in, 
 2f)7 ; invasion of, under Mo- 
 awia, 291 ; extension of the 
 dominion of the kalifs in, 293 ; 
 revolt of, 31S ; conquered the 
 third time, 319 ; Moslem con- 
 quests ill, threatened, 344 ; es- 
 cape of from the Saracens, 
 34S ; trouble in from the Ber- 
 bers, 359 
 
 Afrikis gathers the Amalekites, 
 10 
 
 Age, The golden, of Harun, 367 ; 
 of Manuin, 3S8 ; of Motawak- 
 kel, 399 
 
 Aglab, father of Ibrahim, at 
 Kairwan, 407 
 
 Aglaljites, The, ravages of, 407 
 
 Ahmed, prophecy of, 134 
 
 Ahmed, Syed, on the health of 
 Mohammed, 64 ; on the use of 
 the sword by Mohammed, 144 
 
 Ahmed, son of Tulun, becomes 
 governor of Egypt, 406 
 
 Ajnadein (Ai/naden) attacked by 
 Amr, 246 
 
 Akaba, meeting at the hill, 
 100 ; first pledge of, 100 ; sec- 
 ond meeting on, 113, 115 ; 
 difference between the oaths 
 of, 142 
 
 Aktal, Period of, 320 
 
 Alcoran, see Koran 
 
 Aleppo, conquest of, by the Sara- 
 
 cens, 243, taken by the Tulu. 
 nides, 400 
 
 Alexander, IJatlle of, with Dari- 
 us, on the Zab, 351 
 
 Alexandria, siege of, by Amr, 
 254 ; fall of, 254; ra/eil, 267 ; 
 Idst l)y Otliman, 2C)7 
 
 Ali, (Alee) son of Abu Talib, en- 
 trusted with a knowledge of 
 the revelations, 81 ; enthusias- 
 tically accepts Islam, and is 
 called kalif, 83 ; left behind 
 at Mecca, 117, 118 ; reaches 
 Yathrib, 126 ; marries l""atima, 
 iGl ; suspicious of Ayesha, 
 162 ; commanc's against the 
 Jews of Kcibar, 175 ; detects 
 Sara in sending illicit informa- 
 tion, 182 ; reads a notable 
 proclamation at Mecca, 199 ; 
 with Mohammed during his 
 last pilgrimage, 203 ; claims 
 of, upon the office of kalif, 219, 
 220 ; action of, after the death 
 of Fatima, 225 ; kalifate of- 
 fered to, 264 ; reasons with 
 rebels, 270 ; made kalif, 273 ; 
 appeals to Kufa, 276; victorious 
 over Ayesha, Talha, and Zo- 
 beir, 278 ; weakened at Siffin, 
 281 ; assassinated, 285 ; career 
 of, 286 
 
 Ali ben Musa, promised the 
 throne of Mamun, 3S0 ; sacri- 
 fices himself, 381 
 
 Al Kindy, The apology of, 3S9 
 
 yVllah, character of, 19 ; the 
 house of, 22 ; the worship of 
 one supreme, 54 ; unity of, 
 201 ; as presented by Mo- 
 hammed, 211 
 
 Allies of the kalifs become an- 
 tagonists, 424 
 
 Alp Arslan (Seljuk) buried at 
 Merv, 256 
 
 Alyites, the, disturb Korassan, 
 348; rise at Medina in the 
 time of Mansur, 359 ; rising 
 of, in time of Hedi, 365 ; rise 
 of, in Africa in time of Ilarun,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 473 
 
 370 ; rise of, under Mamun, 
 378, 379. 382 ; favored l>y 
 Wathek, 395 ; get no sympathy 
 from Motawakkel, 398 ; en- 
 couraged by Montaser, 399 ; 
 rise of, in time of Mostain, 
 401 ; smiled upon by Motaded, 
 407 ; number of, in Islam, 407 
 
 Ameer, Seyed Ali, on the use of 
 the swordby Mohammed, 144 ; 
 on Motazilites, 282 
 
 Amin, destined by Harun as his 
 successor, 373 ; surrenders to 
 Tahir and Mamun, 377 
 
 Amina, (pronounced Ah'-mi-na), 
 mother of Mohammed, left a 
 widow, 39 ; dies at Medina, 
 42 ; Mohammed at the tomb 
 of, 190 ; sorrow of Mohammed 
 for, 20S 
 
 Amissus attacked, 400 
 
 Amorium sacked by the Sara- 
 cens, 392 
 
 Amr and Kalid converted, 1 77 
 
 Amr (Amru ben el Ass) takes the 
 iield against the Bedawins.iBi ; 
 commissioned to conquer Y\Y\- 
 stin, 246 ; takes Caesarea, 252 ; 
 sets out for the conquest of 
 Egypt, 253 ; treats the Egyp- 
 tians to an object-lesson, 255 ; 
 retakes Alexandria, 267 ; takes 
 the part of Moawia, 279 ; 
 takes possession of Egypt, 282 
 
 Amr, cousin of Abd el Melik, 
 revolts against him and is 
 slain, 313 
 
 Amr, successor of Yakub, the 
 Soffaride, acknowledged by 
 Motamed, 405 ; attacks Is- 
 mail Samana, 408, 409 ; mis- 
 chance of, 409 
 
 Anarchy, in Bagdad, time of Ma- 
 mun, 379 ; at Samarra, 401 ; in 
 Bagdad, in time of Radi, 428 
 
 Angels, belief in, i?, 62 ; nature 
 of, 16, 17 ; aid of, at Honein 
 18S 
 
 Ansars, the new converts at 
 Yathrib, 127 ; brotherhood 
 
 formed with the Muajerin, 
 142 
 
 Antichrist, Arabian belief re- 
 garding, 197 
 
 Antioch, siege and conquest of, 
 by the Saracens, 243 ; taken 
 by the Tulunides, 406 
 
 Aquitania, Saracens enter, 338 
 
 Arab tongue. The, not to be used 
 by Christians, 250 
 
 Arabia, position of, I ; shape of, 
 6 ; becomes acquainted with 
 Persia, 60 ; decline of import- 
 ance of, under the Omiades, 
 288 ; aroused by the acts of 
 the Karmathians, 412 
 
 Arabia Petraea offered to Ziyad, 
 290 
 
 Arabs, imaginative, 14 ; marvel- 
 lous change in the, 135 ; style 
 of warfare of, 164 
 
 Arafat, the mountain of mercy, 
 30 
 
 Archangels, The four, 17 
 
 Architecture, The Saracenic, 322 
 
 Aristocracy, The, of Arabia, as 
 established by Omar, 245 
 
 Arkam, The house of, 85 
 
 Armenia, war in, 338 ; disturb- 
 ances in, at the time of Hish- 
 am, 345 ; rising in, in time of 
 Motawakkel, 398 ; and Irak 
 desolated by Babek, 391 
 
 Arnold, Matthew on the " Per- 
 sian Passion-Play," 304 
 
 Arts and letters cultivated by 
 Harun, 370. (See Letters.) 
 
 Asceticism not delighted in by 
 Mohammed, 153 
 
 Ashes, Year of, 252 
 
 Ashmaat, Appeal of Mohammed 
 to the, 54 
 
 Ass of Irak, The, a title of Mer- 
 wan II., 349 
 
 Assassination, Policy of, 152 
 
 Assassination of Othman, 271 
 
 Assassins, The, described by 
 Benjamin of Tudela, 433 
 
 Astronomy studied in time of 
 Mamun, 388
 
 474 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Aswad, a rival of Mohammed in 
 Yemen, 203 
 
 Asylum for the insane at liap- 
 <lad, 438 
 
 Aycsha, daughter of Al)u Bekr, 
 espoused by Mohammed, 99 ; 
 formal marriage of Mohammed 
 and, 140 ; home life of, 141 ; 
 jealous of Zeinab, 161 ; scan- 
 dal about, 162 ; patience 
 recommedcd'to, 164; talk of 
 Mohammed with, 214 ; place 
 of burial of, 217 ; allies herself 
 with Ali"s enemies, 274 ; super- 
 stitions of, overcome by deceit, 
 275 ; vindictive spirit of, against 
 Ali, 277 ; curses Amr and Mo- 
 awia, 284 
 
 Ayub (Aiyoob, Ayyub), father of 
 Saladin, 434 
 
 Azazil, or Iblis, 16 
 
 Azerbaijan (Aderbaijan), battle 
 with Babek at, 391 
 
 B 
 
 Baalbek (Heliopolis), conquest 
 of, 243 
 
 Babek, the sect of, 391 
 
 Babylon, site of, 227 
 
 Bagdad, founding of, 357 ; the, 
 of romance, 366 ; magnificence 
 of, under Harun, 368 ; anarchy 
 in, in time of Mamun, 379 ; in 
 confusion in time of Mok- 
 tader, 421 ; description of, 
 438 ; fall of, 441 
 
 Balkis, queen of Sheba, visits 
 Solomon, 10 
 
 Ban, The, placed upon Moham- 
 med, 94 
 
 Barmecides, The, come to Bag- 
 dad, 358 ; character of, 368 ; 
 fall of, 371 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire on Islam, 
 136 
 
 Bassora, founded, 238; plague at, 
 253 ; taken by Ayesha and her 
 partisans, 275 ; taken by Mo- 
 awia, 284 ; battle near, 338 ; 
 
 and Kufa, troubles at, 260, 
 266, 267, 268 
 
 Baudier mentioned, 434 
 
 liedawins (Jiadti, a desert), the 
 free, 62; join forces with Mecca 
 against Medina, 154 ; stirred 
 up against the Jews, 174 ; ac- 
 <;ept Islam, 181 ; conspire 
 against Mohammed, 186 ; be- 
 come uneasy under Moham- 
 med's rule, 203 ; allegiance of 
 the, 227 
 
 r.edr, victory of Mohammed at, 
 149 
 
 Believers encouraged and un- 
 believers threatened, 1 13 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela gives an ac- 
 count of the Assassins, 433 
 
 Berbers, The, 10 ; reduced to 
 terms, 31S ; incorporated in 
 the Saracenic army, 319 ; as 
 described by Musa, 335 ; give 
 trouble, 359 
 
 Beshr questioned about the na- 
 ture of the Koran, 385 
 
 Bible, Doctrines of the, present- 
 ed to the Arabians, 136 
 
 Bilal, the first muezzin, death of, 
 
 253 
 
 Blind man. The poor, repulsed 
 by Mohammed, 86 
 
 Blood, price of, 33 ; first drawn 
 in Islam, 84 
 
 Blood-vengeance prohibited, 202 
 
 Bokhara, science at, 256 ; con- 
 quered by Obeidolla, 291 ; 
 conquest of , 322 ; capital of 
 Ismail Samana at, 408 ; Sel- 
 juks in, 432 ; taken lay Jengis 
 Khan, 440 
 
 Books, none in Arabia, 2, 60 ; 
 effect of the absence of, 46, 47; 
 did not teach Mohammed, 60 
 
 Borak (lightning), the beast that 
 takes Mohammed to heaven, 
 104 
 
 Bostra, visited by Mohammed, 
 46 ; envoy of Mohammed sent 
 to, 1 78 ; description of, by 
 Ockley, 231
 
 INDEX. 
 
 475 
 
 Boulainvilliers, Count de, on 
 
 Islam, 137 
 Boweib, batlle of, 235 
 Bozra, see Bostra 
 Bridge of Boats, Battle of the, 
 
 234 
 
 Brotherhood, A, established at 
 Medina, 141, 142 
 
 Buran, daughter of Hasan, be- 
 comes wife of Mamun, 383 
 
 Burial of Mohammed, 217 
 
 Buvides (Dilemites), rise of the, 
 426 ; supreme at Bagdad, 42S ; 
 end of the, 430 
 
 Byzantium, listlessness of, 241 
 
 C 
 
 Cabus, see Kabus. 
 
 Coesarea taken by Amr, 252 
 
 Cairo (Fostat), foundation of, 
 254 ; mosque erected at, 321 ; 
 built by the Fatimites, 430 
 
 Caliph, see Kalif. 
 
 Camel, Day of the, 277 
 
 Capital of Islam, Removal of the, 
 288 
 
 Cappadocia, conquest of, 322 ; 
 war in, 392 
 
 Captives, Dissatisfaction regard- 
 ing, 189 
 
 Caravans, The, from Mecca 
 tempt the prophet, 144 
 
 Carcasonne and Nismes taken, 
 
 339 
 Carlyle, Professor J. D., trans- 
 lations by, 427, 428 
 Carlyle, Thomas, on the Hanifs, 
 52 ; on the character of Mo- 
 hammed, 65, 66 
 Carthage reduced by Hasan, 318 
 Caspian region penetrated by 
 
 Othman's troops, 267 
 Casuistry necessary in Islam, 424 
 Caussin de Perceval, on the date 
 of Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on 
 the offer of Islam to the Ko- 
 reishites, 82 ; on the date of 
 the Hejra, 121 ; treats the siege 
 of Bostra as a fact, 231 ; on 
 the era of the Hejra, 260 
 
 Cave, Mohammed in the, 113, 
 122 
 
 Ceuta, Saracens repulsed at, 324; 
 given up, 326 
 
 Chadijah, see Kadija. 
 
 Chains, Battle of the, 228 
 
 Chaldea and Babylonia, 226 
 
 Chance, Games of, forbidden, 
 128, 161 
 
 Charlemagne, Defeat of, at Ron- 
 cesveaux, 353 
 
 Charles Martel appealed to by 
 Count Eudes, 340 
 
 Charms, the last two suras, 167 
 
 Children by adoption, 160 
 
 China invaded by Jengis Khan, 
 440 
 
 Chosroes (Khosru, son of Ko- 
 bad), wars with Maurice, 3 ; 
 summoned to accept Islam, 
 173 ; palace of, at Medain, 
 plan of Mansur to pillage, 358 
 
 Christianity, introduction of, 27 ; 
 represented by the Western 
 empire, 62 ; and Judaism, 62 ; 
 Mohammed's views of, 129 ; 
 and Islam compared, 135, 136 ; 
 opposition of Mohammed to, 
 197 ; the tritheistic, of Arabia, 
 213 ; in Europe threatened by 
 the Saracens, 336 ; the argu- 
 ment of Al Kindy for, 389 
 
 Christians, relation of Moham- 
 med to, 134, 135 ; confer with 
 Mohammed, 192 ; severe treat- 
 ment of, at Jerusalem, 249 ; of 
 Spain as described by Musa, 
 335 ; treatment of, in Spain by 
 the Saracens, 336 ; and Jews 
 persecuted by Motawakkel,39S 
 
 Chronology of the suras, 133,443 
 
 Civilization, in the Mesopotaniian 
 region, 239 ; in Europe threat- 
 ened by the Saracens, 336 
 
 Cloak, The, of Mohammed not 
 honored, 422 
 
 Clubs for debate in time of Ma- 
 mun, 385 
 
 Coinage, The first, of the Sara- 
 cens, 318
 
 476 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Colossus, of Rhodes, D(Hil)tfiil 
 tradition rcj^ardinj:;, 278 
 
 Commerce in early times, 8 ; by 
 land, decline of, 25, 28 
 
 Companions of Mohammed, The 
 preserve the koran, 224 
 
 Constantine VII. invades Asia 
 Minor, 416 
 
 Constantinople, first attempt of 
 the Saracens upon, 2gl ; effort 
 of Soliman against, 336 ; re- 
 treat of Hisham from, 345 ; 
 campaign of Mehdi against, 
 363 ; saved from capture, in 
 time of Ilarun, 373 ; war of 
 Mamun with, 3S6 ; sends an 
 embassy to Moktader, 416 
 
 Coptic maid Mary, wife of Mo- 
 liammed, 190 
 
 Cordova, and other cities of Spain 
 ravaged, 330 ; beginning of the 
 Omiade kaHfate at, 352 
 
 Creasy, Sir E., describes the bat- 
 tle of Tours, 344 
 
 Crusades, Origin of the, 433 
 
 " Cry, in the name of Allah," 74 
 
 Ctesiphon and Selucia, 227 
 
 Cursing, The ordeal of the, 193 
 
 Cyprus, attacked and made tribu- 
 tar)', 268 ; Moawia, governor 
 of, 278 
 
 D 
 
 Damascus, a move upon, 239 ; 
 taken, 240 ; pomp of Moawia 
 at, 308 ; Christians at, dispos- 
 sessed of their church, 321 ; 
 the great mosque at, 322 ; a 
 revolt in, against Merwan II., 
 349 ; rival kalif at, in time of 
 Mamun, 376 ; becomes capital 
 of Tahir, 378 ; and other cities 
 taken by the Tulunides, 406 
 
 Damiani's picture of paradise, 
 
 131 
 Damietta pillaged, 398 
 Daniel, Tomb of, preserved, 256 
 Darmsteter, James, " Le Mah- 
 
 di," 414 
 
 Day, of Tears, the, 275 ; of ths 
 
 Camel, the, 277 
 Dead Sea, Mohammed journeys 
 
 l)y the, 46 
 Debating clubs in time of Ma- 
 mun, 385 
 Debaucheries of Montaser, 400 
 Decrees of Allah, The, "I, 72 
 Deputations, The year of, 192 
 Desvergcrs on the offer of Islam 
 
 to the Koreishites, 32 
 Deutsch, Emanuel, on Arabian 
 religion, 14 ; on the date of 
 Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on the 
 meaning of Islam, 66 ; on the 
 word " cry," 74 ; and Midler 
 on the prize poems of Okatz, 
 43 ; and Renan on theHanifs, 
 52, 54 
 Dilemites (see Buvides), Rise of 
 
 the, 426 
 Diodorus speaks of the sacred 
 
 stone, 22 
 Disaffected, The, at Yathrib, 127 
 Discontent in Arabia after the 
 
 death of Mohammed, 220 
 Dissatisfaction in the kalifate, 
 
 272 
 Ditch, Battle of the, 164 
 Divvan, a, organized by Omar, 
 
 245 
 
 Domestic life. Regulations re- 
 garding, 161 
 
 Dorylaeum, Unsuccessful attack 
 upon, 363 
 
 Dream, An opportune, 189 
 
 Dreams and visions in ar.cient 
 and modern times, 102 
 
 Dugat, Gustave, on Islamite 
 philosophy, 385 
 
 Dwellings, Privacy of, 162 
 
 E 
 
 Earnestness of Mohammed, 65 
 
 Eclipses ordered by Allah, 192 
 
 Efreet, The, 10 
 
 Egypt, summoned to accept Is- 
 lam, 174 ; land communication 
 with, established, 254 ; favors
 
 INDEX. 
 
 477 
 
 Ali, 272, 273; rising in, against 
 
 Ali, 282 ; continuation of the 
 
 kalifate in, 441 
 Elephant, Host of the, 36 
 Elephants used by the Persians 
 
 at Kadesia, 236 
 Elihu, the Buzite, on dreams, 102 
 Eliphaz, the Temanite, on 
 
 dreams, 102 
 Emigrations to Abyssinia, The, 
 
 93 
 
 Enchantments, Faith in, 166 
 
 Enquiry, The spirit of religious, 
 before Mohammed, 50, 51, 63 
 
 Enthusiasm, The, of Moham- 
 med, 64 
 
 Epilepsy, The, of Mohammed, 
 205 
 
 Era, the Islamite, 120 ; estab- 
 lished by Omar, 121, 260 ; dif- 
 ficulty of establishing an, 120 ; 
 
 ' Eternal Reason, The," a book 
 from Kabul, 384 
 
 Eudes, Count, meets the Sara- 
 cens, 33g, 340 
 
 Europe, overrun by hordes from 
 Asia, 4 ; plan of the Saracens 
 regarding, 332 
 
 Faber, Heavenly homesickness 
 
 of, 131 
 Faction, Growth of, under Oth- 
 
 man, 269 
 Fadhl, son of Sahl, minister un- 
 der Mamun, 370, 378 ; politi- 
 cal acts of, exposed to Mamun, 
 381 ; assassination of, 382 
 Faith, the, of Mohammed, 76, 
 78, 80 ; the implicit, of Islam 
 undermined, 385 ; an unau- 
 thorized article of, 396 
 Faithful, Picture of the, by Mo- 
 hammed, 135 
 Fall, The, of the empire, 4 
 False prophets rise, 203, 204 
 FamiHes, The rival, in Islam, 264 
 Family of the Tent, the, 303 
 Farazdah, Period of, 320 
 
 Fatima and Ali married, 161 ; 
 
 death of, 225 
 Fatimites, dynasty of, in Egypt, 
 
 312 ; rise in Africa, 413 ; end 
 
 of dynasty of, 436 
 Ferdusi, the poet of Persia, 431 
 Feticism, of the Arabians, 15, 
 
 62 ; and paganism, 62 
 Fihl, movement against, 240 ; 
 
 fall of, 241 
 Fihr, surnamed Koreish, 30 
 Filistin, or Palestine, Limits of, 
 
 246 
 Firdah, Battle of, 229 
 Fire-worship in Persia. 62 
 Foreigners, Influence of, 390 
 Forty Martyrs, Church of the, 
 
 Fostat (Cairo), Foundation of, 
 
 254 
 France, The Saracens enter, 33S, 
 
 339 
 Franks, The, as described by 
 
 Musa, 335 
 Freedom, The, of the Arabians, 
 
 43 
 
 Freeman, E. A., on the date of 
 Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on 
 Arabian freedom 44 ; on the 
 condition of the East, 62 ; on 
 the war between Rome and 
 Persia, 179 ; on the opposition 
 of Mohammed to Christianity, 
 197 ; on Mohammed's antago- 
 nism to truth, 212 ; on Mo- 
 hammed's righteous intentions, 
 214 ; on the repulse of the Sar- 
 acens by Leo III., 336 
 
 Freethinkers opposed by Mota- 
 wakkel, 396 
 
 Free-will discussed by Wasil, 
 282 
 
 G 
 
 Gabriel gives directions about the 
 Kaaba, 24 ; speaks to Moham- 
 med, 72 ; frequent revelations 
 from, 80; escorts Mohammed 
 in a dream, 104 ; informs Mo- 
 hammed of a plot of the Ko«
 
 478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 rcishites, 117 ; gives aid :it 
 Ik-dr, 149 ; rescues Mohammed 
 from ciulciiilmciil, i<)7 
 Ciadara, tily of, 242 
 Games of chance forbidden, 161 
 Gaming, rebuked by Othman, 
 268 ; denounced by Motadi, 
 402 ; and wine-drinking, 63 
 Garden of Death, Battle of, 223 
 Gayangos, Translation of Mak- 
 
 kari by, 335 
 Gaza visited by Abdalla, 38 ; 
 Joppa and other cities cap- 
 lured, 246 
 (juzniviile dynasty. The, 430 
 Claznividcs, The, overcome by 
 
 the Seljuks, 433 
 George Eliot, Aspirations of, 
 
 131. 132 
 Ghassan, Ruler of the tribe of. 
 
 Gibbon, Edward, on the strife 
 between Rome and Persia, 3 ; 
 on Hcraclius and Chosroes, 4 ; 
 " Decline and Fall of the Ro- 
 man Empire," 332 ; describes 
 the battle of Tours, 344 ; de- 
 scribes the iron gates of Ko- 
 l^ad, 345 
 
 Gluttony of Omar II., 338 
 
 God, the idea of only one, 75 ; 
 Mohammed's idea of, 213 
 
 Gospel, First preaching of the, 
 
 135 
 Government in Arabia, 33 
 Governors, The, of Othman, un- 
 popular, 269 ; in France, char- 
 acter of, 340 
 Goths, The, invade Spain, 325 
 Greek fire used against the Mos- 
 lems, 292, 336 
 Greek learning introduced ex- 
 tensively by Mamun, 388 
 
 11 
 
 Hafsa, widow of Mohammed, 
 
 custodian of the koraii, 224 
 Hagar in Arabia, 24, 28 
 Haj, The title, 31 
 Halima (pronounced Hah'-lima) 
 
 becomes nurse of Mohammed, 
 41 ; remembered by Moham- 
 med at his marriage, 5S 
 
 Hamdan, surnamed Karmath, 
 Sect of, 408 
 
 Ilanifs, Speculations of the, 50, 
 52, 63 
 
 Ilartama overcomes the Alyites, 
 and is executed by Mamun, 
 
 379 
 
 Ilarun al Rashid (Ilaroun al Ra- 
 schid), at the grave of Mansur, 
 360 ; receives his first lesson 
 in war, 363 ; intended to be 
 heir-apparent, 364 ; in fiction 
 and real life, 367 ; sets out for 
 Constantinople, 371 ; ortho- 
 doxy of, 372 ; sets out for Ko- 
 rassan, 373 ; death of, 373 ; 
 plan of, to keep the balance be- 
 tween Persian and Arab influ- 
 ence, 375 
 
 Hasan (Hassan), son of Ali, leads 
 the Kufans to take Ali's part, 
 276 ; kalif, 287 
 
 Hasan, a general of Yczid, 308 ; 
 goes to Africa, 318 
 
 Hasan, governor of Persia, and 
 his daughter Buran, 3S2, 383 
 
 Hashim, the kalif, see Hisham. 
 
 Hashim receives the rights of 
 Kossai from Abd Menaf, 32 
 
 Hashimeya, residence of Mansur, 
 356 
 
 Hashimites, The, 264 
 
 Hashishim, chief of the Assas- 
 sins, 433 
 
 Hate aroused at Mecca, 150 
 
 Heart, the, of Mohammed puri- 
 fied by Gabriel, 42 
 
 Heaven, seventh, dream of, 104 
 
 Hedi, death of, 365 
 
 Hejaj offers his services to Abd 
 el Melik, 314 ; made governor 
 of Irak, 316 
 
 Hejaz, land of pilgrimages, 7, 
 28 ; becomes the scene of ac- 
 tion, 298 ; decline of import- 
 ance of, under the Omiades, 
 288
 
 INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 Hejra (or Hegira), the, ordered, 
 Ii6 ; era of, established, 121, 
 260 ; date of the, 121 
 
 Hell, Seven-fold divisions of, 20 
 
 Hems, see Horns. 
 
 Hera, the mountain near Mecca, 
 
 63 
 
 Heraclea, taken and retaken by 
 Harun, 371 ; Mamun at, 3S7 
 
 Heraclius, emperor of the East- 
 ern Empire, summoned to ac- 
 cept Islam, 174 ; said to have 
 led an army against the Mos- 
 lems, 179 ; determines to re- 
 pel the Arabs, 230 ; at Horns, 
 
 243 ; flees to Constantinople, 
 
 244 ; death of, 254 
 Hercules, Saracens at the Pillars 
 
 of, 324 
 Heresies from Persia in reign of 
 
 Mehdi, 365 
 Heretics, Troubles of Hedi with, 
 
 365 
 
 Hcsham, see Hisham. 
 
 Himyarites (Homerites), the dy- 
 nasty of, 27 
 
 Hind, the Tearless One, wife of 
 Abu Sofian, leads women 
 against Medina, 154 ; anger 
 and grief of, 150 
 
 Hira (Meshed Ali), capital of 
 Irak, 60 ; site of, 228 ; taken 
 by Kalid, 229 ; retaken, 235 ; 
 Moslems obliged to retire from, 
 
 234 
 
 Hisham (Hashim or Hesham) 
 becomes kalif, 339 ; death of, 
 346 ; beginning of the Motaz- 
 ilites in reign of, 282 
 
 Hamza converted, 89, 90 
 
 Homogeneity impossible to di- 
 verse Islamites, 424 
 
 Horns (Hems), ancient Emesa, 
 246 ; advance upon, 242 ; re- 
 volt at, 348 ; bloody scenes at, 
 400 ; taken by Ahmed, 406 
 
 Honein, victory at, 1S7 ; captives 
 at, released, 189 
 
 Honesty, The, of Mohammed, 
 210 
 
 Ilosein (Husain), son of Ali, goes 
 against Constantinople, 292 ; 
 refuses to take the oath of al- 
 legiance to Yezid, 296 ; claims 
 the office of kalif, 296 ; at Ker- 
 bala, 301 ; death of, 303 ; im- 
 portance of the death of, 30S ; 
 tomb of, desecrated by Mota- 
 wakkel, 398 ; tomb of, rebuilt 
 by Montaser, 399 
 
 Hulaku (Hoolakoo), grandson of 
 Jengis Khan, overthrows the 
 Assassins and takes Bagdad, 
 441 
 
 Husbands and wives, rules affect- 
 ing, 162 ; mutual duties of, 
 202 
 
 Iblis, rebellion of, 16 ; believed 
 to have aided the Koreishites 
 at Bedr, 151 
 
 Ibrahim, son of Mohammed, 
 birth of, 190 ; death of, 192 
 
 Ibrahim, Accession and death of, 
 34S 
 
 Ibrahim heads a rising at Merv, 
 350_ 
 
 Iljrahim, brother of Harun, 368 
 
 Ibrahim, son of Mehdi, made ka- 
 lif in the place of Mamun, 380 
 
 Ibrahim, son of Aglab, at Kair- 
 wan, 407 
 
 Idolaters, not to be prayed for, 
 igo ; to be killed, 199 
 
 Idolatry, to be abolished, 75 ; 
 boldly opposed by Mohammed, 
 83 ; stubbornness of, at Taif, 
 194 ; disappearing, 198 
 
 Idols, talk about the worship of, 
 46 ; destroyed, 184 
 
 Ignorance, The times of, 24 
 
 Ihram, the pilgrim-dress, 31 
 
 Imams, the twelve, 266 
 
 India, excitement in, during Mo- 
 harrem, 304 
 
 Intrigues of the Abbassides, 349 
 
 Irak, expedition to, 60 ; and 
 Mesopotamia, allegiance of,
 
 4 So 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 62; of the Arabs and Irak of 
 tlie Persians, 226 
 
 Ireland on tlie former notions rc- 
 jjaniinj; Molianimed, 210 
 
 Irene becomes ruler at Constan- 
 tinople, 363 
 
 Isa, son of Mansur, nickname of, 
 360 
 
 Ishmael rebuilds the Kaaba, 24 
 
 I^lani, professed in secrecy, 32 ; 
 the house of, at Mecca, 35 ; in- 
 terpretations of the word, 66, 
 80 ; not looked upon as a new 
 religion, 81 ; preached every- 
 where by pilgrims, 88 ; debt of 
 to Kadija, 96 ; successfully 
 preached at Yathrib, 113; origi- 
 nality of, 129 ; original doc- 
 trines of, 130 ; duties of, 135 ; 
 offered to the nations, 173 ; 
 submission of many tribes to, 
 194 ; progress of, 19S ; per- 
 fected, 201 ; policy of, after 
 the death of Mohammed, 217 ; 
 indivisible, 221 ; not to be 
 shaken off, 225 ; the great 
 schism in, 308 ; a stroke at 
 its foundation by Mamun, 
 384 ; and its prophet, assailed 
 by Al Kindy, 389; "per- 
 fected " by Mohammed, 396 ; 
 unexpected growth of, 423 
 
 Ismailians, The, under Babek, 
 391, 408 
 
 Isaphan mentioned, 256 
 
 Issa, see Jesus. 
 
 Jaafar, the Barmecide, comes to 
 Mansur's court, 358 ; governs 
 Syria, 368 
 
 Jacob, Dream of, 22 
 
 Janizaries, The, similar to the 
 princes of princes, 429 
 
 Jealousy, forbidden to women, 
 162 ; of the prophet's wives 
 for Mary the Copt, 190, 192 
 
 Jebilee, Visit of Benjamin to, 
 433 
 
 Jengis Khan, Rise of, in Tartat-y, 
 
 44" 
 Jerir (I)jerir or Dzherir), i'eriod 
 
 of, 320 
 
 Jerusalem Mohammed's dream- 
 visit to, 106 ; the original 
 kibla of Mohammed, 13, X39 ; 
 beseiged, 246; capitulates, 248; 
 made a resort for pilgrims, 312; 
 mosque at, 321 ; visited by 
 Mansur, 356 ; captured by the 
 Seljuks, 433 
 
 Jesus, as viewed l)y Mohammed, 
 193, 212 
 
 Jews, connection A\itli Arabia, 
 6 ; relations of Mohammed 
 with, at Yathrib, 127 ; relation 
 of Mohammed with, 134, 135; 
 refuse Islam, 152 ; importance 
 of breaking down their power, 
 159 ; difficult to suppress, 165 ; 
 enchantments practised by, 
 166 ; of Keibar attacked, 174 ; 
 banished from their homes by 
 Omar, 245; and Christians per- 
 secuted by Motawakkel, 39S 
 
 Jinns, creation of, 15 ; belief in, 
 15, 62; evil doings of, 19; 
 listen to Mohammed, 98 
 
 Job, dreams in the book of, 102 
 
 Joppa, Gaza, and other places 
 captured, 246 
 
 Jordan (Ordonna), Province of, 
 246 
 
 Judaism, Mohammed's light 
 from, 211 
 
 Julian, Count, commander of 
 Ceuta, 325 ; urges the Sara- 
 cens to conquest, 329 
 
 Julkarnein, the two-horned, 294 
 
 Jurists examined regarding the 
 nature of the Koran, 385 
 
 Justinian urged to interfere in 
 Arabia, 27 
 
 K 
 
 Kaaba, the, described, 24; threat- 
 ened by Abraha, 36 ; fire in 
 the, 66 ; the strength of the
 
 INDEX, 
 
 481 
 
 worship of, 70 ; idols in, de- 
 stroyed, 1S4 ; enlarged by 
 Omar, 25S ; enlarged by Oth- 
 man, 268 ; made a heap of 
 ruins by Yezid's troops, 307 ; 
 partial destruction of, 315 ; 
 covering of, enriched by 
 Mehdi, 361 
 
 Kabus (Cabus, Caboos) begins 
 the line of the Dilemites, 426 
 
 Kadija (Chadijah, Khadijah, 
 Ger. Chadidscha), engages Mo- 
 hammed as director of cara- 
 vans, 55; account of, 56; seeks 
 Mohammed in marriage, 57 ; 
 enquires the causes of Moham- 
 med's accesses, .64 ; comforts 
 Mohammed, 72, 95 ; dies, 96 ; 
 Mohammed's pure love for, 
 133 ; and Waraka the first 
 converts, 80 
 
 Kadar, Al, the blessed night, 71, 
 214 
 
 Kadesia, Battle of, 235, 236 
 
 Kaf, Mountain of, 15 
 
 Kaher placed on the throne, de- 
 posed, and replaced, 421, 425 
 
 Kahina, queen of the Berbers, 
 captured and beheaded, 31S 
 
 Kairwan, Foundation of, 294 ; 
 Aglabites at, 407 
 
 Kalid retreats from Muta, 180 ; 
 sent out by Abu Bekr, 222 ; 
 effectual work of, 224 ; meets 
 the Persians, 228 ; makes a 
 pilgrimage to Mecca, 230 ; de- 
 prived of command, 232 ; 
 Omar's alienation from, 252 ; 
 death of, 252 ; and Amr con- 
 verted, 177 
 
 Kalid, the Barmecide, becomes 
 vizier to Mansur, 358 ; ensures 
 the succession to Harun, 365 
 
 Kalif (Caliph, Calif), the title 
 given to Ali, 83 ; choice of the 
 first, 215, 216 ; mode of choos- 
 ing, 263, 264 ; a puppet, 399, 
 427, 428 ; grandeur of the 
 state of, in its decline, 437 
 
 Kalifate, increase of the, 288 ; 
 
 changes in the, 297 ; greatness 
 of, under Harun, 368 ; causes 
 of, its downfall, 423 ; dismem- 
 berment of, 407, 428 ; end of 
 the, 441 
 
 Kalifs, incapacity of the later, 
 424 ; deaths of the early, 272 ; 
 changes in the character of, 
 308 ; luxury of the later, 424 ; 
 in their decline, described, 
 436 _ 
 
 Karejites, traits of, 281 ; put 
 down by Ziyad, 290 ; zealots 
 of, discuss the state of affairs, 
 2S5 ; devastate Irak, 310 ; stir 
 up rebellion against Abd el 
 Melik, 317 ; rise in time of 
 Harun, 370 
 
 Kariba, Battle near, 277 
 
 Karmath, deemed similar to the 
 chief of the Assassins, 433 
 
 Karmathians, rise of the, 408 ; 
 attack the Meccan caravans, 
 411, 412 ; ravage Syria in time 
 of Moktader, 420 ; ravages of, 
 in time of Radi, 428 
 
 Kazars, The, come from beyond 
 the Caucasus, 345 ; second in- 
 vasion of, 346 
 
 Keibar, War with the Jews of, 
 
 174. 175 
 
 Kerbala, representations of the 
 beauty of, 300 ; arrival of 
 Hosein at, 301 ; mosque at, de- 
 stroyed by Motawakkel, 398 ; 
 sorrows of the martyr of, re- 
 membered, 442 
 
 Kibla, The national, established, 
 
 139 
 Kindy, Al, The apology of, 389 
 Kinnesrin (Kinnisrin), conquest 
 of, 243 ; in charge of Kalid, 
 252 ; taken by the Tulunides, 
 406 
 Koba, the bright suburb of Mec- 
 ca, 125. 126 
 Kobad, The iron gates of, 345 
 Koran (Alcoran, pronounced Ko- 
 ran), the Arabian Bible, 13 ; 
 versions of, 38, 224 ; the re- 
 
 32
 
 4R: 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 ccnlcd knowledge of the new 
 rclij^iiin, 82 ; suras of the, 133 ; 
 original of the, in paradise, 
 134 ; uncomi)roinising sjjirit of 
 the, 143 ; a possililc intention 
 to revise the, 206 ; ordinances 
 of a temporary nature in, 212; 
 the, Mohammed's only mira- 
 cle, 213 ; to he obeyed in all 
 its parts, 221, 222 ; danger of 
 loss of the, 224 ; revision of 
 the, 224, 263 ; purest teachings 
 of, ignored, 233 ; skepticism 
 rcgariling, in time of Mehdi, 
 3O5 ; power of the book, 379 ; 
 not to be considerod an uncre- 
 ated book, 3S4 ; opinions re- 
 garding, 385 ; the, assailed by 
 Al Kindy, 3S9 ; nature of, the 
 law regarding, 394, 395 ; the 
 uncreated nature of, asserted 
 by Motawakkel, 396 ; infrac- 
 tions of rules of, denounced, 
 402 ; the, not honored, 422 
 
 Korassan, raids into, 267 ; rebels 
 against Abd el Melik, 316 ; re- 
 volt in, under Yezid II., 338 ; 
 disturbances by the Alyites in, 
 34S ; the veiled prophet of, 
 362 ; rise of the Taherians in, 
 404 ; wrenched from the kalif- 
 ate by Yakub, 405 ; conquered 
 ])y the Samanades, 411 ; Sel- 
 juks in, 432 
 
 Koreishites, the, feasted by Abd 
 al Muttalib, 40 ; naturally op- 
 posed to Mohammed, 79 ; re- 
 ceive the offer of Islam, 82 ; 
 douljtful as to how they might 
 best oppose Islam, 87 ; tempt 
 Mohammed, 90; enquire about 
 the men of Yathrib, 115 ; de- 
 feated at Bedr, 149, 151 ; aided 
 by Iblis at Bedr, 15 1 ; discom- 
 fited at Medina, 165 ; suspi- 
 cious of Mohammed, 169 ; 
 treaty with, 173; permit the 
 Moslems to enter Mecca, 
 175 ; decline of, 177 ; attack 
 the Kozaites, 181 ; over- 
 
 come, 183; traffickers, 186; 
 growing antagonism to, 266 
 
 Koreitza, Jews of, vengeance 
 upon, 165 
 
 Kossai, rise of, 30 ; descendants 
 fmd rivals, 32 
 
 Kothan, the original name of 
 the prophet, 40 
 
 Kozaites, The, injured by the 
 Koreishites, 181 
 
 Kufa, site of, 228; founded, 238; 
 appealed to by Ali, 275 ; be- 
 comes the capital of the kalif- 
 ate under Ali, 278 ; calls 
 Ilosein, 298; grasped by Mok- 
 tar, 311 ; strange sights in the 
 palace at, 314; Hejaj at, 316; 
 victory of the Alyites at, in 
 time of Mamun, 378 ; and 
 Bassora, troubles at, 260, 266, 
 267, 268 
 
 I. 
 
 Lake, on the paroxysms of Mo- 
 hammed, 64 
 Lane-Poole, Stanley, on secret 
 assassination, 152 ; "Speeches 
 of Mohammed," by, 224 ; his 
 " Persian Miracle-Play," 304 ; 
 "Story of the Moors in 
 Spain," by, 332 
 Laodicea taken by assault, 243 
 Law, Lack of, at Medina, 152 
 Lent, The Arabian, 20, 63 
 Leo III. repulses the Saracens. 
 
 336 
 Leo of Thessalonica, War for 
 
 possession of, 386 
 Letters in Arabia, 60 ; first culti- 
 vated by Ali, 287 ; cultivated 
 under Harun, 368 ; under 
 Mamun 388 ; under Wathek, 
 395 ; under Motawakkel, 398; 
 under Radi, 427 
 Library, The, of Alexandria, 254 
 Lie, The first, in Islam, 275 
 Life of a man. Fine ior the, 32, 
 
 33 
 Literature cultivated by Mehdi, 
 364, (see Letters)
 
 INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Literature and theology at Kufa 
 
 and Bassora, 23S 
 Love, Law of, not understood by 
 
 Christians, 211 
 Luxury, of the reign of Abd el 
 
 Melik, 320 ; in time of 
 
 Mamun, 388 
 
 M 
 
 Magians, The religion of, under- 
 mined, 322 
 
 Magreb, the western land, '10 
 
 Mahadi, founded by Obeidalla, 
 south of Tunis, 416 
 
 Mahaffy, J. P., " Story of Alex- 
 ander's Kingdom," by, 258 
 
 Mahdi, expectations of, by the 
 Hanifs, 50, 63 ; looked for by 
 men of Yathrib, loo ; expected 
 to return, 266, 311, 312, 414; 
 spread of the belief in a, 414 
 
 Mahmud of Ghazni, conquests 
 of, 431 ; his last hours, 431 ; 
 builds a mosque and a library, 
 432 
 
 Mamun brought up at Merv, 256; 
 governor of Korassan, 374 ; 
 makes to himself friends at 
 Merv, 375; becomes kalif, 377; 
 resigns his power to Fadlil, 
 378 ; surrenders to the Alyitc 
 intluence, 380 ; panic-stricken, 
 
 381 ; ghastly dissimulation of, 
 
 382 ; death of, in Cilicia, 
 387 ; career of 388 ; liber- 
 ality of, 3S8 ; and Amin, war 
 between, 376 ; r-.nd Motasim, 
 germs of decay planted in 
 reigns of, 423 
 
 Maniacs, Asylum for the, at Bag- 
 dad, 438 
 
 Mansur, designated as successor 
 of Abbas, 354 ; besieged in 
 his palace, 356 ; death of, 360; 
 protests against the expectation 
 of a Mahdi, 414 
 
 Marigny, " Histoire des Revolu- 
 tions de I'empire desArabes, " 
 414 
 
 Marriage of Mamun and Buran, 
 383 
 
 Marriage and concubinage, 233 
 
 Mary, the Coptic wife of Mo- 
 hammed, 190 
 
 Maslam, Battle at, 313 
 
 Maurice (emperor), wars with 
 Chosroes, 3 
 
 Maurice, F. D., on Mohammed's 
 idea of God, 213 
 
 Meal-sacks, Battle of the, 153 
 
 Mecca (Mekka, Mekkeh). posi- 
 tion of, 27 ; growth of, under 
 Kossai, 30 ; threatened by 
 Abraha, 34 ; trusts in Allah, 
 36 ; deserted by the Moslems, 
 116; thrives after the hejra, 
 143 ; does not retaliate on Mo- 
 hammed, 147 ; alarmed at the 
 aggression of Mohammed, 148; 
 obstruction of the approach to, 
 168 ; prepares an expedition 
 against Medina, 164 ; an at- 
 tack upon, 182 ; intrigues at, 
 274; stormed by Yezid's troops, 
 307 ; besieged by Hejaj, 315 ; 
 pilgrimage to, by Mehdi, 361 ; 
 and Medina, decline of import- 
 ance of, under the Omiades, 
 288 ; cared for by Wathek, 395 
 
 Meccans forbidden to listen to 
 Mohammed, 92 
 
 Medain, the Twin City, Site of, 
 227 ; capture of, by the Mos- 
 lems, 23S ; plan of Mansur to 
 destroy, 358 
 
 Medicine studied in time of 
 Mamun, 388 
 
 Medina (sec Yathrib), emigra- 
 tion of Islamites to, 116; situ- 
 ation of, 124; receives its name, 
 138; put in a state of siege, 
 164; a mob at, 189; deputa- 
 tions throng to, 194; sadness 
 in, at the death of Mohammed, 
 215; conference of governors 
 at, 270 ; men of, urge Ali as 
 candidate for kalif, 273; and 
 Mecca surrender to Moawia, 
 284
 
 484 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Meditation, Tlic, of Mohammeil 
 in desert places, 68 
 
 Meluli y^Mahdee, Mahdy), be- 
 comes kalif, 360; character of, 
 3f)0, 361; death of, 364 
 
 Melitcne, advance of Mansur 
 upon, 356; Tlieophihis at, 392 
 
 Mercy of Allah, Dependence of 
 all upon the, 214 
 
 Merv (Merou), vicissitudes of, 
 256; conspirators at work at, 
 
 Merwan becomes kalif, 309 
 
 Merwan II., accession of, 34S ; 
 flii^ht of, 351 ; death of, 351 
 
 Mesiim, son of Akba, at Medina, 
 306 
 
 Mesopotamia, region of, 227 ; 
 overcome, 235 
 
 Meyfart, Heavenly home-sick- 
 ness of, 131 
 
 Military spirit, The, perpetuated 
 by the diwan, 245 
 
 Milman, Dean, on the burning of 
 the library of Alexandria, 254 
 
 Mina, Valley of, 198 
 
 Ministers of the kalifs, overthrow 
 their masters, 424 ; made auto, 
 cratic by Radi, 426 
 
 Miracle, A, demanded of Mo- 
 hammed, 92 
 
 Miracle-Play, The, of Persia, 304 
 
 Miracles not depended upon by 
 Mohammed, 213 
 
 Moawia (spelled also Muavia, 
 INIuaweiah, Moaweeyah, Moa- 
 wiyah, etc.), made governor of 
 Syria, 253; stirs up strife in 
 Syria, 274; character of, 27S; 
 ruse of, atSiffin, 281; declared 
 kalif by a board of arbitrators, 
 281 ; wounded by a Karejite, 
 284 ; becomes kalif on the 
 resignation of Hasan, 287 ; 
 visits Medina and Mecca in 
 behalf of Yezid, 296 ; death 
 of, 296, 297 
 
 Moawia II. ascends the throne, 
 308; abdicates and dies, 309 
 
 Mob, A, at Medina, 189 
 
 Mocz, the Fatimite, gives his 
 pedigree, 413, 414 
 
 Mohammed (Mahomet, Muham. 
 mad, etc.), opposed by the 
 Koreishites, 34, 88, 97 ; born, 
 'c ; infancy of, 41 ; youth of, 
 43 ; goes to Syria, 44 ; proud 
 (if the union for jieacc, 49 ; 
 solitary youth of, 54 ; goes to 
 Syria with caravans, 55 ; per- 
 sonal appearance of, 55 ; mar- 
 ried ha]ipinessof, 59 linfluenco 
 of wealth upon, 60 ; health of, 
 64 ; under an unnatural mental 
 strain, 64 ; in earnest for the 
 good of others, 65 ; prestige 
 of, increased, 66 ; hears voices, 
 63 ; perplexed, 74, 75 ; con- 
 templates suicide, 75 ; exult- 
 ant, 76 ; the sublime faith of, 
 78, 80 ; scorned, 83 ; boldly 
 opposes idolatry, 83 ; repulses 
 the blind man, 86 ; insulted, 
 89 ; tempted by the Koreish.. 
 ites, 90, 91 ; refuses to try to 
 compass a miracle, 92 ; under 
 the ban, 94 ; and the Hashi- 
 mites shut up in the sheb of 
 Abu Talib, 94 ; goes on a mis- 
 sion to Taif, 97 ; preaches to 
 the jinns, 98 ; looks for dis- 
 ciples at Yathrib, 100 ; lays 
 stress on dreams, 103 ; seeks a 
 temporal kingdom, III ; less 
 aggressive, II2 ; demands of, at 
 the second meeting at Akaba, 
 115 ; persecuted by the Ko- 
 reishites, 116 ; informed of a 
 plot, 117 ; leaves Mecca, 117. 
 118, 122 ; arrives at Yathrib, 
 125 ; commands abstinence 
 from wine, 128 ; view of Al- 
 lah, 129 ; not a sensuous man, 
 132 ; first effort, 133 ; simple 
 home life, 141 ; unsheathes the 
 sword, 142 ; use of the sword 
 by, 144 ; tempted by the Mec- 
 can caravans, 144 ; attacks 
 caravans, 146 ; a triumphant 
 chieftain, 153 ; not an ascetic,
 
 INDEX. 
 
 48s 
 
 153; arms himself, 154, 155 ; 
 reported slain at Ohud, 157 ; 
 sagacious action of, after 
 Ohud, 158 ; exults over the 
 Jews, 159 ; wives of, 160 ; 
 opinion of Ali, 161 ; apart- 
 ments of, rules in regard to, 
 162 ; irritated by being shut 
 out of Mecca, 16S ; fortifies 
 Medina, 164 ; determines to 
 make the pilgrimage to Mecca, 
 i6g ; respect paid to, by his 
 disciples, 172 ; causes a signet 
 ring to be engraved, 173 ; 
 sends messages to crowned 
 heads. 173 ; performs the pil- 
 grimage to Mecca, 175, 176 ; 
 watches the struggle between 
 Rome and Persia, 179 ; ar- 
 ranges to attack Mecca, 182 ; 
 enters Mecca in triumph, 
 peacefully, 184 ; humanity of, 
 on capturing Mecca, 184, 185 ; 
 mobbed at Medina, 189 ; 
 resignation of, at the time of 
 Ibrahim's death, ig2 ; king 
 and priest, 200 ; growing old, 
 200 ; last pilgrimage of, 201 ; 
 last address of, 202 ; last days 
 of, 205, 207 ; inconsistencies 
 of, 211 ; might have been a 
 Christian missionary, 212 ; 
 teachings of, 20S-213 ; de- 
 clares himself no more than 
 man,2i5; burial of, 21 7; inten- 
 tion to revise the Koran, 263; 
 signet of, lost by Othman, 269; 
 plenary indulgence offered by, 
 to those who would go against 
 Constantinople, 292 ; acquaint- 
 ed with the heresies of later 
 days, 395 ; promised a Mahdi, 
 41 1 ; cloak of, not honored, 422 
 
 Mohammed al Mehdi, Expected 
 return of, 266 
 
 Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr, 
 made governor of Egypt, 2S2 ; 
 burned alive, 282 
 
 Mohammed, son of Zeid, a rival 
 of Motaraed, 406 
 
 Moharrem, tenth of, 302 ; sorrow 
 in, 442 
 
 Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of 
 Korassan, 362, 363 
 
 Moktar declares himself the 
 promised Mahdi, 311 
 
 Moktafi becomes kalif, 410 
 
 Moktader becomes kalif, 412 ; 
 character of, 413 ; astonishes 
 two ambassadors from Zoe, 
 418, 420 ; deposed, 421 ; re- 
 placed on the throne, 421 ; 
 assassinated, 422 
 
 Moktar, defeat of, 414 
 
 Money first coined by the kalifs, 
 318 
 
 Montaser becomes kalif, 399 
 
 ' ' Moors in Spain, Story of the," 
 332 
 
 Morals, Decay of, in the time of 
 Mamun, 386 
 
 Moslem (Muslim), meaning of 
 the word, 66, 80 ; picture of 
 the true, 135 
 
 Moslems, changes in the, 233 ; 
 total estimated number of, 
 407 
 
 Mosque, the, erected at Medina, 
 138 ; busy life in, 194 ; at 
 Jerusalem, founded by Omar, 
 
 251 
 
 "Mosque, Studies in a,'" by 
 Stanley Lane-Poole, 304 
 
 Mosques, gatherings in, on Fri- 
 days, 130 
 
 Mostain becomes kalif, 400 ; as- 
 sassinated, 402 
 
 Motaded, accession of, 407 ; ar- 
 rests the progress of the Kar- 
 mathians, 408 
 
 Motadi set up by the Turks, 
 402 ; assassinated, 403, 405 
 
 Motamed placed on the throne 
 by the Turks, 405 ; death of, 
 407 
 
 Motanna at Boweib, 235 
 
 Motasim, brother of Mamun, 
 counselled for good, 387 ; be- 
 comes kalif, 390 
 
 Motawakkel (Motawukkel) be-
 
 486 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 comes kalif, by grace of the 
 
 Turks, 3q6 
 Mota/, proclaimed kalif, 402 
 Mosul llircalciicd by the Kazars, 
 
 345 
 
 Mola/ilites, an offshoot of tlie 
 Shias, 282 
 
 Mother, Mohammed's direction 
 regarding, 208 
 
 Mother of the faithful, Title of, 
 162 
 
 Muajerin, the emigrants from 
 Mecca, 127, 142 
 
 Muezzin, daily cry of the, no ; 
 call to prayer, the, 140 ; the, 
 calls the faithful to prayer at 
 Mecca, 184 
 
 Muir, Sir William, on the expec- 
 tations of the Hanifs. 51 ; on 
 the opposition of the Koreish- 
 ites, 79 ; on the offer of Islam 
 to the Koreishites, 82 ; account 
 of Bovveib, 235 ; does not ac- 
 cej)! the siege of Bostra as a 
 fact, 231 ; on the Mosleni era, 
 260 ; " Early Kalif ate," 300 ; 
 edition of the " Apology of Al 
 Kindy," 3S9 
 
 Muller, August, on the date of 
 Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on 
 the meaning of Abu Bekr, 100 ; 
 on the date of the Ilejra, 121 ; 
 and Deutsch on the prize 
 poems of Okatz, 48 
 
 Munkir and Nakir, Offices of, 17 
 
 Musa, sent into Africa, 324 ; re- 
 turns to Damascus, 332 ; 
 makes a, magnificent plan re- 
 garding Europe, 332 ; fate 
 
 of, 334, 335 
 
 Musa, All ben, see Aliben Musa, 
 381 
 
 Musab, governor of Bassora, 
 311 ; slain, 313 
 
 Muselima, a rival of Mohammed, 
 203 ; career and death of, 223 
 
 Muslim, founder of the Abbasside 
 dynasty, 350-354 ; assassina- 
 tion of, 355 ; reminiscence of, 
 363 
 
 Mussab, preacher of Islam, at 
 
 Yathrih, 113 
 Muta, messenger of Mohammed 
 
 executed at, 179 
 Mutaim protects Mohammed, 99 
 Mys'.cry of Arabia, 2 
 
 N 
 
 Nadliir, The, subjection of, 159 
 
 Nakir and Munkir, Offices of, 17 
 
 Nakia, I'illage at, 147 
 
 Name of Mohammed, The, 40 
 
 Narbonnc, Siege of, 339 
 
 Nations, The, summoned to ac- 
 cept Islam, 173 
 
 Nchrwan, Karejites overcome by 
 Ali at, 282 
 
 Nejd, Jews in, 159 ; offers 
 prayers but not tribute, 221 
 
 Nevahend, battle of, 256 
 
 Niccca threatened by Ilisham, 
 
 345 
 Nicephorus insults Ilarun, 370 ; 
 
 forced to keep peace, 373 
 Night of clangor at Kadesia, 
 
 238 
 Nights, The Thousand and One, 
 
 366, 370 
 Nisibis, Battle at, between Ab- 
 
 dalla and Muslim, 355 
 Noman, governor of Kufa, 300 
 
 O 
 
 Oath of Akaba, the first, 100 ; 
 
 the second, 115 
 Obeidalla, the Alyite, asserts 
 
 himself, 414, 416 
 ObcidoUa, son of Ziyad, brought 
 
 forward, 291 
 Octave, The, a name for Mo- 
 
 tasim, 394 
 Offices, trouble about, under Ali, 
 
 273 
 Ohud, three miles from Medina, 
 
 battle Et, 154-157 ; description 
 
 of, 156 
 Okatz, Fair at, 47 
 Okba, conquests of, in Africa, 294
 
 INDEX. 
 
 487 
 
 Old Man of the Mountains, The, 
 chief of the Assassins, 433, 434 
 
 Oliphant, Laurence, on the Yer- 
 muk gorge, 230 
 
 Omar (Umar, Omer, Oomur, 
 etc.), conversion of, 93 ; re- 
 ceives a sharp word from Mo- 
 hammed, 196 ; will not think 
 the prophet dead, 215 ; claims 
 of, upon the kalifate, 219 ; 
 chosen kalif, 232 ; force of 
 character of, 234 ; journeys to 
 Jerusalem, 248 ; habits of, 
 249 ; mosque of, 251 ; returns 
 to Medina, 251 ; cautious about 
 advancing on Persia, 256 ; 
 adorns Mecca, 258 ; assassina- 
 tion of, 260, 261 ; dying be- 
 quest of, 261 ; simplicity of, 
 308 
 
 Omar II. becomes kalif, 337 
 
 Omia (spelled also Umeyyah, 
 Ommeyyah, etc.) opposes 
 Ha shim, 32 
 
 Omiades (spelled also Ommai- 
 ades, Ommeyyads, etc.), the, 
 at the death of Omar, 264 ; 
 dynasty of, begun, 2S8 ; chased 
 from Medina, 306 ; Damascus 
 loyal to the, 309 ; greatest 
 glory of, 321 ; greatest domin- 
 ions of, 333 ; cause of the, 
 lost, 351 
 
 Omm Selma (widow of Moham- 
 med) invited to oppose AH, 
 
 275 
 
 Ordeals, Absurd, in late times, 
 194 
 
 Ordonna, Province of, 246 
 
 Orthodoxy encouraged by Mo- 
 tawakkel, 396 
 
 Osama sent into Roman terri- 
 tory, 204 ; sent on an expedi- 
 tion of vengeance, 217, 221 
 
 Osborne, " Islam under the 
 KhaHfs," 398 
 
 Othman (Ibn Affan) (Osman, 
 Ottoman), claims of, upon the 
 kalifate, 2ig ; chosen kalif, 
 264 ; traits of, 266 ; nepotism 
 
 of, 268 ; loses Mohammed's 
 signet, 269 ; indecision of, 
 
 269 ; irsulted iu the pulpit, 
 
 270 ; assassination of, 271 ; 
 death of, to be revenged, 274 
 
 Oxus, the, crossed, 322 
 
 Pageant, An Oriental, at time oi 
 Moktader, 418 
 
 Palestine, operations in, 238 ; 
 province of, 246 ; rising in, 348 
 
 Palmer, E. H., on thedate of Mo- 
 hammed's birth, 39 ; on Islam, 
 
 129 ; version of the Koran, 224 
 Palmyra, see Tadmor 
 Paradise, ideas of, 19 ; offered to 
 
 the faithful, 95 ; Mohammed's 
 vision of, 105 ; the, of Islam, 
 
 130 ; the earthly, in which 
 Hashishim was supposed to 
 live, 434 
 
 Parties, the, at Yathrib, 127 ; in 
 
 Islam, 264 
 Pater Noster, The Arabian, 64 
 Peace, union for, 49 
 Peacock of the angels, The, ij 
 Pelly's " Miracle-Play," 300 
 People of the Book, The, at 
 
 Yathrib, 128 ; the, driven out, 
 
 159 
 
 Persecution of Mohammed, 116 ; 
 of those who adhered to or- 
 thodoxy, 390 ; of Christians 
 and Moslems by Wathek, 395 ; 
 of Jews and Christians by 
 Motawakkel, 398 ; put an end 
 to by Montaser, 399 
 
 r'ersia, Arabian expedition to, 
 60 ; Islam in, 220 ; Omar 
 cautious about advancing on, 
 256; Western, conquered, 258; 
 rebellions in, 267 ; heresies 
 from, 365 ; influence of, in 
 time of Mamun, 383, 384 ; 
 disorders in, in time of Mos- 
 tanjed, 436 
 
 Persia and Rome, the two promi- 
 nent powers, strife between,
 
 488 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 3, 60 ; struggle between, 
 watched by Muhanimcd, 179 
 
 Persian influence of tlic Barme- 
 cides, 372 
 
 Persian influence, jealousy 
 against, 375 ; increase of, 378 
 
 Persian Passion-Play, The, 304 
 
 Persians defeated at Boweib, 
 
 235 
 Philosopher, War for a, 38G 
 Pilgrimage, ceremonies of the, 
 
 31 ; changes in the ceremonial 
 
 of, under Othman, 268 ; a 
 
 luxurious, 361 ; the last, ( f 
 
 Mohammed, 201 
 Pilgrimages, pecuniary interest 
 
 in the, 79 ; re-established hy 
 
 Montaser, 399 
 Pilgrims at Mecca in early times, 
 
 23 ... ' 
 
 Plague in Syria at time of Omar, 
 
 252 
 Pledge of the tree, The, 172 
 Pocock denies the hanging up of 
 
 poems at Okatz, 47 
 Poems, The prize, of Okatz, 47 
 Poitiers, Battle of, 341 
 Political intrigues at Kufa and 
 
 Passora, 238 
 I'olygamy, the, of the prophet, 
 
 100 ; of Islam, 129 ; a blot on 
 
 Islam, 211, 212 ; Freeman 
 
 upon, 233 
 Pnetorians, The, in Rome, 429 
 Prayer, duty of, 135 ; position 
 
 in, 138 ; the call to, estab- 
 lished, 140 ; no true religion 
 
 without, 195 ; not accepted 
 
 without tribute, 221 
 Prayers, Number of, prescribed, 
 
 108 
 Price, " History of Arabia," by, 
 
 294 
 Princes of princes made r.uto- 
 
 cratic by Radi, 426 
 Prophecy, The seal of, 42 
 Prophets before Mohammed, 
 
 their fate, 112 ; the six, 134 ; 
 
 of Allah, different offices of, 
 
 H3 
 
 Rabbis, Paradise of the, 132 
 Radi (Raddy, Radhi), the last of 
 
 the real kalifs, 426 ; jioem by, 
 
 427 
 Rakka becomes the seat of 
 
 Ilarun, 373 
 Ramadan, the month of fasting 
 
 and ]irayer, 20 ; mode in which 
 
 Mohammed observed it, 63, 
 
 68, 71 ; the time of fasting, 76 
 Rationalism, The, of Persia, 384 
 Rawendites, Rise of the, 356 
 Readers, Loss of many, 223 
 " Reason, The Eternal," a book 
 
 from Kabul, 384 
 Reform, A radical, in Aral)ia, 
 
 129 
 Reforms, The, of Mohammed, 
 
 212 ; of Motadi, 403 
 Rci (Rai, Rhe, Rye), battle at, 
 
 258 ; battle at, between Amin 
 
 and Mamun, 376 
 Relationship, Change in legisla- 
 tion regarding, 160 
 Release, Proclamation of, igg 
 Religion, of the early Arabs, 14, 
 
 16, 62 ; systems of false, 78 
 Religionists, False, put down by 
 
 Medhi, 364 
 Resurrection, uncertain faith in, 
 
 63 ; doctrine of the, 130 
 Revelation vs. reason, 384 
 Revelations, the three, 134 ; the 
 
 " convenient," of Mohammed, 
 
 210, 214 
 Revolutions in time of Mostain, 
 
 401 ; in time of Moktader, 
 
 413 
 
 Rhapsodies, The, of Mohammed, 
 64, 65 
 
 Rhodes taken by Moawia, 278 
 
 Richness and weakness of the 
 kalifate, 425 
 
 Ring, the, of Mohammed, en- 
 graved, 173 ; lost by Othman, 
 269 
 
 River of Blood, Battle of the, 
 229
 
 INDEX. 
 
 489 
 
 Roderick, the ruler of the Goths, 
 325 ; death of, 329 
 
 Rodwell, Rev. J. M., arrange- 
 ment of the suras by, 133 ; 
 version of the Koran, 224 
 
 Romance, An era of, 366 
 
 Romans, said to be about to at- 
 tack the Moslems, 195 ; in 
 Syria, campaign against, 230 ; 
 make an effort to drive the 
 Arabs from Syria, 252 ; beaten 
 off Alexandria, 26S 
 
 Rome, changes in, 3 ; sends an 
 army to Arabia, 26 ; controls 
 Syria, 178 ; and Persia, the two 
 prominent powers, 3, 60 
 
 Saba, Situation of, 10 
 Sabbath, none in Islam, 130 
 Sabians, The Abrahamitic, 10, 54 
 Sacred month, Caravans attacked 
 
 in, 147 
 Sacrilegious act, A, 147 
 Sacrilegious war. The, 48 
 Safa and Marwa, The hills, 31 
 Saladin, son of Ayub, the beau 
 
 ideal of Saracenic chivalry, 
 
 436 
 Sale, George, translator of the 
 
 Koran, on Antichrist, 197 
 Samana allies himself with Mo- 
 
 taded, 408 
 Samanades, the rise of, 408 ; 
 
 victory of, over Amr, 409 ; 
 
 great domain of, 411 
 Samarkand, science and letters 
 
 at, 256 ; centre of commerce 
 
 and learning, 291 ; siege of, 
 
 322 ; elegance of, 322 ; Seljuks 
 
 at, 432 ; taken by Jengib 
 
 Khan, 440 
 Samarra, becomes the home of 
 
 Motasim, 390 ; scramble for 
 
 spoils at, 401 
 Sara sends information to Mecca, 
 
 182 
 Saracens, the terror of, 324 ; 
 
 greatness of domain of, 333 ; 
 
 confidence of, in France, 341 ; 
 defeated at Tours, 342 ; re- 
 treat from Spain, 344 ; end of 
 their career of conquest, 347 ; 
 threaten Irene at Constanti- 
 nople, 364 ; lose enthusiasm 
 for war, 401 
 Sardinia ravaged, 322 
 Sassanidie, Dynasty of the, 62 
 Scheherazade, Tales of, 366 
 Schism, The, in Islam, 308 
 Scinde overrun, 322 
 Scholars, opinion of Mamun re- 
 garding, 388 
 Schuyler's " Turkistan," 322, 
 
 424; 
 Scriptural people. The, 6 
 Second of the Two, The, 118 
 Sectaries, the, 308 ; of Islam, 
 264 ; a proof of its truth, 135 
 Seljuks, take possession of Merv, 
 256 ; at Bagdad, 430 ; rise of 
 the, 432 ; division of empire 
 of, 436 
 Sell, Edward, " The Faith of 
 
 Islam," by, 396 
 Selucia and Ctesiphon, 227 
 Semitic idea of the government 
 
 of the universe, 54 
 Sensuality of the paradise of 
 
 Islam, 132 
 vSeth builds the Kaaba, 24 
 Sheb, The, of Abu Tallb, 94 
 Sheba, The queen of, visits Solo- 
 mon, 10 
 She-camel, The, of the Koran, 46 
 Shehib leads the Karejites, 317 
 Shias, the sect of, 266 ; in Per- 
 sia, 220 ; origin of, 308 ; pro- 
 portion of in Islam, 407 
 Sicily, ravaged, 322 ; ravaged by 
 
 the Alyites, 416 
 Siffin, Battle of, 279, 280 
 Simplicity, the, of the Moslems, 
 lost, 297, 308 ; departure from, 
 by Walid, 321 
 Sincerity of Mohammed, 212 
 Skepticism, in time of Mehdi, 
 
 365 ; of Mamun, 385 
 Slanderer, Sura of the, 68, 70
 
 490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Slavery in Islam, 2li 
 
 SofTariflcs, The, rise of, 404, 405 ; 
 acknowledj^cd by Mohammed, 
 405 ; Rains of, 406 ; extinc- 
 tion of, 410 
 
 Soliman (Suleiman, Solynian, 
 Sooleyman), leads the Kare- 
 jites, 310 ; his dealings with 
 Miisa, 334, 335 ; ^l^'^th of, 
 
 337 
 
 Solitude, The, of Mohammed, 54 
 
 Solomon, wondrous tales of, 13 ; 
 seal-ring of, 18 ; example of, 
 in prayer, 138 ; table of, 330 
 
 Son and mother, Relations of, 
 208 
 
 Sonnites, The, of the present 
 time, 220 ; the sect of, 264, 
 266 ; origin of, 308 
 
 Spain, attractions of, to the Sara- 
 cens, 326 ; complete conquest 
 of, 333 ; government of the 
 Saracens in, 336 ; progress of 
 the Saracens in, 338 ; discord 
 in, 348 
 
 Spells, Faith in, 1C6 
 
 Spoil, Law regarding the division 
 of, 149 ; from the Jews, 175 ; 
 the, at Ilonein, igo ; at Da- 
 mascus, 240 ; systematic dis- 
 tribution of, ordered by Omar, 
 
 245 
 
 Spoils, Scramble for, at Samarra, 
 401 
 
 Sprenger on Mohammed's " epi- 
 leptic fits," 64 
 
 Stone, the sacred white, of the 
 Kaaba, 22 ; replaced in the 
 Kaababy Mohammed, 66 
 
 Strabo visits Arabia and brings 
 information about it, 27 
 
 Strategy of Mohammed, 165 
 
 Sultan, title first assumed by 
 Mahmud, 432 
 
 Sura, Meaning of, 13 
 
 Suras, Differing length of the, 
 
 133 
 
 Sus (Shushan) taken, 256 
 Sword, The unsheathed, 142, 199 
 Syria, government of, 62 ; sum- 
 
 moned to accept Islam, 174 ; 
 an expedition to, 195, 196; 
 (.onijuered, 232, 241 ; divisions 
 of, 246 ; total conquest of, 252 ; 
 lost to Ali, 281, 282 ; deso- 
 lated by Thcophilus, 392 ; 
 invaded by the Tulunides, 
 406 ; ravaged by the Karma- 
 Ihians in time of Moktader, 
 420 
 
 Tabari, on the number of the. 
 friends of Othman's memory, 
 279 ; neglects the siege of 
 Constantinople, 292 
 
 Tabaristan lost to the kalifate, 
 401 
 
 Tabuk, Council of war at, 196 
 
 Tadmor (Palmyra) taken by 
 Kalid, 231 
 
 Taherians, Rise of, 404 
 
 Tahir, the Persian, attacks Bag- 
 dad, 376 
 
 Taif, jealous of Mecca, 35 ; new 
 buildings at, 60 ; Mohammea 
 goes on a mission to, 97 ; re- 
 jects Mohammed, 98 ; idola- 
 try at, 186 ; siege of, 188, 195 ; 
 Ilejaj rests at, 315 ; and Mecca, 
 commerce at, 144, 146 
 
 Talha, presented as candidate for 
 kalif, 272 ; and Zobeir swear 
 allegiance to Ali, 273 
 
 Tamerlane, Tomb of, at Samar- 
 kand, 291 
 
 Tarif, leader of an invasion into 
 Spain, 326 ; and Tarik, confu- 
 sion of the names, 328 
 
 Tarik ben Zeyad receives an offer 
 from Julian, 326 ; invades 
 Spain, 328 ; career of in Spain, 
 330 ; returns to Damascus, 
 322 
 Tprsus, Mamun at, 386; arrest 
 
 of progress of Ahmed at, 406 
 Tears, The Day of, 275 
 Teheran conquered, 258 
 Temperance, see Abstinence.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 491 
 
 Tent, Family of the, 303 
 
 Thamud, Caves of the children 
 of, 40 
 
 Theophilus, emperor, refuses to 
 resign Leo, 387 ; begins a 
 war with Motasim, 392 
 
 Thinkers and their thoughts, 214 
 
 Thought, Genesis of, 214 
 
 Togrul Beg enters Bagdad and 
 makes himself Prince of 
 Princes, 433 
 
 Toleration in time of Mamun, 
 389 ; discussion of, in time of 
 Wathek, 395 
 
 Tours attacked by Abd er Rah- 
 man, 340 ; battle of, 341 
 
 Traders between Arabia and Pal- 
 estine, 25 
 
 Traditionists, a name for the 
 Sonnites, 308 
 
 Traffic increases at Mecca, 143 ; 
 not to interfere with devotion, 
 199 
 
 Trances, The, of Mohammed, 64 
 
 Treason in the days of Othman, 
 270 
 
 Tree, pledge of the, 172 ; the 
 oath under, 2ig 
 
 Tribute, demanded of Christians, 
 iy4 ; must be given, 221; opin- 
 ion of Omar regarding, 254 
 
 Trinity, Mohammed's view of, 
 I2g; discussion regarding, 192, 
 
 193 
 
 Truce of God, The, 48 
 V Trusty, The sobriquet of Mo- 
 1 hammed, 55, 66 
 
 Tuleya, a rival of Mohammed in 
 Nejd, 203 
 
 Tulun, founder of the Tulunides, 
 406 
 
 Tulunides, The rise of, 406; over- 
 throw of dynasty of, 412 
 
 Turkestan, hordes growing 
 strong in, 4 ; raids into, 267 ; 
 rise of the Seljuks in, 432 
 
 Turkish body-guard, the, of Mo- 
 tasim, 390 ; the, increasing in 
 power, 411 ; supremacy of the, 
 429 
 
 Turkish empire, rise of the, 433 
 Turks, troubles with, at time of 
 Othman, 267 ; pushed from 
 Korassan by ObeidoUa, 291 ; 
 influence of, 394 ; almost com- 
 plete masters, 396 ; efforts to 
 restrict their power, 399 ; jeal- 
 ousy among the, 40T ; powers 
 of increase, 402 ; tighten their 
 grip, 422 
 
 U 
 
 Unbelievers, threatened, 113; to 
 be swept from the earth, 200 
 
 Union for peace, 49 
 
 Unity, The, of God, as presented 
 by Mohammed, 211 ; of the 
 religion of Islam, 263 
 
 Vambery," History of Bokhara," 
 
 410, 432, 440 
 Veil, Use of the, 161 
 Vengeance, Private, not allowed 
 
 during the sacred month, 48 
 Victory, in battle the criterion of 
 
 truth, 151 ; a constructive, 
 
 173; chapter of the, 173 
 Vision, of the jinns, 99 ; the, of 
 
 Mohammed, no 
 Voices heard by Mohammed, 68, 
 
 72 
 
 W 
 
 Waciisa, Battle of, 231, 234 
 
 Wady defined, 7 
 
 Walid, grandeur of his reign, 
 320 ; throws Tarik into prison, 
 330 ; death of, 333 
 
 Walid II., accession of, 346 ; 
 character of, 347 
 
 Wall, The great, of China, scaled 
 by Jengis Khan, 440 
 
 War, deprecated by the men of 
 Yathrib, 89 ; in Islam to con- 
 tinue till Antichrist come, 197; 
 as used by despots, 226
 
 492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Waraka, tlic llanif, speculations 
 of, 50, 52, 63 ; the most learn- 
 ed man of iiis time, 63 ; aj)- 
 provcs Mohammed, 72, 80 ; 
 and Kadija, the first converts, 
 80 
 
 Warfare, Aggressive, thought ne- 
 cessary by Mohammed, 142 
 
 Wars, Foreign, of Omar and 
 Othman, 266 
 
 Wasil hen Ata founds the order 
 of Motazililes, 282 
 
 Wasit, foundation of, by Ilejaj, 
 316 ; Mostain assassinated at, 
 402 ; defeat of Yakub near, 
 
 405 
 
 Wassif, the Turk, assassinates 
 Motawakkel, 399 ; bargains 
 with Mostain, 400 
 
 Wathck (Vathek) becomes kalif, 
 
 394 
 
 Weakness, an element of, intro- 
 duced by Motasim, 394 ; of 
 the kalifale, 425 
 
 Wealth, inlluence of, on Moham- 
 med, 62 ; not to be preferred 
 to the failh, igg 
 
 Wedding, The gorgeous, of Ma- 
 mun, 383 
 
 Weil, August, on Islam, 136 ; on 
 ordinances of the Koran, 212 
 
 Widows elevated, 210 
 
 Wine, use of, 63 ; abstinence 
 from, first recommended, then 
 commanded, 128 ; prohibition 
 of, 137, 161 ; not to be sold by 
 Christians at Jerusalem, 250 ; 
 drunk in opposition to the law 
 of Mohammed, 308 ; drinking 
 of, by W'alid II., 347 ; by 
 Harun, 372 ; misuse of, by 
 Motawakkel, 396 ; denounced 
 by Motadi, 402 
 
 Witches, persecutions of, 167 
 
 Witica, king of the Goths, 325 
 
 Wives, numbers of, 63 ; Moham- 
 med's treatment of, 130 ; four 
 allowed by Mohammed, 132 ; 
 the, of the prophet, 160 ; 
 apartments of, 141 ; forbidden 
 
 to be jealous, 162, T92 ; limit 
 of llie number of, 162 ; the, of 
 Moliammed, number uncer- 
 tain, 201 ; difference between 
 one and two, 233 ; and hus- 
 bands, mutual duties of, 202 
 
 Woman, Mohammed's treatment 
 of, 130 
 
 Women, kindle fury at Mecca, 
 154 ; of Mecca at the battle of 
 Ohud, 156 ; the four perfect, 
 l6i ; and children, delight of, 
 136 
 
 Wright, " Early Travels," 438 
 
 Xeres, Battle of, 329 
 
 Yahya, son of Kalid, encourages 
 
 trade, 368 
 Yakub, chief of the Soffarides, 
 
 404, 405 ; takes Korassan, 
 
 405. 
 Yathrib (see Medina), counsels 
 peace, 89 ; parties at, 127 ; 
 pilgrims from, look for the 
 Mahdi, 100 
 Year of Ashes, The, 252 
 Year of the Elephant, 38 
 Yemen, the home of mythical 
 Joktan, 8; under Persian influ- 
 ence, 62 ; tribes of, summoned 
 to accept Islam, 174 ; slaugh- 
 ter in, by Moawia, 284 ; access 
 to, improved by Mehdi, 362 
 Yermuk, Victory on the, 231, 234 
 Yezdigerd, Fall of, 256, 258 
 Yezid (Yazid) destined to become 
 successor of Moawia, 291, 295 ; 
 character of, 291, 295 ; makes 
 changes in the kalifate, 297 ; 
 prepares to oppose Hosein, 
 301 ; cast off at Medina, 306 ; 
 death of, 307 ; luxury of, 308 
 Yezid II. becomes kalif, 33S 
 Yezid III., Accession of, 347
 
 INDEX, 
 
 493 
 
 Zab, Decisive battle on the, 351 
 Zeinab, Mohammed enamoured 
 
 of, 160 
 Zem-Zem, The waters of, 24 
 Zeyd, the Koreishite, longs for a 
 
 pure religion, 51 
 Zeyd, Mohammed's freedman, 
 
 accepts Islam, 81 ; divorces 
 
 Zeinab, 160 ; name of, in the 
 
 Koran, 161 ; commands an 
 
 army against the Romans, 179; 
 
 I.illed at Muta, 180 
 Ziyad won over by Moawia, 290 
 Zobeir presented as candidate 
 
 for kalif, 272 ; and Talha 
 
 claim office under Ali, 274 
 Zoe influences Constantine VII. 
 
 against the Saracens, 416 
 Zoroastrianism fire-worship in 
 
 Persia^ 62 
 
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