[ 1RCES,AND LINE Of HIS RELIGION S. R WILLIAM MUIR S.L D.C.L LL v MAHOMET AND ISLAM A SKETCH OF THE PROPHETS LIFE FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES, AND A BRIEF OUTLINE OF HIS RELIGION, BY SIR WILLIAM MUIR, K.C.S.I., LL.D., D.C.L., AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF MAHOMET," "THE EARLY CALIPHATE," "THE RISE AND DECLINE OF ISLAM," ETC. NEW AND REVISED EDITION. ith (gight JfUttstraticita nnb Jftap. THE EELIGIOUS TEACT SOCIETY, 56 PATERNOSTER Row, 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD. 1887. PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. THIS little volume is an abridgment of The Life of Mahomet, published by Messrs. Smith and Elder. It was prepared on behalf of the RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, with the view of giving, in small com- pass and easy form, the substance of the larger \\ork. But it has been the Author's endeavour that nothing should be omitted essential to a fair understanding either of the Prophet's life, or of the Faith established by him. The facts on which the narrative is based have been taken direct from the earliest Arabian authorities, of which an account is given in the larger work. At the same time full advantage has been taken of the standard biographies of Weil and Sprcngcr. 2234773 C PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. The present edition differs in no way from the first, excepting in occasional amendments, chiefly verbal, and in several illustrations drawn and engraved from Ali Bey, Burton, and a beautifully illustrated volume, La Civilization des Arabes, by Dr. Le Gustave de Bon. W. M. University of Edinburgh, January 1887. CONTENTS. CHAP. PACK I. BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD .-' \ "':". . . 11 II. YOUTH OF MAHOMET HIS MARRIAGE . . .17 III. REBUILDING OF THE KAABA ALT AND ZEID SPIRITUAL ASPIRATIONS THE FOUR ENQUIRERS 25 IV. FIRST DREAMS OF INSPIRATION .... 32 V. EARLY MINISTRY AND CONVERTS PERSECUTION FLIGHT TO ABYSSINIA 37 VI. THE LAPSE SECOND FLIGHT TO ABYSSINIA CONVER- SION OF OMAR AND HAMZA THE BAN . . 42 VII. THE BAN REMOVED DEATH OF KHADIJA AND ABU TALIB MARRIAGE WITH SAUDA AND BETROTHAL TO AYESHA 50 VIII. PLANTING OF ISLAM AT MEDINA .... 56 IX. ANOTHER YEAR AT MECCA A PROPHECY AND A VISION 60 X. SECOND PLEDGE OF ACABA FLIGHT TO MEDINA . 64 XI. ARRIVAL AT MEDINA BUILDING OF THE MOSQUE . 75 XII. PARTIES AT MEDINA 82 XIII. RITES AND ORDINANCES DOMESTIC LIFE . . 86 XIV. HOSTILITIES WITH MECCA COMMAND TO FIGHT . 93 XV. BATTLE OF BEDR 98 XVI. ASSASSINATIONS AT MEDINA EXPULSION OF A JEWISH TRIBE Ill XVII. BATTLE OF OHOD .118 XVIII. TWO MISHAPS EXPULSION OF THE BENI NADHIR . 131 8 CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE XIX. MARRIAGE WITH ZEINAB OTHER DOMESTIC EVENTS 138 XX. THE BENI MUSTALICK MISADVENTURE OP ATESHA 145 XXI. SIEGE OF MEDINA 154 XXII. FATE OF THE BENI COREITZA .... 160 XXIII. SIXTH YEAR OF THE HEGIRA .... 168 XXIV. THE UNFULFILLED PILGRIMAGE TREATY OF HO- DEIBIA v 173 XXV. EMBASSIES DESPATCHED IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS 180 XXVI. CONQUEST OF KHEIBAR 184 XXVII. THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE . . . . 191 XXVIII. BATTLE OF MUTA 195 XXIX. CONQUEST OF MECCA 199 XXX. BATTLE OF HONEIN SIEGE OF TAYIF . . . 206 XXXI. MARY AND HER SON 213 XXXII. CAMPAIGN OF TEBUK SUBMISSION OF TAYIF . 217 XXXIII. PILGRIMAGE UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF ABU BEKR DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST HEATHEN TRIBES 223 XXXIV. EMBASSIES TO MEDINA 227 XXXV. FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE 233 XXXVI. THREE PRETENDERS 240 XXXVII. SICKNESS AND DEATH OF MAHOMET . . . 243 XXXVIII. BURIAL 252 APPENDIX I. THE CORAN AND TRADITION .... 256 II. OBSERVANCES AND LAWS OF ISLAM . . 260 III. ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY .... 266 IV. THE ARABIAN CALENDAR .... 272 INDEX 273 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE vu:w OF MODERN* MECCA .... Frontispiece MAP OP COUNTRY AROUND MECCA AND MEDINA ... 10 FRONT AND SIDE VIEWS OF THE BLACK STONE ... 24 THE KAABA, AS IT NOW STANDS, SHOWING THE CURTAIN AS FESTOONED AT PILGRIMAGE. AND POSITION OF BLACK STONE ' . . . .26 THE KAABA, AS IT NOW STANDS, SHOWING THE CURTAIN CUT AND ADJUSTED 27 MEDINA AT THE PRESENT DAT ...... 74 THE KAABA, AS IT NOW STANDS, SURROUNDED BY WOR- SHIPPERS AT THK TIME OF PILGRIMAGE . . . 1!)0 MOUNT ARAFAT AT THE TIME OF PILGRIMAGE . . . 2.32 CASTING STONES IN THE DEFILE OF MINA . 238 .-' iJeniVLakhm , / -A - O i BaniBali MAP OF COUNTRY AROUND MECCA AND MEDINA. MAHOMET AND ISLAM. CHAPTER I. BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. THE prophet of Arabia was born at Mecca in the year of our Lord 570. He sprang from the Mecca, the / ~. 1 -11 11 1 i Kdaba, and the Coreish, a tribe that ruled over the city and coreish. neighbourhood. Close to Mecca stood the Kaaba, an ancient temple of rude construction, which, with its idols and sacred surroundings, was the object of national worship, and the scene of an ever-recurring pilgrimage to which the Arabs flocked from the utmost bounds of the peninsula. As guardians of the Kaaba and controllers of its worship, the Coreish were held in high regard by all Arabia. They were divided into several branches, and that to which the family of the prophet belonged was at this time in the ascendant. The father of Mahomet was Abdallah, son of Abd al MuttSlib, a leading citizen. His mother's r^ father of name was Amina. Shortly after their Mahomet - marriage his father set out on a trading trip to Syria, 12 BIRTH OF MAHOMET. with which country there was frequent communication by caravan. On his journey back he was taken ill at Medina, and died there. He left his widow a dwelling- house, five camels, and a slave-girl, Omm Ayman, who served in the household. The inheritance, though small, was, with the simple habits of the Arabs, a sign rather of prosperity than of want. Soon after Abdallah's death Amina gave birth to a son. She sent to tell Abd al Muttalib, who was glad, and carrying the infant to the Kaaba, there gave thanks for its birth. The child was named Muhammcd, " the Praised " ; but in Europe it has been the usage to call him MAHOMET. Tradition sur- rounds his infant years with many tales, most of which are fond and marvellous. All that can be gleaned from these with tolerable confidence is given below. It was the custom for Coreishite mothers to give their Put out to infants out to nurse with some Bedouin nurse with a . . _- Bedouin tribe, tribe, gaining for them thus, instead of a sickly climate, the free and bracing desert air. After being nursed for some days by a slave-girl (to whom, as his foster-mother, Mahomet used to send gifts of raiment in token of regard), the orphan child was made over by his mother to Halima, one of a party of the Beni Sad, who came to offer themselves as nurses, and was taken by her to their encampment. Two years were spent with this roving tribe, and then Halima weaned the infant, and brought him back to Amina. Delighted with his healthy look, she said, " Take the child with thee back again, for much do I fear for him the unwholesome air of Mecca ; " so she took him back. When two years more were ended, she appeared again, but this time dis- turbed in mind. Something like a fit had happened to the child, and, attributing it. to the influence of an evil HIS CHILDHOOD. 13 spirit, Halima and her husband were anxious to be rid of the charge. She was persuaded to carry him back once more, and for another year she fondly tended him. But fresh symptoms returning, she finally restored him to his mother when five years of age. Mahomet long after retained the grateful recollection of Halima's care. In a year of drought, Grateful , . -., , ., remembrance seeking help 01 him at Mecca, she received of Haiima. the present of a riding camel and a flock of sheep. At another visit he spread his mantle out for her to sit upon, and placed his hand in filial fondness on her bosom. Years passed, and in a campaign in which the Beni Sad were beaten, many prisoners of the tribe received their freedom, on reminding the prophet of his having been nursed among them. On the same occasion, a woman taken captive declared herself the daughter of Halima and so his foster-sister. " See this mark," she said, " of the bite I got from thee, when once I carried thee on my hip." It was true ; and he offered her the choice of a rich present, or of remaining in honour by him. She chose to return with the present to her people. It is possible that the fits to which the child was subject, may have had some connection with the ecstatic swoons of which mention will be made hereafter. But in other respects the desert life added robustness to his frame, and also force to his speech by fashioning it on one of the purest models of the Arabian tongue. The sixth year was spent with his mother at Mecca. At this time she planned a visit to Medina, visits Medina witli his where she longed to show the child to the mother : setat. e. relatives of his father's grandmother, who had come from thence. They rode on two camels, and Omm Ayman tended the little boy. Amina alighted at the 14 DEATH OF MAHOMET'S MOTHER. house where her husband had died, and close by which he was buried. In after years, when Mahomet came to live in Medina, he recognized the spot. " Here," he said, " in this house, my mother lodged with me. There I used to sport with Aynasa, a little maid, and with my cousins chased the birds that settled on the roof. Here is my father's tomb, and in that very pond I learned to swim." After sojourning a month at Medina, Amina set out Death of on ner return home in the same manner as ier ' she had gone. About half way she fell sick and died. The little orphan was carried back to Mecca by Omm Ayman, who, though still quite young, was a faithful nurse to the child, and continued to be his constant attendant. The early loss of his mother was deeply felt by Mahomet, who was old enough to under- stand an orphan's desolation. In a passage of the Goran, in which he touchingly recounts the mercies of the Lord, he says, " Did He not take thee up an orphan, and found a refuge for thee ? " Once, on pil- grimage from Medina to Mecca, stopping at his mother's tomb by the way, he lifted up his voice and wept. When they asked him concerning it, he said, " This is the grave of my mother, which the Lord hath permitted me to see. I asked leave to pray for her salvation, but it was not granted. Then calling her to mind, the tender memory of my mother overcame me, and I wept." The guardianship of his orphan grandchild was Guardianship undertaken by Abd al Muttalib, now four- of Abd al J score years of age, and fondly he discharged the trust. The little boy would run up and take possession of the rug on which the aged patriarch GUARDIANSHIP OF ABU TALIB. 15 reclined in the shade of the Kaaba. When his sons chased the child away, Abd al Muttalib would interpose and say, " Let my little son alone," stroke him on the head, and listen to his prattle. At home, the child would ever and anon quit his nurse and run into his grandfather's room, even while he was asleep. But the guardianship of Abd al Muttalib was not of long duration. In two years he died. Death of Abd ai Muttalib : The little Mahomet felt his loss bitterly, *** 8 - and as he followed the bier was seen to weep. The bereavement told the more, because the sons of Abd al Muttalib, unable to maintain the ancestral dignity, had to relinquish some of the offices of state which had been held by him, and so descended to a lower state of life. The rival branch, called Beni Omeyya, profited by the decline of the house of Hashim (the father of Abd al Muttalib), and continued in the ascendant until the conquest of Mecca by Mahomet. Thus early arose the rivalry between the Hdshimite and Omeyyad dynasties, of which we hear so much in the history of Islam. To his son Abu Talib, Abd al Muttalib on his death- bed committed the orphan. Abu Talib Mahomet taken . ' . charge of by his undertook and faithfully fulfilled the obli- uncle, Abu Talib. gation. He made the lad sleep by his bedside, and go forthwith him whenever he walked abroad; and this tender treatment he continued till Mahomet emerged from the helplessness of childhood, Notwithstanding his noble birth, Abu Talib was poor. To better his means he undertook Journey to a trading expedition to Syria. He would tat. 12. have left Mahomet, now twelve years of age, behind ; but when the caravan was on the point of starting, the lad clung to his protector, and Abu Talib, moved by his 16 MAHOMET'S FIRST JOURNEY TO SYRIA. entreaty, took him with him. The journey stretched to Bostra, perhaps still further north. It lasted several months, and Mahomet had thus the opportunity of seeing the Christian people of Syria with their churches and their worship. However sunk in super- stition, these must have stood out in strong contrast with the rude and barbarous rites of the Meccan valley, and furnished food for his inquiring and reflective mind. CHAPTER II, YOUTH OF MAHOMET HIS MARRIAGE. ,ETAT. 12 35. LITTLE is told us of the youth of Mahomet. Ho used to attend a fair held yearly at a spot Fair of ocatz. three days' journey from Mecca, where, besides a busy barter, he witnessed the vain-glorious contests in poetry and rhetoric so characteristic of Arab manner?. At this fair also he met Jews and Christian?, and gained, no doubt, some acquaintance with their teach- ing. In after life he used to refer with coss, bishop of satisfaction to his having there met Coss, the bishop of Najran, and having heard at his lips " the preaching of the Catholic faith of Abraham." For several years a war, arising out of a quarrel at this fair, raged between the Coreish and a Mahomet takes neighbouring tribe. Mahomet was present neaViieccaT at it, but though nearly twenty years of **** 20 ' age, showed little love for arms. He busied himself in gathering up the arrows of the enemy and handing them to his uncles. One authority, indeed, assigns to him a more active part, but still without enthusiasm : " I remember," he used to say, " being present with my uncles in the war: I shot arrows at the enemy, and do not regret it." 18 YOUTH OF MAHOMET. In another matter the youthful Mahomet displayed a joins in a livelier interest. After the death of Abd al confederacy to TIT -i i_ J''JJ enforce justice. Muttalib, the civil power became so divided that no strong arm remained to enforce the right and redress the wrong. Acts of glaring tyranny suggested to certain leaders of the Coreish a league such as might secure justice for the helpless. A feast was held, many joined it, and swore " by the avenging Deity that they would take part with the oppressed so long as there was a drop of water in the ocean, see their claim fulfilled, or satisfy it themselves." The confederacy was a whole- some check upon misrule, and in later years Mahomet was wont to say of it, " I would not exchange for the choicest camel in all Arabia the memory of having shared in the oath to stand by the oppressed." At one time, like other lads of Mecca, he tended the Employed flocks of his neighbours on the surrounding Shepherd? a hills. He would refer to this in after days, and say that the occupation comported with his prophetic calling, even as it did with that of David and Moses. o ? Passing by, in one of his campaigns, some shrubs with purple berries, he cried, " Pick me out the blackest ones, for they are sweet. Even such I used to gather, feeding the flocks in the valley of Mecca ; and truly no prophet hath been raised up, but first he hath done the work of a shepherd." As he watched his flocks by night in the solitudes of the desert, the twinkling stars and bright constellations gliding silently across the sky, and the tempest with its forked lightning and thunder rolling along the mountains, would suggest to him the irre- sistible powers of Nature, the speech which day utters to day, and the knowledge which night shows unto ni over the guests wedding raiment and perfumes, completed thus the marriage ceremony. Recovering from his de- bauch, the old man asked what all this meant, the feast, the saffron garments, the perfumes, and the slaughtered cow ? " The marriage dress," they said, " was cast over thee by Mahomet, thine own son-in-law." Thereupon he fell into a rage, and swore that he would never disgrace his daughter, courted by the chief men of the Coreish, by throwing her away on that poor youth. Weapons were drawn, and blood might have been shed. 22 MAHOMET'S MARRIED LIFE. But at the last he was pacified by the assurance of the bridegroom's friends that the alliance, unsought by them, was none other than his own daughter's act. Notwithstanding this stormy opening and the dis- His married parity of years (for Mahomet was now life - but five-and-twenty, and she near forty *), the marriage proved a happy and not unfruitful one. Khadija continued as before to superintend her house- hold, and Mahomet, now free to pursue his meditations, made her the repository of the doubts and anxieties which began to agitate his soul. She bore him two sons and four daughters. The latter survived, but the boys died in infancy. The eldest son was called Casim ; and hence, after Arab wont, the prophet was sur- named Abul Casim, that is, Casim's father. In later years, Mahomet used to speak of this happy period in terms so warm and loving, that Ayesha. the young and favourite wife of his declining years, declared herself more jealous of Khadija, whom she had never seen, than of all her rival " Sisters." Mahomet was somewhat above middle height. His Mahomet figure was spare, but carrying presence with described. ft . ^e c h es t broad and open, the frame large, and joints well knit together. His neck was long and well moulded ; his head massive, with a forehead broad and noble. Thick black hair, slightly curling, hung over his ears. The eyes were large, black, and piercing, fringed with long dark eyelashes ; eyebrows arched and joined ; cheeks thin and ruddy ; nose high and aquiline, fine, and at the end attenuated. A long and bushy beard rested on his breast. His features 1 Forty lunar years would be something under thirty-nine, by solar computation. MAHOMET'S CHARACTER. 23 and expression were handsome, but pensive, and with something also of the sensuous. Though the subject of strong passions, these rarely appeared on the surface. When excited, His character, the vein would swell across his ample forehead. His eye, often bloodshot, was restless. The stranger looked with awe on his commanding mien ; but this, on closer intimacy, gave place to confidence and regard. Decision marked his every movement ; he turned towards you, not partially, but with the whole body. Taciturn and reserved, he still was singularly courteous. His speech was pregnant and laconic, often humorous and pungent. He would enter with zest into the diversion of the moment, and at times laugh immoderately. But in general he listened rather than spoke. Kind and faithful to his followers, he was remarkable for his many close and lasting friendships. Generous and large-hearted in public life, he knew how to gain over the disaffected by well-timed grace and gifts such as the Arab loved. But towards his enemies, especially in later years, he too often exhibited a vindictive and unrelenting hatred, although he rarely pursued the foe tendering a timely submission. Such was Mahomet, as we learn from the descriptions given of him after he had come to power. K hadsja f s faith At the present period there was little inMiUlomet - promise of future greatness. But behind the quiet exterior there lay a will and purpose destined to bow the heart of Arabia to himself as the heart of one man. This, Khadija was the first to perceive. With implicit trust, she surrendered her faith in things divine as well as human into his hands. CHAPTER III. REBUILDING OF THE KAABA ALY AND ZEID SPIRITUAL ASPIRATIONS THE FOUR ENQUIRERS. TEN years after his marriage, Mahomet was present at the rebuilding of the Kdaba. The edi- The Kaaba ,. . , .. and the rites of rice, a plain square house, was of great pilgrimage. antiquity. Fable ascribes its foundation to Abraham. The well hard by is called the Well of Hagar ; for this is the spot, according to the fond tradition, on which the disconsolate mother cast her thirsty child, while in distress she paced rapidly to and fro between the neigh- bouring eminences of Safa and Merwa in search of water ; when suddenly the fountain Zem-zem bubbled up at the feet of the wailing Ishmael. In front of the temple was the great image of Hobal, the tutelary god of Mecca; other idols were ranged around, and at a respectful distance stood the habitations of the Coreish. The great pilgrimage was held annually in one of the three months during which war was suspended. The devotees assembled from all quarters and in vast numbers at Mecca. They kissed the Black Stone (perhaps an aerolite) built into a corner of the " house 1 Kaaba means a square or cube, whence probably the name, It was also called Beitullah, the " house of God." 26 THE KAABA AND PILGRIM RITES. of God," and drank of the sacred well. Two or three days more were spent in visiting Mount Arafat, a little hill twelve miles up the valley. Victims were slain at Mina, half way on the return to Mecca. And so ended the " Greater Pilgrimage." That part of the worship limited to the Kaaba and its immediate pre- THE KAABA, AS IT NOW STANDS, SHOWING THE CURTAIN FESTOONED AT PILGRIMAGE, AND THE BLACK. STONE IN POSITION (fl). 1 cincts could be performed at any period of the year, and was called the " Lesser Pilgrimage." The Kaaba having been injured by a flood, had now 1 b, curtain of door suspended from roof for show ; c, door ; d, golden spout for rain. Both pictures are from All Bey's Travels. MAHOMET AT EEBUILDING OF KAABA. 27 fallen into disrepair. Despite the dread of vengeance at the sacrilege, it had to be pulled down, Kfiaha re buiit and then built up again from the founda- ajtat 35- tion. As the walls rose, a quarrel broke out among the leading families as to which should deposit the Black Stone in its place. They had nearly come to blows, when one proposed that the first citizen seen approaching THE KAABA, AS IT NOW STANDS, SHOWING THE CUUTAIN CUT AND ADJUSTED. the temple should arbitrate between them. It was no sooner agreed upon than Mahomet came in sight. " Lo, it is the Faithful one !" they cried, " we are content." Spreading his mantle on the ground, he bade them place the stone upon it. " Now," said he, addressing the contending families, "let a chief man from each of you seize a corner of this mantle, and raise the stone." When it had reached the proper height, Mahomet with 28 ADOPTS ALY AND ZEID. his own hand guided it home. The building was then completed. It was roofed in with rafters, the wreck of a Greek ship cast ashore at Jedda, whose captain aided in the work of reconstruction. A black curtain was then thrown over the edifice, hanging down (as a similar curtain still hangs) like a veil all round. 1 About this time, to make up for the loss of his own infant son, as well as to lighten the burdens of the father, Mahomet adopted his cousin Aly, son of Abu Mahomet Talib. The lad was now but five or six adopts Aly and 11 r zeid. years of age ; and a close attachment pre- vailed between them ever after. Soon after, he admitted Zeid, son of Haritha, to a like relation and a life-long friendship. This was a youth twenty years of age, who, when a child, having been seized by brigands and sold into captivity, was now possessed' by Khadija. Short, 1 This is the so-called " Carpet" sent with sacred honours from Cairo at the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca. The wood-cut from AH Bey shows how in the present day it hangs from the roof, and " clothes " the building as far down as the door. As it now stands, the Kaaba, built of fine grey granite slabs, is some 40 feet in height, 45 to 50 long, and 35 to 40 broad. The sill of the doorway is 7 feet from the ground ; and as there is no stair to it, the interior an empty Hall can be entered only by a wooden staircase rolled up to the spot. The Black Stone, an irregular oval, 7 inches in diameter, stands 4 or 5 feet from the ground, let in at the S.E. corner. Burkhardt tells us it is " a reddish-brown, approaching to black;" "worn to its present surface by the millions of touches and kisses it has received." Ali Bey, whose picture of it is given above (p. 24), describes it as " a fragment of volcanic basalt, sprinkled throughout its circumference with small pointed crystals varied with red feldspath, upon a dark black ground like coal, except one of its protuberances, which is a little reddish. The continual kisses and touchings of the faithful have worn the surface uneven, so that it now has a muscular appearance. It has nearly 15 muscles and one deep hollow." JEWS AXD CHRISTIANS. 20 dark, and ill-favoured, he was active and useful in bis mistress's service. Mahomet conceived a strong, affec- tion for him, and, to gratify her husband, Khadija made a present to him of the slave. Zeid's father, who had searched long in vain, at last got tidings of him from a party who had been on pilgrimage to Mecca. Setting out thither, he offered Mahomet a large sum in ransom of his son ; but Zeid chose rather to stay on with his master. " I will not leave thee," he said ; " thou art more than father and mother to me." Mahomet upon this, to seal the transaction, carried him to the Black Stone of the Kaaba, and there before all said, " Bear ye witness, Zeid is my son ; he is mine heir, and I am his." The father went away contented ; and thenceforward the slave, now freed, was known as " Zeid the son of Mahomet." He married the nurse Omm Ayman, who, though double his age (and for the un- equal yoke the prophet gave promise of a special reward in paradise), bore him a son, Osama, in after years a commander of renown. The parents of Zeid belonged to a people among whom Christianity prevailed ; and, though Acquaintance . r , ,,V , , ^ with Jews and torn from them in early hie, he no doubt Christians. retained, and was able to impart to his adopted father, some impression of the ancestral faith. Among the kinsmen of Khadija, too, there were persons who knew something of the tenets, if they did not observe the pre- cepts, of the gospel. A cousin of that lady, having been baptized at the Byzantine court, sought by aid of an imperial rescript to seize the government of Mecca, but failing in the attempt, retired to the Christian court of Bostra. Another cousin, the aged Waraca, is spoken of as having embraced Christianity, and even translated 33 MAHOMET SEEKS SOLITUDE. portions of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures into Arabic. Indeed, a spirit of inquiry appears to have been fermenting throughout Arabia at this time; for The Four we are told of Four Enquirers, who were Enquirers. in ^^^ Q f what they calle(J the Catholic faith of Abraham." One of these, named Zeid, con- demned the idolatry of the Kaaba, reprobated female infanticide, and foretold Mahomet (so the legend runs) as the prophet that was to come. Jewish and Chris- tian slaves were frequently to be met with at Mecca, and Jewish tribes had long been settled in Medina and its neighbourhood, with whom the Coreish were intimate. From all these sources Mahomet was in a position to learn something of the Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New. The daughters of Mahomet were now growing up spiritual around him. The eldest was early married Bty - to a nephew of his wife, and two others to sons of his uncle Abu Lahab. Mahomet himself lived in comfort, but his mind became ill at ease. He was already forty years of age, when, prompted perhaps by teaching from the sources just described, or spontane- ously from within, grave doubts arose. The debasement of his people grew a heavy burden, and his soul was troubled with questionings as to what might be the true Frequents religion. Oppressed thus, he oft retired to cave on . l . Mount mra. meditate. His favourite resort was a cave on the declivities of Mount Hira, two or three miles from Mecca. " The country before us," says a traveller describing the retreat, " had a dreary aspect, not a single green spot being visible; barren black and grey hills and white sandy valleys were the only objects in sight," meet surroundings for Mahomet's perplexed spirit. CAVE ON MOUNT IIIRA. 31 Thither he would stroll, and remain away for days together, his faithful wife joining him at times. Close by was the tomb of the "Enquirer" Zeid, who, after a lifetime spent in like anxieties, had now reached the land of certainty. Might he not attain the same assurance, even this side the gates of death ? The following chapter will explain in what these reveries found their issue. CHAPTER IV. FIRST DREAMS OF INSPIRATION. ^TAT. 40 43. LIGHT struggled with the darkness in the soul of Poetical Mahomet. Gradually certain grand verities 'rhapsodies! took clear and definite shape before him : God, the sole Creator, Ruler and Judge of men and angels; the hopeless wretchedness of men sunk in heathenism and idolatry; heaven and hell; the resur- rection, judgment, and recompense of good and evil in the world to come. The conflict waging within found vent in such impassioned fragments as these : Sura c. I swear by the rushing panting steeds ! Striking fire with flashing hoof, Scouring the land at early morn ; And darkening it with dust, As they overwhelm the foe ! Verily Man is to his Lord ungrateful, Verily he is keen after this world's good. Ah I witteth he not that when what is in the graves shall bo scattered, And that which is in men's breasts shall be revealed ; Verily the Lord shall in that day be informed thereof. And again : Sura xcv. I swear by the Fig-tree and the Olive ! By Mount Sinai, aud by this land secure ! FIRST BEGINNINGS OF "INSPIRATION." 33 Verily WE created man of the choicest fabric, Then WE made him the vilest of the vile, Excepting such as believe and work righteousness ; Unto them shall be given a reward that fadeth not away. Then, after this what shall make thee deny the Day of reckoning ? What ! is not God the most just of Judges ? And yet another specimen : Woe unto all backbiters and defamers ; Sura civ. To him that heapeth up riches and numbereth the same! lie thinketh that his wealth shall remain witli him for ever. Nay, verily ! he shall be cast into the Crushing Fire. And what shall make thee know what is the Crushing Fire ? It is the kindled Fire of God which mounteth above the hearts, Verily it shall mount above them as a curtain stretched over lof ty colurnns. These wild and incoherent rhapsodies are couched in words of rare beauty and force, with such Mental distresg flow and rhythm as the Arab loves, and a^ 6 ^ 168 - which his noble tongue gives the freest scope to. The oracle, it will be observed, purports to come direct from the Deity, speaking always as " We " (which if not expressed is to be understood,) and so addressed to Mahomet as " Thou." The conviction, however, of being inspired of God was not reached by Mahomet till after a protracted trial of mental throes. At times, we are told, the distress was so great as even to suggest escape by suicide. There were periods at which the excitement took the shape of a trance or vision. Of these we know but little. Some early Christian writers have described them as epileptic seizures, and have connected them with the symptoms noticed in his childhood. Such swoons or reveries are said sometimes to have preceded "the descent of inspiration," even in later life. What the nature of o 34 ACCOUNT GIVEN BY BIOGRAPHERS. these ecstasies was it is difficult to conjecture. It will suffice to let tradition speak for itself, and leave the reader to draw his own conclusion. Premising that on a mysterious subject like this, imagination must have had the fullest play in the process of oral transmission, I give the narrative from the pen of the earliest biographers ; "The first beginnings of Mahomet's inspiration," we are told, "First begin- " were rea ^ !. Every vision that he saw was nings of inspir- clear as the morning dawn. These again provoked 'handed d Gabriel appeared to Mahomet in the cave, and " Revelation." holding a writing up before him, said, ' Read.' He answered, ' I cannot.' Whereupon the angel did so tightlygripehim that he thought his last moment was come. ' Bead ! ' cried Gabriel the second time ; and thereupon, but only to escape the agony, Mahomet said, ' What shall I read ? ' Gabriel then went on READ ! in the name of thy Lord that created, Sura xcvi. Created man from congealed blood. FIRST BEGINNINGS OF THE ORACLE. 35 Read I for thy Lord is most gracious ; It is He that hath taught to write with the pen, Hath taught man that which he knoweth not ; Nay, verily, for man is rebellious When he seeth himself becoming rich ; [And so on with what is now the xcvi. Sura (or chapter) of the Goran.] When he had ended, the angel departed. 'And the words,' said Mahomet, ' were as though they had been graven into my heart' After this he waited long, it may have been months, some think a year, or even two years, and no angel came. He grew downcast, and fearing possession of devils, had thoughts of destroying himself. Wandering thus and seeking with that object for some precipice, he was suddenly arrested by Gabriel seated on a throne in the sky, and calling, ' Second ap- Mahomet, thou art the Prophet of the Lord, and pearance of I am Gabriel.' So he turned from what he had been minded to do, and went to his home. " At another time, terrified by rushing thoughts, he besought Khadija to cover him over, and as he lay trembling ^g commail( j the word came to arise and preach : to preach. thou that art covered, Sura ixxiv. Arise and preach, And magnify thy Lord, And purify thy garments, And depart from all uncleanness, And show not favour seeking for thine own aggrandisement ; [And so on with what is now the Ixxiv. Sura.] " Thus the Lord comforted His prophet and strengthened his heart. And thereafter revelations began to follow one upon another with frequency. " At the moment of inspiration (so the tradition runs) anxiety pressed upon the prophet, and his countenance The descent of became troubled. Sweat dropped from his fore- inspiration, head, and he would fall to the ground as in a trance. ' Inspira- tion,' he would say, ' cometh to me in one of two ways. At times Gabriel speaketh the word unto me as one man speaketh to another, and this is easy. At other times it is like the ringing of a bell, it penetrateth my heart, and rendeth me ; and this it is which afflicteth me the most.' In later life he would point to his grey hairs, and say that they were the withering effect of the earlier terrific Suras." C 2 36 MAHOMET'S BELIEF IX HIS INSPIRATION. The ground all round, as I have said, would naturally HOW far Ma- be prolific in growth of the marvellous ; yet BincS^inthe some kind of reverie or trance, both now ^finsph 8 - and in later days, there must sometimes have been whereon such traditions were founded. " Revelations " of the nature here described, all shaped as messages or commands direct from God, continued to " descend " upon the prophet throughout his life, and as such were termed the Cordn, or Word of God. 1 As his life advanced these began to lose the glow and fervour of the first rhapsodies. Ever and anon, indeed, even to the end, we meet with passages those especially on the Being and Providence of God grand, impassioned, and kindling with the early fire ; but the ordinary style becomes tame and vapid. Moreover, when Mahomet attained to temporal power, the "revelation" was used as the means of not only reaching secular ends, but even of ministering to his lower instincts. While, therefore, there is no reason to question the sincerity of Mahomet in the earlier period of his career, the same cannot be said, or at the least it must be said in a very different sense, in respect of his later years. It will be for the reader himself to judge, from the materials placed before him, when and to what extent, consciously or unconsciously, self-deception obscured the spiritual vista ; whether, in fact, the eye being no longer single, "the whole body did not become full of darkness." 1 Cordn; meaning that which is "read" or "recited." CHAPTER V. EARLY MINISTRY AND CONVERTS PERSECUTION FLIGHT TO ABYSSINIA. JSTAT. 44 47. So soon as Mahomet had emerged from his doubts and difficulties into what he conceived to be First converts from his own the light of a Divine revelation, he began household, to canvas for adherents from amongst his friends and relatives. The first disciples were of his own household Khadija, Zeid, Omm Ayman, Aly, and some others. " And Khadija believed " (thus runs the simple tradition), " and attested the truth of that which came upon her husband from above. For so the Lord was minded to lighten the burden of His servant ; he heard nothing that grieved him in being rejected by his people, but he had recourse unto her, and she comforted and strengthened him." While as yet there was no public ministry, and the teaching of Mahomet was still in private, other disciples. a group of forty or fifty converts rallied round him, all animated by devotion to his person arid belief in God as his guide and inspirer. These were chiefly from amongst the young. But there was one of mature age, the bosom friend of Mahomet, called Abu Bekr, who was just three years younger than he. Mild and tender- hearted, he was yet shrewd and able. Abu Bekr early 38 EARLY MINISTRY AND CONVERTS. cast in his lot with the prophet, and through all the changing scenes of his life to the end was to him a pillar of strength. His daughter Ayesha (destined while yet a girl to be the bride of Mahomet) " could not remember the time when both her father and mother were not believers, and when the prophet did not visit their house morning and evening." And Mahomet used to say of him, "I never invited any one to the faith who did not at the first show hesitation and perplexity, saving only Abu Bekr, who, when I had propounded Islam unto him, tarried not, neither was perplexed." He was at this time a prosperous merchant, and he devoted his fortune to the purchase and freeing of such con- verted slaves as were persecuted by their unbelieving masters. Having at last (as he conceived) the commission to Public ministry. " arise and preach," Mahomet began pub- licly to exercise his ministry. The teaching, though as yet elementary, was decisive and dogmatic. He called the new way Islam, or " surrender " of the will to God. He was himself a prophet, like those of olden times, but sent specially to the Arabs, because no revelation had heretofore been made to them, none at the least which was embodied in their mother tongue. Idols were an abomination. The Deity, unapproachable in his ineffable Unity, was infinitely exalted above the vain conceits men had imagined concerning him. To regard any creatures as " partners " of the Almighty, or as " associ- ated " with him, was intolerable infidelity. The Arabs were summoned to return to this the grand Catholic faith, which underlay all previous dispensations, the " faith of Abraham," their great progenitor. They were warned of the resurrection, of the judgment to conie, and of PERSECUTION OF CONVEETS. 39 the retribution of good and evil in heaven and hell. Such was the simple doctrine urged by Mahomet with solemn earnestness as the Messenger of God. At first his teaching was treated as that of a harmless enthusiast. The Coreish heard him with Persecution, curious disdain. As he passed, they would point slightingly after him, saying, " There goeth the man of the children of Muttalib to speak to the people about the heavens." But no sooner did he denounce their idols, and tell them that their ancestors were all hopelessly lost, than they became angry. They began then to treat him with contumely, and his followers with harshness. Their pride was hurt; for the men of Mecca were vain of the Kaaba, and conservative of its worship. They could not understand the freedom of con- science which at this time was preached by Mahomet. The same spirit was aroused as caused the multitude of old to shout, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians." The worship of the Kaaba was in danger to be set at nought, and so the new doctrine must be crushed. By degrees the persecution grew hot. The free converts for the most part escaped serious injury; those at least whose families made it a point of tribal honour to secure their personal safety. But there was no such sentiment to protect the slaves, and such others as did not belong to g u ff er i ng O f some one of the more powerful households. converted slaves - These were exposed to much suffering. They were placed in confinement ; they were taken forth under a burning sun and cast upon the scorching gravel in the valley without the city. If, when tormented thus, they denied Mahomet, and acknowledged the idols, they were at once refreshed with draughts of water and 40 PERSECUTION OF CONVERTS. carried to their homes. Belal, a tall, dark, gaunt negro, alone remained firm. They could draw from him in his anguish but the cry, " One ! one (God) alone !" It was at such a time that Abu Bekr passed by and ransomed the faithful confessor. For the rest Mahomet showed much sympathy. One approached him sobbing. "They would not let me go," he said, "until I had reviled thee and spoken well of their gods." "But how is it with thy heart ? " " Steadfast," he replied. "Then," answered Mahomet, "if they repeat their cruelties, do thou repeat thy words." And a special dispensation is declared in the Goran for those forced thus to deny their faith. Mahomet himself was safe. His uncle Abu Talib, Fifteen converts though not himself a believer, remained faithful in his guardianship. But opposi- tion increased daily. The doctrine of the Resurrection was scouted. " What ! " cried the Coreish ; " when we have died and become dust and dry bones, shall we be raised up to life again ? " The threats of a judgment to come were laughed to scorn. The terrors of hell, with its "scorching blasts and scalding water," were as ineffectual as the charms of paradise, with its green shades and voluptuous Houris. The grand appeals which the prophet made to the power, the providence, and the vengeance of the Almighty, fell on listless ears. His declamations against their idols excited the wrath of the citizens, and the growing number of his followers stirred their alarm and aggravated their hatred. At last things came to such a pass, that Mahomet desired those who were able, to seek an asylum elsewhere. " Yonder," he said, pointing to the west, " is a land of righteousness. Depart thither until the Lord shall open FIRST EMIGRATION TO ABYSSINIA. 41 out for us a way." So a band of fifteen took shipping, crossed the Red Sea, and found a refuge in Abyssinia, where they were hospitably entertained by the Negus, 1 or Christian king. Among these was Rockeya, the prophet's daughter, and her husband Othman, one of the earliest converts. This is called the first ffegira, 2 or "flight." It took place in the fifth year of the ministry of Mahomet. 1 In Arabic Najdshy. The King of Abyssinia is still so called, or Ner/oosa, as in Hewitt's recent treaty. 2 Pronounced with the i short. CHAPTER VI. THE LAPSE SECOND FLIGHT TO ABYSSINIA CON- VEHSION OF OMAR AND HAMZA THE BAN. 45 49. A.D. 615 619. THE refugees were gone hardly three months when Return of the they reappeared at Mecca. They had been Refugees. i n( J uce( J to return by the rumour reaching Abyssinia that Mecca was converted to Islam. There had, indeed, been a temporary reunion. The story is strange and obscure, but the leading facts are beyond question. It was Mahomet himself who had made a compromise Mahomet's lapse, with his fellow-citizens. In an incautious moment (so we are told), he agreed to regard their idols as representatives of the Deity. See ye not Ldt and Ozza, And Mandt the third besides ? Such is a verse of the Goran, referring to the three tutelary gods of Mecca. To this, in the hearing of the assembled worshippers, Mahomet added, " These are the exalted goddesses whose intercession with the Deity is to be sought. . . . Wherefore bow ye down and worship before Him." Then spake the people: " Now know we that it is the Lord alone which killeth and maketh alive, which giveth life and taketh it away. As for these our goddesses, they do but intercede with Him. MAHOMET'S LAPSE AND RECOVERY. 43 Wherefore, as thou hast given to them a place, we are content." And they bowed themselves down and worshipped. But Mahomet soon repented of what he had done. He was ill at ease and grieved in his heart. And so, after a time, he recalled the con- compromise recalled and jxjr- cession, and gave forth the passage, as we secution renewed, now find it in the Goran, where the three goddesses are named as above, but with the addition of these two verses : What ! shall there be male progeny unto you and female unto Him ? (Sura liii.) That were indeed an unjust partition. 1 [invented. These are nought but names which ye and your fathers have The Coreish were wroth. They had been affronted and befooled. And so the persecution was resumed more bitterly than ever. Such is the story as we gather from tradition. Some authorities, indeed, ignore it altogether; but some- thing of the kind, to bring back the emigrants from Abyssinia, must certainly have taken place. Mahomet himself, once recovered, went on preaching as before. His utterances breathe ever more and more Mahomet's iconoclastic zeal. The heavenly oracle ^ci^ion'oT" warns him against tampering with inspira- tion, from a desire to deal gently with his people, or being tempted by their pomp and numbers to quit the narrow path. The lapse itself is thus referred to : Truly they were near tempting thee away from that which WE revealed unto thee, to fabricate in respect of Us a diverse Reve- lation, and then they would have taken thee for their friend. If it had not been that WE established thee, verily they were near inclining unto thee a little ; 1 Female progeny being looked down upon in Arabia. 44 SECOND FLIGHT TO ABYSSINIA. Then verily WE had caused thee to taste the punishment of life and the punishment of death. And then thou hadst not found against Us any helper. Sura xvii. Thenceforward he never wavered in his stern denun- ciation of polytheism. "Your idols are idleness and vanity," he would say to his fellow-citizens : They have not any power, no, not over the husk of a date. If ye call upon them, they hear not your calling. If they heard, neither would they answer you : And in the Day of Judgment they will disown your worship. By the time that the returning refugees reached second flight Mecca, the compromise was not only a thing to Abyssinia. of ^ past> ^ ut persecution had set in with redoubled violence. By the advice of Mahomet they again fled to Abyssinia. The account they sent back to Mecca of their reception was so favourable, that the party was recruited from time to time by fresh accessions from Mecca, till there was gathered a band of as many as a hundred Moslems at the court of the Christian Negus. The Coreish took alarm, and sent a deputation demand- ing their surrender; but the King refused, and ever after remained their firm protector. Islam was as yet the coadjutor, rather than the rival, of Christianity ; and, in point of fact, some of the refugees while in Abyssinia themselves embraced the faith of the gospel. Mahomet was now himself not free from peril. The Abu Taiib elders of the Coreish repaired angrily to braves the * Coreish and Abu Talib. " This nephew of thine," they stands by . x Mahomet, cried, " hath said opprobrious things of our gods, hath upbraided us as fools, and hath spoken of our forefathers as hopelessly lost. Now, then, either avenge us of our adversary, or leave him, that we may ABU TALIB STANDS BY MAHOMET. 45 take satisfaction for ourselves." Abu Talib put them off with courteous words ; but the breach widened daily. They came again, and reiterated their demand more roughly. " We cannot bear it any longer," they said. " Wherefore, do thou hold him back from us, or else thyself take part with him, that the matter may be decided between us." Troubled in spirit, he called his nephew to him, and explaining the strait into which they had driven him, continued earnestly, " Now, therefore, save thyself and rne also, and cast not on me a burden heavier than I can bear." Mahomet made answer, " Oh, my uncle, if they should place the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left to turn me aside, I will not desist until that the Lord make manifest my cause, or else I perish in the struggle." He turned to go. But the thought of desertion by his kind protector overcame him, and he burst into tears. The aged chief was moved too. " Son of my brother," he cried, " come back. And now depart in peace, and say whatsoever thou wilt ; for, by the Lord of the Kaaba, I will not in any wise give thee up for ever." And so things went on again for a time. The life of Mahomet was safe under the guardianship of his noble relative, though he had often to bear humiliation and indignity at the hands of his powerful enemies. About this time his cause was strengthened un- expectedly by the conversion of two citizens conversion of of note, Hamza son of Abd al Muttalib's Omar. old age, and Omar. On a certain occasion, Hamza, who was little older than his nephew the prophet, was roused, on hearing him violently abused, to take his part ; and having once done so, he cast in his lot heart and soul with the new faith. The conversion of Omar was 46 CONVERSION OF HAMZA AND OMAR. equally sudden, and the tale even more romantic. He belonged to another branch of the Coreish, and was yet in the pride of early manhood. Happening unexpectedly to enter the house of his sister, he found her, to his surprise, engaged with her husband in reading a chapter of the new revelation. He fell into a passion, and in the scuffle that ensued wounded her face. Seeing blood flow, he was softened, and asked to see the roll. As he deciphered it word by word, he exclaimed, " How ex- cellent is this discourse, and gracious ! Lead me to Mahomet, that I may declare my conversion unto him." So they took him to the house where the prophet secretly, for fear of the Coreish, received his disciples, and knocked. The inmates, seeing Omar, were alarmed ; but Mahomet bade them to let him in, and catching hold of the stranger's sword-belt, said, " How long, O Omar, wilt thou not cease from persecuting ? even until the Lord send some calamity upon thee ! " Omar made answer, " Verily I testify that thou art the prophet of God." Filled with delight, Mahomet cried aloud, " Allah Akbar ! Great is the Lord ! " The adhesion of two such men was a real triumph to The Coreish the cause. Of Omar especially the Coreish alarmed; s t O od in dread. Commanding in stature, powerful and brave, he was also hot-tempered and impetuous. From a cause of anxiety and alarm to Mahomet, he now was suddenly converted into a tower of strength. This produced a change which soon was manifest in the increasing boldness of the converts. The claims of religion began to over-ride the bonds of kin- ship, and members of the same family might be seen ranged on either side. The disciples emerged from their secret resorts. Conscious of strength, they assembled in MAHOMET UNDER THE BAN. 47 knots around the Kaaba, and there performed their simple worship openly. Dread fell on the Coreish. Their embassy had returned from Abyssinia crestfallen. Checked as they were at every turn, what were they now to do ? Accordingly they struck out a new device. Mahomet they saw supported not only by his own disciples, but also, with the exception of Abu Lahab, by his relatives the children of Hashim, who held them- selves bound, whether converted or not, to keep their kinsman safe. The rest of the Coreish now Enter into a bound themselves in a confederacy to- ^MtThJ gether. The Beni Hashim were cut off Be " iHdshim = from their society and excommunicated. All dealings of any kind whatever were forbidden. Marriage ceased between them ; even buying and selling was proscribed. The ban was committed to writing, sealed, and, to give it greater sanctity, hung up in the Kaaba. Unable to withstand this hostile demonstration, the Beni Hashim withdrew into the "Quarter" who retire into of Abu Talib. This quarter formed a ofAbuiaub. defile separated from the rest of the city by project- ing rocks of the overhanging hill, and was approached only by a narrow alley closed by a gateway. Here, though safe from insult, they were cut off from the supplies of daily life, and often suffered the extremities of want. Only at the yearly pilgrimage, season of universal amnesty, they were free to issue forth. Of Mahomet these occasions Mahomet made good use. pr ^as h o e us at He preached to the pilgrims who congre- of pllg gated at Mecca and the neighbouring fairs, but with small effect. His steps were dogged by his uncle, Abu Lahab, who would say, " Believe him not ; he is a lying renegade ; " and the listeners would make answer to his 48 JEWISH STORIES IN GORAN. call, " Thine own people should know thee best ; why is it that they have cast thee off ? " And so day after day he returned to his home dispirited and grieved. The embittered relations between Abu Lahab and Bitter relations his nephew, notwithstanding that two of Abu Lahab. his sons had married daughters of Mahomet, may be gathered from a memorable passage in the Goran. The prophet, we are told, called his relatives together to hear his message. When he had delivered it, " Blast the fellow ! " cried Abu Lahab ; " is that all that he hath called us for together ? " To chide the blasphemer, and also to curse his wife, who had strewn thorns in his path, this drastic Sura, containing a savage play upon the name, 1 was promulgated : Blasted be the hands of Abu Lahab ! and let himself be blasted ! His riches shall not profit him, nor that which he hath gained. He shall be cast into the broiling Flame ; His wife also, laden with fuel, A halter of palm-coir round her neck. (Sura cxi.) It was in the seventh year of the ministry of Mahomet TheBeni that the children of Hashim entered the thrLTears Quarter of Abu Talib. There for three under the ban : ..,.-, astat. 495i. years, in virtual confinement, they re- mained. The wailing of the little ones could be heard from without. The hearts of many were softened at the privations which the ban occasioned ; but relief was long of coming. It must have been about this time that Mahomet Jewish history obtained a closer acquaintance with Jewish embodied n ... . , ,, , , in the conm. history and tradition, either irorn those whom he met at the season of pilgrimage, or from some Hebrew 1 Lahab signifying " flame." UNDER THE BAN. 49 captive detained at Mecca. The chapters of the Goran belonging to this period begin to teem with lengthy narrations of the Creation, Fall, Flood, &c., as also of the patriarchs, kings, and prophets, all betraying an intimate acquaintance with Jewish lore. The Coreish cast it in his teeth, saying : " These are fables of the ancients, which he hath had written down ; sura xxv. 5. they are dictated unto him morning and evening." To which Mahomet made rejoinder, " The tongue of him whom they mean is a foreign tongue, whereas this revelation is in purest Arabic;" hardly, it will be thought, a conclusive answer. We meet with little or no mention of Christianity Christianity in the Suras yet put forth, noticed. CHAPTER VII. THE BAN EEMOVED DEATH OF KHADIJA AND ABU TALIB MARRIAGE WITH SAUDA AND BETROTHAL TO ATESHA. ^ETAT. 51, 52. THE three years of detention in the Quarter of Abu Roil of ban Talib passed wearily. The sympathies of eaten up of ants. man y we re stirred, and they grieved at the rupture. At last it came to the ears of Mahomet that the roll in which the ban was written had been Abu Taiib defaced by ants. Abu Talib, on hearing u coreish. this, went forth from his retirement and pro- ceeded to the Kaaba. A knot of the leading men were as usual gathered there. The aged chief told them of the ominous fact he had discovered, and upbraided them with their inhumanity and their breach of social obliga- tions. Having thus delivered himself, he withdrew behind the curtain that shrouded^ the Kaaba, prayed there for deliverance, and straightway retired from whence he came. The murmurs of the sympathizers now found utterance. Ban removed- The company had hardly recovered from tat. 51. .j^g sudden apparition and reproach of Abu Talib, when five of them arose, and declaring themselves against the league, put on their armour and repaired to the gateway leading into the defile of Abu Talib. They commanded all that had taken refuge there to go forth DEATH OF KHADIJA AND ABU TALIB. 51 to their homes, under their guarantee, in security and peace. So they went forth in the tenth year of the ministry of Mahomet. But the respite was not long enjoyed by the pro- phet in tranquillity and rest. His home Death of .. . , , , , . Khadija, A.D. was destined soon to be broken up. His 619 : setat. 51. daughters had married and gone away to their hus- bands' houses, excepting Fatima, the youngest, between whom and Aly, her father's cousin, an attachment was already springing up. And now, within a few months of the cancelment of the ban, Khadija sickened and died. Her virtues are still held in veneration, and her tomb, in the valley just above the city, is visited to the present day by Moslem pilgrims. Not long after, Abu Talib too passed away. As he And of Abu felt life to be ebbing, he summoned his T4Ub - A - D - 62 - brethren, and commended his nephew to their guardian- ship. He was buried near to Khadija, and Mahomet wept as he followed the bier. For forty years his uncle had been his faithful friend, the stay of his early life, and in the later days of trial a strong tower of defence. Another Khadija might perchance be found, but not a second Abu Talib. Even Abu Lahab was touched by the appeal of the dying patriarch. But his sympathy was Mahomet short-lived ; for he soon again deserted his nephew. Though the ban no longer divided the society of Mecca, the prospects of the faith were not encouraging. There had for long been no new adhesions of consequence to the cause. A few more years of similar discourage- ment, and all chance of success would be gone. Mahomet looked around if haply help might come from any quarter. And first he turned his eyes to Tayif, a town 52 UNSUCCESSFUL MISSION TO TAYIF. sixty or seventy miles eastwards, on the borders of the table-land, a spot smiling with fountains, vineyards, and gardens. Though related to the Coreish, the citizens were jealous of them. They had a tutelary Lat or idol of their own, with its rival worship. A cause rejected by Mecca, and appealing to their tribal pride, might obtain from them a favourable hearing. And so Mahomet, attended by Zeid alone, set out on the adventurous journey, Jonah-like, summoning Tayif to repentance. But the rulers, insensible to the appeal, bade him to seek support elsewhere, and the common people heaped insult on his head. After ten days of vain endeavour, is expelled by his departure was hastened by the rabble. the rabble. The y Booted him and Zeid through the streets, and pelted them with stones. Blood flowed from the limbs of Mahomet, and his companion was wounded in the head. Pursued thus for several miles, they found refuge in a vineyard. It belonged to two rich men of the Coreish, who had gardens (as the citizens of Mecca still have) in the vale of Tayif. These, having compassion on the fugitives, sent them a tray of grapes. Mahomet was refreshed by the cooling fruit, but still more by the kind words of a Christian slave who brought them to him. Comforted thus, he betook himself to His prayer by prayer. The petitions, ascribed to him on the way. fa Q occas i on) ma y b e taken as indicating the depth of his distress and the faith that served to sustain him. And thus, we are told, he prayed : Lord, I make my complaint unto Thee of my helplessness and insignificance. But Thou art the Lord of the poor and feeble, and Thou art my Lord. To whom wilt Thou abandon me ? Into the hands of Strangers that beset me round about, or of the Enemy whom Thou hast given at home the mastery over me ? If Thy wrath be not upon me, I have no concern, but rather Thy favour AUDIENCE OF GEXII. 53 compasseth me the wider about. I seek for refuge in the light of Thy countenance. It is Thine to show anger until that Thou art pleased. It is Thine to chase away the darkness. There is none other power nor is there any resource but in Thee 1 And reassured thus, he again set out on the road leading back to Mecca. Half-way lay the vale of Nakhla, with an idol fane and shady grove. Dreading the reception Audience of J . i the Genii which, after his bootless mission to the rival at Nakhla. city, he might meet with at home, he halted there. The occasion is memorable, for while waiting at Nakhla there appeared to the excited mind of Mahomet, whether in a dream or in a trance, a company of the Genii, the Jinn of Eastern romance. They pressed, he tells us, round about him to hear the preaching of Islam. The grotesque scene is thus pictured in the Goran : And do thou call to mind when WE caused a Company of the Genii to turn aside unto thee, listening to the Goran. When they were present at the revelation thereof, they said one to another, Give ear. And when it was ended they returned to their people preaching. They said, " our people ! we have been listening to a Book sent down since the days of Moses, which attesteth the truth of the Scriptures preceding it. O our people, obey the preacher of God, that the Lord may forgive you your sins and save you from a fearful doom." And again : Say : It hath been revealed unto me that a company of Genii listened ; and they said. " Verily we have heard a Sura Ixxu. marvellous discourse. " It guideth to the right direction. Wherefore we believed therein. Henceforth we will associate none other with the Lord. Verily He hath taken no spouse, neither hath He any offspring ; " And so on at considerable length, the Genii in this curious passage speaking the language of true Moslems. 54 MARRIAGE WITH SAUDA. From Nakhla Mahomet sent messages once and again Mahomet's to Mecca, praying that the protection of return to ... . . Mecca. some leading citizen might be given him for safe conduct home, but without success. At last he bethought him of one who had generously helped to break the ban. This chief forthwith arose, and buckling on his armour, took his stand with a band of retainers by the Kaaba. Assured of his guarantee, the two wanderers returned ; and Mahomet having kissed the Black Stone, went back, still guarded by the chief, to his home. The outlook was dark. If help should not come Marries sauda fr m elsewhere, there was little hope of ""^aSSSftf* success at Mecca. Meanwhile, amid trial aetat. si. an( j Discouragement, Mahomet sought solace in fresh nuptials. Sauda, the lady on whom he now set his affections, was of mature age, widow of one of the Abyssinian refugees. The marriage took place just two or three months after Khadija's death. About the same time Mahomet betrothed to himself Ayesha, the daughter of his friend Abu Bekr. She was then only six or seven years of age. But there must have been something more than ordinarily precocious about the child which led to her marriage within three or four years from this time. Mahomet still continued to dwell in the Quarter of straitened -Abu Talib, but no longer in the affluence circumstances. Qf hig early married ^ What had be _ come of the wealth of Khadija we are not told. During the late troubles, and the distress of the ban, it had probably melted away. And there are not wanting indications at this period of even straitened means. The season of pilgrimage again came round, and Mahomet, as his wont was, plied the crowds of devotees HOPE FROM MEDINA. 55 wherever he saw a likely audience. The rites were nearly over, and the multitudes about to At pilgrimage f __. . Mahomet meets disperse, when in the valley ot Mina the enquirers from . J Medina: A.D. 602, preacher met a group of six or seven men tat. 52. whom he recognized as citizens of Medina. "What tribe are ye of?" said he, accosting them kindly. "Of the Beni Khazraj," they replied. "Ah! confederates of the Jews. Why not sit ye down a little with me, and I will speak with you ? " They sat down, he ex- pounded to them his doctrine, and they listened gladly. Then he set forth his difficulties at home, and asked whether they would receive him at Medina. " Thy teaching we commend," they said ; "but as for receiving thee, our tribes have been, as thou dost know, at deadly feud among themselves, and that might hinder us. Let us return to our people. Haply the Lord may restore peace amongst us. And we will come back to thee at this set time next year." A gleam of hope shot across the path of Mahomet. Might it be that the long-look ed-for succour Gleam of was to come from thence ? hope- CHAPTER VIII. PLANTING OF ISLAM AT MEDINA. MEDINA, the ancient Yathrib, on the highway between Medina founded Mecca and Syria, was founded by Jewish by Jews and -in Arabs. tribes, which at an early period of our era found refuge there from the troubles in Palestine. After a time, but still several centuries before our present history, two Arab tribes, the Beni Aus and Khazraj, journeying in the great emigration then taking place northward from Yemen, also settled here. The Jews, worsted by these Arabs, retired without the city and established themselves in three strongholds, which thus were occupied severally by the Jewish clans named Coreitza, Nadhir, and Caynocaa. The Arabs, in process of time, fell to deadly feud among themselves, and, while Mahomet preached at Mecca, had been waging sanguinary conflict with each other. In their warfare they sought assistance from the Jews, who joined the intestine struggle, some on the side of the Beni Aus, some on the side of the Beni Khazraj. Such was Medina at the present moment, ready to Medina a welcome an adventurer from without. A "he'newVe - 1 " city addicted to the superstition of the Kaaba, yet familiar with the Jewish faith, FIRST PLEDGE OF ACABA. 57 was in the best state of preparation to throw in its lot with one who, while acknowledging Judaism, aimed also at the reformation of the Meccan worship. In their days of depression the Jews had been wont to tell their Arab fellow-citizens that they looked for a prophet who was predicted in their books to arise and rid them of their adversaries. The vague expectation of a coming dispensation was thus bruited abroad, and Mahomet was not slow to avail himself of it. The Coreish were well known at Medina, as they passed to and fro with their Syrian caravans, and the citizens themselves fre- quented Mecca at the seasons of annual pilgrimage. Moreover, through the marriage of Hashim, his father's grandfather, with a lady of Medina, Mahomet himself had the blood of the Beni Khazraj in his veins. Jealousies at home might well extinguish jealousy of the stranger. The city, weary with strife and faction, would be ready to admit Mahomet as a refugee, if not to welcome him as a prophet, it might even be as her future chief. Despite hopes like these, the year following the interview above described was for Mahomet A year of one of anxious waiting. Would the little knot of enquirers hold steadily by the AJX 620 ' cause ? Would they succeed in winning adherents from amongst their fellow-citizens ? Would Medina receive him, or might he be forced to flee elsewhere, and, like the Abyssinian exiles, seek refuge at some Christian court ? Such were the doubts which must have exer- cised his soul. But when, at the ensuing pilgrimage, he sought the appointed spot in the vale of Mina, his fears vanished forthwith. Twelve citizens of note, The first representing both the Aus and Khazraj Acaba: A.D. 621. tribes, were ready there to pledge their faith to him. 58 PLANTING OF ISLAM AT MEDINA. This they did, swearing that they would not worship any but the One true God ; that they would not steal, neither commit adultery, nor kill their children ; that they would slander no one ; neither would they disobey the prophet in anything that was right. On his part, Mahomet gave the promise from his Lord, of a place in paradise for all that should remain faithful. This is known as " the first pledge of Acaba," so called from the "defile" where for secrecy they held their con- ference in the dead of night. A mosque still marks the spot, hard by the pilgrim road. The twelve were now committed to the cause of spread of isiam Mahomet. They returned to Medina the at Medina : .. . i T A.D. 621. missionaries or Islam, binding themselves to report progress again at the following pilgrimage. So good was the ground, and the propagation so zealous, that the faith spread from house to house and from tribe to tribe. The Jews looked on in amazement. The people whom they had for ages sought in vain to convert from the errors of polytheism, were now casting their idols to the moles and to the bats, and professing belief in the One only God. The secret lay in the aptness of the instru- ment. It was native and congenial. Judaism, foreign in its birth, touched no Arab sympathies. Islam, grafted on the faith and superstition, the customs and nationality of the Arabs, gained ready access to their hearts. The leaders in the movement soon found themselves A teacher sent unable to keep pace with its rapid spread. to Medina. They wrote ^ Mahomet for a teacher, able to recite the Goran, and instruct enquirers in the faith. A young disciple was sent, who found the converts already in the habit of assembling themselves together for prayer and the reading of the word. For the first GROWTH OF ISLAM AT MEDINA. 59 time the combined devotions of the rival clans (for even in their worship they had as yet been impatient of a common leader) were now conducted by the youthful missionary. So speedily did Islam grow and multiply at Medina; and thus widely and unex- pectedly were the people prepared for a greater demonstration at the next time of pilgrimage. CHAPTER IX. ANOTHER YEAR AT MECCA A PROPHECY AND A VISION. A.D. 621. MEANWHILE things went on at Mecca pretty much as continued an- before. Mahomet continued to give forth tagonism at -1111 IT Mecca. his message ; indeed, he began to deliver it in much greater volume than before. Long-spun stories, often following closely the Books of Moses, the Talmud, and Arab legend, are told as lessons to edify the believer or to warn the ungodly Meccans. Solemn denunciations of the Divine wrath in the world to come, are followed by threats of an even nearer punishment which might haply overwhelm the stiff-necked and wicked citizens in the present life. Though wanting, as a rule, in its ancient fire, the oracle is still couched in language often of marvellous force and beauty ; and, in fact, Mahomet advances his Revelation as a miracle of rhetoric, challenging his adversaries to produce " ten chapters," or even a single one, the like thereof. Its verses are each a " sign " of Divine inspiration to the unbeliever. 1 In their turn, the Meccans defy the threatened venge- ance, and deride the message as " a lesson taught by some foreign prompter, or the mere effusion of a frenzied poet." 1 The word "verse " means in the Arabic also a " sign." For such challenges see Suras x. 38 ; xi. 14, &c. A PROPHECY. 61 The prospect of finding a refuge in Medina, and thus moving closer to the Syrian border, p rophe cythat quickened the interest of Mahomet in the would beat s the fortunes of the Byzantine empire. For several years the arms of Persia had been turned suc^- cessfully against the Roman border. Syria was ravaged, Jerusalem sacked, Egypt and Asia Minor overrun. The enemy advanced upon the Bosphorus, and there for ten years a Persian camp was pitched almost within sight of Constantinople. About the time of the first Pledge of Acaba, while the fortunes of Byzantium were at their lowest ebb, Mahomet uttered a sagacious augury of the eventual success of the Kaisar, on whose side were at this time enlisted his hopes and sympathies. The passage opens with these words : The Greeks have been smitten T , i -iv Sura xxx. In the neighbouring coasts ; But after their defeat they shall again be victorious In a few years. To God belongeth the matter from before and after. . . He aideth whom He chooseth, the GLORIOUS, the MERCIFUL ! It is the promise of the Lord, who changeth not His promise. And the prophecy was justified by the event ; for just about this time Heraclius, roused from his ignoble slumber, began to roll back the invasion, and in the end totally discomfited the Persians. It must have been now also that Mahomet gained O ' either from Christian slaves at Mecca, or at Relations of .,,.. , Mahomet with the neighbouring fairs, or perchance from Christianity. fragments of the Gospels, such as those copied out by Waraca, some acquaintance with the outlines of our Saviour's life. A few of the episodes, those especially connected with the birth of John the Baptist and 62 A VISION. of Jesus Himself, are given in the Goran with much detail, and sometimes in the very words of the Evangelist. But all this and also certain of the miracles are overlaid with many childish legends. Moreover, the sonship and the death of Jesus, as well as the doctrine of th.3 Trinity, are strenuously denied. 1 In other respects the religion is favourably spoken of, and the Gospel, like the Law, is appealed to as the light and guide of mankind. But, while, on the one hand, the attitude of Mahomet towards Christians never bicame embittered, as afterwards was the case towards his Jewish neighbours at Medina ; so likewise, on the other hand, his acknowledgment of the Gospel, probably even his acquaintance with its teaching, never advanced beyond the point at which we find the same embodied in his utterances at the present time. Indeed, if we except an occasional campaign against some distant Christian tribe, or the reception of a Christian embassy, he did not at any period of his life come into close contact with the professors of the Gospel, and it is doubtful whether he had even any intelligible perception of the leading tenets of the faith of Jesus. Neither baptism nor the Lord's Supper are at all alluded to in the Goran, unless, indeed, the tale of the Table sent down from heaven at the prayer of Jesus should refer to the latter. 2 The famous romance of the heavenly journey belongs The midnight to this expectant period. Jerusalem was journey to .. iiir jerusaiemaud throughout his ministry regarded by Ma- ascent to i i heaven. hornet with the utmost veneration. Indeed, until his removal to Medina and the breach that followed 1 The Moslems hold that it was a phantom, and not the real person of Jesus, that was crucified. 2 Sura v. 123. THE HEAVENLY JOURNEY. 63 with the Jews, the temple of Solomon was his Killa, that is to say, the place towards which, at each stated time of genuflexion, he turned to pray. Now even in his dreams the thoughts of Mahomet were veering o o northwards. The musings of the day reappeared in the slumbers of the night. He dreamed that in the com- pany of Gabriel he was borne swiftly on a winged steed from Mecca to Jerusalem, where a conclave of the ancient prophets met to welcome him. Thence mount- ing upward, he ascended from heaven to heaven one after another, till at last, reaching the seventh, he found himself in the awful presence of his Maker, and was dismissed with the behest that his people should prostrate themselves in prayer five times in the day. When he awoke in the morning, the vision was imprinted on his memory with all the freshness of reality. He told his family and every one around, that during the night he had been praying in the temple at Jerusalem. Unbelievers derided, and disciples were staggered ; some even went back. But Abu Bekr declared his implicit faith in the journey as a simple matter of fact ; and in the end the cause sustained no harm. Tradition decks out the tale in gorgeous drapery ; and upon the rock on which the Mosque of Omar stands in Jerusalem, there is still shown the print of Mahomet's foot as he vaulted therefrom upon his winged steed. Such are the vagaries of tradition. But the only mention of the journey in the Goran is in the following verse : Praise be to Him who by night carried His servant from the sacred temple at Mecca to .the Further temple Sura xvii. the environs whereof WE have blessed, that WE might show him some of OUR signs. Verily he it is that heareth and that seeth. CHAPTER X. SECOND PLEDGE OF ACABA FLIGHT TO MEDINA. A.D. 622. MTA.I. 52, 53. THUS passed another year away. Mahomet, like one second deputa- f tne prophets of Israel, held his people ^led^nT? at bay. The spectacle was grand, but still 622- no advance was made in the conversion of Mecca to his creed. Meanwhile tidings continually arrived of the marvellous growth of Islam at Medina. The season of pilgrimage again drew near, and prepara- tions were made for a more numerous embassage than before, and for a yet more decisive demonstration of allegiance to the person and the cause of Mahomet. But the occasion was critical. The Coreish might construe the countenance of strangers into hostile intrusion, and the sword might be unsheathed too soon. It was needful to proceed with the utmost caution. The meeting was again to be by night, and also at the close of the pilgrim rites, when, the sacrifices being ended, the multitudes would at once disperse. The spot was the same secluded glen, at the entrance of the vale of Mina, where the first pledge was taken. Thither the disciples from Medina were silently to wend their way after others had gone to rest, " neither SECOND PLEDGE OF ACABA. 63 awakening the sleeper, nor yet tarrying for the loiterer." At midnight Mahomet attended only by his uncle Abbas still an unbeliever, but (as Abu Mahomet meets A , . , - . , . the disciples lalib was) attached to the person ot his from Medina. nephew, repaired to the rendezvous, the first of the party. For greater safety, none of the disciples from Mecca was present ; the meeting was kept profoundly secret even from them. The prophet had not long to wait. For now, in the light of the full moon, might be seen stealing thither along the stony glen, under cover of its barren rocks, the men of Medina, singly and in twos and threes. They were in all seventy-three men and two women. When all were seated on the ground, Abbas in a low voice addressed them. His own clan, he said, even such as like himself held by their ancestral faith, were ready as heretofore to defend his nephew. "But he hath chosen rather," continued Abbas, "to saek the refuge which ye offer him. Wherefore, consider the matter well, and count the cost. If it be your will, and ye have the means withal, be it so ; otherwise, at once abandon the design." He paused, and Bera, an aged chief, stepped forth. " Our resolve," he said, " is fixed and irreversible. Life and property are at the prophet's service. It is the time for him to speak." Mahomet began by setting forth his faith in passages taken from the Goran. Then he called upon The second all to embrace the cause of the Lord, and share in the blessings of Islam. He would be content, he said, if they should pledge their faith to defend him as they would their own wives and children. A tumult- uous noise arose. It was the eager voices of the seventy professing readiness to pledge themselves to Mahomet at C6 THE COREISH ENRAGED. the risk of life and property. " Hush ! " cried Abbas ; " there may be spies abroad. Here" (holding his nephew's hand), " let your men of years come forth and speak. Then pledge your troth and haste away." Bera again advanced and said, " Stretch forth thy hand, O Mahomet ! " And then Bera struck his hand upon the extended palm of Mahomet, as the manner was in taking the oath of fealty. After him the Seventy came forward, one by one, and did the same. When all had passed thus, Mahomet chose out Twelve chief men from amongst them, saying, " Ye shall be the leaders and the sureties of the rest, even as the apostles of Jesus were sureties for His people." Just then a cry was heard a straggler perchance seeking for his company ; but to the excited assembly it seemed a spy of the Coreish, if not the devil's emissary, seeking to betray them. In alarm, they all broke up and hurried back to their several companies. And so ended the Second pledge of Acaba. Rumours of the gathering were not long in reaching The coreish the ears of the Coreish, who in the morning challenge the . />I-TT Medina chiefs, repaired to the encampment of the Medina citizens, and demanded the explanation of what seemed to be a conspiracy, amounting indeed to a hostile move- ment, against them. But the bulk of the men of Medina were in ignorance of what had passed, and such even as knew protested that their accusers had been misinformed. The assembly of pilgrims broke up without any further question. But during the day the facts transpired, and the roads were scoured, in the hope of securing some of the unfriendly visitors. Two were seized and dragged back to Mecca, but at the intercession of friends were set at liberty. DISCIPLES EMIGKATE TO MEDINA. G7 It could no longer be concealed that Mahomet and his followers contemplated an early flight. Followers of . 111 Mahomet emi- Ihat their enemies should escape to an grate to Medina : asylum beyond their reach, from whence to A. 0/622. plot revenge, kindled the wrath of the Coreish. They renewed their persecution, and sought to force the con- fessors to recant, or else by confinement to prevent escape. This hastened the crisis. It was not long after the memor- able night of the Second Acaba that Mahomet gave his followers leave to quit their native city. "Depart to Medina," he said, " for the Lord verily hath given you brethren there, and a home wherein ye may take refuge." And so they began to leave stealthily, in small companies, some on camels and some on foot. The journey of two hundred and fifty miles is done by caravans in ten or twelve days. By the end of two months, nearly all the followers of Mahomet, excepting such as were detained against their will, had migrated to their new abode. With their families they numbered about one hundred and fifty souls. They were received with a hearty wel- come by their brethren at Medina, who vied with one another for the honour of lodging them in their homes and supplying their domestic needs. The people of Mecca looked on amazed, as family after family silently disappeared, and house after house was left Mahomet, Abu ' Bekr, and Aly empty. At last Mahomet and Abu Bekr, remain behind, with their households, were all that remained. Abu Bekr, who was to be the companion of the prophet in his flight, was impatient to leave, but Mahomet told him that his time was not yet come. Two swift camels were kept by Abu Bekr in readiness tethered in his yard, and intrusted to a guide familiar with the devious paths on the Medina road. E 2 68 COUNCIL OF THE COREISH. The Coreish were perplexed as to what might be the prophet's meaning. Remaining almost solitary behind, council of did he challenge or defy attack ? They the coreish. assem bled in conclave to deliberate what was the wisest course ; whether to seize and cast him into prison, or to expel him from their coasts ? The more hostile took counsel, it is said, even to put him to death. But nothing was determined. They agreed at last to send a deputation to his house, with what precise object, amidst the mazes of tradition, it is hard to say. We are told that the devil, in guise of an aged stranger, shrouded in a mantle, appeared in the council to support Abu Jahl, 1 the arch-enemy of Mahomet, in compassing his death. But in the passage where the prophet himself mentions the crisis, the design of his enemies is stated only in these indecisive terms : The unbelievers plotted that they might detain thee. or slay thee, or expel thee. But the Lord plotted likewise, and Sura viii. 29. *,.*?, c , , , He is the best of plotters. Whatever their object, the visitors found Mahomet gone. He had stolen away ; and, to disarm suspicion, had thrown his own red mantle over Aly, and left him lying Mahomet and thus upon his bed. From thence he had gone Abu Bekr escape ..,, , , r A u "D 1 l, to Mount Thaur. straightway to the house ot Abu Bekr, who shed tears of joy that the. hour had come, and he was now to be the companion of his Master's flight. In the shade of evening they crept through a back window, and emerged from the city unobserved. Directing their steps over the hills to the south, they clambered in the dark for two or three hours the bare and rugged ascent, 1 This \vas not his proper name, but a sobriquet which the Moslems gave him, " Father of Ignorance or folly," in token of his dodged opposition to their prophet. MAHOMET ESCAPES TO THE CAVE. 69 and reaching at last the lofty peak of M ount Thaur, took refuge in a cavern near the summit, hidden by the rocks. Here they rested secure ; for the attention of their enemies, they knew, would be directed to the pathways leading north. The city was in a ferment when the news of Mahomet's disappearance spread abroad. TheCoreish When the chiefs reached his house, and baulked - asked Aly where his cousin was, he made answer, " Am I his keeper? Ye bade him go, and he hath gone." Scouts were sent in all directions, but the search was fruitless. One by one they returned with no tidings of the fugitives. They had gained a fair start, no doubt, and had outstripped pursuit. And Mecca breathed more freely, now her troubler was gone. Legends of miracles cluster about the cave. The spider wove her web across its mouth. Mahomet -r, , . , . . , , and Abu Bekr Branches sprouted over the opening; wild m the cave, pigeons settled on them to divert attention, and so forth. We may question whether there was any real danger, but Mahomet and Abu Bekr no doubt felt it to be a time of jeopardy. When the morning light broke through a crevice overhead, Abu Bekr whispered, " What if they were to look through the chink and see us at their feet ? " " Think not thus," answered Mahomet. " We are two, but God is in our midst a Third." Several years after, the occasion was thus alluded to in the Goran : If j*e will not assist the Prophet, verily the Lord assisted him aforetime, when the unbelievers cast him forth in the company of a Second only. When they Two were in the cave Reference to alone; when the Prophet said to his Companion, cave in Coran. Be not cast down, verily God is with us. And the Lord caused 70 THE HEGIRA, OR FLIGHT. peace to descend upon him, and strengthened him with Hosts that ye saw not, &c. The " Second of the Two " became one of Abu Bekr's The second most honoured titles, as a contemporary of the TWO. poet of jj; e( ji na sang : And the Second of the Two in the glorious Cave, while around the foes were searching ; and the Two had ascended the mountain together. And they knew that the Prophet loved him above all the world beside ; he held no one equal to him. The excitement over in Mecca, the sooner the fugi- tives should now quit their retreat the better. Delay preparations might attract suspicion ; for every night in for the journey. the fa^ the gon and servaut Q f Abu Bekr brought milch goats and food to the mouth of the cave. On the third day, therefore, the guide was bidden to be in readiness on the following evening with the camels near the summit of the hill. At dusk Abu Bekr's daughter, Asma, brought a wallet filled with food for the way. She had forgotten the thong to fasten it, so she tore her girdle in two. With one strip she closed the wallet, and with the other she bound it to the saddle. From this act Asma is known throughout Islam as " She of the Two Shreds." l Abu Bekr carried with him a bag containing 5000 dirhems 2 all that remained to him of his fortune. On the evening of the fourth day, quitting their night of concealment, they mounted the camels, Mahomet: A. D. 622. * A.H. i.: setat. 53. Mahomet on Al Caswa, the swifter of the two, with the guide in front ; Abu Bekr and his servant on the other. Descending the hills, they left Mecca on 1 She was mother to Zobeir, and survived his rebellion. See 'Annals of the Early Caliphate,' p. 446. 2 Say from two to three hundred pounds sterling. MAHOMET'S ESCAPE FROM MECCA. 71 tiie right, and hastening westward, struck into the by- ways leading toward the sea-shore. It was the 25th of June, A.D. 622, or the fourth day of the third Arabian month of the first year of the Hegira, or Flight. 1 By daybreak they reached a Bedouin encampment, where an Arab widow sat at her tent-door The journey. with viands spread out for the chance traveller. Fatigued and thirsty, for it was now the hottest season of the year, they refreshed themselves with the food and draughts of milk offered by the lady. In the evening, being now, as they deemed, at a safe distance, they fell into the common road. They had not gone far when they met one of the scouts on horseback, returning from his search. But the party was too strong for him, and they passed each other. On the third day a caravan appeared in sight. It was Talha, a young and early convert, cousin of Abu Bekr, on his Avay back from a trading trip to Syria. After warm greetings, Talha opened his stores, and gave the soiled and weary travellers two changes of white raiment. Yet more welcome was the assurance that he had left the disciples at Medina eagerly looking for their prophet. So the fugitives journeyed onwards with lightened heart and quickened pace. Aly remained three days at Mecca after Mahomet had quitted the cave, and then prepared Fam;iiesleft leisurely to follow. The families of the behiudatMecca - 1 Hegira (note that the i is short) signifies "flight," or "emi- gration." The Hegira, as a conventional era, was not established till some years after by Omar, the second Caliph. It counts from Moharram, that is, from the first month of the Arabian calendar, or two months before the actual flight from the cave. The Arabian is a purely lunar year, which (being eleven days shorter than the solar year) gains one year in every thirty-three years of our computation. 72 MAHOMET'S ESCAPE FROM MECCA. prophet and of Abu Bekr were still left behind. Rockeya had gone away to Abyssinia with her husband. The rest continued for the present at Mecca, protected, no doubt, by their respective clans. The hostile feeling had calmed down, and we hear of no attempt to injure or insult them. Thus ends the first period in the life of Mahomet. CHAPTER XL ARRIVAL AT MEDINA BUILDING OF THE MOSQUE. JUNE A.D. 622 JAN. 623. A.H. I. ^ETAT. 53. MEDINA 1 is due north of Mecca, but as the shore northwards trends here considerably west, it Medina. is by so much the further from the sea. The direct road from Mecca to Syria, hugging the sea-shore, passes close to Yenbo, the port of Medina. Another route, branching off from Bedr eastward, takes Medina on the way, and by this road the traveller must toil upwards several thousand feet through steep denies. The mountain tops rise successively before him, till, about a hundred miles from the sea, the margin of the great plain of Nejd is attained, which stretches away, a dry and stony steppe, towards the Persian Gulf. On the border of this plain, and therefore at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea, lies the ancient Yathrib, Al~ Medina, " the city," as by pre-eminence it is called" Its site is a little lower than the crest of the western moun- tains up which the wayfarer has climbed, and which therefore turn the drainage eastward. The town lies in a shallow basin, towards which the waters from the 1 Pronounced Medeena. 73 MAHOMET ARRIVES IX MEDINA. hill Ohod and the rising ground to the north converge. Hence the soil is humid; the air, in marked contrast with Mecca, moist; and the weather often, from the altitude, cold and inclement. In striking contrast also to the bare surroundings of the Kaaba is the expanse of green fields watered from the abounding wells and springs, and the famous groves of the date tree. At the north-east corner a rugged spur touches the town, which, substantially built, presents along the northern and western sides a strong walled front. On the south, a sheet of verdant gardens extends for a mile or two to the suburb of Coba. Outside the city, at some little distance, were also at this time the three fortified settlements of the Jewish tribes already mentioned. For several days the citizens had been in expectation Mahomet's f their illustrious guest. They had heard M^TdTy^ju^ts, f his disappearance from Mecca, but no one A.D. 622. k new O f hi s withdrawal to the cave. Tra- velling rapidly, he should have arrived before now. The Medina converts and Meccan refugees issued forth daily at early dawn to the heights above the city, straining their eyes to get first sight of the travellers on the Mecca road, and so remained till driven home by the heat of the summer sun. At last one day at noon, when the company of watchers had retired, a Jew perceived the strangers wending their way to Coba, and shouted from his house-top that the long-looked-for travellers had come. They had indeed arrived. Amid the greeting of old friends and the smile of new faces they alighted in the suburb of Coba, and sat down wearied, under the shadow of a tree. The journey had by hasty marches been accomplished in eight days. HIS ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY. 77 Speedily the news spread. The city -was moved. The very children in the streets cried out with He stays four delight that the prophet had come. From da y sat coba. all quarters the disciples hastened to Coba, and made obeisance to Mahomet. He received them courteously. " Show your joy," he said, " by giving around you the salutation of peace : send portions to the poor ; bind close the ties of kinsmanship, and pray while others slumber. So shall ye enter Paradise." With Abu Bekr he remained four days under the hospitable roof of friends at Coba, during which time Aly arrived. Here too he laid the foundation of the first house of prayer for his people at Medina, which is honoured in the Goran by the title of " the Mosque of Godly Fear." It was on a Monday he arrived at Coba. Rested now by his stay there, on the following Leaves Coba Friday morning Mahomet mounted Al forMediua - Caswa, with Abu Bekr seated behind him, and, followed by a great multitude, took the way to the city. On the road he halted and performed the first public service with about a hundred worshippers. After First Frid prayer there was a sermon or address, in sermon. which he spoke in eulogy of the Faith, and bade his people to observe its precepts. Friday was thence- forward set apart for the more special celebration of public worship. The spot, still shown to the pilgrim, is marked by a temple, called in memory of the event, Masjid al Juma, " the Friday Mosque." The service ended, Mahomet resumed his progress. He had sent word to his kinsfolk of the Beni Triumphal entry Khazraj, descendants of the house of Salma into the dty - (mother of Abd al Muttalib), to escort him into the city. But there was no need of any message. The citizens 78 MAHOMET'S SOJOURN WITH ABU AYUB. streamed forth in crowds. On either side were the chiefs of Medina clad in armour and holiday attire. The procession threaded its way through the groves and gardens of the southern suburb, and as it entered the streets, one after another, with loud voice, invited the strangers to alight and abide with them. So urgent was the call, that they seized the camel's halter. " Let Al Caswa free ! " cried Mahomet ; " the decision rests with her; make way!" Thus with firm but kindly words he disarmed the jealousies of the rival factions, and, professing to commit his destination into higher hands, continued his way. Onwards Al Caswa moved with slackened rein, and turning to the eastern quarter, entered a.n open court, stopped of her own accord, and knelt down. Abu Ayub, one of the covenanters of Al Maiiomet alights Acaba, whose house was hard by, invited a AbuAyub. him to enter. Dishes of choice viands presently crowded in from every side, and the same hospitality was maintained so long as Mahomet re- sided there. For seven months the prophet remained the guest of Abu Ayub, while his own house was building. 1 The first concern of the prophet was to secure the Arrangements ground on which Al Caswa halted. An to build Mosque , , . , P , and houses, overgrown, neglected spot, with a tew date trees and thorny shrubs, it had been partly used for burial of the dead, and partly for tethering camels. The price was paid by Abu Bekr, and arrangements made forthwith to erect thereon a house of prayer ; and also to build by the side of its court two habitations, one for Sauda his wife, the other for Ayesha his bride elect. 1 The snine Abu Ayub was killed fifty years after at Con- stantinople, where his grave is honoured to the present day. BUILDING OF THE MOSQUE. 79 The ground was cleared, an oozing spring was blocked' and drained, the graves were dug up and the bones removed ; and then a store of sun-dried bricks and other materials was got in readiness for the work. Mahomet's next care was to send for his family from Mecca. Zeid, deputed for the purpose, met Mahomet is joined i *. f it r\ T_ .. by his family from with no opposition irom the Goreish, and Mecca, returned with the households both of the prophet and cf Abu Bekr. Mahomet's eldest daughter chose to remain at Mecca with her husband. Rockeya had already reached Medina with Othman direct from Abyssinia. There remained two other daughters; Omni Kolthum, who, separated from her husband, a son of Abn Lahab, had for some time been living in her father's house, and her younger sister Fatima, who \vas still unmarried. These accompanied Sauda and Ayesha to Medina, and were accommodated in houses adjoining that of Abu Ayub. The converts all laboured in building the Mosque. Their zeal was quickened by Mahomet, who Building of Great himself shared in the work. He joined too Mos( i ue - in the song which his followers chanted with loud and o cheerful voice as they bore along their burdens : O Lord, there is no joy but the joy of Futurity ; Lord, have mercy on the Citizens and the Refugees. The site is the same as that now occupied by the Grand Mosque and its square, but the dimensions and style were of course far less pretentious. The court was four-square, each side one hundred cubits; the walls partly stone and partly brick ; the roof was borne on the stems of palm trees, and covered over with branches of the same. The Kibla, or quarter to which they turned in prayer, was still Jerusalem. Thus, at the time of 80 THE MOSQUE OF MAHOMET. worship Mahomet stood looking to the north, near that end of the Mosque, with his back to the congregation, who all fell in by rows behind him, facing in the same direction. When the prayers were ended he turned himself round to the people, and if there was occasion for an address or sermon, made it then. On one side of the court there arose a modest row of houses with apartments for each of his wives and daughters. To be near at hand, the chief Companions also built houses for themselves close by the Mosque. Some of these houses, as that of Abu Bekr, formed one side of the court, with doors opening directly upon it. The present Grand Mosque, with its courts, occupies The Mosque used an area three or four times as great as that for worship and f . . for public business, oi the primitive temple. Asked why he did not build a more substantial roof to the House of prayer, Mahomet made answer, " The thatching is as the thatching of Moses, rafters and branches; verily man's estate is more fleeting even than this." Rude in mate- rial and insignificant in size, the Mosque of Mahomet is glorious in the annals of Islam. Here the prophet and his Companions spent the greater part of their time ; here the daily service, with its oft-recurring prayers, \vas first publicly established ; and here the great congrega- tion assembled every Friday, and listened with reverence and awe to messages which they believed to come direct from heaven. Here Mahomet planned his victories, received embassies from vanquished and contrite tribes, and issued edicts that struck terror into the hearts of rebellious peoples to the very outskirts of the peninsula. Hard by, in the apartment of Ayesha, he yielded up the ghost, and there, side by side with Abu Bekr and Omar, he lies entombed. MARRIAGE WITH AYESHA. 81 The building, which, with its simple arches and tapering supports, set the type of Saracen architecture, was finished seven months after the arrival Houses of Ma- of Mahomet in Medina. The adjoining homet>s wive8 ' houses for his wives were now also ready, and by the winter, Sauda was established in her new abode. Shortly after, he celebrated his marriage with Ayesha at her father's house in the suburb of Al Sunh, Marriage with and then brought her to the bridal home A > es>ha - alongside that of her " sister " Sauda. Thenceforward the affections of Mahomet were to be shared by a plurality of wives, and his company passed on alternate days in their several houses, for he never had a separate apart- ment of his own. On the present occasion he humoured the juvenile tastes of his bride, at the time a child not more than ten or eleven years of age. Her playthings were brought to the new abode, and Mahomet joined in her infantile games. But her charms as well of mind as of body must have developed rapidly. Slim and graceful in figure, ready wit and arch vivacity set off personal attractions of no ordinary charm. She enthralled Mahomet. And, though exposed while still a girl to the rivalry in his harem of many beautiful women, she maintained her supremacy in the prophet's affections to the end. CHAPTER XII. PARTIES AT MEDINA. A.H. II. A.D. 623. As the enthusiasm stirred by the arrival of Mahomet Four parties at gradually subsided, various sentiments edma. began to be entertained regarding him. The inhabitants were divided sharply into four parties Refugees ; Citizens, that portion, namely, which was converted, or was friendly to the prophet ; Disaffected citizens ; and Jews. Those who had forsaken house and home for the sake i. REFUGEES, of the faith were thence named, and ever after known, as Muhdjerin, or REFUGEES, a title soon to become illustrious in the history of Islam. A devoted band, who had stood by Mahomet in the days of his humiliation at Mecca, these recognized him not only as their prophet, but now took him also for their chief and leader. Next come the converts of Medina. They had made ii. CITIZRNS, less outward sacrifice for Islam; but the or converts of Medina. pledge of Acaba had bound them equally to the cause, and involved them in serious risks and obligations both at home and abroad. These did not yield to the Refugees either in loyalty to the person of Mahomet, or in enthusiasm for the faith. They PARTIES AT MEDINA. 83 soon identified themselves with the Exile in offensive measures against his enemies. In the language of Is]am they are called Ansdr, or Helpers; but as Mahomet soon had other allies, it will be more con- venient to style them CITIZENS, or Men of Medina. The body of unconverted inhabitants was at the first neutral, or, if there was ill-humour m . Hypocrites, or dislike, it kept latent and passive. or DlSAFFECTED - There was no active opposition here, as there had been at Mecca. Nor was the authority of Mahomet over his own adherents, native as well as immigrant, denied. The constitution of society, enabled him to exercise un- questioned power over his own people at Medina, with- out, for the present, arrogating jurisdiction over others. Still, without show of outward hostility, an under- current of discontent and jealousy amongst a large and influential part of the community was not long of setting in. But it failed to check the mysterious influence of the Stranger, or stem the tide of his growing popularity. The circle of Mahomet's followers steadily increased, and before long embraced, nominally at least, nearly the whole city. Idolatry disappeared, and scepticism, over- matched, was fain to hide its head. Real belief, however, was not always of such rapid growth ; and, at convenient distance, doubts and regrets found free expression. They had espoused the cause of the Exile (so the murmur ran) only to excite hostility abroad, sow dis- sension at home, and rivet on their neck the Usurper's yoke. Such covert adversaries are named in the Goran "Hypocrites," or DISAFFECTED. At their head was Abdallah ibn Obey, who at the time of Mahomet's advent was about being chosen, both by the Beni Aus and Khazraj, as their prince. This man specially, and F 2 84 PARTIES AT MEDINA. the \vhole class at large, were highly obnoxious to Mahomet. Dreading their covert machinations, he established a close and searching espionage over both their words and actions, and continually in the Goran fulminated denunciations against them. On quite a different footing were the three Jewish iv. JEWS. tribes established without the city. From the first Mahomet had acknowledged the validity of their Scriptures. The worship of Islam was in close accord with Jewish ritual. The Kibla, or Holy of holies, to which all turned at prayer, was still Jerusalem. No concession was too great that might secure the counte- nance and allegiance of the Jews. Accordingly, not long after his arrival, Mahomet entered into a treaty with them, which, both offensive and defensive, guaran- teed their safety and independence. For a little while cordiality prevailed. But it soon became evident that Judaism and Islam could not run together. Mahomet rested his claim upon the Jewish books, yet he did not profess to be the prophet for whom they looked. Jesus, he held, was the true Messiah, of whose rejection their forefathers had been guilty. He was himself another and a greater prophet, foretold equally in their Scriptures. The Jews, he said, knew it well ; but out of enmity they concealed or garbled the prophecies concerning his advent, while, in point of fact, they recognized him to be the coming prophet, " even as they recognized their own sons." On their part, the Jews as a body remained true to their faith. Their books, they affirmed, con- tained no warrant for these assumptions of the Ish- maelite. Their Messiah was to be, not of Arabian, but of Israelitish blood, and of the seed of David. And so the expectation that they would accept Mahomet as their GROWTH OF ENMITY AGAINST JEWS. 85 prophet, and espouse his cause, came to be miserably disappointed. But amongst the Jews there were renegades. These did not scruple to attest the claims of Jewish Mahomet, and to bear witness that in every reue g ades - point he met the description given of the coming prophet in their sacred books. Their brethren, they would say, jealous at the gift of prophecy passing from them to another people, had hid the proofs of the prophet's mission, or by "dislocating" them from the context, had misinterpreted the clear prediction. Judicial blindness such was now the preaching of Mahomet had fallen upon them. Their conscience was seared, and their " hearts enveloped in a thick and callous covering." They were but following the example of their forefathers, who had ever murmured against the Lord, put their prophets to death, and rejected the Christ. Thus the Jews were a trouble and perplexity to Mahomet. The very people to whose testi- Hostile f ee iin g mony he had so long appealed were now a b jewTand e standing witness against him; and before Mahomet - long hatred culminated into hostility. The portions of the Goran given forth at this period teem with invectives against the Israelites. Tales of their ancestors' folly and disobedience are reiterated at wearisome length. And the conclusion is continually drawn that from first to last the Jews had fulfilled the denunciations of the Bible against them, and were still, as they had always been, a stiff-necked and rebellious race. CHAPTER XIII. E1TES AND ORDINANCES DOMESTIC LIFE. A.H. L, II. A.D. 622, 623. .ETAT. 54, 55. THE new faith touched the outer life of its votaries at every step. Five times a day the believer must turn aside to prayer. On each occasion a similar rite was used. It consisted (as it still consists) in repeating a few petitions or short passages, with a fixed ceremonial of genuflexion and prostration. The prayers in the day- time were ordinarily said in the Mosque by Mahomet and such of his followers as dwelt in the vicinity. They might with equal merit be offered anywhere, at home or by the way, singly or in companies, but ever at the stated times. Mahomet when present always led the prayers himself. Thus a continually recurring round of religious observance was imposed on all. At mid-day on Friday the service took a more public form, when Moslems as a body were expected to attend. The usual service was on this occasion followed by a sermon or address. But though Friday was thus distinguished for special worship, it never was hallowed like the Jewish Sabbath. After the service the people returned to their usual avocations. As yet the teaching of Mahomet was not exclusive of Judaism or Christianity. The pro- fessors of either might follow their respective Scriptures and yet be good Moslems. And it is not improbable RITES AXD ORDINANCES. 87 that at this early period some Jews may have even attended both the Synagogue and the Mosque. But a year and a half after Mahomet's arrival, a change took place which rendered it impossible for Kibla changed faithful Jews any longer to join in the toMeci;a - service of the Moslems. Up to this time, by turning daily to Jerusalem at prayer, Mahomet had paid a continual homage to their faith. But as the breach widened, he resolved that they should no longer be able to cast it in his teeth that he had borrowed his Kibla from them. He would divert the allegiance of his people from Jerusalem and concentrate it upon Mecca. And so tradition tells us that as he longed for the change, it came suddenly upon him, in the very act of worship, by a revelation from heaven. " We shall cause sura u. 145. thee " such was the command Mahomet professed to receive " to turn towards a Kibla that shall please thee. Turn therefore thy face Guards the holy temple of Mecca. Wheresoever ye be, turn your faces towards the same." Straightway the prophet, and with him all the worship- pers in the Mosque, turned, and facing right round to the south, finished thus the service. Thenceforward Jerusalem was abandoned, and the Kiiaba became, and has. been ever since, the Kibla of Islam. The incident significantly marked a change of policy. The tide hitherto running rapidly towards Judaism and Christianity, now stayed, and turned. Henceforth Islam cast aside the trammels of the Mosiac law, and bound itself up in the worship of Mecca. The Jews, mortified and estranged, charged him with fickleness, and with substituting for the temple of the .One true God an idolatrous shrine. Their reproaches he sought to set aside by messages from heaven, which still form part of the Goran. But 88 THE ADZAN OR CALL TO PRAYER. stronger measures were needed, as in the sequel we shall see, to silence their objections. Mahomet now bethought him of a suitable call to The Mueddzin'a prayer. Some spoke of the Jewish trumpet, caiitopmyer. others of the Christian bell, but neither was grateful to the prophet's ear. Then, we are told, a vision appeared to one of his followers, in which an angel desired that a crier should call aloud, "Allah Akbar ! Great is the Lord ! There is no other God but He, and Mahomet is His prophet. Come unto prayer ! come unto prayer ! come unto salvation ! There is no God but the Lord alone." Mahomet forthwith bade his negro servant Bilal to carry out the Divine behest. Ascending a pinnacle hard by the Mosque, the tall, gaunt African, on the first break of day, with stentorian voice aroused the slumberers around by the appointed call to which he used to add the words, "Prayer is better than sleep, Prayer is better than sleep." Five times every day the loud cry of the Adzdn siimmoned the faithful to their devotions. For twelve centuries the same call has sounded forth from a myriad minarets, and the traveller in the East is still startled from his dreams at early dawn by the shrill cry of the successors of Bilal awakening the people to their matin prayer. About the same time Mahomet established an annual Fast of Fast. At first, while he yet sought to Eamadhan. harmonize his religion with that of the Jews, he enjoined on his followers to observe the great Fast of the Atonement. 1 Now that Judaism was cast aside, he commanded instead that the whole month of Pvamadhan 2 should be held as a fast. During the day the obligation is so stringent that, without respect of 1 Levit. xxiii. 27. 2 Otherwise pronounced Eamzdn. THE FAST OF RAMADHAST. 89 sex or age, from dawn to sunset no indulgence is allowed of any kind, not a morsel of bread nor even a drop of water may pass the lips. For the sick and for travellers a dispensation is given ; but with that excep- tion, a penalty is imposed on every breach. The fast was established in the winter-time, but the season is subject to variation. With the Arabian lunar year, the month shifts round the solar cycle once in every three- and-thirty years. And so, when the fast falls in summer, it presses in tropical countries with extreme severity. Yet, however wholesome the austerity may be, its limitation to the day-time altogether defeats the lesson of self-control, so far, at least, as certain classes of indulgence are concerned. As soon as the new moon of the month Shawwal was seen (and it is still eagerly looked for every Sed al fitr . year throughout the Moslem world), the ^ingthe restriction ceased, and the next day was celebrated as a festival, the Eed al fitr, or Breaking of the Fast. Thank-offerings for the poor were on that occasion invited by the prophet. A special service of prayer was also appointed in the outskirts of the city. Then afterwards a feast was held in the court of the Great Mosque, when the accumulated offerings were distributed amongst the needy. Another great festival was now established, called the Day of Sacrifice. At the annual pilgrimage sj ai zha, J , . . , . . or Day of of Mecca, victims have from time imme- sacrifice. morial been slain in the vale of Mina at the end of the ceremonies. For the first year at Medina, the occasion passed unnoticed. Instead thereof, Jewish ceremonies being still in favour, sacrifices were offered on the Day of Atonement. But soon after the unfriendly change already 90 ORDER OF FRIDAY SERVICE. noticed, that Day was altogether dropped, and the cere- mony shifted to correspond with the day of sacrifice at Mina. Still a remnant of Jewish usage remained, for the prophet continued to offer up two goats, one for the people, the other for himself and his household. 1 At Medina and still throughout the Moslem world, a similar sacrifice takes place on the appointed day, just at the moment when the sacrificial rite is being per- formed at Mina which closes the Greater Pilgrimage. Mahomet used at the first to pray standing by a post The Post for planted in the floor of the Mosque. Seeing prayer, and . the Pulpit, him fatigued after a lengthened service, one offered to make for him a pulpit, like those in the churches of Syria, and the thing pleased him. It was soon made up of tamarisk wood, having a seat with three steps leading up to it. The pulpit was placed by the south wall of the Mosque, looking northwards towards the congregation. The post was then, as a sacred relic, buried under the pulpit. The expressions The "Moaning ^ regret with which the prophet parted from it gave rise to the fond myth of the " Moaning Post ; " for, on being set aside, it continued to sigh and groan (so we are told) till Mahomet soothed it into silence by stroking it kindly with his hand. The order of Friday service was this. On entering order of Friday tne place of worship, Mahomet ascended service. ^ p u }pj t> an j g ave ^ ne asse tnbly the salutation of peace. He sat down as Bilal was sound- ing forth the call to prayer. When this was over, he descended, and took his stand in front of the pulpit, looking towards the Kaaba, with his back to the people ; then he engaged in prayer, with various forms of genu- 1 Levit. xvi. ; Heb. vii. 27. THE PULPIT. 91 flection, the congregation behind him facing similarly, and following every word and gesture of their leader. The prayers ended, Mahomet usually ascended the pulpit again, and delivered one or more addresses, sitting down between each. He would on such occasions gesticulate in earnest discourse, with outstretched arm and pointed finger. The people, who hung upon his words, would at the close join in a loud Amen. On Fridays and Festivals the prophet was clad in a mantle of striped stuff thrown over his shoulder, with a girdle of fine cloth from Oman bound about his waist. At other times he ministered in his ordinary dress. The pulpit was held in great reverence. Oaths regarding disputed rights were taken be- superstitious ., i T.T i T i i regard for the side it, and Mahomet taught that evidence pulpit. thus falsely sworn carried its punishment into the future life, " even if the subject were but a toothpick." The sentiment degenerated into superstition, and we are told that an attempt made in the days of the Caliphs to remove the pulpit to Damascus made the earth to quake. Mahomet himself used to speak of the space between the pulpit and his door as " one of the gardens of paradise." The figurative words were soon taken literally, and the fond conceit is perpetuated to the present day by flowery carpeting on the floor, and arabesques to correspond upon the wall. Mahomet lived a simple life. For each addition to his harem, a room was added to the row of Simr ii C j t y O f houses which formed one side of the court Mahomet ' s ' life - of the Mosque. They were homely in appearance, built of sun-dried brick, in dimension but twelve or fourteen feet square, with a small veranda, but so low that the roof might be touched with the hand. At the door of 92 SIMPLICITY OF MAHOMET'S LIFE. Ayesha's chamber was a closet, where in the evening or at night Mahomet retired for his devotions. The furnishings were in keeping. A leathern mattress stuffed with coir was spread for repose upon the floor. In place of garniture, the walls were hung with skins such as are used in the East to hold milk or water, and when empty are blown out, and so suspended. Abdallah ibn Masud was the servant who usually attended to the simple wants of the prophet's toilet, took charge of his staff when he went abroad, and when he alighted, of his shoes. Abdallah's mother, once like her son a slave, performed such menial offices as were required by the wives of Mahomet. But meanness and discomfort lay only in contrast with the splendour and luxury of the Caliphs who succeeded him. Bred in the simplicity of Arab life, artificial comforts would have been irksome and uneasy. The prophet was happier with his wives, each in her small and rudely- furnished cabin, than he would have been surrounded with the grandeur and delicacies of a palatial residence. CHAPTER XIV. HOSTILITIES WITH MECCA COMMAND TO FIGHT. A.H. I., II. A.D. 623. FOR six or seven months after the Flight, nothing of either a hostile or a friendly character trans- F eelin at pired between the two cities. On the one hand, the Coreish planned no vindictive measures against the fugitives, nor did they attempt to molest the followers of the prophet, or the members of his house- hold, left for a time behind. On the other, he himself was fully occupied in settling his household and his people in their new home, and in strengthening his position there. But after several months the time came round when in winter it was customary for the trading caravans to proceed to Syria. These were often richly freighted. In barter for the produce of The caravans Arabia laden upon their camels, the in- ^i^eaf 1 "" habitants of Mecca were supplied with the Medina - luxuries of the north. The traffic yielded so great a profit, that in some of the larger ventures almost every citizen had a share. When the road was unsafe, the caravan was usually guarded by an armed convoy ; and even in times of peace it offered, if unprotected, to the freebooter an easy and a tempting prize. The beaten et>.623 A.D. A - H- L 94 RAIDS UPON MECCAN CARAVANS. path to Syria passed almost within sight of Medina, and thus Mahomet was well placed to watch the movements of the Meccan caravans, and, like an eagle from its eyrie, to swoop down upon his victim. The earliest attempts of the kind were petty and incon- elusive. In the winter of the first year at Medina, three expeditions were despatched 6 ' * n various directions. For each of these Mahomet mounted a white banner upon a staff, and placed it in the hands of the leader. But the numbers were small, in no case exceeding fifty, and they failed either to intercept their prize or to inflict serious injury on the convoys. In the following Three ex- summer and autumn, Mahomet himself led by Mahomet: three somewhat larger but equally un- June-Oet. 623. i A.H. it. successful parties. Ihese were now joined by some of the citizens of Medina, who thus crossed the Rubicon and identified themselves with the Moslems in the hostile movement. The men of Mecca, on their side, became alive to the danger, increased the guarding convoys, and kept generally on the alert. It was about this time that a richly-laden caravan under command of Abu Sofian, the chief who had now assumed leadership of the Coreish, passed up on its way to Syria. This is the same caravan which on its return journey some months after gave rise to the famous battle of Bedr. During the winter a small foray in another direction Affair of ended in more serious results. It was ^3 hla Rajab V< directed against the traffic between Mecca A- H ' IL and the south. The expedition consisted of but eight persons. Sealed instructions were given to Abdallah, its leader, to be opened only on reaching a certain spot near to Mecca. " Go forward to Nakhla," HOSTILITIES WITH MECCA. 95 so the prophet's order ran, " and lie there in wait for a caravan of the Coreish." This was a valley outside the sacred territory, on the Tayif road, through which the trade with Yemen passed. They had not long to wait, when a caravan came up laden with raisins, wine, and leather. It was guarded by four of the Coreish, who, seeing the strangers, took alarm and halted. It was the last day of Rajab, a month sacred to pilgrimage, and as such forbidden for the use of arms. To disarm suspicion, Abdallah's party shaved their heads, thus making the convoy believe that they had just returned from pilgrim- age ; and so these, falling into the trap, turned adrift their camels and began to cook their food. Meanwhile the Moslems, caught in a dilemma, debated what they should do : " If we put off the attack," they said, " till the morrow, these men will cross the boundary, and find asylum in the sacred territory ; if we attack them this night, it will be a transgression of the sacred month." As they argued thus, the Gordian knot was cut, for one drew his bow and shot dead a man of the unsuspecting band. On this, they rushed upon the caravan. One of the convoy escaped to Mecca. The remaining two were seized, and with the spoil carried off to Medina. Mahomet was displeased ; and, saying that he had never bidden them to fight in the forbidden month, put the booty aside. Abdallah and his men were crest- fallen, and the people reproached them. But not many days after, a revelation appeared justifying Suraii. 217. the act. "Wan-ing in the sacred months," it said, "is grievous ; but to deny God, and to expel His servants from their homes, is the greater sin." Having promul- gated this dispensation, Mahomet made the booty over to the captors ; and he also accepted a heavy ransom 96 COMMAND TO FIGHT. for the prisoners, whose friends by this time had appeared to claim them. The native biographers rightly attribute much im- The breach portance to this affair. "It was the first widens. booty," says one, "that the Moslems cap- tured ; the first prisoners they seized ; the first life they took." The breach was widening. No hostile response came at the moment from Mecca. But blood had been shed without the shadow of right; foully and sacri- legiously shed. And in Arabia, blood can be expiated by blood alone. At Medina, the coming struggle was steadily kept in view, as one of life and death, and began openly to be spoken of as such by Mahomet and his followers. The portions of the Goran revealed at this period abound with exhortations "to commanded in. , i i T i T theCoran. right in the ways ot the Lord, and to contribute towards the charges of the same. The oracle becomes the vehicle for many warlike utterances such as these : Bear good tidings to the Righteous ! Permission is given to bear arms against those that have wronged them, Suraxxii.41. , . 6 . . and have driven them from their homes for no other cause than this their saying, that The Lord, He is our God. And He will surely succour them that succour Him. Fight on until Idolatry cease, and the Religion be God's alone. War is ordained, even if it be irksome unto you. Perchance, ye may dislike that which is good for you, and love that which is evil for you. But the Lord knoweth, and ye know not. And again somewhat later : Prepare against them what force ye can, and troops of horse of your ability, that ye may thereby strike terror into the enemy of God and your enemy. And what thing soever ye contribute in the cause of God, it shall be made good unto you again. COMMAND TO FIGHT, 97 Who is he that lendeth unto the Lord a goodly loan ? He shall receive double for the same, and have an honourable recompense. Such passages are addressed not to the Refugees only, but to all believers, including the citizens The command c TIT T m r- -i- i addressed of Medina. Ihe nrst occasion on which equally to these came forward in large numbers and Medina, warlike array was on the march to Bedr, and then probably with the hope of sharing in the spoil of a richly-laden caravan, rather than with the view of fighting for the faith and avenging the exiles' wrongs. But the effect was equally important to Mahomet. It pledged them to his caiise. CHAPTER XV. BATTLE OF BEDR. JANUARY 624 A.D. A.H. II. THE caravan of Abu Sofian, already mentioned, resigns would in ordinary course return from Syria ^rava^o? i n two or three months. Mahomet was AbuSoflan. slip through his hands. He gained over the tribes between Medina and the sea-shore to his project ; and he sent two scouts to Hauran, on the Syrian road beyond Yenbo, to hasten back with tidings the moment the caravan approached. Mahomet had not yet learned to mask his movements ; and so rumours of the intended attack reached Abu Sofian while yet at a distance. He was greatly alarmed, and despatched Dhamdhatn with a message to the Coreish to hasten with an army to his rescue. Then he quickened his pace, taking the caravan by the route nearest the sea. Time passed, and the spies delaying their return, Mahomet sets Mahomet became impatient. He resolved out with an on i mme di a te action; and thus addressed army, Jan s, 623 A.D. ttie p eop i e .__ g ee j h ere cometh a caravan in which the Coreish have embarked much wealth. Come ! let us go forth ; peradventure the Lord will enrich us with the same." The tempting call was eagerly responded to both by Refugees and Citizens. They marched three hundred and five iii number, of .ABU SOFIAN'S CAKAVAN ESCAPES. 99 whom fourscore were Refugees. They had only two horses ; but there were seventy camels, on which they rode by turns. The object was to strike the coasting road from Syria at the halting stage of Bedr, and there await the coming up of Abu Sofian. Two scouts were sent forward, who were told by the women at the wells of Bedr that the caravan was expected in a day or two. They returned in haste to urge the little army on. Meanwhile the apprehensions of Abu Sofian were quickened as he approached the dangerous Abu sofiAn ... 111 i i /> esca P es with vicinity, and he hastened in advance 01 the caravan. his caravan to reconnoitre. Reaching Bedr, he heard of the two spies, and going straightway to the wells, spied out the spot. " Camels of Yathreb ! " he cried, as he saw among the refuse the peculiar stone of the Medina date ; "these be the spies of Mahomet ! " With these words, he hurried back to his people, and quicken- ing the pace of the caravan, struck to the right, hugging the sea-shore : and s<5, halting neither day nor night, was soon beyond the reach of danger. Then, learning that an army had set out for his rescue, he sent on a courier to Mecca, saying that all being now safe, they might dismiss their apprehensions for the caravan and return home. We now turn back to Mecca, to see what had been passing there. Dhamdham, urging his camel The coreish . > & o march from through the city in hot haste, reached the Mecca. Kaaba, and there making it kneel, alighted, cut off the camel's ears and slashed its nose, in token of the pressing nature of his errand. Then reversing the saddle, he rent his clothes and shouted, " Coreish ! Coreish ; your caravan is pursued by Mahomet. Help, O help ! " At once the city was in a stir ; for almost every, one had a venture with Abu Sofian. " Let us o 2 100 march," they cried, "to his succour with all speed. Doth Mahomet think to repeat the a^air of Nakhla ? Never ! he shall know it otherwise." So moved was the spirit of Mecca that within two or three days about the very time, in fact, that Mahomet was leaving Medina the army marched from Mecca. They went in haste, but not without some rude display; for a company of singing-women followed, and sang martial songs by the fountains at which they halted. They were already half way to Bedr when the messenger of Abu Sofian (who with his caravan had passed unnoticed by a route closer to the sea) brought the welcome news that all was safe. Should they retrace their steps, the object of their expedition being now secured, or still march on for their revenge ? The matter was hotly debated. Warlike counsels and the memory of Nakhla at last prevailed. " If we go back," they said, " they coreish march w ^ ca ^ us cowards. Let us go on to Bedr. on Bedr. There by its fountains we shall spend three days, eating and drinking. Arabia shall hear of it, and stand in awe." A few returned to Mecca, but the main body pursued its march. Mahomet also was advancing rap'dly on Bedr. From Mahomet too the accounts still coming in he believed Bedr. the caravan to be behind, and expected to intercept it passing by. On the fifth day, while approaching Bedr, the startling news came that a great army was in full march to the help of Abu Sofian. council of war. A council was summoned. With one voice all demanded an advance. The men of Medina vied with the Refugees. " Prophet of the Lord ! " was their cry; "march on. By Him who hath sent thee with the Truth, we swear that if thou travellest till our MAHOMET EXCAMPS AT BEDR. 101 camels fall down with fatigue, we shall go forward with thee to the world's end." "Then," replied Mahomet, " go forward with the blessing of the Lord. For verily He hath promised me one of the two, the army or the caravan, that He will deliver it into my hands. By the Lord ! methinks that even now I see the battle-field strewn with their dead." On nearing Bedr, Mahomet sent Aly forward with a party to reconnoitre. Two of the enemy, Ground occupied filling their skins at the wells, fell into atBedr - their hands. Expecting to get intelligence from them of the caravan, they fell to beating these two captives, when Mahomet, coming up, drew from them the fact that the enemy was close at hand. He learned, more- over, that they were about a thousand strong more than three-fold his own little army mounted also on seven hundred camels, with a hundred horsemen all clad in mail. The Moslems were chagrined at the prospect of a rich and easy prey turned into that of a bloody battle. They still, indeed, seem to have hoped that a victory would enable them to pursue and seize the caravan. But it was better for them that it had passed, for a sense of its jeopardy would have nerved the enemy, and united them by a bond which its safety had already dissipated. A tiny rivulet from the eastern hills ran through the sandy valley, breaking out here and there into springs, which at various spots were dug into cisterns for the use of travellers halting there. The Moslems at once occupied the largest of these, and destroyed the rest. A hut of palm-branches was hastily run up, in which Mahomet and Abu Bekr passed the night. Mahomet retirea The army, wearied with the march, enjoyed 102 THE COREISH ADVANCE. refreshing sleep a mark (we are told) of Divine interposition. As day dawned, the prophet rose be- times, drew out his little army, and placed a leader over each of the three companies, the Beni Aus, the Beni Khazraj, and the Kefugees. The Coreish too were busy marshalling their forces. Coreish advance But doubt and dissension again broke out in order of. . i battle. m their ranks. One of their chiefs having made a reconnaissance of the enemy returned, saying : " Their numbers are small, but death is astride their camels. Their only refuge is the sword. Silent as the grave, they put forth their fangs with the serpent's deadly aim. For every man we slay, one of ourselves will fall, and what worth will life be after that ? " The words began to tell, when Abu Jahl taunted his com- rades with cowardice, and bade the brother of him that was slain at Nakhla to call his brother's blood to mind. Forthwith this man rent his clothes, cast dust upon his head, and began frantically to cry aloud his brother's name. The spirit spread, and thoughts of peace now scattered to the winds, all were eager to advance. The leaders bore three standards aloft, and guided thus the Coreish moved slowly forward across the sandy hillocks that separated them from their enemy. Facing eastwards, the rising sun was in their eyes, a serious drawback that told in favour of the Moslem side. Mahomet had barely arranged the line of battle, Anxiety of when the advanced column of the Coreish Mahomet. - 1 . . . His prayer, appeared over the rising sand-hills in front. Their superior numbers were concealed by the fall of the ground behind. 1 But Mahomet knew the disparity 1 This effect is in the Goran attributed to the direct interposi- tion of God: "And when He caused the enemy to appear in BATTLE OF BEDR. 103 of his little army, and, alive to the issue that hung upon the day, retired for a moment with Abu Bekr to his hut. Raising his hands aloft, he thus poured out his soul : " O Lord ! if this little band be vanquished, Idolatry will again be rampant, and the pure worship of Thee cease from off the land." " The Lord," rejoined his friend, " will surely come to thine aid, and lighten thy face with the joy of victory." Mahomet again came forth. The enemy was close at hand, but the Moslems kept still. They The battle of J Bedr. were not to stir till the prophet gave com- 13th Jan. A.D. 624. mand ; only, if their flank were threatened by the cavalry, they were to check the movement by a dis- charge of archery. The cistern was guarded as their palladium. Some desperate warriors of the Coreish swore that they would drink therefrom or perish in the attempt. But they were met by equal daring, and hardly one escaped alive the fatal enterprise. Already, after Arab fashion, single combats were being fought at various points along the line, when Sheyba and Otba, two leaders of the Coreish, and Welid, son of Otba, still smarting under the taunts of Abu Jahl, advanced into the open field and defied three champions from the Medina force to meet them singly. Many upstarted at the call, but Mahomet checked them, and turning to his kinsmen said : " Ye sons of Hashim ! arise and fight, according to your right." Hamza, Obeida, and Aly, the uncle and cousins of Mahomet, stepped forth. Their features being concealed by their helmets, Otba asked their names. "Speak," he said, "and if ye be our your eyes few in number." Sura viii. The same Divine help is ascribed likewi-e to the rain, &c.. as will be seen from a passage quoted further on. 104 BATTLE OF BEDR, equals we shall fight with you." Hamza answered, with a play on his name : " I am the Lion of God and of His prophet ; I am the son of Abdal Mottalib." " A worthy foe," replied Otba ; " but who are these ? " Hamza gave their names. "Meet foes every one," replied Otba; and then they arose to fight. First, the two youngest, Welid and Aly, rushed at each other. The combat was short and sharp. Welid fell mortally wounded by the sword of Aly. Eager to avenge his son's death, Otba hastened forward, and Hamza stepped out to meet him. Swords gleamed quick, and again the Coreishite warrior fell, slain this time by the Moslem "lion." Sheyba remained the last; and Obeida, a veteran threescore years and five, drew near to fight with him. The con- flict was this time less decisive. Sheyba dealt a blow which severed the tendon of Obeida's leg, and brought him to the ground. At this, Hamza and Aly rushed on Sheyba and despatched him with their swords. The fate of their champions was cminous for the The armies close. Coreish, and their spirit sank within them. The ranks closed with the battle-cry from the Moslem side, YA MANSUR AMIT, Ye conquerors, strike ! But there were still many scenes of individual heroism, such as are common in the irregular warfare of the East, and impart an Homeric interest to the page. Prodigies of valour were shown on both hands, but the army of Medina was borne along by an enthusiasm which the half-hearted warriors on the opposite side could not withstand. Tradition revels in the details. Thus we are told of Omeir, a stripling of sixteen, casting away a handful of dates he was eating: "Is it these," he cried, " that hold me back from Paradise ? Verily I will taste no more of them until I meet my Lord ! " And so, . THE COREISH DEFEATED. 105 rushing on the enemy, he obtained the fate he coveted. A like ardour inspired the whole Moslem host. It was a stormy day. A piercing blast swept across the valley. That, cried Mahomet, is Army of Mecca Gabriel with a thousand angels charging P uttofll s ht - down upon the foe ! Another, and yet another blast ; it was Michael and Serafil, each with a like angelic troop. As the battle raged, the prophet stooped, and gathering a handful of gravel, cast it at the enemy, shouting, Con- fusion seize their faces I Just then came the turn of the tide. The thousand men of Mecca wavered before the onset of the brave three hundred, and gave way. The Moslems pursued their retreating steps, slaying or taking captive all that fell within their reach. Defeat soon turned into ignominious rout. The fugitive host, throwing away their heavy armour, abandoned camp and beasts of burden. Forty-nine were killed, and a like number taken prisoners. The army of Medina lost only fourteen, half of the number Citizens and half Refugees. Amongst the enemy's slain were some of the foremost chiefs, as well as some of Mahomet's bitterest opponents. Abu Jahl, his arch-enemy, lay Abu Jahl yet breathing, when Abdallah cut off his head and cast it gory at his master's feet. " God ! there is none other ! " exclaimed Mahomet : " the head of His enemy is better to me than the best camel in all Arabia ! " When the enemy all were gone, the Moslems spent some time in gathering the booty. Then, Enemy . s de!}d as the sun declined, they dug a pit on the cast into a pit - battle-field, and cast the enemy's dead into it. Mahomet stood by. " Otba, Sheyba, Abu Jahl," he cried exult- ingly, as one by one the bodies were thrown into the 106 BOOTY OF BEDR DISTRIBUTED. common grave ; " have ye now found true that which your Lord did promise you ? What my Lord promised me, that verily have I found to be true. Woe unto the people which rejecteth their prophet ! " " Art thou talk- ing with the dead ? " asked a bystander. " Yea verily," spake Mahomet in reply, " for now they well know that the promise of their Lord hath fully come to pass." Carrying their dead and wounded with them, the Distribution of little army retired from the field of battle the booty. an( j p asse d the night in a valley some miles on the way home. A difference sprang up amongst them about the division of the booty, some, as having been much to the front, claiming more than others. The contention grew so sharp that Mahomet inter- posed with a message purporting to be from heaven, sura viii. " They will ask thee," so it ran, " concerning the prey; Say, the prey is the Lord's and His prophet's. Wherefore, fear God, and be obedient unto His prophet, if ye be true believers," and so on. The booty was then placed under a prize agent, and distributed. All shared alike, excepting that horsemen obtained a treble portion, and every soldier retained the spoil taken from the person of any one slain by his own hand. To the lot of each fell a camel, or a leathern couch, or some such equivalent. Mahomet took as his own share the famous camel of Abu Jahl, and a sword known by the name of Dzul Flcdr. About the same time was promulgated the ordinance which assigns a Fifth to the Prophet and the State; and this, with the precedent of equal distribution now established, is the Mussulman law of prize followed to the present day. 1 1 " Know that whatsoever spoil ye take, the Fifth thereof is for TWO PRISONERS EXECUTED. 107 From the field of battle, Mahomet despatched Zeid on Al Caswa to make known the victory News of victory, how received at at Medina. The disaffected citizens had Medina, buoyed themselves with the hope of Mahomet's defeat, and, seeing his favourite camel approach without its master, prognosticated that he was slain. But they were soon undeceived, for Zeid, taking his stand at the entrance of the city, proclaimed the overthrow of the Coreish, and named the chief men slain or taken prisoners. The joy of the prophet's adherents was unbounded ; and as the news ran from door to door, the children made the streets resound with the cry, Abu Jahl the sinner is slain! Next day Mahomet himself returned. His happiness was Return of damped by the loss of his daughter Mahomet - Rockeya, to tend whose death-bed, Othman alone of the Refugees had remained behind. A few months later, MaLomet gave to Othman his only unbetrothed daughter, Omm Kolthum, who was formerly married to a cousin at Mecca, but had been for some time separated from him. The prisoners were handcuffed and marched along with the army. On their way two were TWO prisoners ordered to be executed. One ventured to P uttodeath - ask why he was dealt with more rigorously than the rest. " Because," replied Mahomet, " of thine enmity God and for His prophet, and for him that is of kin to the prophet, and for the orphan, and the poor, and the wayfarer ; if ye be - they that believe in God, and in the Revelation sent down to Our servant on the Day of Discrimination (so the Battle of Beur is called), the day on which the two armies met ; and God is over all thimrs nr'ghty." Sura viii. The mounted soldier had three shares, one for himself and two for his horse. 108 TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. to God and His prophet." " And my little girl," cried the captive in bitterness of soul, " who will take care of her ? " " Hell-fire," answered the prophet, as the victim was hewn to the ground. " Wretch and perse- cutor ! " he continued ; " scorner of God, of His prophet, and of His word ; I thank the Lord, who hath com- forted mine eyes by thy death." We are even told that it had been in contemplation Best well to put the whole of the prisoners, some fifty treated. j n num b er) t o death. Omar, with character- istic severity, urged this, while Abu Bekr pressed for mercy. In the end their lives were spared; for a message (so the story runs) was brought by Gabriel, leaving to Mahomet the choice of either slaying them or demanding a ransom, but with this condition, that for every captive spared, a Moslem would be hereafter slain in battle ; and to this condition the army, coveting the ransom, readily agreed. 1 Such is the tradition; but the only mention of the matter in the Goran is the following passage delivered shortly after the battle : It is not for a prophet to take prisoners until he hath inflicted a grievous wound upon his enemies on the earth. Ye seek after the good things of this life ; but God seeketh after the life to come. . . . Unless a revelation from the Lord had come unto you, surely a grievous punishment had overtaken you for the ransom that ye took. But now enjoy of that which ye have gained whatever is lawful and good. And fear the Lord, for He is gracious and forgiving. prophet ! speak thus unto thy prisoners, If God should know anything in your hearts which is good, He will give unto you better than that which ye have lost. He will pardon your offences, for He is forgiving and merciful. 1 In accordance with this tradition, it is held that the seventy Moslems slain the following year at Ohod, were so slain, man for man, in fulfilment of this compromise. DIVINE AID AT BEDR. 109 And so, in accordance with this command, when the prisoners were brought into Medina, Ma- some embrace .-.,,. Islam. The rest hornet enjoined his people to treat them ransomed, with kindness and consideration. " Blessings on the men of Medina ! " said one of these in after days : "they made us ride while they themselves walked afoot, and they gave us bread to eat when there was little of it, contenting themselves with dates." It is not surprising that some of the captives, yielding to these influences, declared themselves believers ; and to such their liberty was at once granted. The rest were kept for ransom; but it was long before the Coreish could humble themselves to visit Medina for the purpose. At last they came, and the ransom was paid in large sums fixed according to their several means. Of such as had nothing to give, it was re- quired that ten boys should be taught to write, and the teaching was accepted as a ransom. The die was now cast. Mahomet had drawn the sword and thrown aside the scabbard. Having The victory done so, there was little fresh risk to be Divine aid. incurred by making victory the test of his prophetic claim. However strong other arguments, his position could not be maintained in face of fatal reverse ; however weak, conquest must in the end establish it. Therefore Mahomet was safe in ascribing bis present success to the Divine aid, which he claimed to have been vouchsafed against superior force, and even against the machinations of the Devil. The following may be taken as a specimen of copious effusions to this effect : When ye sought assistance from your Lord, and He answered, Verily, I will assist you with a thousand aivjels in , . ,, m- ,1 Suraviii. squadrons following one upon another; 1ms the 110 CONSTERNATION AT MECCA. Lord did as good tidings for you, and to confirm your henrts thereby, for God is mighty and wise. When He overshadowed you with a deep sleep as a security from Himself, and cau^d it to rain that He might purify you withal, this was to confirm your hearts, and stablish your footsteps. . . . And ye slew them not, but the Lord slew them. Neither was it thou, prophet, that castedst the (handful of) gravel, but God did cast it. . . If ye desire a decision, now verily hath the Decision come unto you. . . Remember also when Satan bedecked their works unto the Enemy and said, None shall prevail against you this day, for surely I am your Confederate, But when the armies came within sight the one of the other, then Satan turned upon his heels, saying, I am clear of you; for mrily I see that which, ye see not. I fear God, for God is terrible in vengeance. At Mecca, burning shame, and the thirst for revenge, consternation stifled for a time all outward expression of at thirst ca for ad gri 6 ^ " Weep not for your slain," was the revenge. -word passed round by Abu Sofian ; " neither let the bard bewail their fate. It will abate your wrath'; and the foe will laugh at your lamentation. Haply the turn may come, and ye shall yet gain your revenge. As for me, I will touch no oil, neither come near my wife, until I shall have gone forth again to fight with Mahomet." A month of sullen restraint passed. Then the wild cry of long-stifled grief went up from Mecca. There was hardly a family in which wailing for the dead was not heard. One house was silent. " Why shed no tears ? " they said to Hind, the wife of Abu Sofian. "Why weep not for thy father Otba, tbine uncle also, and thy brother ? " She made answer : " I will not weep, until war again be waged with Mahomet and his fellows. If tears could wipe the grief from off my heart, I too could weep. But it is not thus with Hind." CHAPTER XVI. ASSASSINATIONS AT MEDINA EXPULSION OF A JEWISH TRIBE. A.H. III. A.D. 624. J3TAT. 56. THE truimph at Bedr strengthened immeasurably the position of Mahomet at Medina. The Jews and consolidation of his power was followed by citizens. an early and decisive movement against the Jews and the Disaffected, who ventured still to raise their heads against him and gainsay his revelation. The first blood shed at Medina with the counten- ance of Mahomet was a woman's. Asma, Assassination daughter of Merwan, belonged to a family 624 A!D. which still clung to the ancestral faith. She made no secret of her dislike to Islam, and being a poetess com- posed verses on the folly of putting faith in a Stranger who had risen against his own people and slain so many of them in battle. These verses quickly spread from mouth to mouth. The Moslems were offended, r nd Omeir, a blind man of the same tribe, and a former husband of the poetess, vowed that he would kill her. Tradition magnifies the assassin's merit by dwelling on his heartless cruelty. In the dead of night he crept to the apartment where Asma with her children lay asleep. Feeling stealthily, he removed her suckling baVe, and plunging his sword into her breast, so transfixed 112 ASSASSINATION OF ABU AFAK. her to the couch. Next morning, in the Mosque at prayer, Oraeir acquainted Mahomet (who was aware of the design) with what he had done, and asked whether there was any cause for apprehension. " None whatever," replied the prophet ; " a couple of goats will hardly knock their heads together for it." Then turning to the bystanders, he remarked, " Behold a man that hath assisted the Lord and His prophet." " What ! " cried Omar, " the blind Omeir ? " " Call him not blind," rejoined Mahomet; "call him rather Omeir the Seeing." On his way home Omeir encountered members of the family, who taxed him with the murder. He avowed it openly, and threatened the whole clan of them with the same fate unless they changed their tone. They were alarmed, and soon succumbed before the determined attitude of the Moslem party. In short, the only alternative to a hopeless blood-feud was now the adoption of Islam. A few weeks later another foul murder was committed Another on Abu Afak, an aged Jewish proselyte, Feb. 624 A.D.' whose offence was similar to that of Asma. " Who will rid me of this pestilent fellow ? " said Mahomet to those about him ; and not long after, one of his followers fell unawares on the unfortunate man as he slept in his courtyard, despatched him with his sword, and escaped unrecognized. Horror at his death- shriek seized the Jews. There was good reason for it. The Beni Cainucaa, one of the three Jewish tribes, Beni camuc&a followed the goldsmiths' craft in their Feb. tmV.c. stronghold outside the city. Shortly after his return from Bedr, Mahomet visited them there, and summoned them to acknowledge him as the Apostle of God, lest that should overtake them which at Bedr had ATTACK OX THE BEXI CAINUCAA. 113 befallen the Coreish. They refused, and defied him to do his worst. Pretext for attack soon oflfered. A Moslem maiden visited their market-place, and sat down at a goldsmith's, waiting for some ornaments. At her back, unperceived, a foolish neighbour pinned her skirt to the upper dress. When she arose there was laughter at the exposure, and she screamed with shame. A Mussulman hearing of it slew the Jew, and the Jews again fell upon the Mussulman and killed him. The family of the latter app:aled to their fellows in Medina, who espoused their cause. Mahomet made no attempt to compose the quarrel or single out the guilty. Forth- with he marshalled his followers, and placing the great white banner, fresh from the field of Bedr, in the hands of Hamza, marched forth to attack the offending tribe. The settlement was too strong to carry by assault. It was therefore surrounded, a strict blockade maintained, and thus for fifteen days the siege was pressed. The beleaguered garrison expected relief from their allies, Abdallah ibn Obey, and his tribe the Beni Khazraj, but none dared stir on their behalf. At last they surrendered in despair. One by one they issued from the stronghold and were pinioned for execution. Abdallah could not bear the sight. Addressing himself to Mahomet, he begged for mercy, but Mahomet turned away. Then seizing him by the arm as he stood accoutred in his coat of mail, Abdallah reiterated his request. "Let me alone!" said Mahomet. But Abdallah did not relax his grasp. " Wretch, let me go ! " cried the prophet, as anger mantled in his face. " Nay," answered Abdallah, " I will not let thee go until thou showest mercy on my friends three hundred armed in mail and four hundred unequipped who have stood by me on the field of 114 ASSASSINATION OF KAB. battle. Wilt thou cut them down in one day ? " And sent " Then let them go," said Mahomet sullenly. into exile. a The Lor{} curge ^^ &nd h j m toQ , They were set at liberty and sent in exile to the north, where eventually they settled in the land of Syria. From the spoil, chiefly armour and goldsmiths' tools, Mahomet chose for himself some bows and swords and two coats of mail. The royal Fifth was set aside, and the rest distributed among the army. A few months passed, and another dastardly assas- 'Assassination si na tion darkens the page of the prophet's f ^uhraf 1 f life- ^ a ^ ikn -Ashraf, son of a Jewess, was juiy 624 I.D. a p ros elyte of the Gate." He followed Mahomet so long as he favoured Judaism, but left him when he forsook Jerusalem as his Kibla. Mortified at the success of the new cause and the rejection of his faith, he visited Mecca, and there recited elogies extoll- ing the heroes slain at Bedr, and stirring up the Coreish to avenge their death. Returning to Medina, he dis- quieted the Moslems by amatory verses addressed to their wives a favourite mode of annoyance with the Arabs. Mahomet was greatly displeased, and made no secret of his animosity. " O Lord," he prayed aloud, " rid me of the son of Ashraf in whatsoever way Thou wilt, because of his sedition and his evil verses." And he prompted his followers to the deed, saying, "Who will ease me of this pestilent fellow ? for he troubleth me." Mohammed son of Maslama came forward. " Here am I," he said ; " I will slay him." Four others joined him, and the plot was soon matured. Kab was thrown off his guard by the demand of a loan, and an hour was appointed in the dead of night, when the con- spirators were to lodge their arms, as security for repay- ALARM OF THE JEWS. 115 ment, at his house in an outlying suburb. Mahomet accompanied them to the outskirts of the town, and as they went on their deed of darkness bade them God- speed. Caught in the snare, and not startled by their arms, Kab descended at their call ; when, decoying him to a distance, they despatched him with their swords. Escaping pursuit, they hurried back, carrying one of their number severely wounded in the struggle. As they entered the gateway of the Mosque, Mahomet met them. " Welcome ! " he exclaimed ; " for I see that your faces beam with victory." " And thine too ! " they added, as they cast the ghastly head of their victim at his feet. Tradition dwells with complacency on the aggravating details of this perfidious murder; and the stigma of complicity in the same cannot be dissociated from the prophet's name. Another murder soon followed, and threats of yet more. Exasperated at the opposition (tra- Disquietude dition terms it the treachery) of the stiff- ofthejews - necked Jews, Mahomet gave his followers permission to slay them at discretion. The Jews were thrown into great alarm. None ventured abroad, for fear of assas- sination. At last a deputation waited on the prophet, and complained of his hostile attitude, and specially of the treacherous end of Kab. " Had he behaved himself," answered Mahomet, " as ye have done, he would not have thus been put to death; but he vexed me by his evil speech and verse ; and if ye do the same, ye too shall in like manner be cut off." At the same time he invited them to enter into a fresh treaty of friendship, which they did. Nevertheless (tradition adds) the Jews henceforward lived, as well they might, in much depression and disquietude. H 2 116 SEVERAL EXPEDITIONS. During this year, the Third at Medina, martial spirit Raid on Medina was kept on ^ ne a l er ^ by several warlike by Abu sofian. p assa g eS) though none were of any marked importance. In the spring Abu Sofian, smarting under the defeat of Bedr, vowed that he would carry fire and sword into the city of his enemy. With two hundred followers he succeeded, with the connivance of certain chief men of the Jews, in effecting a raid upon the suburbs, burning some farms and killing the cultivators. Then, considering his vow fulfilled, he beat a hasty retreat before the alarm could be given in the town. The route to Syria by the sea-shore being now barred . Expedi tions * * ne Coreish, they began to send their cara- in Nejd. yang across the peninsula to Irac. Repeated expeditions were accordingly planned by Mahomet against those Bedouin tribes in Nejd which took the Meccan side, especially the Beni Suleim and Ghatafan who acted as carriers to the Coreish. In the autumn a lucky dash was made on one of these ventures while cardan in transit towards the head of the Persian captured. Q ulf> by Zeid ^ i}i QnQ hundred mounted men. The convoy fled, and large spoils in vessels and bars of silver were taken, so that eight hundred dirhems fell to each man's lot. This was the first occasion on which the Moslems secured rich plunder from a caravan. In this year Mahomet took to himself a third wife, Mahomet Haphsa, daughter of Omar, then about n NOTf 8 6KS a ' twenty years of age. She was the widow A.H. in. o an ear jy convert, recently deceased. Omar and Abu Bekr were thus both similarly connected with the prophet. There was much rivalry between Ayesha and Haphsa, but Ayesha succeeded in main- taining her supremacy. ALY MARRIES FATIMA. 117 The marriages contracted by Mahomet at Medina were all unfruitful, and no issue of his elder Marriage of - _ 111 Fatima with daughter survived. It was through the Aiy, 6-24 A.D. youngest, Fatima, that the prophet's race was to be perpetuated. Being now seventeen years of age, her father gave her in marriage to Aly, who was five-and- twenty, and who, as we have seen, had already dis- tinguished himself on the field of Bedr. Within the next twelve months she gave birth to Hasan, and the year after to Hosein, names famous in Islam. CHAPTER XVII. BATTLE OF OHOD. JANUARY 625 A.D. A.H. III. THE Third year of Mahomet's life at Medina had Tidings of nearly closed, and the winter had a^ain set intended attack . on Medina. i n> when a storm clouded the horizon. Twelve months had passed since the battle of Bedr, and the cry for revenge still resounded in the vale of Mecca. Rumours of a threatened attack had for some time pre- vailed at Medina, when a sealed epistle was put into the hands of Mahomet. Hastily despatched by Abbas, who still retained a kindly interest in his nephew, it carried the startling news that a great army was on the point of marching on the city. Mahomet enjoined secrecy, but the matter soon oozed out, and caused much excitement, especially amongst the Jews and the disaffected citizens. There was cause for alarm. The merchandise brought back to Mecca by the luckless coreish march caravan, for which so much blood had been jaT625A C .n. shed, was stored up hard by the K&aba, and A.H. in. there had lain ever since, untouched. The profits of the fatal venture were now, by general consent, devoted to the equipment of an avenging force. The Bedouin allies of the desert were invited to join the enterprise. The army marched three thousand strong. THE COREISH INVADE MEDINA. 119 Seven hundred were clad in mail, two hundred were mounted on horses, the remainder rode on camels. Fifteen women followed in the train, and, taking timbrels in their hands, sang to their wild cadence sonjrs of vengeance for kinsmen slain at Bedr. Fore- O O most was Hind, wife of Abu Sofian, who, thirsting for the blood of Hamza, the slayer of her father, had engaged an Ethiopian warrior to make the surer of her victim. They took the ordinary route till they drew nigh to Medina, when they fetched a circuit to the left, and then turning northward encamped in a fertile plain beneath the hill of Ohod. The corn was And encamp cut for forage, and the camels, set loose to near Medina - graze, trampled down the rich fields around. Between the city and the plain were several rocky ridges which guarded the way against direct attack. The high road from Syria, avoiding these, swept eastward from under Ohod, and reached the city by an easy circuit. The Coreish feared to advance by this road, because the houses on that approach would have afforded their adversaries a position of dangerous offence. They hoped rather to draw them forth, and overpower them by their numbers upon equal ground. Perhaps also they expected by delay to create some dangerous diversion in the city. Meanwhile Mahomet by his spies was kept aware of the movements of the enemy. The fanners, ,, , ,. / ' Resolution of with their cattle and their stuff, had effected ^Hithta a timely retreat, but the destruction of th an( j sought now rather to conciliate her calumniators. Safwan, the hero of the tale, still smarting from the imputations veiled under Hassan's satire, drew his sword upon him. The quarrel was car- ried before the prophet, who, having rebuked the poet, more than compensated him for the indignity of the lash by the gift of an estate in the vicinity of Medina. Ayesha resumed her place, more secure than ever as Hassan recon- the queen of the prophet's heart and home. ciles Ayesha by A . . anode. Hassan, changing his muse, sang ot her purity, elegance, and wit, and (what she piqued herself the most upon) her slender, graceful figure. The flatter- ing compliment reconciled her to the poet; but she never forgave Aly for his doubting. It is curious to mark how the jealous temperament cafitioMhis ^ Mahomet transpires through such pas- Tnlmodlsty 8 * sa g es f the Goran as the following : prophet, say unto thy Wives, If ye love the world and the fashions thereof, come, and I will make a provision Sura xxxiii. for you, and dismiss you with a fair dismission. But if ye seek after God and His Apostle and the life to come, verily the Lord MAHOMET CAUTIONS HIS WIVES. 153 hath prepared for them that are good amongst you a great reward. Ye Wives of the Prophet ! if any amongst you should be guilty of incontinency, her punishment shall be doubled unto her twofold, and that were easy with God. But she that amongst you devoteth herself to God and to His Apostle, and worketh righteousness, We shall give unto her her reward twofold, and We have prepared for her a gracious maintenance. ye Wives of the prophet ! ye are not as other women. If ye fear the Lord, be not bland in your speech, lest he indulge desire in whose heart is disease. And abide within your houses, and array not yourselves as in the bygone days of ignorance, and observe the stated times of prayer, and obey God and His Apostle, &c. The direct evidence of four eye-witnesses is still needed to prove the charge of adultery, so The law of that the draconic penalty is almost inopera- adultery. tive. But the law itself is a fair example of the manner in which the code of Islam grew out of the circumstances of the prophet's life, concrete, rather than framed upon abstract considerations. CHAPTER XXI. SIEGE OF MEDINA. SPRING OF 627 A.D. A.H. V. ^ETAT. 58. WHILE Mahomet thus busied himself with the cares combined attack aQ d anxieties of his increasing harem, a b Bedmdns h on nd storm was brewing in the south. The winter ma ' again came round, when it had become the wont of the Coreish to arm themselves against Medina. Their preparations now exceeded those of any previous year. Four thousand men were brought into the field, of whom 300 were cavalry, and 1500 mounted on camels. The Bedouins of IMejd rallied round them in great numbers. The Fezara brought 1000 soldiers mounted on camels, and the Soleim 700. The whole force numbered 10,000 men, marching in three separate columns, but all under the leadership of Abu Sofian. Alarm overspread Medina. The defeat at Ohod by Medina defended numbers much inferior, put a pitched by a trench. Feb. /> i T t i 627A.D. A.H. v. battle out of the question. By the advice of a Mesopotamian slave, familiar with warlike tactics, Mahomet resolved to entrench Medina, a strategic device as yet unknown in Arabia. The outer line of substantial houses formed in itself a solid defence towards the east, but it was necessary to connect this on one hand with THE COREISH INVADE MEDINA. 155 the approaching rocks on the north, and on the other to carry it round the open defenceless quarter on the south- east. Mahomet encouraged the labour of the citizens by himself bearing basket-loads of the excavated earth, and joining in their song, as at the building of the Mosque. In six days the trench was dug. Behind it was an earthen dyke, along which they piled heaps of well-sized stones, to be used against the enemy. The outlying inhabitants were all withdrawn, and the women and children for greater security were bidden to stay upon the fiat roofs of the houses. These things were barely finished when the invaders were reported to be advancing as before by the hill of Ohod. The army of Medina, 3000 strong, moved out into the open space between the city and the trench. A tent of red leather was pitched for Mahomet upon the ground, in which he was visited by his wives in turn. The Coreish, and the Bedouin hordes, with their multitude of camels and horses, finding the Coreish encamp country deserted, swept round the former trench, field of victory, and still advancing unopposed, were brought to a stand by the trench. Closely guarded all along, it formed a barrier which they could not pass. Disconcerted by the stratagem, they were forced to pitch their camp some little way off, where they contented themselves for a time by the distant discharge of archery. Meanwhile Abu Sofian succeeded in gaining over the Eeni Coreitza, the only remaining Jewish Anddetecht he tribe, whose fortress lay two or three miles Bem Coreitza - to the south-west. The news alarmed Mahomet and disturbed the city; for the Jews had still a powerful party in their favour, and the defences, moreover, were weakest on that side. Disaffection lurked on every 156 COREISH ATTACK THE CITY. hand, and some began even to talk of deserting to the enemy. To protect the town in the quarter most ex- posed, as well as to guard it from treachery within, parties had to be detached from the army, already barely strong enough to man the trench, and by them the city was day and night patrolled. A strong guard was also posted over the prophet's tent. The vigilance of the Moslem pickets kept at bay the Attack on trench confederate host, who proclaimed the trench repulsed. to be an unworthy subterfuge. "Truly this ditch," they cried in their chagrin, " is the artifice of strangers, a shift to which no Arab has ever yet stooped." But it was, nevertheless, the safety of Medina. The Coreish tried over and again to force it. Discovering a narrow, ill-guarded spot, they made an attack upon it. Spurring their horses, a few cleared the trench, but were driven back and barely effected their escape after a hand- to-hand encounter, in which Aly brought his adversary to the ground. Next day the whole Meccan army was engaged in the attempt to carry the trench. It re- quired unceasing vigilance to frustrate the design. Now the Confederates would mass their force upon this point, now upon that, and again breaking into columns, they would threaten the whole line at once. Khalid, by the rapid movement of his troop of horse, distracted the defenders. Once and again a gallant dash was made at the city, and the tent of Mahomet himself was at one moment in peril. But the brave front and galling archery of the citizens drove the assailants back. These tactics were kept up all day long, and even into the night. But the trench was never crossed in force, nor did the troops engage near enough for slaughter. The Moslems lost but five men, and the Confederates three. DISTRESS IN MEDINA. 157 But the army of Medina was harassed and weary, though the loss of life was small. The Distress at people were dismayed at the surging host that hemmed them in on every side. Beyond the trench they saw their possessions ravaged and destroyed, and they began to ask for leave to go and protect them. Mahomet looked weak before the world. Where now was the heavenly promise ? It was a day of rebuke when (as we read in the Goran) "the Suraxxxiii. enemy came upon them from above and from beneath, and the sight was confused, and the hearts reached to the throat, and the people imagined of God strange imaginations; for there the faithful were tried and made to tremble violently." The distress had now lasted ten or twelve days, when it occurred to Mahomet that he might buy off the Bedouins from the Coreish. Negotiations were accordingly opened with Oyeina, their chief, who demanded as his price one-half of the date harvest of Medina. Mahomet had already offered one- third, when he thought it best to call in the leading men of the city to advise him. They spurned the terms ; " but," said they, " if thou hast received a command from the Lord in this thing, then follow the same." " Nay," answered the prophet,-" if I had received a bidding from the Lord, I had not consulted you ; I ask you but as to that thing which is the most expedient." " Then," said the chiefs, "give them nought but the sword." And "so the matter dropped; but it shows the straits and the apprehensions to which Mahomet was at this time reduced. A more artful device was now resorted to. A Bedouin chief, Noeim, was famous for his craft and Dissension sown , r , . between Coreitza cunnin. He came to Mahomet onerin and coreisii. 158 THE COREISH RETREAT. his services. They were readily accepted. " See now," said Mahomet to him, " whether thou canst not break up this confederacy ; for war after all is a game at decep- tion." So Noeim, going first to the one side and then to the other, sowed the seeds of distrust between them. When, therefore, the allied chiefs summoned the Jews to join them, as they had agreed, in a combined attack upon the city, these pleaded as an excuse the Sabbath day : and moreover, affecting fear of being deserted by the Confederate host, demanded hostages of them. This was nothing more than what Noeim had told the Coreish to be on their guard against, and so it appeared fully to confirm his report of Jewish treachery. The Confederate chiefs were already disheartened. A storm bursts, Every attempt to carry the trench had and Coreish . * depart. failed. Success had been hoped for in a general engagement, during which the Beni Corcitza were to fall on Mahomet's defenceless rear, but instead of this they began to dread an attack from the Coreitza themselves. Supplies ran short, and the camels were dying rapidly. Wearied and damped in spirit, the night set in upon them with drenching rain and tempest. The ground became a swamp ; tents were blown down, fires extinguished, and even the cooking-pots and equipage were overthrown. Cold and comfortless, and despair- ing now of any turn of fortune, Abu Sofian resolved on an immediate march. Calling the chiefs around him, he cried, " Break up the camp ; as for me, I am gone ! " With these words he leapt upon his camel and led the way, Khalid bringing up the rear with his troop of horse. They took the road again by Ohod for Mecca, and the Bedouins retired to their haunts in the desert. The glad intelligence soon reached Mahomet. As ALLEGED DIVINE INTERPOSITION. 159 morning dawned not a man of the great host was left in sight. It was, the prophet said, the result of Divine interposition in answer to the prayers of Relief ascribed his people. For some days he is said to by3v ^i^ etto have offered up this petition : " O Lord, interposition. Revealer of the Book, Thou that art swift in taking account ! turn to flight the Confederate host. Turn them to flight, O Lord, and make them to quake ! " The Lord had sent the tempestuous wind, he said. The armies of heaven had been fighting for them ; terror had been struck into the heart of the enemy; and now they were gone. CHAPTER XXII. FATE OF THE BENI COREITZA. 627 A.D. A.H. V. THE army of Medina now joyfully broke up their Benicoreitza cam P> in whi ch they had been besieged Ma^ch e ^7 d i.D. fifteen days, and returned to their homes. A.H. v. Mahomet had no thought of hanging on the enemy's rear, as he had done before, or of exposing his force to an action in the open country. A still more important blow might be struck, and that without danger, nearer home. He was still cleansing himself from the dust of the field, when suddenly the order went forth for the army to reform and march against the Jews. Gabriel, he said, had descended and reproached him with laying aside his armour while as yet the Angels had not laid theirs aside. " Arise ! " cried the heavenly visitant, " arise, go up against the stronghold of the Coreitza. Behold, I go before you to shake the foundations thereof." The great banner, yet unfurled, was placed in the hands of Aly, and the prophet, mounting his ass, led the way. By the time of evening prayer the Moslem army, as before three thousand strong, was encamped beneath the walls of the fortress. They had, however, to retire a little distance, for, approaching too near, one had been killed by a mill-stone cast by a Jewess from the SURRENDER OF THE BEXI COREITZA. 161 walls. The place was then closely invested, and entirely cut off from the outer world. The imprudent Jews, whom their brethren's fate should have taught to better purpose than to dally with the Confederate army, were soon reduced to great distress. They offered to capitu- late on condition of exile, even empty-handed. But Mahomet, bent on a sterner revenge, refused to listen. At length the wretched garrison, brought to the verge of starvation, offered to surrender on con- They surrender, dition that their fate were left to the judgment of their old allies, the Beni Aus. To this Mahomet agreed ; and so, when the siege had now lasted several weeks, the tribe, numbering over two thousand souls, came down from their stronghold. The men, with hands pinioned behind their backs, were kept apart. The women and children, torn from their protectors, were placed under charge of a renegade Jew; but one, the beautiful Rihana, was kept by Mahomet for himself. The spoil, consisting of household stuff, armour, flocks, and herds, was put aside to await the arbitrament of the Beni Aus. All store of wine and fermented liquor was poured forth, as now forbidden to believers. The Beni Aus, with whom the judgment lay, were urgent with the prophet that their ancient sd appointed allies should be spared. "They are our arblter - confederates," they cried importunately. " Show them at least the same pity as, at the suit of the Beni Khazraj, was shown to their confederates, the Beni Nadhir." " Are ye content then," said Mahomet, " that they be judged by one of yourselves ? " They answered Yes ; and Mahomet nominated Sad. a chief of their tribe, to be the arbiter. This man had been struck by an arrow at the trench, and friendship for his old allies had been 162 .' BLOODY JUDGMENT OF SAD. turned by their treachery into bitter hate. Though con- valescent, he was still nursed in a tent which had been pitched for the wounded in the court of the Mosque. Large and corpulent, he was now mounted with difficulty upon an ass, and, amidst appeals for mercy from his tribes- men who crowded round him, conducted to the camp. On the way he answered not a word, till, drawing near the spot, he said, " Verily to Sad this grace hath been given, that in the cause of God he careth not for any blame the blamers may cast upon him." Assisted to alight, he was called on to deliver judgment. The people still were urging mercy. He turned to them. " Will ye then," said he, " bind yourselves by the covenant of the Lord, that whatsoever be my judgment, ye shall accept the same ? " There was a murmur of assent. " Then," His woody proceeded Sdd, "my judgment is, that the judgment. men ^U ^ put to death, the women and children sold into slavery, and the spoil divided amongst the army." A thrill of horror must have run through the assembled host ; but all questioning was stopped by Mahomet, who sternly ratified the verdict. " Truly," said he, " the judgment of Sad is the judgment of the Lord, pronounced on high from above the Seventh heaven." The camp broke up, and the people wended their way Butchery * tne c *-ty. The prisoners followed. The of the tribe. men were ^^ U p j n a var j separate from the women and children, and spent the hours of darkness in repeating passages from their Scriptures, and exhorting one another to faith and constancy. During the night trenches were dug across the market-place. In the morning Mahomet, himself a spectator, commanded the male captives to be brought out in companies of five BUTCHERY OF THE BEXI COREITZA. 1G3 and six at a time. As each party came up they were made to sit down in a row on the brink of the trench, beheaded, and their bodies cast therein. And so with company after company until all were slain. One woman only was put to death, it was she who threw the mill- stone from the battlements. When told that her husband had been executed, she loudly avowed what she had done, and demanded of Mahomet that she might share her husband's fate, a petition which, perhaps in more mercy than was meant, he granted. This heroine's smile, as she stepped fearless and cheerful to her death, Ayesha tells us haunted her ever after. Quarter was obtained by friends for Zoheir and his household. " But what," inquired this aged man, " of all our other chiefs, of Kab, and Howey, and Ozzal the son of Samuel ? " As he named one and another there came the same reply they had all been slain. " Then," cried he, " of what use any longer is life to me ? Leave me not iu the tyrant's power who hath beheaded all the rest. I will go with them to my home. Here, take this sword ; it is sharp. Strike hard and high." When told of his dying words, Mahomet answered, " Yea,' he shall join them in their home, the fire of hell." The butchery lasted all day, and continued by torchlight into the evening. Having thus Mahomet takes Rihan.i drenched the market-place with the blood as concubine. of seven or eight hundred Jewish victims, and com- manded the ground to be smoothed over their remains, Mahomet retired to solace himself with Rihana. The husband and male relatives of this poor lady had all perished in the massacre. He offered her marriage, but she preferred to remain his bond-maid. She declined Islam, but she had no escape from the embrace of her L 2 164 DEATH-BED OF SAD. licentious conqueror. She did not many years survive her unhappy fate. There were a thousand captive women, besides the women and little ones who counted with their mothers, distributed. From his own share Mahomet made gifts to certain of his friends of some of the fairer of the maidens thus reduced to slavery. The rest of the women and children he sent to Nejd, to be sold in exchange for horses and arms in the service of the state. The rest of the captives and the booty cattle, lands, and chattels were sold as prize, or taken over as their share by the three thousand men who had invested the fortress. We may now follow Sad to his end. Having delivered Death and n ^ s bloody decree, he was again seated on burial of sad. j^g asSj an( j cont i uc t ec i back to the hospital tent at the Mosque. But the excitement had been too great. The wound broke out afresh, and he sank. Mahomet hastened to the bedside, and placing Sad's head upon his knee, prayed over him : " O Lord, truly Sad hath laboured in Thy service, and hath fulfilled his covenant. Wherefore do Thou receive his spirit, with the best reception of a departing soul." The dying man whispered his parting salutation in the prophet's ear and expired. As they carried him out to burial, his mother made loud lamentation over him in elegiac verse. " Leave her alone," said Mahomet, as they chided her to hold her peace ; " leave her thus alone ; all other poets lie but she." Notwithstanding the corpulence of the deceased, the bier appeared marvellously light, and some superstitiously attributed it to the bloody judg- ment. Mahomet with ready response turned aside the malignant omen, telling the people, " The angels bear BURIAL OF SAD. 165 the bier, and therefore it is light. The throne on high vibrateth for Sad ; the portals of heaven are thrown open, and seventy thousand angels are following him that never trod the earth before." As they lowered the body Mahomet shudderel and changed colour, but ' recovering himself, gave thanks and raised the taktir, " Great is the Lord," which, taken up by the great assembly, resounded far and near. His change of colour he explained thus : " At that moment the grave became i strait for Sad, and the sides thereof closed in upon him. Verily, if any one could have escaped the straitening of ; the grave it had been Sdd. Then the Lord gave him freedom therein." He comforted his mother, who stood \ by, and when they would have held her back, suffered her to have a last look at her son's remains. He lingered while they levelled the spot, and sprinkled it over with ' water. Then praying once more for the departed chief, he turned and went to his home. The massacre of the Beni Coreitza was a barbarous deed which cannot be justified by any reason riot left by *!! , mi 'it, massacre of oi political necessity. In ere was, no doubt, a B. Coreitza. sufficient cause for attacking them, and even for severely punishing the leaders who had joined the enemy at so critical a moment. Mahomet might also have been justi- fied in making them quit altogether a neighbourhood in which they formed a dangerous nucleus of disaffection at home, and an encouragement for attack from abroad. But the indiscriminate slaughter of the whole tribe cannot but be recognized as an act of enormous cruelty, which casts an odious blot upon the prophet's name. Three or four men of the doomed tribe purchased their lives, their families, and their property certain at the expense of their ancestral creed, renegades. 166 POLITICAL EFFECT OF MASSACRE. So also, no doubt, might others, and, indeed, the whole tribe, have bought their safety. But they remained staunch to Judaism, and in the strictest sense may be accounted martyrs to their faith. The sanguinary fate of the Coreitza removed the last Political remnant of open opposition, political or reli- effectofthe rr massacre, gious, from the neighbourhood of Medina. It did not, indeed, at the moment, escape hostile criticism; but it struck terror into the heart of every disloyal citizen. And the prophet was invested with 'a halo so supernatural, and to his enemies so dreadful, that no one dared outwardly to signify dissent. The successful defence of the city also in the recent siege, conducted on the responsibility of Mahomet as its now recognized ru.ler, had greatly strengthened his prestige. The whole weight of the Coreish and of the tribes of Nejd had been repulsed, and that with hardly any loss. These incidents are dwelt upon at considerable length in the Goran. The following are some extracts : ye that believe ! call to mind the favour of the Lord unto Suraxxxiii. you, when a multitude came up against you, and We sent upon them a tempest, and Hosts which ye saw not. When the Hypocrites and those diseased in heart said, God and His prophet have promised you only a deliision ; and a party said, men of Yathreb ! there is here no security for you, wherefore retire ; and others asked leave of the prophet to depart, saying, Our homes are unprotected; and they were not unprotected, but they desired only to escape. . . SAY, Flight will not profit you, if you were to flee from death and slaughter ; and even if it did, ye would enjoy this life but for a little space. When fear cometh, thou mayest, Prophet, see them looking towards thee, their eyes rolling, like unto one that is overshadowed with death. Then when the fear hath gone, they attack thee with sharp tongues, covetous of the choicest of the spoil. They thought that the Confederates l would not depart. And if the 1 That is, the Coreish and their Bedouin allies. NOTICE OF IT IX CORAX. 167 Confederates should come again, they would wish themselves away amo.igst the Bedouins, asking tidings of you. And if they were amongst you, they would not fight excepting but a little. . . The Lord drove back the He;ithen in their rage : they obtained no advantage. And God sufficeth for the Believers in battle. He is strong and mighty. And He hath caused to descend from their strongholds the Jews that assisted them. And He struck terror into their hearts. A part ye slaughtered, and a part ye took into captivity. And He hath made you to inherit their lands, their habitations, and their wealth. CHAPTER XXIII. SIXTH TEAR OF THE HEGIRA. A.D. 627, 628. A.H. VI. uETAT. 59. MEDINA now entered on a year of comparative repose, Numerous the Sixth of the Hegira. No campaign of minor expedi- . , , tions. A.H. vi. any importance was undertaken. Small armed bands were, however, frequently in motion for the chastisement of hostile tribes, the repulse of bandits, and the pursuit of caravans. There were during the year as many as seventeen such expeditions, one of which reached as far as to Duma. These generally ended in the capture of herds and flocks or other booty, and served to spread the terror of the prophet's name. On one occasion an interesting episode occurred. A Capture well- freighted caravan from Mecca, ventur- Mahomtt a '8' i n g to resume the sea-shore route to Syria, Ln " law ' was overpowered and carried into Medina. Among the prisoners was Abul Aas, husband of Zeinab, the prophet's daughter. While declining to embrace the faith of Mahomet, this man had equally resisted the bid- ding of the Coreish to divorce his daughter. The attach- ment was mutual, for when the emigration to Medina took place, Zeinab chose to stay behind at Mecca with her husband. He fought at Bedr, and was taken prisoner to Medina. For his ransom Zeinab sent her jewels. One was a necklace which Khadija had given her on her marriage. ABUL AAS, SON-IN-LAW OF MAHOMET. 169 Mahomet was touched by the affecting memorial, and said to the people, " If it seem right in your eyes, let my daughter's husband go free, and send these trinkets back." So Abul Aas was set free, on condition that he would send Zeinab to her father. He kept his promise. But as she was leaving Mecca, Zeinab was pursued by some of the baser sort, and by them so roughly handled as to bring on a miscarriage. It was three or four years after this incident that Abul Aas now again fell into the hands of the Moslems. As the party carrying him captive approached Medina, he contrived by night to have an interview with Zeinab, who gave him the guarantee of her protection. At morning prayer she called aloud from her apartment, which adjoined the court of the Mosque, that she had passed her word to Abul Aas. When prayers were ended, Mahomet said to the assembly, " Ye have heard, as I have, the words of my daughter. I protest to you that I knew nothing of it till this moment. But the pledge of even the least of my followers must needs be kept." Thereupon the captors resigned their claim, and Abul Aas was suffered to go free. He returned to Mecca ; but the attachment of his wife so wrought upon him, that having there settled his affairs, he made profession of Islam, and rejoined her at Medina. The following year she died of disease resulting from the attack made upon her at Mecca. Her treatment on that occasion had so incensed the prophet, that on hearing of it he threatened, if the perpetrators fell into his hands, to have them burned alive. But on seccnd thought he countermanded the order, and said, "It is not fitting that any of His creatures should punish by fire, but God only. Wherefore, if ye seize them, put them simply to the sword." 170 BARBAROUS PUNISHMENTS. A small expedition to the north may be mentioned for Barbarous the cruel deed which closed it. A caravan executionofa . Bedouin lady. Irom Medina was waylaid by a marauding tribe on the road to Syria, the freight plundered, and the convoy maltreated. The citizens were exasperated at the loss, and a strong party set out to punish the offenders. They surprised and captured the bandits' stronghold. Omm Kirfa, who had gained celebrity as the mistress of this den of robbers, was taken prisoner with her daughter. Neither the sex nor the advanced age of this lady saved her from a death of great barbarity. Her limbs were bound each to a separate camel, and these driven different ways, she was thus torn in pieces. Others of the family were also put to death. Zeid, who led the expedition, hastened to tell his success to Mahomet, who embraced and kissed him. We hear of no disapprobation at the inhuman treatment of the aged female. The daughter was given to Ayesha as her waiting-maid; but the brigand spirit survived in her, and a few years after we find her slain in a similar encounter with the troops of Khalid. 1 Another cruel punishment led to a special provision in And of certain the code of Islam. A party of eight Bedouins Bedouin robbers. yisited Medina and em braced the faith. But the damp affected their spleen, and as a remedy, Mahomet bade them join a herd of camels grazing in the vicinity, and drink their milk. With returning health there revived also the lust of plunder. Thejr escaped with the herd, and when pursued, slew the herdsman, cut off his limbs, and mangled his body. Twenty horsemen sent in pursuit seized the culprits' and brought them back to Medina. Justly incensed 1 S^e Annals of the Early Caliphate, p. 27. "REVELATIONS" OF THE PERIOD. 171 I at their savage crime, Mahomet was betrayed into an act of greater inhumanity. The arms and legs of the eight men were cut off, and their eyes put out. The sightless, shapeless trunks were then impaled upon the plain till life was extinct. On reflection, the prophet felt that he had exceeded the bounds of humanity, and a passage was revealed which limited the punishment for such offence to cutting off the hands, and in some cases also the feet, of the robber, male or female ; and this is the barbarous law of Islam to the present day. With the extinction of the Jews there comes a change over the subject matter of the Goran. In- Revelations vective against the ancient people of God, of the P eriod - and the lengthy tales borrowed from their Scripture and legends, with which the oracle had hitherto teemed, now entirely disappear. Tame in its diction, the " Revela- tion " becomes more and more confined as a rule to the promulgation of orders based on the incidents of the day. Some of these are curious. For example, on one occasion at prayers the Mosque was suddenly emptied at the sound of drums announcing the return of a caravan, and the prophet was left standing in the pulpit alone. The breach of decorum is thus noticed in a passage purporting, like the rest of the Goran, to be a message from heaven : Believers ! when ye hear the call to prayer on the day of assembly (Friday), then hasten to the commeinor- Suralxii. ation of God, and leave off trafficking. That will be better for you, if ye knew it. And when the Prayers are ended, then disperse over the land as ye list, and seek gain from the Lord ; and make frequent mention of God, that ye may prosper. But when they see merchandise or sport, at once they break away, flocking thereto, and leave thee 172 PKOHIBITIOK OF WIXE. standing in the pulpit by thyself. SAY, That which is with the Lord is better than sport or merchandise. And God is the best supporter. In another passage the prophet chides his followers wine, games of for coming to the services of the Mosque chance, and . > r* usury forbidden, m a state of inebriety. At the first the use of wine, although discouraged, was not absolutely forbidden. But eventually it was proscribed, in company with games of chance and other " works of Satan " : believers ! verily wine, and the casting of lots, and images and \ Sura v. di% r ining arrows, are an abomination of the works of Satan. Shun them, therefore, that ye may prosper. Satan seeketh to sow dissension and hatred among you by means of wine and lots, and to divert you thereby from the remembrance of Gbd, and from prayer. Will ye not therefore abstain ? Such is still the ordinance of Islam. 1 Usury also, in accordance with the Jewish code, is strictly forbidden. In the midst of the strange medley of laws and re- Description of gulations, and matters military, religious, the Deity. an( j g^^ f orm i n g the staple of the " reve- lations " of this period, we come ever and anon on pas- sages of lofty flight and eloquence, especially those on the Deity, His Works, and Providence. Such is the following : GOD 1 There is no God but He, the Living, the Eternal. Suraii. 256. Slumber doth not overtake Him, neither sleep. To Him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven and earth. Who is he that shall intercede before Him, excepting only by H's permission ? He knoweth what is before them, and what is behind (i. e. the future and the past) ; and they shall not comprehend anything of His knowledge, saving in so far as He pleaseth. His throne stretches both over the heavens and over the earth, and the maintenance of both is no burden to Him. He is the lofty and the great. 1 Wherever strict Mahometan rule prevails, indulgence in wine is punished with the lash. CHAPTER XXIV. THE UNFULFILLED PILGRIMAGE TREATY OF HODEIBIA. MARCH 628 A.D. END OF A.H. VI. ^ETAT. 59. Six years had passed since Mahomet and his Com- panions had seen their native city or Desiretorevisit worshipped at its shrine, and they pined to revisit it again. Mahomet himself had not ceased to enjoin the pilgrimage of Mecca as an essential part of the new religion. He upbraided the Coreish with hindering the approach of faithful pilgrims, while they desecrated by idolatrous rites the purity of the ancient worship : Wherefore should not the Lord chastise them ? for that they have hindered His servants from visiting the sacred Sura viii. Temple. And they are not the Guardians thereof; verily, none are its Guardians save the pious. But their prayers at the Temple are nought but whistling through their fingers, and the clap, ping of their hands. So shall ye taste the chastisement of your infidelity. But precept should be enforced by example, and so Mahomet felt that an effort must be made Mahomet's . . , . . . . dream of to carry out in company with his followers pilgrimage, this the grand rite of Islam. Musing thus, the prophet had by night a vision, in which as in a dream he seemed to see himself and his people enter Mecca peacefully 174 MAHOMET SETS OUT ON LESSER PILGRIMAGE. worshipping at the Kaaba. He divulged the dream to his followers, who, equally with himself, all yearned for its fulfilment. It was the holy month of Zulcada, pre- ceding the annual pilgrimage, a month in which, by the sense of Arabia, war was forbidden as a sacrilege, and in which, moreover, observance of the Lesser Pilgrimage was specially meritorious. 1 The resolution accordingly was formed of proceeding on this pilgrimage at once. There was now the chance of a peaceful entry, and if the Coreish should hinder them, the blame would be upon their head. That the cavalcade should be the more imposing, Mahomet sets Mahomet summoned the friendly Bedouin Kigrima^e7 tribes around to join the pilgrimage. But Feb. 623. A.H. vi.^ ere k em g no inducement on the score of plunder, most of these, pleading engagement at home, held back. The .people of Medina, however, Citizens as well as Refugees, responded eagerly to the call, and forthwith prepared for pilgrimage by putting on the two shreds of clothing which form the sole dress of the devotee. At the first halting-place the prophet and his followers consecrated themselves to the service by uttering the cry. Ldbleik, Labbeik! "Here am I, Lord ; here am I ! " The victims were then set apart by ornaments hung round their necks and by marks upon their sides. Seventy camels were thus devoted to sacrifice, and among them that of Abu Jahl, taken at Bedr. The pilgrim band, numbering fifteen hundred, then moved forward. They presented a peaceful array, carrying only the customary arms of a traveller, sheathed sword with bow and well-filled quiver. A troop of horse, 1 For the Lesser Pilgrimage, which is short and simple in its rules, see chap. iii. p. 26. THE COREISH BAR HIS ENTRANCE. 175 however, marched in front to give notice of danger. Mahomet carried Omm Salma with him. The approach of Mahomet, his pious purpose and unwarlike attitude notwithstanding, filled coreish oppose the Coreish with apprehension. Soon under Mecca, arms, they occupied the Medina road, resolved to bar his entry to the last extremity. A body of two hundred horse, under Khalid and Ikrima son of Abu Jahl, marched in front. The pilgrims were still two stages from Mecca, when a scout returned to Mahomet with this intelli- gence : " The Coreish occupy the road in force ; fierce, and clothed as it were in panther skins, their wives and children with them, they swear that they will rather die than let thee pass." The Meccan cavalry now came in sight, and further advance without a battle being im- possible, Mahomet turned to the right, and by devious and fatiguing pathways reached Hodeibia, an open space on the immediate verge of the sacred territory surrounding Mecca. There his camel, planting her fore-legs firmly on the ground, refused to stir another step. " She is weary," said the people, as they urged her on. "Nay," cried Mahomet, "Al Caswa is not weary; but the same hand restraineth her as aforetime held back the elephant. 1 By the Lord ! no petition to respect the sanctity of the Holy city shall be unheard by me this day." A spring of water was found, and they encamped upon the spot. The Coreish now sent messengers to ascertain the intentions of Mahomet. Deputations several Deputation of A Othmau to times went to and fro. At last Othman, Mecca, being a chief of family and influence, was sent into the 1 Alluding to the deliverance of Mecca, just before the birth of M-ihornel, when the Ethiopians from Yemen invaded Mecca with an army followed by an elephant. 176 THE PLEDGE OF THE TREE. city by the prophet to treat with the Coreish. On hearing what he had to say, they made this answer, that if Othman chose he might himself repair to the Kaba and worship there; but as for Mahomet, they had sworn that this year he should not enter within the precincts of the city. Othman retired bearing the message. Meanwhile there had been great excitement in the pilgrim camp. As Othman's return was long delayed, the rumour spread of treachery. The people ran together, and Mahomet, taking his stand beneath the The Pledge of shade of an acacia tree, required of them a the Tree. so lemn pledge to the death, that they would recover their detained comrade. When all had taken the oath, striking each one the palm of his hand on that of the prophet, he himself struck his own right hand upon his left, in token that he would stand by his absent son-in-law. Their fears were soon relieved by the return of Othman ; but " the Pledge of the Tree " is one of those romantic scenes of devotion that are never forgotten, and stand out as landmarks in the early annals of Islam. In the end a deputation of the Coreish visited Treaty with Hodeiba with power to conclude terms of the Coreish. pe ace> Mahomet called for Aly to write them down at his dictation ; " In the name of God, most Merciful and Gracious" the prophet began. " Stop," cried the others ; " as for God, we know Him, but this new name we know it not." " Then write," rejoined Mahomet calmly, " In thy name, God ! The conditions of peace between Mahomet the prophet of the Lord, and " " Stop again," interposed the Meccan chiefs. " If thou wert what thou sayest, we had not armed against thee. Write, as the custom is, TREATY CONCLUDED WITH COREISH. 177 but thine own name and thy father's." Still unmoved, Mahomet continued : " Write then, between Mahomet son of Abdallah, and Soheil son of Amr" The terms were shortly these. War to be suspended for ten years, and amity restored. Chiefs and tribes to be at liberty to join, at their discretion, either side. Converts at Mecca (with reservation of the rights of guardians) should be free to depart for Medina. Mahomet and his followers to retire at once without entering the city; but with permission the following year to return unarmed, and spend three days in pilgrimage at Mecca. Such was the treaty now duly witnessed by the leading men on either side. There being thus left no present prospect of wor- shipping at the Kaaba, Mahomet and his R e t U m from followers contented themselves with ful- Hodeibia - filling such of the pilgrim vows as the place admitted of. They sacrificed the victims, and then shaved their heads. And so, after a stay of ten or fifteen days, they quitted Hodeibia on their homeward march. The people were downcast at the abortive issue of the pilgrimage. But the oracle was at hand to raise their drooping spirits. As they journeyed the word passed round that " inspiration had descended on Passages of corau i ijj-r-i n-iii A regarding this the prophet. r rom all sides they hastened expedition, towards him. Then in the midst of a great assembly, Mahomet, standing upright upon his camel, recited a Sura entitled " The Victory." It opens thus : Verily We have given thee an evident Victory : that God may pardon thee the sin which is past, . . and fulfil Sura xlviii. His favours upon thee ; and that God may assist thee with a glorious assistance. It then proceeds with a scathing denunciation of 173 THE TRUCE CLAIMED AS A " VICTORY." the Arabs of the desert, who by false pretences had excused themselves from joining in the pilgrim journey. Their brave words would be put to the trial in battle " with a people terrible in war ; " and meanwhile, as the penalty of malingering a penalty hateful to the Bedouin they were forbidden to join in any warlike expedition or to share in its plunder. The Faithful are next applauded for their constancy at " the Pledge of the Tree." It was the hand of God, not the mere hand of the prophet, which then they struck : Verily the Lord was well pleased with the Believers when Sura xlviii. they pledged themselves to thee under the Tree. He knew what was in their hearts, and He caused tranquillity to descend upon them, and granted them a speedy Victory, and spoils which they shall hereafter take. God hath promised you great spoil, and He hath sent you this Truce beforehand. He restrained the hands of men from you. . . If the Unbelievers (i.e. the Coreish) had fought against you, verily they had turned their backs. . . It is the Lord that restrained their hands from you, and your hands from them in the Vale of Mecca. (Then, after denouncing the Coreish) Now hath the Lord verified unto His Apostle the vision in truth. Ye shall surely enter the Holy temple, if it please God, in security, your heads shaven and your hair shorn. And He hath appointed you after that a speedy Victory besides. When the recitation was ended, a bystander ex- Advantages claimed, " An evident victory ! where is gained by ireaty. ft ? y^" answered Mahomet, " by Him in whose hand is my breath, it is a Victory." Another reminded him of the promise that they should enter Mecca and worship at the Kaaba unmolested. " True," he replied ; " the Lord indeed hath promised this ; but when did He promise it for this year ? " In truth Mahomet had gained a real victory. He had forced the Coreish to recognize him as a power to be treated ADVANTAGE GAINED BY MAHOMET. 179 with on equal terms ; and liberty had been accorded every one to join Islam at his discretion. " In the two years that followed," writes one of his biographers, " as many persons entered the faith as there belonged to it altogether before, or even more." " And the proof of this," adds another, "is that whereas Mahomet went forth to Hodeibia with only fifteen hundred followers to the pilgrimage, he was followed two years later, in the attack on Mecca, by ten thousand." CHAPTER XXV. EMBASSIES DESPATCHED IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS. A.D. 628. A.H. VII. ^TAT. 60. ABOUT this time Mahomet formed the singular Despatches to design of sending despatches to the various surrounding Potentates, Potentates around, acquainting them with A.D. 628. ' * l A.H. vii. the Mission he had received from heaven, denouncing idolatry, and proclaiming the Unity of God. It was suggested to him that the kings of the earth accepted no communication of the kind unless attested with a seal. Therefore he had one of silver engraved with the words, Mahomet Apostle of God. Seven letters were accordingly written, and sealed with the seal. Six couriers, each the bearer of such a despatch, were sent forth at the opening of the Seventh year of the Hegira to the courts of Greece and Persia, and some other countries round about. Heraclius had recently achieved a splendid success Letter to the over the aims of Persia, and was at this Emperor ..... , . Heraclius. time engaged in a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on foot, in thankful celebration of his victories, and the recovery of "the true Cross." Just then the letter of Mahomet was forwarded to him by the governor of Bostra, into whose hands it had been delivered by an DESPATCHES TO HERACLIUS AND OTHERS. 181 Arab messenger. The despatch was addressed to the Emperor himself, and in strange accents, like the voice of a prophet of old, summoned him to recognize the mission of the new apostle, abandon the idolatrous worship of Jesus and his Mother, and return to the Catholic faith of the Unity. It was probably cast aside, or preserved haply as the curious effusion of some harmless fanatic. A similar despatch addressed to Harith, 1 Th e pr i nc eof prince of the Beni Ghassan (Christian Be Arabs of the Syrian desert), was by him forwarded to the court of Heraclius, with the request that he might be allowed to chastise the audacious impostor. But the Emperor, regarding this cry from the desert as beneath his notice, forbade the expedition, and bid Harith join him and swell his train as he approached Jerusalem. The King of Persia treated AndK in g of the letter sent to him with still less respect ; for, on hearing its contents, we are told that he tore it scornfully in pieces. " Even thus, O Lord," said Mahomet, when told of it, " wilt Thou rend the Tyrant's kingdom from him." Little wot the Kaiser and the Chosroes that in a few short years their empires would shiver at the very name of the obscure Arabian. The envoy to Egypt was courteously entreated by the Governor, and dismissed with a gentle Governor of and evasive answer. " I know," he wrote, rfp^anTtwo " that a prophet is to arise; but I believe slaVe e irls - that it will be in Syria, and not in Arabia. I send for thine acceptance two sisters, bondmaids, such as the Copts affect, also a present of raiment, and a mule for thee to ride upon." The gifts were well suited to the 1 A vassal of the Romans, one of a similar dynasty and name to " Ardas the king" noticed by the Apostle, 2 Cor. xi. 32. 182 DESPATCHES TO COUNTRIES AROUND. prophet's taste. Mary, the fairest of the damsels, was chosen for himself, and her sister presented to Hassan the poet. The mule was white, a rarity admired in Arabia, and was kept by Mahomet to be ridden by himself. Letters were also sent to Yemen and Yemarna, in the Yemen and south and centre of the peninsula. The I'emama. f ormer was a t this time governed by a Persian Viceroy, who, being virtually independent, was ready to recognize the claims of Mahomet and the fortunes of the rising faith. The chief of Yemama made answer : " How beautiful is this revelation to which thou invitest me ! I too am a poet and an orator, esteemed by the Arabs. Give me a share in the rule, and I will follow thee." " Had he asked of rne," said Mahomet, in disdain, "but an unripe date as his share in the land, I should have refused. Let him perish and his vain- glory with him ! " Thus cursed, the chief (we are told) died shortly after. The court of Abyssinia stood upon a different footing Abyssinia, from the rest. Many of the Moslems who took refuge in that land had already found their way back to Arabia, but there still remained fifty or sixty to enjoy the hospitality of the Negus. To the de- spatch of Mahomet the Prince now replied, embracing the faith of Islam, and expressing regret at his in- ability to join in person the standard of the prophet. ommHabiba ^ n a se P ara te epistle Mahomet begged of thc r Ne^8 b to tne King, as his representative in the Mahomet. mat t e r, to conclude a betrothal for him with Omm Habiba, the widowed daughter of Abu Sofian. This lady was a refugee in Abyssinia, where her hus- band, a convert to Christianity, had died. Though BETROTHAL WITH OMM HABIBA. 183 thirty-five years of age, her beauty in earlier days still held a place in the memory of the prophet. By this alliance ha not only gratified his passion for the sex (a whole year had passed since his last marriage), but no doubt also hoped to make Abu Sofian more favourable to his cause. The Negus gallantly performed the part assigned to him in the matrimonial pro- The Abyssinian . . . 1-1 exiles reach ject, and also provided two ships, in which Medina, A.D. 628. he sent back the remaining exiles. These reached Medina in safety in the seventh year of the Hegira. CHAPTER XXVI. CONQUEST OF KHEIBAR. AUTUMN OF 628 A.D. A.H. VII. jETAT. 60. ON his way back from Hodeibia, in the spring of Expedition * ne J ear > Mahomet, as we have seen, had ag Aug St 6l h ! i D ar> foretold "a speedy victory and spoils A.H. vii. j n a k unc i ance elsewhere." l The summer passed quietly, and it was autumn before measures were taken to fulfil the promise. The destined prey was Kheibar, a fertile vale about a hundred miles on the way to Syria. It was a Jewish settlement, and, but for his hatred of the stiff-necked race, the attack was entirely unprovoked. The Moslem army was called suddenly to march. Its numbers were about the same as in the expedition to Hodeibia, sixteen hundred, but greatly stronger in cavalry. The Moslem troop had never before exceeded thirty; it was now two hundred strong. The Bedouin allies would gladly have joined the tempting expedition, but, because they had held back from the Hodeibia pilgrimage, they were not allowed. Omm Salma was again the favoured companion of the prophet. 1 Sura xlviii., ride supra, p. 178. KHEIBAK COXQUEKED. 185 The vale of Kheibar was studded with fortresses perched upon the rocky eminences rising up amongst The Jewg the date-groves and luxuriant fields of corn. Jfj 1 ^^ So rapid was the march and so complete occupied, the surprise, that the peasants, issuing in the morning to their work, were startled by confronting a great army, and fled back in dismay within their gates. One by one, before defence was possible, the forts were carried. " Kharrabat Kheibar" cried Mahomet, with a jubilant play upon the name, as he passed triumphantly from one stronghold to another ; " Kheibar is undone. Allah Akbar ! great is the Lord ! Truly, when I light upon the coasts of any people, woe be unto them in that day ! " At last the Jews, having had time and heart to rally round their chief Kinana, took their stand before the strongest citadel. A severe engagement ensued, in which Aly as usual distinguished himself by signal bravery. Having lost his shield, he seized the lintel of a door, which, Samson-like, he wielded in its stead. There was no resisting the impetuosity of the Moslem charge. The victory was complete. Nearly a hundred men fell on the enemy's side ; in the whole campaign the army of Medina lost but nineteen. After this defeat the citadel surrendered, on condition that the people should be free to quit the Kinana tortured . . n i 11 an d P u t t country on giving up all their wealth to death, the conquerors. In carrying out these terms, the chief Kinana was accused of dishonestly keeping back part of his treasure, notably the marriage portion of the maiden to whom he had just been married, and whose father | had perished in the massacre of the Coreitza. " Where I are those vessels of gold," asked Mahomet of the vanquished chief, " the vessels ye used to lend for their \ 186 MAHOMET MARRIES KINAXA'S WIFE. feasts to the men of Mecca ? " Kinana protested that he no longer had them. A recreant Jew divulged the secret place where some valuables lay hid. In the hope of discovering the remainder, "fire was applied to the breast of the. Chief till his breath had well-nigh gone ; " and at last the wretched captive escaped his misery by death. On this, Bilal was sent to fetch Kinana's bride, the HIS -wife taken damsel Safia, just fifteen years of age. by Mahomet. Fmdmg her with her cous i nj t h e heart- less negro carried both the ladies across the battle- field strewn with the dead, and close by the headless corpse of Kinana. At the ghastly sight the cousin wildly screamed. " Take the she-devil hence," said Mahomet; but aside he chided Bilal for his thought- lessness. " Truly," said the negro, " I did it of purpose, to see their fright." But Mahomet was moved by; tenderer feelings. Turning to Safia, he cast his mantle over her, in token that he reserved her for himself. One of his followers had coveted this lady, whose beauty appears to have been well known at Medina, but Mahomet made him content by giving him her cousin. Safia was nothing loth to transfer her affections to Mahomet's the conqueror, nor did he delay the nuptials. marriage with , Ine weddin was celebrated with an abun- dant feast of dates, butter, and curdled milk. Mean- while the bride was bathed and suitably arrayed by Omm Salma's maid, and then brought forth to be mounted on the prophet's camel. The people said, " Now we shall see whether he hath taken her for his wife, or as a captive concubine." So when he called for a screen to veil her from the public gaze, they knew that she was taken as his wife. Mahomet lowered his knee to help her up, and she, after some coy demur, THE POISONED KID. 187 placing her foot thereon, climbed up into the litter. Mahomet then taking his seat in front, guided thus the camel in the evening to the bridal tent. But all the fair sex of Kheibar were not so fickle as was Sana. Zeinab, who had lost her Mahomet husband, as well as father and brothers, in poisoned kid. the battle, planned a subtle revenge. She dressed a kid with dainty garnishing, and, having steeped it in poison, placed the dish with fair words before Mahomet at his evening repast. Accepting the gift, he took for himself his favourite piece, the shoulder, and distributed portions to Abu Bekr and other friends, including one called Bishr, who sat beside him. " Hold," cried Ma- hornet, as he spat forth the first mouthful, " sure this shoulder hath been poisoned." But Bishr had already swallowed part. Immediately he changed colour, and stirred neither hand nor foot until he died. The prophet also was seized with excruciating pains. As a cure, he had himself and all who had partaken with him freely cupped between the shoulders. When put on her defence, Zeinab answered bravely, " Thou hast inflicted grievous injuries on my people, and slain, as thou seest, my husband and my father. Therefore, said I within myself, If he be a prophet he will reject the gift, know- ing that it is poisoned ; but if only a pretender, we shall be rid of our troubler." According to most autho- rities, she was put to death. The poison was felt by Mahomet to his dying day. The rest of Kheibar, taking warning by Kinana's fate, capitulated, and so did the adjoining Distr ib u tion of districts of Fadak and Wady al Cora. The theboot y- plunder was immense, dates and honey, oil and barley, treasure and jewels, flocks, herds, and camels, an ample 188 MAHOMET MARRIES OMM HABIBA. fulfilment of the prophecy. The movable spoil was dis- tributed in the usual way. But the lands were other- wise disposed of. One-half was reserved as a crown domain, and, having been assessed at half the annual produce, was left in possession of the Jewish peasants. The rest was divided in freehold plots among the army. Mahomet had now an ample income at command. To each of his wives he made a liberal assignment, so many measures annually of dates and barley. Nor were the poor forgotten. The remainder was appropriated for the entertainment of guests, the support of auxiliaries, and other purposes of state. The power of Mahomet no longer stood on spiritual resource alone, but on the substantial basis also of the sinews and thews of war. On the way home Mahomet had the satisfaction of Return of welcoming his cousin Jafar and the other Abyssinian . . . . ., , , . refugees. Abyssinian exiles, who on their return went out to meet him. " I know not/' said Mahomet on this occasion, " which delighteth me the most, the con- quest of Kheibar or the return of Jafar." The army, no less pleased, acceded cheerfully to his proposal that their returning comrades should share equally with them in the spoil of Kheibar. On his return to Medina, Mahomet there took to Marriage with himself Omm Habiba, thus consummat- Oinm Habiba : . , . . . - , _ T , , aetat. eo. ing the marriage which the JNegus had contracted for him in Abyssinia. CHAPTER XXVII. . THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE. A.D. G29. A.H. VII. .ETAT. 60. THE remainder of the Seventh year of the Hegira, that is, the autumn and winter of 628 A.D., Expeditions in . * r i o i autumn and was spent by Mahomet at Medina, Several winter, A.D. oas. expeditions were undertaken under different leaders. With an occasional reverse, these were upon the whole successful. Some reached remote places, and though none was of any lasting importance, they continued to extend the name of Mahomet, and to bring him into relations, hostile or friendly, with surrounding and even distant tribes. The month at length came round when, according to the treaty of Hodeibia, Mahomet might Mahomet . sets out on Lesser revisit Mecca and fulfil the ceremonies of Pilgrimage, February 629. the Lesser Pilgrimage. The cavalcade set A.H. vn. out two thousand in number. As stipulated, they bore only a sword apiece, with bow and arrows. But a heavy reserve of armour, in case of treachery, was carried separately, and deposited outside the sacred boundary. Sixty camels, to be slain as victims, were driven in front. 192 PERFORMS THE LESSER PILGRIMAGE. At Mecca a singular scene was now to be enacted. coreish with- When the pilgrims drew near, the Coreish, Mahomet as it had been arranged, withdrew with their performs p i ^ i * i i r in pilgrimage, lamilies irom the city, and left it wlioliy empty. They climbed the heights of the overhanging hill, and there, from their tents, watched with curious eye the entrance of the prophet as he marched at the head of the long procession wending its way through the approaches of the Kaaba. Seven years had passed since the exiles had seen their native valley, and now with quickened step they hastened forward as the sacred Temple rose in view, shouting the accustomed cry, Labbeik! Labbeik! Still mounted on his camel, Ma- homet approached the Kaaba, touched the Black stone reverently with his staff, and made the seven circuits round the holy house. Just then, the chief who led his camel broke out loudly with some warlike and defiant verses. "Gently," said Mahomet, reproving him. " Say rather, There is no God but the Lord ! It is He that hath upholden His servant, and exalted His people. Alone hath He discomfited the Confederated hosts." The great concourse took up his words, shouting them aloud as they ran round about the Kaaba, till the mighty sound reverberating, rang round the valley. The circuits completed, Mahomet adjourned to the ad- joining eminences of Safa and Merwa, riding seven times from one to the other, according to the ancient custom. The victims were now drawn up in line and sacrificed. Then he shaved his head. And with this ended the ceremonies of the Lesser Pilgrimage. On the morrow, Mahomet again repaired to the Kaaba. and ascended the interior chamber. Notwithstanding that the temple was still garnished with emblems of idolatry, Bilal, mounting MAHOMET'S LAST MARRIAGE. 193 the roof, summoned the Moslems with the usual cry to mid-day prayer; and there, under the shadow of the ancient house, the service was led by Mahomet in the same form as in the Mosque at Medina. While at Mecca, Mahomet lived in a tent of leather pitched for him near the Kaaba, and he Mahomet entered into friendly converse with several wa corelh y to he of the citizens who ventured down from the heights into the valley. Nor was he deterred either by his sacred errand or by advancing years from seeking on this occasion another wife. This was Meimuna, a young widowed lady ; she was sister-in-law Marriage ^^ to his uncle Abbas, through whom the Meimtoa - marriage was negotiated. But the time was short. Already the three days stipulated had expired, when a deputation was sent by the Coreish to request that according to agreement he should depart. " And what harm," answered Mahomet, " if ye allow me to stay a little longer and celebrate my nuptials amongst you, and make for the guests a feast of which ye also might partake ? " " Nay," said the chiefs, " of any food of thine we have no need. Withdraw from hence." So Mahomet departed, and by night-time not one of the pilgrims was left behind. The first stage on the homeward journey was Sarif, eight miles off; and there Mahomet received his bride, who was conducted to him by his servant on a camel. Early in the morning the march was resumed, and the pilgrim band journeyed back to Medina. Meimuna survived Mahomet fifty years, and was by her desire buried on the same spot where the prophet had welcomed her as his bride. This was Mahomet's last marriage. He had now in his harem ten wives ; but one died before him, so that the number H 194 CONVERSION OF KHALID AND AMRIJ. was then reduced to nine, or, including slave-girls, eleven. He thus took large advantage of his special privilege. Other believers are limited by law to four free wives, though they may take for concubines as many bond- maids as they choose. Mahomet carried with him to Medina Meimuna's conversion of sister, the widow of his uncle Hamza. Another sister was the mother of Khalid the warrior who at Ohod had turned the battle against the Moslems. Not long after his aunt's marriage, Khalid repaired to Medina, and joined the cause of Islam. Amru, a chief of almost equal influence, shortly followed, and several other leading men. Thus the position of Mahomet gained daily. A bold stroke might put an end to the struggle that had so long- distracted Mecca. A coup d'ttat was fast becoming possible. CHAPTER XXVIII. BATTLE OF MUTA. A.D. 629. A.H. VIII. ^ETAT. 61. DURING the summer and autumn of the Eighth year of the Hegira, the arms of Mahomet were campaign on , . ,, ,.,. Syrian border, again engaged in many small expeditions, sept. 029. and as before with varying results. Most of these were crowned with success, but some came to a disastrous end, and one or two parties were entirely cut up. The autumn was marked by a heavier campaign. Some tribes towards the Syrian border showed signs of hos- tility, and a messenger on his way to Bostra was put to death by the chief of Maab, or Muta. To avenge the affront, an army assembled at Medina three thousand strong. Placing a white banner in the hands of his friend Zeid, Mahomet bade him march to the spot where his envoy had been slain, with this command : " Call upon them to embrace Islam ; if they refuse, then, in the name of the Lord draw the sword and fight." He accompanied the army as far as to the Mount of Farewell in the outskirts of the city, and thence as they passed onward before him, blessed them thus : " The Lord shield you from danger, and bring you back in peace, laden with spoil." Tidings of the coming army alarmed the Syrian N 2 193 MOSLEMS DEFEATED AT MUTA. border, and a large force was quickly drawn together. Roman army Amongst them were some imperial cohorts assembles, commanded by an officer of distinction. The rumour grew as it spread, and Zeid was startled by the alarming report of the Kaiser himself being with a great army encamped at Maab. A council was called, and for two days it was debated whether they should go for- ward or seek for fresh instructions. The counsels of the more ardent at last prevailed. " Is it in numbers," they cried, " or in the help of the Lord, that we put our trust ? Victory or the martyr's crown, one or the other is secure." And so the army went on. When they had reached Belcaa, on the southern borders of the Dead Sea, they suddenly found themselves confronted by an enemy surpassing in numbers and equipment anything they had ever seen before. Alarmed at the glittering array, they fell back on Battle of Mftta. ,the village of Muta. There finding advan- tageous ground, they stood, and resolved to give battle. The Roman phalanx, with clouds of Arab horse on either flank, moved steadily down upon them. Zeid, waving his white flag, led the Moslem columns on, till, fighting bravely at their head, he fell. Jafar, cousin of Mahomet, second in command, seized the banner, and urged for- ward the attack. In token of death or victory, he maimed his horse, and fought on covered with wounds, until a Roman dealt him also the fatal blow. Then a Citizen, rescuing the standard, planted it on the ground, and as the line was giving way, shouted, " Whither away, Defeat of the V e Moslems ? come back ! " and so there was a Moslem army. tei nporary rally. The leadership being now vacant, a council of war hastily called together fixed their choice on the famous Khalid, who forthwith assumed the ZEID AND JAFAR SLAIN. 197 command. But the chance of victory had passed away. The ranks were hopelessly broken, and the Romans in pursuit were already making havoc of the fugitives. To save the scattered columns from destruction taxed the genius of Khalid to the utmost. By a Khaiid saves series of skilful movements he drew off the remnants, shattered remains of the army to a safe retreat. But he dared not linger longer in the dangerous locality, and so, without further attempt to retrieve the day, he marched back to Medina, The people hooted and cast dust at them coming in, " as runaways who had fled when fighting for the Lord." " Nay," cried Mahomet, who had ridden out to meet them on his mule, carrying the little son of Jafar before him, " these are not runaways ; they are men who will yet return to the fight, if the Lord will." The reverse, and the loss of two such friends as Zeid and Jafar, the brother of Aly, affected Ma- Mahomet visits " families of Jiifar hornet deeply. Jafar s widow tells us that and zeid. she had just bathed and dressed her children, when the prophet entering embraced them, and burst into tears. She guessed the truth, and sobbed aloud. Returning home, he bade them send provisions to the bereaved household, " for none this day," said he, " will be pre- pared there." At the house of Zeid, the little daughter of his deceased friend rushed into his arms, crying bitterly. Mahomet, overcome, joined in her weeping. A bystander expostulated, " Why thus, O prophet ? " He answered, " This is not the grief which is forbidden ; this is nought but the yearning in the heart of friend for friend." The unruly people of the north, encouraged by the defeat, assembled in threatening numbers, Syrian border and even talked of a descent upon Medina. aUe^nceby Amru, the late convert, being kin to the 198 INCREASING POWER OF MAHOMET. tribes in that quarter, was sent with an army to quell the rising, and restore the prestige of Islam on the Syrian frontier. He found the country all so hostile that he had to halt and send for reinforcements. These were despatched under Abu Obeida, to whom, although one of the oldest and chiefest of the Companions, Amru imperiously refused to surrender the command. Abu Obeida, who was of a milder temperament, yielded. It is interesting to notice in each of these commanders the same character already showing itself at this early period, as after the death of Mahomet mnrked their career in the Syrian wars. Thus strengthened, Amru again advanced, dispersed the hostile gatherings, confirmed the friendly tribes, and restored peace to the border. Various other expeditions followed, ending success- Extending fully, and bringing spoil and captives, men power and in- , " , ,. r , ml fluence of and women, to the Moslems. 1 he tame ot 629. A.H. viii. Mahomet grew so rapidly, and the fear of his arms so widely spread abroad, that numerous tribes, even such as had been bitterly hostile hitherto, began now to send in their adhesion to the court of Medina. His courteous treatment of such deputations, and ready attention to their claims, the wisdom with which he composed their disputes, and the politic assignments of territory by which he rewarded early declaration in favour of Islam, made the name of Mahomet popular, as that of a great and generous Prince, throughout the Peninsula. And, moreover, the accession of so many tribes, all bound to furnish their contingents when so required, enabled him to call into the field an incom- parably larger and more imposing force than he had heretofore aspired to lead, whenever the occasion might arise. CHAPTER XXIX. COXQUEST OF MECCA. JANUARY 630. A.H. VIII. ^ETAT. 61. THE truce of Hodeibia had been for two years in force, when a complaint of its infraction Beni Khozaa complain of afforded Mahomet colourable pretext for breach of truce, r . . Dec. 629 A.D. attacking Mecca. Acting on the discretion A.H. vm. given by the treaty, the Beni Khozaa and Beni Bekr, tribes inhabiting the neighbourhood of Mecca, had de- clared their adhesion, the former to the side of Mahomet, the latter to that of the Coreish. An old blood feud now broke out afresh between the two tribes, and the Beni Bekr, aided by a party of the Coreish in disguise, at- tacked the Khozaa by night and slew some of them. A deputation from the injured tribe hastened to Medina, spread their wrongs before the prophet, and demanded justice. The longed-for opportunity had come. Start- ing up, with his garments yet ungirded, Mahomet at once exclaimed, " If I help you not in like wise as if the wrong were mine own, let me never more be helped by the Lord ! See ye not the rain pouring down from yonder cloud ? Even so shall help descend upon the Beni Khozaa speedily." 200 THE MARCH UPOX MECCA. The Coreish, learning the errand of the Khozaa, were unsuccessful alarmed. They despatched Abu Sofian to Abu sofian. Medina to protest against the charge ; but he could get no response from Mahomet. At last, in despair, he stood up in the court of the great Mosque and cried, " Hearken, ye people, unto me ! Peace and pro- tection I guarantee for all." Whereupon the prophet made reply, " It is thou that sayest it, not one of us, Abu Sofian ! " So he departed, rebuffed and in uncer- tainty. The Coreish perceived that they were in evil case, but they did not suspect how imminent the designs of Mahomet against them were. In fact, Mahomet had already resolved on an im- Preparations for mediate and grand attack upon his native attacking Mecca. c ^ The Design, however, was kept secret by him even from his closest friends. Meanwhile, he busied himself in summoninghis Bedouin allies to muster in strength at Medina, or at convenient points upon the road. But he held their destination hid, and to divert attention despatched a party of soldiers in another quarter. At the last moment he announced his project, but still enjoined the utmost caution, so that not a breath regarding it should transpire at Mecca. " O Lord ! " he prayed, "let not any spy carry tidings to the Coreish. Blind their eyes, until that I come upon them suddenly and take them unawares ! " Such was the petition offered up daily by him in the Mosque. The army was the largest Medina had ever seen. Army marches, Bedouin camps darkened the plain all 1st Jan. 630 AJX , , . . . . , . A.H. viii. round, and heavy contingents joined by the way, so that Mahomet now found himself at the head of ten thousand men. Zeinab and Omm Salma were his companions on the march, which was forced ABU SOFIAN SEEKS PEACE. 201 with such rapidity that within a week he was but a single stage from Mecca. To strike terror Reachesnei h . into the rebellious city, ten thousand fires Me b c C a r byforc f ed were kindled on the heights above the marches. camp. So stealthy, quick, and unexpected was the movement, and the host so overwhelming, that the Coreish were panic-struck, and perceived at once the hopelessness of opposition. Abbas, secretly apprized, had already joined the prophet on the march ; and Abu Sofian, opportunely met by him as he ventured forth to recon- noitre, was conducted to his Nephew's presence. Out upon thee, Abu Sofian ! exclaimed the pro-Abu soMn.tender- . . iiig submission, phet as the (Joreishite chief drew near: sent with . psaceful message hast tnou not yet discerned that there is no to Mecca. God but the Lord alone ? " Noble and generous sire," he answered, " had there been any beside, he surely had been of some avail to me." And dost thou not acknow- ledge me to be the Prophet of the Lord ? " Noble sire, as to this thing, there is still some hesitancy within." " Woe is thee !" cried Abbas; " it is no time for hesitancy this. Believe and testify the faith at the peril of thy neck ! " It was indeed no time for idle pride or scruple, and so Abu Sofian repeated the formula of belief in the Lord and in Mahomet as His prophet. The troops were already marshalling, and time was precious. " Haste thee to the city," said Mahomet to his great antagonist, now a suppliant at his feet; "hasten, and say that none who taketh refuge in the house of Abu Sofian shall be harmed this day; and whoso closeth the door of his house, the inmates thereof shall be safe." Hurrying away to his home, Abu Sofian made proclamation in the words of Mahomet ; and so, with few exceptions, the people fled every man to his house or to the Kaaba. 202 MECCA TAKEN. The troops, marshalled in four columns, approached Army enters the city by as many different roads. the city in four -. r , -I-IT-.P columns. Mahomet, with the Refugees, led by Abu Obeida, took the nearest way. The anxieties of a life- time crowded into the moment. But as the city opened on the prophet's view, it was plain that his precautions had taken due effect; and so, bending low upon his camel, he offered thanksgiving to the Lord. Mercy and forbearance had been enjoined upon the leaders. The columns entered peaceably, all excepting that of Khalid. The southern suburb, assigned to him, was KMiid meets inhabited by bitter opponents of the pro- with opposi- x tion. phet. His battalion, composed of Bedouins difficult at any time to hold in hand, was saluted as it neared the place with a shower of arrows. The Bedouins, let loose, at once discomfited the enemy ; and Khalid, flushed with success and unmindful of his master's orders, pursued through the streets the fugitive Coreish. Eight-and-twenty were cut up, while Khalid lost but two men. As Mahomet, entered Mecca from the oppo- site side, his grateful sense was turned suddenly into concern as he caught sight of the gleam of swords. "What!" he cried in anger; "did not I give strict command that there should be no fighting ? " The cause was explained, whereupon the prophet said, " What the Lord decreeth that is best." Mahomet then encamped his great host at the point Mahomst re- where the valley opens out above the town. poses in his _. . . . , i i tent. There his leathern tent was pitched, not far from the graves of Abu Talib and Khadija. The chief banner was planted at his door. Assured now that the city, as it lay before him, was wholly at his will, he retired within his tent to rest, and ponder DESTRUCTION OF IDOLS. 203 over the accomplishment of that which had been the dream of his life. But he did not long repose. Again mounting his camel, he reverently performed the worship Worships at ' . _. . . . , , . Kaaba, and of the Kaaba. .Pointing to tne idols one by destroys idols. one that stood around it with his staff, he commanded them to be hewn down. Truth hath come, he cried aloud, in the words of the Goran, as the image of Hobal fell with a crash, Truth hath come, and SuraiYii 82. Falsehood hath gone ; for Falsehood verily vanisheth away. Then calling for the key wherewith to open the door, he ascended the steps of the doorway, entered the Temple, and devoutly bowed himself therein. Returning to the elevated threshold, and catching hold of the rings attached to either side, he gazed in thankfulness on the thronging multitude below. " Here," he cried, naming the hereditary Guardian of the temple, "here, take back the key, to be kept a perpetual charge by thee and thy posterity. And thou, Abbas" (turning to his uncle), " I confirm thee in the giving of drink to pilgrims from out of the well Zem-zem. It is no mean office that I now give unto thee." The idols destroyed, and the figures painted on the walls of the Kaaba obliterated, worship was Mahomet ' 8 i ove performed by the multitude in the court of for Meoca - the Kaaba after the ritual of the great Mosque at Medina. A crier was then sent through the city, pro- claiming that no idol should be left in any house that was not broken in pieces. A party was at the same time deputed to repair the pillars marking the limits of the sacred environs. Mahomet thus gave proof that while utterly uprooting idolatry from the land, he was equally bent on upholding the sanctity of Mecca and 204 TREATMENT OF ENEMIES. the obligation of its worship. He won the hearts of the people by his ardent declaration of love for their city. " Thou art the choicest spot upon earth to me," he said, " and the most delectable. If thy people had not cast me forth, I never had forsaken thee ! " The men of Medina now expressed their fear that he would not return to Medina as his home. But he speedily reas- sured them. " The Lord forbid that," he answered, with the strongest asseveration ; " where ye live, there will I live, and there also shall I die." From the general amnesty Mahomet excepted ten or certain citizens twelve persons, but the greater number even proscribed. Q f ^hese h e pardoned. Two men were pro- scribed for the ruffianly attack on his daughter Zeinab, but one of them escaped, and was eventually forgiven. Two others were renegade Moslems, who, having shed blood at Medina, had fled to Mecca. They were now executed, together with a singing girl belonging to one of them, who had annoyed the prophet with her satires. An apostate scribe, Abu Sarh, 1 to whom the prophet used to dictate passages of the Goran, was spared, though unwillingly, at the entreaty of his friends. Ikrima, son of Abu Jahl, and Safwan, a chief of note, eluded the pursuit of Khalid. Reaching the sea-shore, they were on the point of embarking, when, on the assurance of pardon, they were persuaded to return. Hind, who had compassed the death of Hamza, and another singing girl, escaped death by opportune submission. Thus of the whole number only four were actually put to death, and these (with the exception only, one might say, of the singing girl) with perhaps sufficient reason. The magnanimity with which Mahomet treated a 1 He was foster-brother to Othman, and we hear more of hi:n under his Caliphate. See 'Annals of the Early Caliphate,' p. 298. POSITION ACHIEVED BY MAHOMET. 205 people who had so long hated and rejected him, had its reward. The whole city espoused his cause. Magnanimity O f There were no dissentients here, nor any Ma a h d 1 ^ on ud disaffected citizens, as there had been at ofMeccans - Medina; and shortly after we find two thousand of the Coreish fighting loyally by his side. Parties were sent throughout the surrounding country to destroy the images of Al Ozza and idoisin neighbourhood Manat, and other tutelary shrines. This destroyed. was effected for the most part peaceably. But Khalid, giving thus early proof of his sanguinary temper, en- couraged his Bedouins to put to death some prisoners of a tribe that had offered opposition. On Severity O f receiving intelligence of the mishap, Ma- av^eVby hornet raised his hands to heaven and Mahomet., cried, "O Lord, I am innocent in Thy sight of that which Khalid hath done ! " and, to prove the sincerity of his regret, he sent Aly to make compensation for the slain and to return the plunder. By the conquest of Mecca, Mahomet achieved a position from which it was now possible to Review of -.., - i i -r i position now impose his faith upon the whole Peninsula, attained. Lord of the Kaaba, a shrine worshipped by nearly the entire Arabian nation, he was able now to dictate the conditions of its worship, and thus to mould the national faith. It remained but that the office of the prophet should be accredited by the power of the conqueror; and for conquest there was everything in Mahomet's favour. Master of Mecca and Medina, he possessed as such a powerful following among the Bedouins of Central Arabia ; and with them to support him, supre- macy throughout the Peninsula was assured. But there was rough work for him yet to go through before reaching the sovereign object of his ambition. CHAPTER XXX. BATTLE OF HONEIN SIEGE OF TAYIF. JANUARY MARCH 630 A.D. A.H. VIII. A STORM that lowered in the east cut short the stay Hostile designs of Mahomet at Mecca. There was no Hawazin. mistaking his iconoclastic aim, and Tayif trembled for its faith and liberties. This city, 60 or 70 miles east of Mecca, was the centre of a local worship, to which the great Bedouin clan of the Beni Hawazin were devoted. In an early offensive movement (as it would seem to them) lay their only chance of safety, and so they assembled in great force on the road leading from Tayif to Mecca. Having provided for the government of his native city an obligation now devolving on him as its conqueror Mahomet marshalled his troops, and marched forth to meet the gathering foe. His army was swelled by a contingent of the Coreish to 12,000 men. The array of tribes, each with a banner waving at its head, was so imposing that Abu Bekr broke forth in admiration, saying that they should not this day be worsted, at any rate by reason of the smallness of their numbers. Mahomet smiled complacently, but after- wards saw reason to reproach himself for falling into the temptation of so vainglorious an attitude. The Beni Hawazin halted in the valley of Honeiu, MOSLEMS CHECKED AT HOXEIX. 207 between Tayif and Mecca. Their women and children, herds and flocks, were posted in the rear, Battle of , , . . ... Honein. Feb. to render defeat, as it were, impossible, eso. A.H. vm. As Mahomet approached, their chief, Malik, masked his forces in a steep and narrow defile leading into the valley. At early dawn the Moslem army was in motion. Mounted on his white mule, Mahomet rode in the rear. The vanguard, led by Khalid, were already within the pass, when suddenly the Beni Hawazin sprang from their ambuscade. Staggered by the MftClOTr , oo / jxiooiciii jiriiijr onset, column after column fell back, and gi^sway. choked the narrow pass. Panic spread, and the troops turned and fled. " Whither away ? Return, return ! " cried Mahomet, as troop after troop hurried past him. But the rush and crush went on, camels jostled one another wildly, and the prophet's voice was lost amid the din. Just then the Medina column bore down the narrow valley in the common rout, and Mahomet seeing it, bade Abbas, who had a stentorian voice, to shout, "Men of Medina ! Ye men of the Pledge of the Tree ! " The words touched a chord in their heart, and they cried, " Yd Ldb- leik I Yes, here we are ! " A hundred of these planted themselves across the gorge ; and thus relieved of pres- sure, the troops behind rallied and returned to the fight. Mahomet, climbing an eminence, watched the struggle, which for a time was doubtful. " Now is the furnace heated!" he cried excitedly; "I am the prophet that lieth not, the seed of Abd al Muttalib ! " Then catch- ing up a handful of gravel he cast it at the enemy. " Ruin seize them ! I swear they are discomfited ! " he shouted eagerly, as he saw them wavering. " By the Lord of the Kaaba, they yield ! The Lord Enemy routed, hath cast fear into their hearts ! " The moment was 203 VICTOEY OF HOXEIX. critical, but in the end the enemy turned and fled. The rout was complete, and so fierce the pursuit that some of the women and children even were killed, an atrocity strictly forbidden by Mahomet. Malik taking his stand at the further end of the And their , valley, covered the flight of his broken clptured. forces. But the women and children, the camp, with herds and flocks and long strings of camels, all fell into the conqueror's hands. The prisoners, 6000 in number, were placed in the adjoining valley of Jierrana, and guarded there while the army went on to Tayif; for Mahomet felt sure that the vanquished tribe would return and open negotiations for the release of their families. The victory, though complete, was not gained without victory ascribed considerable loss. Ten of Mahomet's im- to heavenly aid. me( ji a t e followers fell ; but the auxiliaries exposed to the first brunt of the attack suffered the most ; two tribes were almost annihilated, and for them Mahomet prayed that the Lord would recompense them for their calamities. In the passages which treat of this battle, the reverse sustained at the outset is at- tributed to the vainglorious trust in their numbers with which the army set out from Mecca, while the eventual success is ascribed to unseen hosts sent down from heaven to fight for the faith : Verily the LORD hath assisted you in many battle-fields, and Sura ix. notably in the day of HOXEIN, when ye rejoiced in the multitude of your army. But the multitude did not in any wise benefit you. The earth with all its spaciousness became too strait for you. And so ye turned your backs and fled. Then after that, the Lord cnused His peace to descend on His Prophet and on the Faithful, and sent down Hosts which ye saw not, and thereby punished the unbelievers. And such is the end of them that disbelieve. SIEGE OF TAYIF. 209 The army, having left a detachment at Jierrana, passed on to the attack of Tayif'. But the battlements were strong, the city well provisioned, and siege laid to , .., ? I * - A i * ""y^ Februal T a plentiful supply of water within itsesoA.D.A.H.vm. walls. The Moslems pitched at first too near. Showers of arrows, like flights of locusts, darkened the air. Twelve men were killed; many were wounded, and amongst them a son of Abu Bekr. The camp was therefore retired to a spot out of range, and there tents were pitched for Omm Salma and Zeinab, who had followed their lord through all the dangers of the way. On a spot between the two, Mahomet performed the daily prayers, and there eventually rose the great Mosque of Tayif. A southern trib3, familiar with the use of besieging engines, built a battering-ram, which was run up against the walls ; but the besieged poured down heated iron, and set it thus on fire. At last, as the only means of bringing the place to terms, Mahomet gave command to cut down and burn to their roots the vines of the famous vineyards surrounding the town. The citizens expostulated against the wanton injury, as opposed to the laws of war ; and orders were issued to stay the merciless destruction. But in place of it, proclama- tion was made of freedom to all slaves that might desert. Twenty escaped, much to the chagrin of the garrison, and fought thereafter in the ranks of their liberators. Half a month passed thus without effect. The army became impatient to share the spoil siege raised. in store for them at Jierrana. A council of war was held, and Mahomet asked the leaders what they thought of this stubborn city. "A fox in its hole," answered an astute old chief; "sit long enough before the hole, and ye will catch it ; depart, and it will not 210 MAHOMET MOBBED AT JIERRAXA. harm you." A dream of Mahomet enforced the a'lage, and so the army raised the siege and marched back to Jierrana. While arrangements were in progress there for the iiawazin distribution of the captives and the prev captives set at liberty, a female made her way into the prophet s presence. It was the daughter of his nurse Halima, who reminded him of her attendance on him as a little girl, when he was nurtured in her family. She was received affectionately and dismissed with a present. Emboldened by her kind reception, the whole clan pressed their claim. Among the prisoners, they said, were his foster mothers and his foster sisters, "they that have nursed thee and fondled thee in their bosoms; and now thou art risen to this dignity. Be gracious unto us, even as the Lord hath been gracious unto thee ! " He was moved at their entreaty, and persuaded the army to give up the captives without ransom. Returning to his tent, an impatient throng sur- Mahomet mobbed rounded him, crying out, "Distribute to by discontented -i i -iini followers, us the spoil, the camels and the nocks ! So rudely did they jostle, that he was driven to take refuge under a tree, and his mantle was torn from his shoulders. " O man, return to me my mantle," said Mahomet, extricating himself with some difficulty from the press ; " for I swear that if the sheep and camels were as many as the trees of the forest in number, I would divide them all amongst you." Then plucking from his camel's hump a hair, he held it up and said, "Even to this I would keep back nought but the Fifth, and even that I will divide amongst you." They were pacified, and Mahomet went on his way. DISTRIBUTION OF THE BOOTY. 211 The booty was then distributed. Over and above their proper share, Mahomet gave princely gifts, to gain the hearts of the leading men of Mecca and Largesses to . . Meccan and of the Bedouin chiefs, not long ago his sworn Bedouin chiefs, enemies : to some a hundred camels, and to some fifty. Though taken from the prophet's Fifth, these largesses to new and doubtful converts gave umbrage to his veteran followers. The citizens of Medina especially, began to say that, now joined by his own cause discontent ,. rm . . among citizens people, he had forgotten them. 1 his coming of Medina. to the prophet's ears, he called the murmurers to him, and reminded them of the benefits, temporal and spiritual, he had conferred upon them. After enumer- ating these, he asked, " Is it not so ? " and paused for a reply. " It is indeed," they answered with one voice. " Nay, but," continued Mahomet, " ye might have said to me, aud said truly, Thou earnest to us rejected, and we bare thee witness ; a fugitive, and we took thee in ; destitute, and we fed thee. Why are ye disturbed be- cause I have sought to gain these men unto the faith in the which ye are already stablished ? Are ye not satisfied to leave the flocks and the herds to them, while ye carry back with you the prophet of the Lord ? Nay, I will never leave you. The Lord bless the men of Medina, their sons, and their sons' sons for evermore." They were melted, the tears ran down upon their beards, and they cried out with one voice, " Yea, we are well satisfied, O prophet, with our lot ! " Nevertheless, a grave misdemeanour had been committed by those who found fault with the dis- tribution, and a passage was accordingly revealed bearing a divine reprimand for the same. The Sura ix. 62. legitimate recipients of public charity had before been o 2 212 ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE. laid down as the " poor and needy, the wayfarer," and certain other deserving classes. It was needful for Mahomet now to justify his own action in stepping beyond these limits ; and so a new class is added in this passage as proper objects of public gifts, namely, " those whose hearts are to be gained over to the faith." The distribution ended, Mahomet took upon him the Mahomet pilgrim vows, and fulfilled the rites of the p piSrimS ) ser Lesser Pilgrimage at Mecca. But he made March 630 A.D. nQ ^^ there. Returning to his camp at Jierrana, he took thence the direct route home to Mecca. The Annual pilgrimage followed shortly after, but Annual Mahomet did not go up to it. The cere- 'D monies were presided over by the governor, ri. Attab, a youthful chief of the Coreish, whom the prophet had appointed as his vice-gerent to the charge of Mecca. Idolaters were still allowed freely to mingle with believers in performance of the rites. CHAPTER XXXI. MARY AND HER SON. A.D. 630, 631. A.H. VIII. X. 61, 62. IN the Ninth year of the Hegira, Mahomet lost his daughter Zeinab, who had never recovered Death of zeinab, the ill-treatment she suffered on her escape bnhw. from Mecca. Omm Kolthum, whom Othman married after Rockeya's death, had also died, so that of his children Fatima at this time alone survived. He was now for a brief space to be solaced by another child. A singular fortune elevated Mary, the Coptic bond- maid, to a dignity which her beauty alone Mary bears a could not have secured for her. She and T^End^f her sister professed originally the Christian A ' H ' MI1 ' faith, but no doubt they had by this time gone over to Islam. A garden-house in the suburbs of the city was prepared for Mary, and there, in the summer season, she used to receive the visits of the prophet. In course of time she gave promise of becoming a mother, and the aged Salma, who had long before attended the birth of Khadija's children, was now engaged to perform the same office for Mary. Shortly after the return of the army from Tayif, she gave birth to a son. Mahomet's joy was great. He called the child's name Ibrahim, 214 AFFAIR OF MARY. and on the seventh day sacrificed a kid ; he also shaved his head, and distributed silver among the poor to the weight of the hair, which then was burned. He would daily visit the house of the nurse, embrace the infant, and kiss it fondly. But his wives were jealous at Mary's fortune. As the child grew, Mahomet carried it once to Ayesha, and bade her to mark how like- it was to himself. " I do not see it," said Ayesha, who would gladly have put her husband out of conceit with the little Ibrahim, " What ! " rejoined he, " canst thou not see the likeness, and how fair and well-looking he is ? " " Yes," she answered, " and so would be any other infant that did drink as much milk as he." A flock of milch goats was kept for the child's special service. But the jealousy of Mary's " Sisters" betrayed itself Scandal in in a more serious way. It happened that Mahomet's harem. Haphsa went to visit her father on the day when her own turn came round. Returning unex- pectedly, she surprised Mary with the prophet in her own apartment. The affront was aggravated by the servile station of her rival. To escape exposure and appease his indignant spouse, Mahomet begged of her to keep the matter secret, promising to forego the com- pany of Mary altogether. But Haphsa did not care to hide her wrong ; she told it all to Ayesha, who boiled with indignation at the shameful tale. The scandal spread, and Mahomet soon found himself received bv all his wives with coldness and reserve. As in the affair of Zeinab, so here also a heavenly Mahomet message interposed. The oracle disallowed displeased . . , with his wives, the promise to refrain trom Mary s company, chided both the chief offenders for insubordination, and hinted at the possibility of the whole harem being THE SCANDAL COMPOSED BY A " EEVELATION." 215 divorced in favour of other consorts more complacent. Having delivered the warning, he withdrew from the society of his wives, and for a whole month lived alone with Mary. Omar and Abu Bekr were mortified at the scandal, and at the desertion of their daughters for a menial concubine. Mahomet at last relented. Gabriel, he said, had spoken well of Haphsa, and desired that he should receive her back. So he forgave them, and returned to their apartments as before. Here is the heavenly message : Prophet 1 why hast thou forbidden thyself that which the Lord hath made lawful unto thee, desiring to please Sura ixvi. thy wives ? . . , Verily the Lord hath sanctioned the recalling of your oaths. . . . Now the Prophet had entrusted one of his wives with a certain secret ; and when she disclosed it to another, and the Lord revealed this unto him ; so when he had acquainted her therewith, she said, Who told thee this? He answered, He told it me, the Knowing and the Wise. If ye both turn to the Lord with repentance (for verily the hearts of you both have swerved), well. But if ye side with each other against him, verily God is his Master. . . . Haply, the Lord, if he divorce you, will give him in your stead Wives better than ye are, submissive unto God, believing, pious, repentant, fasting, both Women previously married, and Virgins. 1 There is surely no grotesquer utterance by way of a " revelation " in the " sacred books of the This passage TX i i i s tiU read as Ji,ast than this strange passage, and yet it part of conm. has been gravely read all these ages, and is still read, by the Moslem, both in public and private, as part of the Divine (and, as most part hold it to be, the " eternal ") 1 The Sura, which is a curiosity from beginning to end, con- cludes with a warning allusion to two wicked women, who, though the wives of good men, Noah and Lot, were condemned to hell, and to two good women, the wife of Pharaoh and the Virgin Mary, who were examples of virtue and piety. 216 DEATH OF THE INFANT IBBAHIM. Goran. It is a relief to turn to a more edifying passage in the prophet's life. The infant Ibrahim having now reached the a-e of sickness and sixteen months, fell sick, and it was soon *Z^vfS2 seen that he would not long survive. The A.H. x. child was laid in the shade of a palm-grove near the house of his nurse. There Mary with her sister tended the dying infant, and there too was Mahomet bowed down with sorrow. Perceiving that his little son would soon pass away, he folded him in his arms and sobbed. They tried to comfort him, and said that he had counselled others to moderate their grief. " Not so," he answered as he hung over the expiring child ; " it is not this that I forbade, but wailing and fulsome laudation of the dead. Ibrahim, O Ibrahim ! If it were not that the promise is faithful, and the hope of Resurrection sure, and that the last of us shall rejoin the first, I would have grieved for thee with a sorrow sorer even than this ! " But the spirit had passed away; so- he laid the little body down, saying, " The remainder of the days of his nurs- ing shall be fulfilled in Paradise." Then he comforted Mary and her sister, and bade them, now that the child was gone, to be silent and resigned. When the little bier was ready, Mahomet followed it to the burying- ground. He prayed there, as his custom was, and lingered at the grave after it had been levelled over. He then had water sprinkled upon the ground, and observing some unevenness, he smoothed it with his hand, remarking, "When ye do this thing, do it carefully. It cannot injure the dead, neither can it profit, but the same giveth comfort to the living." In gratitude for her services he gave the nurse a parcel of ground planted over with date trees. CHAPTER XXXII. CAMPAIGN OF TEBUK SUBMISSION OF TAYIF. A.D. 630. A.H. IX. AFTER the battle of Honein no serious fighting took place during what remained of the No more serious prophet's life. Expeditions were, indeed, fi s htm g- frequently sent forth to humble defiant tribes, and to punish those that were defaulting in their tithe or tribute, or otherwise rebellious. But none of them deserves special mention excepting only the campaign of Tebuk, which is remarkable not merely for the unprecedented size of the army, but still more for the denunciations of Mahomet against the malingerers. Alarmed at the repeated incursion of Moslem bands, and the rapid growth of the new power campaign which threatened southern Syria, the By- Syrian frontier, ,. r , , ,, , ., ., Sept. 630 A.D. zantine court directed the tribes in that A.H. ix. quarter to assemble for its protection. Rumours of the movement reached Medina in an exaggerated shape. Multitudes, they heard, were gathering under the Roman eagles, and the vanguard was already at Belcaa. Mahomet resolved to meet the danger promptly, and although the season was sultry and water on the journey scarce, he issued peremptory summons that all within 218 CAMPAIGN OF TEBUK. reasonable distance should join the army of Mecca and Medina in an expedition northward. But the Bedouins, Malingering ever loose and fickle in their loyalty, hung and citizens, back, and many even of the Citizens shrank from the exposure and hardships of the way. They pleaded inability, or some such frivolous excuse. The plea of inability, when urged by the men of Medina, to whom Mahomet owed so much, was generally accepted ; but coming from the Bedouins it was altogether disallowed. On the other hand, the utmost zeal pervaded the zeal of loyal ranks of loyal and earnest Moslems. Tithes followers. an( j o ff erm gs poured in from every quarter. The leading Companions vied with one another in the costliness of their gifts. From these sources a great army was equipped, and carriage provided for the indi- gent who longed to share in the merit, haply also in the spoils, of the campaign. Numbers of these for whom no such provision could be made, retired weeping from the Mosque in front of which the troops were marshalling, and their memory is embalmed in tradition by the name of The Weepers. When all was ready the army encamped outside the city. Abdallah pitched his camp hard by. but at the last he was allowed to remain with his men behind. Aly also was left in charge of the prophet's family, with the view also to check any rising of disaffec- tion that might transpire during his absence from the city. The force, with all these drawbacks, was by far March to Tebuk. the largest which in the experience or memory of the Arabs had ever before been set in motion. The numbers are set down at 30,000, of whom 10,000 were cavalry. After a hot and thirsty march of between two and three hundred miles on the road to Syria, the army halted at Tebuk, where were shade and TREATIES WITH JEWS AND CHRISTIANS. 219 water in abundance. But the rumour of Roman invasion had by this time died away, and so Mahomet contented himself with sending forward a column to Duma under Khalid, while at his standing camp he received the ad- hesion of such Jewish and Christian settle- John rince ments as bordered on the ^Elanitic Gulf. * f Ayla - John, prince of Ay la, appeared, having on his forehead a golden cross. The prophet entertained him courteously, and granted a treaty guaranteeing his people in the secure profession of their faith on payment of a yearly tribute. He was then presented with a striped mantle and honour- ably dismissed. Similar engagements were entered into with the Jewish settlements in the vicinity. And so, having halted in this distant quarter for Return to several weeks, the army returned after a Medina, prolonged absence to Medina. The raid made by Khalid as far as Duma was entirely successful. He surprised the city, captured the prince, and marched Prince of Dftma back laden with booty. The captive chief, emb ces Islalu - wearing a golden cross, and clad in brocade, was an object of admiration to the simple citizens of Medina. The inducements to embrace Islam proved too strong for his faith. He surrendered the Gospel for the Goran, and was admitted to the terms of a favoured ally. Many of those who had stayed behind were now forward to exculpate themselves from the Malingerers heavy charge of malingering. Mahomet re P rimanded - reserved his reproaches for a special Sura (the latest in the chronological order of the Goran), in which the vials of his wrath are discharged upon them : Had it been plunder near at hand and an easy journey, they had surely followed thee. But the way seemed Suraix. long unto them. They will swear unto thee by the Lord, Had 220 MALINGERERS REPRIMANDED. we been able, we would surely have gone forth with you. They destroy their own souls, for God knoweth they are liars. The Lord pardon thee ; for why didst thou (0 Mahomet) give them leave, until that thou hadst distinguished the truthful amongst them from the liars? . . . "Verily they thought to stir up sedition aforetime, and they disturbed thine affairs until that the Truth came. . . . Among th;.'in there is that saith, Give me leave to remain behind, and lead me not into temptation. What ! have they not fallen into temptation already? Verily Hell shall com- pass the Unbelievers round about. They said, Go not forth to war in the heat. Say, The fire of Hell is a fiercer heat, if they but understood. Wherefore they shall laugh little and weep much for that which they have wrought. The Bedouins are specially reprobated as an ignor- ant, fickle, and stiff-necked race, that watched but the chances of fortune. " Turn from them. They are an abomination. Their resting-place shall be hell-fire." Those that had scoffed at the faith, and likewise at such as had aided the campaign by their contributions, are bitterly denounced. Nevermore shall they be allowed the opportunity of going forth to fight. " Neither do thou ever " (so runs the heavenly oracle) " pray over any one of them that may die, nor stand over his grave. These reject God and His prophet. They shall die as transgressors." Such was the indignant rebuke pronounced upon the Punishment lukewarm and disaffected citizens. Some of certain . , , . malingerers, whose loyalty was beyond dispute were pardoned on presentation of costly offerings, whereby they were " cleansed and purified." Others were treated with greater severity, and notably three of the worst offenders. These last were placed under a ban, and debarred from intercourse even with their wives and families. Fifty days passed thus, and their lives became intolerable. At last the oracle relented : DEATH OF ABDALLAH IBN OBEY. 221 Verily the Lord is reconciled unto the Prophet and the Citizens who followed him in the hour of difficulty, after Suraix. that the hearts of a part of them had nearly swerved. . . And He is likewise reconciled unto the Three, they that stayed behind, until the earth with all its spaciousness became straitened unto them, and their own souls were straitened within them, and they saw no refuge from the Lord otherwise than by fleeing unto Him. Then He turned unto them ; for the Lord is easy to be reconciled and merciful. Shortly after this, Abdallah died. Considering his persistent opposition, Mahomet had upon Death of ' \ Abdallah the whole treated him throughout with i much forbearance. He even followed the bier of this once powerful antagonist, and prayed over his grave, thus recognizing him as a true believer. Of the disaffected party, there remained now no one of rank or influence whom Mahomet had reason to fear. The faction had ceased. Such as had been disloyal the " Hypocrites " of the Goran now embraced the cause with outward heartiness, The authority of the prophet at Medina was thenceforward sole and unquestioned. About this time the city of Tayif tendered its sub- mission. For ten months the people had Embassy from i i j v v j * T j v u ^y 1 *' Dec - 63 been harried by bands ot .bedouins, who at A.D. A.H. ix. the instigation of Mahomet carried on a predatory warfare against them. Cattle were cut off at pasture, and no man's life was safe beyond the city walls. In their extremity they sent a deputation to Medina. It was kindly received. A tent was pitched for them by the Great Mosque, and there, morning and evening, they were instructed in the requirements of Islam. The first demand was that every trace of idolatry should be removed. As for themselves, submitted the strangers, they were ready to give up their tutelary idol; but 222 TAYIF TENDERS SUBMISSION. its immediate demolition, they urged, would alarm the people. "Spare it," they said, "for three years, and the citizens, by that time well instructed, will then readily consent." Mahomet refused. Two years, one submission of year, six months, were pleaded for, but all in vain. " The grace of one month might surely be allowed." The prophet was firm. The idol and Islam could not for a single day exist together. Again, they sought to be excused from the obligation of daily prayers ; for so hostile were the people, that but recently a convert had been shot at and killed while per- forming his devotions on the roof of his house at Tayif. They also begged that some one might be sent to destroy the idol for them. " As for the demolition of the idol with your own hands," answered Mahomet, " that I will dispense with ; but the other is a matter of life and death, for Religion without Prayer were naught." A Companion of note, kin to the tribe, was commissioned by Mahomet to destroy the idol. Wielding an axe, and surrounded by a guard of his relatives, he ruthlessly attacked the great image, and amid the wailing of the women hewed it to the ground. Tayif was the last stronghold that held out against the authority of Mahomet. It is also the only spot where we read of the fate of an idol exciting the sympathy of the people. Everywhere else the images seem to have been destroyed by the people themselves without a pang. CHAPTER XXXIII. PILGRIMAGE UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF ABU BEKR DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST HEATHEN TRIBES. A.D. 631. A.H. IX. THE closing month of the Arabian year, which is also the month of pilgrimage, again drew nigh. Annual At the annual pilgrimage which took place March^esf^o shortly after the taking of Mecca, Mahomet A ' H- IX " had not appeared. The reason, no doubt, was that a vast proportion of the devotees were heathen ; and the same cause kept him away on this occasion also. But he resolved that it should be the last festival desecrated by the worship of idolaters. He was now strong enough to banish heathenism for ever from the Holy city. When thus purged, then, but not till then, the solemn rites might be observed by him without compromising his prophetic office. This year, accordingly, p^^ over the presidency, as chief of the pilgrimage, b y AbuBekr - was given to Abu Bekr, who set out upon the journey with a small caravan of three hundred followers. Shortly after his departure the oracle spoke, and a passage was promulgated to carry out the Aiysentto i i i ? . . -r proclaim the object Mahomet had in view. It is called Discharge, or war the Discharge, because it discharges the pro- idolaters. phet, after the lapse of four months, from all obligations 224 THE HEATHEN TO BE ATTACKED. towards the heathen tribes. These are everywhere to be fought against until they submit and embrace Islam ; and never again must idolaters dare to approach the Kaaba. Bearing this declaration, Aly was de- spatched in haste after the caravan, with the commission to recite the Divine behest in the ears of all the people. Accordingly, at the close of the pilgrimage, on the great day of sacrifice, Aly read before the multitude that crowded around him in the vale of Mina the " Discharge," of which the following verses will explain the drift : A DISCHARGE by God and His Apostle, in respect of the heathen Suraix. with whom ye have entered into treaty. Go to and fro in the earth securely in the four months to come. . . And an ANNOUNCEMENT from God and His Apostle unto the people on the day of the Greater Pilgrimage, 1 that God is dis- charged from liability to the heathen, and His Prophet in like wise, . . . excepting such of them as ye have entered into treaty with, and who thereafter have not failed you in any matter, nor helped any one against you. Unto these fulfil ye their engagements. Then, when the forbidden months are elapsed, fight against the heathen, wheresoever ye may find them. Take them captive, besiege them, and lay in wait for them in every ambush. But if they repent and set up prayer, and give tithes, then leave them alone. And if any ask a guarantee, give it him until he shall have heard the word of God ; then convey him back again to his place of security. ye Faithful 1 Verily the Heathen are unclean. Wherefore let them not again approach the Holy temple after this year. Having finished the recitation, Aly expounded the 1 The Annual Pilgrimage, still held on the 8th to the 10th of Dzul Hijj, the last month of the Arabian calendar ; and dis- tinguished (as already explained) from the Lesser Pilgrimage, which with fewer ceremonies is performed at any period cf the year. JEWS AXD CHRISTIANS MADE TRIBUTARY. 225 edict thus : " I am commanded to declare unto you that no unbeliever shall enter paradise. Aly explains After this year no idolater shall perform theedlct - the pilgrimage, nor shall any one circumambulate the Holy house unclothed. Whosoever hath a treaty, it shall be respected until its term expire. Four months are given to the tribes, that they may return to their homes in security. Thereafter the obligations of the prophet cease and do determine." The vast concourse listened peaceably. Then they departed every man to his own home, Concourse of publishing throughout the peninsula the disperse, inexorable ordinance which they had heard from the lips of Aly. To the utmost bounds of Arabia, where- soever the worship of the Kaaba prevailed, idolatry was doomed, and Islam henceforth alone was to be the nation's faith. Side by side with this deliverance is another affecting Jews and Christians. For some years the j ew sand leaves of the oracle, which used to teem Ch ^ a n d s e to with testimonies to the faith of both, had tributar y- ceased to mention either, or to make quotations, as had so constantly been done, from their sacred books. After long neglect and silence, the Jewish and Chris- tian tribes of the peninsula are noticed now, only to be condemned to perpetual vassalage : Fight against those . . . who have received the Scriptures until they pay tribute with the hand, and are Sura ix. humbled. The Jews say that Ezra is the son of God, and the Christians that the Messiah is the Son of God. . . God destroy them ! How they have devised lying vanities ! They take their Priests and their Monks for lords besides God, and likewise the Messiah, son of Mary. Yet they were not bidden but to worship the One God alone. . . ye Faithful! verily many of the Priests P i 226 JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY CAST ASIDE. ": and Monks devour the substance of men in vanity, and obstruct \ the way of God. They that treasure up gold and silver, and spend it not in the ways of the Lord, announce unto them a | grievous punishment; on the day when their gold and silver shall be heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads, and ! their sides, and their backs shall be seared therewith, while it is said unto them, This is that which ye have treasured up for yourselves, wherefore taste ye of the same. Thus with threats of abasement and cruel words, Judaism and Mahomet parted with those to whose teach- coSSSiy in g ne owed so much - Having reached the cast aside. pi nnac l e o f his ambition, he cast aside the ladder by which he had climbed to it. Yet even here a distinction is observable between their treatment and that of the heathen. These are not tolerated even on submission. Failing to embrace Islam, idolaters must be warred with to the bitter end. But Jews and Christians are permitted to continue such. They are, indeed, to be warred against ; but on submission and " payment of tribute with their hand" they are to be maintained, though humbled and abased, in the undisturbed profes- sion of their faith. 1 1 It is important to note, however, that the passage quoted is part of "the Discharge," and, like it, immediately applicable, in its original intention, only to the peoples of Arabia. But after Islam had burst the borders of the peninsula, it was held by the followers of the prophet to be of universal application. Con- sequently, all over the world, idolaters must be rooted out, while Jews and Christians are to be tolerated on becoming tributary. CHAPTER XXXIV. EMBASSIES TO MEDINA. A.D. 630, 631. A.H. IX., X. . 62, 63. THE life of Mahomet was drawing towards a close, and so also was the Mission he had set stream of before himself. The proof was seen in A.H. ix., x. the continuous and submissive embassies which from every side of the peninsula streamed ceaselessly towards Medina. The conquest of Mecca and lordship over its Temple, paved the way for the assertion of a para- supremacy -XT i secured by cou- mount authority over all Arabia. No such quest of Mecca. pretension, indeed, had ever been put forth by the Coreish as the guardians of the Kaaba. Nevertheless, their jurisdiction was acknowledged not merely over the Holy places and the Pilgrimage, but also in respect of certain other matters, secular as well as spiritual, which affected the whole Arab race, such as the inter- calation of the calendar, and regulation of the sacred months during which war was unlawful. Moreover, Mahomet had so deftly riveted the secular and the spiritual together, that whosoever acknowledged the one must needs equally acknowledge the other, and so yield an implicit obedience "to the Lord and His p 2 228 DEPUTATIONS TO MEDINA. prophet" in all things belonging to the State equally with those belonging to the Church. In recognition of the Divine right thus claimed, Mahomet, shortly after the takino- of Mecca, demanded from all tribes tendering O o their adhesion to his faith, the prescribed tithe, being a tenth of all the increase. Messengers were sent in every quarter to assess the tithe and bring it to Medina. With few and unimportant exceptions they accom- plished their errand peaceably, which is the more re- markable as the Bedouins are notorious for impatience of taxation in any shape. The submission of Tayif, and the fall of its famous Deputations idol, enhanced the fame of Mahomet far from all parts ,, , _ of Arabia and near. The IS mth year of the Hegira is styled " the Year of Deputations," in virtue of the great number of embassies that presented themselves in it from distant quarters, as well as in the following year. The princes of Oman, Bahrein, Yemen, and Yemama, either by letter or embassy, tendered allegiance ; chiefs of such tribes as the kingly race of Kinda from Hadhra- mant, in the south, and the son of the famous Hatim Tay, chief of the Beni Tay in the north, appeared in person ; while warriors, poets, orators men of renown from every part of Arabia crowded to the simple court of Medina. On the other hand, legates were sent by Mahomet to the various provinces, and fixed at the seats of government as the resident Plenipotentiaries of the prophet; and Missionaries, or "Readers," fol- lowed in their steps to instruct the people in the Goran and the requirements of Islam. In the more remote parts, as Oman, the tithe was left in the hands of the local Ruler, for distribution among the poor of the country. Some of the embassies appeared at Medina CHRISTIAN EMBASSIES. 229 with a pomp and following that contrasted strangely with the severe simplicity of Mahomet's life. Become now a powerful prince, he still maintained (save in the matter of wives and concubines) the frugal and unpretending habits of his earlier days. Some of the embassies came from Christian tribes. These were treated courteously. Some Treaties with renounced their faith, tempted by the tribes, immunities of Islam. To one of these the prophet gave a vessel of water taken from his own ablutions, and bade them, after dismantling their church, to sprinkle the site with this water, and rear thereon a mosque. Another tribe was allowed to continue the profession of Christianity, but forbidden to baptize their children. The Christians of Najran early tendered their submission, and were graciously received. The embassy was headed by the chief of the noble Kinda tribe and their bishop. On reaching Medina they entered the Great Mosque and prayed therein, turning towards the east. Then Mahomet recited to them passages from the Goran, and there followed an earnest disputation. At last he said, " If ye deny that which I say unto you, come, let us take an oath, laying the curse of God upon, him that lieth." They declined. " We will not curse with thee," they said, " but we will give thee what thou demandest of us, and enter into treaty with thee." This was agreed to, and a rescript granted which guaranteed them in the undisturbed enjoyment of their Christian privileges, on a tribute of two thousand suits of raiment. And so they continued throughout the troublous times that followed the pro- phet's death, until Omar, minded to banish all other religions but Islam from the peninsula, expatriated 230 NAJRAN AND YEMEN. them, and also the Jews of Kheibar, and settled them in the north. The discussion with this embassy turned upon the Divinity of our Saviour, and is referred to in a passage of the Goran so curious that the reader may wish to see it : Verily the analogy of Jesus is, with God, as that of Adam. The Sura in. Lord created him from the dust, then said unto him, BE, and he was. Whosoever shall dispute with thee herein, say, Come, let us call over the names of our Sons and your Sons, of our Wives and your Wives, of our own selves and your own selves ; then let us curse one the other, and lay the curse of God on them that lie. SAY, ye People of the Book ! come unto a just judgment between us and you, namely, that we shall not worship aught but the Lord, nor associate any other with Him. It was a strange method to propose for settling the question, and we have no reason to be ashamed of the Christian embassy for declining to enter upon such questionable ground. But we may, at the same time, accept the incident as significant of Mahomet's earnest- ness, and his conviction of the spiritual illumination which he believed to guide him. The heathen tribes inhabiting Najran embraced Expeditions Islam at the summons of Khalid, who was anTyemS^D. sent in the Tenth J ear of the H egira to 63i. A.H. x. re( j uce them. Another expedition towards the close of the same year was undertaken by Aly, who proceeded with a squadron of three hundred horse against certain refractory tribes in Yemen. After a successful campaign he rejoined Mahomet on his Farewell Pilgrimage at Mecca. CHAPTER XXXV. FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE. MARCH 632 A.D. A.H. X. JETAT. 63. THE month of pilgrimage was again at hand. No idol would now offend the eye, nor any pagan by Annual his presence pollute the Temple and the uardTStT.D. Holy places sacred to its worship. Mahomet might now without offence perform the sacred rites, and he prepared to do so. It is called the Farewell Pilgrim- age, because on this occasion, as it were, he took his final leave of Mecca. He had not since the Flight gone up to the Greater Pilgrimage. This, therefore, was the only time when, as Ruler of the land, he observed its various ceremonies ; and the precedent set by him on this occasion has ever since been followed to the most minute detail. Accompanied by vast multitudes, and by all his wives, Mahomet set out from Medina in time to Mahomet sets take the journey leisurely. A hundred S^cada? camels, marked by his own hand for sacri- fice, were led in solemn order. Mosques had already sprung up along the road in the various halting-places, and at these Mahomet led the devotions of the thronging multitude. He halted an easy march from Mecca, and next morning, having bathed, he entered the city, 234 THE FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE. mounted on Al Caswa. As he approached the Kaaba he raised his hands to heaven and invoked a blessing on the Holy place. Still mounted, he performed the pre- liminary rites of circumambulation of the Temple, and of going seven times to and fro between the eminences of Safa and Marwa. Then he retired to rest in a tent which had been pitched for him in the valley. On the day preceding the first great day of Pilgrimage, Performs the Mahomet preached after the midday prayers A?aSt, 1 8th e an d * * ne multitudes assembled to make the ' seven circuits of the Kaaba and drink of the well Zem-zem. Next day, followed by myriads of devotees, he set out for Mina, distant about six miles up the valley, performed there the customary prayers, and slept in a tent. At sunrise he passed onwards to Arafat. This is a small conical hill, a couple of hundred feet in height, about six miles further up the same valley, which here widens out into a plain hemmed in by granite peaks. Ascending the summit of this little isolated hill, the prophet stood there erect upon his camel, and declared the valley sacred, as the proper limit of the pilgrim tour. Then bowing low in prayer, he recited certain passages, ending with the Divine sura v. behest, " This day have I perfected your religion unto you, and appointed for you Islam to be your faith." The day was passed in the ceremonies of Arafat, sleeps at while the innumerable multitude of pil- Mozdalifa, 9th zui Hijj. gnms spread out, shouting their Lableik, in the plain below. At sunset Mahomet quitted the sacred mount on his way back, and by the bright moonlight returned half-way to Mina, sleeping at Mozdalifa. Next morning, before daylight, he sent the women and little CEREMONIES ENDED AT MINA. 237 ones ahead, lest the crowds hurrying along from Aralat should jostle them. As they went he touched one and another on the shoulder, saying, " My children, have a care that ye throw not the stones at the knoll of Acaba until the sun arise," an ancient rite in memory, they say, of Abraham, who cast stones at projecting eminences of the narrow Mina valley to drive the devil thence. At dawn he arose to perform the matin prayer. Then, mounted on his camel, he resumed the march And com pi e t es from Mozdalifa under a heavy shower of th \?"S, age rain, shouting as he went the pilgrim cry K Labbeik, Lord I Labbeik, Labbeik ! There'is no other God but Thee, Labbeik ! Praise, blessing, and dominion be to Tiiee, Labbeik ! No one therein may share with Thee, Labbeik ! He ceased not uttering these ejaculations till he entered the valley of Mina, and there cast stones at the " Devil's Corner." Then he slew the victims, and ended the ceremonies of pilgrimage by shaving his head and paring his nails. The ihrdm, or scanty pilgrim garb, was now exchanged for ordinary clothes, perfumes were burned, and the flesh of the sacrifices was distributed for food. Upon this, Aly, riding the prophet's mule, made proclamation throughout the concourse that, pilgrimage being over, it was now the time for eating and enjoyment. Mahomet spent three days at Mina, and every evening repeated the ceremony of casting stones at the customary spots. On the second of these days, Mahomet mounted his camel, and from the widening centre of the Farewell -- T 11 11- discourse, Mina valley addressed the vast assembly in nth Dzu words which the people felt, and probably he felt himself, to be his farewell to them. He enjoined the 238 MAHOMET'S FAEEWELL DISCOURSE. sacredness of life and property, and of inheritance ; and then, as to the relations of the family, proceeded thus : people 1 ye have rights demandable of your Wives, and your Wives have rights demandable of you. On them it is incumbent not to violate their conjugal duty, nor to commit any act of im- propriety ; which things if they do, ye have authority to shut them up in separate apartments, and to beat them with stripes, yet not severely. But if they refrain therefrom, clothe and feed them suitably. Treat well your women, for they are as your captives, and ye have made their persons lawful unto you by the words of God. And your Slaves ! See that ye feed them with such food as ye eat yourselves, and clothe them with the stuff ye wear. And if they commit a fault, then sell them, for they are servants of the Lord, and are not to be tormented. Next he dwelt on the equality of believers. " Ye are Parting words, one brotherhood," he said ; and to give his words the greater emphasis, he placed the forefinger of one hand as an emblem of evenness on the fore- finger of the other. Intercalation of the Calendar he abolished, declaring it an unhallowed innovation on the Divine arrangement of the months; and announced, " Now on this very day hath time performed its cycle, and come round to the self-same era as that on which God created the heavens and the earth." Then, havinq; * o bidden them beware of the machinations of Satan even in things indifferent, he ended thus : " Verily I have fulfilled my mission. I have left amongst you a plain command, to wit, the Book of God and manifest ordinances, of which if ye take fast hold, ye shall never go astray." He stopped, and looking upwards, cried, " O Lord, I have delivered my message and discharged my Ministry ! " The people shouted, " Yea, verily thou hast." Once more the prophet added, "Bear witness RETUKN TO MEDINA. 239 thereunto, O Lord, I beseech Thee ! " and with these words he dismissed the great assembly. Next day the concourse broke up. Returning to Mecca, Mahomet once again made the seven Further cere- circuits of the Kaaba. Repairing to the well monies at Mecc *- Zem-zem hard by, he called for a pitcher of the water, and having drunk from it, and rinsed his mouth in the same, commanded the contents to be thrown back into the well. Then taking off his shoes, he ascended the doorway of the Kaaba, and having entered the sacred chamber prayed therein. The ceremonies ended, he departed to his tent. On the way, fatigued and thirsty, he stopped at the door of one who kept date-water for the pilgrims to drink, and quenched his thirst. He continued at Mecca three days, and then took his journey back to Medina. CHAPTER XXXVI. THREE PRETENDERS. A.D. 632. A.H. XI. THE Eleventh year of Mahomet's residence at Medina A.H. xi. opens opened peacefully. Already the greater peacefully. parfc Qf the peninsula ac t now l e( Jged hlS authority. The loose autonomy of the Arab tribes made it easy for Mahomet to assert his suzerainty without interfering in their internal affairs. In the more distant provinces, also, the prerogative was vague, and as yet put to no sufficient test. Still, there was, almost every- where, the outward form of submission to all that had been demanded. The days of the prophet were now chiefly occupied in the reception of embassies, the issue of rescripts to his various delegates scattered over the land, and the consolidation of his power, both secular and spiritual. We must not, however, omit briefly to notice the Three Pre- T ' ISQ OI> three Pretenders who questioned tenders. h] - g aut h or i tv> g trange to gaV) thege }. |id claim themselves to the same prophetic office ; but the standing and influence to which during his lifetime they attained, were not such as to cause him any great uneasiness. One was Toleiha, chief of the Beni Asacl, THE THREE PRETENDERS. 241 in Nejd ; and another Moseilama, ruler of Yemama, in the centre of Arabia. Neither of them gave Toleiha and any serious trouble till after the prophet's Moseil ama. death. Moseilama sent an arrogant despatch to Medina, demanding that Mahomet should " divide the land with him." When the letter was read out, the prophet turned to the two envoys who ventured to urge their master's claim, saying, " By the Lord, if it were not that ambas- sadors are sacred, I would have beheaded both of you." Then he sent them away with the haughty answer : "Thine epistle with its lies anl fabrications against the Lord hath been read to me. Verily the earth is the Lord's, and He causeth such of His servants as He pleaseth to inherit the same. Peace be to him that followeth the true direction ! " The battle of Yemama, with its Garden of Death, was a perilous day for Islam, but the story belongs to the Caliphate of the prophet's Successor. Toleiha also, after the prophet's death, withstood the arms of Abu Bekr, but he was defeated by Khalid, and having tendered his submission, fought bravely with his tribe in the battles of Islam. Aswad, the " Veiled Prophet " of Yemen, was the third Pretender. Towards the end of the Aswad in Yemen. Tenth year of the Hegira, he raised the standard of rebellion, and drove out the officers of Mahomet. Falling upon Sanaa, he slew the governor, took his widow to wife, and established himself in independent authority. The insurrection spread into Najran and the surrounding districts. Mahomet, imperfectly informed of the extent of the rising, contented himself with instructing his adherents to compass the death of the Usurper, or to attack him if possible in force. Fortunately for Islam, Aswad, in the pride of conquest, had already begun to Q 242 DEATH OF ASWAD. slight the commanders to whose bravery he owed his success. The agents of Mahomet, through these, and in league with the tyrant's wife, plotted his assassination. He was slain about the very time of Mahomet's death ; and peace would immediately have been restored, had not the tidings of that event, the death, namely, of the prophet, again thrown the province into confusion. The campaign that ensued belongs to the reign of Abu Bekr. CHAPTER XXXVII. SICKNESS AND DEATH OF MAHOMET. JUNE 632 A.D. A.H. XI. .ETAT. 63. ABOUT two months after his return from the Fare- well Pilgrimage, Mahomet gave orders for Preparations for i- . mi campaign on an expedition to the Syrian frontier. The Syrian border, r J . May 632 A.D. reverse at Muta had not yet been sufficiently safar, A.H. ix. avenged. Moreover, the Christian and pagan tribes on the border, and beyond it, were of Arabian lineage, and as such, equally with the dwellers in the peninsula, amenable to the faith of Islam and the authority of its Founder. It was necessary to enforce the allegiance of the wavering, and strike terror into the hearts of the recalcitrant. Such were the objects of the expedition ; and to mark its immediate purpose, the command was given to Osama, son of Zeid, with these words : " March to the place where thy father was slain, and destroy it utterly. Lo, therefore have I made thee Commander of this army. Fall suddenly upon the land at early morn, and let the fire devour it utterly. Hasten thy steps, so that thine onset precede the tidings of thee. But withal take guides, and send before thee scouts and spies." The following day Mahomet was prostrated Q 2 244 MAHOMET FALLS SICK. with fever, but on the third day he so far recovered as to bind with his own hand the banner for the army and present it to Osama. He urged forward the levy with all despatch, and gave command that the camp should be formed on the plain at Jorf. It was the beginning of the third month of the Mahomet fails Eleventh year of the Hegira that Mahomet 8i ?9 ^ >2 \^' fell sick. He never but once had suffered OOZ A.L). lot Babi L, A.H. xi. f rom anv ser i O us illness. A few years pre- viously he was seized with an attack which caused him to pine away and even neglect his wives. The cause, we are told, was certain incantations of the Jews over knots tied with hair taken from his head. The spell was discovered and broken, and soon after he recovered. The poisoned shoulder of mutton of which he partook at Kheibar was followed by effects more potent and more lasting. To it Mahomet ascribed an excruciating pain which periodically seized his back, and of which he now complained. When attacked by his last illness, he did not at once succumb, but maintained the custom of visiting his wives' apartments in succession. Once in the still of night he rose, restless, and followed only by a servant, visits the burial- repaired to the burial-ground in the outskirts ground by night. Q f tne c ^ w here he waited long, absorbed in meditation. Then, apostrophizing the dead, he prayed thus aloud : " Verily ye, and I also, have obtained that which the Lord did promise us. Blessed are ye ! Your lot is better than the lot of them that are left behind. Lord, have mercy on the men that lie buried here ! " With these words he turned and departed to his house. In the morning, as he was passing by the chamber of Ayesha, who too was ailing, he heard her moan, and thus addressed her ; " Nay, Ayesha, it is I who should RETIRES TO AYESHA : S CHAMBER. 245 cry, ' My head, my head ! ' ' Then, in a tenderer strain, (yet haply with a touch of plaintive humour,) "But wouldest not thou desire to be taken first, while I am yet alive, so that I might pray over thee, and, wrapping thee in thy winding-sheet, myself commit thee to the grave ? " " That happen to another, and not to me," said Ayesha, adding archly, " Ah ! that, I see, is what thou wishest for ! Truly, I can see thee, when all was over, returning straightway hither, and sporting with a new wife in my chamber here ! " He smiled, but was too ill for a rejoinder in the same strain. And so, complaining again sadly of his head, he passed on to the apartment of Meimuna, whose day it was. The fever returning violently upon him, he called his wives together and said, " Ye see that I am very sick. I am not able to visit you in turn. If it be pleasing unto you, I Retires to J , r ' J Ayesha 's apart- will remain in the house of Ayesha." They m ent. agreed. And so, his head bound round with a napkin, and his clothes wrapped loosely about him, he walked, supported by Aly and Abbas, to the apartment of Ayesha. Hardly yet twenty years of age, she tended with affection and solicitude the death-bed of her aged husband. Mahomet continued for some days to lead, though feebly, the public prayers. He had been ill Chldes t h e about a week, when, perceiving the sickness I f e < S 1 lt fo os&m^" gain ground, with occasional fits of swoon- command - ing, he resolved on an effort to address the people, whose murmurs at the youth of Osama as commander of the Syrian expedition, had reached his ears. Refreshed by seven skins of water poured over him, with his head bandaged and skirts girt loosely round (for it was summer), he went forth at the time of prayer into the court of the Mosque, and, when the service was over, 246 ABU BEER LEADS THE PRAYERS. seated himself upon the pulpit. He reproved the people for their discontent, and expatiated on the merits of Osama; "A man," he said, "beloved of me, even as his father was. Wherefore do ye treat him well, for he is amongst the best of you." After a pause he added enigmatically, " Verily the Lord hath offered to one of His servants the choice betwixt this present life and that which is nigh unto Himself, and the servant hath chosen that which is nigh unto his Lord." Abu Bekr, quick to catch his meaning, burst into tears. Mahomet bade him not to weep, and immediately gave a touching proof of his special affection. " Now," said he, " let eveiy door that leadeth into the Mosque be closed, saving only that which openeth from the habitation of Abu Bekr." Thus the place was hushed, as became the precincts of death ; frequented only by worshippers and by whispering inquirers after the prophet's health. The strain of this address aggravated the sickness of Abu Bekr leads Mahomet. On the following day he attempted whne Mahomet to rise at tne time of prayer, but felt his is laid aside. stren g t h give way. Accordingly, he gave command that Abu Bekr should lead the service in his stead. Having done so, he fell back in a swoon. Soon recovering, he was angry to find that the order had not been carried out. Ayesha began to expostulate, when he exclaimed impatiently, " Truly ye are every one of you like the foolish women of Joseph. 1 Give command forthwith ! " It was given. And so Abu Bekr conducted the public prayers during the few remaining days of the prophet's life. Mahomet was now too weak to attend to 1 See Sura xii. 32 ; referring to the legend that the women of Egypt fell to cutting their hands with knives, out of admiration of Joseph's beauty. INCREASE OF FEVER. 247 any business. But the Syrian expedition weighed upon his mind, and he kept saying from time to time, " Send quickly off the army of Osama." He also inquired about the embassies daily arriving at Medina, and enjoined their hospitable entertainment. The fever had now lasted nearly a fortnight, when on the night of Saturday, the eleventh day Accession of of the month, the fever came upon him f ^h jm^nth' in great violence. Racked and restless, he tossed upon his bed. During an alarming paroxysm Onmi Salma screamed. "Hush! "said Mahomet, "no one crieth so, saving the unbeliever." At another time, to keep him quiet, Ayesha said, " Had one of us moaned thus, surely thou wouldest have found fault." " True," he answered, "but I burn with the heat of any t\vo of you together." " Then," exclaimed a third, " thou shalt surely have the double reward." "Yea," rejoined Mahomet ; " for there is not upon earth a believer sore afflicted, but the Lord causeth his sins to fall off from him, even as fall the leaves from off the trees in autumn." Omar having placed his hand upon the sufferer's head, suddenly withdrew it. " O prophet," he said, " how fierce the fever is upon thee ! " " Yea, verily," he replied ; " but during the night I have been repeating, in praise of the Lord, seventy Suras." "Rather," answered Omar, "why not take thy rest; for hath not the Lord said that all thy sins are forgiven thee, the former and the latter ? " " Not so," said Mahomet ; " for wherefore should I not yet be a faithful servant unto Him ? " On Sunday he lay all through the day in weakness, with occasional delirium. Osama, visiting Sunday, June , . c , , , , 11-1 7th, 1-Jth Rabi I. mm irorn the army, stooped down and kissed Deimum. 248 DELIRIUM OF MAHOMET. his face ; but there was no audible response. Mahomet only raised his hands in the attitude of blessing, and laid them on the young commander's head, who then returned to his camp. During a swoon his wives administered some physic to him. Reviving, he asked what they had been doing to him. On being told, he exclaimed, " Out upon you ! What is this but a physic for the pleurisy, which ye have learned in Abyssinia, an evil disease is that, which the Lord will not let attack me. Now shall ye all of you in this chamber partake of the same, even as ye .have physicked me, save only Abbas, my uncle." So the women arose and poured the physic, in presence of the dying prophet, into each other's mouths. After this strange scene, the conversation turned upon in delirium the cathedral of Maria, in Abyssinia. Two curses Jews and Christians, of his wives spoke of the wonderful pictures and decorations which when in exile they had seen upon its walls. Overhearing it, Mahomet was displeased, and said, " These are the men that build churches over their saints' tombs, and then garnish them with pictures, the worst part are they of all creation." Then casting off the bed-clothes, probably in delirium, he said, " The Lord destroy the Jews and Christians ! Let His anger kindle against such as turn their prophets' tombs into places of worship ! Lord, let not my tomb ever be the object of worship. Let there be but one faith through all Arabia." About this time, recognizing Omar, he called calls for writing out ' "Fetch me hither pen and ink, that I materials. mav ma k e a W riting for you that shall keep you from straying into error for ever." 1 Omar said, " He wandereth in his mind." But the women answered, 1 The words read as if in his delirium he wanted to write with his own hand, but probably he thought only to dictate a TEMPORARY REVIVAL. 249 " Come, let us ask him, and see whether he wandereth or not." So they asked him concerning that which he spoke of, but he had no longer any thought of it " Leave me thus alone," he said ; " my present state is better than that which ye call me to." Then he desired Ayesha to distribute six golden pieces he had in keeping, as alms, and said, " Now I am at peace. Verily, it would not have become me to meet my Lord, and this gold in my possession." All Sunday night the fever lay heavy upon Mahomet. They overheard him praying, "O my soul, Monday morning> why seek thy refuge elsewhere than in thyi^bii^Mahomet Lord alone ? " The morning brought relief, and there was some return of strength. The Mosque was crowded with anxious worshippers. Abu Bekr, standing in the place of the prophet in front of the assembly, led the prayers. He had ended the first prostration, and begun the second, when the curtain of Ayesha's door slowly moved aside, and Mahomet entered the court. He whispered in the ear of the attendant on whom he leaned, " The Lord hath now verily granted me refreshment in prayer," and he looked around upon the worshippers with a gladsome smile. Pausing thus for a moment, and supported as before, he crept softly to the front, the people opening out before him. Abu Bekr heard the rustle, and guessing the cause (for he never turned at prayer), stepped back to vacate the leader's place. But Mahomet motioned to him to go on, and sat down on the ground for the rest of the service. writing; for it is extremely doubtful whether Mahomet could write ; certainly we do not ever read of his writing. He was fond moreover of the title of the " illiterate " prophet, as showing how- dependent he was on the inspiration from heaven. 250 MAHOMET OX HIS DEATH-BED. "When it was ended, Abu Bekr entered into conversation with him. He rejoiced at his convalescence, and begged permission to visit his wife who lived in the upper suburb, and whose turn it was. Mahomet gave him leave, and he went. Mahomet then sat down for a little in the court of Mahomet speaks tbe Mosque by Ayesha's door, and spoke to the people. to the peop i e w h o crow ded round him. He bade Osama go forward with his army. Then turn- ing to the women about him, he said, "Oh, Fatima my daughter, and thou Sana my aunt, work ye out that which shall win you acceptance with the Lord, for I verily have not power to save you in any Avise." Having said this, he was helped back into the chamber of Ayesha. It was but the flicker of an expiring taper. Ex- Exhausted, he hausted, he lay down upon the bed, a retires to Ayeslia's chamber, mattress stretched upon the floor. Ayesha, seeing him very low and weak, raised his head from the pillow, as she sat by him on the ground, and placed it on her bosom. One entered at the moment with a green tooth-pick in his hand. Seeing his eye rest upon it, and knowing it to be just such as he liked, Ayesha took and chewed it a little to soften it, and then placed it in his hand. The thing pleased him, and rubbing with it his teeth for a moment with his ordinary vigour, he put the tooth-pick down again. His strength now rapidly sank. He called for a pitcher of water, and wetting his face from it, prayed, " O Lord, I beseech Thee, assist me in the agonies of death. Come close, O Gabriel, to me ! " He now began to blow upon himself, ejaculating all the while petitions which he was used to repeat in the EXPIRES ON AYESHA'S BOSOM. 251 sick room. 1 When from weakness he ceased, Ayesha took up the task. Then she took his Anddiesinthe hand and rubbed it (as he himself used arms of A y esha . to do with the sick), still reciting the prayers. But even this lie could not bear, saying, "Take thy hand from off me ; it cannot help me now." After a little, in a whisper, "Lord, grant me pardon." Then at intervals, " Eternity in paradise ! " " Pardon ! " " The blessed Companionship on high ! " He stretched him- self gently; .his head grew heavy on the breast of Ayesha ; the prophet of Arabia was no more. Softly removing his head from her bosom, Ayesha replaced it on the pillow. Then she rose who replaces . . , , his head upon and joined the other women, who were thepuiuw. beating their faces with loud lamentation. It was a little after midday. But a moment, as it were, ago, Mahomet had entered the Mosque, cheerful, and to appearance convalescent. He lay now cold in death. 1 Such as, " Remove the evil, Lord of mankind ! Heal, Thou best of Physicians ! There is not any cure but Thine, for it leaveth nought of the disease behind." CHAPTER XXXVIII. BURIAL. 8TH AND 9TH JUNE, A.D. 632. WHEN lie heard the startling news, Abu Bekr Abu Bekr visits hastened back to the Mosque. There he the chamber of A death. found Omar addressing the crowd in an excited frame. "The prophet was but in a trance," he said, " and would revive again, to root out all the hypocrites from off the land." Not heeding him, Abu Bekr passed on to Ayesha's door. He drew aside the curtain, entered, and stooping down kissed the face of his departed friend. "Sweet wast thou in life," he said, " and sweet thou art in death, dearer than father and mother to me ! Yes, thou art dead, and " (referring to Omar's wild words without) " thou art too precious for the Lord to give thee to drink the bitter cup of death a second time." He covered over the face again, and withdrew. Omar was still haranguing the people. Abu Bekr sought to silence him ; but it was not till he had quoted some verses from the Goran signifying the mortality of Mahomet as of other prophets before him, that the truth forced itself on the mind of Omar. TEE BODY LIES IN STATE. 253 Just then one came running to say that the men of the city were assembled to choose an Abu Bekr Ameer (or ruler) from amongst themselves, or successor. Followed by Omar, Abu Bekr hastened to the conclave just in time to interpose. Words ran high between them. They would divide the command. "An Ameer from us," they cried, " and an Ameer from you." " Never ! " said Abu Bekr; "it cannot be. We are the Ameers. None but the Coreish will Arabia obey." The words began to tell, and Omar, seeing his opportunity, seized the hand of Abu Bekr and cried, " Did not the prophet himself appoint thee to lead the prayers ? Thou art our master, whom the prophet loved the best of all, and (striking his hand) to thee we pledge allegiance." The rest followed Omar's example, recognizing him thus as the Caliph, 1 or Successor of the prophet. During the night the body was washed and laid out by Aly, Osama, and others in Ayesha's ^body^ apartment, and there also, just beneath instate. the spot where he had breathed his last, the grave was dug. On the morrow, people thronged the chamber. They came in by companies at the door opening from the court of the Mosque, and after gazing at the remains and praying over them, passed out on the opposite side. The place was crowded when Abu Bekr and Omar entered together, and, standing before the body, prayed thus : " Peace be on thee, prophet of the Lord, and His mercy and blessing ! We bear witness that Thy prophet hath delivered the message revealed unto him ; hath fought in the ways of the Lord, until that the Lord brought forth His religion unto victory ; hath drawn us unto Himself, and been kind and tender-hearted to 1 In the original, Klialeefa. 254 BURIAL OF MAHOMET. all believers, and hath not sought any recompense for delivering unto us the faith." The people answered Amen, Amen ! After the men, the women followed in companies, and then even the children crowded round the bier for a last look at their prophet's face. The court was filled with mourners when Abu l^X? Bekr ' ascen ding the pulpit, was saluted AbuBekr. Caliph by acclamation. His words were simple but firm. "Ye people," he said, "verily I am now your chief, albeit I am not the best amongst you. If I do well, support me ; if ill, then set me right." He promised to rule justly, and without respect of persons, and concluded thus : " Leave not off to fight in the ways of the Lord ; for whoso leaveth off to fight, him shall the Lord abase. Obey me whereinsoever I obey the Lord and His prophet ; wherein I disobey, in that obey me not. Now arise to prayer, and the Lord be with you ! " On that the assembly rose up to prayer, and Abu Bekr for the first time as Caliph filled his master's place. In the evening the final rites were paid to the Burial remains of Mahomet. His red mantle was spread at the bottom of the grave; then the body was lowered into its last resting-place by the same loving hands that had laid it out. The vault was built over with bricks and the grave made level with the floor. In process of time Abu Bekr, and some years after Abu Bekr Omar, who succeeded him as Caliph, were and Omar . buried by him. laid side by side with the prophet. Ayesha, till her death, continued to live on in the adjoining chamber. The Great Mosque, with the grave of Mahomet, is still TOMB AT MEDINA. 255 visited with the profoundest reverence by his followers, generally after they have made the pilgrim- His grave a age to Mecca. The place has grown to great pilgrimage, magnificence, but the worship celebrated (there as in Islam everywhere) is that same simple form of prayer which Mahomet inaugurated on the self-same spot thirteen centuries ago. And so is it with the whole fabric of Islam ; it remains precisely as the prophet left it, neither Islam remaing taken from nor added to, his work alone. "SJ^ieft** As the faith issued from the lips of Ma- b y* iahomet - hornet or was embodied in his daily life, even so it lived, and still lives the religion of a hundred and seventy -three millions of our race. " This day," as he said at the Farewell Pilgrimage, " have I perfected your religion unto you ; " and for weal or woe, thus perfect and complete, it has ever since remained. APPENDIX. THE CORAN AND TRADITION. A SHORT narrative of the Goran and of Tradition may be , acceptable to the reader, both as explaining the Ine (Joran, and Tradition, materials from which this biography has been drawn (for the student has no other source to draw from than native authority), and also as showing the ground on which Islam itself stands. The GORAN. At the death of Mahomet, the various Suras and fragments of his " Eevelation " were still The Coran, as 'collected "by \ OOS Q an( j scattered in the hands of the people. J^UlQ, A.D. tj._>J. A.H. xn. -j^ Q ^tempt had been made as yet to gather them into one collection. But a great number of the chapters, in continuous form, whether written or committed to memory, were used as occasion required both in the public and in the private devotions of the Moslems. The originals, probably of the more important passages, are said to have been kept in a chest by one of the prophet's wives ; others were in possession of the scribes or secretaries who first took them down ; others again, and these chiefly the earlier deliverances, were mere scraps and fragments here and there and anywhere. It was not till the battle of Yernama, the year THE CORAX. 257 after Mahomet's death, that Omar suggested to the Caliph Abu Bekr the design of having the whole Goran written out con- tinuously, while it was yet fresh in the memory of believers. " I fear," he said, " lest slaughter should again wax hot among the Reciters J of the Goran in other fields of battle, and that much of the sacred text may be lost. K"ow, therefore, I advise that thou give command for its collection." The com- mission was given to Zeid, who had been the chief secretary of the prophet. He at once set about the task of gathering together not only the completed passages and Suras, but also detached fragments and fugitive verses from every quarter, and the whole he recorded in one consecutive roll. His object was that no word or syllable which had dropped in the way of " inspiration " from the lips of Mahomet should be lost, but should find its place in this collection. So we are told that Zeid sought out not only what was written in rolls, but also such remains as were inscribed "on palm, leaves, on shreds of leather and parchment, on shoulder-blades and tablets of stone, and in the breasts of men." These were arranged and rudely dove-tailed together Avithout much regard to chronology, but with some respect to the subject and context. Thus by his labours the confused materials assumed the form in which we now find them. And hence it is that the Goran in so many parts bears traces of haphazard collection and fortuitous arrangement ; and of the consequent obscurity and incoherence which weary and perplex the reader. In the reign of Othman, some fifteen years later, the copies used in distant lands were found to vary so much from one another, that the Caliph caused a collation of the same, and 1 The Reciters of the Goran are those who had committed it to memory. It was (and still is) a religious merit to do so. Many had the text, more or less complete, by heart, and were in the habit of thus, quite independently of any manuscript, reciting it. B 258 APPENDIX. therefrom a recension to be made, and an authoritative othmAn's text ^ a ^ down. Exemplars of the standard recension. vers i on were deposited in the chief cities, and all the former copies were called in and burned. Uniformity has ever since been enforced by law ; and so in the hundreds and thousands of copies throughout the Moslem world, there is but one Goran, witli no differences of any kind, and with hardly the approach even to a various reading. But if the text be one, there are plentiful discrepancies Chronological of meaning in various passages showing the lon " changes which took place in the author's mind. Where these amount to irreconcilable contradictions, theolo- gians hold that the passage last revealed cancels the first. But they are not always agreed which that last may be. The several chapters are headed "Meccan" Suras or "Medina" Suras, according as in the order of time they were produced either in the one city or in the other. So great, however, is the confusion of the subject-matter, that many passages belong- ing clearly to Medina appear in Meccan Suras, and vice versa. The unlearned reader is further puzzled by the relative order of the Suras themselves. There is here no respect of time whatever. The longer Suras, as a rule, come first, and the shorter last. Now, as in point of fact the later Suras were the longest, and the earlier the shortest, the natural order has as a rule been just inverted ; and the student, instead of reading from the beginning to the end, would have a better idea of the chronological sequence of the several parts, if he read from the end to the beginning from the last Sura backwards to the first. With all these defects, the Goran is held in the utmost Decisive possible veneration and regard by Moslems, as authority of Coran. the divine and even " eternal " Book of God. THE CORAN. 259 It has been so in every age and land and by almost every sect. Its word is absolute, whether in matters secular or spiritual, whether in Church or State. Its meaning may be variously interpreted, but its authority is unquestioned, and its judgment final. After the Goran, and of a secondary character, comes TRADITIOX, that is, the teaching of Mahomet, Tradition, whether by word of mouth or by act and precedent. Islam at its rise was severely theocratic. The whole life, civil and religious, hung upon the Law and the Prophet. At first the Goran, as embodying the former, sufficed for the simple wants of Arab society. But as the faith spread into other lands, some highly civilized, it soon became too scant for the sole rule of life. To amplify the canon, resort was had to the precedent of Mahomet himself. What did he say or dot or, "What under the circumstances would he have said or done ? His " Companions " are the authorities from whom the answers to these questions emanate. From them have descended a vast mass of traditions, each embodying some saying, or stating some habit or act of the prophet, all of which, according to their credibility, are used to sup- plement the Coran as a guide of faith and practice. But the authority of these traditions is of every shade, "weak,'' "probable," or "undisputed," according to the character of the chain of witnesses whose names from first to last are noted separately for each. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of such traditions were handed down, orally at first, but in process of time committed to writing. On these, in addition to the Coran, the Schools of theology and law have been built. Besides the four Schools called the Orthodox, there is the Sheeah sect (chiefly followed in Persia), who, disallowing the first three Caliphs as well as all " orthodox :> R 2 260. APPENDIX. tradition, recognize only the succession of Aly, and the legitimacy of the prophet's line. The practice and tenets of the various sects differ widely. But all Moslems recognize the authority of Mahomet's precedent (if the tradition deliver- ing it be credible) as binding, though always second to the Goran, for that is absolute and indefeasible. Thus Islam is the work of Mahomet, sole and alone. It .Islam the work was begun by him, and as he left it, so we find of Mahomet alone. it now. Its only ground-work, and its final test, is his word and deed. "This day," as at the Farewell Pilgrimage he proclaimed from Mount Arafat, " have I (the Lord) perfected your Faith unto you, and fulfilled My mercy upon you, and appointed Islam for you to be your Religion." II. OBSERVANCES AND LAWS OP ISLAM. SUCH being the canon, few words are needed to make the Eitnal. reader Avho has studied this volume understand ceremonies, what are the observances of Islam. As the day began with the prophet, so with his followers ever since, it Prayer. opens with prayer, the Muedzin, like Bilal, arousing the sleepers far and near to their devotions. Five times a day, as the proper hour comes round, the ceremony is repeated, when the believer, whether in Mosque or at home or by the way, must prostrate himself in worship with his face toward the Holy house at Mecca. At mid-day on Friday there is a more general or Cathedral service, with a sermon, which should be attended by the community at large in the Mosque. Prayer must in every case of legal impurity, as Avith the Jews, be preceded by lustration. In the desert, where ORDINANCES OF ISLAM. 2G1 there is no water, sand may be substituted for it. With the fast of Kamadhan (or liamzan) the reader is Fasting, already familiar ; as well as with the Eed al Fitr, or festival of breaking the fast after the month is ended ; for they are all observed just as the .prophet commanded, or by his own act set the example. Pilgrimage to Mecca is obligatory Pilgrimage, on every Moslem having the means, at the least once in. his lifetime. Those who stay at home are still in the habit of slaying their victims on the great day of sacrifice, as Mahomet did at Medina. 1 The tithe of the increase is rendered by all, to "purify "that which remains. Circumcision is not mentioned in the Goran, but, having been in vogue among the Arabs, is held to be incumbent on Mahometans when the child has reached the age of boyhood. The Moliarratn, observed with great pomp and display of grief over the Moslem world, on the tenth of Mohan-am, that month, is not prescribed, like the other ordinances, by tradition or the Goran, since it is in commemoration of the fate of Hosein and his little party slain near Kufa, forty years after the death of his grandfather, the prophet. The central tenet of Islam is the Unity of God. The " association " of any other person with the Doctrine. Unity of the Deity is the one mortal sin. Idolatry is to Deity, be rooted out, and images utterly abolished. There is no priesthood in Islam. Mahomet is the prophet through whom God has made known the last and perfect revelation of Him- self. And the Faith is summed up in this short and decisive creed, There is no God lut the Lord, and Mahomet is His prophet, the simple confession of which makes the convert 1 This is the festival which in Constantinople is called Corban Beiram, and in Egypt Ecd al Corldn, "the day of sacrifice." Lane's Modern Egyptians, II. p. 251. 262 APPENDIX. a Mussulman. The theocratic element of the early Caliphate is preserved more or less in all Moslem lands. The Church and State are absolutely one, and as such the chief ruler pre- sides at prayer. The authority of leading Doctors, as the Sheikh ul Islam, Moulas (learned Scholars), and Cazies or Judges, is recognized, but simply as exponents of the Divine law. That law cannot be changed, improved, or developed ; it can only be made clear and interpreted. Before Mahomet were many prophets. Such were iSToah, Relation to Abraham " the friend of God," David, Solomon, preying and so fortn > through whom God made revela- Bevelatious. ^^ Q Himself frQm t j me to time The j^ and greatest before Mahomet was Jesus the Messiah, born of a Virgin, " the Word of God and a Spirit from Him." He wrought miracles and revealed the gospel. The Jews intended to crucify Him, but failed, and He ascended into heaven. The Trinity and the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus are vehemently denounced, as well as the worship of His Mother. The books of the Old and New Testaments are recognized, especially in the earlier portions of the Goran, as authoritative and Divine ; but theologians, finding that these do not correspond with their own Eevelation, were early led to cut the knot by asserting that they had been corrupted the context dislocated and the teaching altered, at the hands of Jews and Christians. With the most important tenets of Islam the reader is already Tenets. familiar. Such are the special providence of the Deity, extending to the minutest concerns of daily life ; the ministry of good angels ; the hateful influence of the devil and fallen angels ; the existence of a race intermediate between angels and men, called Jinn or Genii ; the immortality of the soul; the resurrection of the body; the judgment of good and evil ; heaven and hell. The teaching of Mahomet, taken PRECEPTS. 263 mainly from the Jews, partly from the Christians, partly also from the Magians, was engrafted on the native worship and tradition of Arabia. We should mistake, however, if we ascribed to Mahomet any scheme of systematic theology. His creed was developed by the conditions and exigencies of the day. It was concrete, grew out of circumstance. "While, there- fore, we find him- holding firmly and constantly by certain cardinal points, as the Unity and attributes of Deity, retribu- tion of good and evil, &c., we shall not be surprised at the occasional appearance of change and inconsistency in others of his utterances. And hence it arose that when philosophers and divines began to elaborate from his teaching a system of ethics and theology, there was large room for variety of doctrine. For example, although Predestination pervades the Goran, and is pronounced sometimes in a painful and offensive way, 1 yet elsewhere there are deliverances of an opposite character, from which some schools have deduced the dogma of Free-will, and taught the same in its most absolute form. On the whole, however, a strong tincture of fatalism pervades the Moslem mind. Salvation is promised to all believers, but even for them the retribution is held of good and evil works. Hell, as an endless state, is reserved for unbelievers and polytheists. And so theologians have found an inter- mediate state of temporary punishment for believers whose evil works outweigh their good ; that is to say, they hold a kind of purgatory, of which there is no distinct trace in the Goran itself. There are many points of doctrine and fine casuistry which have been fiercely contested by the different 1 For example, in such verses as th:se : " God misleadeth whom He pleaseth, aad guide th aright whom He pleaseth." "If the Lord pleased, He had made all men of one faith, . . but unto this end hath He created them, for the word of the Lord shall be fulfilled, Verily I will fill hell altogether with Men and Genii." 264 APPENDIX. schools, and by hosts even on the battle-field : as the Divine succession to the Caliphate, the creation of the Coran or its eternity, the perceptibility by the creature of the Creator, &c. But it is unnecessary to pursue the subject here. Of the negative precepts of the Coran, it is needful Prohibitions, only to mention the prohibition of wine, a restriction rigorously observed in Moslem lands, excepting among some of the laxer sections of the upper classes. Games of chance and the taking of usury are also proscribed. Following the Jewish law, swine's flesh and blood, things strangled, that which dieth of itself, meats oflered to idols, and animals over which in slaying them God's name has not been spoken, are all forbidden. It remains briefly to notice the relations established by Relations of tne Coran between the sexes. Every Moslem the sexes. 1 1 j f /. is allowed four free wives, and he may at the same time legally cohabit with as many as he likes of the slave-girls which "his right hand may possess." The progeny of bondwomen by their masters is legitimate, and inherits equally with that of the free wives. The husband can at any time divorce his wife, without the assignment of any reason, at his simple pleasure. The wife has no corresponding privi- lege ; she cannot be freed from her bondage, however galling, until the husband chooses to divorce her. Moreover, if he should repeat the words of divorce thrice, he cannot take her back until the unfortunate woman has been married to another husband, and after consummation been by him divorced. Slavery is recognized as a civil institution in the Coran. Slavery. It is perpetuated not only by the bondage of the progeny of slaves, but also by the fresh accession of men, women, and children taken captive in Jehad, or religious war. The obligation of fighting for the extension of Islam, THE VEIL AXD THE HAREM. 265 however much it may have fallen into desuetude from the political and military decline of Moslem states, still survives ; and under cover of it, raids even in the present day are carried on against the heathen tribes of Africa and Asia. 1 It is true that, apart from the horrors of war and the slave trade, slavery in Mahometan countries is mainly a domestic institution involving easy service. But not the less has it a demoralizing influence on society at large, and more especially in its bearing on servile concubinage does it defile the springs of purity and virtue. With the Veil, as instituted by Mahomet, the reader is already sufficiently acquainted. Prescribed in TheVeiiand the Goran, it is obligatory on all who ac- knowledge the authority of the Book. Taken in conjunc- tion with the other restrictions there imposed on domestic life, it has led to the institution of the Harem and Zenana, that is, the private portion of the home in which women are, with more or less of stringency in various lands, secluded from the outer world. "With polygamy, concu- binage, and arbitrary divorce, some such restraint may be necessary to check the loose matrimonial standard which might otherwise undermine the decencies of social life. But the institution of the Veil has not the less chilled and checked all civilizing influences, and rendered rude and barbarous the Moslem world. It is impossible for a people who, contrary to nature, exclude from their outer life the whole female sex, materially to rise in the scale of civilization. And so it ever must remain as long as Islam endures. For the Veil, and the other sexual relations that Coran checks civilizing make it necessary, are bound up together in the influences. 1 As against the Siahposh, or Kaffre tribes in the hill ranges to the north-west of India. 266 APPENDIX. Goran, and from the Goran it is impossible for the loyal and consistent Moslem to turn aside. And herein lies the secret of the backwardness of Moslem lands, and their failure to keep pace with the civilized world in the march of moral and material progress. III. ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY. THOUGH it is not the purpose of this work to compare Islam and other ^ am with the other religions of the world, religions. y e ^ ^ estimate of its doctrines and practices would be incomplete without a review of how it stands in its relation towards them. There can be no question but that, with its pure mono- Isiam and theism, and a code founded in the main on barbarous religions. justice and humanity, Islam succeeds in raising to a higher level races sunk in idolatry and fetichism, like those of Central Africa, and that in some respects notably in that of temperance it materially improves the morality of such peoples. But, having raised them to a certain point, it leaves them there. Whether in things secular or spiritual, there is no advance. The defects of which I have been treating cling to the outer life ; and as regards the inner life, there is, in the cold and formal round of Moslem ordinances, altogether wanting the genial and motive power of the Heavenly Father's love. When, again, we come to compare Islam with Christianity, Code of Islam ail( ^ nrst i Q i ts secular aspect, one is im- mediately struck with the difference between the two in the virtue of adaptation to the wants and ISLAM AND CHEISTIANITY. 267 aspirations of humanity. Islam imposes a code, hard, fast, and imperative in every detail, which, however well it may have suited Arabia thirteen centuries ago, is quite unfitted for the varying requirements of other times and places. Yet it binds society hand and foot ; there can be no onward, upward movement, nor even the attempt to rise. The Christian code is altogether different. It lays down principles, and not details. If there be one Christianity exception, that, namely, in respect of marriage "^^Sbtorf and divorce, it is expressly based on the laws humamt y- of nature. " He," said Jesus, " which made them at the beginning, made them male and female ; . . what, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." The foundations of Christian morality are not less immutable than those of the Goran, but they are infinitely broader, and can be built on for all generations. Its laws are capable of being applied to the habits, thought, and institutions of all ages, and its doctrines harmonize with every upward step towards freedom, knowledge, and philanthropy ; indeed, Ave may say, themselves contain the plastic force which brings these results about. In short, the distinction between the two creeds is, that while the aspirations of humanity have free play under the Gospel, in the swathing bands of the Goran they are altogether checked and stifled. Two of the institutions of Islam which we have just been considering will illustrate this, namely, the illustrated by the Veil and Veil and Slavery. The Moslem lady must be slavery, shrouded from the eye of man for all time to come. The Gospel simply enjoins upon the sex that their conversation be discreet and chaste, and that " they adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety." l And 1 1 Tim. ii. 9 ; Titus ii. 4, 5 ; 1 Peter iii. 3. 268 APPENDIX. so while Mussulman society is debarred from the softening and ameliorating influences of the sex beyond the precincts of the Harem, the Christian lady can take her place side by side with man as his helpmeet, and the handmaid of mercy and benevolence. So it is also with Slavery. In Islam slavery is bound up with the law and institutions of the Goran. Coming, on the other hand, to the Gospel, we find deep down in the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God, the seed which in due time brings forth the fruit of emancipation. For the bondman is the son of a common Father, " not now a slave, but a brother beloved," and as such entitled to a brother's freedom. 1 I do not dwell here farther on the relations of the sexes Relations of excepting to say that the provisions regarding divorce and servile concubinage have led in Islam to a mass of prurient literature defining the legal conditions of things which ought not so much as to be named a leaven of corruption. From all this the Christian iaith, with its law of monogamy and simple injunction of conjugal fidelity, is altogether free. 2 Mahometan nations, following the theocratic model of Relations of Islam, have always held Church and State to Cnurcn to state. be one. The secular ruler is the head of the Church, and the form of government is theoretically an absolute and irresponsible despotism. The result has been, through all these long ages, to steadily suppress all attempt at the growth of free institutions. That this might be remedied hereafter in some Mahometan state (such as, for example, some have hoped for in Egypt) is possible ; but experience is not favourable to the expectation. From all such dangers the Christian system, which renders to Caesar the things that be 1 Philenun 16. 2 1 Cor. vii. 3. ISLAM AXD CHRISTIANITY. 260 Cesar's, is altogether free. Again, there is perhaps no greater contrast in the precepts of the two religions useofthe than that relating to the SAvord. As an instru- p ^^ a ti n nient for the propagation of the faith (however much practice may have often widely differed from precept), the use of the sword is distinctly abjured by the gospel, 1 while it is as directly commanded by the Goran. Before the Flight, Mahomet was profuse in his declarations that there should be " no constraint in religion." But so soon as he came to power he drew the sword, never, as the reader knows, again to sheathe it ; and his followers have not been slow to tread in his steps. " My kingdom," said Jesus Christ to the Roman governor, "is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews : but now is My kingdom not from hence." 2 Turning now to the spiritual aspect of the two faiths, a wide difference exists between the ordinances Fixedness of of Islam, rigidly tied down as they are to time, Ordinances - and in one respect to place, and those of the Gospel, which can be suited to the changing circumstances of the moment, and the varying demands of clime and season. The obligation to pray in stereotyped ritual at so many stated hours of the day is prone to degenerate into a lifeless worship, though we are far from asserting that it is always so. Much the same may be said of fasting and pilgrimage, the latter being an ordinance practically unattainable by multitudes, and the former, according to the stringent rule of the Goran, altogether impracticable in some zones of the earth. 3 The contrast with the spirit and precept of the gospel, and the 1 Matt, xxxvi. 52 ; John xviii. 36. 2 Ibid. 3 As where all is day or all is night, or nearly so, in the month of Ramadhan. 270 APPENDIX. simplicity of its two positive ordinances, is too patent to need dwelling on. Again, while the Goran represents God as Creator, Killer, Love as a and Pre server, the Kewarder of good and evil, and the Hearer of prayer it nowhere recog- nizes Him as a Father, much less the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sentiment of the Moslem partakes, there- fore, of the fear of a servant more than the love of a son. The office of the Holy Spirit as Eegenerator is unknown, and the death and resurrection of Christ are denied. There is thus in Islam nothing answering to the grace of redemp- tion, and consequently the grand power of the Gospel namely, the love of Christ as a constraining influence is wanting ; nor is there the approach to anything that might supply its place. To put the matter shortly, each religion is an embodiment Contrast of its founder. Mahomet sought power he t>etween the ^FoZdera 6 fou ' lt a o ainst ^ose who denied his claims; Mahomet. he put a whole tribe to the sword ; he tilled his harem with women, bond and free ; he cast aside, when they had served his purpose, the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and he engrafted his faith on the local superstition of his birth-place. He did all these things under cover of an alleged Divine authority, but he did no miracle. The life of Jesus is all in contrast. He spake and taught Jesus. as one having the inherent authority in Him- self; but He could also say, "The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me." He was holy, harmless, undefiled. He pleased not Himself. Though rich, He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant. He was despised and rejected ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY. 271 of men. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 1 Is there any common point whatever in the two lives 1 " He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth ; He that cometh from heaven is above all." Where in the Goran are to be found words like these, descriptive at once of the new life and of the Giver of it 1 " I am the Resurrection, and the Life : he that be- lieveth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." And again "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." And yet again " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." 1 John v. 36 ; Eom. xv. 3 ; 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; Isa. liii. 3 ; Phil. ii. APPENDIX IV. THE ARABIAN CALENDAR. Arabian Mouths Corresponding Months The Arabian months are lunar, and the year was before Islam made to correspond Moharram . Safar April with the solar, by the intercalation of a month every third year. The reckoning was thus Rabi I luiii-solar until, at the Farewell pilgrimage, Rabi II Jumad I July August Mahomet, by abolishing intercalation, made the Mussulman, or Hegira, year a purely .Tumad II Rajab Shaban Ramadhan Shawwal Dzul Cada September October November December January February This table gives the months as they stood at the time of Mahomet's night to Medina, and they were so maintained by intercalation with little variation till the Farewell pil- grimage, that is, till close upon the prophet's Dzul Hijj March INDEX. ABBAS, uncle of Mahomet, pleads with disciples from Medina on behalf of Mahomet, 67 ; joins the prophet in his attack on Mecca, 201 Alid al Muttalib, grandfather of Mahomet, 11 ; adopts him, 14 ; his death, 15 Ahdallah, father of Mahomet, 11 Abdullah ibn Masiid, the servant of Mahomet, 92 Abdullah ibn Obey, his hostility, 83 ; his conduct at affair of Nakhla, 94 ; appeals to Maho- met on behalf of Beni Cainucaa, 113 ; deserts at battle of Ohod, 122 ; his violent language, 146 ; upbraided in the Coran, 147 ; death of, 221 Abu Afak, assassination of, 112 Abu Ayub receives Mahomet into his house, 78 ; his death, 78 Abu Bekr joins Mahomet, 37 ; his escape to Mount Thaur, 70 ; becomes the Second of the Two, 72 ; presides over a pil- grimage, 223 ; leads the prayers while Mahomet is ill, 251 ; chosen Caliph, 253 ; his in- augural speech, 254 Abu Jahl, the enemy of Mahomet, 70 ; his death at the battle of Bedr, 105 Abu Lahab denounces Mahomet, 47 Abu Sarh spared by Mihomet, 201 Abu Sofian, caravans of, 94, 98 ; his escape, 99 ; his vow, 110 ; his thirst for revenge, 110 ; his raid on Medina, 116 ; his con- duct at battle of Ohod, 122 ; his challenge at, 125 ; returns thanks to the idol Hobal, 131 ; besieges Medina, 154 ; his mis- sion to Mahomet, 200 ; his conversion, 201 Abu Talib, uncle of Mahomet, adopts him, 15 ; stands by him, 44 ; his death, 51 Abul Aas, capture of, 168 ; efforts for his release, 169 Abyssinia, converts advised by Mahomet to flee to, 40 ; second flight to, 44 ; return of exiles from, 183 Acaba, the first pledge of, 57 ; the second, 67 Adultery, the law of, 151 Al Caswa, Mahomet's camel, his flight on, 72 ; decision of, 78 ; carries the prophet to Mecca, 175 Aly adopted by Mahomet, 28 ; his conduct at battle of Bedr, 103 ; marries Fiitima, 117; proclaims the Discharge, 224 Amanuenses of Mahomet, the, 137 Amma, mother of Mahomet, 11 ; her death, 14 Amru, his conversion, 194; his conquests, 197 Arafat, Mahomet's visit to, 234 Asma, called She of the Two 274 INDEX. Slireds, her conduct, 72 ; her .assassination, 111 Aswad, the Veiled Prophet, one of the Three Pretenders, 241 Attab appointed vicegerent over Mecca, 212 Ayesha, betrothed to Mahomet, 54 ; married to him, 81 ; her misadventure, 148; her jealousy, 214 ; her conduct at sickness and death of Mahomet, 245 Aynasa, the child playmate of Mahomet, 14 Ban, the, put on Beni Hashim, 47 ; the roll of, eaten by ants, 50 ; removed from Beni Hashim, 50 Bedouin lady, murder of, 170; execution of robbers, 170 Bedr, battle of, 101 ; the second, 138 Beni Aamir, at Bir Mafma, 132 Beni Aus, feuds of, 56 Beni Bekr, feud of, 199 Beni Cainucaa attacked by Ma- homet, 112 ; sent into exile, 114 Beni Coreitza join Abu Sofian, 155 ; their dissensions, 157 ; their fate, 160 Beni Ghassan, Mahomet's letter to, 181 Beni Hashim placed under the ban, 47 ; freed from it, 50 Beni Hawazin, hostility of, 206 ; release of, 210 B^ni Khazaa, feud of, 199 Beni Khazraj, feuds of, 56 Beni Lahyan, hostility of, 131 Beni Mustalick, war against, 145 Beni Nadhir, siege and exile of, 133 Beni Suleim at Bir Mauna, 132 Bera joins Mahomet, 67 Bilal, firmness of, 40 ; calls to prayer, 88 ; his brutality, 186 Bir Mauna, catastrophe at, 132 Bishr, death of, 187 Black Stone of the Kaaba, the, description of, 28 Breaking of the Fast, institution of, 89 Call to prayer, the, institution of, 88 Caravans from Mecca attacked by Mahomet, 93 Carpet, the holy, at the Kaaba, 28 CAsim, son of Mahomet, 22 Citizens at Medina, the, descrip- tion of, 82 Coba, arrival of Mahomet at, 76 Goran, the, rhapsodies in, 32 ; its references to appearance of Ga- briel, 34 ; its references to Ma- homet's lapse, 43 ; denounces idolatry, 44 ; Jewish history embodied in, 48 ; on Mahomet's audience of the Genii, 53 ; challenges in, 60 ; on Mahomet's midnight journey to Jerusalem, 63 ; its reference to the cave, 71 ; changes the Kibla, 87 ; fighting commanded in, 96 ; on the division of booty, 106 ; on the treatment of prisoners, 108 ; promises Divine aid, 109 ; ex- plains the defeat at Ohod, 128 ; on the siege of Beni Nadhir, 136 ; on the Deity, 136, 172 ; on Mahomet's taking the wife of Zeid, 141 ; on the position of wives, 142 ; on position of the prophet's wives, 142 ; up- braids Hypocrites, 147 ; on adultery, 151 ; on the fate of the Coreitza, 166; on punish- ments, 171 ; on the breach of decorum, 171 ; on wine, 172, see Appendix ; on the Pledge of the Tree, 178 ; on the battle of Honein, 208.; on the scandal of Mahomet's wives, 215 ; malingerers reprimanded . in, 219 ; on the Discharge, 224 ; condemns Jews and Christians to vassalage, 225 ; on the Di- vinity of Christ, 230 ; on the relations of the family, 238 Coreish, the, respect felt for, 11 ; form a league to enforce justice, INDEX. 275 18 ; persecute Mahomet, 40, 43 ; alarmed by Mahomet's success, 46 ; excommunicate Beni Hashim, 47 ; challenge Medina chiefs, 68 ; council of, 70 ; caravans of, 93 ; their conduct at affair of Nakhla, 94 ; march from Mecca, 99 ; are defeated at the battle of Bedr, 104 ; their expedition against Medina, 118 ; their conduct at battle of Ohod, 121 ; they besiege Medina, 154 ; their dissensions with the Corel tza, 157 ; they retire, 158 ; they oppose Mahomet's entry into Mecca, 175 ; they make a treaty with Mahomet, 176 ; they with- draw from Mecca during the pilgrimage of the prophet, 192 ; warn Mahomet to leave the city, 193 Coss, bishop of Xajran, Mahomet hears the preaching of, 17 Day of Sacrifice, the, institution of. 89 Devil's Corner, the, custom, of casting stones at, 237 Disaffected, the, at Medina, de- scription of, 83 Duma, expedition sent to, 139 ; is captured by Kludid, 219 ; its prince embraces Islam, 219 Egypt, governor of, his reply to Mahomet's letter, 181 Fair of Oc ( atz, Mahomet at, 17 Farewell Pilgrimage, the, 233 Fatima, daughter of Mahomet, married to Aly, 117 Four Enquirers, the, description of, 30 Friday Mosque, the, 77 Friday Service, the order of, 86, 90 Gabriel, the angel, appears to Mahomet, 34 Garden of Death, the, at battle of Yemama, 241 Genii, Mahomet's visions of, 53 Grand Mosque, the, building of, 79 Greater Pilgrimage, the, rites of, 25 ; Mahomet performs it only once, 233 Halima, foster-mother of . Ma- homet, 12 ; his kindness to her, 13 Hamza, conversion of, 45 ; his conduct at the battle of Bedr, 103 ; his death at the battle of Ohod, 123 Haphsa married to Mahomet, 116 ; scandal in tent of, 214 Hashimite dynasty, the, rivalry of, 15 Hassan, his satire on Ayesha, 152 Hiitim Tay, embassy from, 228 Hegira, date of the first, 41 ; the first year of, 73 ; events of the third year of, 116 ; events of the sixth year of, 168 ; of the seventh, 191 ; of the eighth, 195 ; of the ninth, 213, 228 ; of the tenth, 228 ; of the eleventh 240 Heraclius, his victory over the Persians, Mahomet's prophecy concerning, 61 ; Mahomet's letter to, 180 Hind, her thirst for revenge, 110 ; her savagery, 125 ; her sub- mission, 204 Hira, Mount, the resort of Ma- homet, 30 Hobal, the idol at Mecca, 25 ; thanked by Abu SofiAn, 131 Hodeibia, the treaty of, 176 Honein, the battle of, 207 Hypocrites at Medina, the, de- scription of, 83 Ibrahim, son of Mahomet, his birth, 213; his death, 216 Ikriina spared by Mahomet, 204 Intercalation of Calendar abol- ished, 238 Islam, tenets of, 38, 260 Jafar, his return from Abyssinia, 188 ; his death, 196 2 276 INDEX. Jerusalem, Mahomet's midnight journey to, 62 Jews, the, hostility of, to Ma- homet, 84, 87 ; assassination of, 111 ; condemned by the Goran, 225 John, prince of Ayla, submits to Mahomet, 219 Joweiria married to Mahomet, 147 Kaaba, the, worship of, 11 ; re- building of, 25 ; made the Kibla of Islam, 87 ; Mahomet's visits to, 178, 203 Kab ibn Ashraf, murder of, 114 Khadija, caravan of, 19 ; marries Mahomet, 21 ; her children, 22 ; her faith in Mahomet, 23, 37 ; her death, 51 Khalid, his generalship at the battle of Ohod, 123 ; his con- version, 194 ; his conduct at Muta, 197 ; at Mecca, 197 ; his severity, 205 Kheibar, conquest of, 184 Khozaa, attack on, 199 Kibla, the, worship towards, 79, 84 ; changed to Mecca, 87 Kin an a, fate of, 185 ; his wife married to Mahomet, 186 Kinda, the, embassy from, 228 Lat, the idol at Mecca, 42 Lesser Pilgrimage, the, rules of, 23 Mahomet, birth of, 11 ; his pa- rents, 11 ; put out to nurse, 12 ; his gratitude to his nurse, 13 ; visits Medina, 13 ; death of his mother, 14 ; adopted by his grandfather, 14 ; his death, 15 ; adppted by his uncle, 15 ; goes to Syria, 15 ; visits fair of Ocatz, 17 ; his conduct in warfare, 17 ; employed as shepherd, 18 ; his temperance, 19; called "the faithful," 19 ; goes with Kha- dija's caravan, 19 ; marries her, 21 ; his children by her, 22 ; his personal appearance, 22 ; his character, 23 ; made arbitra- ter, 27 ; adopts Aly and Zeid, 28 ; his acquaintance with Jews and Christians, 29 ; his spiritual anxiety, 30 ; frequents a cave, 30 ; his rhapsodies 32 ; begin- nings of his inspiration, 34 ; Gabriel appears to him, 34 ; his sincerity, 36 ; his first converts, 37 ; commences his public min- istry, 38 ; persecution of, 39 ; directs his converts to fly to Abyssinia, 40 ; his lapse, 42 ; de- nounces idolatry, 43 ; preaches at a pilgrimage, 47 ; denounces Abu Lahab, 48 ; visits Tayif, 51 ; expelled thence, 52 ; his prayer, 52 ; his visions of the Genii, 53 ; returns to Mecca, 54 ; marries Sauda and betroths Ayesha, 54 ; his straitened cir- cumstances, 54 ; meets inquirers from Medina, 55 ; the first Pledge of Acaba, 57 ; sends teachers to Medina, 58 ; pro- phesies Heraclius would beat the Persians, 61 ; his relations with Christianity, 61 ; his mid- night journey to .Jerusalem, 62 ; meets disciples from Medina, 67 ; the second Pledge of Acaba, 67 ; gives his followers permis- sion to leave Mecca, 69 ; escapes to Mount Thaur, 70 ; his flight, 73 ; meets Talha, 73 ; his arrival at Coba, 76 ; welcomed to Me- dina, 77 ; his first Friday ser- mon, 77 ; becomes guest of Abu Ayub, 78 ; builds mosque, etc., is joined by his family, 79 ; builds the Grand Mosque, 79 ; houses of wives of, 81 ; marries Ayesha, 81 ; his hostility to the Jews, 85 ; changes the Kibla to Mecca, 87 ; orders the call to prayer, 88 ; institutes Rama- dhan, 88 ; his praying post and pulpit, 90 ; simplicity of his life, 91 ; his expeditions against caravans, 94 ; sets out for Bedr, 98 ; his conduct at Bedr, 100 ; divides the booty, 106 ; his INDEX. 277 return to Medina, 107 ; puts two prisoners to death, 107; his treatment of captives, 108 ; attacks Beni Cainucaa, 112; Ab- dallah's appeal to him on their behalf, 113 ; marries Haphsa, 116 ; attacked by Coreish, 118 ; his dream, 120 ; his conduct at battle of Ohod, 121 ; his narrow escape, 124 ; his oath after the battle, 126 ; his grief for the slain, 126 ; his grief at the mis- hap of Raji, 132 ; he exiles Beni Nadhir, 133 ; his amanu- enses, 137 ; goes a second time to Bedr, 138 ; marries Zeinab and Omm Salma, 139 ; his domestic arrangements, 142 ; attacks Beni Mustalick, 145 ; marries Joweiria, 147 ; his con- duct towards Ayesha, 149 ; de- fends Medina by a trench, 154 ; conquers Beni Coreitza, 160 ; takes Rihana as a concubine, 163 ; his conduct at the death and burial of Sad, 164 ; his revelation as to punishments, etc., 171 ; his dream of pil- grimage, 173 ; sets out on the Lesser Pilgrimage, 174 ; makes the Pledge of the Tree, 176 ; his treaty with the Coreish, 176 ; sends abroad various despatches, 180 ; marries Omm Habiba, 182, 188 ; conquers Kheibar, 184 ; marries Sana, 186 ; poi- soned by Zeinab, 187 ; welcomes the Abyssinian refugees, 188 ; performs the Lesser Pilgrimage, 191, 212 ; visits the Kaaba, 192 ; marries Meimuna, 193 ; blesses the army at Mount of Farewell, 195 ; his grief at the loss of Zeid and Jafar,197 ; his increasing power, 198; vows to help the Khazila, 199 ; enters Mecca, 202 ; destroys the idols there, 203 ; his love for Mecca, 203 ; his magnanimity, 205; a review of his position, 205 ; his conduct at the battle of Honein, 207 ; mobbed by his followers, 210 ; death of his'children, 213 ; birth of his son, 213; scandal in his harem, 214 ; death of his son, 216 ; receives submission of Tayif, 222 ; proclaims the Release, 223 ; receives numer- ous deputations, 227 ; his Fare- well Pilgrimage, 233 ; visits Arafat, 234 ; casts stones at the Devil's Corner, 237 ; his fare- well discourses, 237 ; abolishes the intercalation of the calendar, 238 ; returns to Medina, 239 ; his sickness, 244 ; visits the burial-ground, 244 ; commands Abu Bekr to read the prayers, 245 ; his delirium, 247 ; enters the Mosque for the last time, 249 ; dies in the arms of Ayesha, 251 ; his burial, 252 Malik, generalship of, at battle of Honein, 207 Manat, the idol at Mecca, 42 ; destruction of images of, 205 Martyrs of Ohod, the, 128 Mary bears a son to Mahomet, 213 Masjid al Juma, or Friday Mosque, 77 Mecca, people of, reject Mahomet, 60 ; Mahomet's disciples leave the city, 69 ; made the Kibla of Islam, 87; state of feeling in, 93; Mahomet attacks caravans from, 94 ; consternation at, after the battle of Bedr, 110 ; Mahomet's entry into, 202 ; Mahomet's love for, 203 Medina, foundation of, 56 ; state of, 56 ; growth of Islam at, 58, 64 ; teacher sent to, 58 ; converts depart to, 69 ; descrip- tion of, 75 ; Mahomet's arrival at, 77 ; four parties at, 82 ; people of, attack caravans, 94 ; Abu Sofian's raid on, 116 ; invaded by the Coreish, 118 ; besieged by Abu Sofian, 154 ; distress in, 157 ; discontent in, 211 Meimuna married to Mahomet, 193 278 INDEX. Moaning Post, the, used by Ma- homet, 90 Mohammed, son of Maslama, kills Kab, 114 Moraisi, altercation at, 146 Moseilama, one of the three pre- tenders, 241 Mosque of Godly Fear, foundation of, 77 Mother of the Poor, Zeinab called, 139 Mount of Farewell, Mahomet at, 195 Miita, battle of, 196 Najran, conquest of, 230 Nakhla, vale of, 53 ; affair of, 94 Negus of Abyssinia, entertains the refugees, 41, 44 ; embraces Islam, 182 ; betroths Omm Habfba for Mahomet, 182 Nejd, expeditions in, 116 Noeim, crafty counsel of 157 Obeida, his conduct at Bedr, 103 Ocatz, fair at, Mahometat, 17 Ohod, battle of, 119 ; martyrs of, 128 Omar, conversion of, 45 Omeir, courage of, 104 ; assassin- ates Asma, 111 Omeyyad dynasty, the, feud of, 15" Omm Ayman, nurse of Mahomet, 12 ; married to Zeid, 29 Omm Habiba, betrothed to Ma- homet, 182 ; married to him, 188 Omm Kirfa, execution of, 171 Omm Kolthum married to Oth- man, 107 ; her death, 213 Omm Salma married to Mahomet, 139 Osama, son of Zeid, birth of, 29 ; Mahomet's order to, 243 Otba, death of, at Bedr, 103 Othman flies to Abyssinia, 41 ; marries Omm Kolthum, 107 Ozza, the idol, at Mecca, 42 ; de- struction of images of, 205 Persia, King of, Mahomet's letter to, 181 Pledge of the Tree, the, 176 Post for prayer, Mahomet's, 90 Pretenders, the three, 240 Pulpit, the, used by Mahomet 91 Eaji, the mishap at, 131 Ramadhan, the fast of, instituted, 88 Refugees at Medina, description of, 82 Release, the, proclamation of, 223 Resurrection, Coreish opposed to doctrine of, 40 Rihana l>ecomes concubine of Ma- homet, 163 Rites, Moslem, 86, 260 Rockeya flees to Abyssinia, 41 ; returns to Medina, 79 ; her death, 107 Roman army, assemblies of, 196, 217 Sad, his judgment on Coreitza, 161 ; his death and burial, 164 Safia married to Mahomet, 136 Safwan, scandal about, 149; spared by Mahomet, 208 Sauda married to Mahomet, 54 Second of the Two, the, 72 She of the Two Shreds, 72 Sheyba, conduct of, at Bedr, 103 Slaves, Mahomet's treatment of, 39 Talha meets Mahomet, 73 Tayif, Mahomet's visit to, 51 ; opposed to Mahomet, 206 ; s ; ege of, 209 ; embassy from, 223 ; submission of, 222 Tebuk, campaign of, 218 Thaur, Mount, Mahomet and Abu Bekr escape to, 70 Toleiha, one of the three preten- ders, 240 Veil, the ordinance of, established, 142 Veiled Prophet, the, 241 INDEX. 279 "\Varaca, a Christian, 29 Weepers, the, tradition of, 218 Welid, conduct of, at Bedr, 103 Well of Hagar, the, 25 Yathrib, the ancient Medina, 56 Year of Deputations, the, 228 Yemama, Mahomet's letter to ruler of, 182 ; battle of, 241 Yemen, Mahomet's letter to ruler of, 182 ; conquest of, 230 Zeid, one of the Four Enquirers, 30 Zeid, son of HAritha, adopted by Mahomet, 28 ; captures a cara- van, 116 ; his wife is taken by Mahomet, 140 ; his death, 196 Zeid ibn Thabit becomes amanuen- sis to Mahomet, 137 Zeinab, daughter of Mahomet, her conduct, 168 ; her death, 213 Zeinab married to Mahomet, 139 Zeinab of Kheibar poisons Ma- homet, and is put to death, 187 Zem-zem, the fountain of, 25 Zoheir, fate of, 163 RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, BU::AD STUELT HILL, LONDON, Bunyay, Suffolk OUT Oi OCT02 MAR 1 8 1gi1 2 5 1990 j LL. _J ^- CC , CO