diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:05 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:35:05 -0700 |
| commit | 1819638636f2594716cc53f7341774cfb5ef22c9 (patch) | |
| tree | 3e3aaf5eb9addf1968a4c75c1473ada7b0e33bff | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 10738-0.txt | 7200 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10738-8.txt | 7619 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10738-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 167906 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10738.txt | 7619 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10738.zip | bin | 0 -> 167871 bytes |
8 files changed, 22454 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10738-0.txt b/10738-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..573da8c --- /dev/null +++ b/10738-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7200 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10738 *** + +MAHOMET + +FOUNDER OF ISLAM + +BY G. M. DRAYCOTT + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +I. MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + +II. CHILDHOOD + +III. STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +IV. ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +V. INSPIRATION + +VI. SEVERANCE + +VII. THE CHOSEN CITY + +VIII. THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + +IX. THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + +X. THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +XI. THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +XII. THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +XIII. THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +XIV. THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +XV. THE WAR OF THE DITCH + +XVI. THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + +XVII. THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + +XVIII. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + +XIX. MAHOMET, VICTOR + +XX. ICONOCLASM + +XXI. LAST RITES + +XXII. THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +INDEX + + +"Il estimait sincèrement la force.... Jetée dans le monde, son +âme se trouva à la mesure du monde et l'embrassa tout.... C'est +l'état prodigieux des hommes d'action. Ils sont tout entiers dans la +moment qu'ils vivent et leur génie se ramasse sur un point." + +ANATOLE FRANCE + + + +MAHOMET + + +INTRODUCTION + +The impetus that gave victory to Islam is spent. Since its material +prosperity overwhelmed its spiritual ascendancy in the first years of +triumph its vitality has waned under the stress of riches, then beneath +lassitude and the slow decrease of power. The Prophet Mahomet is at once +the glory and bane of his people, the source of their strength and the +mainspring of their weakness. He represents more effectively than any +other religious teacher the sum of his followers' spiritual and worldly +ideas. His position in religion and philosophy is substantially the +position of all his followers; none have progressed beyond the primary +thesis he gave to the Arabian world at the close of his career. + +He closes a long line of semi-divine teachers and monitors. After him the +curtains of heaven close, and its glory is veiled from men's eyes. He is +the last great man who imposed enthusiasm for an idea upon countless +numbers of his fellow-creatures, so that whole tribes fought and died at +his bidding, and at the command of God through him. Now that the vital +history of Islam has been written, some decision as to the position and +achievements of its founder may be formulated. + +Mahomet conceived the office of Prophet to be the result of an +irresistible divine call. Verily the angel Gabriel appeared to him, +commanding him to "arise and warn." He was the vehicle through whom the +will of Allah was revealed. The inspired character of his rule was the +prime factor in its prevailing; by virtue of his heavenly authority he +exercised his sway over the religious actions of his followers, their +aspirations and their beliefs. In order to promulgate the divine +ordinances the Kuran was sent down, inspired directly by the angel +Gabriel at the bidding of the Lord. Upon all matters of belief and upon +all other matters dealt with, however cursorily, in the Kuran Mahomet +spoke with the power of God Himself; upon matters not within the scope of +religion or of the Sacred Book he was only a human and fallible +counsellor. + +"I am no more than man; when I order you anything with respect to +religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the +world, then am I nothing more than man." + +There is no question of his equality with the Godhead, or even of his +sharing any part of the divine nature. He is simply the instrument, +endowed with a power and authority outside himself, a man who possesses +one cardinal thesis which all those within his faith must accept. + +The idea which represents at once the scope of his teaching and the +source of his triumphs is the unity and indivisibility of the Godhead. +This is the sole contribution he has made to the progressive thought of +the world. Though he came later in time than the culture of Greece and +Rome, he never knew their philosophies or the sum of their knowledge. His +religion could never he built upon such basic strength as Christianity. +It sprang too rapidly into prominence, and had no foundation of slowly +developed ideas upon which to rest both its enthusiasm and its earthly +endeavour. + +Mahomet bears closer resemblance to the ancient Hebrew prophets than to +any Christian leader or saint. His mind was akin to theirs in its +denunciatory fury, its prostration before the might and majesty +of a single God. The evolution of the tribal deity from the local +wonderworker, whose shrine enclosed his image, to the impersonal and +distant but awful power who held the earth beneath his sway, was +Mahomet's contribution to the mental development of his country, and the +achievement within those confines was wonderful. But to the sum of the +world's thought he gave little. His central tenet had already gained its +votaries in other lands, and, moreover, their form of belief in one God +was such that further development of thought was still possible to them. +The philosophy of Islam blocks the way of evolution for itself, because +its system leaves no room for such pregnant ideas as divine incarnation, +divine immanence, the fatherhood of God. It has been content to formulate +one article of faith: "There is no God but God," the corollary as to +Mahomet's divine appointment to the office of Prophet being merely an +affirmation of loyalty to the particular mode of faith he imposed. +Therefore the part taken by Islam in the reading of the world's +mystery ceased with the acceptance of that previously conceived central +tenet. + +In the sphere of ideas, indeed, Mahomet gave his people nothing original, +for his power did not lie in intellect, but in action. His mind had not +passed the stage that has just exchanged many fetishes for one spiritual +God, still to be propitiated, not alone by sacrifices, but by prayers, +ceremonies, and praise. In the world of action lay the strength of Islam +and the genius of its founder; it is therefore in the impress it made +upon events and not in its theology and philosophy that its secret is to +be found. But besides the acceptance of one God as Lord, Islam forced +upon its devotees a still more potent idea, whose influence is felt both +in the spheres of thought and action. + +As an outcome of its political and military needs Mahomet created and +established its unassailable belief in fatality--not the fatalism +of cause and effect, bearing within itself the essence of a reason too +vast for humanity to comprehend, but the fatalism of an omnipotent and +capricious power inherent in the Mahomedan conception of God. With this +mighty and irresponsible being nothing can prevail. Before every event +the result of it is irrevocably decreed. Mankind can alter no tiniest +detail of his destined lot. The idea corresponds with Mahomet's vision of +God--an awful, incomprehensible deity, who dwells perpetually in the +terrors of earth, not in its gentleness and compassion. The doctrine of +fatalism proved Islam's greatest asset during its first hard years of +struggle, for it gave to its battlefields the glory of God's +surveillance: "Death is a favour to a Muslim." But with prosperity and +conquest came inaction; then fatalism, out of the weakening of endurance, +created the pessimism of Islam's later years. Being philosophically +uncreative, it descended into the sloth of those who believe, without +exercise of reason or will, in the uselessness of effort. + +Before Islam decayed into inertia it had experienced a fierce and flaming +life. The impulse bestowed upon it by its founder operated chiefly in the +religious world, and indirectly in the realm of political and military +power. How far the religion of Islam is indebted to Mahomet's knowledge +of the Jewish and Christian systems becomes clear upon a study of the +Kuran and the Muslim institutions. That Mahomet was familiar with Jewish +Scriptures and tradition is beyond doubt. + +The middle portion of the Kuran is filled to the point of weariness with +reiterations of Jewish legend and hero-myths. It is evident that Mahomet +took the God of the Jews to be his own deity, combining in his conception +also the traditional connection of Jehovah and His Chosen People with the +ancient faith and ceremonies of Mecca, purged of their idolatries. From +the Jews he took his belief in the might and terror of the Lord and the +admonitory character of his mission. From them also he took the +separatist nature of his creed. The Jewish teachers postulated a religion +distinct from every other belief, self-sufficient, owning no interpreter +save the Law and the Scriptures. Mahomet conceived himself also as the +sole vehicle during his lifetime and after his death for the commands of +the Most High. He aimed at the superseding of Rabbinical power, and hoped +to win the Jews into recognition of himself as successor to their own +teachers and prophets. + +But his claims were met by an unyielding reliance upon the completed Law. +If the Jewish religion had rejected a Redeemer from among its own people, +it was impossible that it should accept a leader from an alien and +despised race. Mahomet, finding coalition impossible, gave free play to +his separatist instinct, so that in this respect, and also in its +fundamental conception of the deity, as well as in its reliance upon +inspired Scriptures and oral traditions, Mahomedanism approximates to the +Jewish system. It misses the influence of an immemorial history, and +receives no help in its campaign of warfare from the traditional glories +of long lines of warrior kings. Chief of all, it lacks the inspiration of +the matchless Jewish Scriptures and Sacred Books, depending for +instruction upon a document confined to the revelation of one man's +personality and view of life. + +Still the narrowness of the Mahomedan system provoked its power; its +rapid rush to the heights Of dominion was born of the straitening of its +impulse into the channel of conquest and the forcible imposition of its +faith. + +Of Christianity Mahomet knew far less than of Judaism. He went to the +Christian doctrines as they were known in heterodox Syria, far off from +the main stream of Christian life and teaching. He went to them with a +prejudiced mind, full of anger against their exponents for declaring the +Messiah to be the Son of God. The whole idea of the Incarnation and the +dogma of the Trinity were thoroughly abhorrent to him, and the only +conception he entertains as to the personality of Jesus is that of a +Prophet even as he is himself, the receiver of divine inspiration, but +having no connection in essence with God, whom he conceived pre-eminently +as the one supreme Being, indivisible in nature. Certainly he knew far +less of the Christian than of the Jewish Scriptures, and necessarily less +of the inner meaning of the Christian faith, still in fluid state, +unconsidered of its profoundest future exponents. His mind was assuredly +not attuned to the reception of its more revolutionary ideas. Very little +compassion and no tenderness breathe from the pages of the Kuran, and +from a religion whose Founder had laboured to bring just those two +elements into the thorny ways of the world, Mahomet could only turn away +baffled and uncomprehending. The doctrine of the non-resistance to evil, +and indeed all the wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount, he passed by +unseeing. + +It is useless and indeed unfair to attempt the comparison of Mahomedanism +with Christianity, seeing that without the preliminary culture of Greece +and Rome modern Christian doctrines would not exist in their present +form, and of the former Mahomet had no cognisance. He stands altogether +apart from the Christian system, finding no affinity in its doctrines or +practices, scorning its monasticism no less than its conception of the +Trinity. His position in history lies between the warriors and the +saints, at the head of the Prophets, who went, flail in hand, to summon +to repentance, but unlike the generality, bearing also the sword and +sceptre of a kingdom. + +No other religious leader has ever bound his creed so closely to definite +political conceptions, Mahomet was not only the instrument of divine +revelation, but he was also at the end of his life the head of a temporal +state with minutest laws and regulations--chaotic it may be, but still +binding so that Islamic influence extended over the whole of the lives of +its adherents. This constitutes its strength. Its leader swayed not only +the convictions but the activities of his subjects. + +His position with regard to the political institution of other countries +is unique. His temporal power grew almost in spite of himself, and he +unconsciously adopted ideas in connection with it which arose out of the +circumstances involved. Any form of government except despotism was +impossible among so heterogeneous and unruly a people; despotism also +bore out his own idea as to the nature of God's governance. Political +ideas were largely built upon religious conceptions, sometimes +outstripping, sometimes lagging behind them, but always with some +irrefragable connection. Despotism, therefore, was the form best suited +to Islam, and becomes its chief legacy to posterity, since without the +religious sanction Islam politically could not exist. + +Together with despotism and inextricably mingled with it is the second +great Islamic enthusiasm--the belief in the supremacy of force. With +violence the Muslim kingdom was to be attained. Mahomet gave to the +battle lust of Arabia the approval of his puissant deity, bidding his +followers put their supreme faith in the arbitrament of the sword. He +knew, too, the value of diplomacy and the use of well-calculated +treachery, but chief of all he bade his followers arm themselves to seize +by force what they could not obtain by cunning. In the insistence upon +these two factors, complete obedience to his will as the revelation of +Allah's decrees and the justification of violence to proclaim the merits +of his faith, we gain the nearest approach to his character and beliefs; +for these, together with his conception of fate, are perhaps the most +personal of all his institutions. + +Mahomet has suffered not a little at the hands of his immediate successors. +They have sought to record the full sum of his personality, and finding +the subject elude them, as the translation of actions into words must +ever fall short of finality, they have overloaded their narrative with +minutest and almost always apocryphal details which leave the main +outlines blurred. Only two biographies can be said to be in the nature +of sources, that of Muhammad ibn Hischam, written on the model of +an earlier biography, undertaken about 760 for the Abbasside Caliph +Mansur, and of Wakidi, written about 820, which is important as +containing the text of many treaties made by Mahomet with various tribes. +Al-Tabari, too, included the life of Mahomet in his extensive history of +Arabia, but his work serves only as a check, consisting, as it +does, mainly of extracts from Wakidi. By far the more valuable is the +Kuran and the Sunna of tradition. But even these are fragmentary and +confused, bearing upon them the ineradicable stamp of alien writers and +much second-hand thought. + +In the dim, pregnant dawn of religions, by the transfusing power of a +great idea, seized upon and made living by a single personality, the +world of imagination mingles with the world of fact as we perceive it. +The real is felt to be merely the frail shell of forces more powerful and +permanent. Legend and myth crowd in upon actual life as imperfect +vehicles for the compelling demand made by that new idea for expression. +Moreover, personality, that subtle essence, exercises a kind of +centripetal force, attracting not only the devotion but the imaginations +of those who come within its influence. + +Mahomet, together with all the men of action in history, possessed an +energy of will so vast as to bring forth the creative faculties of his +adherents, and the legends that cluster round him have a special +significance as the measure of his personality and influence. The +story, for instance, of his midnight journey into the seven heavens +is the symbol of an intense spiritual experience that, following the +mental temper of the age in which he lived, had to be translated into +the concrete. All the affirmations as to his intercourse with Djinn, +his inspiration by the angel Gabriel, are inherent factors in the +manifestation of his ceaseless mental activity. His marvellous birth and +the myths of his childhood are the sum of his followers' devotion, and +reveal their reverence translated into terms of the imagination. +Character was the mysterious force that his co-religionists tried +unconsciously to portray in all those legends relative to his life at +Medina, his ruthlessness and cruelty finding a place no less than his +humility, and steadfastness under discouragement. + +But beneath the weight of the marvellous the real man is almost buried. +He has stood for so long with the mists of obscure imaginings about him +that his true lineaments are almost impossible to reproduce. The Western +world has alternated between the conception of him as a devil, almost +Antichrist himself, and a negligible impostor whose power is transient. +It has seldom troubled to look for the human energy that wrought out his +successes, the faith that upheld them, and the enthusiasm that burned in +the Prophet himself with a sombre flame, lighting his followers to prayer +and conquest. + +And indeed it is difficult, if not impossible, to re-create effectively +the world in which he lived. It is so remote from the seas of the +world's progression, an eddy in the tide of belief which loses itself in +the larger surging, that it makes no appeal of familiarity. But that a +study of the period and Mahomet's own personality operating no less +through his deeds, faith, and institutions than in the one doubtfully +reliable record of his teachings, will result in the perception of the +Prophet of Islam as a man among men, has been the central belief during +the writing of this biography. Mahomet's personality is revealed in his +dealing with his fellows, in the belief and ritual that he imposed upon +Arabia, in the mighty achievement of a political unity and military +discipline, and therein he shows himself inexorable, cruel, passionate, +treacherous, bad, subject to depression and overwhelming doubt, but +never weak or purposeless, continually the master of his circumstances, +whom no emergency found unprepared, whose confidence in himself nothing +could shake, and who by virtue of enthusiasm and resistless activity +wrested his triumphs from the hands of his enemies, and bequeathed to +his followers his own unconquerable faith and the means wherewith they +might attain wealth and sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + + "And how many cities were mightier in strength than thy city that + hath cast thee forth?"--_The Kuran_. + +In Arabia nature cannot be ignored. Pastures and cornland, mountain +slopes and quiet rivers may be admired, even reverenced; but they are +things external to the gaze, and make no insistent demand upon the spirit +for penetration of their mystery. Arabia, and Mecca as typical of Arabia, +is a country governed by earth's primal forces. It has not yet emerged +from the shadow of that early world, bare and chaotic, where a blinding +sun pours down upon dusty mountain ridges, and nothing is temperate or +subdued. It fosters a race of men, whose gods are relentless and +inscrutable, revealing themselves seldom, and dwelling in a fierce +splendour beyond earthly knowledge. To the spirit of a seeker for truth +with senses alert to the outer world, this country speaks of boundless +force, and impels into activity under the spur of conviction; by its very +desolation it sets its ineradicable mark upon the creed built up within +it. + +Mahomet spent forty years in the city of Mecca, watching its temple +services with his grandfather, taking part in its mercantile life, +learning something of Christian and Jewish doctrine through the varied +multitudes that thronged its public places. In the desert beyond the city +boundaries he wandered, searching for inspiration, waiting dumbly in the +darkness until the angel Gabriel descended with rush of wings through the +brightness of heaven, commanding: + +"Cry aloud, in the name of the Lord who created thee. O, thou enwrapped +in thy mantle, arise and warn!" + +Mecca lies in a stony valley midway between Yemen, "the Blessed," and +Syria, in the midst of the western coast-chain of Arabia, which slopes +gradually towards the Red Sea. The height of Abu Kobeis overlooks the +eastern quarter of the town, whence hills of granite stretch to the +holy places, Mina and Arafat, enclosed by the ramparts of the Jebel +Kora range. Beyond these mountains to the south lies Taif, with +its glory of gardens and fruit-trees. But the luxuriance of Taif +finds no counterpart on the western side. Mecca is barren and treeless; +its sandy stretches only broken here and there by low hills of quartz +or gneiss, scrub-covered and dusty. The sun beats upon the shelterless +town until it becomes a great cauldron within its amphitheatre of hills. +During the Greater Pilgrimage the cauldron seethes with heat and +humanity, and surges over into Mina and Arafat. In the daytime Mecca is +limitless heat and noise, but under the stars it has all the magic of a +dream-city in a country of wide horizons. + +The shadow of its ancient prosperity, when it was the centre of the +caravan trade from Yemen to Syria, still hung about it in the years +immediately before the birth of Mahomet, and the legends concerning the +founding of the city lingered in the native mind. Hagar, in her terrible +journey through the desert, reached Mecca and laid her son in the midst +of the valley to go on the hopeless quest for water. The child kicked the +ground in torment, and God was merciful, so that from his heel marks +arose a spring of clear water--the well Zemzem, hallowed ever after by +Meccans. In this desolate place part of the Amalekites and tribes from +Yemen settled; the child Ishmael grew up amongst them and founded his +race by marrying a daughter of the chief. Abraham visited him, and under +his guidance the native temple of the Kaaba was built and dedicated to +the true God, but afterwards desecrated by the worship of idols within +it. + +Such are the legends surrounding the foundation of Mecca and of the +Kaaba, of which, as of the legends concerning the early days of Rome, it +may be said that they are chiefly interesting as throwing light upon the +character of the race which produced them. In the case of Mecca they were +mainly the result of an unconscious desire to associate the city as far +as possible with the most renowned heroes of old time, and also to +conciliate the Jewish element within Arabia, now firmly planted at +Medina, Kheibar, and some of the adjoining territory, by insisting on a +Jewish origin for their holy of holies, and as soon as Abraham and +Ishmael were established as fathers of the race, legends concerning them +were in perpetual creation. + +The Kaaba thus reputed to be the work of Abraham bears evidence of an +antiquity so remote that its beginnings will be forever lost to us. From +very early times it was a goal of pilgrimage for all Arabia, because of +the position of Mecca upon the chief trade route, and united in its +ceremonies the native worship of the sun and stars, idols and misshapen +stones. The Black Stone, the kissing of which formed the chief +ceremonial, is a relic of the rites practised by the stone-worshippers of +old; while the seven circuits of the Kaaba, obligatory on all pilgrims, +are probably a symbol of the courses of the planets. Arab divinities, +such as Alilat and Uzza, were associated with the Kaaba before any +records are available, and at the time of Mahomet, idolatry mingled with +various rites still held sway among the Meccans, though the leaven of +Jewish tradition was of great help to him in the establishment of the +monotheistic idea. At Mahomet's birth the Kaaba consisted of a small +roofless house, with the Black Stone imbedded in its wall. Near it lay +the well Zemzem, and the reputed grave of Ishmael. The Holy Place of +Arabia held thus within itself traces of a purer faith, that +were to be discovered and filled in by Mahomet, until the Kaaba +became the goal of thousands, the recipient of the devotion and longings +of that mighty host of Muslim who went forth to subdue the world. +Mahomet's ancestors had for some time held a high position in the city. +He came of the race of Hashim, whose privilege it was to give service to +the pilgrims coming to worship at the Kaaba. The Hashim were renowned for +generosity, and Mahomet's grandfather, Abd al Muttalib, was revered by +the Kureisch, inhabitants of Mecca, as a just and honourable man, who had +greatly increased their prosperity by his rediscovery of the holy well. + +Its healing waters had been choked by the accumulations of years, so +that even the knowledge of its site was lost, when an angel appeared to +Abd al Muttalib, as he slept at the gate of the temple, saying: + +"Dig up that which is pure!" + +Three times the command fell on uncomprehending ears, until the angel +revealed to the sleeper where the precious water might be found. And as +he dug, the well burst forth once more, and behold within its deeps lay +two golden gazelles, with weapons, the treasure of former kings. And +there was strife among the Kureisch for the possession of these riches, +until they were forced to draw lots. So the treasure fell to Abd al +Muttalib, who melted the weapons to make a door for the Kaaba, and set +up the golden gazelles within it. + +Abd al Muttalib figures very prominently in the early legends concerning +Mahomet, because he was sole guardian of the Prophet during very early +childhood. These legends are mainly later accretions, but the kernel of +truth within them is not difficult to discover. Like all forerunners of +the great teachers, he stands in communion with heavenly messengers, the +symbol of his purity of heart. He is humble, compassionate, and devout, +living continually in the presence of his god--a fitting guardian for +the renewer of the faith of his nation. Most significant of the legends +is the story of his vow to sacrifice a son if ten were born to him, and +of the choice of Abdullah, Mahomet's father, and the repeated staying of +the father's hand, so that the sacrifice could not be accomplished until +is son's life was bought with the blood of a hundred camels. This and +all allied legends are fruit of a desire to magnify the divine authority +of Mahomet's mission by dwelling on the intervention of a higher power +in the disposal of his fate. + +Of Abd al Muttalib's ten sons, Abdallah was the most handsome in form +and stature, so that the fame of his beauty spread into the harems +of the city, and many women coveted him in their hearts. But he, after +his father had sacrificed the camels in his stead, went straightway to +the house of Amina, a maiden well-born and lovely, and remained there to +complete his nuptials with her. Then, after some weeks, he departed to +Gaza for the exchange of merchandise, but, returning, was overtaken by +sickness and died at Medina. + +Amina, left thus desolate, sought the house of Abd al Muttalib, where +she stayed until her child was born. Visions of his future greatness +were vouchsafed to her before his birth by an angel, who told her the +name he was to bear, and his destiny as Prophet of his people. Long +before the child's eyes opened to the light, a brightness surrounded his +mother, so that by it might be seen the far-off towers of the castles in +Syrian Bostra. A tenderness hangs over the story of Mahomet's birth, +akin to that immortal beauty surrounding the coming of Christ. We have +faint glimpses of Amina, in the dignity of her sorrow, waiting for the +birth of her son, and in the house of Mecca's leading citizen, hearing +around her not alone the celestial voices of her spirit-comforters, but +also rumours of earthly strife and the threatenings of strange armies +from the south. + +At Sana, capital of Yemen, ruled Abraha, king of the southern province. +He built a vast temple within its walls, and purposed to make Sana the +pilgrim-city for all Arabia. But the old custom still clove to Mecca, +and finding he could in nowise coerce the people into forsaking the +Kaaba, he determined to invade Mecca itself and to destroy the rival +place of worship. So he gathered together a great army, which numbered +amongst it an elephant, a fearful sight to the Meccans, who had never +seen so great an animal. With this force he marched upon Mecca, and was +about to enter the city after fruitless attempts by Abd al Muttalib to +obtain quarter, when God sent down a scourge of sickness upon his army +and he was forced to retreat, returning miserably to Sana with a remnant +of his men. But so much had the presence of the elephant alarmed the +Meccans that the year (A.D. 570) was called ever after "The Year of the +Elephant," and in August thereof Mahomet was born. + +Then Amina sent for Abd al Muttalib and told him the marvels she had +seen and heard, and his grandfather took the child and presented him in +the Kaaba, after the manner of the Jews, and gave him the name Mahomet +(the Praised One), according as the angel had commanded Amina. + +The countless legends surrounding Mahomet's birth, even to the physical +marvel that accompanied it, cannot be set aside as utterly worthless. +They serve to show the temper of the nation producing them, deeply +imaginative and incoherently poetical, and they indicate the weight of +the personality to which they cling. All the devotion of the East +informs them; but since the spirit that caused them to be is in its +essence one of relentless activity, neither contemplative nor +mystic, they lack that subtle sweetness that belongs to the Buddhist and +Christian histories, and dwell rather within the region of the +marvellous than of the spiritually symbolic. Neither Mahomet's father +nor mother are known to us in any detail; they are merely the passive +instruments of Mahomet's prophetic mission. His real parents are his +grandfather and his uncle Abu Talib; but more than these, the desert +that nurtured him, physically and mentally, that bounded his horizon +throughout his life and impressed its mighty mysteries upon his +unconscious childhood and his eager, imaginative youth. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +CHILDHOOD + +"Paradise lies at the feet of mothers."--MAHOMET. + +No more beautiful and tender legends cluster round Mahomet than those +which grace his life in the desert under the loving care of his +foster-mother Hailima. She was a woman of the tribe of Beni Sa'ad, who +for generations had roamed the desert, tent-dwellers, who visited cities +but rarely, and kept about them the remoteness and freedom of their +adventurous life beneath the sun and stars. + +About the time of Mahomet's birth a famine fell upon the Beni Sa'ad, +which left nothing of all their stores, and the women of the tribe +journeyed,[28] weary and stricken with hunger, into the city of Mecca +that they might obtain foster-children whose parents would give them +money and blessings if they could but get their little ones taken away +from that unhealthy place. Among these was Hailima, who, according to +tradition, has left behind her the narrative of that dreadful journey +across the desert with her husband and her child, and with only an ass +and a she-camel for transport. Famine oppressed them sorely, together +with the heat of desert suns, until there was no sustenance for any +living creature; then, faint and travel-weary, they reached the city and +began their quest. + +Mahomet was offered to every woman of the tribe, but they rejected him +as he had no father, and there was little hope of much payment from the +mothers of these children. Those of rich parents were eagerly spoken +for, but no one would care for the little fatherless child. And it +happened that Hailima also was unsuccessful in her search, and was like +to have returned to her people disconsolate, but when she saw +Mahomet she bethought herself and said to her husband: + +"By the God of my fathers, I will not go back to my companions without +foster-child. I will take this orphan." + +And her husband replied: "It cannot harm thee to do this, and if thou +takest him it may be that through him God will bless us." + +So Hailima took him, and she relates how good fortune attended her from +that day. Her camels gave abundant milk during the homeward journey, and +in the unfruitful land of the Beni Sa'ad her cattle were always fattest +and yielded most milk, until her neighbours besought her to allow them +to pasture their cattle with hers. But, adds the chronicler naively, in +spite of this their cattle returned to them thin and yielding little, +while Hailima's waxed fat and fruitful. These legends are the translation +into poetic fact of the peace and love surrounding Mahomet during the five +years he spent with Hailima; for in all primitive communities every +experience must pass through transmutation into the definite and tangible +and be given a local habitation and a name. + +When Mahomet was two years old and the time had come to restore him to +his mother, Hailima took him back to Mecca; but his mother gave him to +her again because he had thriven so well under desert skies, and she +feared the stifling air of Mecca for her only son. So Hailima returned +with him and brought him up as one of her children until he was five, +when the first signs of his nervous, highly-strung nature showed +themselves in a kind of epileptic fit. The Arabians, unskilled as they +were in any medical science, attributed manifestations of this kind to +evil spirits, and it is not surprising that we find Hailima bringing him +back to his grandfather in great alarm. So ended his fostering by the +desert and by Hailima. + +Of these five years spent among the Beni Sa'ad chroniclers have spoken +in much detail, but their confused accounts are so interwoven with +legend that it is impossible to re-create events, and we can only obtain +a general idea of his life as a tiny child among the children of the +tribe, sharing their fortunes, playing and quarrelling with them, and at +moments, when the spirit seemed to advance beyond its dwelling-place, +gazing wide-eyed upon the limitless desert under the blaze of sun or +below the velvet dark, with swift, half-conscious questionings uttering +the universal why and how [31] of childhood. Legend regards even this +early time as one of preparation for his mission, and there are stories +of the coming of two men clothed in white and shining garments, who +ripped open his body, took out his heart, and having purged it of all +unrighteousness, returned it, symbolically cleansing him of sin that he +might forward the work of God. It was an imaginative rightness that +decreed that Mahomet's most impressionable years should be spent in the +great desert, whose twin influences of fierceness and fatalism he felt +throughout his life, and which finally became the key-notes of his +worship of Allah. + +Hailima, convinced that her foster-son was possessed by evil spirits, +resolved to return him to Abd al Muttalib, but as she journeyed through +Upper Mecca, the child wandered away and was lost for a time. Hailima +hurried, much agitated, to his grandfather, who immediately sent his +sons to search, and after a short time they returned with the boy, +unharmed and unfrightened by his adventure. The legend--it is quite a +late accretion--is interesting, as showing an acquaintance with, and a +parallelism to, the story of the losing of Jesus among the Passover +crowds, and the search for Him by His kindred. Mahomet was at last +lodged with his mother, who indignantly explained to Hailima the real +meaning of his malady, and spoke of his future glory as manifested to +her by the light that enfolded her before his birth. Not long after, +Amina decided to visit her [32] husband's tomb at Medina, and thither +Mahomet accompanied her, travelling through the rocky, desolate valleys +and hills that separate the two, with just his mother and a slave girl. + + +Mahomet was too young to remember much about the journey to Medina, +except that it was hot and that he was often tired, and since his father +was but a name to him, the visit to his tomb faded altogether from his +mind. But on the homeward journey a calamity overtook him which he +remembered all his life. Amina, weakened by journeying and much +sorrow, and perhaps feeling her desire for life forsake her after the +fulfillment of her pilgrimage, sickened and died at Abwa, and Mahomet +and the slave girl continued their mournful way alone. + +Amina is drawn by tradition in very vague outline, and Mahomet's memory +of her as given in the Kuran does not throw so much light upon the woman +herself as upon her child's devotion and affectionate memory of the +mother he lost almost before he knew her. His grief for her was very +real; she remained continually in his thoughts, and in after years +he paid tribute at her tomb to her tenderness and love for him. + +"This is the grave of my mother ... the Lord hath permitted me to visit +it.... I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her +overcame me and I wept." + +The sensitive, over-nervous child, left thus solitary, away from all his +kindred, must have brought back with him to Mecca confused but vivid +impressions of the long journey and of the catastrophe which lay at the +end of it. The uncertainty of his future, and the joys of gaining at +last a foster-father in Abd al Muttalib, finds reflection in the Kuran +in one little burst of praise to God: "Did He not find thee an orphan, +and furnish thee with a refuge?" + +Life for two years as the foster-child of Abd al Muttalib, the venerable, +much honoured chief of the house of Hashim, passed very pleasantly for +Mahomet. He was the darling of his grandfather's last years of life; for, +perhaps having pity on his defencelessness, perhaps divining with that +prescience which often marks old age, something of the revelation this +child was to be to his countrymen, he protected him from the harshness of +his uncles. A rug used to be placed in the shadow of the Kaaba, and there +the aged ruler rested during the heat of the day, and his sons sat around +him at respectful distance, listening to his words. But the child +Mahomet, who loved his grandfather, ran fearlessly up, and would have +seated himself by Abd al Muttalib's side. Then the sons sought to +punish him for his lack of reverence, but their father prevented them: + +"Leave the child in peace. By the God of my fathers, I swear he will one +day be a mighty prophet." + +So Mahomet remained in close attendance upon the old man, until he died +in the eighth year after the Year of the Elephant, and there was mourning +for him in the houses of his sons. + +When Abd al Muttalib knew his end was near he sent for his daughters, and +bade them make lamentation over him. We possess traditional accounts of +these funeral songs; they are representative of the wild rhetorical +eloquence of the poetry of the day. They lose immensely in translation, +and even in reading with the eye instead of hearing, for they were never +meant to find immortality in the written words, but in the speech of men. + +"When in the night season a voice of loud lament proclaimed the sorrowful +tidings I wept, so that the tears ran down my face like pearls. I wept +for a noble man, greater than all others, for Sheibar, the generous, +endowed with virtues; for my beloved father, the inheritor of all good +things, for the man faithful in his own house, who never shrank from +combat, who stood fast and needed not a prop, mighty, well-favoured, +rich in gifts. If a man could live for ever by reason of his noble +nature--but to none is this lot vouchsafed--he would remain untouched of +death because of his fair fame and his good deeds." + +The songs furnish ample evidence as to the high position which Abd al +Muttalib held among the Kureisch. His death was a great loss to his +nation, but it was a greater calamity to his little foster-child, for it +brought him from ease and riches to comparative poverty and obscurity +with his uncle, Abu Talib. None of Abd al Muttalib's sons inherited the +nature of their father, and with his death the greatness of the house of +Hashim diminished, until it gave place to the Omeyya branch, with Harb at +its head. The offices at Mecca were seized by the Omeyya, and to the +descendants of Abd al Muttalib there remained but the privilege of caring +for the well Zemzem, and of giving its water for the refreshment of +pilgrims. Only two of his sons, except Abu Talib, who earns renown +chiefly as the guardian of Mahomet, attain anything like prominence. +Hamza was converted at the beginning of Mahomet's mission, and continued +his helper and warrior until he died in battle for Islam; Abu Lahab (the +flame) opposed Mahomet's teaching with a vehemence that earned him one of +the fiercest denunciations in the early, passionate Suras of the +Kuran: + + "Blasted be the hands of Abu Lahab; let himself perish; + His wealth and his gains shall avail him not; + Burned shall he be with the fiery flame, + His wife shall be laden with firewood-- + On her neck a rope of palm fibre." + +Mahomet, bereft a second time of one he loved and on whom he depended, +passed into the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. This was a man of no great +force of character, well-disposed and kindly, but of straitened means, +and lacking in the qualities that secure success. Later, he seems to have +attained a more important position, mainly, one would imagine, through +the lion courage and unfaltering faith in the Prophet of his son, the +mighty warrior Ali, of whom it is written, "Mahomet is the City of +Knowledge, and Ali is the Gate thereof." But although Abu Talib was +sufficiently strong to withstand the popular fury of the Kureisch against +Mahomet, and to protect him for a time on the grounds of kinship, he +never finally decided upon which side he would take his stand. Had he +been a far-seeing, imaginative man, able to calculate even a little the +force that had entered into Arabian polity, the history of the foundation +of Islam would have been continued, with Mecca as its base, and have +probably resolved itself into the war of two factions within the city, +wherein the new faith, being bound to the more powerful political party, +would have had a speedier conquest. + +With Abu Talib Mahomet spent the rest of his childhood and youth--quiet +years, except for a journey to Syria, and his insignificant part in the +war against the Hawazin, a desert tribe that engaged the Kureisch for +some time. In Abu Talib's house there was none of the ease that had +surrounded him with Abd al Muttalib. But Mahomet was naturally an +affectionate child, and was equally attached to his uncle as he had been +to his grandfather. + +Two years later Abu Talib set out on a mercantile journey, and was minded +to leave his small foster-child behind him, but Mahomet came to him +as he sat on his camel equipped for his journey, and clinging to him +passionately implored his uncle not to go without him. Abu Talib could +not resist his pleading, and so Mahomet accompanied him on that magical +journey through the desert, so glorious yet awesome to an imaginative +child, Bostra was the principal city of exchange for merchandise +circulating between Yemen, Northern Arabia, and the cities of Upper +Palestine, and Mahomet must thus have travelled on the caravan route +through the heart of Syria, past Jerash, Ammon, and the site of the +fated Cities of the Plain. In Syria, too, he first encountered the +Christian faith, and planted those remembrances that were to be revived +and strengthened upon his second journey through that wonderful land--in +religion, and in a lesser degree in polity, a law unto itself, forging +out its own history apart from the main stream of Christian life and +thought. + +Legends concerning this journey are rife, and all emphasise the influence +Christianity had upon his mind, and also the ready recognition of his +coming greatness by all those Christians who saw him. On the homeward +journey the monk Bahirah is fabled to have met the party and to have +bidden them to a feast. When he saw the child was not among them he was +wroth, and commanded his guests to bring "every man of the company." He +interrogated Mahomet and Abu Talib concerning the parentage of the boy, +and we have here the first traditional record of Mahomet's speech. + +"Ask what thou wilt," he said to Bahirah, "and I will make answer." + +So Bahirah questioned him as to the signs that had been vouchsafed him, +and looking between his shoulders found the seal of the prophetic office, +a mole covered with hair. Then Bahirah knew this was he who was foretold, +and counselled Abu Talib to take him to his native land, and to beware +[39] of the Jews, for he would one day attain high honour. At this time +Mahomet was little more than a child, but although few thoughts of God or +of human destiny can have crossed his mind, he retained a vivid +impression of the storied places through which he passed--Jerash, Ammon, +the valley of Hejr, and saw in imagination the mighty stream of the +Tigris, the ruinous cities, and Palmyra with its golden pillars fronting +the sun. The tribes which the caravan encountered were rich in legend and +myth, and their influence, together with the more subtle spell of the +desert vastness, wrought in him that fervour of spirit, a leaping, +troubled flame, which found mortal expression in the poetry of the early +part of the Kuran, where the vision of God's majesty compels the gazer +into speech that sweeps from his mind in a stream of fire: + + "By the Sun and his noonday brightness, + By the Moon when she followeth him, + By Day when it revealeth his glory, + By the night when it enshroudeth him, + By the Heaven and Him who built it, + By the Earth and Him who spread it forth, + By the Soul and Him who balanced it, + Breathed into its good, yea, and its evil-- + Verily man's lot is cast amid destruction + Save those who believe and deal justly, + And enjoin upon each other steadfastness and truth." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +"God hath treasuries beneath the throne, the keys whereof are the tongues +of poets."--MAHOMET. + +The Arabian calendar has always been in a distinctive manner subject to +the religion of the people. Before Mahomet imposed his faith upon Mecca, +there were four sacred months following each other, in which no war might +be waged. For four months, therefore, the tumultuous Arab spirit was +restrained from that most precious to it; pilgrimages to holy places were +undertaken, and there was a little leisure for the cultivation of art and +learning. + +The Greater Pilgrimage to Mecca, comprising the sevenfold circuit of the +Kaaba and the kissing of the sacred Black Stone, and culminating in a +procession to the holy places of Mina and Arafat, could only be +undertaken in Dzul-Higg, corresponding in the time of Mahomet to our +March. The month preceding, Dzul-Cada, was occupied in a kind of +preparation and rejoicing, which took the form of a fair at Ocatz, three +days' journey east of Mecca, when representatives of all the surrounding +nations used to assemble to exchange merchandise, to take part in the +games, to listen to the contests in poetry and rhetoric, and sometimes to +be roused into sinister excitement at the proximity of so many tribes +differing from them in nationality, and often in their religion and moral +code. + +Into this vast concourse came Mahomet, a lad of fifteen, eager to see, +hear, and know. He was present at the poetic contests, and caught from +the protagonists a reflection of their vivid, fitful eloquence, with its +ceaseless undercurrent of monotony. + +Romance, in so far as it represents the love of the strange, is a product +of the West. There is a rigidity in the Eastern mind that does not allow +of much change or seeking after new things. Wild and beautiful as this +poetry of Arabia is, its themes and their manner of treatment seldom +vary; as the desert is changeless in contour, filled with a brilliant +sameness, whirling at times into sombre fury and as suddenly subsiding, +so is the literature which it fostered. The monotony is expressed in a +reiteration of subject, barbarous to the intellect of the West; endurance +is born of that monotony, and strength, and the acquiescence in things as +they are, but not the discovery and development of ideas. Arabia does not +flash forth a new presentment of beauty, following the vivid apprehension +of some lovely form, but broods over it in a kind of slumbering +enthusiasm that mounts at last into a glory of metaphor, drowning the +subject in intensest light. The rival poets assembled to discover who +could turn the deftest phrases in satire of the opposing tribe, or extol +most eloquently the bravery and skill of his own people, the beauty and +modesty of their women, and from these wild outpourings Mahomet learnt to +clothe his thoughts in that splendid garment whose jewels illumine the +earlier part of the Kuran. + +Perhaps more important than the poetical contests was the religious +aspect of the fair at Ocatz. Here were gathered Jew, Christian, and +Arabian worshipper of many gods, in a vast hostile confusion. Mahomet was +familiar with Jewish cosmogony from his knowledge of their faith within +his own land, and he had heard dimly of the Christian principles during +his Syrian journey. But here, though both Jews and Christians claimed to +be worshippers of a single God, and although the Jews took for their +protector Abraham, the mighty founder of Mahomet's own city, yet there +was nothing between all the sects but fruitless strife. He saw the Jews +looking disdainfully upon the Christian dogs, and the Christians firmly +convinced that an irrevocable doom would shortly descend upon every Jew. +Both united in condemning to eternal wrath the idol-worshippers of the +Kaaba. It was a fiercely outspoken, remorseless enmity that he saw around +him, and the impotence born of distrust he saw also. + +It is not possible that any hint of his future mission enlightened him as +to the part he was to play in eliminating this conflict, but may it not +be that there was sown in his mind a seed of thought concerning the +uselessness of all this strife of religions, and the limitless power that +might accrue to his nation if it could but be persuaded to become united +in allegiance to the one true God? For even at that early stage Mahomet, +with the examples of Judaism and Christianity before him, must have +rejected, even if unthinkingly, the polytheistic idea. + +The poetic and warlike contests partook of the fiery earnestness +characteristic of the combatants, and it was seldom that the fair at +Ocatz passed by without some hostile demonstration. The greatest rivals +were the Kureisch and the Hawazin, a tribe dwelling between Mecca and +Taif. + +The Hawazin were tumultuous and unruly, and the Kureisch ever ready to +rouse their hostility by numerous small slights and taunts. We read +traditionally of an insult by some Kureisch youths towards a girl of the +Hawazin; this incident was closed peaceably, but some years later the +Kureisch (always the aggressive party because of their stronghold in +Mecca) committed an outrage that could not be passed over. As the fair +progressed, news came of the murder of a Hawazin, chief of a caravan, and +the seizure of his treasure by an ally of the Kureisch. That tribe, +knowing themselves at a disadvantage and fearing vengeance, fled back to +Mecca. The Hawazin pursued them remorselessly to the borders of the +sacred precincts, beyond which it was sacrilegious to wage war. Some +traditions say they followed their foe undaunted by fear of divine wrath, +and thus incurred a double disgrace of having fought in the sacred month +and within the sacred territory. But their pursuit cannot have lasted +long, because we find them challenging the Kureisch to battle at the same +time the next year. All Mahomet's uncles took part in the Sacrilegious +War that followed, and stirring times continued for Mahomet until a truce +was made after four years. He attended his uncles in warfare, and we hear +of his collecting the enemy's arrows that fell harmlessly into their +lines, in order to reinforce the Kureisch ammunition. + +A vivid picture by the hand of tradition is this period in Mahomet's +life, for he was between eighteen and nineteen, just at the age when +fighting would appeal to his wild, yet determined nature. He must have +learned resource and some of the stratagem of war from this attendance +upon warriors, if he did not become filled with much physical daring, +never one of his characteristics, nor, indeed, of any man of his nervous +temperament, and his imagination was certainly kindled by the spectacle +of the horrors and triumphs of strife. Several battles were fought with +varying success, until at the end of about five years' fighting both +sides were weary and a truce was called. It was found that twenty more +Hawazin had been killed than Kureisch, and according to the simple yet +equitable custom of the time, a like number of hostages was given to the +Hawazin that there might not be blood feud between them. + +The Kureisch passed as suddenly into peace as they had plunged into +strife. After the Sacrilegious War, a period of prosperity began for the +city of Mecca. It was wealthy enough to support its population, and trade +flourished with the marts of Bostra, Damascus, and Northern Syria. Its +political condition had never been very stable, and it seems to have +preserved during the Omeyyad ascendancy the same loose but roughly +effective organisation that it possessed under the Hashim branch. The +intellect that could see the potentialities of such a polity, once it +could be knit together by some common bond, had not arisen; but the scene +was prepared for his coming, and we have to think of the Mecca of that +time as offering untold suggestions for its religious, and later for its +political, salvation to a mind anxious to produce, but uncertain as yet +of its medium. + +Mahomet returned with Abu Talib, and passed with him into obscurity of a +poverty not too burdensome, and to a quiet, somewhat reflective +household. He lived under the spell of that tranquillity until he was +twenty-five, and of this time there is not much notice in the traditions, +but its contemplation is revealed to us in the earlier chapters of the +Kuran. At one time Mahomet acted as shepherd upon the Meccan hills--low, +rocky ranges covered with a dull scrub, and open to the limitless vaults +of sky. Here, whether under sun or stars, he learned that love and awe of +Nature that throbs through the early chapters of the Kuran like a deep +organ note of praise, dominated almost always with fear. + +"Consider the Heaven--with His Hand has He built it up, and given it its +vastness--and the Earth has He stretched out like a carpet, smoothly has +He spread it forth! Verily, God is the sole sustainer, possessed of +might, the unshaken! Fly then to God." + +Indeed, a haunting terror broods over all those souls who know the +desert, and this fear translated into action becomes fierce and terrible +deeds, and into the world of the spirit, angry dogmatic commands. It is +the result of the knowledge that to those who stray from the well-known +desert track comes death; equally certain is the destruction of the soul +for those who transgress against the law of the Ruler of the earth. The +God of the early Kuran is the spiritual representative of the forces +surrounding Mahomet, whether of Nature or government. The country around +Mecca conveys one central thought to one who meditates--the sense of +power, not the might of one kindly and familiar, but the unapproachable +sovereignty of one alien and remote, a dweller in far-off places, who +nevertheless fills the earth with his dominion. Mahomet passing by, as he +did, the gaieties and temptations of youth, had his mind alert for the +influences of this Nature, full of awful power, and for the contemplation +of life and the Universe around him. + +In common with many enthusiasts and men of action, certain sides of his +nature, especially the sexual and the practical, awoke late, and were +preceded by a reflective period wherein the poet held full sway. He never +desired the companionship of those of his own age and their rather +debased pleasures. There are legends of his being miraculously preserved +from the corruption of the youthful vices of Mecca, but the more probable +reason for his shunning them is that they made no appeal to his desires. +Some minds and tastes unfold by imperceptible degrees--flowers that +attain fruition by the shedding of their earlier petals. Mahomet was of +this nature. At this time the poet was paramount in his mental activities +He loved silence and solitude, so that he might use those imaginative and +contemplative gifts of which he felt himself to possess so large a share. + +It is not possible at this distance of time to attempt to estimate the +importance of this period in Mahomet's mental development. There are not +sufficient data to enable history to fill in any detailed sketch, but the +outlines may be safely indicated by the help of his later life and the +testimony of that commentary upon his feelings and actions, the Kuran. +His nature now seems to be in a pause of expectation, whose vain urgency +lasted until he became convinced of his prophetic mission. He must have +been at this time the seeker, whose youth, if not his very eagerness, +prevented his attaining what he sought. He was earnest and sincere, grave +beyond his years, and so gained from his fellows the respect always meted +out, in an essentially religion-loving community, to any who give promise +of future "inspiration," before its actuality has rendered him too +uncomfortable a citizen. He received from his comrades the title of +Al-Amin (the Faithful), and continued his life apart from his kind, +performing his duties well, but still remaining aloof from others as +one not of their world. From his sojourn in the mountains came the +inspiration that created the poetry of the Kuran and the reflective +interest in what he knew of his world and its religion; both embryos, but +especially the latter, germinated in his mind until they emerged into +full consciousness and became his fire of religious conviction, and his +zeal for the foundation and glory of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +"Women are the twin-halves of men."--MAHOMET. + +Abu Talib's straitened circumstances never prevented him from treating +his foster-child with all the affection of which his kindly but somewhat +weak character was capable. But the cares of a growing family soon became +too much for his means, and when Mahomet was about twenty-five his uncle +suggested that he should embark upon a mercantile journey for some rich +trader in Mecca. We can imagine Mahomet, immersed in his solitudes, +responding reluctantly to a call that could not be evaded. He was not by +nature a trader, and the proposal was repugnant to him, except for his +desire to help his uncle, and more than this, his curiosity to revisit at +a more assimilative age the lands that he remembered dimly from childhood. + +Khadijah, a beautiful widow, daughter of an honoured house and the cousin +of Mahomet, rich and much sought after by the Kureisch, desired someone +to accompany her trading venture to Bostra, and hearing of the wisdom and +faithfulness of Mahomet, sent for him, asking if he would travel for her +into Syria and pursue her bargains in that northern city. She was willing +to reward him far more generously than most merchants. Mahomet, anxious +to requite his uncle in some way, and with his young imagination kindled +at the prospect of new scenes and ideas, prepared eagerly for the +journey. With one other man-servant, Meisara, he set out with the +merchandise to Bostra, traversing as a young man the same desert path he +had journeyed along in boyhood. + +He was of an age to appreciate all that this experience could teach, in +the regions both of Nature and religion. The lonely desert only increased +his pervading sense of the mystery lying beyond his immediate knowledge, +and its vastness confirmed his vague belief in some kind of a power who +alone controlled so mighty a creation as the abounding spaces around him, +and the "star-bespangled" heaven above. On this journey, too, he first +saw with conscious eyes the desert storms in all the splendour and terror +of their fury, and caught the significance of those sudden squalls that +urge the waters of the upper Syrian lakes into a tumult of destruction. +Frequent allusions to sea and lake storms are to be found in the earlier +part of the Kuran: "When the seas shall be commingled, when the seas +shall boil, then shall man tremble before his creator." "By the swollen +sea, verily a chastisement from thy Lord is imminent." In every natural +manifestation that struck Mahomet's imagination in these early days, God +appeared to him as the sovereign of power, as terrible and as remote as +He was in the lightnings on Sinai. What wonder, then, that when the call +came to him to take up his mission it became a command to "arise and +warn"? + +The chroniclers would have us believe that his contact with Christianity +was more important than his communion with Nature. Most of the legends +surrounding his relations with Christian Syria may be safely accepted as +later additions, but it is certain that he paid some attention to the +religion of those people through whose country he passed. A Syrian monk +is said to have seen Mahomet sitting beneath a tree, and to have hailed +him as a prophet; there is even a traditional account of an interview +with Nestorius, but this must be set aside at once as pure fiction. + +The kernel of these legends seems to be the desire to show that Mahomet +had studied Christianity, and was not imposing a new religion without +having considered the potentialities of those already existing. However +that may be, Christianity certainly interested Mahomet, and must have +influenced him towards the monotheistic idea. The Arabians themselves +were not entirely ignorant of it; they witnessed the worship of one God +by the Jews and Christians on the borders of their territory, and +although it is a very debatable point how far the idea of one God had +progressed in Arabia when Mahomet began his mission, it may fairly be +accepted that dissatisfaction with the old tribal gods was not wanting. +Mahomet saw the countries through which he passed in a state of religious +flux, and heard around him diverse creeds, detecting doubtless an +undercurrent of unrest and a desire for some religion of more compelling +power. + +With the single slave he reached Bostra in safety with the merchandise, +and having concluded his barter very successfully, and retaining in his +mind many impressions of that crowded city, returned to Mecca by the same +desert route. Meisara, the slave, relates (in what is doubtless a later +addition) of the fierce noonday heat that beset the travellers, and how, +when Mahomet was almost exhausted, two angels sat on his camel and +protected him with their wings. When they reached Mecca, Khadijah sold +the merchandise and found her wealth doubled, so careful had Mahomet been +to ensure the prosperity of his client, and before long love grew up in +her heart for this tall, grave youth, who was faithful in small things as +well as in great. + +Khadijah had been much sought after by the men of Mecca, both for her +riches and for her beauty, but she had preferred to remain independent, +and continued her orderly life among her maidens, attending to her +household, and finding enough occupation in the supervision of her many +mercantile ventures. She was about forty, fair of countenance, and gifted +with a rich nature, whose leading qualities were affection and sympathy. +She seems to have been pre-eminently one of those receptive women who are +good to consult for the clarification of ideas. Her intelligence was +quick to grasp another's thought, if she did not originate thought within +herself. She was a woman fitted to be the helper and guide of such a man +as Mahomet, eager, impulsive, prone to swiftly alternating extremes of +depression and elation. A subtle mental attraction drew them together, +and Khadijah divined intuitively the power lying within the mind of this +youth and also his need of her, both mentally and materially, to enable +him to realise his whole self. Therefore as she was the first to awaken +to her desire for him, the first advances come from her. + +She sent her sister to Mahomet to induce him to change his mind upon the +subject of marriage, and when he found that the rich and gracious +Khadijah offered him her hand, he could not believe his good fortune, and +assured the sister that he was eager to make her his wife. The alliance, +in spite of its personal suitability, was far from being advantageous to +Khadijah from a worldly point of view, and the traditions of how her +father's consent was obtained have all the savour of contemporary +evidence. + +The father was bidden to a feast, and there plied right royally with +wine. When his reason returned he asked the meaning of the great spread +of viands, the canopy, and the chapleted heads of the guests. Thereupon +he was told it was the marriage-feast of Mahomet and Khadijah, and his +wrath and amazement were great, for had he not by his presence given +sanction to the nuptials? The incident throws some light upon the +marriage laws current at the time. Khadijah, though forty and a widow, +was still under the guardianship of her father, having passed to him +after the death of her husband, and his consent was needed before she +married again. + +The marriage contracted by mutual desire was followed by a time of leisure +and happiness, which Mahomet remembered all his life. Never did any man +feel his marriage gift (in Mahomet's case twenty young camels) more fitly +given than the youth whom Khudijah rescued from poverty, and to whom she +gave the boon of her companionship and counsel. The marriage was fruitful; +two sons were born, the eldest Kasim, wherefore Mahomet received the title +of Abu-el-Kasim, the father of Kasim, but both these died in infancy. +There were also four daughters born to Mahomet--Zeineb, Rockeya, Umm +Kolthum, and Fatima. These were important later on for the marriages they +contracted with Mahomet's supporters, and indeed his whole position was +considerably solidified by the alliances between his daughters and his +chief adherents. + +Ten years passed thus in prosperity and study. Mahomet was no longer +obscure but the chief of a wealthy house, revered for his piety, and +looked upon already as one of those "to whom God whispers in the ear." +His character now exhibited more than ever the marks of the poet and +seer; the time was at hand when all the subdued enthusiasm of his mind +was to break forth in the opening Suras of the Kuran. The inspiration had +not yet descended upon him, but it was imminent, and the shadow of its +stern requirements was about him as he attended to his work of +supervising Khadijah's wealth or took part in the religious life of +Mecca. + +In A.D. 605, when Mahomet was thirty-five years old, the chief men of +Mecca decided to rebuild the Kaaba. The story of its rebuilding is +perhaps the most interesting of the many strange, naive tales of this +adventurous city. Valley floods had shattered the house of the gods. It +was roofless, and so insecure that its treasury had already been rifled +by blasphemous men. It stood only as high as the stature of a man, and +was made simply of stones laid one above the other. Rebuilding was +absolutely necessary, but materials were needed before the work could +begin, and this delayed the Kureisch until chance provided them with +means of accomplishing their design. A Grecian ship had been driven in a +Red Sea storm upon the coast near Mecca and was rapidly being broken up. +When the Kureisch heard of it, they set out in a body to the seashore and +took away the wood of the ship to build a roof for the Kaaba. It is a +significant fact that tradition puts a Greek carpenter in Mecca who was +able to advise them as to the construction. The Meccans themselves were +not sufficiently skilled in the art of building. + +But now a great difficulty awaited them. Who was to undertake the +responsibility of demolishing so holy a place, even if it were only that +it might be rebuilt more fittingly? Many legends cluster round the +demolition. It would seem that the gods only understood gradually that a +complete destruction of the Kaaba was not intended. Their opposition was +at first implacable. The loosened stones flew back into their places, and +finally none could be induced to make the attempt to pull down the Kaaba. +There was a pause in the work, during which no one dared venture near the +temple, then Al-Welid, being a bold and god-fearing spirit, took an axe, +and crying: + +"I will make a beginning, let no evil ensue, O Lord!" he began to +dislodge the stones. + +Then the rest of the Kureisch rather cravenly waited until the next day, +but seeing that no calamity had befallen Al-Welid, they were ready to +continue the work. The rebuilding prospered until they came to a point +where the Black Stone must be embedded in the eastern wall. + +At this juncture a vehement dispute arose among the Kureisch as to who +was to have the honour of depositing the Black Stone in its place. They +wrangled for days, and finally decided to appeal to Mahomet, who had a +reputation for wisdom and resource. Mahomet, after carefully considering +the question, ordered a large cloth to be brought, and commanded the +representatives of the four chief Meccan houses to hold each a corner. +Then he deposited the Black Stone in the centre of it, and in this +manner, with the help of every party in the quarrel, the sacred object +was raised to the proper height. When this was done Mahomet conducted the +Black Stone to its niche in the wall with his own hand. + +The building of the Kaaba was ultimately completed, and a great +festival was held in honour. Many hymns of praise were sung at the +accomplishment of so difficult and important a work. The Kaaba has +remained substantially the same as it was when it was first rebuilt. It +is a small place of no architectural pretensions, merely a square with no +windows, and a tiny door raised from the ground, by which the Faithful, +duly prepared, are allowed to enter upon rare occasions. The sacred Black +Stone lies embedded about three feet from the ground in the eastern wall, +at first a dark greenish stone of volcanic or aerolitic origin, now worn +black and polished by thousands of kisses. There is little in the Kaaba +to account for the reverence bestowed upon it, and its insignificance +bears witness to the Eastern capacity for worshipping the idea for which +its symbols stand. This was the sacred temple of Abraham and Ishmael, +therefore its exterior mattered little. + +Mahomet's share in the construction of the Kaaba brought him further +honour among the Kureisch. From this time until the beginning of his +mission he lived a quiet, easeful domestic life, interrupted only by +mental storms and depressions. He found leisure to meditate and observe, +and of this necessarily uneventful time there is little or no mention in +the histories. He certainly gained an opportunity of examining somewhat +closely the tenets of Christianity by the entrance into his household of +Zeid, a Christian slave, cultured and well-informed as to the doctrines +of his religion, and his presence doubtless influenced Mahomet in the +spiritual battles he encountered at a time when as yet he was certain +neither of God nor himself. Besides Zeid another important personage +entered Mahomet's household, Ali, son of Abu Talib, and future convert +and pride of Islam, "the lion of the Faith." The adoption of Ali was +Mahomet's small recompense to Abu Talib for his care of him, and the +advantages there from to Islam were inestimable. Ali was no statesman, +but he was an indomitable fighter, with whose aid Mahomet founded his +religion of the sword. + +In such quiet manner Mahomet passed the years immediately preceding the +discovery of his mission, and as religious doubts and fears alternated in +him with fervour and hopefulness, so signs were not wanting of a spirit +of inquiry found abroad in Arabia, discontented with the old religions, +seeking for a clearer enthusiasm and withheld from its goal. Legends +gather round the figures of four inquirers who are reputed to have come +to Mahomet for enlightenment, and the story is but the primitive device +of rendering concrete and material all those vague stirrings of the +communal spirit towards a more convincing conception of the world-- +legends that embody ideas in personalities, mainly because their language +has no words for the expression of the abstract, and also that, clothed +in living garments, they may capture the hearts of men. The time for the +coming of a prophet and a teacher could not be long delayed, and a +foreboding of his imperious destiny, dark with war and aflame with God's +judgment, had already begun to steal across Mahomet's hesitant soul. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +INSPIRATION + + + "Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created, + Yan, who hath made man from Clots of Blood, + Recite thou, for thy Lord, he is most bounteous." + _The Kuran_. + +The mental growth by which Mahomet attained the capacity of Prophet and +ruler will always have spread about it a misty veil, wherein strange +shapes and awful visions are dimly discerned. Did his soul face the +blankness that baffles and entices the human spirit with any convictions, +the gradual products of thought and experience, or was it with an +unmeaning chaos within him that he stumbled into faith and evolved his +own creed? His knowledge of Christianity and Judaism undoubtedly helped +to foster in him his central idea of the indivisibility of God. But how +was this faith wrought out into his conception of himself as the Prophet +of his people? + +It is impossible for any decision to be made as to the mainspring of his +beliefs, except in the light of his character and development of mind. He +was passionate and yet practical, holding within himself the elements of +seer and statesman, prophet and law-giver, as yet doubtful of the voice +which inspired him, but spurred on in his quest for the truth by an +intensity of spirit that carried him forward resistlessly as soon as +conviction came to him. The man who imposed his dauntless determination +upon a whole people, who founded a system of religious and social laws, +who moved armies to fight primarily for an idea, could not lightly gain +is right to exhort and control. His nature is almost cataclysmic, and +once filled with the fire of the Lord, he bursts forth among his +fellow-men "with the right hand striking," to use his own vivid metaphor, +but before this evidence of power has come an agonising period of doubt. + +Traces of his mental turmoil are seen abundantly in his physical nature. +We read of his exhaustion after the inspiration comes, and of "the +terrific Suras" that took their toll of his vitality afterwards. The +mission imposed upon him was no light burden, and demanded of him +strength both of body and mind. The successive stages by which he became +convinced of his divine call are only detailed in the histories with the +concurrence of the supernatural; he sees material visions and dreams +fervent dreams. With the ecstacy of Heaven about him, according to +legend, he holds converse with the angel Gabriel, arch-messenger of God, +and the divine injunctions must be translated into mental enthusiasms +before the true evolution of Mahomet's mind can be dimly conceived. + +When he was forty he sought solitude more constantly than formerly. There +were deeps in his own nature of which he was only now becoming aware. A +restlessness of mind beset him, and continually he retired to a cave at +the base of Mount Hira, where he could meditate undisturbed. This +mountain, hallowed for ever by the followers of Islam, is now called +somewhat ironically, considering its natural barrenness, Jebel Nur, the +mountain of Light. Mahomet was of a nervous temperament, the nature that +suffers more intensely through its imaginative foresight than in actual +experience. He was of those who see keenly and feel towards their +beliefs. His faith in God produced none of that self-abnegating +rapture to be found in the devotions of many early Christians; it was a +personal passion, sweeping up his whole nature within its folds, and +rousing the enfolded not to meditation but to instant action. + +Through all the legendary accounts there beats that excitement that tells +of a mind wrought to the highest pitch, afire with visions, alive with +desire. Then, when his fervour attained its zenith, Gabriel came to him +in sleep with a silken cloth in his hand covered with writing and said to +Mahomet: + +"Read!" + +"I cannot read." + +Then the angel wrapped the cloth about him and once more commanded, +"Read!" + +Again came the answer, "I cannot read," and again the angel covered him, +still repeating, "Read!" + +Then his mouth was opened and he read the first sura of the Kuran: +"Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created thee," and when he awoke +it seemed to him that these words were graven upon his heart. + +Mahomet went immediately up into the mountain, and there Gabriel appeared +to him waking and said: + +"Thou art God's Prophet, and I am Gabriel." + +The archangel vanished, but Mahomet remained rooted to the spot, until +Khadijah's messengers found him and brought him to her. The simple story +of Mahomet's call to the prophetic office from the lips of the old +chroniclers is peculiarly fragrant, but it leaves us in considerable +doubt as to the real means by which he attained his faith and was +emboldened to preach to his people. It is certain that he had no idea at +the time when he received his inspiration, of the ultimate political role +in store for him. He was now simply the man who warned the people of +their sins, and who insisted upon the sovereignty of one God. Very little +argument is ever used by Mahomet to spread his faith. He spoke a plain +message, and those who disregarded it were infallibly doomed. He saw +himself in the forefront as the man who knew God, and strove to win his +countrymen to right ways of life; he did not see himself at the head of +earthly armies, controlling the nucleus of a mighty and united Arabia, +and until his flight from Mecca to Medina he regarded himself merely as a +religious teacher, the political side of his mission growing out of the +exigencies of circumstance, almost without his own volition. + +His exaltation upon the mountain of light soon faded into uncertainty and +fearfulness before the influence of the world's harsh wisdom. Mahomet +entered upon a period of hesitation and dreariness, doubtful of himself, +of his vision, and of the divine favour. His soul voyaged on dark and +troubled seas and gazed into abysmal spaces. At one time he would receive +the light of the seven Heavens within his mind, and feel upon him the +fervour of the Hebrew prophets of old, and again he would call in vain +upon God, and, and seeking, would be flung back upon a darkness of doubt +more terrible than the lightnings of divine wrath. + +In all those exaltations and glooms Khadijah had part; she comforted his +distress and shared his elation until the sorrowful period of the +Fattrah, the pause in the revelation, was past. The period is variously +estimated by the chroniclers, and there are many nebulous and spurious +legends attaching to it, but whatever its length it seems certain that +Mahomet gained within it a fuller knowledge of Jewish and Christian +tenets, probably through Zeid, the Christian slave in his household, and +most accounts agree that the Fattrah was ended by the revelation of the +sura entitled "The Enwrapped," the mandate of the angel Gabriel: + + "O thou enwrapped in thy mantle, + Arise and warn!" + +The explanation of the term "enwrapped in thy mantle" shows the +prevailing belief in good and evil spirits characteristic of Mahomet's +time. Wandering on the mountain, he saw in a vision the angel Gabriel +seated on a throne between heaven and earth, and afraid before so much +glory, ran to Khadijah, beseeching her to cover him with his mantle that +the evil spirits whom he felt so near him might be avoided. Thereupon +Gabriel came down to earth and revealed the Sura of Admonition. This +supernatural command would appear to be the translation into the +imaginative world of the peace of mind that descended upon Mahomet, and +the conviction as to the reality of his inspiration following on a time +of despair. + +The command fell to one who was peculiarly fitted by nature and +circumstance to obey it effectively. To Mahomet, who knew somewhat the +chaos of religions around him--Pagan, Jewish, and Christian struggling +together in unholy strife--the conception of God's unity, once it +attained the strength of a conviction, necessarily resolved itself into +an admonitory mission. "There is no God but God," therefore all who +believe otherwise have incurred His wrath; hasten then to warn men of +their sins. So his conviction passed out of the region of thought into +action and received upon it the stamp of time and place, becoming thereby +inevitably more circumscribed and intense. + +From now onwards the course of Mahomet's life is rendered indisputably +plainer by our possession of that famous and much-maligned document, the +Kuran, virtually a record of his inspired sayings as remembered and +written down by his immediate successors. Apart from its intrinsic value +as the universally recognised vehicle of the Islamic creed, it is of +immense importance as a commentary upon Mahomet's career. When allowance +has been made for its numberless contradictions and repetitions, it still +remains the best means of tracing Mahomet's mental development, as well +as the course of his religious and political dominance. Although the +original document was compiled regardless of chronology, expert +scholarship has succeeded in determining the order of most of it +contents, and if we cannot say the precise sequence of every sura, at +least we can classify each as belonging to one of the two great periods, +the Meccan and Medinan, and may even distinguish with comparative +accuracy three divisions within the former. + +After Mahomet's mandate to preach and warn his fellow-men of their peril, +the suras continue intermittently throughout his life. Those of the first +period, when his mission was hardly accepted outside his family, bear +upon them the stamp of a fiery nature, obsessed with its one idea; but +behind the wild words lies a store of energy as yet undiscovered, which +will find no fulfilment but in action. That zeal for an idea which caused +the Kuran to be, expressed itself at first in words alone, but later was +translated into political action, and it is the emptying of this vitality +from his words into his works that is responsible for the contrasting +prose of the later suras. + +But no lack of poetic fire is discernible in the suras immediately +following his call to the prophetic office, and from them much may be +gathered as to the depth and intensity of his faith. They are almost +strident with feeling; his sentences fall like blows upon an anvil, crude +in their emphasis, and so swiftly uttered forth from the flame of his +zeal, that they glow with reflected glory: + + "Say, he is God alone, + God the Eternal, + He begetteth not and is not begotten, + There is none like to Him." + + "Verily, we have caused It (the Kuran) to descend on the night of + power, + And who shall teach thee what the Night of Power is? + The Night of Power excelleth a thousand months, + Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of the Lord." + + "By the snorting Chargers, + By those that breathe forth sparks of fire + And those that rush to the attack at morn! + And stir therein the dust aloft, + Cleaving their midmost passage through a host! + Truly man is to his Lord ungrateful, + And of this is himself a witness; + And truly he is covetous in love of this world's good. + Ah, knoweth he not, that when what lies in the grave shall be bared + And that brought forth that is in men's breasts, + Verily in that day shall the Lord be made wise concerning them?" + +After the first fire of prophetic zeal had illuminated him, Mahomet +devoted himself to the conversion of his own household and family. +Khadijah was the first convert, as might have been expected from the +close interdependence of their minds. She had become initiated into his +prophetship almost equally with her husband, and it was her courage and +firm trust in his inspiration that had sustained him during the terrible +period of negation. Zeid, the Christian slave who had helped to mould +Mahomet's thought by his knowledge of Christian doctrine, was his next +convert, but both of these were eclipsed by the devotion to Mahomet's +gospel of Ali, the future warrior, son of Abu Talib, and one destined to +play a foremost part in the foundation of Islam. + +Mahomet's gospel then penetrated beyond the confines of his household +with the conversion of his friend Abu Bekr, a successful merchant living +in the same quarter of the town as the Prophet. Abu Bekr, whose honesty +gained him the title of Al-Siddick (the true), and Ali were by far the +most important of Mahomet's "companions." They helped to rule Islam +during Mahomet's lifetime, and after his death took successive charge of +its fortunes. Ali was too young at this time to manifest his qualities as +warrior and ruler, but Abu Bekr was of middle age, and his nature +remained substantially the same as at the inception of Islam. He was of +short stature, with deep-seated eyes and a thoughtful, somewhat undecided +mouth, by nature he was shrewd and intelligent, but possessed little of +that original genius necessary to statesmanship in troublous times. His +mild, sympathetic character endured him to his fellow-men, and his calm +reasonableness earned the gratitude of all who confided in him. He was +never ruled by impulse, and of the fire burning almost indestructibly +within Mahomet he knew nothing. + +It is strange to consider what agency brought these two dissimilar souls +into such close relationship. For the rest of his life Mahomet found a +never-failing friend in Abu Bekr, and the attachment between the two, +apart from their common fount of zeal for Islam, must have been such as +is inspired by those of contrasting nature for each other. Mahomet saw a +kindly, almost commonplace man, in whose sweet sanity his troubled soul +could find a little peace. He was burdened at times with over-resolve +that ate into his mind like acid. In Abu Bekr he could find the soothing +influence he so often needed, and after the death of Khadijah this friend +might be said in a measure to take her place. Abu Bekr, on the other +hand, revered his leader as a man of finer, subtler stuff than himself, +more alive to the virtue of speed, filled with a greater daring and a +profounder impulse than he was. Mahomet, in common with most men meriting +the title of great, had a capacity for lifelong friendships as well as +the power of inspiring belief and devotion in others. + +Through Abu Bekr five converts were gained for the new religion, of whom +Othman is the most important. His part in the establishment of the +Islamic dominion was no slight one, but at the present he remains simply +one of the early enthusiastic converts to Mahomet's evangel, while he +enwound himself into the fortunes of his teacher by marrying Rockeya, one +of Mahomet's daughters. + +The conversion to Islam proceeded slowly but surely among the Kureisch; +several slaves were won over, but at the end of four years only forty +converts had been made, among whom, however, was Bilal, a slave, who +later became the first Muaddzin, or summoner to prayer. During these four +years the suras of the first Meccan period were revealed, and enough may +be gathered from them to judge both the limits of Mahomet's preaching and +the attitude towards it on the part of the Kureisch. + +Mahomet was content at this time to emphasise in eloquent, almost +incoherent words his central theme--the unity of God. He calls upon the +people to believe, and warns them of their fate if they refuse. The suras +indicate the attitude of indifference borne by the Kureisch towards +Mahomet's mission at its inception. Wherever there are denunciatory +suras, they are either for the chastisement of unbelievers or, as in Sura +cxi, in revenge for the refusal of his relations to believe in his +inspiration. Prophecies of bliss in store for the Faithful are frequent, +and of the corresponding woe for Unbelievers. The whole is permeated with +the spirit of the poet and visionary, a poetry tumultuous but strong, a +vision lurid but inspiring. + +The little band of converts under guidance of this fierce rhetoric became +united and strengthened in its faith, prepared to defend it, and to +spread it as far as possible throughout their kindred. + +About three years after Mahomet's receipt of his mission, in A.D. 618, an +important change came over the attitude of the Kureisch towards Islam. +Hitherto they had jeered or remained indifferent. Mahomet's uncles, Abu +Talib and Abu Lahab, represented the two poles of Kureischite feeling. +Abu Talib remained untouched by the new faith, but his kindly nature did +not allow him to adopt any severe measures for its repression, and, +moreover, Mahomet was of his kindred, and he was willing to afford him +protection in case of need. Abu Lahab jeered openly, and manifested his +scorn by definite speeches. But as the bands of converts grew, the +Kureisch found it undesirable to maintain their indifferent attitude. +They began to persecute, first refusing to allow the Believers to meet, +and then seeking them out individually to endeavour to torture them into +recanting. + +From this time dates the creation of one of the foremost principles in +the creed of the Prophet. If a Believer is in danger of torture, he may +dissemble his faith to save himself from infamy and death. Though in +striking contrast to the Christian tenets, this exhortation was neither +cowardly nor imprudent. In his eyes reckless courting of death would not +avail the propagation of Islam, and though a man might die to some good +service on the battlefield, smiting his enemies, no wise end could be +served when his death would merely gratify the lust of his murderers. + +The persecution continued in spite of Mahomet's attempts to withstand it, +until he was forced to go to Abu Talib for protection. This was accorded +willingly, on account of kindred ties, but there can have been little +cordiality between uncle and nephew on the subject, for Mahomet was more +than ever determined upon the maintenance and growth of his principles. +Still the conversions to Islam continued, and the persecution of its +adherents, until there came to the Kureisch a sharp intimation that this +new sect arisen in their midst was not an ephemeral affair of a few +weeks, but a prolonged endeavour to pursue the ideal of a single God. In +615 the first company of Muslim converts broke from the confined +religious area of Mecca and journeyed into Abyssinia, where they could +practice their faith in peace. This move convinced the Kureisch of the +sincerity of their opponents, for they were almost strong enough to merit +the name, and compelled them to believe a little in the force lying +behind this strange manifestation of religious zeal in their midst. + +Mahomet does not at this time seem to have been definitely ranged against +the Kureisch. He was still on negotiable terms with them, and they were a +little distrustful of his capacity and ignorant of his power. The stages +by which he developed from a discredited citizen, obsessed by one idea, +into a political opponent worthy of their best steel and bravest men was +necessarily gradual, and indeed the Prophet himself had no knowledge of +the role marked out for him by his own personality and the destinies +of Arabia. The cause of Islam stood as yet in parlous condition, +half-formulated, unwieldy, awaiting the moulding hand of persecution to +develop it into a political and social system. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +SEVERANCE + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third idol beside? +These are the exalted females, and truly their intercession is to be +expected."--_The Kuran_ (last two lines excised later by Mahomet). + +The little band of converts, driven by the Kureisch to seek peace and +freedom in Abyssinia, remained for two years in their country of refuge, +but in 615 returned to Mecca for reasons which have never been fully +explained, though it is easy, in the light of future events, to discover +the motive behind such a move. + +Mahomet was not yet convinced of the impossibility of compromise, neither +was the powerful party among the Kureisch utterly indifferent to +Mahomet's ancestry as a member of the house of Hashim, and his position +as the husband of Khadijah. He had been respected among men for his +uprightness before he affronted their prejudices by scorning their gods. +His power was daily becoming a source of strife and faction within the +city, and the Kureisch were not averse from attempting to come to terms. +Mahomet for his part, as far as the scanty evidence of history unfolds +his state of mind, seems to have been almost desperately anxious to +effect an understanding with the Kureisch. His cause still journeyed by +perilous ways, and at the time hopes of his future achievement were +apparently dependent upon the goodwill of the dominant Meccan party. + +The story runs that the chief men of Mecca were discussing within the +Kaaba the affairs of the city. Mahomet came to them and recited Sura +liii--The Star--a fulgent psalm in praise of God and heavenly joys. When +he came to the verses: + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third beside," he inserted: + +"Verily these are the exalted females, and truly their intercession may +be expected." + +They Kureisch were rejoiced at this homage to their deities, and +speedily welcomed Mahomet's change of front; but he, disquieted, +returned moodily to his house, where Gabriel appeared to him in +stern rebuke: + +"Thou hast repeated before the people words I never gave to thee." + +And Mahomet, whether conscience-stricken by his lapse from the Muslim +faith, or convinced that compromise with the Kureisch was impossible and +also undesirable in face of his growing power, quickly repudiated the +whole affair, which had been unquestionably born of impulse, or possibly +an adventurous mood that prompted him "to see what would happen" if he +ministered to the prejudices of the Kureisch. It must be acknowledged, +however, that repentance for his homage to heathen idols was the +mainspring of his recantation, for the period immediately following was +one of hardship and persecution for him, and his transitory lapse injured +his cause appreciably with the brethren of his faith. The attempt was +honourably made, and only failed by Mahomet's swift realisation that his +acknowledgment of Lat and Ozza as spirits sanctioned the worship of their +images by his fellow-citizens, and this his stern monotheism could not +for a moment entertain. + +The Muslim, with numbers that increased very slowly, were harried afresh +by the Kureisch as soon as Mahomet had withdrawn his concessions, and +most of them were forced at length to return to Abyssinia. His pathetic +little band, wandering from city to city, doubtful of ever attaining +security and uncertain of its ultimate destiny, was the prototype in its +vagrancy of that larger and confident band which cast aside its +traditions and the city of its birth, headed by a spirit heroic in +disaster and supreme in faith, to find its goal in the foundation of a +new order for Arabia. Chief among them were Othman and Rockeya, and these +were the only ones who returned to Mecca, for the rest remained in +Abyssinia until after the migration to Medina, in fact until after +Mahomet had carried out the expedition to Kheibar. + +Left without any supporters within the city, Mahomet was exposed to all +the vituperations and insults which his recent refusal of compromise had +brought him. The Kureisch now directed all their energies towards +persuading Abu Talib to repudiate his nephew. If once this could be +effected, the Kureisch would have a free hand to pursue their desire to +exterminate the Muslim and to overthrow the Prophet's power. He was +immune from bodily attack, chiefly because of Abu Talib's position in the +city as nominal head of the house of Hashim. No Kureisch could run the +risk of alienating so great a number of fellow-citizens, and a personal +attack upon Abu Talib's nephew could but have that result. + +Dark and stormy as the Muslim destiny appeared during this period of +transition from religious to political conceptions, nevertheless it was +now enriched by the conversion of two of the most influential characters +upon its later fortunes--Hamza and Omar. Many stories have been woven +round their discovery of the truth of Islam, and by reading between the +lines later commentators may discover the forces at work to induce +them to take this dubious step. It is beyond question that Mahomet's +personality was the moving factor in the conversion of each, for each +relates an incident which serves peculiarly to illustrate the Prophet's +magnetism. + +Hamza, "the lion of God," and a son of Abd-al-Muttalib in his old age, +was accosted by a slave girl as he passed on his way through the city +She told him breathlessly that she had seen "the Lord Mahomet" insulted +and reviled by Abu Jahl, and being unprotected and alone, he could only +suffer in silence. Hamza listened to her story with indignation, and +determined to revenge the insult to his uncle and foster-brother, for by +the ties of kinship they were one. In the Kaaba he publicly declared his +allegiance to Islam, and revenged upon Abu Jahl the injuries he had +inflicted upon his kinsman. Hamza never repented of his championship of +Mahomet. The adventurous fortunes of Islam satisfied his warrior-spirit, +and under Mahomet's guidance he helped to control and direct its military +zeal, until it had perforce established its religion through the sword. +Mahomet's personal magnetism had drawn him irresistibly to the religion +he upheld so steadfastly, and in the face of revilement and danger. + +Omar was Mahomet's bitterest enemy, and had proved his ability by his +persistent opposition to Islam. He was feared by all the company of +religionists that had taken up their precarious quarters near Mahomet. He +was visiting the house of his sister Fatima when he heard murmurs of +someone reciting. He inquired what it was, and learned with anger that it +was the Sacred Book of the abhorred Muslim sect. His sister and Zeid, her +husband, tremblingly confessed their adherence to Islam, and awaited in +terror the probable result. Omar was about to fall upon Zeid, but his +wife interposed and received the blow herself. At the sight of his +sister's blood Omar paused and then asked for the volume, so that he +might judge the message for himself, for he was a writer of no mean +standing. Fatima insisted that he should first perform ablutions, so that +his touch might not defile the Sacred Book. + +Then Omar took it and read it, and the strength and beauty of it smote +him. He felt upon him the insistence of a divine command, and straightway +asked to be led before Mahomet that he might unburden his conviction to +him. He girt on his sword and came to the Prophet's house. As he rapped +upon the door a Companion of Mahomet's looked through the lattice, and at +the sight of Omar with buckled sword fled in despair to his master. But +Mahomet replied: + + +"Let him enter; if he bring good tidings we will reward him; if he bring +bad news, we will smite him, yea, with his own sword." + +So the door was opened and Mahomet advanced, asking what was his mission. +Omar answered: + +"O Prophet of God, I am come to confess that I believe in Allah and in +his Prophet." + +"Allah Akbar!" (God is great) replied Mahomet gravely, and all the +household knew that Omar had become one of themselves. + +The conversion of Omar was infinitely important to Islam, and the +adherence of this impetuous and dauntless mind was directly due to the +strength and steadfastness of Mahomet's faith in himself and his message. +Omar was an influential personage among the Kureisch, quick-tempered, but +keen as steel, and rejoicing in strife; he stands out among the many +warrior-souls to whom Islam gave the opportunity of tasting in its +fullness "the splendour of spears." Mahomet had indeed gathered around +him a group of men who were remarkable for their character and influence +upon Islam. Ali, the warrior par excellence, Abu Bekr, statesman and +counsellor, Othman the soldier, Hamza and Omar, are not merely blind +followers, but forceful personalities, contributing each in his own +manner towards those assets of endurance, leadership, and unshaken faith +which ensured the continuance of the Medinan colony and its ultimate +victory over the Kureisch. + +Omar's conversion did not have the effect of softening the Kureischite +fury. On the contrary, the event seems to have stimulated them to +further persecution, as if they had some foreshadowings of their waning +power, and had determined with a desperate energy to quell for ever, if +it might be, this discord in their midst. Their next step was to try an +introduce the political element into this conflict of faiths by putting a +ban upon the house of Hashim and confining it to Abu Talib's quarter of +Sheb. This act, instigated mainly by Abu Jahl, who now becomes prominent +as the most terrible of Mahomet's persecutors, had a very notable effect +upon his position as well as upon the qualities of the cause for which +his party was contending. + +For the first time the political aspect of Islam obtrudes itself. +Mahomet's followers are now not only the opponents of the Kureischite +faith and the enemies of their idols, but they are also their political +foes, and have drawn the whole house of Hashim into faction against the +ruling power--the Omeyyad house. Moreover, Mahomet and his companions, +now shut up and almost besieged within a definite quarter of the city, +were precluded from all attempts to spread their faith. Mahomet had +secured his little company of followers, but cut off from the rest of the +city his cause remained stationary, neither gaining nor losing adherents, +during the years 617-619. + +The suras of this period show some of the discouragement he felt at the +time, but through them all beats a note of endurance and confidence: +God is continually behind his cause, therefore that cause will prevail +against all obstacles. Mahomet has become more familiar with the Jewish +Scriptures, and many of the suras are recapitulations of the lives of +Jewish heroes, especial preference being given to Abraham as mythical +founder of his race, and to Lot as the typical example of one righteous +man sent to warn the iniquitous. The style has certainly matured, and in +so doing has lost much of its primal fire. It is still stirring and +vibrant, but passages of almost bald narrative are interposed, shadows +upon the shining floor of his original zeal. He has become increasingly +reiterative, too,--a quality easily attained by those who have but +one message, in this case a message of warning and exhortation, and +are feverishly anxious to brand its urgency upon the hearts of their +fellow-men. + + +Confined within so limited an area, his energy recoiled upon itself, and +the despondency that so easily besets men of action when that necessity +is denied them, overcame his mind. Only at the yearly pilgrimage was he +able to gain a hearing from his Meccan brethren, and then, says the +chronicler bitterly, "none would believe." The Hashim could not trade or +intermarry with any outside their clan, and there seemed no chance of +circumstances removing their disabilities. Mahomet's hopes of embracing +all Mecca in his faith wavered and fled, until it seemed as if Allah no +longer protected his chosen. + +But after two years of negation and impotence, an end to the persecution +of the Muslim was in sight, and in 619 the ban was removed. Legend has it +that when the chiefs of the Kaaba went to look upon the document they +found it devoured by ants, and took this as a sign of the displeasure of +their gods. The ban was thus removed by supernatural agency when its +prolongation would have meant final disaster for Mahomet. In the light of +later knowledge it is evident that the removal of the ban was the result +of the exertions of Abu Talib, and it was owing to his high reputation +among the Kureisch that they pardoned his turbulent and blasphemous +nephew. At the end of two years also, the Muslim were considerably +weakened, both in staying powers and reputation. They were now allowed to +go freely in the city, and the immediate prospect seemed certainly +brighter for Mahomet when there fell the greatest blow that could have +afflicted his sensitive spirit. + +Khadijah, his companion and sustainer through so many troublous years, +died in 619, having borne with him all his revilings and discouragements, +his source of strength even when there appeared no prospect of the +abatement of his hardships, much less for the success of his cause. +Mahomet's grief was too profound for the passing shadow of it even to +darken the pages of the Kuran. He paid her the compliment of silence; but +her memory was continually with him, even when he had taken many fairer +women to wife. Ayesha, in all the insolence of beauty, scoffed at +Khadijah's age and lack of comeliness: + +"Am I not dearer to thee than she was?" + +"No, by Allah!" cried Mahomet; "for she believed when no one else +believed." + +It was her strength of character and sweetness of mind that impelled him +to utter the amazing words--amazing for his time and environment, +seventh-century Arabia--"women are the twin-halves of men." + +But fortune or Allah had not finished the "strong affliction" whereby +Mahomet was forced to cast off from his moorings and venture into strange +and perilous seas. Five weeks after the death of his wife came the death +of his uncle, Abu Talib. If the first had been a catastrophe affecting +his courage and quietude of mind, this was calculated to crush both +himself and his companions. Abu Talib was well loved by Mahomet, who +manifested throughout his life the strongest capacity for friendship. But +more important than the personal grief was the loss of the one man whose +efforts bridged over the widening gulf between himself and the Kureisch. +As such, his death was irreparable damage to Mahomet's safety from their +hostilities. + +Abu Lahab, it is true, touched a little by the sorrows crowding so +thickly upon his nephew, protected him for a time, but very soon withdrew +his support and joined the opposition. Ranged against Abu Lahab and Abu +Jahl, with their influential following, and lacking the support hitherto +provided by Abu Talib, Mahomet perceived that a crisis was fast +approaching. His band was too numerous to be ignored or even tolerated by +the Kureisch, but against such odds as Mecca's most powerful citizens, +Mahomet was too wise to attempt to resist. There seemed no other way but +the withdrawal of his little concourse to such place of safety as would +enable them to strengthen themselves and prepare for the inevitable +struggle for supremacy. No more conversions of importance had taken place +since Omar's and Hamza's allegiance to Islam, and now three years +had passed. Mahomet felt increasingly the need for their exodus from the +city of his birth. It is not evident from the chroniclers that he had any +definite political aims whatever when he first considered the plan of +evacuation. His motive was simply to obtain peace in which he might +worship in his own fashion, and win others to worship with him. With this +idea in mind he cast about for a suitable resting-place for his small +flock, and discovered what he imagined his goal in Taif, a village +south-east of Mecca, upon the eastern slopes of Jhebel Kora. + +Taif is situated on the fertile side of this mountain range, the side +remote from the sea. It stands amid a wealth of gardens, and is renowned +for its fruits and flowers. Thither in 620 Mahomet set out, filled with +the knowledge of his invincible mission, strong in his power to conquer +and persuade. Zeid, his slave and foster-child, was his only companion, +and together they had resolved to convert Taif to the one true religion. +But their adventure was doomed to failure, and though we have necessarily +brief descriptions of it, all Mahomet's biographers naturally passing +quickly over so painful a scene, there is sufficient evidence to show how +really disastrous their venture proved. + +The chief men of the city remained unconvinced, and at last the populace, +in one of those blind furies that attack crowds at the sight of +impotence, egged on the rabble to stone them. Chased from the city, sore, +bleeding and despairing, Mahomet found shelter in one of the hill gardens +of the locality. There he was solaced with fruit by some kindly owners of +the place, and there he remained, meditating in profound dejection at his +failure, but still with supreme trust in the support of his God. + + "O Lord, I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance; + It is Thine to cleanse away the darkness, + And to give peace both for this world and the next." + +In this valley of Nakhla, too, so runs the tale, he was consoled by +genii, who refreshed him, after the fashion of angels upholding the weary +prophets in the wilderness. Mahomet was now in dire straits; he could not +return to Mecca at once, because the object of his Taif journey was +known; as Taif had spurned him, so he was forced to halt in Hira until he +obtained the protection of Mutaim, an influential man in Mecca, and after +some difficulty made his way back to the city, discredited and solitary, +except for his former followers. For some months he rested in obscurity +and contempt at Mecca, gaining none to his cause, but still filled with +the fervent conviction of his future triumph, which neither wavered +nor faltered. The divine fire which upheld him during the period of +his violent persecution burned within his soul, and never was his +steadfastness of character and faith in himself and his mission more +fully manifested than during these despondent months. + +He now began to seek in greater measure the society of women, although +the consuming sexual life of his later years had hardly awakened. While +Khadijah was with him he remained faithful to her, but her bright +presence once withdrawn, he was impelled by a kind of impassioned seeking +to the quest for her substitute, and not finding it in one woman, to +continue his search among others. He now married Sawda, a nonentity with +a certain physical charm but no personality, and sued for the hand of +Ayesha, the small daughter of Abu Bekr. + +Mahomet at this time was not blessed with many riches. His frugal, +anxious life led him to perform many small duties of his household for +himself. His food was coarse and often scanty, and he lived among his +followers as one of themselves. It is no small tribute to his singleness +of mind and lofty character that in the "dreary intercourse of daily +life," lived in that primitive, communal fashion, which admits of no +illusions and scarcely any secrets, he retained by the force of +personality the reverence of the faithful, and ever in this hour of +defeat and negation remained their leader and lord--the symbol, in fact, +of their loyalty to Allah, and their supreme belief in his guidance and +care. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE CHOSEN CITY + +Medina, city of exile and despairing beginnings, destined to achieve +glory by difficult ways, only to be eclipsed finally by its mightier +neighbour and mistress, became, rather by chance than by design, the +scene of Mahomet's struggles for temporal power and his ruthless wielding +of the sword for God and Islam. The city lies north-east of Mecca, on the +opposite side of the mountain spur that skirts the eastern boundary. +Always weakly peopled, it remained from immemorial time an arena of +strife, for it was on the borderland, the boundary of several tribes, and +was far enough north for the outer waves of Syrian disturbances to fling +their varying tides upon its shores--a meagre city, always fiercely at +civil warfare, impotent, unfertile. + +In the dark days of Judaea's humiliation at the hands of Titus, two +Jewish tribes, the Kainukua and the Koreitza, outcast and desolate, even +as they had been warned in their time of dominion, lighted upon Medina in +desperate search for a dwelling-place and a respite from persecution, and +forthwith took possession of the little hill-girt town. They settled +there, driving out or conciliating the former inhabitants, until in the +fourth century their tenuous prosperity was disturbed by the inroads of +two Bedouin tribes, the Beni Aus and the Beni Khazraj. The desert was +wide, and these tribes were familiar with its manifold opportunities and +devious ways. Against such a foe, who swooped down suddenly upon the +city, plundered and then escaped into the limitless unknown, the Jews had +no chance of reprisal. + +Before long the Beni Aus and Khazraj had subjugated the Jewish +communities, and their dominion in Medina was only weakened by their +devastating quarrels among themselves. The city therefore offered a +peculiar opening for the teaching of Islam within it. Its religious life +indeed was varied and chaotic. Jews, Arabian idolaters, immigrants from +Christian Syria, torn by schisms, thronged its public places, and this +confusion of faiths sharpened the religious and debating instincts of its +people. The ground was thus broken up for the reception of the new creed +of one God and of his messenger, who had already divided Mecca into +believers and heretics, and who was spoken of in the city with that awe +that attaches itself to distant marvels. + +Intercourse with Mecca was chiefly carried on at the time of the yearly +Pilgrimage; the Greater Pilgrimage, only undertaken during Dzul Hijj, +corresponding then to our March, and in Dzul Hijj, 620, came a band of +strangers over the hills, along the toilsome caravan route to the Kaaba, +the goal of their intentions, the shrine of all their prayers. They +performed all the necessary ceremonies at Mecca, and were proceeding to +Mina, a small valley just east of Mecca, for the completion of their +sacred duties, when they were accosted by Mahomet. + +The Prophet was despondent and sceptical of his power to persuade, though +his belief in Allah's might never wavered. He had failed so far to +produce any decisive impression upon the Meccan people, but might there +not be another town in Arabia which would receive his message? The little +band of pilgrims seemed to him sent in answer to his self-distrust, and +his failure at Taif as eclipsed by this sudden success. The caravan +returned to its native city, and there remained little for Mahomet to do +except to wait for the arrival of next year's pilgrims, and to keep +shining and ambient the flame of his religious fervour. He remained in +Mecca virtually on sufferance, and rapidly recognised the uselessness of +attempting any further conversions. His hopes were now definitely set on +Medina, and to this end he seems to devoted himself more than ever to the +perusal and interpretation of the Jewish scriptures. + +The portion of the Kuran written at this time contains little else than +Bible stories told and retold to the point of weariness. Lot, of course, +is the characteristic figure; but we also have the life stories of +Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Joseph, and many others. The style has suffered a +marked diminution in poetic qualities. It has become reiterative and even +laboured. He continues his practice of alluding to current events, which +at Medina he was to pursue to the extent of making the Kuran a kind of +spasmodic history of his time, as well as an elementary text-book of law +and morality. In one of the suras--"The Cow"--Mahomet makes first mention +of that comfortable doctrine of "cancelling," by which later verses of +the Kuran cancel all previous revelations dealing with the same subject +if these prove contradictory: "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we bring a better or its like; knowest thou not that God hath +power over all things?" + +There is not much record in the Kuran of the influence of Christian +thought upon Islam. We have a few stories of Elizabeth and Mary, and +scattered allusions to the despised "Prophet of the Jews." But the great +body of Christian thought, its central dogmas of Incarnation and +Redemption, passed Mahomet entirely by, for his mind was practical and +not speculative, and indeed to himself no less than to his followers the +fundamentals of Christianity were of necessity too philosophic to be +realised with any intensity of belief. The Christian virtues of meekness +and resignation, too, might be respected in the abstract--passages in the +Kuran and tradition assure us they were--but they were so utterly +antagonistic to the fierce, free nature of the Arab that they never +entered into his religious life. Mahomet revered the Founder of +Christianity, and placed Him with John in the second Heaven of his +Immortals, but though He is secure among the teachers of the world, He +can never compete with the omnipotence and glory of the Prophet. + +During the period of Mahomet's life immediately preceding his departure +to Medina, we have his personal appearance described in detail by Ali. He +is a man of medium stature, with a magnificent head and a thick, flowing +beard. His eyes were black and ardent, his jaw firm but not prominent. He +looked an upstanding man of open countenance, benignant and powerful, +bearing between his shoulders the sign of his divine mission. He had +great patience, says Ali, and "in nowise despised the poor for their +poverty, nor honoured the rich for their possessions. Nor if any took him +by the hand to salute him was he the first to relinquish his grasp." + +He lived openly among his disciples, holding frequent converse with them, +mending his own clothes and even shoes, a frugal liver and a fervent +preacher of the flaming faith within him. He became at this time +betrothed to Ayesha, the splendid woman, now just a merry child, who was +to keep her reigning place in his affections until the end of his life. +Daughter of Abu Bekr, she united in herself for Mahomet both policy and +attractiveness, for by this betrothal he became of blood-kin with Abu +Bekr, and thereby strengthened his friend's allegiance. The union marks +the inauguration of his policy of marriage alliances by which he bound +the supporters of his Faith more closely to him, either through his own +marriage with their daughters, or the bestowal of his offspring upon +them. + +Ayesha was lovely and imperious, with a luxurious but shrewd nature, +and her counsel was always sought by Mahomet. Other women appeared +frequently like comets in his sky, flamed for a little into brightness +and disappeared into conjugal obscurity, but Ayesha's star remained fixed, +even if it was transitorily eclipsed by the brilliance of a new-comer. +Sexual relations held for Mahomet towards the end of his life a peculiar +potency, born of his intense energetic nature. He sought the society of +woman because of the mental clarity that for him followed any expression +of emotion. He was one of those men who must express--the artist, in fact; +but an artist who used the medium of action, not that of literature, +painting, or music. "Poète, il ne connut que la poésie d'action," and like +Napoleon, his introspection was completely overshadowed by his consuming +energy. Therefore emotion was to him unconsciously the means by which this +immortal energy of mind could be conserved, and he used it unsparingly. + +Ayesha has revealed for us the most intimate details of Mahomet's life, +and it is due to her that later traditions are enabled to represent him +as a man among men. He appears to us fierce and subtle, by turns +impetuous and calculating, a man who never missed an opportunity, and +gauged exactly the efforts needed to compass any intention. To him "every +fortress had its key, and every man his price." He was as keen a +politician us he was a religious reformer, but before all he paid homage +to the sword, prime artificer in his career of conquest. But in those +confidently intimate traditions handed down to us from his immediate +entourage, and especially from Ayesha, we find him alternately passionate +and gentle, wearing his power with conscious authority, mild in his +treatment of the poor, terrible to his enemies, autocratic, intolerant, +with a strange magnetism that bound men to him. The mystery enveloping +great men even in their lifetime, among primitive races, creeps +down in these documents to hide much of his personality from us, but his +works proclaim his energy and tireless organising powers, even if the +mythical, allegoric element predominates in the earlier traditions. The +man who undertook and achieved the gigantic task of organising a new +social and political as well as religious order may be justly credited +with calling forth and centering in himself the vivid imaginations of +that most credulous age. + +The year 620-621 passed chiefly in expectation of the Greater Pilgrimage, +when the disciples from Medina were to come to report progress and to +confirm their faith. The momentous time arrived, and Mahomet went almost +fearfully to meet the nucleus of his future kingdom in Acaba, a valley +near Mina. But his fears were groundless, for the little party had been +faithful to their leader, and had also increased their numbers. + +They met in secret, and we may picture them a little diffident in so +strange a place, ever expectant of the swift descent of the Kureisch and +their own annihilation. Withal they were enthusiastic and confident of +their leader. One is irresistibly reminded, in reading of this meeting, +of that little outcast band from Judea which ultimately prevailed over +Cæsar Imperator through its mighty quality of faith. The accredited words +of the first pledge given at Acaba are traditionally extant; they combine +curiously religious, moral, and social covenants, and assert even at that +early stage the headship of the Prophet over his servants: + +"We will not worship any but God; we will not steal, neither will we +commit adultery nor kill our children; we will not slander in any wise, +nor will we disobey the Prophet in anything that is right." + +The converts then departed to their native city, for Mahomet did not deem +the time yet ripe enough for migration thither. He possessed the +difficult art of waiting until the effectual time should arrive, and +there is no doubt that by now he had formed definite plans to set up his +rule in Medina when there should be sufficient supporters there to +guarantee his success. Musab, a Meccan convert of some learning, was +deputed to accompany the Medinan citizens to their city and give +instruction therein to all who were willing to study the Muslim creed. + +For yet another year Mahomet was to possess his soul in patience, but it +was with feelings of far greater confidence that he awaited the passing +of time. More than ever he became sure of the guiding hand of Allah, that +pointed indisputably to the stranger city as the goal of his strivings. +This city held a goodly proportion of Jews, therefore the connection +between his faith and that of Judaism must be continually emphasised. + +We have seen how large a space Jewish legend and history fill in the +contemporary suras of the Kuran, and Mahomet's friendship with Israel +increased noticeably during his last two years at Mecca. He paid them the +honour of taking Jerusalem as his Kibla, or Holy Place, to which all +Believers turn in prayer, and the starting-place for his immortal +Midnight Journey was the Sacred City encompassing the Temple of the Lord. + +No account of this journey appears except in the traditions crystallized +by Al Bokharil, but there is one short mention of it in the Kuran, Sura +xviii. + +"Glory be to him who carried his servant by night from the sacred temple +of Mecca to the temple that is more remote, i.e. Jerusalem." + +The vision, however, looms so large in his followers' minds, and +exercised so profound an influence over their regard for Mahomet, that it +throws some light, upon the measure of his ascendancy during his last +years at Mecca, and establishes beyond dispute the inspired character of +his Prophetship in the imaginations of the few Believers. There have been +solemn and wordy disputes by theologians as to whether he made the +journey in the flesh, or whether his spirit alone crossed the dread +portals dividing our night from the celestial day. + +He was lying in the Kaaba, so runs the legend, when the Angel of the Lord +appeared to him, and after having purged his heart of all sin, carried +him to the Temple at Jerusalem. He penetrated its sacred enclosure and +saw the beast Borak, "greater than ass, smaller than mule," and was told +to mount. The Faithful still show the spot at Jerusalem where his steed's +hoof marked the ground as he spurned it with flying feet. With Gabriel by +his side, mounted on a beast mighty in strength, Mahomet scaled the +appalling spaces and came at last to the outer Heaven, before the gate +that guards the celestial realms. The angel knocked upon the brazen doors +and a voice within cried: + +"Who art thou, and who is with thee?" + +"I am Gabriel," came the answer, "and this is Mahomet." + +And behold, the brazen gates that may not be unclosed for mortal man were +flung wide, and Mahomet entered alone with the angel. He penetrated to +the first Heaven and saw Adam, who interrogated him in the same words, +and received the same reply. And all the heavenly hierarchies, even unto +the seventh Heaven, John and Jesus, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses, Abraham, +acknowledged Mahomet in the same words, until the two came to "the tree +called Sedrat," beyond which no man may pass and live, whose fruits are +shining serpents, and whose leaves are great beasts, round which flow +four rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates guarding it without, and within +these the celestial streams that water Paradise, too wondrous for a name. + +Awed but undaunted, Mahomet passed alone beyond the sacred tree, for even +the Angel could not bear any longer so fierce a glory, and came to +Al-M'amur, even the Hall of Heavenly Audience, where are seventy thousand +angels. He mounted the steps of the throne between their serried ranks, +until at the touch of Allah's awful hand he stopped and felt its icy +coldness penetrate to his heart. He was given milk, wine, or honey to +drink, and he chose milk. + +"Hadst thou chosen honey, O Mahomet," said Allah, "all thy people would be +saved, now only a part shall find perfection." + +And Mahomet was troubled. + +"Bid my people pray to Me fifty times a day." + +At the resistless mandate Mahomet turned and retraced his steps to the +seventh Heaven, where dwelt Abraham. + +"The people of the earth will be in nowise constrained to pray fifty +times a day. Return thou and beg that the number be lessened." + +So Mahomet returned again and again at Abraham's command, until he had +reduced the number to five, which the father of his people considered +was sufficient burden for his feeble subjects to bear. Wherefore the five +periods set apart for prayer in the Muslim faith are proportionately +sacred, and with this divine mandate the vision ceased. + +With his hopes now set on founding an earthly dominion with the help of +Allah, he had perforce to consider the political situation, and to mature +his policy for dealing with it as soon as events proved favourable. The +achievements of the Persians on the Greek frontier had already attracted +his attention in 616; there is an allusion to the battle and the Greek +defeat in the Kuran, and a vague prophecy of their ultimate success, for +Mahomet was in sympathy with the Greek Empire, seeing that, from the +point of view of Arabia, it was the less formidable enemy. + +But really the events of such outlying territories only troubled him in +regard to Medina, for his whole thoughts were centred now upon the chosen +city of his dreams. His followers became less aggressive in Mecca when +they knew that the Prophet had the nucleus of a new colony in another +city. Persecution within Mecca therefore died down considerably, and the +period is one of pause upon either side, the Kureisch watching to see +what the next move was to be, Mahomet carefully and secretly maturing his +plans. + +During this year there fell a drought upon Mecca, followed by a famine, +which the devout attributed directly to divine anger at the rejection of +the Prophet's heavenly message, and which Mahomet interpreted as the +punishment of God, and this doubtless added to the sum of reasons which +impelled him to relinquish his native town. + +From this time until the Hegira, or Flight from the City, events in the +world of action move but slowly for Mahomet. He was careful not to excite +undue suspicion among the Kureisch, and we can imagine him silent and +preoccupied, fulfilling his duties among them, visiting the Kaaba, and +mingling somewhat coldly with their daily life. Still keeping his purpose +immutable, he sought to strengthen the faith of his followers for the +trials he knew must come. The Kuran thus became more important as the +mouthpiece of his exhortations. The suras of this time resound with words +of encouragement and confidence. He is about to become the leader of a +perilous venture in honour of God. The reflex of the expectancy in the +hearts of the Muslim may be traced in his messages to them. Their whole +world, as it were, waited breathless, quiet, and tense for the record of +the year's achievements in Medina, and for the time appointed by God. +But how far their leader's actions were the result of painstaking +calculations, an insight into the qualities and energies of men, a +prevision startling in its range and accuracy, they never suspected; but, +serene in their confidence, they held their magnificent faith in the +divine guidance and in the inspiration of their Prophet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + + "Knowest thou not that the dominion of the Heavens and of the + Earth is God's? and that ye have neither patron nor helper save + God?"--_The Kuran_. + +The expectancy which burned like revivifying fire in the hearts of the +Meccan Muslim, kindled and nourished by their leader himself, was to +culminate at the time of the yearly pilgrimage in 622. In that month came +the great concourse of pilgrims from Yathreb to Mecca, among them seventy +of the "Faithful" who had received the faith at Medina, headed by their +teacher Musab and strengthened by the knowledge that they were before +long to stand face to face with their Prophet. + +Musab had reported to Mahomet the success of his mission in the city, and +had prepared him for the advent of the little band of followers secured +for Islam. Secrecy was essential, for the Muslim from Medina were in +heart strangers among their own people, in such a precarious situation +that any treachery would have meant their utter annihilation, if not at +the hands of their countrymen, who would doubtless throw in their lot +with the stronger, certainly at the hands of the Kureisch, the implacable +foes of Islam, in whose territory they fearfully were. The rites of +pilgrimage were accordingly performed faithfully, though many breathed +more freely as they departed for the last ceremony at Mina. All was now +completed, and the Medinan party prepared to return, when Mahomet +summoned the Faithful by night to the old meeting-place in the gloomy +valley of Akaba. + +About seventy men and two women of both Medinan tribes, the Beni Khazraj +and the Beni Aus, assembled thus in that barren place, under the +brilliant night skies of Arabia, to pledge themselves anew to an unseen, +untried God and to the service of his Prophet, who as yet counted but few +among his followers, and whose word carried no weight with the great ones +of their world. + +To this meeting Mahomet brought Abbas, his uncle, younger son of +Abd-al-Muttalib, a weak and insignificant character, who had endeared +himself to Mahomet chiefly because of his doglike devotion. He was not a +convert, but he revered his energetic nephew too highly and was also too +greatly in awe of him to imagine such a thing as treachery. He was in +part a guarantee to the Khazraj of Mahomet's good faith, in part an asset +for him against the Kureisch, for his family were still influential in +Mecca. + +The two made their way from the city unaccompanied, by steep and stony +ways, until they came to Akaba, and Mahomet saw awaiting him that +concourse summoned by his persistence and tireless faith--a concourse +part of himself, almost his own child, upon which all his hopes were now +set. Coming thus into that circle of faces, illumined dimly by the +torches, which prudence even now urged them to extinguish, he could not +but feel some foreshadowing of the mighty future that awaited this little +gathering, as yet impotent and tremulous, but bearing within itself the +seeds of that loyalty and courage that were to spread "the Faith" over +half the world. + +When the greetings were over, Abbas stepped forward and spoke, while the +lines of dark faces closed around him in earnest scrutiny. + +"Ye men of the Beni Khazraj, this my kinsmen dwelleth amongst us in +honour and safety; his clan will defend him, but he preferreth to seek +protection from you. Wherefore, ye Khazraj, consider the matter well and +count the cost." + +Then answered Bara, who stood for them in position of Chief: + +"We have listened to your words. Our resolution is unshaken. Our lives +are at the Prophet's service. It is now for him to speak." + +Mahomet stepped forward into the circle of their glances, and with the +solemnity of the occasion urgent within him recited to them verses of the +Kuran, whose fire and eloquence kindled those passionate souls into an +enthusiasm glowing with a sombre resolve, and prompted them to stake all +upon their enterprise. At the end of those tumultuous words he assured +them that he would be content if they would pledge themselves to defend +him. + +"And if we die in thy defence, what reward have we?" + +"Paradise!" replied Mahomet, exalted, raising his hand in token of his +belief in Allah and the certitude of his cause. + +Then arose a murmur deep and long, the protestation of loyalty that +threatened to rise into triumphant acclamation, but Abbas, the fearful of +the party, stayed them in dread of spies. So the tumult died down, and +Bara, taking upon himself the authority of his fellows, stretched forth +his hand to Mahomet, and with their clasping the Second Pledge of the +Akaba was sealed. They broke up swiftly, dreading to prolong their +meeting, for danger was all around them and the air heavy with suspected +treacheries. + +And their apprehension was not groundless, for the Kureisch had heard of +their assembly through some secret messenger, though not until the +Medinan caravan with its concourse of the Faithful and the Unbelievers +was well on its homeward way across the dreary desert paths which lead to +Mecca from Medina. Their wrath was intense, and in fury they pursued it; +but either they were ignorant as to which road the party had taken, or +the Medinans eluded them by greater speed, for they returned disconsolate +from the pursuit, having only succeeded in finding two luckless men, one +of whom escaped, but the other, Sa'd ibn Obada, was dragged back to Mecca +and subjected to much brutality before he ultimately made his escape to +his native city. + +The Kureisch were not content with attempting reprisals against Medina, +or possibly they were enraged because they had effected so little, for +they recommenced the persecution of Islam at Mecca with much violence. +From March until April they harassed the Believers in their city, +imposing restrictions upon them, and in many cases inflicting bodily harm +upon Mahomet's unfortunate and now defenceless followers. The renewed +persecution doubtless gave an added impetus to the Prophet's resolve to +quit Mecca. + +Indeed, the time was fully ripe, and with the prescience that continually +characterised him in his role of leader of a religious state, he felt +that now the ground was prepared at Medina, emigration of the Muslim from +Mecca could not fail to be advantageous to him. + +The command was given in April 622, and found immediate popularity, +except with a few malcontents who had large interests in their native +city. Then began the slow removal of a whole colony. The families of +Abu Talib's quarter of Mecca tranquilly forsook their birthplace in +orderly groups, taking with them their household treasures, until the +neighbourhood showed tenantless houses falling into the swift decay +accompanying neglect in such a climate, barricaded doors and gaping +windows, filled only with an immense feeling of desolation and the +blankness which overtakes a city when its humanity has deputed to another +abiding place. Weeds grew in the deserted streets, and over all lay a +fine film of dust, the almost impalpable effort of the desert to merge +once more into itself the territory wrung from it by human will. + +The effect of this emigration upon the Kureisch can hardly be estimated. +They were amazed and helpless before it; for with their wrath hot against +Mahomet, it was as if their antagonist had melted into insubstantial +vapours to leave them enraged and breathless, pursuing a phantom +continually elusive. So silent was the emigration that they were only +made aware of it when the quarter was almost deserted. Scattered +groups of travellers journeying along the desert tracks had evoked no +hostilities, and no treachery broke the loyalty to Islam at Mecca. The +Kureisch were indeed outwitted, and only became conscious of the +subtleties of their antagonist when his plan was accomplished. + +But in spite of the seemingly favourable situation, the leader tarried +because "the Lord had not as yet given him command to emigrate." The very +natural hesitation of Mahomet is only characteristic of him. He knew very +well what issues were at stake, and was not anxious to burn his boats +rashly; indeed, he bore upon his shoulders at this time all the +responsibility of the future of his little flock, who so confidently +resigned their fortunes into his hands. If his scheme at Medina should +fail, he knew that nothing would save him from Kureischite fury, and he +also felt great reluctance in leaving Mecca himself, for at that time it +could not but mean the knell of his hopes of gaining his native city to +his creed. He must have foreseen his establishment of power in Medina, +and possibly he had visions of its extension to neighbouring tribes, but +he could not have foreseen the humiliation of his native city at his +feet, glad at last to receive the faith of one whom she now regarded as +the sovereign potentate of Arabian territory. + +And with their friend and guide remained Abu Bekr and Ali--Abu Bekr +because he would not leave his companion in prayer and persecution, +and Ali because his valour and enthusiasm made him a protector against +possible attacks. Here was the opportunity for the Kureisch. They knew +the extent of the emigration, and that Abu Bekr and Ali were the only +Muslim of importance left except the Prophet. They determined to make one +last attempt to coerce into submission this fantastic but resolute +leader, who possessed in supreme measure the power of winning the faith +and devotion of men. + +Tradition has it that Mahomet's assassination was definitely planned, and +Mahomet assuredly thought so too, when he discovered that a man from each +tribe had been chosen to visit his home at night. The motive can hardly +have been assassination, but doubtless the chiefs were prepared to take +rather strong measures to restrain Mahomet, and this action finally +decided the Prophet that delay was dangerous. + +At this crisis in his fortunes he had two staunch helpers, who did not +hesitate to risk their lives in his service, and with them he anticipated +his foes. Ali was chosen to represent his beloved master before the +menaces of the Kureisch. Mahomet put him into his own bed and arrayed +him in his sacred green mantle; then, as legend has it, taking a handful +of dust, he recited the sura "Ya Sin," which he himself reverenced as +"the heart of the Kuran," and scattering the dust abroad, he called down +confusion upon the heads of the Unbelievers. With Abu Bekr he then fled +swiftly and silently from the city and made his way unseen to the cave of +Thaur, a few miles outside its boundaries. + +Around the cave of Thaur cluster as many and as beautiful legends as +surround the stable at Bethlehem. The wild pigeons flew out and in +unharmed, screening the Prophet by their untroubled presence from the +searchings of the Kureisch, and a thorn tree spread her branches across +the mouth of the cave supporting a spider's frail and glistening web, +which was renewed whenever a friend visited the two prisoners to bring +food and tidings. + +Here Mahomet and Abu Bekr, henceforward known as the "Second of Two," +remained until the fierceness of the pursuit slackened. Asma, Abu Bekr's +daughter, brought them food at sundown, and what news she could glean +from the rumours that were abroad, and from the lips of Ali. There was +very real danger of their surprise and capture, but once more Mahomet's +magnificent faith in God and his cause never wavered. Abu Bekr was afraid +for his master: + +"We are but two, and if the Kureisch find us unarmed, what chance have +we?" + +"We are but two," replied Mahomet, "but God is in the midst a third." + +He looked unflinchingly to Allah for succour and protection, and his +faith was justified. His thanksgiving is contained in the Kuran: "God +assisted your Prophet formerly, when the Unbelievers drove him forth in +company with a second only; when they two were in the cave; when the +Prophet said to his companion, 'Be not distressed; verily God is with +us.' And God sent down his tranquillity upon him and strengthened him +with hosts ye saw not, and made the word of those who believed not the +abased, and the word of God was the exalted." + +At the end of three days the Kureischite search abated, and that night +Mahomet and Abu Bekr decided to leave the cave. Two camels were brought, +and food loaded upon them by Asma and her servants. The fastenings were +not long enough to tie on the food wallet; wherefore Asma tore her girdle +in two and bound them round it, so that she is known to this day among +the Faithful as "She of Two Shreds." After a prayer to Allah in thanks +for their safety, Mahomet and Abu Bekr mounted the camels and sallied +forth to meet what unknown destiny should await them on the road to +Medina. They rapidly gained the sea-coast near Asfan in comparative +safety, secure from the attacks of the Kureisch, who would not pursue +their quarry so far into a strange country. + +The Kureisch had indeed considerably abated their anger against Mahomet. +He was now safely out of their midst, and possibly they thought +themselves well rid of a man whose only object, from their point of view, +was to stir up strife, and they felt that any resentment against either +himself or his kin would be unnecessary and not worth their pains. With +remarkable tolerance for so revengeful an age, they left the families of +Mahomet and Abu Bekr quite free from molestation, nor did they offer any +opposition to Ali when they found he had successfully foiled them, and he +made his way out of the city three days after his leader had quitted it. + +Mahomet and Abu Bekr journeyed on, two pilgrims making their way, +solitary but unappalled, to a strange city, whose temper and disposition +they but faintly understood. But evidences as to its friendliness were +not wanting, and these were renewed when Abu Bekr's cousin, a previous +emigrant to Medina, met them half-way and declared that the city waited +in joy and expectation for the coming of its Prophet. After some days +they crossed the valley of Akik in extreme heat, and came at last to +Coba, an outlying suburb at Medina, where, weary and apprehensive, +Mahomet rested for a while, prudently desiring that his welcome at Medina +might be assured before he ventured into its confines. + +His entry into Coba savoured of a triumphal procession; the people +thronged around his camel shouting, "The Prophet; he is come!" mingling +their cries with homage and wondering awe, that the divine servant of +whom they had heard so much should appear to them in so human a guise, a +man among them, verily one of themselves. Mahomet's camel stopped at the +house of Omm Kolthum, and there he elected to abide during his stay in +Coba, for he possessed throughout his life a reverence for the instinct +in animals that characterises the Eastern races of all time. There, +dismounting, he addressed the people, bidding them be of good cheer, and +giving them thanks for their joyous welcome: + +"Ye people, show your joy by giving your neighbours the salvation of +peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship, and +offer up your prayers whilst others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise +in peace." + +For four days Mahomet dwelt in Coba, where he had encountered unfailing +support and friendship, and there was joined by Ali. His memories of Coba +were always grateful, for at the outset of his doubtful and even +dangerous enterprise he had received a good augury. Before he set out to +Medina he laid the foundations of the Mosque at Coba, where the Faithful +would be enabled to pray according to their fashion, undisturbed and +beneath the favour of Allah, and decreed that Friday was to be set apart +as a special day of prayer, when addresses were to be given at the Mosque +and the doctrines of Islam expounded. + +Even as early as this Mahomet felt the mantle of sovereignty descending +upon him, for we hear now of the first of those ordinances or decrees by +which in later times he rules the lives and actions of his subjects to +the last detail. Clearly he perceived himself a leader among men, who had +it within his power to build up a community following his own dictates, +which might by consolidation even rival those already existent in +Arabia. He was taking command of a weak and factious city, and he +realised that in his hands lay its prosperity or downfall; he was, in +fact, the arbiter of its fate and of the fate of his colleagues who had +dared all with him. + +But he could not stay long in Coba, while the final assay upon the +Medinans remained to be undertaken, and so we find him on the fourth day +of his sojourn making preparations for the entry into the city. It was +undertaken with some confidence of success from the messages already sent +to Coba, and proved as triumphal an entry as his former one. The populace +awaited him in expectation and reverence, and hailed him as their +Prophet, the mighty leader who had come to their deliverance. They +surrounded his camel Al-Caswa, and the camels of his followers, and when +Al-Caswa stopped outside the house of Abu Ayub, Mahomet once more +received the beast's augury and sojourned there until the building of the +Mosque. As Al-Caswa entered the paved courtyard, Mahomet dismounted to +receive the allegiance of Abu Ayub and his household; then, turning to +the people, he greeted them with words of good cheer and encouragement, +and they responded with acclamations. + +For seven months the Prophet lodged in the house of Abu Ayub, and he +bought the yard where Al-Caswa halted as a token of his first entry into +Medina, and a remembrance in later years of his abiding place during the +difficult time of his inception. The decisive step had been taken. The +die was now cast. It was as if the little fleet of human souls had +finally cast its moorings and ventured into the unpathed waters of +temporal dominion under the command of one whose skill in pilotage was as +yet unknown. Many changes became necessary in the conduct of the +enterprise, of which not the least was the change of attitude between the +leader and his followers. Mahomet, heretofore religious visionary and +teacher, became the temporal head of a community, and in time the leader +of a political State. The changed aspect of his mission can never be +over-emphasised, for it altered the tenor of his thoughts and the +progress of his words. All the poetry and fire informing the early pages +of the Kuran departs with his reception at Medina, except for occasional +flashes that illumine the chronicle of detailed ordinances that the Book +has now become. + +This apparent death of poetic energy had crept gradually over the Kuran, +helped on by the controversial character of the last two Meccan periods, +when he attempted the conciliation of the Jewish element within Arabia +with that long-sightedness which already discerned Medina as his possible +refuge. In reality the whole energy of his nature was transmuted from his +words to his actions and therein he found his fitting sphere, for he was +essentially the doer, one whose works are the expression of his secret, +whose personality, in fact, is only gauged by his deeds. As a result of +his political leadership, the despotism of his nature, inherent in his +conception of God, inevitably revealed itself; he had postulated a Being +who held mankind in the hollow of his hand, whose decrees were absolute +among his subjects; now that he was to found an earthly kingdom under the +guidance of Allah, the majesty of divine despotism overshadowed its +Prophet, and enabled him to impose upon a willing people the same +obedience to authority which fostered the military idea. + +We must perforce believe in Mahomet's good faith. There is a tendency in +modern times to think of him as a man who knowingly played upon the +credulity of his followers to establish a sovereignty whereof he should +be head. But no student of psychology can support this conception of the +Prophet of Islam. There is a subtle _rapprochement_ between leader +and people in all great movements that divines instinctively any +imposture. Mahomet used and moulded men by reason of his faith in his own +creed. The establishment of the worship of Allah brought in its train the +aggrandisement of his Prophet, but it was not achieved by profanation of +the source whence his greatness came. + +Mahomet is the last of those leaders who win both the religious +devotion and the political trust of his followers. He wrought out his +sovereignty perforce and created his own _milieu_; but more than all, he +diffused around him the tradition of loyalty to one God and one state +with sword for artificer, which outlived its creator through centuries of +Arabian prosperity. Stone by slow stone his empire was built up, an +edifice owing its contour to his complete grasp of detail and his +dauntless energy. The last days at Mecca had shown him a careful schemer, +the early days at Medina proved his capacity as leader and his skill in +organisation and government. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + + "The Infidels, moreover, will say: Thou art not sent of God. + Say: God is witness enough betwixt me and you, and whoever hath + knowledge of the Book."--_The Kuran_. + +Mahomet, now established at Medina, at once began that careful planning +of the lives of his followers and the ceaseless fostering of his own +ideas within them that endeared him to the Believers as leader and lord, +and enabled him in time to prosecute his designs against his opponents +with a confidence in their faith and loyalty. + +His grasp of detail was wonderful; without haste and without coercion he +subdued the turbulent factions within Medina, and his own perfervid +followers to discipline as despotic as it was salutary; Mahomet became +what circumstances made him; by reason of his mighty gift of moulding +those men and forces that came his way, he impressed his personality upon +his age; but the material fashioning of his energy, the flower of his +creative art, drew its formative sustenance from the soil of his +surroundings. The time for admonition, with the voice of one crying in +the wilderness, the time for praise and poesy, for the expression of that +rapt immortal passion filling his mind as he contemplated God, all these +were past, and had become but a lingering brightness upon the stormy +urgency of his later life. + +Now his flock demanded from him organisation, leadership, political and +social prevision. Therefore the full force of his nature is revealed to +us not so much as heretofore in the Kuran, but rather in his institutions +and ordinances, his enmities and conciliations. He has become not only +the Prophet, but the Lawgiver, the Statesman, almost the King. + +His first act, after his establishment in the house of Abu Ayub, was the +joining together in brotherhood of the Muhajerim and Ansar. These were +two distinct entities within Medina; the Muhajerim (refugees) had either +accompanied their master from Mecca or had emigrated previously; the +Ansar (helpers) comprised all the converts to Islam within the city +itself. These parties were now joined in a close bond, each individual +taking another of the opposite party into brotherhood with himself, to be +accorded the rights and privileges of kinship. Mahomet took as his +brother Ali, who became indeed not only his kinsman, but his military +commander and chief of staff. The wisdom of this arrangement, which +lasted about a year and a half--until, in fact, its usefulness was +outworn by the union of both the Medinan tribes under his leadership +--was immediate and far-reaching. It enabled Mahomet to keep a close +surveillance over the Medinan converts, who might possibly recant when +they became aware of the hazards involved in partnership with the Muslim. +It also gave a coherence to the two parties and allowed the Muhajerim +some foothold in an alien city, not as yet unanimously friendly. And the +Muhajerim had need of all the kindliness and help they could obtain, for +the first six months in Medina were trying both to their health and +endurance, so that many repented their venture and would have returned if +the Ansar had not come forward with ministrations and gifts, and also if +their chances of reaching Mecca alive had not been so precarious. + +The climate at Medina is damp and variable. Hot days alternate with cold +nights, and in winter there is almost continuous rain. The Meccans, used +to the dry, hot days and nights of their native city, where but little +rain fell, and even that became absorbed immediately in the parched +ground, endured much discomfort, even pain, before becoming acclimatised. +Fever broke out amongst them, and it was some months before the epidemic +was stayed with the primitive medical skill at their command. + +Nevertheless, in spite of their weakness and the difficulties of their +position, in these first seven months the Mosque of Mahomet was built +Legend says that the Prophet himself took a share in the work, carrying +stones and tools with the humblest of his followers, and we can well +believe that he did not look on at the labour of his fellow-believers, +and that his consuming zeal prompted him to forward, in whatever way was +necessary, the work lying to his hand. + +The Medinan Mosque, built with fervent hearts and anxious prayers by +the Muslim and their leader, contains the embryo of all the later +masterpieces of Arabian architecture--that art unique and splendid, which +developed with the Islamic spirit until it culminated in the glorious +temple at Delhi, whose exponents have given to the world the palaces of +southern Spain, the mysterious, remote beauty of ancient Granada. In its +embryo minarets and domes, its slender arches and delicate traceries, it +expressed the latent poetry in the heart of Islam which the claims of +Allah and the fiercely jealous worship of him had hitherto obscured; for +like Jahweh of old, Allah was an exacting spirit, who suffered no emotion +but worship to be lord of his people's hearts. + +The Mosque was square in design, made of stone and brick, and wrought +with the best skill of which they were capable. The Kibla, or direction +of prayer, was towards Jerusalem, symbolic of Mahomet's desire to +propitiate the Jews, and finally to unite them with his own people in a +community with himself as temporal head. Opposite this was the Bab +Rahmah, the Gate of Mercy, and general entrance to the holy place. Ranged +round the outer wall of the Mosque were houses for the Prophet's wives +and daughters, little stone buildings, of two or three rooms, almost +huts, where Mahomet's household had its home--Rockeya, his daughter, and +Othman, her husband; Fatima and Ali, Sawda and Ayesha, soon to be his +girl-bride, and who even now showed exceeding loveliness and force of +character. + +Mahomet himself had no separate house, but dwelt with each of his wives +in turn, favouring Ayesha most, and as his harem increased a house was +added for each wife, so that his entourage was continually near him and +under his surveillance. On the north side the ground was open, and there +the poorer followers of Mahomet gathered, living upon the never-failing +hospitality of the East and its ready generosity in the necessities of +life. + +As soon as the Mosque was built, organised religious life at Medina came +into being. A daily service was instituted in the Mosque itself, and the +heaven-sent command to prayer five times a day for every Muslim was +enforced. Five times in every turn of the world Allah receives his +supplicatory incense; at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset, and +at night the Muslim renders his due reverence and praise to the lord of +his welfare, thanking Allah, his supreme guide and votary, for the gift +of the Prophet, guide and protector of the Faithful. Lustration before +prayer was instituted as symbolic of the Believers' purification of heart +before entering the presence of God, and provision for the ceremony made +inside the Mosque. The public service on Friday, instituted at Coba, was +continued at Medina, and consisted chiefly of a sermon given by Mahomet +from a pulpit, erected inside the Mosque, whose sanctity was proverbial +and unassailed. Thus the seed was sown of a corporate religious life, the +embryo from which the Arabian military organisation, its polity, even its +social system, were to spring. + +In spite of the increasing numbers of the Ansar, there still remained a +party in Medina, "the Disaffected," who had not as yet accepted the +Prophet or his creed. Over these Mahomet exercised a strict surveillance, +in accordance with his conviction that a successful ruler leaves nothing +to Providence that he can discover and regulate for himself. "Trust in +God, but tie your camel." By this means, as well as by personal influence +and exhortation, "Disaffected" were controlled and ultimately converted +into good Muslim; for the more cautious of them--those who waited to see +how events would shape--soon assured themselves of Mahomet's capacity, +and the weakly passive were caught in the swirl of enthusiasm surrounding +the Prophet that continually drew unto itself all conditions of men +within its ever-widening circle. + +Having organised his own followers, and secured their immunity from +internal strife, Mahomet was forced to turn his attention to the Jewish +element within his adopted city, and to decide swiftly his policy towards +the three Israelite tribes who comprised the wealthier and trading +population of Medina. + +From the first, Mahomet's desires were in the direction of a federal +union, wherein each party would follow his own faith and have control of +his own tribal affairs and finances, save when the necessity of mutual +protection against enemies called for a union of forces. Again Mahomet +framed his policy upon the doctrine of opportunism. His ultimate aim was +beyond doubt to unite both Jews and Medinans under his rule in a common +religious and political bond, but he recognised the present impossibility +of such action in view of the Jews' greater stability and the weakness of +his party within the city. His negotiations and conciliations with the +Jews offer one of the many examples of his supreme skill as a statesman. + +The Jews themselves, taken almost unawares by the suddenness of Mahomet's +entry into their civic life, agreed to the treaty he proposed, and +acquiesced unconsciously in his subtle attempts to merge the two faiths +into a whole wherein Islam would be the dominant factor. When Mahomet +made Jerusalem his Kibla, or direction of prayer, and emphasised the +connection between Jewish and Arabian history, they suffered these +advances, and agreed to a treaty which would have formed the foundations +of a political and social convergence and ultimate absorption of their +own nation. + +Mahomet knew that federalism with the Jews was a necessary step to his +desired end, and therefore he drew up a treaty wherein mutual protection +against outward enemies, as well as against internal sedition, was +assured. Hospitality was to be freely rendered and demanded, and neither +party was to support an Infidel against a Believer. Guarantees for mutual +security were exchanged, and it was agreed that each should be free to +worship in his own fashion. The treaty throws light upon the clan-system +still obtaining in seventh-century Arabia. The Jews were their own +masters in the ordering of their lives, as were the Medinan tribes, even +after many years of neighbourhood and frequent interchange of commerce +and mutual assurances. The most significant political work achieved by +Mahomet, the planting of the federal, and later, the national idea in +Arabia in place of the tribal one, was thus inaugurated, and throughout +the development of his political power it will be seen that the struggles +between himself and the surrounding peoples virtually hinged upon the +acceptance or rejection of it. + +The Jews, with their narrow conception of the political unit, could +acquiesce neither in federalism nor in union, and as soon as Mahomet +perceived their incapacity he became implacable, and either drove them +forth or compelled their submission by terror and slaughter. But for the +present his policy and prudence dictated compromise, and he was strong +enough to achieve his will. + +The political and social problems of his embryo state had found temporary +solution, and Mahomet was free to turn his attention to external foes. In +his attitude towards those who had persecuted him he evinced more than +ever his determination to build up not only a religious society, but a +powerful temporal state. + +The Meccans would have been content to leave matters as they stood, and +were quite prepared to let Mahomet establish his power at Medina +unmolested, provided they were given like immunity from attacks. But from +the beginning other plans filled the Prophet's thoughts, and though +revenge for his privations was declared to be the instigator of his +attacks on the Kureisch trade, the determining motive must be looked for +much more deeply. The great project of the harassment and final overthrow +of the Kureisch was dimly foreshadowed in Mahomet's mind, and he became +ever more deeply aware of the part that must be played therein by the +sword. + +As yet he hesitated to acclaim war as the supreme arbiter in his own and +his followers' destinies, for the valour of his levies and the skill of +his leaders was unproved. The forays undertaken before the battle of Bedr +are really nothing more than essays by the Muslim in the game of war, and +it was not until proof of their power against the Kureisch had been given +that Mahomet gave up his future policy into the keeping of that bright +disastrous deity that lures all sons of men. In a measure it was true +that the clash between Mahomet and the Kureisch was unavoidable, but that +it loomed so large upon the horizon of Medina's policy is due to the +Prophet's determination to strike immediately at the wealth and security +of his rival. Lust for plunder, too, added its weight to Mahomet's +reprisals against Mecca; even if that city was content to leave him in +peace, still the Kureischite caravans to Bostra and Syria, passing so +near to Medina, were too tempting to be ignored. + +Along these age-old routes Meccan merchandise still travelled its devious +way, at the mercy of sun and desert storms and the unheeding fierceness +of that cataclysmic country, a prey to any marauding tribes, and +dependent for its existence upon the strength of its escort. And since +plunder is sweeter than labour, every chief with swift riders and good +spearmen hoped to gain his riches at Meccan expense. But their attempts +were for the most part abortive, chiefly because of the lack of cohesion +and generalship; until Mahomet none really constituted a serious menace +to the Kureischite wealth. + +In Muharram 622 (April) the Hegira took place, and six months sufficed +Mahomet to establish his power securely enough to be able to send out his +first expedition against the Kureisch in Ramadan (December) of the same +year. The party was led by Hamza, whose soldier qualities were only at +the beginning of their development, and probably consisted of a few +Muslim horsemen on their beautiful swift mounts and one or two spearmen, +and possibly several warriors skilled in the use of arrows. They sallied +forth from Medina and went to meet the caravan as it prepared to pass by +their town. The Kureisch had placed Abu Jahl in command--a man whose +invincible hatred for Islam and the Prophet had manifested itself in the +persecution at Mecca, and whose hostility increased as the Muslim power +advanced. + +The caravan was guarded, but none too strongly, and Hamza's troop pursued +and had almost attacked it when a Bedouin chief of the desert more +powerful than either party interposed and compelled the Muslim to +withdraw, while he forbade Abu Jahl to pursue them or attempt revenge. So +the caravan continued its way unmolested into Syria and there exchanged +its gums, leather, and frankincense for the silks and precious metals, +the fine stuffs and luxurious draperies which made the Syrian markets a +vivid medley of sheen and gloss, stored with bright colours and burnished +surfaces shimmering in the hot radiance of the East. In Jan. 623 the +caravan set out homeward "on its lone journey o'er the desert," and again +the Muslim sent out an attacking party in the hope of securing this +larger prize. But the Kureisch were wise and had provided themselves +with a stronger escort before which the Muslim could do nothing but +retreat--not, however, before they had sent a few tentative arrows at the +cavalcade. Obeida, their leader and a cousin of Mahomet, gave the command +to shoot, and is renowned henceforth as "he who shot the first arrow for +Islam." + +After a month another essay was made upon a northward-bound caravan by +Sa'd, again without success, for he had miscalculated dates and missed +his quarry by some days. Each leader on his return to Medina was received +with honour by Mahomet as one who had shown his prowess in the cause of +Isalm and presented with a white banner. + +So far the prophet himself had not taken the field; now, however, in the +summer and autumn of 623, in spite of signs that all was not well with +the Jewish alliance at home, Mahomet took the field in person and +conducted three larger but still unsuccessful expeditions; the last +attacking levy of October 623 consisted of 200 men, but even then Mahomet +was able to effect nothing against the Kureischite escort. The attempted +raid had nevertheless an important outcome, for by this exhibition of +strength Mahomet succeeded in convincing a neighboring desert tribe, +hitherto friendly to Mecca, of the advisability of seeking alliance with +the Muslim. + +The treaty between Mahomet and the Bedouin tribe marks the beginning of a +significant development in his foreign polity. Like the Romans, and all +military nations, he knew the worth of making advantageous alliances, +while he was clear-sighted enough to realise that the struggle with Mecca +was inevitable. During the months preceding the battle of Bedr he +concluded several treaties with desert tribes, and it is to this policy +he owes in part his power to maintain his aggressive attitude towards the +Kureisch, for with the alliance of the tribes around the caravan routes +Mahomet could be sure of hampering the Meccan trade. + +While the Prophet was in the field he left representatives to care for +the affairs of his city. These representatives were designated by him, +and were always members of his personal following. Ali and Abu Bekr were +most often chosen until All proved his worth as a warrior, and so usually +accompanied or commanded the expeditionary force. The representatives +held their authority direct from Mahomet, and had in all matters the +identical power of the Prophet during his absence. It speaks well for the +loyalty and acumen of these ministers that Mahomet was enabled to leave +the city so often and so confidently, and that the government continued +as if under his personal supervision. + +Whether the Jews were overbold because of Mahomet's frequent absences, or +whether they now became conscious of the trend of Mahomet's policy +towards the absorption of the Jewish element within the city into Islam, +will never be made clear, beyond the fact that the Jewish tribes were not +enthusiastic in their union with the Muslim, and that their national +character precluded them from accepting an alliance that threatened the +autonomy of their religion. It is, however, certain that the discontent +of the Jews voiced itself more and more loudly as the year advanced. The +suras of the period are full of revilings and threats against them, and +form a greater contrast coming after the later Meccan suras wherein +Israel was honoured and its heroes held up as examples. A few Jews had +been won over to his cause, but the mass showed themselves either hostile +or indifferent to the federal idea. As yet no definite sundering +of relationships had occurred, but everything pointed to a speedy +dissolution of the treaty unless one side or the other moderated its +views. + +The autumn of 628 saw Mahomet fully established in Medina. He had made +his worth known by his energy and organising power, by his devotion to +Allah and his zeal for the faith he had founded. The Medinans regarded +him already as their natural leader, and he had definitely adopted their +city as his headquarters. Through his skill as a statesman and his +loyalty to an idea he wrought out, the foundations of his future state, +and if the latter months of 623 saw him not yet strong enough to overcome +the Meccans, at least he was so firmly established that he could afford +to dispense with any overtures to the increasingly hostile Jews, and he +had gained sufficient adherents to allow him to contemplate with +equanimity the prospect of a sharp and prolonged struggle with the +Kureisch. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +_"Even though thou shouldst bring every kind of sign to those who have +received the Scriptures, yet Thy Kibla they will not adopt; nor shalt +thou adopt their Kibla; nor will one part of them adopt the Kibla of the +other."--The Kuran_. + +Mahomet realised the position of affairs at Medina too acutely to allow +of his undertaking in person any predatory expeditions against the +Kureisch during the autumn and winter of 623. The Jews were chafing under +his tacit assumption of State control, and although their murmurings had +not reached the recklessness of strife, still both their leaders and the +Muslim perceived that their disaffection was inevitable. Insecurity at +home, however, did not prevent him from sending out an expedition in +Rajab (October) of that year under Abdallah. Rajab is a sacred month in +the Mohamedan calendar, one in which war is forbidden. Strictly, +therefore, in sending out an expedition at all just then Mahomet was +transgressing against the laws of that religion which, purged of its +idolatries, he claimed as his own. But it was a favourable opportunity to +attack the Kureischite caravan on its way to Taif, and therefore Mahomet +recked nothing of the prohibition. + +Taif was a very distant objective for an expeditionary band from Medina, +and that Mahomet contemplated attack upon his enemy by a company so far +removed from its base is convincing proof, should any be needed, of his +confidence in his followers' prowess and his conciliation of the tribes +lying between the two hostile cities. + +Sealed orders were given to Abdallah, with instructions not to open the +parchment until he was two days south of Medina. At sunset on the second +day he came with his eight followers to a well in the midst of the +desert. There under the few date palms, which gave them rough shelter, he +broke the seal and read: + +"When thou readest this writing depart unto Nakhla, between Taif and +Mecca; there lie in wait for the Kureisch, and bring thy comrades news +concerning them." + +As Abdallah read his mind alternated between apprehension and daring, and +turning to his companions he took counsel of them. + +"Mahomet has commanded me to go to Nakhla and there await the Kureisch; +also he has commanded me to say unto you whoever desireth martyrdom for +Islam let him follow me, and whoever will not suffer it, let him turn +back. As for me, I am resolved to carry out the commands of God's +Prophet" + +Then one and all the eight companions assured him they would not forsake +him until the quest was achieved. At dawn they resumed their march and +arrived at length at Nakhla, where they encountered the Kureisch caravan +laden with spice and leather. Now, it was the last day of the month of +Rajab, wherein it was unlawful to fight, wherefore the Muslim took +counsel, saying: + +"If we fight not this day, they will elude us and escape." + +But the Prophet's implied command was strong enough to induce initiative +and hardihood in the small attacking party. They bore down upon the +Kureisch, showering arrows in their path, so that one man was killed and +several wounded. The rest forsook their merchandise and fled, leaving +behind them two prisoners, whose retreat had been cut off. Abdallah was +left in possession of the field, and joyfully he returned to Medina, +bearing with him the first plunder captured by the Muslim. + +But his return led Mahomet into a quandary from which there seemed +no escape. Politically, he was bound to approve Abdallah's deed; +religiously, he could neither laud it nor share the fruits of it. For +days the spoils remained undivided, but Abdallah was not punished or even +reprimanded. Meanwhile, the Jews and the Kureisch vied with one another +in execrating Mahomet, and even his own people murmured against him. It +was clearly time that an authoritative sanction should be given to the +deed, and accordingly in the sura, "The Cow," we have the revelation from +Allah proclaiming the greater culpability of the Infidels and of those +who would stir up civil strife: + +"They will ask thee concerning war in the Sacred Month. Say: To war +therein is bad, but to turn aside from the cause of God, and to have no +faith in Him, and in the Sacred Temple, and to drive out its people, is +worse in the sight of God; civil strife is worse than bloodshed." + +No possible doubt must be cast in this and similar cases upon Mahomet's +sincerity. The Kuran was the vehicle of the Lord; he had used it to +proclaim his unity and power and his warnings to the unrighteous. Now +that Islam had recognised his august and indissoluble majesty, and had +accorded the throne of Heaven and the governance of earth to him +indivisibly, the world was split up into Believers and Unbelievers. The +Kuran, therefore, must of necessity cease to be merely the proclamation +of divine unity that it had been and become the vehicle for definite +orders and regulations, the outcome of those theocratic ideas upon which +Mahomet's creed was founded. The justification would not appeal to the +people unless Allah's sanction supported it, and Mahomet realised with +all his ardour of faith that the transgression was slight compared with +the result achieved towards the progress of Islam. The Prophet therefore +received, with Allah's approval, a fifth of the spoil, but the captives +he released after receiving ransom. + +"This," says the historian, "was the first booty that Mahomet obtained, +the first captives they seized, and the first life they took." The +significance of the event was vividly felt throughout Islam, and +Abdallah, its hero, received at Mahomet's hands the title of "Amir-al- +Momirim," Commander of the Faithful--a title which recalls inseparably +the cruelty and magnificence, the glamour and rapacity, of Arabian Bagdad +under Haroun-al-Raschid. The valorous enterprise had now been achieved, +the Kureisch caravan was despoiled, and the Kureisch themselves wrought +into fury against the Prophet's insolence; but more than all, the channel +of Mahomet's policy of warfare became thereby so deeply carved that he +could not have effaced it had he desired. Henceforth his creative genius +limited itself to the deepening of its course and the direction of its +outlet. + +The Jews had not rested content with murmuring against Mahomet's rule, +they sought to embarrass him by active sedition. One of their first +attempts against Mahomet's regime was to stir up strife between the +Refugees and Helpers. In this they would have been successful but for +Mahomet's efficient system of espionage, a method upon which he relied +throughout his life. Failing to foment a rebellion in secret they +proceeded to open hostilities, and the Muslim, jealous for their faith, +retaliated by contempt and estrangement. During the winter of 623 +personal attack was made by the mob upon Mahomet. The people were hounded +on by their leaders to stone the Prophet, but he was warned in time and +escaped their assaults. + +The popular fury was merely the reflex of a fundamental division of +thought between the opposing parties. The Jewish and Muslim systems +could never coalesce, for each claimed the dominance and ignored all +compromise. The age-long, hallowed traditions of the Jews which supported +a theocracy as unyielding as any conception of Divine sovereignty +preached by Mahomet, found themselves faced with a new creative force +rapidly evolving its own legends, and strong enough in its enthusiasm to +overwhelm their own. The Rabbis felt that Mahomet and his warrior +heroes--Ali, Omar, Othman, and the rest--would in time dislodge from +their high places their own peculiar saints, just as they saw Mahomet +with Abu Bekr and his personnel of administrators and informers +already overriding their own councillors in the civil and military +departments of their state. The old regime could not amalgamate with the +new, for that would mean absorption by its more vigorous neighbour, and +the Jewish spirit is exclusive in essence and separatist perforce. +Mahomet took no pains to conciliate his allies; they had made a treaty +with him in the days of his insecurity and he was grateful, but now his +position in Medina was beyond assailment, and he was indifferent to their +goodwill. As their aggression increased he deliberately withdrew his +participation in their religious life, and severed his connection with +their rites and ordinances. + +The Kibla of the Muslim, whither at every prayer they turned their faces, +and which he had declared to be the Temple at Jerusalem, scene of his +embarkation upon the wondrous "Midnight Journey," was now changed to the +Kaaba at Mecca. What prevision or prophetic inspiration prompted Mahomet +to turn his followers' eyes away from the north and fix them upon their +former home with its fierce and ruthless heat, the materialisation, it +seemed, of his own inexorable and passionate aims? Henceforth Mecca +became unconsciously the goal of every Muslim, the desired city, to be +fought for and died for, the dwelling-place of their Prophet, the crown +of their faith. + +The Jewish Fast of Atonement, which plays so important a part in Semite +faith and doctrine, had been made part of the Muslim ritual in 622, while +a federal union still seemed possible, but the next year such an +amalgamation could not take place. In Ramadan (Dec. to January), +therefore, Mahomet instituted a separate fast for the Faithful. It was to +extend throughout the Sacred Month in which the Kuran had first been sent +down to men. Its sanctity became henceforth a potent reminder for the +Muslim of his special duties towards Allah, of the reverence meet to be +accorded to the Divine Upholder of Islam. During all the days of Ramadan, +no food or drink might pass a Muslim lip, nor might he touch a woman, but +the moment the sun's rim dipped below the horizon he was absolved from +the fast until dawn. No institution in Islam is so peculiarly sacred as +Ramadan, and none so scrupulously observed, even when, by the revolution +of the lunar year, the fast falls during the bitter heat of summer. It is +a characteristic ordinance, and one which emphasises the vivid Muslim +apprehension of the part played by abstention in their religious code. +At the end of the fast--that is, upon the sight of the next new +moon--Mahomet proclaimed a festival, Eed-al-Fitr, which was to take the +place of the great Jewish ceremony of rejoicing. + +At this time, too, Mahomet, evidently bent on consolidating his religious +observances and regulating their conduct, decreed a fresh institution, +with parallels in no religion--the Adzan, or call to prayer. Mahomet +wished to summon the Believers to the Mosque, and there was no way except +to ring a bell such as the Christians use, which rite was displeasing to +the Faithful. Indeed, Mahomet is reported later to have said, "The bell +is the devil's musical instrument." + +But Abdallah, a man of profound faith and love for Islam, received +thereafter a vision wherein a "spirit, in the guise of man, clad in green +garments," appeared to him and summoned him to call the Believers to +prayer from the Mosque at every time set apart for devotion. + +"Call ye four times 'God is great,' and then, 'I bear witness that there +is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet. Come unto prayer, come +unto salvation. God is great; there is no God but Him.'" + +"A true vision," declared Mahomet. "Go and teach it to Bilal, that he may +call to prayer, for he has a better voice than thou." + +When Bilal, a slave, received the command, he went up to the Mosque, and +climbing its highest minaret, he cried aloud his summons, adding at each +dawn: + +"Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep." + +And when Omar heard the call, he went to Mahomet and declared that he had +the previous night received the same vision. + +And Mahomet answered him, "Praise be to Allah!" + +Therewith was inaugurated the most characteristic observance in Islam, +the one which impresses itself very strongly upon the Western traveller +as he hears in the dimness of every dawning, before the sun's edge is +seen in the east, the voices of the Muezzin from each mosque in the city +proclaiming their changeless message, their insistent command to prayer +and praise. He sees the city leap into magical life, the dark figures of +the Muslim hurrying to the Holy Place that lies shimmering in the golden +light of early day, and knows that, behind this outward manifestation, +lies a faith, at root incomprehensible by reason of its aloofness from +the advancing streams of modern thought, a faith spiritually impotent, +since it flees from mysticism, generating an energy which has expended +its vital force in conquest, only to find itself too intellectually +backward and physically sluggish to gather in prosperity the fruits of +its attainments. Its lack of imagination, its utter ignorance of the lure +of what is strange, have been responsible for its achievement of +stupendous tasks, for the driving energy behind was never appalled by +anticipation, nor checked by any realisation of coming stress and terror. +And the same qualities that led the Muslim to world-conquest thereafter +caused their downfall, for their minds could not visualise that world of +imagination necessary for any creative science, while they were not +attuned in intellect for the reception of such generative ideas as have +contributed to the philosophic and speculative development of the Western +world. + +All the characteristics which distinguish Islam to the making and the +blasting of its fortunes may be found in embryo in the small Medinan +community; for their leader, by his own creative ardour, imposed upon his +flock every idea which shaped the form and content of its future career +from its rising even to its zenith and decline. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +_"They plotted, but God plotted, and of plotters is God the best."--The +Koran_. + +Mahomet's star, now continually upon the ascendant, flamed into sudden +glory in Ramadan of the second year of the Hegira. Its brilliance and the +bewilderment caused by its triumphant continuance is reflected in all the +chronicles and legends clustered around that period. + +If Nakhlu had been an achievement worthy of God's emissary, the victory +which followed it was an irrefutable argument in favour of Mahomet's +divinely ordained rulership of the Arabian peoples. It appeared to the +Muslim, and even to contemporary hostile tribes, nothing less than a +stupendous proof of their championship by God. Muslim poets and +historians are never weary of expatiating upon the glories achieved by +their tiny community with little but abiding zeal and supreme faith with +which to confound their foes. No military event in the life of the +Prophet called forth such rejoicings from his own lips as the triumph at +Bedr: + +"O ye Meccans, if ye desired a decision, now hath the decision come to +you. It will be better for you if ye give over the struggle. If ye +return to it, we will return, and your forces, though they be many, shall +never avail you aught, for God is with the Faithful." + +Through the whole of Sura viii the strain of exultation runs, the +presentment in dull words of fierce and splendid courage wrought out into +victory in the midst of the storms and lightnings of Heaven. + +Such an earth-shaking event, the effects of which reached far beyond its +immediate environment, received fitting treatment at the hands of all +Arabian chronicles, so that we are enabled to reconstruct the events +preceding the battle itself, its action and result, with a vivid +completeness that is often denied us in the lesser events. + +The caravan under Abu Sofian, about thirty or forty strong, which had +eluded Mahomet and reached Syria, was now due to return to Mecca with its +bartered merchandise. Mahomet was determined that this time it should not +escape, and that he would exact from it full penalty of the vengeance he +owed the Meccans for his insults and final expulsion from their city. As +soon as the time for its approach drew nigh, Mahomet sent two scouts to +Hama, north of Medina, who were to bring tidings to him the moment they +caught sight of its advancing dust. But Abu Sofian had been warned of +Mahomet's activity and turned off swiftly to the coast, keeping the +seaward route, while he sent a messenger to Mecca with the news that an +attack by the Muslim was meditated. + +Dhamdham, sent by his anxious leader, arrived in the city after three +days' journey in desperate haste across the desert, and flung himself +from his camel before the Kaaba. There he beat the camel to its knees, +cut off its ears and nose, and put the saddle hind foremost. Then, +rending his garments, he cried with a loud voice: + +"Help, O Kureisch, your caravan is pursued by Mahomet!" + +With one accord the Meccan warriors, angered by the news that spread +wildly among the populace, assembled before their holy place and swore a +great oath that they would uphold their dignity and avenge their loss +upon the upstart followers of a demented leader. Every man who could bear +arms prepared in haste for the expedition, and those who could not fight +found young men as their representatives. In the midst of all the tumult +and eager resolutions to exterminate the Muslim, so runs the tale, there +were few who would listen to Atikah, the daughter of Abd-al-Muttalib. + +"I have dreamed three nights ago, that the Kureisch will be called to +arms in three days and will perish. Behold the fulfilment of my dream! +Woe to the Kureisch, for their slaughter is foretold!" + +But she was treated as of no account, a woman and frail, and the army set +out upon its expedition in all the bravery of that pomp-loving nation. + +With Abu Jahl at its head, and accompanied by slave girls with lutes and +tabrets, who were to gladden the eyes and minister to the pleasure of its +warriors, the Kureisch army moved on through the desert towards its +destined goal; but we are told by a recorder, "dreams of disaster +accompanied it, nor was its sleep tranquil for the evil portents that +appeared therein." Thus, apprehensive but dauntless, the Meccan army +advanced to Safra, one day's march from Bedr, where it encountered +messengers from Abu Sofian, who announced that the caravan had eluded the +Muslim and was safe. + +Then arose a debate among the Kureisch as to their next course. Many +desired to return to Mecca, deeming their purpose accomplished now that +the caravan was secure from attack, but the bolder amongst them were +anxious to advance, and the more deliberative favoured this also, because +by so doing they might hope to overawe Mahomet into quietude. But before +all there was the safety of their homes to consider, and they were +fearful lest an attack by a hostile tribe, the Beni Bekr, might be made +upon Mecca in the absence of its fighting men. Upon receiving assurances +of good faith from a tribe friendly to both, they dismissed that fear and +resolved to advance, so that they might compel Mahomet to abandon his +attacks upon their merchandise. + +This proceeding seemed a reasonable and politic measure, until it was +viewed in the light of its consequences, and indeed, judging from +ordinary calculation, such a host could have no other effect than a +complete rout upon such a small and inefficient band as Mahomet's +followers. Therefore, in estimating, if they did at all carefully, the +forces matched against them, the Kureisch found themselves materially +invincible, though they had not reckoned the spiritual factor of +enthusiasm which transcended their own physical superiority. + +These events had taken over nine days, and meanwhile Mahomet had not been +idle. His two spies had brought news of the approach of the caravan, but +beyond that meagre information he knew nothing. The Kureischite activity +thereafter was swallowed up in the vastnesses of the desert, which drew a +curtain as effective as death around the opposing armies. + +But news of the caravan's advance was sufficient for the Prophet. With +the greatest possible speed he collected his army--not, we are told, +without some opposition from the fearful among the Medinan population, +who were anxious to avoid any act which might bring down upon them the +ruthless Meccan hosts. Legend has counted as her own this gathering +together of the Muslim before Bedr, and translating the engendered +enthusiasm into imaginative fact, has woven a pattern of barbaric +colours, wherein deeds are transformed by the spirit which prompts them. +The heroes panted for martyrdom, and each craved to be among the first to +pour forth his blood in the sacred cause. They crowded to battle on +camels and on foot. Abu Bekr in his zeal walked every step of the way, +which he regarded as the road to supreme benediction. Mahomet himself led +his valorous band, mounted on a camel with Ali by his side, having before +him two black flags borne by standard-bearers whose strength and bravery +were the envy of the rest. He possessed only seventy camels and two +horses, and the riders were chosen by lot. Behind marched or rode the +flower of Islam's warriors and statesmen--Abu Bekr, Omar, Hamza, and +Zeid, whose names already resounded through Islam for valiant deeds; +Abdallah, with Mahomet's chosen leaders of expeditions; the rank and +file, three hundred strong, regardless of what perils might overtake +them, intent on plunder and the upholding of their vigorous faith, +sallied forth from Medina as soon as they could be equipped, and took the +direct road to Mecca. On reaching Safra, for reasons we are not told, +they turned west to Bedr, a halting-place on the Syrian road, possibly +hoping to catch the caravan on its journey westwards towards the sea. + +But Abu Sofian was too quick for them. Mahomet's scouts had only reached +Bedr, reconnoitered and retired, when Abu Sofian approached the well +within its precincts and demanded of a man belonging to a neighbouring +tribe if there were strangers in the vicinity. + +"I have seen none but two men, O Chief," he replied; "they came to the +well to water their camels." + +But he had been bribed by Mahomet, and knew well they were Muslim. + +Abu Sofian was silent, and looked around him carefully. Suddenly he +started up as he caught sight of their camels' litter, wherein were +visible the small date stones peculiar to Medinan palms. + +"Camels from Yathreb!" he cried quickly; "these be the scouts of +Mahomet." Then he gathered his company together and departed hastily +towards the sea. He despatched a messenger to Mecca to tell of the +caravan's safety, and a little later heard with joy of his countrymen's +progress to oppose Mahomet. + +"Doth Mahomet indeed imagine that it will be this time as in the affair +of the Hadramate (slain at Nakhla)? Never! He shall know that it is +otherwise!" + +But the army that caused such joy to Abu Sofian created nothing but +apprehension in Mahomet's camp. He knew the caravan had eluded him, and +now there was a greater force more than three times his own advancing on +him. Hurriedly he convened a council of war, whereat his whole following +urged an immediate advance. The excitement had now fully captured their +tumultuous souls, and there was more danger for Mahomet in a retreat than +in an attack. An immediate advance was therefore decided upon, and +Mahomet sent Ali, on the day before the battle, to reconnoitre, as they +were nearing Bedr. The same journey which told Abu Sofian of the +presence of the Muslim also resulted for them in the capture of three +water-carriers by Ali, who dragged them before Mahomet, where they were +compelled to give the information he wanted, and from them he learned the +disposition and strength of the enemy. + +The valley of Bedr is a plain, with hills flanking it to the north and +east. On the west are small sandy hillocks which render progress +difficult, especially if the ground is at all damp from recent rains. +Through this shallow valley runs the little stream, having at its +south-western extremity the springs and wells which give the place its +importance as a halting stage. Command of the wells was of the highest +importance, but as yet neither army had obtained it, for the Muslim had +not taken up their final position, and the Kureisch were hemmed in by the +sandy ground in front of them. + +The wretched water-carriers being brought before Mahomet at first +declared they knew nothing, but after some time confessed they were Abu +Jahl's servants. + +"And where is the abiding place of Abu Jahl?" + +"Beyond the sand-hills to the east." + +"And how many of his countrymen abide with him?" + +"They are numerous; I cannot tell; they are as numerous as leaves." + +"On one day nine, the next ten." + +"Then they number 950 men," exclaimed the Prophet to Ali; "take the men +away." + +Mahomet now called a council of generals, and it was decided to advance +up the valley to the farther side of the wells, so as to secure the +water-supply, and destroy all except the one they themselves needed. This +manoeuvre was carried out successfully, and the Muslim army encamped +opposite the Kureisch, at the foot of the western hills and separated +from their adversaries by the low sandy hillocks in front of them. A +rough hut of palm branches was built for Mahomet whence he could direct +the battle, and where he could retire for counsel with Abu Bekr, and for +prayer. + +Both sides had now made their dispositions, and there remained nothing +but to wait till daybreak. That night the rain descended upon the doomed +Kureisch like the spears of the Lord, whelming their sandy soil and +churning up the rising ground in front of the troops into a quagmire of +bottomless mud. The clouds were tempered towards the higher Muslim +position, and the water drained off the hilly land. + +"See, the Lord is with us; he has sent his heavy rain upon our enemies," +declared Mahomet, looking from his hut in the early dawn, weary with +anxiety for the issue of this fateful hour, but strong in faith and +confident in the favour of Allah. Then he retired to the hut for prayer +and contemplation. + +"O Allah, forget not thy promise! O Lord, if this little band be +vanquished idolatry will prevail and thy pure worship cease from off the +earth." + +He set himself to the encouragement and instruction of his troops. He had +no cavalry with which to cover an advance, and he therefore ordered his +troops to remain firm and await the oncoming rush until the word to +charge was given. + +But on no account were they to lose command of the wells. Drawn up in +several lines, their champions in front and Mahomet with Abu Bekr to +direct them from the rear, the little troop of Muslim awaited the +onslaught of their greater foes. + +But dissent had broken out among the Kureisch generals. Obi, one of +their best warriors, perhaps feeling the confident carelessness of the +Kureisch was misplaced, wanted to go back without attacking. He was +overruled after much discussion and some bad feeling by Abu Jahl, who +declared that if they refrained from attack now all the land would ring +with their cowardice. So a general advance was ordered, and the Kureisch +champions led the way. + +The battle began, as most battles of primitive times, by a series of +single combats, one champion challenging another to fight. The glory of +being the first Muslim to kill a Meccan in this encounter fell to Hamza. +Aswad of the Kureisch swore to drink of the water of those wells guarded +by the Muslim. Hamza opposed, and his first sword stroke severed the leg +of Aswad; but he, undaunted, crawled on until at the fountain he was +slain by Hamza before its waters passed his lips. Now three champions of +the Kureisch came forward to challenge three Muslim of equal birth. +Hamza, Ali, and Obeida answered the charge, and in front of the opposing +ranks three Homeric conflicts raged. + +Hamza, the lion of God, and Ali, the sword of the faith, quickly overcame +their opponents, but Obeida was wounded before he could spear his man. +The sight gave courage to the Kureisch, and now the main body of them +pressed on, seeking to overwhelm the Muslim by sheer weight. The heavy +ground impeded their movements, and they came on slowly with what anxious +expectation on the part of Mahomet's soldiers, whom their Prophet had +commanded to await his signal. + +When the Kureisch were near enough Mahomet lifted his hand: + +"Ya Mansur amit!" (Ye conquerors, strike!) he cried, pointing with +outstretched finger at the close ranks bearing down upon them; "Paradise +awaits him who lays down his life for Islam." + +The Muslim with a wild cry dashed forward against their foe. But the +Kureisch were brave and they were numerous, and the Muslim were few and +almost untutored. The battle raged, surging like foam within the narrow +valley; its waves now roaring almost up to the Prophet's vantage ground, +now retreating in eddies towards the rear of the Kureisch, under a +lowering sky, whose wind-swept clouds seemed to reflect the strife in the +Heavens. + +"Behold Gabriel with a thousand angels charging down upon the Infidels!" +cried Mahomet, as a blast of wind tore shrieking down the valley. "See +Muhail and Seraphil with their troops rush to the help of God's chosen." + +Then as the Muslim seemed to waver, pressed back by the mass of their +enemies, he appeared in their midst, and, taking a handful of dust, cast +it in the face of the foe: + +"Let their faces be confounded!" + +The Muslim, caught by the magnetism of Mahomet's presence, seized by the +immortal energy which radiated from him, rallied their strength. With a +shout they bore down upon the Kureisch, who wavered and broke beneath +this inspired onrush, within whose vigour dwelt all Mahomet's surcharged +ambition and indomitable aims. He commanded the attack to be followed up +at once, and the Kureisch, hampered in their retreat by the marshy +ground, fell in confusion, their ranks shattered, their champions crushed +in the welter of spears and horsemen, swords, armour, sand, blood, and +the bodies of men. + +The order went forth from Mahomet to spare as much as possible his own +house of Hashim, but otherwise the slaughter was as remorseless as the +temper of the Muslim ensured. Of the Prophet's army, so tell the +Chronicles, only fourteen were killed, but of the Kureisch the dead +numbered forty-nine, with a like haul of prisoners. Abu Jahl was among +those sorely wounded; but when Abdallah saw him lying helpless, he +recognised him, and slew him without a word. Then having cut off his +head, he brought the prize to Mahomet. + +"It is the head of God's enemy," cried the Prophet as he gazed on it in +exaltation; "it is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel in all +Arabia." + +The broken remnants of the Kureisch army journeyed slowly back to Mecca +through the same desert that had seen all the bravery and splendour of +their advance, and the news of their terrible fate preceded them. All the +city was draped in cloths of mourning, for there was no distinguished +house that did not bewail its dead. One alone did not weep--Hind, wife of +Abu Sofian, went forth to meet her husband. + +"What doest thou with unrent garments? Knowest thou not the affliction +that hath fallen on this thy city?" + +"I will not weep," replied Hind, "until this wrong has been avenged. When +thou hast gone forth, hast conquered this accursed, then will I mourn for +those who are slain this day. Nay, my lord, I will not deck myself, nor +perfume my hair, nor come near thy couch until I see the avenging of this +humiliation." + +Then Abu Sofian swore a great oath that he would immediately collect men +and take the field once more against Islam. + +There remained now for the victors but the distribution of the spoil and +the decision of the fate of the prisoners. The less valuable of these +were put to death, their bodies cast into a pit, but the Muslim took the +rest with them, hoping for ransom. The spoil was taken up in haste, and +the Prophet repaired joyfully to Safra, where he proposed to divide +it. But there contention arose, as was almost inevitable, over the +distribution of the wealth, and so acute did the disaffection become that +Mahomet revealed the will of Allah concerning it: + +"And know ye, when ye have taken any booty, a fifth part belongeth to God +and to the Apostle, and to the near of kin and to orphans and to the +poor, and to the wayfarer, if ye believe in God, and in that which we +have sent down to our servant on the day of the victory, the day of the + meeting of the Hosts." As part of his due, Mahomet took the famous sword +Dhul Ficar, which has gathered around it as many legends as the weapons +of classical heroes, and which hereafter never left him whenever he took +command of his followers in battle. So the Muslim, flushed with victory, +laden with spoil, returned to Medina, whose entire population assembled +to accord them triumphal entry. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain," cried the little children, catching the +phrase from their parents' lips. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain, and the foes of Islam laid low!" was +cried from the mosque and market-place, from minaret and house-top. +"Allah Akbar Islam!" + +The great testing day had come and was past. In open fight, before a host +of their foes, the Muslim with smaller numbers had prevailed. The effect +upon Medina and upon Mahomet's later career cannot be overestimated. It +was indeed a turning point, whence Mahomet proceeded irrevocably upon the +road to success and fame. Reverses hereafter he certainly had, and at +times the outlook was almost insuperably dark, but no misfortune or gloom +could dull the splendour of that day at Bedr, when besides his own +slender following, the hosts of the Lord, whose turbans glowed like +crowns, led by Gabriel in golden armour, had fought for him and +vanquished his foes. The glory of this battle was the lamp by which he +planned his future wins. + +At Medina the Disaffected were triumphantly gathered beneath his banner; +his position became, for the time at least, established. No longer did he +need to conciliate, flatter, spy upon the various factions within his +walls. His prisoners were kindly treated, and some converted by these +means to the faith he had vainly sought to impose upon them. Affairs +within the city were organised and consolidated. Registers were prepared, +the famous "Registers of Omar," which were to contain the names of all +those who had given distinguished service to the cause of Allah, and to +confer upon them exalted rank. The three hundred names inscribed therein +were the embryo of a Muslim aristocracy, constituting, in fact, a peerage +of Islam. Mahomet's religious ordinances were strengthened and confirmed, +while his faith received that homage paid to success which had raised its +founder from the commander of a small hand of religionists to the chief +of a prosperous city, the leader of an efficient army, the head of a +community which held within itself the future dominion of Arabia, of +western Asia, southern Europe, in fact, the greater part of the middle +world. + +More than ever Mahomet perceived that his success lay in the sword. Bedr +set the seal upon his acceptance of warfare as a means of propaganda. +Henceforth the sword becomes to him the bright but awful instrument +through which the will of Allah is achieved. In the measure that he +trusted its power and confided to it his own destiny and that of his +followers, so did war exact of him its ceaseless penalty, urging him on +continually, through motives of policy and self-defence, until he became +its slave, compelled to continue along the path appointed him, or perish +by that very instrument by which his power had been wrought. Henceforward +his activities consist chiefly of wars aggressive and defensive, while +the religion actuating them receives slighter notice, because the main +thesis has been established in his own state and requires the force of +arms to obtain its supremacy over alien races. + +After Bedr, the poet and Prophet becomes the administrator and Prophet. +The quietude and meditation of the Meccan hill-slopes are exchanged for +the council-chamber and the battlefield, and appear upon the background +of his anxious life with the glamour and aloofness of a dream-country; +the inevitable turmoil and preoccupation which accompanies the direction +of affairs took hold upon his life. The fervour of his nature, its +remorseless activity, compelled him to legislate for his followers with +that minute attention to detail almost inconceivable to the modern mind +with its conceptions of the various "departments" of state. + +We see him mainly through tradition, but also to a great extent in the +Kuran directing the humblest details in the lives of the Muslim, +organising their ritual, regulating their commerce, their usury laws, +their personal cleanliness, their dietary, their social and moral +relations. Regarding the multifarious duties and cares of his growing +state, its almost complete helplessness in its hands, for he alone was +its guiding force, it is the clearest testimony to his vital energy, his +strength and sanity of brain, that he was not overwhelmed by them, and +that the creative side of his nature was not crushed beyond recovery; +although confronted by the clamorous demands of government and warfare, +these could not touch his spiritual enthusiasm nor his glowing and +changeless devotion to Allah and his cause. At the end of his long years +of rule he could still say with perfect truth, "My chief delight is in +prayer." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +"And if the people of the Book had believed, it had surely been better +for them: Believers there are among them, but most of them are perverse." +--_The Kuran_. + +The songs of triumph over Bedr had scarcely left the lips of Muslim poets +when the voice of faction was heard again in Medina. The Jews, that +"stiff-necked nation," unimpressed by Mahomet's triumph, careful only of +its probable effect on their own position, which effect they could not +but regard as disastrous, seeing that it augured their own submission to +a superior power, murmured against his success, and tried their utmost to +sow dissension by the publication of contemptuous songs through the +mouths of their poets and prophetesses. Not only did the Jews murmur in +secret against him, but they tried hard to induce members of the original +Medinan tribes to join with them in a desperate effort to throw off the +Muslim yoke. + +Chief among these defamers of Mahomet's prestige was Asma, a prophetess +of the tribe of Beni Aus. She published abroad several libellous songs +upon Mahomet, but was quickly silenced by Omeir, a blind man devoted to +his leader, who felt his way to her dwelling-place at dead of night, and, +creeping past her servant, slew her in the midst of her children. News of +the outrage was brought to Mahomet; it was expected he would punish +Omeir, but: + +"Thou shalt not call him blind, but the seeing," replied the Prophet; +"for indeed he hath done me great service." + +The result of this ruthlessness was the official conversion of the tribe, +for resistance was useless, and they had not, like the Jews, the flame of +faith to keep their resistance alive. "The only alternative to a hopeless +blood feud was the adoption of Islam." But the Jews, with stubborn +consciousness of their own essential autonomy, preferred the more +terrible alternative, and so the defamatory songs continued. When it is +remembered that these compositions took the place of newspapers, were as +universal and wielded as such influence, it is not to be expected that +Mahomet could ignore the campaign against him. Abu Afak, a belated +representative of the prophetic spirits of old, fired by the ancient +glory of Israel and its present threatened degradation at the hands of +this upstart, continued, in spite of all warnings, to publish abroad his +contempt and hatred for the Prophet. + +It was no time for half-measures. With such a ferment as this universal +abuse was creating, the whole of his hard-won power might crumble. Victor +though he was, it wanted only the torch of some malcontents to set +alight the flame of rebellion. Therefore Mahomet, with his inexorable +determination and force of will, took the only course possible in such a +time. The singer was slain by his express command. + +"Who will rid me of this pestilence?" he cried, and like all strong +natures he had not long to wait before his will became the inspired act +of another. + +So fear entered into the souls of the people at Medina, and for a time +there were no more disloyal songs, nor did the populace dare to oppose +one who had given so efficient proof of his power. + +But it was not enough for Mahomet to have silenced disaffection. He +aimed at nothing less than the complete union of all Medina under his +leadership and in one religious belief. To this end he went in Shawwal of +the second year of the Hegira (Jan. 624) unto the Jewish tribe, the Beni +Kainukaa, goldsmiths of Medina, whose works lay outside the city's +confines. There he summoned their chief men in the bazaar, and exhorted +them fervently to become converted to Islam. But the Kainukaa were firm +in their faith and refused him with contemptuous coldness. + +"O Mahomet, thou thinkest we are men akin to thine own race! Hitherto +thou hast met only men unskilled in battle, and therefore couldst thou +slay them. But when thou meetest us, by the God of Israel, thou shalt +know we are men!" Therewith Mahomet was forced to acknowledge defeat, and +he journeyed back to the city, vowing that if Allah were pleased to give +him opportunity he would avenge this slight upon Islam and his own +divinely appointed mission. Friction between him and the Kainukaa +naturally increased, and it was therefore not long before a pretext +arose. The story of a Jew's insult to a Muslim girl and its avenging by +one of her co-religionists is probably only a fiction to explain +Mahomet's aggression against this tribe. It is uncertain how the first +definite breach arose, but it is easy to see that whatever the actual +_casus belli,_ such a development was inevitable. + +The anger of the Prophet was aroused, for were they not presuming to +oppose his will and that of Allah, whose instrument he was? He marshalled +his army and put a great white banner at their head, gave the leadership +to Hamza, and so marched forth to attack the rebellious Kainukaa. For +fifteen days the tribe was besieged in its strongholds, until at last, +beaten and discouraged, faced by scarcity of supplies, and the certainty +of disease, it surrendered at discretion. + +Then was shown in all its fullness the implacable despotism conceived by +Mahomet as the only possible method of government, which indeed for those +times and with that nation it certainly was. The order went forth for the +slaying and despoiling of the Kainukaa, and the grim work began by the +seizure of their armour, precious stones, gold, and goldsmith's tools. +But Abdallah, chief of the Khazraj, and formerly leader of the +Disaffected, became suppliant for their release. He sought audience of +Mahomet, and there petitioned with many tears for the lives of his +friends and kinsmen. But Mahomet turned his back upon him. Abdallah, in +an ecstacy of importunity, grasped the skirt of Mahomet's garment. + +"Loose thou thy hand!" cried Mahomet, while his face grew dark with +anger. + +But Abdallah in the boldness of desperation replied, "I will not let thee +go until thou hast shown favour to my kinsmen." + +Then said Mahomet, "As thou wilt not be silent, I give thee the lives of +those I have taken prisoner." + +Nevertheless, the exile of the tribe was enforced, and Mahomet compelled +their immediate removal from the outskirts of Medina. The Prophet's +later policy towards the Jews was hereby inaugurated. He set himself +deliberately to break up their strongholds one by one, and did not swerve +from his purpose until the whole of the hated race had been removed +either by slaughter or by enforced exile from the precincts of his +adopted city. He would suffer no one but himself to govern, and uprooted, +with his unwavering purpose, all who refused to accept him as lord. + +For about a month affairs took their normal and uninterrupted course in +Medina, but in the following month, Dzul Higg (March), the last of that +eventful second year, a slight disturbance of his steady work of +government threatened his followers. + +Abu Sofian's vow pressed sorely upon his conscience until, unable to +endure inaction further, he gathered together 200 horsemen and took the +highway towards Medina. He travelled by the inland road, and arrived at +length at the settlements of the Beni Nadhir, one of the Jewish tribes in +the vicinity of Medina. He harried their palm-gardens, burnt their +cornfields, and killed two of their men. Mahomet had plundered the Meccan +wealth, his allies should in turn be harassed by his victims. It was +purely a private enterprise undertaken out of bravado and in fulfilment +of a vow. As soon as the predatory attack had been made, Abu Sofian +deemed himself absolved and prepared to return. + +But Mahomet was on his traces. For five days he pursued the flying +Kureisch, whose retreat turned into such a headlong rout that they threw +away their sacks of meal so as to travel more lightly. Therefore the +incident has been known ever since, according to the vivid Arab method of +description, as the Battle of the Meal-bags. But the foe was not worthy +of his pursuit, and Mahomet made no further attempt to come up with Abu +Sofian, but returned at once to Medina. The attack had ended more or less +in fiasco, and as a trial of strength upon either side it was negligible. + +The sacred month, Dzul Higg, and the only one in which it was lawful to +make the Greater Pilgrimage in far-off Mecca, was now fully upon him, and +Mahomet felt drawn irresistibly to the ceremonies surrounding the ancient +and now to him distorted faith. He felt compelled to acknowledge his +kinship with the ancient ritual of Arabia, and to this end appointed a +festival, Eed-al-Zoha, to be celebrated in this month, which was not only +to take the place of the Jewish sacrificial ceremony, but to strengthen +his connection with the rites still performed at Mecca, of which the +Kaaba and the Black Stone formed the emblem and the goal. + +In commemoration of the ceremonial slaying of victims in the vale of Mina +at the end of the Greater Pilgrimage, Mahomet ordered two kids to be +sacrificed at every festival, so that his people were continually +reminded that at Mecca, beneath the infidel yoke, the sacred ritual, so +peculiarly their own by virtue of the Abrahamic descent and their +inexorable monotheism, was being unworthily performed. + +The institution is important, as indicating the development of Mahomet's +religious and ritualistic conceptions. In the first days of his +enthusiasm he was content to enjoin worship of one God by prayer and +praise, taking secondary account of forms and ceremonies. Then came the +uprooting of his outward religious life and the demands of his embryo +state for the manifestations essential to a communistic faith. He found +Israelite beliefs uncontaminated by the worship of many Gods, and turned +to their ritual in the hope of establishing with their aid a ceremonial +which should incorporate their system with his own fervent faith. Now, +finding no middle road between separatism and absorption possible with +such a people as the Jews, and unconsciously divining that in no great +length of time Islam would be sufficient unto itself, he turned again to +the practices of his native religion and ancestral ceremonies. Henceforth +he puts forward definitely his conception of Islam as a purified and +divinely regulated form of the worship followed by his Arabian forbears, +purged of its idol-worship and freed from numerous age-long corruptions. + +Not only in ritual did his mind turn towards Mecca. It looms before his +eyes still as the Chosen City, the city of his dreams, whose conquest and +rendering back purified to the guidance of Allah he sets before his mind +as the ultimate, dim-descried goal of all his intermediary wars. The +Kibla had long since been changed to Mecca; thither at prayer every +Muslim turned his face and directed his thoughts, and now every possible +detail of ancient Meccan ritual was performed in scrupulous deference to +the one God, so that when the time came and in fulfilment of his desires +he set foot on its soil, no part of the ceremonies, with the lingering +enthusiasm of his youth still sweet upon them, might be omitted or be +allowed to lose its savour through disuse. + +The third year of the Hegira began favourably for Mahomet. During the +first month, Muharram, there were three small expeditions against unruly +desert tribes. The Beni Ghatafan on the eastern Babylonian route were +friendly to the Kureisch. This was undesirable, because they might allow +the Meccan caravan to pass through in safety, and the Prophet had +resolved that it should be despoiled by whichever route it journeyed, +coast road or arid tableland. When therefore he received news that they +were assembling in force at Carcarat-al-Kadr, a desert oasis on the +confines of their territory, he marched thither in haste, hoping to catch +and overcome them before they dispersed. + +But the Beni Ghatafan were too wise to suffer this, and when Mahomet came +to the place he found it deserted, save for some camels, left behind in +the flight, which he captured and brought to Medina, deeming it useless +to attempt the pursuit of his quarry through the trackless desert. + +The raid in Jumad II (September) by Zeid was far more successful. Since +the victory at Bedr the coast route had been entirely barred for the +Kureischite caravans, and they were forced to try the central desert, +which road lay through the middle tableland leading on to Babylonia and +the Syrian wastes. The Meccan caravan had only reached Carada when it was +met by a Muslim force under Zeid, sent by the prescience and predatory +instincts of Mahomet. The guard was not strong, possibly because the +Meccans thought there was little fear of attack by this route, and so +Zeid was easily able to overcome his foe and secure the spoil, which +amounted to many bales of goods, camels, trappings, and armour. The +conquerer returned elated to Medina, where he cast the spoil at the feet +of the Prophet. The usual division was made, and the whole city rejoiced +over the wealth it had secured and the increasing discomfiture of its +enemies. + +Meanwhile matters were becoming urgent between the Muslim and the Jews. +Neither the murder of their singers, nor the expulsion of the Kainukaa +could silence the voice of Jewish discontent, which found its most +effective mouthpiece in the poet Ka'b al' Ashraf, son of a Jewess of the +tribe of the Beni Nadhir. This man had been righteously indignant at the +slaughter of the Kureischite champions at Bedr. The story seemed to him +so monstrous that he could not believe it. + +"Is this true?" he asked the messenger; "has Mahomet verily slain these +men? By the Lord, if he has done this, then is the innermost part of the +earth better than the surface thereof!" + +He journeyed in haste to Mecca, and when he heard the dreadful news +confirmed he did his utmost to stir up the Kureisch against the murderer. +As soon as he returned he published verses lamenting the disgraceful +victory purchased at such a price; moreover, he also addressed insulting +love poems to the Muslim women, always with the intent of causing as much +disaffection as possible. At last Mahomet waxed impatient and cried: + +"Who will give me peace from this Ka'b al' Ashraf?" + +Mahomet Mosleima replied, "I, even I will slay him." + +The method of his accomplishment of this deed is instructive of the +estimation in which individual life was then held. Mosleima secured the +assistance of Ka'b's treacherous brother--how, we are not told, but most +probably by bribes. Together the two went to the poet's house by +moonlight, and begged his company on a discussion of much importance. His +young wife would have prevented Ka'b, sensing treachery from the manner +and time of the request, but he disregarded her prayers. In the gleam of +moonbeams the three walked past the outskirts of the city in deepest +converse, the subject of which was rebellion against the Prophet. + +They came at length to the ravine Adjuz, a lonely place overhung with +ghastly silence and pallid under the white light. Here they stopped, and +soon his brother began to stroke the hair of Ka'b until he had lulled him +into drowsiness. Then suddenly seizing the forelock he shouted: + +"Let the enemy of God perish!" + +Ka'b was pinioned, while four men of the Beni Aus slashed at him with +their swords. But he was a brave man and strong, determined to sell his +life dearly. The struggle became furious. + +"When I saw that," relates Mosleima through the mouth of tradition, "I +remembered my dagger, and thrust it into his body with such violence that +it penetrated the entire bulk. The enemy of God gave one cry and fell to +the ground." + +Then they left him, and hastened to tell their master of the good news. +Mahomet rejoiced, and was at no pains to conceal his satisfaction. Ka'b +had made himself objectionable to the Prophet and dangerous to Islam; Ka'b +was removed; it was well; Allah Akbar Islam. + +Eastern nations have never been so careful of human life as Western, and +especially as the Anglo-Saxon peoples. To Mahomet the security of his +state came before all, and if a hundred poets had threatened to undermine +his authority, he would have had them all slain with equal steadfastness. +Men were bound to die, and those who disturbed the progress of affairs +merely suffered more swiftly the universal lot. It is obvious that no +modern Western standard can be set up for Mahomet; the deed must be +interpreted by that inflexible will and determination to achieve his +aims, which lies at the root of all his crimes of state. But the +unfortunate Jews went in fear and trembling, and their panic was +increased when Mahomet issued an order to his followers with permission +to kill them wherever they might be found. He very soon, however, allowed +so drastic a command to lapse, but not before some had taken advantage of +his savage policy, and after a time he made a new treaty with the Jews, +not at all on the old federal lines, but guaranteeing them some sort of +security, provided they showed proper submission to his superior power. +This treaty smoothed over matters somewhat, but nevertheless the Jews +were now thoroughly intimidated, and those who were left lived a +restricted life, wherein fear played the greater part. + +But for the time being Mahomet was satisfied, and no further punitive +acts were attempted; not many months later he was faced with a far +greater danger, the appearance in force of his old enemy the Kureisch, +burning for vengeance, fierce in their hatred of such a despoiler, and +before them Mahomet in the new-found arrogance of his dominion was forced +to pause. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +"If a wound hath befallen you, a wound like it hath already befallen +others; we alternate these days (of good and evil fortune) among men, +that God may know those who have believed and that He may take martyrs +from among you."--_The Kuran_. + +The Jews had been alternately forced and cajoled into submission, the +Disaffected had been swept into temporary loyalty after the triumph at +Bedr, his own followers were magnificently proud of his dominance, +the Kureisch had made as yet no serious endeavours to avenge their +humiliation at Bedr; moreover, the religious and political affairs of the +city had been regulated so that it was possible to carry on the usual +business of life in security--a security which certainly possessed no +guaranteed permanence, and which might at any moment crack beneath the +feet of those who walked thereon and plunge them back into an anarchy of +warring creeds and chiefs--still a security such as Medina had seldom +known, built up by the one strong personality within its walls. + +For a few months Mahomet could live in peace among his followers, +and the interest shifts not to his religious ordinances and work of +government--these had been successfully started, and were now continuing +almost automatically--but to his domestic life and his relations with his +intimate circle of friends. As his years increased he felt the continual +need of companionship and consolation, and while he sought for advice in +government and counsel in war from such men as Abu Bekr, Ali, and Othman, +he found solace and refreshment in the ministering hands of women. + +Sawda he already possessed, and her slow softness and unimaginative mind +had already begun to pall; Ayesha, with her beauty and shrewdness, her +jewel-like nature, bright and almost as hard, could lessen the continual +strain of his life, and induce by a kind of reflex action that tireless +energy of mind find body which was the secret of his power. But these +were not enough, and now he sought fresh pleasure in Haphsa, and in other +and lesser women, though he never cast away his earlier loves, still with +the same unformulated desire, to obtain some respite from the cares which +beset him, some renewal of his vivid nature, burning with self-destroying +fire. + +The emotional stimulus, whose agents women were, became for him as +necessary as prayer, and we see him in later life adding experience after +experience in his search for solace, nevertheless cleaving most to +Ayesha, whose vitality fulfilled his intensest need. Secondary to the +necessity of refreshment came the not inconsiderable duty of securing the +permanence of his power by the foundation of a line of male successors. +His earlier marriages had been productive only of daughters, while his +later unions, and also his most recent with Haphsa, had been unfruitful. +But though so far no direct male issue had been vouchsafed him, he was +careful to unite with himself the most important men in his state by +marriage with his children, binding them thereby with the closest blood +ties. Rockeya, now dead, had married the warrior Othman, and Fatima, the +Prophet's youngest daughter, was bestowed upon the bright and impetuous +Ali, whose exploits in warfare had filled the Muslim with pride and a +wondering fear. Of this marriage were born the famous Hassan and Hosein, +names written indelibly upon the Muslim roll of fame. + +As each inmate became added to his household, rough houses, almost huts, +were built for their reception, but the Prophet himself had no abiding +place, only a council-chamber, where he conducted public business, and +dwelt by turn in the houses of his wives, but delighted most to visit +Ayesha, who occupied the foremost position by virtue of her beauty and +personality. Mahomet's household grew up gradually near the Mosque in +this manner; together with the houses of his sons-in-law, not far away, +and the sacred place itself, it constituted the centre of activity for +the Muslim world, witnessing the arrival and despatch of embassies, the +administration of justice and public business, the performance of the +Muslim religious ceremonial, the Kuranic revelations of Allah's will. It +radiated Mahomet's personality, and concentrated for his followers all +the enthusiasm and persistence that had gone to its creation, as well as +the endurance and foresight ensuring its continuance. + +But such security was not permanently possible for Mahomet; his spirit +was doomed to perpetual sojourn amid tumult and effort. It was almost +twelve months since the victory of Bedr. The broken Kureisch had had time +to recover themselves, and they were now prepared for revenge. The wealth +of Abu Sofian's caravan, so dearly acquired, had not been distributed +after Bedr. It remained inviolate at Mecca, a weapon wherefrom was to be +wrought their bitter vengeance. All their fighting men were massed into a +great host. Horses and armour, weapons and trappings were bought with +their hoarded wealth, and at length, 3000 strong, including 700 mailed +warriors and 200 well-mounted cavalry, they prepared to set forth upon +their work of punishment. + +Not only were their own citizens pressed into the service, but the +fighting men from allied neighbouring tribes, who were very ready to take +part in an expedition that promised excitement and bloodshed, with the +hope of plunder. The wives of their chief men implored permission to go +with the army, pointing out their usefulness and their great eagerness to +share the coming triumph. But many warriors murmured against this, for +the undertaking was a difficult one, and they knew the discomforts of a +long march. At length fifteen specially privileged women were allowed to +travel with the host, among them Hind, the fierce wife of Abu Sofian, who +brought in her train an immense negro, specially reserved for her +crowning act of vengeance, the murder of Hamza, in revenge for the +slaying of her father. The army took the easier seaward route, travelling +as before in all the pomp and gorgeousness of Eastern warfare, and +finally reached the valley of Akik, five miles west of Medina. Thence +they turned to the left, so as to command a more vulnerable place in the +city's defences, and finally encamped at Ohod at the base of the hill on +a fertile plain, separated from the city to the north by several rocky +ridges, impassable for such an army. + +Mahomet's first news of the premeditated attack reached him through his +uncle Abbas, that weak doubter, who never could make up his mind to +become either the friend or the foe of Islam. He sent a messenger to Coba +to say that the Kureiseh were advancing in force. Mahomet was inevitably +the leader of the city in spite of the bad feeling between himself and +certain sections within it. Jews and Disaffected alike looked to him for +leadership in such a crisis; by virtue of his former prowess his counsels +were sought. + +Mahomet knew perfectly well that this attacking force was unlike the +last, which had been gathered together hurriedly and had underestimated +its opposition. He knew that besides a better equipment they possessed +the strongest incentive to daring and determination, the desire to avenge +some wrong. It was with no false estimate of their foe that he counselled +his followers to remain in their city and allow the enemy to waste his +strength on their defences. Abdallah agreed with the Prophet's decision, +but the younger section, and especially those who had not fought at Bedr, +were clamorously dissentient. They pointed out that if Mahomet did not go +forth to meet the Kureisch he would lay himself open to the charge of +cowardice, and they openly declared that their loyalty to the Prophet +would not endure this outrage, but would turn to contempt. Against his +will Mahomet was forced into action. He might succeed in defeating his +foe, and at all events his position would not endure the disloyalty and +disaffection that his refusal would entail. + +After Friday's service he retired to his chamber, and appeared before the +people in armour. He called for three lances and fixed his banners to +them, designing one for the leaders of the refugees, and the other two +for the tribes of the Beni Aus and Khazraj. He could muster in this +year an army of 1000 men, but he had no cavalry, and fewer mailed +warriors than the Kureisch. Abdallah tried his best to dissuade Mahomet, +but the Prophet was firm. + +"It does not become me to lay aside my armour when once I have put it on, +without meeting my foe in battle." + +At dawn the army moved to Ohod, and he drew up his line of battle at the +base of the hill directly facing the Kureisch. But before he could take +up his final position, Abdallah with three hundred men turned their backs +upon him and hastened again to Medina, declaring that the enterprise was +too perilous, and that it had been undertaken against their judgment. +Mahomet let them go with the same proud sufficiency that he had showed +before the advancing host at Bedr. + +"We do not need them, the Lord is on our side." + +Then he directed his attention to the disposition of his forces. He +stationed fifty archers under a captain on the left of his line, with +strict orders that they were to hold their ground whatever chance befell, +so as to guard his rear and foil a Kureischite flank movement. Then, +having provided for the enemy's probable tactics, he drew out his main +line facing Medina in rather shallow formation. + +The attack began as usual, by single combats, in which none of the +champions seem to have taken part, and soon Mahomet's whole line was +engaged in a ruthless onward sweep, before which the Kureisch wavered. +But the Muslim pressed too hotly, and unable to retain their ground at +all points, were driven back here and there. Again their long line +recovered and pursued its foes, only to lose its coherence and +discipline; for a section of them, counting the day already won, began +plundering the Kureisch camp. This was too much for the archers on the +left. Forgetting everything in one wild desire to share the enemy's +wealth, they left their post and charged down into the struggling central +mass. + +Here was Khalid's chance. The chief warrior and counsellor of the +Kureisch gathered his men together hastily, and circling round the now +oblivious Muslim, drove his force against their rear, which broke up and +fled. Mahomet instantly saw the fatal mistake, and commanded the archers +across the sea of men and weapons to remember their orders and stand +firm. But it was too late, and all he could do was to attempt to stay the +Muslim flight. + +"I am the Apostle of God, return!" he called across the tumult. + +But even his magnetism failed to rally the stricken Muslim, and they +rushed in headlong flight towards the slopes of Ohod. In the chaos +that followed, Hind saw her enemy standing against the press of his +fellow-citizens, striving to encourage them, while with his sword he cut +at the pursuing Kureisch. She sent her giant negro, Wahschi, to cleave +his way to the abhorred one through the struggling men, and he crashed +them asunder with spear uplifted to strike. Hamza was felled to the +ground, and with one despairing upward thrust, easily parried by his huge +assailant, he succumbed to Wahschi's spear and lay lifeless, the first +martyr in the cause of Islam, which still remembers with pride his +glorious end. + +Seven refugees and citizens gathered round their leader to defend him, +but the battle raged in his vicinity, and his friends could not keep off +the blows of his enemies. He was wounded, and some of his teeth were +knocked out. Then the cry arose that he was slain, and the evil tidings +heightened the Muslim disaster. A wretched remnant managed to gain the +security of the hill slopes, and not the good news of Mahomet's escape +when they saw him amongst them could make of them aught but a vanquished +and ignominious band. They lay hidden among the hills, while the Kureisch +worked their triumphant vengeance upon the corpses of their victims, +which they mutilated before burying, after the barbarous fashion of the +time, and the savage wrath of Hind found appeasement in her destruction +of Hamza's body. At length the Kureisch prepared to depart, and their +spokesman, going to the base of the fatal hill, demanded the Prophet's +agreement to a fresh encounter in the following year. Omar consented on +behalf of the Prophet and his followers, and Mahomet remained silent, +wishing to confirm the impression that he was dead. + +Why the Kureisch did not follow up their victory and attempt a raid upon +Medina, it is difficult to imagine. Possibly they were apprehensive that +Mahomet might have fresh reserves and strong defences within the city; +but more probably they felt they had accomplished their purpose and the +Muslim would now be cured of seeking to plunder their caravans. So they +retreated again towards Mecca, and the forlorn Muslim crept silently from +their hiding-places to discover the extent of their defeat. They found +seventy-four bodies of their own following and twenty of the enemy. Their +ignominy was complete, and to the bitterness of their reverse was added +the terrible fear that the Kureisch would proceed further and attack +their defenceless city. + +They returned to Medina at sunset, a mournful and piteous band, bearing +with them their leader, whose wounds had been hastily dressed on the +field. Mahomet was indeed in sore straits; himself maimed, the bulk of +his army scattered, his foes victorious and his headquarters full of +seething discontent, brought to the surface by his defeat, he felt +himself in peril even at Medina, and passed the night fearfully awaiting +what events might bring fresh disaster. But his determination and +foresight did not desert him, and once the tormenting night was passed he +recovered his old resourcefulness and his wonderful energy. + +He commanded Bilal to announce that he would pursue the Kureisch, and put +himself, stricken and suffering, at the head of the expedition. They +reached Safra, and remained there three days, returning then to Medina +with the announcement that the Kureisch had eluded them. This sortie was +nothing more than a manifestation of courage, and by it Mahomet hoped to +restore in a measure his shaken confidence in the city, and also to +apprise the Kureisch that he was not utterly crushed. + +But his defeat had damaged his prestige far more than a mere expedition +could remedy, and his followers were aghast at his humiliation. Their +world was upturned. It was as if the Lord Himself, for whom they had +suffered so much, had suddenly demonstrated His frailty and human +weakness. And the malcontents in Medina triumphed, especially the Jews, +who saw with joy some measure of the Prophet's brutality towards them +being meted to him in turn. The situation was grave, and Mahomet's +reputation must be at all costs re-established. He retired for some time +to his own quarters, and received the revelation of part of Sura iii, +wherein he explains the whole matter, urging first that Allah was pleased +to make a selection between the brave and the cowardly, the weak and the +steadfast, and then that the defeat was the punishment for disobeying his +divine commands. The passage is written in Mahomet's most forcible style, +and stands out clearly as a reliable account, for neither the defeat of +the Muslim, nor their own culpability, are minimised. The martyrs at Ohod +receive at his hands their crown of praise. + +"And repute not those slain on God's path to be dead. Nay, alive with +their Lord are they, and richly sustained. Rejoicing in what God of His +bounty hath vouchsafed, filled with joy at the favours of God, and at His +mercy; and that God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish." + +He spends most time, however, in speaking for the encouragement of his +sorely tried flock, and for the confusion of those who doubt him. The +revelation came in answer to a direct need, and is inseparable from the +events which called it forth. + +As far as was possible it achieved its purpose, for the Faithful received +it with humility, but it could not fully restore the shaken confidence in +the Prophet. + +The immediate result of the battle of Ohod was to render Mahomet free +from any more threatenings from the Kureisch, who had fulfilled the task +of overawing him into quietude towards them, but its ultimate results +were far-reaching and endured for many years; in fact, it was by reason +of the reverse at Ohod that the next period of his life is crowded with +defensive and punitive expeditions, and attacks upon his followers by +desert tribes. His position at Medina had been rendered thoroughly +insecure, and every tribe deemed it possible to accomplish some kind of +demonstration against him. Jew and Arabian both pitted themselves +against the embryo state, and the powerful desert allies of the Kureisch +constituted a perpetual menace to his own stronghold. It was only when he +had murdered or exiled every Jew, and carried out repeated campaigns +against the tribes of the interior, that his position in Medina was +removed beyond possibility of assailment. + +Ruthlessness and trust in the sword were his only chances of success. If +he relaxed his vigilance or allowed any humane feelings to prevent the +execution of severe measures upon any of his enemies, his very existence +would be menaced. From now he may be said to pass under the tyranny of +war, and its remorseless urging was never slackened until he had his own +native city within his power. The god of battles exacted his pitiless +toll from his devotee, compelling him to work out his destiny by the +sword's rough means. The thinker has become irrevocably the man of +action; prayer has been supplemented by the command, "Fight, and yet +again fight, that God may conquer and retain." Reverses show the temper +of heroes, and Mahomet is never more fully revealed than in the first +gloomy days after Ohod, when he steadfastly set himself to retrieve what +was lost, refusing to acknowledge that his position was impaired, +impervious to the whispers that spoke of failure, supreme in his mighty +asset of an impregnable faith. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +"And we have sent down Iron. Dire evil resideth in it, as well as +advantage to mankind."--_The Kuran._ + +After the battle of Ohod, two months passed quietly for Mahomet. He was +unable to undertake any aggressive expeditions, and both the Jews at +Medina and the exterior desert tribes were lulled into tranquillity by +the knowledge that his power was for the time considerably weakened. But +the Prophet knew that this security could not continue for long, and for +the character of his future wars he was fully prepared--sufficient proof, +if one were still necessary, of his skill as soldier and leader. + +He knew the Kureisch had instituted a policy of alliance with the +surrounding tribes, and that now their plan would be to crush him by a +ceaseless pressure from the east, united to the inevitable disaffection +within the city as its inhabitants witnessed the decline of their +leader's power. Watchfulness and severity were the only means of holding +his position, and these two qualities he used with a tenacity which alone +secured his ultimate success. + +The first threatenings came from the Beni Asad, a powerful tribe +inhabiting the country directly east of Medina. Under their chief +Tuleiha, they planned a raid against Mahomet. But his excellent system of +espionage stood him, now as always, in good stead, so that he heard of +their scheme before it was ripe, and despatched 150 men to frustrate it. +The Beni Asad were wise enough to give up the attempt after Mahomet's men +had found and plundered their camp. They dispersed for the time being, +and the danger of an attack was averted. But scarcely had the expedition +returned when news came of another gathering at Orna, between Mecca and +Taif. Again Mahomet lost no time, but sent a force large enough to +disperse them in a skirmish, in which the chief of the Lahyan tribe was +killed. + +In the next month Mahomet sent six of his followers to Mecca, probably as +spies, but they were not allowed to reach their goal in safety. At Raja +they fell in with a party of the Beni Lahyan proceeding the same way. The +men were armed, and Mahomet's followers were glad to accompany them, +because of the additional security. At the oasis the party encamped for +the night, and the Muslim prepared unsuspectingly for sleep. At dead of +night they were surrounded by their professed friends, who were resolved +on revenge for the murder of their chief. Four were killed, and two, Zeid +and Khubeib, taken bound to Mecca, whose citizens gloated over their +prey. Legends in plenty group themselves around these two figures--the +first real martyrs for Islam, and one of the most profound testimonies to +the love which Mahomet inspired in his followers is given traditionally +in a few significant sentences dealing with the episode. + +The prisoners were kept a month before being led to the inevitable +torture. Abu Sofian, the scoffer, came to Zeid as he was preparing to +face his death. + +"Wouldst thou not, O Zeid," he asked, "that thou wert once more with thy +family, and that Mahomet suffered in thy place?" + +"By Allah! I would not that Mahomet should suffer the smallest prick from +a thorn; no, not even if by that means I could be safe once more among my +kindred." + +Then the enemy of Islam marvelled at his words and said: "Never have I +seen among men such love as Mahomet's followers bear towards him." + +And after that Zeid was put to death. Mahomet was powerless to retaliate, +and was obliged to suffer from afar the murder of his fellow-believers. + +The fate of these six Muslim gave courage to Mahomet's enemies +everywhere, and prompted even his friends to treachery. The Beni Aamir, +a branch of the great Hawazin tribe dwelling between the Beni Asad and +the Beni Lahyan, were friendly towards Medina, and sent Mahomet gifts as +a guarantee. These Mahomet refused to receive unless the tribe became +converts to Islam. He knew the danger of compromise--his Meccan +experiences had not faded from his mind; moreover, he recognised that in +his present weakened position firmness was essential. He could not open +the gates of his fortress even a chink without letting in a flood before +which it must topple into ruin. + +But their chief would not be so coerced, neither would he give up his +ancestral faith without due examination of that offered in its stead. He +demanded that a party of Muslim should accompany him back to his own +people and strive by reasoning and eloquence to convert them to Islam. +After much deliberation, for he was chary of sending any of his chosen to +what would be swift death in the event of treachery, Mahomet consented, +and gave orders for a party of men skilled in their faith to accompany +Abu Bera back to his people. The men were received in all honour, and +were escorted as befitted their position as far as Bir Mauna, where they +halted, and a Muslim messenger was sent with a letter to the chief of +another branch of the same tribe. This leader, Aamir ibn Sofail, +immediately put the messenger to death, and called upon his allies to +exterminate the followers of the blasphemous Prophet. But the tribe +refused to break Abu Bera's pledge, so Aamir, determined to root them +out, appealed to the Beni Suleim, Mahomet's avowed enemies, and with +their aid proceeded to Bir Mauna. There they fell upon the band of Muslim +and slaughtered them to a man, then returned to their desert fastnesses, +proudly confident in their ability to elude pursuit. The news was carried +to Mahomet, and at first he was convinced that Abu Bera had betrayed him. +His followers, who had brought the news, had fallen upon and killed some +luckless members of the Beni Aamir in reprisal, and Mahomet acclaimed +their action. When, however, he heard from Abu Bera that he and his tribe +had been faithful to their pledge, he paid blood money for the murdered +men; then calling his people together he solemnly cursed each tribe by +name who had dared to attack the Faithful by treachery. + +But the incident did not end here. Mahomet could not compass the +destruction of the Beni Aamir; they were too powerful and dwelt too far +off for his vengeance to assail them, but the Beni Nadhir, the second +Jewish tribe within the Prophet's territory, were near, and they were +confederate with the treacherous people. Mahomet's action was swift and +effective. Force was his only temporal weapon; compulsion his only +policy. + +The command went forth through the lips of Mosleima: + +"Thus saith the Prophet of the Lord: Ye shall go forth out of my land +within a space of ten days; whosoever that remaineth behind shall be +put to death." + +The Beni Nadhir were aghast and trembling. They urged their former +treaties with Mahomet, and the antiquity of their settlements. It was +impossible that they should break up their homesteads thus suddenly and +depart forlorn into an unknown land. But Mahomet was obdurate, with that +same fixity of purpose which was everywhere the keynote of his dominance. + +"Hearts are changed now," was the only reply to their prayers, their +entreaties, and their throats. Abdallah, leader of the Beni Aus and +Khazraj, sought desperately for a reconciliation, but to no purpose; the +die was cast. Then the Jews, brought to bay and careless with the despair +of impotence, refused to obey the command, and prepared to encounter the +wrath of Allah and the vengeance of his emissary. + +"Behold the Jews prepare to fight: great is the Lord!" the Prophet +declared when the news was brought to him. + +He was sure of his victim, and ruthless in destruction. All things were +made ready for the undertaking. The army was assembled and the march +begun. Ali carried the great green banner of the Prophet towards the +stronghold of his enemies. The Beni Nadhir were invested in their own +quarters, the date trees lying outside their fort were burned, their +fields were laid waste. For three weeks the siege endured, each day +bringing the miserable garrison nearer to the inevitable privations and +final surrender. At last the Jews recognised the hopelessness of their +lot and came to reluctant terms, submitting to exile and agreeing to +depart immediately. + +Then followed the terrible breaking up of homes, and the wandering forth +of a whole tribe, as of old, to seek other dwelling-places. Some went to +Kheibar, where they were to suffer later on still more severely at +Mahomet's hands; some went to Jericho and the highlands south of Syria, +but all vanished from their ancient abiding places as suddenly as if a +plague had reduced their land to silence. It was an important conquest +for Mahomet, and has found fitting notice in the Kuran. The number of his +enemies within the city was considerably reduced. He was gradually +proving his power by breaking up the Jewish federations, and thereby +advancing far towards his goal, his unassailable, almost royal dominance +of Medina. Moreover, he bound the refugees closer to him by dividing the +despoiled country amongst them. It was an event worthy of incorporation +into the record of divine favours, for by it the sacred cause of Islam +had been rendered more triumphant. + +"God is the mighty, the wise! He it is who caused the unbelievers among +the people of the Book to quit their homes. And were it not that God had +decreed their exile, surely in this world would he have chastised them: +but in the world to come the chastisement of the fire awaiteth them. This +because they set them against God and His Apostle, and whoso setteth him +against God--! God truly is vehement in punishing." + +The sura ends in a mood of fierce exultation unrivalled by any ecstatic +utterances of his early visions. It is the measure of his relief at his +first great success since the humiliation of Ohod. His fervour beats +through it like the clamour of waters, in whose triumphant gladness no +pauses are heard. + +"He is God, beside whom there is no God: He is the King, the Holy, the +Peaceful, the Faithful, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Strong, the Most +High! Far be the glory of God from that which they unite with Him! He is +God, the Producer, the Maker, the Fashioner! To Him are ascribed excellent +titles. What ever is in the Heavens and in the Earth praiseth Him. He is +the Mighty, the Wise!" + +The expulsion of the Beni Nadhir was a brutal, but necessary act. The +choice lay between their security and his future dominion, and he +uprooted their dwellings as ruthlessly as any conqueror sets aside the +obstacles in his path. Half measures were impossible, even dangerous, and +Mahomet was not afraid to use terrible means to achieve his all-absorbing +end. He had avowedly accepted the behests of the sword, and did not +repudiate his master. The hated Jews were enemies of his God, whose +vicegerent he now ranked himself; their ruin was in the divinely +appointed order of the world. + +The time was soon at hand when, by arrangement, the Medinan army was to +repair to Bedr to meet the Kureisch. The Meccans sent a messenger in +Schaban (Nov. 625) to Mahomet, saying that they were prepared to advance +against him with 2000 foot and 50 horse. This large army did in reality +set out, but was soon forced to return, owing to lack of supplies and +scarcity of food. + +The message was sent mainly in the hope of intimidating the Muslim, but +Mahomet was probably as well informed of the Kureisch movements as they +were themselves, and knew that no real attack was possible. He therefore +determined to show both friends and enemies that he was ready to meet +his foes. The Muslim were not very agreeable, knowing what fate had +decreed at their last encounter with the Meccans, but Mahomet's stern +determination prevailed. He declared that he would go to Bedr even if he +went alone, and so collected by sheer force of will 1500 men. He marched +to Bedr, held camp there for eight days, during which, of course, no +demonstration was made, and the whole expedition was turned into a +peaceable mercantile undertaking. When all their goods had been +profitably sold or exchanged, Mahomet broke up the camp and returned in +triumph to Medina. His prestige had certainly been much increased by this +unmolested sortie. It was therefore in a glad and confident mood that he +returned to his native city and prepared to enjoy his success. + +He took thereupon two wives, Zeinab and Omm Salma, of whom very little is +known, except that Zeinab was the widow of Mahomet's cousin killed at +Bedr. The incident of his marriage with Zeinab finds allusion in the +Kuran in the briefest of passages. She was probably taken as much out of +a desire to protect as a desire to possess, and she quickly became one of +the many with whom Mahomet was content to pass a few days and nights. +There are also signs in the Kuran at this time of disagreements between +the different members of his household, and of their extravagant demands +upon Mahomet. + +It was evidently not so easy to rule his wives as to acquire them. +Moreover, he was beginning to feel the sting of jealousy towards every +other man of the Muslim. + +Here really begins the insistence upon restrictive regulations for women +which has been ever since the bane of Islam. Mahomet could not allow his +wives to go abroad freely, decked in the ornaments he himself had +bestowed, to become a mark for every envious gazer. They were not as +other women, and his imperious nature regarded them as peculiarly +inviolate, so that he fenced in their actions and secluded their lives. +As early as his marriage with Zeinab he imposed restrictions upon women's +dress abroad. They are not to traverse the streets in jewels or beautiful +robes, but are to cover themselves closely with a long sober garment. +Whereas his former sura regarding women had been confined to codifying +and rendering fairer divorce and property laws, now the personal note +sounds strongly, and continues throughout the whole of his later +pronouncements, regarding Muslim women. The next few months were to see +dangers and disturbances in his domestic life which were to fix the +position of women in Islam throughout the coming centuries, but before he +had long completed his latest marriage he was called away upon another +necessary expedition. Thus casually, almost from purely personal +considerations, was the law regarding the status of women established in +Islam. His ordinances have the savour of their impetuous creator, who +found in the subject sex no opposition against the writing down, in their +most sacred book, of those decrees which rendered their inferior position +permanent and authorised. It was Allah speaking through the lips of His +Prophet, and they submitted with willing hearts with no shadow of the +knowledge of all it was to mean to their descendants darkening their +minds. + +In Muharram of 626 the Beni Ghatafan, always formidable on account +of their size and their desert hinterland, assembled in force at +Dzat-al-Rica. Mahomet determinedly marched against them, and once more at +the news of his approach their courage failed them, and they fled to the +mountains. Mahomet came unexpectedly upon their habitations, carried off +some of their women as slaves, and returned to Medina after fifteen days, +having effectively crushed the incipient rising against him. The event is +chiefly important as being the occasion which led Mahomet to institute +the Service of Danger described in the Kuran, whereby half the army +prayed or slept while the other watched. A body of men was therefore kept +constantly under arms while the army was in the field, and public prayers +were repeated twice. + +"And when ye go forth to war in the land, it shall be no crime in you to +cut short your prayers.... And when thou, O Apostle, shalt be among +them and shalt pray with them, then let a party of them rise up with +thee, but let them take their arms; and when they shall have made their +prostrations, let them retire to your rear: then let another party that +hath not prayed come forward, and let them pray with you; but let them +take their precautions and their arms." + +The military organisation is being gradually perfected, so that the +Mahometan sword may finally be in the perpetual ascendant. This was the +chief significance of a campaign which at best was only an interlude in +the daily life of prayer, civil and domestic cares and regulations which +took up Mahomet's life in the breathing space before the great Meccan +attack. + +Mahomet was absent from Medina but fifteen days, and he returned home +resolved to take advantage of the respite from war. Not long after his +return he happened to visit the house of Zeid, his adopted son, and +chanced not on Zeid, but on his wife at her tiring. Mahomet was filled +with her beauty, for her loveliness was past praise, and he coveted her. +Zeinab herself was proud of the honour vouchsafed her, and was willing, +indeed anxious, to become divorced for so mighty a ruler. Zeid, her +husband, with that measureless devotion which the Prophet inspired in his +followers, offered to divorce her for him. Mahomet at first refused, +declaring it was not meet that such a thing should be, but after a time +his desire proved too strong for him, and he consented. So Zeinab was +divorced, and passed into the harem of the Prophet. And he justified the +proceedings in Sura 33: + + "And when Zeid had settled concerning her + to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it + might not be a crime in the Faithful to marry + the wives of their adopted sons, when they have + settled the affair concerning them.... No + blame attacheth to the Prophet when God hath + given him a permission." + +There follows the sum of Mahomet's restrictions upon the dress and +demeanour of women. They are to veil their faces when abroad, and suffer +no man but their intimate kinsmen to look upon them. The Faithful are +forbidden to go near the dwelling-places of the Prophet's wives without +his permission, nor are they even to desire to marry them after the +Prophet is dead. By such casual means, by decrees born out of the +circumstances of his age and personal temperament, did Mahomet institute +the customs which are more vital to the position and fate of Muslim women +than all his utterances as to their just treatment and his injunctions +against their oppression. + +Power was already taking its insidious hold upon him, and his feet were +set upon the path that led to the despotism of the Chalifate and the +horrors of Muslim conquests. Allah is still omnipotent, but He is making +continual and indispensable use of temporal means to achieve His ends, +and His servant does likewise. + +After the interlude of peace, Mahomet was called upon in July, 626, +to undertake a punitive expedition to Jumat-al-Gandal, an oasis +midway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Persia. The expedition was +successful, and the marauders dispersed. He had now reached the confines +of Syria, and, with the extension of his expeditionary activities, his +political horizon widened. He began to conceive himself as the predatory +chief of Arabia, one who was regarded with awe and fear by the +surrounding tribes, with the one exception of the stiff-necked city, +Mecca, whose inhabitants he longed in vain to subdue. The success +fostered his love of plunder, and inclined him more than ever to hold out +this reward of valour to his followers. His stern and wary policy was +justified by its success, for by it he had recovered from the severe blow +at Ohod, but it threatened to become his master and set its perpetual +seal upon his life. + +In December, 626, he heard of the defection of the Beni Mustalik, a +branch of the Khozaa tribe. They joined the Kureisch for mixed motives, +chiefly political, for they hoped to make themselves and their religion +secure by alliance with Mahomet's enemies. Mahomet learnt of their +desertion through his efficient spies, and determined to anticipate any +disturbance. With Ayesha and Omm Salma to accompany him, and an adequate +army to support him, he set out for the quarters of the Beni Mustalik, +and before long reached Moraisi, where he encamped. The Beni Mustalik +were deserted by their allies, and in the skirmish that followed Mahomet +was easily successful. Their camp was plundered, their women and some of +their men taken prisoner. The expedition was, however, provocative of two +consequences which take up considerable attention in contemporary +records, the quarrel between the Citizens and the Refugees, and the +scandal regarding Ayesha. + +The punishment of the Beni Mustalik had been effected, and nought +remained but the division of the spoil. The captives had mostly been +ransomed, but one, a girl, Juweira, remained sorrowfully with the Muslim, +for her ransom was fixed so high that payment was impossible. Mahomet +listened to her tale, and the loveliness of her face and figure did not +escape him. + +"Wilt thou hearken to what may be better?" he asked her, "even that I +should pay thy ransom and take thee myself?" + +Juweira was thankful for her safety, and rejoiced at her good fortune. +Mahomet married her straightway, and for her bridal gift gave her the +lives of her fellow tribesmen. + +"Wherefore," says Ayesha, "Juweira was the best benefactress to her +people in that she restored the captives to their kinsfolk." + +But the Citizens and Refugees were by no means so contented. Their +quarrel arose nominally out of the distribution of spoil, but really it +was a long smouldering discontent that finally burst into flame. Mahomet +was faced with what threatened to be a serious revolt, and only his +orders for an immediate march prevented the outbreak of desperate +passions--greed and envy. + +Abdallah, their ubiquitous leader, is chidden in the Kuran, where the +whole affair brings down the strength of Mahomet's scorn upon his +offending people. + +The camp broke up immediately, and through its hasty departure Ayesha was +faced with what might have been the tragedy of her life. Her litter was +carried away without her by an oversight on the part of the bearers, and +she was left alone in the desert's velvet dusk with no alternative but to +await its return. The dark deepened, adding its mysterious vastness and +silence to trouble her already tremulous mind. In the first hours of the +night Safwan, one of Mahomet's rear, came towards her as she sat forlorn, +and was amazed to find the Prophet's wife in such a position. He brought +his mule near her, then turned his face away as she mounted, so as to +keep her inviolate from his gaze. Closely veiled, and trembling as to her +meeting with Mahomet, Ayesha rode with Safwan at her bridle until the +next day they came up with the main column. + +Now murmurs against her broke out on all sides. Mahomet refused to +believe her story, and remained estranged from her until she asked +permission to return to her father as her word was thus doubted. Ali was +consulted by the Prophet, and he, with that antagonism towards Ayesha +which germinated later into open hatred, was inclined to believe her +defamers. At last the outcry became so great that Mahomet called upon +Allah. Entering his chamber in Medina, he received the signs of divine +inspiration. When the trance was over, he declared that Ayesha was +innocent, and revealed the passage dealing with divorce in Sura 24: + +"They who defame virtuous women and bring not four witnesses, scourge +them with fourscore stripes, and receive ye not their testimony forever, +for these are perverse persons.... And they who shall accuse their wives, +and have no witnesses but themselves, the testimony of each of them shall +be a testimony by God four times repeated, that He is indeed of them that +speak the truth." + +The revelation ends with a repetition of the restrictions imposed upon +women and an injunction to the Muslim not to enter each other's houses +until they have asked leave. This was a necessary ordinance in that +primitive community, where bolts were little used and there was virtually +no privacy, and was designed, in common with most of his present +utterances, to encourage the leading of decent, well-regulated lives by +the followers of so magnificent a faith. Ayesha's defamers were publicly +scourged, and the matter dismissed from the Muslim mind, save that +regulations had once more been framed upon personal feelings and specific +events, and were to constitute the whole future law regarding an +important and difficult question. + +Mahomet was justly content with the position of affairs after the +dispersion of the Beni Mustalik. He had shown his strength to the +surrounding desert tribes; by systematically crushing each rebellion as +it arose, he had demonstrated to them the impossibility of alliance +against him. He knew they were each prone to self-seeking and distrustful +of each other, and he played unhesitatingly upon their jealousies and +passions. Thus he kept them disunited and fearful, afraid even to ally +with his powerful enemy the Kureisch. For after all, the Meccans were his +chief obstacle; their opposition was spirited and urged on by the memory +of past humiliations and triumphs. They alone were really worthy of his +steel, and he knew that, as far as the intermediary wars were concerned, +they were but the prelude to another encounter in the year-long warfare +with his native city. + +The drama closes in now upon the protagonists; save for the expulsion of +the last Jewish tribe in the neighbourhood of Medina, there is little to +compare with that central causal hatred. The final hour was not yet, but +the struggle grew in intensity with the passage of time--the struggle +wherein one fought for revenge and future freedom from molestation, but +the other for the establishment of a faith in its rightful environment, +the manifestation before men of that Faith's determined achievement, the +symbol of its destined conquests and divinely appointed power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE WAR OF THE DITCH + + "And God drove back the Infidels in their wrath; they won no + advantage; God sufficed the Faithful in the fight, for God is strong, + mighty."--_The Kuran._ + +The Kureischite plans for the annihilation of Mahomet were now complete. +They had achieved an alliance against him not only among the Bedouin +tribes of the interior, but also among the exiled and bitterly vengeful +Medinan Jews. Now in Schawwal, 627, Mahomet's unresting foes summoned all +their confederates to warfare "against this man." The allied tribes, +chief among whom were the Beni Suleim and Ghatafan, always at feud with +Mahomet, hastened to mass themselves at Mecca, where they were welcomed +confidently by the Kureiseh. + +The host was organised in three separate camps, and Abu Sofian was placed +at the head of the entire army. Each leader, however, was to have +alternating command of the campaign; and this primitive arrangement--the +only one, it seems, by which early nations, lacking an indisputable +leader, can surmount the jealousy and self-will displayed by every petty +chief--is responsible in great measure for their ultimate failure. In +such fashion, still with the bravery and splendour of Eastern warfare +wrapped about them, an army of 4000 men, with 300 horses, 1500 camels, +countless stores, spears, arrows, armour and accoutrements, moved forward +upon the small and factious city of the Prophet, whose fighting strength +was hampered by the exhaustion of many campaigns and the disloyalty of +those within his very walls. + +The Prophet was outwardly undismayed; whatever fears preyed upon his +inner mind, they were dominated by his unshakable belief in the +protection and favour of Allah. He did not allow the days of respite to +pass him idly by. As soon as he received the news of this fateful +expedition, he called together a meeting of his wisest and bravest, and +explained to them the position. He told them of the hordes massed against +them, and dwelt upon the impossibility of opposing them in the open field +and the necessity of guarding their own city. This time there were no +dissentient voices; both the Disaffected and the Muslim had had a lesson +at Ohod that was not lightly forgotten. Then Salman, a Persian, and one +skilled in war, suggested that their stronghold should be further +defended by a trench dug at the most vulnerable parts of the city's +outposts. + +Medina is built upon "an outcropping mass of rock" which renders attack +impossible upon the north-west side. Detached from it, and leaving a +considerable vacant space between, a row of compactly built houses stood, +making a very passable stone wall defence for that portion of the city. +The trench was dug in that level ground between the rocks and the houses, +and continued also upon the unsheltered south and east sides. There are +many legends of the digging of the trench and the desperate haste with +which it was accomplished. Mahomet himself is said to have helped in the +work, and it is almost certain that here tradition has not erred. The +deed coincides so well with his eager and resolute nature, that never +neglected any means, however humble, that would achieve his purpose. The +Faithful worked determinedly, devoting their whole days to the task, and +never resting from their labours until the whole trench was dug. The hard +ground was softened by water, and legendary accounts of Mahomet's powers +in pulverising the rocks are numerous. + +The great work was completed in six days, and on the evening of its +achievement the Muslim army encamped between the trench and the city in +the open space thus formed. A tent of red leather was set up for Mahomet, +where Zeinab and Omm Salma, as well as his favourite and companion, +Ayesha, visited him in turn. Around him rested his chief warriors, Ali, +Othman, Zeid, Omar, with his counseller Abu Bekr and his numerous +entourage of heroes and enthusiasts. They were infused with the same +exalted resolve as their leader, and waited undismayed for the Infidel +attack. But with the rest of the citizens, and especially with the +Disaffected, it was otherwise. Ever since the rumour of the onrush of +their foe reached Medina, they had murmured openly against their leader's +rule. They had refused to help in the digging of the ditch, and now +waited in ill-concealed discontent mingled with a base panic fear for +their own safety. + +The Meccan host advanced as before by way of Ohod, and pursued their way +to the city rejoicing in the freedom from attack, and convinced thereby +that their conquest of Medina would be rapid and complete. They +penetrated to the rampart wall of houses and marched past them to the +level ground, intending to rush the city and pen the Muslim army within +its narrow streets, there to be crushed at will by the sheer mass of its +foes. Then as the whole army in battle array moved forward, strong in its +might of numbers, the advance was checked and thrown into confusion by +the opposing trench. Abu Sofian, hurrying up, learnt with anger of this +unexpected barrier. Finding he could not cross it, he waxed indignant, +and declared the device was cowardly and "unlike an Arab." The +traditionalist, as usual, was disconcerted by the resourceful man of +action, and the Muslim obstinately remained behind their defence. + +The Kureisch discharged a shower of arrows over the ditch among the +entrenched Muslim and then retired a little from their first position, so +as to encamp not far from the city and try to starve it into surrender. +Mahomet was content that he had staved off immediate attack, and set to +work to complete his defences and strengthen his fighting force, when +grave news reached him from the immediate environs of the city. +Successful as he had been in extirpating two of the hated Jewish tribes, +Mahomet was nevertheless forced to submit to the presence of the Beni +Koreitza, whose fortresses were situated near the city on its undefended +side. It is uncertain whether there was ever a treaty between this tribe +and the Prophet, or what its provisions were supposing such a document to +have existed, but it is evident that there must have been some peaceable +relations between the Muslim and the Koreitza, and that the latter were +of some account politically. Now, the Jewish tribe, resentful at the +treatment of their fellow-believers, and seeing the t me ripe for +secession to the probable winning side, cast away even their nominal +allegiance to Mahomet and openly joined his enemies. A Muslim spy was +sent to their territory to discover their true feeling, and his +report was so disquieting that the Prophet immediately set a guard over +his tent, fearing assassination, and ordered patrols to keep the Medinan +streets free from any attempts to disturb the peace and threaten his army +from within the city's confines. + +The Muslim were now in parlous state. The trench might avail to stop the +enemy for a time, but an opportunity was sure to occur when they would +attempt a crossing, and once within the city Mahomet knew they would +carry destruction before them, and irretrievable ruin to his cause. His +Jewish enemies made common enmity against him with the Kureisch, and the +Disaffected declared their intention of joining the rest of his foes. But +he would not yield, and continued unabashed to defend the trench and city +with all the skill and energy he could command from his harassed +followers. + +The Kureisch remained several days inactive, but at last Abu Jahl +discovered a weak spot in his enemies' line where the trench was narrow +and undefended. He determined on immediate attack, and sent a troop of +horsemen to clear the ditch and give battle on the opposite side. The +move was noticed from within the defence. Ali and a body of picked men +were sent to frustrate it. Ali reached the ground just as the foremost of +the Kureisch cleared the ditch and prepared to advance upon the city. +Swiftly he leapt from his horse, and challenged an aged chief of the +Kureisch to single combat. The gage was accepted, but the chieftain could +stand up to Ali no better than a reed stands upright before the wind that +shakes it. The chief was slain before the eyes of his friend, and +thereupon the general onslaught began. The Muslim fought like those +possessed, until in a little space there remained not one of the defiant +party that had recently crossed the gulf between the armies. But the +Kureisch were undaunted; the order for a general attack upon the trench +was now ordered. The assault began in the early morning and continued +throughout the day. For long weary hours, without respite and with very +little sustenance the Muslin army kept the Kureisch host at bay. The +encounters were sharp and prolonged, and none of the men could be spared +from the strife to make their daily devotions to Allah. + +"They have kept us from our prayers," declared Mahomet in wrath, as he +watched the unresting attack, "God fill their bellies and their graves +with fire!" + +He cursed the Infidel dogs, while exhorting his men to stand firm, and +before all things keep their lines unbroken. The attack was repulsed, but +not without great loss and misery upon Mahomet's side. His prestige was +now entirely lost among the citizens, only the Faithful still rallied +round him out of their invincible trust in his personality. The +Disaffected began to foment agitation within the narrow streets, the +bazaars and public places. There was great distress among the people of +Medina; scarcity of food mingled with their fears for the future to +create an insecurity wherein crime finds its dwelling-place and brutality +its fostering soil. "Then were the Faithful tried, and with strong +quaking did they quake." Nevertheless, they stood firm, and took no part +in the murmuring of the Disaffected, and presently Allah sent them down +succour for their steadfastness and high courage. + +Mahomet, failing in direct warfare to drive back his enemies, resorted to +strategy. He planned to send a secret embassy to buy off the Beni +Ghatafan, and so strive to break up the Kureisch alliance. But the rest +of the city were unwilling to adopt this measure, preferring to trust +more firmly in the strength of their defences. Finally, Mahomet +determined to essay upon his own initiative some means of subtlety +whereby he might force back this encompassing foe that hourly threatened +his whole dominion. He sent an embassy to the Jews outside the city with +intent to sow dissension between them and the Kureisch. + +"See now," he commanded his envoy, "whether thou canst not break up this +confederacy, for war, after all, is but a game of deception." + +The Muslim pursued his way unchecked to the camp of the Koreitza, just +outside the city, where he whispered his insidious messages into the ears +of the chief, saying the Kureisch were already weary of fighting and were +even now planning a retreat, and would forsake their allies as soon as +was expedient, leaving them to the mercy of a Muslim revenge. He promised +bribes of money, slave girls, and land from the Prophet if they would +betray their new-found allies. Self-interest prevailed; at last the plan +was agreed upon, and the messenger returned to Mahomet with the good news +of the breaking-up of the confederacy. + +The treachery of the Koreitza spread discouragement among the Arab +chiefs. Moreover, their supplies were already running short. They ceased +to press the siege so severely; the attacks became weaker, and Mahomet +was easily able to prevent any further incursions beyond the trench. And +now the weather broke up. The sunny country was transformed suddenly into +a dreary, storm-swept wilderness. Blasts of wind came skurrying down upon +the Kureisch camp, driving rain and sleet before them. To Mahomet it was +the wrath of the Lord made manifest upon the presumptuous Meccans. Their +camp-fires were blown out, their tents damp and draggled, their men +dispirited, their forage scarce. Suddenly Abu Sofian, weary of inaction, +thoroughly disheartened by the hardships of his position, broke up the +camp and ordered a retreat. + +The vast army faded away as magically as it had come. The morning after +their departure the Muslim awoke to see only a few scattered tents and +the disorderly remains of human occupation as evidences of the presence +of a foe that had accounted itself invincible. The Meccans evidently +accepted defeat, for they returned speedily to their own country, +realising bitterly the impossibility of keeping together so heterogeneous +an army in the face of a prolonged check. Medina was free of its +immediate menace, and great was the rejoicing when the camp was abandoned +and Islam returned in security to its sanctuary within the city. Mahomet +repaired immediately to Ayesha's house, and was cleansing the stains of +conflict from his body when the mandate came from Heaven through the lips +of Gabriel: + +"Hast thou laid aside thine arms? Lo, the angels have not yet put down +their weapons, and I am come to bid thee go against the Beni Koreitza to +destroy their citadel." + +Mahomet's swift nature, alive to the value of speed, had realised in a +flash that now was the time to strike at the Koreitza, the treacherous +Hebrew dogs, before they could grow strong and gather together any allies +to help them ward off their certain chastisement. The enterprise was +proclaimed at once to the weary Muslim, and the great banner, still +unfurled, placed in the hands of Ali. The Faithful were eager for rest, +but at the command of their leader they forgot their exhaustion and +rallied round him again with the same loving and invincible devotion that +had sustained them during the terrible days of siege. + +The expedition marched to the Koreitza fortress, and laid siege to it in +March, 627. For twenty-five days it was besieged by Islam, says the +chronicler, until God put terror into the hearts of the Jews, and they +were reduced to sore straits. Then they offered to depart as the Kainukaa +had departed, empty-handed, with neither gold nor cattle, into a strange +land. But Mahomet had not forgotten their treachery to him under the +suasion of the Kureisch, and he determined on sterner measures. The Jews +were now thoroughly terrified, and sent in haste to crave permission +for a visit from Abu Lubaba, an ally of the Beni Aus, their former +confederates. Mahomet consented, as one who grants the trivial wish of a +doomed man. In sorrow Abu Lubaba went into the camp of the Koreitza, +and when they questioned him he told them openly that they must abandon +hope. Their doom was decreed by the Prophet, sanctioned by Allah; it was +irrevocable. + +When the Koreitza heard the sentence they bowed their heads, some in +wrath, some in despair, and charged Abu Lubaba with supplications for +Mahomet's clemency. The messenger returned and told the Prophet what he +had disclosed to the Jews concerning their impending fate. + +"Thou hast done ill," declared Mahomet, "for I would not that mine +enemies know their doom before it is accomplished." + +Thereupon, says tradition, Abu Lubaba was filled with remorse at having +displeased his master, and entering the Mosque bound himself to one of +its pillars, whence it is called the Pillar of Repentance to this day. At +last the Jews, worn out with the siege, without resources, allies, or any +hope of relief, surrendered at discretion to the Beni Aus. Immediately +their citadel was seized and plundered, while their men were handcuffed +and kept apart, their women and children given into the keeping of a +renegade Jew. Their cattle were driven into Medina before their eyes, and +soon the whole tribe was withdrawn from its ancestral habitation, +awaiting what might come from the hand of their terrible foe. + +Then Mahomet pronounced judgment. He sent for Sa'ad ibn Muadh, the chief +of the Beni Aus, and into his hands he gave the fate of all those souls +who belonged to the tribe of Koreitza. Sa'ad was elderly, fat, irritable, +and vindictive. He had a long-standing grudge against this people, and +knew nothing of the mercy which greater men bestow upon the fallen. + +"My judgment is that the men shall be put to death, the women and +children sold into slavery, and the spoil divided among the army." + +Mahomet was exultant at the sentence. + +"Truly the judgment of Sa'ad is the judgment of God pronounced on high +from beyond the seventh Heaven." + +It accorded with his mood of angry resentment against the earlier +treachery of the Koreitza, but why he deputed its pronouncement to Sa'ad +instead of taking it upon himself is not easy to discover. Possibly he +may have dreaded to acquire such a reputation for cruelty as this would +bestow upon him, possibly he wished to make clear to the world that the +Jews had been doomed to death by a member of their allied tribe. +Certainly he welcomed the terrible sentence, and ensured its +accomplishment. The Koreitza were dragged pitilessly to Medina, the men +kept together under strict guard, the women and children made ready to be +sold at the marts within the city. + +That night the outskirts of Medina became the scene of grim activity. In +the soft darkness of the Arabian night Mahomet's followers laboured with +dreadful haste at the digging of many trenches. The day dawned upon their +uncompleted work, and not until the sun was high did they return to the +heart of the city. Then the men of the Koreitza were divided into +companies and led out in turn to the trenches. The slaughter began. As +they filed to the edge of the pits they were struck down by the waiting +Muslim, so that their bodies fell into the common grave, mingled with the +blood and quivering flesh of those who followed. As one company after +another marched out and did not return, their chief man asked the Muslim +soldier concerning his countrymen's fate: + +"Seest thou not that each company departs and is seen no more? Will ye +never understand?" + +The doom of the Koreitza was wrought out to its terrible end, which was +not until set of sun. The number of butchered men is variously estimated, +but it cannot have been less than between 700 and 800. + +So the Koreitza perished, each moving forward to meet the irremediable +without fear, without supplication, and when the carnage was over, +Mahomet turned to the distribution of the spoil. His eyes lighted upon +Rihana, a beautiful Jewess, and he desired her as solace after this +ruthless but necessary punishment. He offered her marriage; she refused, +and became of necessity and forthwith his concubine. Then he took the +possessions, slaves, and cattle of the vanquished tribe and divided them +among the Faithful, keeping a fifth part himself, and the land he +partitioned also. A few women who had found favour in the eyes of Muslim +were retained, the rest were sent to be sold as slaves among the Bedouin +tribes of Nejd. The Koreitza no longer existed; their treachery had been +visited again upon themselves. + +The massacre of the Koreitza and the War of the Ditch cannot be viewed +apart. The ruthlessness of the former is the outcome of the success which +made it possible. Mahomet had defeated a most formidable attempt to +overthrow him, an attempt which would have lost much of its potency if +the Koreitza had remained either friendly or neutral, and in the triumph +which followed he sought to make such treachery henceforth impossible. He +never lost an opportunity; he saw that the Koreitza must be dealt with +instantly after the failure of the Meccan attack, and unhesitatingly he +accomplished his work. + +His act is a plain proof of his increasing confidence in his mission and +in himself as ruler and emissary from on high. It speaks not only of his +barbarity and courage in the use of it when occasion arose, but also of +his tireless energy and swift perception of the right moment to strike. + +His lack of compunction over the cruelty bears upon it the stamp of his +age and environment. The Koreitza were the enemies of Allah and his +Prophet; they had dared to betray him. Their doom was just. The result of +the failure of the Meccan attack was to restore in great measure +Mahomet's reputation, so that he had less trouble hereafter with the +Disaffected within Medina and with the maraudings of desert tribes. For +the moment his position within the city was comparatively secure; +moreover, in exterminating the Koreitza he had removed the last of the +hated Hebrew race from the precincts of his adopted city, and could +regard himself as master of all its neighbouring territory. The +Disaffected, it is true, remained sufficiently at variance with him to +resent, though impotently, his severity towards the Koreitza, and to +declare that Sa'ad ibn Muadh's death, which occurred soon after, was the +direct result of his bloody judgment. But their resentment was confined +to speech. The Meccans had retired discredited, and were unlikely to +attack again for some time at least. + +For a little space Mahomet seemed secure in his city, whence active +opposition had been driven out. + +The period after the War of the Ditch shows him definitely the ruler of a +rival city to Mecca. The Kureisch have made their last concerted attack +and are now forced to recognise him as a permanent factor in their +political world, though they would not name him equal until he had made +further displays of strength. He takes his place now among the city +chieftains of Western Arabia, and has next to reckon with the nomad +Bedouin tribes of the interior, in which position he is akin to the ruler +of Mecca himself. He is still never at rest from warfare. One expedition +succeeds another, until there is some chance of the realisation of his +dream, whose splendour even now beats with insistence upon his spirit, +the establishment of his mighty faith within the mother-city which gave +it birth, whence, purged of its idolatries and aflame with devotion, it +shall make of that city the goal of its followers' prayers, the crown of +its earthly sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + + "And He it was who held their hands from you and your hands + from them in the valley of Mecca, after that He had given you the + victory over them; for God saw what ye did."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet, now secure from immediate attack, counted himself permanently +rid of the Meccan menace and devoted his care to the strengthening of his +position among the surrounding desert tribes. The year 627-628 is filled +with minor expeditions to chastise or conquer his numerous enemies in the +interior. His ceaseless vigilance, made effectual through his elaborate +spy system, enabled him to keep the Bedouin hordes in check, though he +was by no means uniformly successful in his attacks upon them. The period +is characterised by the absence of pitched battles, and by the employment +of very small raiding parties, who go out simply to plunder and to +disperse the hostile forces. + +His first expedition after the Koreitza massacre in June 627 was directed +against the Beni Lahyan, in revenge for their slaughter of the Faithful +at Radji. He took the north-west road to Syria as a feint, then swiftly +turning, marched along the sea-shore route to Mecca, and the Beni Lahyan +fled before him. Mahomet was anxious to give battle, but as he found his +foe was moving hastily towards the hostile city with intent to draw him +on to his doom, he gave up the chase and contented himself with breaking +up their encampments, plundering their wealth and women, and so returned +to Medina. + +He had been there only a few nights when he learnt that Oyeina, chief of +the Fazara tribe, in concert with the Beni Ghatafan, had made a raid upon +his milch camels at Ghaba, killing their keeper and torturing his wife. +Mahomet pursued, but the raiders were too quick for him and got away with +the spoil. Mahomet did not follow them up, as nothing was to be gained +from such a fruitless quest. + +In August of the same year another raid on his camels was attempted by +the famished tribes of Nejd, and Mahomet sent an expedition under Maslama +to chastise them, but the Muslim were overpowered by a superior force and +most of their company slain. The Prophet vowed vengeance upon the +perpetrators of this defeat when he should have the power to carry it +out. And now the Meccan caravan, venturing once more to take the seaward +road, so long barred to them, was plundered by Zeid at Al Is, thereby +confirming Mahomet's hostile intentions towards the Kureisch, and +ensuring their continued enmity. But reprisals on their part were +impossible after the failure before Medina, and they suffered the outrage +in silence. + +Mahomet was not content to rest upon his newly won security, but now +determined to send out messengers and embassies to the rulers of +surrounding lands, exhorting them to embrace Islam. This policy was to +develop later into a regular system, but for the moment only one envoy +was sent upon a hazardous mission to the Roman emperor, whose recent +conquests in Persia had made him famous among the Arabs. The envoy was +not permitted a quiet journey. At Wadi-al-Cora he was seized and +plundered by the Beni Judzam, but his property afterwards restored by the +influence of a neighbouring tribe allied to Mahomet, who knew something +of the revenge meted out by the Prophet. As it was, as soon as he heard +of it he despatched Zeid with 500 men, who fell upon the Beni Judzam and +slaughtered many. When the expedition returned to Medina with the news, +they found that the tribe in question had sent in its submission before +the slaying of its members. The Judzam envoys demanded compensation. + +"What can be done?" replied Mahomet. "I cannot restore dead men to life, +but the booty that has been taken I will return and give you safe escort +hence." + +Mahomet's next enterprise was to send one of his chief warriors and wise + men to Dumah to try and convert the tribe. They listened to his words +and promises, and after a time, judging it was not alone to their +spiritual, but also to their political welfare to follow this powerful +leader, they embraced Islam, and received the protectorship of the +Prophet. + +Zeid returned from the plunder of the Kureisch caravan and straightway +set out upon several mercantile journeys, upon one of which he was set +upon and plundered by the Beni Fazara, near Wadi-al-Cora. Swift +retribution followed at the hands of Mahomet, who was not minded to see +the expeditions that were securing the wealth of his land the prey of +marauding tribes. Many barbarities were practised at the overthrow of the +Beni Fazara, possibly as a salutary lesson to neighbouring tribes, lest +they should presume to attempt like attacks. + +But now a further menace threatened Mahomet from the persecuted but still +actively hostile Jews at Kheibar. They were suspected of stirring up +revolt, and so the Prophet, knowing the activity centred in their leader, +slew him by treachery. Still, his successor continued his father's work, +only in the fullness of time to be removed from the Prophet's path by the +same effectual but illicit means. Dark and tortuous indeed were some of +the ways by which Mahomet held his power. His cruelty and treachery were +in a measure demanded of him as a necessity for his continued office. +They were the price he paid for earthly dominion, and together with the +avowed help of the sword they were the stern and pitiless means that +secured the triumph of Islam. As time went on the scope of his +state-craft widened; its exigencies became more varied, and exacted new +and often barbarous deeds, that the position won with years of thought +and energy might be maintained. Mahomet has now paid complete homage to +the fickle goddesses force and craft. + +The sacred month Dzul-Cada of 628 came round, bringing with it disturbing +dreams and yearnings for Mahomet. For long past, indeed ever since he had +found himself the leader of a religious organisation and had taken the +broad traditions of Meccan ceremony half unconsciously to himself as the +basis of his faith, he had longed to perform the pilgrimage to the holy +city. He had upheld Mecca before the eyes of his followers as the crown +and cradle of their faith. He had preached of pilgrimage thereto as a +sacred duty, the inalienable right of every Muslim. Six years had elapsed +since he had himself performed the sacred rites; it is no wonder, +therefore, that his whole being was seized with the fervent dream of +accomplishing once more the ceremonies inseparable from his faith. +Political considerations also swayed his decision. If he were allowed to +come peaceably to Mecca and perform the pilgrimage, it was conceivable +that a permanent truce might be agreed upon by the Kureisch, and the deed +itself could not but enhance his prestige among the Bedouins. He was +strong enough to resist the Meccans in case of an attack, and if such a +thing should occur the blame would attach to the Kureisch as violators of +the sacred month. + +With his thoughts attuned thus, it is not surprising that in Dzul-Cada a +vision was vouchsafed him, wherein he saw himself within the sacred +precincts, performing the rites of pilgrimage. The dream was communicated +to the Faithful, and instant preparations made for the expedition, +Mahomet called upon the surrounding tribes to join in his march to Mecca, +but they, fearing the Kureisch hosts, for the most part declined, and +earned thereby Mahomet's fierce anger in the pages of the Kuran. At +length the cavalcade was ready; 1500 men in the garments of pilgrims, but +with swords and armour accompanying them in the rear, journeyed over the +desert track that had seen the migration to Medina of a small hunted band +six short years previously. With them were seventy camels devoted to +sacrifice. The pilgrims marched as far as Osfan, when a messenger came to +them saying that the Kureisch were opposing their advance. + +"They have withdrawn their milch camels from the outskirts, and now lie +encamped, having girded themselves with leopard skins, a signal that they +will fight like wild beasts. Even now Khalid with their cavalry has +advanced to oppose thee." + +"Curses upon the Kureisch!" replied Mahomet. "Who will show me a way +where they will not meet us?" + +A guide was quickly found, and Mahomet turned his company aside, +journeying by devious routes until he came to the place of Hodeibia, a +plain upon the verge of the sacred territory. Here Al-Cawsa, Mahomet's +prized camel, halted, and would in nowise be urged farther. + +"She is weary," clamoured the populace, but Mahomet knew otherwise. + +"Al-Caswa is not weary," he replied, "but that which restrained the +armies in the Year of the Elephant now restraineth her." + +And he would go no farther into the sacred territory, fearing the doom +that had afflicted Abraha in that fateful year. So his pilgrim host +encamped at Hodeibia, and Mahomet sent men to clear the wells of sand and +dust, so that there might be ample supply of water. Thereupon +negotiations began between the Prophet and Mecca. The Kureisch sent an +ambassador to learn the reason of the appearance of Mahomet. When the +peaceable intent of the army had been explained to him he remained in +earnest converse with the Prophet, until at last he moved to catch +at the sacred beard after the manner of his race when speaking. Instantly +one of Mahomet's companions seized his hand: + +"Come not near the sacred countenance of God's Prophet." + +The enemy was amazed, and returning told the citizens that he had seen +many kings in his lifetime but never a man so devotedly loved as Mahomet. +The negotiations, however, proceeded very tardily, and at last Mahomet +sent Othman, his famous warrior and companion, to Mecca to conduct the +final overtures. He had been chosen because of his kinship with the most +powerful men of Mecca. He was invited to perform the sacred ceremony of +encircling the Kaaba, but this he refused to do until the Prophet should +accompany him. The Kureisch then detained him at Mecca to complete, if it +might be, the negotiations. + +While Othman tarried, the report spread among the Muslim that he was +treacherously slain. Mahomet felt that a blow had been struck at his very +heart. Instantly he summoned the Faithful to him beneath a tall tree upon +that undulating plain of Hodeibia, and enjoined upon them an oath that +they would not forsake him but would stand by him till death. The Muslim +with one accord gave their solemn word in gladness and devotion, and the +Pledge of the Tree was brought into being. Mahomet felt the significance +of their loyalty very deeply. It was the first oath he had enjoined upon +the Believers since the days of the Pledge of Acaba long ago when he was +but a persecuted zealot fleeing before the menace of his foes. He was +glad because of this proof of loyalty, and his joy finds expression in +the Muslim Book of Books: + +"Well pleased hath God been now with the Believers when they plighted +fealty to thee under the tree; and He knew what was in their hearts; +therefore did He send down upon them a spirit of secure repose, and +rewarded them with a speedy victory." + +But rumour, as ever, proved untrustworthy, and before long Othman +returned with the news that the Kureisch were undisposed to battle, and +later they sent Suheil of their own clan to make terms with Mahomet, +namely, that he was to return to Medina that year, but that the next year +he might come again as a pilgrim during the sacred month, and having +entered Mecca perform the Pilgrimage. Ali was commanded to write down the +conditions of the treaty, and he began with the formula: + +"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." + +Suheil protested, "I know not that title, write, 'In Thy Name, O God.'" + +Mahomet acquiesced, and Ali continued, "The Treaty of Mahomet, Prophet of +God, with Suheil ibn Amr," but Suheil interrupted again: + +"If I acknowledged Thee as Prophet of God I should not have made war on +thee; write simply thy name and the name of thy father." + +And so the treaty was drawn up. The traditional text of it is simple and +clear, and the only point requiring comment is the clause providing for +the treatment of those who go over to Islam and those of the Believers +who rejoin the Kureisch. Mahomet was sure enough of himself and his +magnetism to allow the clause to stand, which allowed any backslider full +permission to return to Mecca. He knew there would not be many, who +having come under the spell of Islam would return again to idolatry. The +text of the treaty stood substantially in these terms: + +"In thy Name, O God! These are the conditions of peace between Mahomet, +son of Abdallah and Suheil, son of Amr. War shall be suspended for ten +years. Whosoever wisheth to join Mahomet or enter into treaty with him +shall have liberty to do so; and likewise whoever wisheth to join the +Kureisch or enter into treaty with them. If one goeth over to Mahomet +without permission of his guardian he shall be sent back to his guardian; +but should any of the followers of Mahomet return to the Kureisch they +shall not be sent back. Mahomet shall retire this year without entering +the city. In the coming year Mahomet may visit Mecca, he and his +followers, for three days, during which the Kureisch shall retire and +leave the city to them. But they may not enter it with any weapons save +those of the traveller, namely, to each a sheathed sword." + +After the solemn pledging of the treaty Mahomet sacrificed his victims, +shaved his head and changed his raiment, as a symbol of the completed +ceremonial in spirit, if not in fact, and ordered the immediate +withdrawal to Medina. His followers were crestfallen, for they had been +led to expect his speedy entry into Mecca, and they were disappointed too +because their warlike desires had been curbed to stifling point. But the +Prophet was firm, and promised them fighting in plenty as soon as they +should have reached Medina again. So the host moved back to its city of +origin, fortified by the treaty with its hitherto implacable foes, and +exulting in the promise that next year the sacred ceremonies would be +accomplished by all true Believers. + +The depression that at first seized his followers at the conclusion of +their enterprise found no reflex in the mind of Mahomet. He was well +aware of the significance of the transaction. In the Kuran the episode +has a sura inspired directly by it and entitled "Victory," the burden of +which is the goodness of God upon the occasion of the Prophet's +pilgrimage to Hodeibia. + +"In truth they who plighted fealty to thee really plighted fealty to God; +the hand of God was over their hands! Whoever, therefore, shall break his +oath shall only break it to his own hurt; but whoever shall be true to +his engagements with God, He will give him a great reward." + +It was, in fact, a great step forward towards his ultimate goal. It +involved his recognition by the Kureisch as a power of equal importance +with themselves. No longer was he the outcast fanatic for whose overthrow +the Kureisch army was not required to put forth its full strength. No +longer even was he a rebel leader who had succeeded in establishing his +precarious power by the sword alone. The treaty of Hodeibia recognises +him as sovereign of Medina, and formally concedes to him by implication +his temporal governance. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that his +mood on returning to the city was one of rejoicing and praise to Allah +who had made such a victory possible. + +Henceforward the dream of universal sovereignty took ever more +distinctive lineaments in his mind. He pictured first a great and united +Arabia, mighty because of its homage to the true God, and supreme because +of its birthing of the world-subduing faith. To say that these thoughts +had been with him since his first hazardous entry into Medina is to grant +him a long-sightedness which his opportunist rule does not warrant. The +creator of them was his boundless energy, his force of personality, which +kept steadily before him his unquenchable faith and led him from strength +to strength. By diplomacy and the sword he had carved out his kingdom, +and now he purposed to extend it by suasion and cunning, which +nevertheless was to be supported by his soldier's skill and courage. The +next phase in his career is one in which reliance is placed as much upon +statecraft as warfare, in which he tries with varying success to array +his state and his religion along with the great empires and +principalities of his Eastern world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + + "O ye to whom the Scriptures have been given! Believe in what + we have sent down confirmatory of the Scriptures which is in your + hands, ere we efface your features and twist your head round backward, + or curse you as we cursed the Sabbath-breakers: and the + command of God was carried into effect." + +The end of Dzul-Cada saw Mahomet safe in his own city, but with his +promises of booty and warfare for his followers unfulfilled. He remained +a month at Medina, and then sought means to carry out his pact. He had +now determined upon a pure war of aggression, and for this the outcast +Jews of Kheibar offered themselves as an acceptable sacrifice in his +eyes. In Muharram he prepared an expedition against them, important as +being the first of any size that he had undertaken from the offensive. It +is a greater proof of his renewed security and rapidly growing power than +all the eulogies of his followers and the curses of his enemies. The +white standard was placed in the hands of Ali, and the whole host of 1000 +strong went up against the fortresses of Kheibar. The Jews were taken +completely off their guard. Without allies and with no stores of food and +ammunition they could make no prolonged resistance. One by one their +forts fell before the Muslim raiders until only the stronghold of Kamuss +remained. Mahomet was exultant. + +"Allah Akbar! truly when I light upon the coasts of any people, woe unto +them in that day." + +Then he assembled all his men and put the sacred eagle standard at their +head, the white standard with the black eagle embossed, wrought out of +the cloak of his wife, Ayesha. He bade them lead the assault upon Kamuss +and spare nothing until it should fall to them. In the carnage that +followed Marhab, chief of Kheibar, was slain, and at length the Jews were +beaten back with terrible loss. There was now no hope left: the fortress +Kamuss must fall, and with it the last resistance of the Jews. Their +houses, goods, and women were seized, their lands confiscated. Kinana, +the chief who had dared to try and originate a coalition previously +against Mahomet, was tortured by the burning brand and put to death, +while Safia, his seventeen year old bride, passed tranquilly into the +hands of the conqueror. Mahomet married her and she was content, indeed +rejoiced at this sudden change; for, according to legend, she had dreamed +that such honour should befall her. + +But all the women of the Jews were not so complacent, and in Zeinab, +sister of Marhab, burned all the fierceness and lust for revenge of which +the proud Hebrew spirit is capable. She would smite this plunderer of her +nation, though it might be by treacherous means. Had he not betrayed her +kindred far more terribly upon the bloody slaughter ground of the +Koreitza? She prepared for his pleasure a young kid, dressed it with +care, and placed it before him. In the shoulder she put the most +effective poison she knew, and the rest of the meat she polluted also. +When Mahomet came to the partaking he took his favourite morsel, the +shoulder, and set it to his lips. Instantly he realised the tainted +flavour. He cried to his companions: + +"This meat telleth me it is poisoned; eat ye not of it." + +But it was too late to save two of the Faithful, who had swallowed +mouthfuls of it. They died in tortures a few hours afterwards. Mahomet +himself was not immune from its poison. He had himself bled at once, and +immediate evil was averted. But he felt the effects of it ever after, and +attributed not a little of his later exhaustion to the poisoned meats he +had eaten in Kheibar. The woman was put to death horribly, and the Muslim +army hastened to depart from the ill-omened place. + +They returned to Medina after several months absence, and there the spoil +was divided. The land as usual was given out to Muslim followers, or the +Jews were allowed to keep their holdings, provided they paid half the +produce as tribute to Mahomet. Half the conquered territory, however, was +reserved exclusively for the Prophet, constituting a sort of crown +domain, whence he drew revenues and profit. Thus was temporal wealth +continually employed to strengthen his spiritual kingdom and put his +faith upon an unassailable foundation. + +The expedition to Kheibar saw the promulgation of several ordinances +dealing with the personal and social life of his followers. The dietary +laws were put into stricter practice; the flesh of carnivorous animals +was forbidden, and a severer embargo was laid upon the drinking of +wine--the result of Mahomet's knowledge of the havoc it made among men in +that fierce country and among those wild and passionate souls. +Henceforward also the most careful count was kept of all the booty taken +in warfare, and those who were discovered in the possession of spoil +fraudulently obtained were subject to extreme penalties. All spoil was +inviolate until the formal division of it, which usually took place upon +the battlefield itself or less frequently within Medina. The Prophet's +share was one-fifth, and the rest was distributed equally among the +warriors and companions. Since Islam derived its temporal wealth chiefly +by spoliation, the destiny of its plunder was an important question and +gave rise to frequent disputes between the Disaffected and the Believers +which are mentioned in the Kuran. By now, however, the malcontents were +for the most part silenced, and we hear little disputation after this as +to the apportionment of wealth. + +With the return to Medina came the inaugury of Mahomet's extension of +diplomacy--the dream which had filled his mind since the tide of his +fortunes had turned with the Kureisch failure to capture his city. The +year 628, the first year of embassies, saw his couriers journeying to the +princes and emperors of his immediate world to demand or cajole +acknowledgment of his mission. A great seal was engraved, having for its +sign "Mahomet, the Prophet of God," and this was appended to the strange +and incoherent documents which spread abroad his creed and pretensions. + +The first embassy to Heraclius was sent in this year summoning him to +follow the religion of God's Prophet and to acknowledge his supremacy. At +the same time the Prophet sent a like missive to the Ghassanide prince +Harith, ally of Heraclius and a great soldier. The envoys were treated +with the contempt inevitable before so strange a request from an unknown +fanatic, and Heraclius dismissed the whole matter as the idle word of a +barbarian dreamer. But Harith, with the quick resentment harboured by +smaller men, asked permission of the Emperor to chastise the impostor. +Heraclius refused; the embassy was not worthy of his notice, and he was +certainly determined not to lose good fighting men in a useless journey +through the desert. So Mahomet received no message in return from the +Emperor, but the omission made no difference to his determination to +proceed upon his course of diplomacy. + +He then sent to Siroes of Persia a similar letter, but here he was +treated more rudely. The envoy was received in audience by the king, who +read the extraordinary letter and in a flash of anger tore it up. He did +not ill-treat the messenger, however, and suffered him to return to his +own land. + +"Even so, O Lord, rend Thou his kingdom from him!" cried Mahomet as he +heard the story of his flouting. + +His next enterprise was more successful. The governor of Yemen, Badzan, +nominally under the sway of Persia, had separated himself almost entirely +from his overlord during the unstable rule of Siroes, son of the warrior +Chosroes. Now Badzan embraced Islam, and with his conversion the Yemen +population became officially followers of the Prophet. Encouraged by the +success, Mahomet sent a despatch to Egypt, where he was courteously +received and given two slave girls, Mary and Shirin, as presents. Mary he +kept for himself because of her exceeding beauty, but Shirin was bestowed +upon one of the Companions. Although the Egyptian king did not embrace +Islam, he was kindly disposed towards its Prophet. + +The next despatch, to Abyssinia, is distinguished by the importance of +its indirect results. Ever since the small body of Islamic converts had +fled thither for refuge before the persecutions of the Kureisch, Mahomet +had desired to convert Abyssinia to his creed. Now he sent an envoy to +its king enjoining him to embrace Islam, and asking for the hand of Omm +Haliba in marriage, daughter of Abu Sofian and widow of Obeidallah, one +of the "Four Inquirers" of an earlier and almost forgotten time. The +despatch was well received by the governor, who allowed Omm Haliba and +all who wished of the original immigrants to return to their native +country. Jafar, Mahomet's cousin, exiled to Abyssinia in the old +troublous times, was the most famous of these disciples. He was a great +warrior, and found his glory fighting at the head of the armies of the +Prophet at Muta, where he was slain, and entered forthwith upon the +Paradise of joy which awaits the martyrs for Islam. Not long after his +return from Kheibar the Refugees arrived, and Mahomet took Omm Haliba to +wife. + +During the remainder of 628 the Prophet held his state in Medina, only +sending out some of his lesser leaders at intervals upon small defensive +expeditions. His position was now secure, but only just as long as his +right arm never wavered and his hands never rested from slaughter. By the +edge of the sword his conquests had been made, by the edge of the sword +alone they would be kept. But it was now necessary only for him to show +his power. The frightened Arab tribes crept away, cowed before his +vigilance, but if the whip were once put out of sight they would spring +again to the attack. + +He now receives the title of Prince of Hadaz, how and by whom bestowed +upon him we have no record. Most probably he wrested it himself by force +from the tribes inhabiting that country, and compelled them to +acknowledge him by that sign of overlordship. The year before the +stipulated time for Mahomet to repair once more to Mecca was spent in +consolidating his position by every means in his power. He was resolved +that no weakness on his part should give the Kureisch the chance to +refuse him again the entry into their city. His position was to be such +that any question of ignoring the treaty would be made impossible, and by +the time of Dzul Cada, 629, he had carried out his designs with that +thoroughness of which only he in all Arabia seemed at that period +capable. + +Two thousand men gathered round him to participate in the important +ceremony which was for them the visible sign of their kinship with the +sacred city, and its ultimate religious absorption in their own +all-conquering creed. They were clad in the dress of pilgrims, and +carried with them only the sheathed sword of their compact for defence. +But a body of men brought up the rear, themselves in armour, driving +before them pack-camels, whereon rested arms and munitions of all kinds. +Sixty camels were taken for sacrifice, and Mahomet, son of Maslama, with +one hundred horse formed the vanguard, so as to prove a defence should +the passions of the Kureisch overcome their discretion and nullify their +plighted words. Abdallah, the impetuous, would fain have shouted some +defiant words as the cavalcade neared the portals of the city, but Omar +restrained him and Mahomet gave the command. + + +"Speak ye only these words, 'There is no God but God; it is He that hath +upholden His servant. Alone hath He put to flight the hosts of the +Confederates.'" + +So any tumult was prevented and the truce carried out. + +Then began one of the most wonderful episodes ever written upon the pages +of history--nothing less than the peaceable emigration for three days of +a whole city before the hosts of one who but a little time since had fled +thence from the persecution of his fellows. All the Meccan armed +population retired to the hills and left their city free for the +completion of Mahomet's religious rites. With the sublimest faith in his +integrity they left their city defenceless at his feet. Truly the +Prophet's magnetism had won him many an adherent and secured him great +triumphs in warfare, but never had his power shone with such lustre as at +the time of his Fulfilled Pilgrimage. The city was left weaponless before +his soldiery, and the dwellers within its walls were content to +trust to the power of a written agreement, which in the hands of an +unscrupulous man would be as effective as a reed against a whirlwind. +Mahomet entered the city, and for three days pitched his tent of leather +beneath the shadow of the Kaaba. He made the sevenfold circuit thereof +and kissed the Black Stone. Thence he journeyed with all his followers to +Safa and Marwa, where he performed the necessary rites, and at which +latter place he sacrificed his victims, drawing them up in line between +himself and the city. Then returning there he asked for and obtained +the hand of Meimuna, sister-in-law of his uncle Abbas, a bold and +characteristic stroke which did much to pave the way for the later +conversion of his uncle and the final enrolment of the chief men of Mecca +upon his side. + +This was the last marriage he contracted, and it shows, as so many other +alliances, his keen political foresight and the exercise of his favourite +method of attempting to win over hostile states. He was still the +political leader and schemer, though the ecstasy of religion, symbolised +for him just now in the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, had caught him +for the moment in its sweep. Public prayer was offered upon the third day +from the Kaaba itself, and with that the Pilgrimage came to an end. +Mahomet tried earnestly to win over and conciliate the Meccans during +this meagre three days' sojourn, but his task was beyond the power even +of his magnificent energy. + +At the end of the third day the Meccans returned. + +"Thy time is outrun: depart thou out of our city." + +Mahomet answered: "What can it matter if ye allow me to celebrate my +marriage here and make a feast as is the custom?" + +But they replied with anger, "We need not thy feasts; depart thou hence." + +And Mahomet was reluctantly forced to comply. He had been not without +hope that the Kureisch would be won over to his cause in such great +numbers that he might be suffered to remain as head of a converted Mecca, +and he was loth to see such an unrivalled opportunity slip by without +trying his utmost to gain some kind of permanent foothold in the city of +his desires. But his faith weighed not so well with the Kureisch, and, +having within himself the strength which knows when to desist from +importunity, he quitted the city and retired to Sarif, eight miles away, +where he rested together with his host of believers, now content and +reverent towards the master who had made their dreams incarnate, their +ideals tangible. + +At Sarif Mahomet received what was perhaps the best fortune that had come +to him outside his own powerful volition. Khalid, the skilful leader at +Ohod and the greatest warrior the Kureisch possessed, together with Amru, +poet and scholar as well as future warrior and conqueror of Egypt, were +won over to the faith they had so obstinately opposed. They joined +Mahomet at Sarif, and were forthwith appointed among the Companions, the +equals of Ali, Othman and Omar. Following their adherence to the winning +cause came the allegiance to Mahomet of Othman ibn Talha, custodian of +the Kaaba. With these men of weight and influence ranged upon his side, +the chief in war, the supreme in song, and the representative of Meccan +ritualistic life, Mahomet had indeed justification for rejoicing. They +were the first of the famous men and rulers in Mecca to range themselves +with him, and they marked the turn of the tide, which came to its full +flowing with the occupation of the sacred city and the conversion of Abu +Sofian and Abbas. + +Slowly, with pain and striving, Mahomet was overcoming the measureless +opposition to things new. Six years of ceaseless effort, warfare and +exhortation, compulsion and rewards were needed to secure for him the +undisputed exercise of his religion in the place that was its sanctuary. +Faith, backed by the strength and wealth of his armies, now gathered in +the choicest of his opponents. The time was come when he was beginning to +taste the wine of success. He had scarcely penetrated the borderland of +that delectable garden, but the first meagre fruit thereof was sweet. It +spurred him on to the perpetual renewal of alertness that he might keep +what he had won and pursue his way to the innermost far-off enclosure, +around the portal of which was written, as a mandate for all the world: +"Bear witness, there is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet." + +The Fulfilled Pilgrimage, however, was but the preliminary to his +master-stroke of policy strengthened by force of arms: months of hard +fighting and diplomacy were needed before he could direct the blow that +made his triumph possible. For the time he had simply made clear to +Arabia that Mecca was his holy city, the queen of his would-be dominion, +and by scrupulous performance of the old religious rites he had +identified Islam both to his followers and to the Meccans themselves with +the ancient fadeless traditions of their earlier faith, purified and made +permanent by their homage to one God, "the Compassionate, the Merciful, +the Mighty, the Wise." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + + "When the help of God and the Victory arrive, + And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops, + Then utter the praise of thy Lord, implore His pardon, for He + loveth to turn in mercy."--_The Kuran._ + +After the swordless triumph of Dzul Cada, 629, Mahomet rested in Medina +for about nine months, while he sent out his leaders of expeditions into +all parts of the peninsula wherever a rising was threatened, or where he +saw the prospect of a conversion by force of arms. The Beni Suleim, whose +more powerful allies, the Ghatafan, had given Mahomet much trouble in the +past, were still recusant. Mahomet sent an expedition to essay their +conversion early in the year, but the Suleim persisted in their enmity +and received the Muslim envoys with a shower of arrows. They retired +hastily, being insufficiently equipped to risk an attack, and came back +to Medina. The Prophet, unabashed, now sent a detachment against the Beni +Leith. The encampment was surprised, their camels plundered, their +chattels seized, while they themselves were forced to flee in haste to +the fastnesses of the desert. The Beni Murra, conquerors of Mahomet's +expeditionary force at Fadak, received now at his hands their delayed but +inevitable punishment. The Prophet found himself strong enough, and +without any compunction he inflicted the severest chastisement upon them, +more especially as an example to the neighbouring tribes of the +retribution in store for all who dared to revolt against his newly-won +but still precarious power. + +Soon after an expedition of fifteen men was sent to Dzat Allah upon the +borders of Syria. The men journeyed confidently to their far-off goal, +but instead of finding, as they expected, a few chiefs at the head of +ill-organised armies, they found arrayed against them an overwhelming +force, well led and disciplined. They called upon them to embrace Islam +with the fine courage of certain failure. The Bedouin hordes scoffed at +the exhortation, and forthwith slew the whole company except one, who +managed to escape to Medina with the tale. The catastrophe was a signal +for a massed attack upon Mahomet's power from the whole of the border +district, led by the feudatories of Heraclius, who were bent upon +exterminating the upstart. + +Hastily the Muslim army was mobilised, given into the leadership of Zeid, +who with Jafar and Abdallah was commissioned to resist the infidels to +the last and to continue their attack upon the foe until they were either +slain or victorious. The army marched to Muta in September, 629, and +while on the way heard with alarm of the massing of the foe, whose +numbers daunted even their savage bravery. + +At Muta a council of war was called at which Zeid and Abdallah were the +principal speakers. After the peril of their position had been discussed +and the reasons for retreat given, Abdallah rose from among his fellows, +determined to rally their spirits. He pressed for an immediate advance, +urging the invincibility of Allah, the power of their Prophet, and the +glory of their cause. It was impossible for those warrior spirits not to +respond to his enthusiasm, and the order was given. The Muslim marched to +Beleea by the Dead Sea, but finding themselves in no good strategic +position and hearing still further news as to the immensity of their +opposition, they retired to Muta, where at the head of a narrow ravine +they offered battle to the Roman auxiliaries, who far outweighed them in +numbers and efficiency. + +The Roman phalanx bore down upon them, and Zeid at the head of his troops +urged them to resist with all their strength. He was cut down in the van +as he led the opposing rush, and instantly Jafar, leaping from his horse, +maimed it, as a symbol that he would fight to the death, and rushed +forward on foot. The fight grew furious, and as the Muslim army saw +itself slowly pressed back by the enemy its leader fell, covered with +wounds. Abdallah seized the standard and tried to rally the Faithful, +whose slow retreat was now breaking into a headlong flight. At his cry +there was a brief rally, until in his turn he was cut down by the +advancing foe. A citizen sprang to the standard and kept it aloft while +he strove to stem the tide, but in vain. The Muslim ranks were broken and +dispirited. They fell back quickly, and only the military genius of +Khalid, in command of the rear, was able to save them from annihilation. +He succeeded in covering their retreat by his swift and skilful moving, +and enabled the remnant to return to Medina in safety. + +Mahomet's grief at the loss of Jafar and Zeid was great. Jafar had only +lately returned from Abyssinia, and was just at the beginning of his +military career. He was the brother of Ali, and the martial spirit that +had raised that warrior to eminence was only just now given opportunity +to manifest itself. His loss was rightly felt by Mahomet to be a blow to +the military as well as the intellectual prowess of Islam. + +The Syrian feudatories, however, were not permitted to enjoy their +triumph in peace. In October, 629, Amru, Mahomet's recent convert, was +sent to chastise the offenders and exact tribute from them. He found the +task was greater than he had imagined, and sent hurriedly to Medina for +reinforcements. Abu Obeida was in command of the new army, and when he +came up with Amru there was an angry discussion as to who should be +leader. Abu Obeida had the precedent of experience and the asset of +having been longer in Mahomet's service than Amru, but he was a mild man, +fearful, and a laggard in dispute. Amru's impetuous determination +overruled him, and he yielded to the compulsion of his more energetic +rival, fearing to provoke disaster by prolonging the quarrel. The hostile +Syrian tribes were rapidly dispersed with the increased forces at Amru's +command, and he returned triumphant to Medina. + +As a recompense for his yielding of the leadership to Amru, Abu Obeida +was entrusted by Mahomet with the task of reducing the tribe of Joheina +to submission. The expedition was wholly successful; the Joheina accepted +the Prophet's yoke without opposition, and their lead was followed later +in the year by the Beni Abs Murra and the Beni Dzobian, and finally the +Beni Suleim, whose enmity in conjunction with the Beni Ghatafan had done +much to prolong the siege of Medina. + +The Prophet was exultant. The year's successes had surpassed his +expectations, and the maturing of his deep-laid plans for the reduction +of Mecca by pressure without bloodshed satisfied his ambitious and +dominating soul. He was now master of Hedaz, overlord of Yemen and the +Bedouin tribes of the interior as far as the dim Syrian border. + +But with all his newly-found sovereignty there was one stronghold which +he could neither conquer nor even impress. On the crowning achievement of +subduing Mecca all his hopes were set, and there were no means that he +did not employ to increase his power so that its continued resistance +might ultimately become impossible. He strengthened his hold over the +rest of Arabia; he won from Mecca as many allies as he could; he +continually impressed upon both his followers and the surrounding tribes +that the city was his natural home, the true abiding-place of his faith. +Now, having prepared the way, he ventured to ensure the safety thereof by +diplomacy and a skilful use of the demonstration of force. He was strong +enough to compel an encounter with the Kureisch which should prove +decisive. + +In the attack upon the Khozaa, allies of the Prophet, the Beni Bekr, who +gave their allegiance to the Kureisch, supplied Mahomet with the +necessary _casus belli_. He declared upon the evidence of his friends +that the Kureisch had helped the Beni Bekr in disguise and announced the +swift enforcement of his vengeance. In alarm the Kureisch sent Abu Sofian +to Medina to make their depositions as to the rights of the case and to +beg for clemency. But their emissary met with no success. Mahomet felt +himself powerful enough to flout him, and accordingly Abu Sofian was sent +back to his native city discomfited. + +There follows a tradition which has become obscured with the passing of +time, and whose import we can only dimly investigate. Abu Sofian was +returning somewhat uneasily to Mecca when he encountered the chief of the +Khozaa, the outraged tribe. An interview of some length is reported, and +it is supposed that the chief represented to the Meccan citizen the +hopelessness of his resistance and the advantages in belonging to the +party that was rapidly bringing all Arabia under its sway. Abu Sofian +listened, and it may be that the chief's words induced him to consider +seriously the possibility of ranging himself beneath the banner of the +Prophet. + +Meanwhile Mahomet had summoned all the matchless energy of which he was +capable, and set on foot preparations for the overwhelming of Mecca. +Every Believer was called to arms; equipment, horses, camels, stores were +gathered in vast concourse upon the outskirts of Medina, awaiting only +the command of the Prophet to go up against the scornful city whose +humiliation was at hand. The order to march was given on January 1, 630, +and soon the whole army was bearing down upon Mecca with that rapidity +which continually characterised the Prophet's actions, and which was more +than ever necessary now in face of the difficult task to be performed. In +a week the Prophet, with Zeinab and Dram Salma as his companions, at the +head of 10,000 men, the largest army ever seen in Medina, arrived within +a stage of his goal. He encamped at Mar Azzahran and there rested his +army from the long desert march, the toilsome and difficult route +connecting the two long-sundered cities that had given feature to the +origin and growth of Islam. While he was there he received what was +perhaps the most important asset since the conversion of Khalid. Abbas, +his uncle, still timorous and vacillating, but now impelled into a firmer +courage by the powerful agency of Mahomet's recent triumphs, quitted +Mecca with his following and joined his nephew, professing the creed of +Islam, and enjoining it also upon those who accompanied him. + +The conversion did not come as a surprise to Mahomet. He had been +watching carefully by means of his spies the trend of events in Mecca, +and he knew that the allegiance of Abbas was his whenever he should +collect sufficient force to demonstrate his superiority. Abbas loved the +winning cause. When Mahomet was obscure and persecuted he had befriended +him as far as personal protection, but his was not the nature to venture +upon a hazardous enterprise such as the Prophet's attempt to found a new +religious community in another city. Now, however, that the undertaking +had proved so completely victorious that it threatened to make of Mecca +the weaker side, Abbas, with the solemnity which falls upon such people +when self-interest points the same way as previous inclination, threw in +his lot with Islam. + +The Muslim rested that night at Mar Azzahran, kindling their camp-fires +upon the crest of a hill whose summit could be seen from the holy city. +The glare flamed red against the purple night sky, and by its ominous +glow Abu Sofian ventured beyond the city's boundaries to reconnoitre. +Before he could penetrate as far as the Muslim encampment he was met by +Abbas, who took him straightway to Mahomet. When the morning came the +Prophet sent for his rival and greeted him with contempt: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; seest thou not that there are no gods but +God?" + +But he answered with professions of his regard for Mahomet. + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; believest thou not that I am the Prophet of +God?" + +"Thou art well appraised by us, and I see thy great goodness among the +companions. As for what thou hast said I know not the wherefore of it." + +Then Abbas, standing by Mahomet, besought him: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; become one of the Faithful and believe there +is no god but God and that Mahomet is his Prophet before we sever thy +head from the body!" + +Under such strong compulsion, says tradition, Abu Sofian was converted +and sent back to Mecca with promises of clemency. It is almost impossible +not to believe that collusion between Abbas and Abu Sofian existed before +this interview. Abbas had given the lead, for his prescience had divined +the uselessness of resistance, and he foresaw greater glory as the +upholder of Islam, the triumphing cause, than as the vain opposer of what +he firmly believed to be an all-conquering power. Abu Sofian took +somewhat longer to convince, and never really gave up his dream of +resistance until he met Abbas on the fateful night and was shown the +vastness of the Medinan army, their good organisation and their boundless +enthusiasm. Thereat his hopes of victory became dust, and he bowed to the +inevitable in the same manner as Abbas had done before him, though from +different motives, one being actuated by the desire for favour and fame, +the other only anxious to save his city from the horrors of a prolonged +and ultimately unsuccessful siege. + +Thereafter the army marched upon Mecca, and Mahomet completed his plans +for a peaceful entry. Zobeir, one of his most trusted commanders, was to +enter from the north, Khalid and the Bedouins from the southern or lower +suburb, where possible resistance might be met, as it was the most +populous and turbulent quarter. Abu Obeida, followed by Mahomet, took the +nearest road, skirting Jebel Hind. It was an anxious time as the force +divided and made its appointed way so as to come upon the city from three +sides. Mahomet watched his armies from the rear in a kind of paralysis of +thought, which overtakes men of action who have provided for every +contingency and now can do nothing but wait. Khalid alone encountered +opposition, but his skill and the force behind him soon drove the Meccans +back within their narrow streets, and there separated them into small +companies, robbing them of all concerted action, and rendering them an +easy prey to his oncoming soldiery. Mahomet drew breath once more, and +seeing all was well and that the other entries had been peacefully +effected, directed his tent to be pitched to the north of the city. + +It was, in fact, a bloodless revolution. Mahomet, the outcast, the +despised, was now lord of the whole splendid city that stretched before +his eyes. He had seen what few men are vouchsafed, the material +fulfilment of his year-long dreams, and knew it was by his own tireless +energy and overmastering faith that they had been wrought upon the soil +of his native land. + +His first act was to worship at the Kaaba, but before completing the +whole ancestral rites he destroyed the idols that polluted the sanctuary. +Then he commanded Bilal to summon the Faithful to prayer from the summit +of the Kaaba, and when the concourse of Believers crowded to the +precincts of that sacred place he knew that this occupation of Mecca +would be written among the triumphant deeds of the world. + +His victory was not stained by any relentless vengeance. Strength is +always the harbinger of mercy. Only four people were put to death, +according to tradition, two women-singers who had continued their +insulting poems even after his occupation of the city, and two renegades +from Islam. About ten or twelve were proscribed, but of these several +were afterwards pardoned. Even Hind, the savage slayer of Hamza, +submitted, and received her pardon at Mahomet's hands. An order was +promulgated forbidding bloodshed, and the orderly settlement of Believers +among the Meccan population embarked upon. Only one commander violated +the peace. Khalid, sent to convert the Jadzima just outside the city, +found them recalcitrant and took ruthless vengeance. He slew them most +barbarously, and returned to Mecca expecting rewards. But Mahomet knew +well the value of mercy, and he was not by nature vindictive towards the +weak and inoffensive. He could punish without remorse those who opposed +him and were his equals in strength, but towards inferior tribes he had +the compassion of the strong. He could not censure Khalid as he was too +valuable a general, but he was really grieved at the barbarity practised +against the Jadzima. He effectually prevented any further cruelties, and +on that very account rendered his authority secure and his rulership free +from attempts to throw off its yoke within the vicinity of his newly-won +power. + +The populace was far too weak to resist the Muslim incursion. Its +leaders, Abu Sofian and Abbas with their followings, had surrendered to +the hostile faith; for the inhabitants there was nothing now between +submission and death. The Believers were merciful, and they had nought to +fear from their violence. They embraced the new faith in self-defence, +and received the rulership of the Prophet very much as they had received +the government of all the other chieftains before him. + +One command, however, was to be rigidly obeyed, the command inseparable +from the dominion of Islam. Idolatry was to be exterminated, the accursed +idols torn down and annihilated. Parties of Muslim were sent out to the +neighbouring districts to break these desecrators of Islam. The famous +Al-Ozza and Manat, whose power Mahomet for a brief space had formerly +acknowledged, were swept into forgetfulness at Nakhla, every image was +destroyed that pictured the abominations, and the temples were cleansed +of pollution. + +Out of his spirit-fervour Mahomet's triumph had been achieved. In the dim +beginnings of his faith, when nothing but its conception of the +indivisible godhead had been accomplished, he had brought to its altars +only the quenchless fire of his inspiration. He had not dreamed at first +of political supremacy, only the rapture of belief and the imperious +desire to convert had made his foundation of a city and then an +overlordship inevitable. But circumstances having forced a temporal +dominance upon him, he became concerned for the ultimate triumph of his +earthly power. Thereupon his dreams took upon themselves the colouring of +external ambitions. Conversion might only be achieved by conquest, +therefore his first thoughts turned to its attainment. And as soon as he +looked upon Arabia with the eyes of a potential despot he saw Mecca the +centre of his ceremonial, his parent city, hostile and unsubdued. +Certainly from the time of the Kureisch failure to capture Medina he had +set his deliberate aims towards its humiliation. With diplomacy, with +caution, by cruelty, cajolements, threatenings, and slaughter he had made +his position sufficiently stable to attack her. Now she lay at his feet, +acknowledging him her master--Mecca, the headstone of Arabia, the +inviolate city whose traditions spoke of her kinship with the heroes and +prophets of an earlier world. + +Henceforward the command of Arabia was but a question of time. With Mecca +subdued his anxiety for the fate of his creed was at an end. As far as +the mastery of the surrounding country was concerned, all that was needed +was vigilance and promptitude. These two qualities he possessed in +fullest measure, and he had efficient soldiery, informed with a devoted +enthusiasm, to supplement his diplomacy. He was still to encounter +resistance, even defeat, but none that could endanger the final success +of his cause within Arabia. Full of exaltation he settled the affairs of +his now subject city, altered its usages to conform to his own, and +conciliated its members by clemency and goodwill. + +The conquest of Mecca marks a new period in the history of Islam, a +period which places it perpetually among the ruling factors of the East, +and removes it for ever from the condition of a diffident minor state +struggling with equally powerful neighbours. Islam is now the master +power in Arabia, mightier than the Kureisch, than the Bedouin tribes or +any idolaters, soon to fare beyond the confines of its peninsula to +impose its rigid code and resistless enthusiasm upon the peoples dwelling +both to the east and west of its narrow cradle. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +MAHOMET, VICTOR + + "Now hath God helped you in many battlefields and on the day + of Honein, when ye prided yourselves on your numbers but it availed + you nothing ... then ye turned your backs in flight. Then did God + lend down his spirit of repose upon his Apostle and upon the Faithful, + and he sent down the hosts which ye saw not and punished the + Infidels."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet's triumph at Mecca was not left long undisturbed. If the Kureisch +had yielded in the face of his superior armies, the great tribe of the +Hawazin were by no means minded to suffer his lordship, indeed they +determined forthwith vigorously to oppose it. They were devoted to +idol-worship, and leaven of Mahomet's teaching had not effected even +remotely their age-long faith. They now saw themselves face to face not +only with a religious revolution, but also with political absorption in +the victorious sect if they did not make good their opposition to this +overwhelming enemy in their midst. + +They assembled at Autas, in the range of mountains north-east of Taif, +and threatened to raid the sacred city itself. Mahomet was obliged to +leave Mecca hurriedly after having only occupied the city for about three +weeks. He left Muadh ibn Jabal to instruct the Meccans and secure their +allegiance, and called off the whole of his army, together with 2000 of +the more warlike spirits of his newly conquered territory. The force drew +near the valley of Honein, where Mahomet fell in with the vanguard of the +Hawazin. There the two armies, the rebels under Malik, the Muslim under +the combined leadership of Khalid and Mahomet, joined battle. Khalid led +the van and charged up the steep and narrow valley, hoping to overwhelm +the Hawazin by his speed, but the enemy fell upon them from an ambuscade +at the top of the hill and swept unexpectedly into the narrow, choked +path. The Muslim, unprepared for the sudden onslaught, turned abruptly +and made for flight. Instantly above the tumult rose the voice of their +leader: + +"Whither go ye? The Prophet of the Lord is here, return!" + +Abbas lent his encouragement to the wavering files: + +"Citizens of Medina! Ye men of the Pledge of the Tree of Fealty, return +to your posts!" + +In the narrow defile the battle surged in confluent waves, until Mahomet, +seizing the moment when a little advantage was in his favour, pressed +home the attack and, casting dust in the face of the enemy, cried: + +"Ruin seize them! By the Lord of the Kaaba they yield! God hath cast fear +into their hearts!" + +The inspired words of their leader, whose vehement power all knew and +reverenced, turned the day for the Muslim hosts. They charged up the +valley and overwhelmed the troops at the rear of the Hawazin. The enemy's +rout was complete. Their camp and families fell into the hands of the +conqueror. Six thousand prisoners were removed to Jeirana, and the +fugitive army pursued to Nakhla. Mahomet's losses were more severe than +any which he had encountered for some time, but, undeterred and exultant, +he marched to Taif, whose idolatrous citadel had become a refuge for the +flying auxiliaries of the Hawazin. + +Taif remained hostile and idolatrous. Ever since it had rejected his +message with contumely, in the days when he was but a religious visionary +inspired by a dream, it had refused negotiations and even recognition to +the blasphemous Prophet. + +Now Mahomet conceived that his day of vengeance had come. He invested the +city, bringing his army close up to its walls, and hoping to reduce it +speedily. But the walls of Taif were strong, its citadels like towers, +its garrison well provisioned, its inmates determined to resist to the +end. A shower of arrows from the walls wrought such destruction among his +Muslim force that Mahomet was forced to withdraw out of range where the +camp was pitched, two tents of red leather being erected for his +favourite wives, Omm Salma and Zeineb. From the camp frequent assaults +were made upon the town, which were carried out with the help of +testudos, catapults, and the primitive besieging engines of the time. + +But Taif remained inviolate, and each attack upon her walls made with +massed troops in the hope of scaling her fortresses was received by +heated balls flung from the battlements which set the scaling ladders on +fire and brought destruction upon the helpless bodies of Mahomet's +soldiery. But if he could not impress the city Mahomet wreaked his full +vengeance upon its neighbourhood. The vineyards were cut down pitilessly, +and the whole land of Taif laid desolate. Liberty was even offered to the +slaves of the city who would desert to the invader. Nothing ruthless or +guileful was spared by the Prophet to gain his ends, but with no avail. +Taif held out until Mahomet grew weary, and finally raised the siege, +which had considerably lessened in political importance, owing to the +overtures of the Hawazin, who now wished to be reconciled with Mahomet, +having perceived that their wisdom lay in peace with so powerful an +adversary. They promised alliance with him and their prisoners were +restored, but the booty taken from them was retained, after the old +imperious custom, which demanded wealth from the conquered. + +Mahomet forthwith distributed largesse among the lesser Arabs of the +neighbourhood, an act of policy which called down the resentment of his +adherents and caused the details of the law of almsgiving to be +promulgated in the Kuran. The Muslim point of view was that having fought +for the spoil they were entitled to receive a share of it, but their +leader held that it must first be distributed in part to those needy +Bedouin tribes who had flocked to his banner. The bounty had its desired +effect. Malik, the Hawazin chieftain, moved either by his love of spoil +or genuinely convinced of the truth of Islam, possibly by the influence +of both these considerations, tendered his submission to Mahomet and +became converted. February and March, 630, were occupied in distributing +equitably the wealth that had fallen into his hands. + +It was now the time of the Lesser Pilgrimage, and Mahomet returned to +Mecca to perform it. Then, having fulfilled every ceremony and surrounded +by his followers, he returned to Medina, still the capital of his +formless principality and the keystone of his power. + +Thereafter Mahomet rested in his own city, where he lived in potential +kingship, receiving and sending out embassies, administering justice, +instructing his adherents, but still keeping his army alert, his leaders +well trained to quell the least disturbance or threatenings of revolt. +The conquest of Mecca and the victory of Honein had rendered him secure +from all except those abortive attacks that were instantly crushed by the +marching of the force that was to subdue them. + +The year 680-681 was spent in the receiving and sending out of embassies, +alternating with the organising of small expeditions to chastise +recusants, but to Mahomet himself there came besides the flower of an +idyll, the frost of a grief. + +Mary, the Coptic maid, young, lovely, and forlorn, the helpless barter of +an Egyptian king, reached Medina in the first year of embassies and was +reserved for the Prophet because of her beauty and her innocence. She had +become long since a humble inmate of his harem, and would have ended her +days in the same obscurity if potential motherhood had not come to her as +an honour and a crowning. When Mahomet perceived that she was with child +he had her removed from the company of his other wives, and built for her +a "garden-house" in Upper Medina, where she lived until her child was +born. Mahomet, returning from his campaigns, sought her in her retreat +and gave her his companionship and his prayers. + + +In April of 630 she bore a son to her master, who could hardly believe +that such a gift had been granted him. Never before had his arms held a +man-child of his own begetting, and the honours lavished upon the +slave-mother showed his boundless gratitude to Allah. A son meant much to +him, for by that was ensured his hope for a continuance of power when his +earthly sojourn was over. The child was named Ibrahim, and all the lawful +ceremonies were scrupulously observed by his father. He sacrificed a kid +upon the seventh day, and sought for the best and most fitting nurses for +his new-born son. Mary received in full measure the smiles and favour of +her master, and the Prophet's wives became jealous to fury, so that their +former anger was revived--the anger that also had its roots in jealousy +when Mahomet had first looked upon Mary with desiring eyes. Then they had +gained their lord's displeasure as far as to cause a rebuke against them +to be inscribed in the Kuran, but now their rage, though still +smouldering, was useless against the triumph of that long-looked-for +birth. + +But Mahomet's joy was short-lived. Scarcely had three months passed when +Ibrahim sickened even beneath the most devoted care. His father was +inconsolable, and the little garden-house that had been the scene of so +much rejoicing was now filled with sorrow. Ibrahim grew rapidly worse, +until Mahomet perceived that there was no more hope. Then he became +resigned, and having closed the child's eyes gave directions for its +burial with all fitting ceremonial. Thereafter he knew that Allah had not +ordained him an heir, and became reconciled to the vast decrees of fate. +Mary, instrument of his hopes and despairs, passed into the oblivion of +the despised and now useless slave. We never hear any more of her beyond +that the Prophet treated her kindly and would not suffer her to be +ill-used. She was the mere necessary means of the fulfilment of his +intent. Having failed in her task she was no longer important, no longer +even desired. + +Meanwhile the tasks of administration had been increasing steadily. +Mahomet was now strong enough to insist that none but Believers were to +be admitted to the Kaaba and its ceremonies, and although all the +idolatrous practices in Mecca were not removed until after Abu Bekr's +pilgrimage, yet the power of polytheism was completely subdued, and +before long was to be extirpated from the holy places. + +The next matter to be taken in hand owes its origin to the extent of +Mahomet's domains in the year 630. It was imperative that some sort of +financial system should be adopted, so that the Prophet and the Believers +might possess adequate means for keeping up the efficiency of the army, +giving presents to embassies from foreign lands, rewarding worthy +subjects, and all the numerous demands upon a chieftain's wealth. +Deputies were therefore sent out to the various tribes now under his sway +to gather from every subject tribe the price of their protection and +championship by Mahomet. + +In most cases the tax-gatherers were received as the inevitable result of +submission, but there were occasional resistances organised by the bolder +tribes, chief of whom was the Temim, who drove out Mahomet's envoy with +contempt and ill-usage. Reprisals were immediately set on foot, the tribe +was attacked and routed, many of its members being taken prisoner. These +were subsequently liberated upon the tribe's guarantee of good faith. The +Beni Mustalik also drove out the tax-gatherer, but afterwards repented +and sent a deputation to Mahomet to explain the circumstance. They were +pardoned and gave guarantees that they would dwell henceforth at peace +with the Prophet. The summer saw a few minor expeditions to chastise +resisters, chief of which was All's campaign against the Beni Tay. He was +wholly successful, and brought back to Medina prisoners and booty. + +The "second year of embassies" proved more gratifying than the first. +Mahomet's power had increased sufficiently to awe the tribes of the +interior into submission and to gain at least a hearing from lands beyond +his immediate vicinity. Slowly and surely he was building up the fabric +of his dominion. With a watchfulness and sense of organisation +irresistible in its efficiency he made his presence known. The sword had +gained him his dominion, the sword should preserve it with the help of +his unfailing vigilance and diplomatic skill. As his power progressed it +drew to itself not only the fighting material but the dreams and poetic +aspirations of the wild, untutored races who found themselves beneath his +yoke. Islam was before all an ideal, a real and material tradition, +giving scope to the manifold qualities of courage, devotion, aspiration, +and endeavour. Every tribe coming fully within its magnetism felt it to +be the sum of his life, a religion which had not only an indivisible +mighty God at its head, but a strong and resolute Prophet as its earthly +leader. Around the central figure each saw the majesty of the Lord and +also the headship of armies, the crown of power, and the sovereignty of +wealth. They invested Mahomet with the royalty of romance, and the +potency of his magnetism is realised in the story of the conversion of +Ka'b the poet. He had for years voiced the feelings of contempt and anger +against the Prophet, and had been the chief vehicle for the launching of +defamatory songs. His conversion to the cause of Islam is momentous, +because it deprived the idolaters of their chief means of vituperation +and ensured the gradual dying down of the fire of abuse. Mahomet received +Ka'b with the utmost honour, and threw over him his own mantle as a sign +of his rejoicing at the acquisition of so potent a man. Ka'b thereupon +composed the "Poem of the Mantle" in praise of his leader and lord, a +poem which has rendered him famous and well-beloved throughout the whole +Muslim world. + +Now embassies came to Mahomet from all parts of Arabia. Instead of being +the suppliant he became the dictator, for whose favour princes sued. +Hadramaut and Yemen sent tokens of alliance and promises of conversion, +even the far-off tribes upon the borders of Syria were not all equally +hostile and were content to send deputations. + +Nevertheless, it was from the North that his power was threatened. Secure +as was his control over Central and Southern Arabia, the northern +feudatories backed by Heraclius were still obdurate and even openly +hostile. They were the one hope that Arabia possessed of throwing off the +Prophet's yoke, which even now was threatening to press hardly upon their +unrestrained natures. All the malcontents looked towards the North +for deliverance, and made haste to rally, if possible, to the side of the +Syrian border states. Towards the end of the year signs were not wanting +of a concerted effort to overthrow his power on the part of all the +northern tribes, who had as their ally a powerful emperor, and therefore +might with reason expect to triumph over a usurper who had put his yoke +upon their brethren of the southern interior, and was only deterred from +attempting their complete reduction to the status of tributary states by +the distance between his capital and themselves, added to the menace of +the imperial legions. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ICONOCLASM + + "Oh Prophet, contend against the Infidels and the hypocrites, + and be rigorous with them. Hell shall be their dwelling-place! + Wretched the journey thither."--_The Kuran._ + +The clouds upon the Syrian border gathered so rapidly that they +threatened any moment to burst during the autumn of 680. When Mahomet +heard that the feudatories were massed under the bidding of Heraclius at +Hims, he realised there was no time to be lost. Eagerly he summoned his +army, and expected from it the same enthusiasm for the campaign as he +himself displayed. + +But there was no generous response to his call. Syria was far away, the +Believers could not be convinced of the importance of the attack. They +were weary of the incessant warfare and it was, moreover, the season of +the heats, when no man willingly embarked upon arduous tasks. The +Companions rallied at once to the side of their leader, and many true +Believers also supported their lord, but the Citizens and the Bedouins +murmured against his exactions, and for the most part refused to accompany +him. + +Only Mahomet's indefatigable energy summoned together a sufficient army. +But the Believers were generous, and gave not only themselves but their +gold, and after some delay the expedition was organised. + +Mahomet himself led the troop, leaving Abu Bekr in Medina to conduct the +daily prayer and have charge of the religious life of the city, while to +Molleima were given the administrative duties. The expedition reached the +valley of Heja, where Mahomet called a halt, and there, about half-way +from his goal, rested the greater part of two days. The next days saw him +continually advancing over the scanty desert ways, urging on his soldiers +with prayers and exhortations, so that they might not grow weary with the +long heat and the silence. Finally he sighted Tebuk, where the rebel army +was reported to be. + +But by this time the border tribes had dispersed, frightened into +inactivity by the strength of Mahomet's army, and incapacitated further +by lack of definite leadership. There seemed no fighting to be done, but +Mahomet was determined to make sure of his peaceful triumph. The main +force stayed at Tebuk, while Khalid was despatched to Dumah, there to +intimidate both Jews and Bedouins by the size of his force and their +fighting prowess. The manoeuvre was entirely successful, and before +long Mahomet had received the submission of the tribes dwelling along the +shores of the Elanitic Gulf. + +Meanwhile, he had recourse to diplomacy as well as the sword. He sent a +letter to John, Christian prince of Eyla, and received from him a most +favourable hearing. John accompanied the messenger back to the Prophet, +where he accorded him meet reverence and regard as the leader of a mighty +faith. Between the two princes a treaty was drawn up, the text of which +is extant, and very probably authentic. It is characteristic of the whole +series of treaties entered into at this time by Mahomet with the desert +tribes, and as such is interesting enough to reproduce. These treaties +are given at full length in Wakidi; they differ from each other by only +small details, and that drawn up for John of Eyla may be taken as fairly +representative. It is little more than a guarantee of safe conduct upon +either side, and is noticeably free from any religious requirements or +commissions: + +"In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. A compact of peace from +God and from Mahomet, the Prophet and Apostle of God, granted unto +Yuhanna, son of Rubah, and unto the people of Eyla. For them who remain +at home and for those that travel by sea or by land, there is the +guarantee of God and of Mahomet, the Apostle of God, and for all that are +with them, whether of Syria or of Yeman, or of the Sea Coast. Whoso +contraveneth this treaty, his wealth shall not save him--it shall be the +fair prize of him that taketh it. Now it shall not be lawful to hinder +the men of Eyla from any springs which they have been in the habit of +frequenting, nor from any journey they desire to make, whether by sea or +by land. The writing of Juheim and Sharrabil, by command of the Apostle +of God." + +When this scanty document had been completed John of Eyla betook himself +again to his own country, leaving Mahomet free to enter into further +compacts with the Jews of Mauna, Adzuh, and Jaaba. When these had been +ratified and Mahomet had received tribute from the surrounding people, he +set out again for Medina, having first made sure of Khalid's success in +Dumah, and receiving the conversion of the chief of that tribe with much +gladness. + +Now, departing to Medina confident in his success, it was with no good +will that he entered its walls. Many of his erstwhile followers, +especially the tribes of Bedouins, had refused him their help upon this +adventure, and, immediate danger being past, he returned to rend them in +the fury of his eloquence. His success had given him the right to +chastise; even the Ansar were not exempt from his wrath. Three who +remained behind were proscribed, and compelled to fulfil fifty days of +penance. + +"Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would +certainly have followed thee; but the way seemed long to them. Yet they +will swear by God, 'Had we been able we had surely gone forth with you; +they are self-destroyers! And God knoweth that they are surely liars!'" + +Before he had entered the city his anger was further provoked by the Beni +Ganim, who had erected a mosque, ostensibly out of piety, really to spite +the Beni Amru ibn Auf and to make them jealous for their own mosque at +Kuba, whose stones he had laid with his own hands. He fell upon the +Ganim, "some who have built a mosque for mischief," and demolished the +building. Then he drew attention to their perfidy in the Kuran, and took +care that there should be no more mosques built in the spirit of rivalry +and envy. + +Very little time after his return to Medina, Abdallah, leader of the +Disaffected, his opponent and critic for so many years, died suddenly. +His death meant a great change in the position of his party. There was no +strong man to succeed Abdallah, and they found themselves without leader +or policy. They had for long been nominally allies of Mahomet, but had +not scrupled under Abdallah's leadership to question his authority by +opposition and sometimes in open acts of war. Abdallah's death crushed +for ever any attempts at revolt in Medina, and fused the Disaffected into +the common stock of Believers. + +Abdallah occupies rather a peculiar position in Mahomet's entourage; he +was often the Prophet's opponent, sometimes his open defier, and yet +Mahomet's dealings with him were uniformly gentle and forbearing. He may +have had some personal regard for him. Abdallah was a stern and upright +man, whose uncompromising nature would speedily win Mahomet's respect. +Possibly the Prophet felt he might be too powerful an enemy, and +determined to ignore his insurrections. He paid him that respect which +his generosity of mind allowed him to offer towards any he knew and +liked. The Mahomet whose ruthlessness towards his opponents fell like an +awe upon all Arabia, could know and do homage to an enemy who had shown +himself worthy of his steel. All things seemed to be working towards +Mahomet's final prevailing. Now at last after many years the city of +Medina was unfeignedly his, the Jews were extirpated, the Disaffected +united under his banner. + +Meanwhile, the city of Taif still held out in spite of Malik's incessant +warfare against it. But its defences were steadily growing weaker, and at +last the inhabitants knew they could no longer continue the hopeless +struggle. The chief citizens sent an embassy to Mahomet, promising to +destroy their idol within three years if the Prophet would release them +from their harassment. But Mahomet refused unconditionally. The uprooting +of idolatry was ever the price of his mercy. The message was sent back +that instant demolition of the accursed thing must be made or the siege +would continue. Then the people of Taif, hoping once more for clemency, +asked to be released from the obligation of daily prayer. This request +Mahomet also refused, but in deference to their ancestral worship, and no +doubt in some pity for their plight, he allowed their idol to be +destroyed by other hands than their own. Abu Sofian and Molleima were +despatched with a covering force to destroy the great image Lat, which +had stood for time immemorial in the centre of Taif and was the shrine +for all the prayers and devotions of that fair and ancient city. + +Taif was the last stronghold of the idolaters. When that had fallen +beneath the sway of the Prophet and his remote, austerely majestic +God-head, indivisible and personless, the doom of the old gods was at +hand. They were dethroned from their high places at the bidding of a man; +but they had not bowed their heads before his proclaimed message, but +before the strength of his armies, the onward sweep of his ceaseless and +victorious warfare. To Mahomet, indeed, Allah had never shown himself +more gracious than at the fall of idolatrous Taif. He resolved thereupon +that the crowning act of homage should be fulfilled. He would make a +solemn journey to the holy city, and accomplish the Greater Pilgrimage +with purified rites freed from the curse of the worship of many gods. + +But when he came to the setting forth, and the sacred month of Dzul Higg +was upon him, he found that many idolatrous practices still remained as +part of the great ceremonial. He could not contaminate himself by +undertaking the pilgrimage while these remained, but he could send Abu +Bekr to ensure that none should remain after this year's cleansing. He +was now strong enough to insist that the rooting out of idolatry was his +chief policy, and to make the breaking up of the ancestral gods incumbent +upon the whole country. Abu Bekr was commissioned to set forth upon his +task with 300 men, and to spare neither himself nor them until the +mission was accomplished and every idolatrous practice blotted out. + +And now follows one of the most characteristic acts Mahomet ever +performed, wherein obligation is made to bow to expediency and the bonds +of treaties snap and break before the wind of the Prophet's will. Abu +Bekr had started but one day's journey upon the Meccan road when Ali was +sent after him with a document bearing the Prophet's seal. This he was to +read to the Faithful, and receive their pledge that they would act upon +its contents. Mahomet also published abroad a like proclamation in the +city itself. The document drawn up and despatched with such haste was +nothing less than a Release for the Prophet and his followers from all +obligations to the Infidels after a term of four months. + +"A Release by God and the Apostle in respect of the Heathen with whom ye +have entered into treaty. Go to and fro in the earth securely in the four +months to come. And know ye cannot hinder God, and that verily God will +bring disgrace upon the Unbelievers. And an announcement from God and his +Apostle unto the People on the day of Pilgrimage that God is discharged +from (liability to) the Heathen and his Prophet likewise.... Fulfil unto +these their engagements until the expiration of their terms; for God +loveth the pious. And when the forbidden months are over then fight +gainst the heathen, wheresoever ye find them, ... but if they repent and +establish Prayer and give the Tithes, leave them in peace.... O ye that +believe, verily the Unbelievers are unclean. Wherefore let them not +approach the Holy Temple after this year." + +No one reading this writing, which bears upon it all the stamps of +authenticity, can fail to see the motive behind its words. Its +unscrupulousness has received in all good faith the sanction of the Most +High. Mahomet knew that the time was ripe for an uncompromising +insistence upon the acceptance of his faith. He was strong enough to +compel. It was Allah who had strengthened his armies and given him +dominion, therefore in Allah's name he repudiated his agreements with +heathen peoples, and by virtue of his power he purposed to bestow upon +his Lord a greater glory. An act wrought in such defiance of honour at +the inspiration of God savours unquestionably of hypocrisy, but none who +estimates aright the age and environment in which Mahomet dwelt can +accuse him of anything more than a keenness of political cunning which +led him to value accurately his own power and the waning reputation of +idolatry. + +The evil example he had set in this first Release extended with his +conquests until it was accounted of universal application, and no Muslim +considered himself dishonoured if he broke his pledge with any +Unbeliever. From this time a more dogmatic and terrible note enters into +his message. He openly asserts that idolatry is to be extirpated from +Arabia by the sword, and that Judaism and Christianity are to be reduced +to subordinate positions. Judaism he had never forgiven for its rejection +of him as Prophet and head of a federal state; Christianity he hated and +despised, because to him in these later years monotheism had become a +fanatic belief, and the whole conception of Christ's divinity was +abhorrent to his worship of Allah. He was not strong enough to proclaim a +destructive war against either faith, but he allowed them to exist in his +dominions upon a precarious footing, always liable to abuse, attack, and +profanation. + +From the spring of 631 until the end of his life, Mahomet's campaigns +consist in defensive and punitive expeditions. The realm of Arabia was +virtually his, and the constant succession of embassies promising +obedience and expressing homage continued until the end. But he was not +allowed to enjoy his power in peace. The continuous series of small +insurrections, speedily suppressed, which had accompanied his rise to +power in later years, was by no means ended with his comparative +security. But they never grew sufficiently in volume to threaten his +dominion; they were wiped out at once by the alertness and political +genius of his rule, until his death gave all the smaller chieftains +fresh hope and became the signal for a desperate and almost successful +attempt to throw off the shackles. + +The first important conversion after his return from Taif was that of +Jeyfar, King of Oman, followed closely by the districts of Mahra and +Yemen, which localities had been hovering for some time between Islam and +idolatry. The tribes of Najran were inclined to Christianity, and Mahomet +was now anxious to gain them over to himself. The severity he had +practised against a certain Christian church of Hanifa, however, weighed +with them against any allegiance until he promised that theirs should be +more favourably treated. A treaty was then made with these tribes by +which each was to respect the religion of the other. + +Mahomet remained in Medina throughout the year 631 and the beginning of +632, keeping his state like unto that of a king, surrounded by his +Companions and Believers, receiving and sending forth embassies, +receiving also tribute from those lands he had conquered, the beginning +of that wealth which was to create the magnificence of Bagdad, the +treasures of Cordova. The tribes of the Beni Asad, the Beni Kunda, and +many from the territory of Hadramaut made their submission; tax-gatherers +were also sent out to all the tributary peoples, and returned in safety +with their toll. Almost it seemed as if peace had settled for good upon +the land. The only threatenings came from the Beni Harith of the country +bordering Najran, and the Beni Nakhla, with a few minor tribes near +Yemen. Khalid was sent to call the Beni Harith to conversion at the point +of the sword, and Ali subdued without effort the enfeebled resistance of +the Beni Nakhla. Continual embassies poured into Medina. The country was +quiet at last. After years of tumult Arabia had settled for the +moment peaceably under the yoke of a religious enthusiast, who +nevertheless possessed sufficient political and military genius to found +his kingdom well and strongly. + +Mahomet had attained his aims, and whether he could keep what he had now +rested with himself alone. After this period of calm there is a +diminution in his energy and fiery zeal. The effort of that continual +warfare had kept him in perpetual fever of action; when its strain was +removed he felt the weight of his kingdom and the religion he had so +fearlessly reared. Until the end of his life he kept his hold upon his +subjects, and every branch of justice, law, administration, and military +policy felt his detailed guiding, but with the attainment of peace for +Arabia under his sway, his aggressive strivings vanished. Virtually he +had accomplished his destiny, and with the keen prescience of those who +have lived and worked for one object, he knew that the outermost +stronghold of those which Islam was destined to subdue had yielded to his +passionate insistence. His successors would carry his work to higher +attainments, but his personal part was done, and it was with a sense of +finality that almost brought peace to his perpetually striving nature +that he prepared for his last witness to the glory and unity of Allah, +the performance of the Greater and Farewell Pilgrimage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +LAST RITES + + "This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have filled + up the measure of my favours upon you; and it is my pleasure that + Islam be your religion."--_The Kuran_. + +A year had passed since Abu Bekr's purgatory Pilgrimage, and now the +sacred month drew near once more and found Mahomet secure in his adopted +city, the acknowledged spiritual and political leader among the Arabian +tribes. Not since his exile had the Prophet performed in their entirety +the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage. Now he felt that his achievements +would receive upon them the seal of Allah and become attested in the eyes +of the world if he should undertake a complete and purified Pilgrimage in +company with the host of his followers. The Pilgrimage was proclaimed +abroad in Islam, and every Believer who could by any means accomplish it +assumed the Pilgrim's garb, until the army of the devout numbered about +40,000 men. All the Prophet's wives accompanied him, and every Believer +of any standing in the newly formed state was his close attendant. It was +felt, indeed, that this was to be the Pilgrimage that was to ordain and +sanction the rite for all time. In the deepest spirit of religion and +devotion it was undertaken and completed. Islam was now to show to the +world the measure of its strength, and to succeeding generations the sum +of its being and the insistence of its call. + +With the host travelled also a hundred camels, destined as a sacrifice +upon the triumphant day when the ceremonies should be accomplished. By +easy stages the Pilgrims journeyed through the desert. There was no +hurry, for there was no fear of attack. The whole company was unarmed, +save for the defensive sword allowed to each man. Over the desert they +moved like locusts, overwhelming the country, and the tune of their march +spread far around. In ten days the pilgrim army, in the gladness of +self-confidence and power, arrived at Sarif, a short day's march from +their goal. There Mahomet rested before he embarked upon the final +journey. + +Mecca lay before him, awaiting his coming, her animosities silenced, her +populace acquiescent, her temples freed from the curse of idolatry. His +mind was uplifted into a fervour of praise. He seemed in truth about to +enter upon his triumph, to celebrate in very flesh the ceremonies he had +reverenced, to celebrate them in his own peculiar manner, freed of what +was to him their bane and degradation. Something of the foreknowledge of +the approaching cessation of activity flashed across him as he mounted +Al-Caswa and prepared to make the entry of the city. + +He came upon the upper suburbs by the same route as he had entered Mecca +two years before, and proceeded to the Kaaba. There he performed the +circuits of the sacred place and the preliminary rites of the Greater +Pilgrimage. Then he returned to the valley outside the city where his +tent was pitched, and tarried there the night. And now Ali, the mighty in +arms, reached the city from an admonitory expedition and demanded the +privilege of performing the Pilgrimage. Mahomet replied that like most +other Believers he might perform the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, but +that the Greater was barred to him because he had no victims. But Ali +refused to forego his privilege, and at last Mahomet, urged by his love +for him and his fear of creating any disturbance at such a time, felt it +wiser to yield. He gave Ali the half of his own victims, and their +friendship and Ali's devotion to his master were idealised and made +sweeter for the gift. + +Now the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage properly began. Mahomet preached +to the people from the Kaaba on the morning of the next day, and when his +words had roused the intense religious spirit of those listening masses +he set out for Mina, accompanied by Bilal, followed by every Believer, +and prepared to spend the night in the sacred valley. When morning dawned +he made his way to Arafat, where he climbed the hill in the midst of the +low-lying desolate ground. Standing at the summit of the hill, surrounded +by the hosts of his followers, revealed to their eyes in all the +splendour and dignity of his familiarity and personally wrested +authority, he recited some of the verses of the Kuran dealing with the +fit and proper celebration of the Pilgrimage. He expounded then the +manner in which that rite was to be performed for all time. So long as +there remains one Muslim upon earth his Pilgrimage will be carried out +along the traditions laid down for him at this beneficent moment. + +Now, having ordered all matters, Mahomet raised his hands to Heaven and +called Allah to witness that he had completed his task: + +"This day have I perfected your religion for you." + +The supreme moment came and fled, and the Prophet descended once more +into the plain and journeyed again to the valley of Mecca, where, +according to immemorial tradition, he cast stones, or rather small +pebbles, at the rock of the Devil's Corner, symbolic of the defeat of the +powers of darkness by puny and assailed mankind. Thereafter he slew his +victims in thankful and devout spirit, and the Greater Pilgrimage was +completed. In token he shaved his head, pared his nails, and +removed the pilgrim's robe; then, coming before the people, he exhorted +them further, enjoining upon them the strict observance of daily prayers, +the fast of Ramadan, the rites of Pilgrimage, and all the essential +ceremonial of the Muslim faith. He abolished also with one short verse of +the Kuran the intercalary year, which had been in use among the Faithful +during the whole of his Medinan rule. The Believers were now subject to +the fluctuation of their months, so that their years follow a perpetually +changing cycle, bearing no relation to the solar seasons. + +When the exhortation was ended Mahomet departed to Mecca, and there he +encircled the Kaaba and entered its portals for prayer. But of this last +act he repented later, inasmuch as it would not be possible hereafter for +every Muslim to do so, and he had desired to perform in all particulars +the exact ceremonies incumbent upon the Faithful for all the future +years. He now made an ending of all his observances, and with every rite +fulfilled, at the head of his vast concourse, summoned by his tireless +will and held together by his overmastering zeal, the Prophet returned to +his governmental city, ready to take up anew the reins of his temporal +ruling, with the sense of fine things fittingly achieved, a great purpose +accomplished, which rendered him as much at peace as his fiery +temperament and the flame of his activity could compass. + +Fulfilment had come with the performance of the Greater Pilgrimage, but +still his state demanded his personal government. Death alone could still +his ardent pulses and bring about his relinquishment of command over the +kingdom that was his--death that was even now winging his silent way +nearer, and whose shadow had almost touched the fount of the Prophet's +earthly life. + +In such manner the Greater Pilgrimage was fulfilled, and the burden of +its accomplishing is the Muslim reverence for ceremony. The ritual in all +its forgotten superstition and immemorial tradition appealed most +potently to the emotions of every Believer, all the more so because it +had not been imposed upon him as a new and untried ceremony by a +religious reformer, but came to him with all its hallowed sanctity fresh +upon it, to be bound up inseparably with his religious life by its +purification under the Prophet's guidance. + +Its use by the founder of Islam bears witness at once to his knowledge of +the earlier faith and traditions and his reverence for them, as well as +his keen insight, which placed the rite of pilgrimage in the forefront of +his religious system. He knew the value of ritual and the force of +age-long association. The Farewell Pilgrimage is the last great public +act he performed. He felt that it strengthened Islam's connection with +the beliefs and ceremonies of his ancestors, legendarily free from +idolatry under the governance of Abraham and Ishmael. He realised, too, +that it rounded off the ceremonial side of his faith, giving his +followers an example and a material union with himself and his God. It +was the knowledge that this union would always be a living fact to his +descendants, so long as the sacred ceremony was performed, that caused +him to assert its necessity and to place it among the few unalterable +injunctions to all the Faithful. + +Meanwhile a phenomenon had arisen inseparable from the activities of +great men. Wherever there are strong souls, from whose spirit flows any +inspiring energy, there will always be found their imitators, when the +battle has been won. Whether hypocrites, or genuinely led by a sheep-like +instinct into the same path as their models, they follow the steps of +their forerunners, and usually achieve some slight fame before the dark +closes around them. + +Early in the year Badzan, Governor of Marab, Nazran, and Hamadan, died. +His territory was seized by Mahomet, in defiance of the claims of his son +Shehr, and divided among different governors. His success in the temporal +world, and especially this peaceful annexation of land, wrought so +vividly upon the imaginations of his countrymen that three false Prophets +arose and three separate bands of devoted fanatics appeared to uphold +them. Of these three men the most effective was Tuleiha of the Beri Asad, +who gathered together an army and was only repelled and crushed by Khalid +himself. But Tuleiha still persisted in spite of defeat, and was content +to bide his time until, under Abu Bekr, his faction rose again to +importance and constituted a serious disturbance to the rule of the first +Caliph. + +Moseilama, of whom not so much is known, also attempted to usurp the +Prophet's power at the close of his life. Mahomet demanded his +submission; Moseilama refused, but before adequate punishment could be +meted out the Prophet was stricken down with illness, so that the task of +chastisement devolved upon Abu Bekr. Aswad, "the veiled Prophet of +Yemen," might have proved the most formidable of the three, had not +rashness of conduct and lack of governance caused his undoing. He cast +off the Muslim yoke while the Prophet was still alive, and proclaimed +himself the magician prince who would liberate his followers from the +tyrant's yoke. Najran rose in his favour, and he marched confidently upon +Sana, the great capital city of Yemen, slew the puppet king Shehr and +took command of the surrounding country. Mahomet purposed to send a force +against him, but even while his army was massing for the march he heard +that the Veiled Prophet was assassinated. The sudden success had proved +his ruin. Aswad only needed the touch of power to call out his latent +tyranny, cruelty, and stupidity. He treated the people harshly, and they +could not retaliate effectually; but he forgot, being of unreflecting +mould, the imperative necessity of conciliating the chiefs of his armed +forces. He offended his leaders of armies, and the end came swiftly. The +leaders deserted to Mahomet, and treacherously murdered him when he had +counted their submission was beyond question. The three impostors were +not powerful enough to disturb seriously the steady flow of Mahomet's +organising and administrative activities, but they are indicative of the +thin crust that divided his rule from anarchy, a crust even now cracking +under the weight of the burdens imposed upon it, needing the constant +cement of armed expeditions to keep it from crumbling beyond Mahomet's +own remedying. + +April passed quietly enough at Medina, but with May came the news of fresh +disturbances upon the Syrian border. They were not serious, but the pretext +was sufficient. Muta was as yet unavenged, and Mahomet was glad to be able +to send a force again to the troublesome frontier. Osama, son of Zeid, +slain in that disastrous battle, was chosen for leader of this expedition +in spite of his youth, which aroused the quick anger of some of the Muslim +warriors. But Mahomet maintained his choice. He was given the battle banner +by the Prophet himself, and the expedition sallied forth to Jorf, where it +was delayed and finally hastily recalled by news of a grave and most +disturbing nature. + +Even as he blessed the Syrian expedition and sent it on its road, Mahomet +was in no fit state of health for public duties. After a little while, +however, his will triumphed over his flesh, and he thrust back the +weakness. But his physical nature had already been strained to breaking +point under the stress of his life. He had perforce to bow to the +dictates of his body. He gave up attempting to throw off the fever, and +retired to Ayesha's house, attributing the seizure to the effects of the +poison at Kheibar, and convinced that his end was at hand. + +In the house of his favourite wife he remained during the few remaining +days of his life. He lingered for about a week before his indomitable +soul gave way before the assaults of death, and all the time he continued +to attend to public affairs and to take his accustomed part in them as +long as possible. About the third day of his illness he heard the people +still murmuring over the appointment of Osama upon the Syrian expedition. +Rising from his couch he went out to speak to them, and commanded them to +cease from such empty discontent, reminding them that he was their +Prophet and master, and that they might safely rely upon him. + +The exertion of moving proved too much for his strength. He was now +indeed a broken man, and this activity was but the last conquest of mind +over his ever-growing weakness of body. He returned exhausted to Ayesha's +room, and, knowing that his mission was over, commanded Abu Bekr to lead +the public prayers. By this act he virtually nominated Abu Bekr his +successor; for the privilege of leading the prayers belonged exclusively +to himself, and his designation of the office was as plain a proof as +there could be that he considered the mantle of authority to have +descended upon his friend and counsellor, who had been to him so +unfailing a resource in defeat and triumph through all the tumultuous +years. + +From this time the Prophet grew steadily worse. His physical break-up was +complete. He had used every particle of his enormous energy in the +fulfilment of his work; now that activity had ceased there were no +reserves left. + +He became delirious, and finally weak to the point of utter exhaustion. +Many are the traditions concerning his dying words, chiefly exhortations +for the preservation of the faith he had so laboriously brought to life. +He is said to have cursed both Jews and Christians in his paroxysms of +fever, but in his lucid moments he seems to have been filled with love +for his disciples, and fears for the future of his religion and temporal +state. + +He lingered thus for two more days--days which gathered round him the +deep spiritual fervour, the human love and affection of every Believer, +so that the records are interpenetrated with the grief and tenderness of +a people's sorrow. On the third day he rallied sufficiently to come to +morning prayer, where he took a seat by Abu Bekr in token of his +dedication of the headship of Islam to him alone. The Believers' joy at +the sight of their Prophet showed itself in their thronging thanksgivings +and in their escort of their chief back to his place of rest. It seemed +that his illness was but slight, and that before long he would appear +among them once more in all the fullness of his strength. But the +exertion sapped his little remaining vitality, and he could scarcely +reach Ayesha's room again. There a few hours afterwards, after a period +of semi-consciousness, he died in her arms while it was yet only a little +after mid-day. + +The forlorn Ayesha was almost too terrified to impart the dreadful news. +Abu Bekr was summoned instantly, and came with awe and horror into the +mosque. Omar, Mahomet's beloved warrior-friend, refused to believe that +his leader was really dead, and even rushed to announce his belief to the +people. But Abu Bekr visited the place of death and assured himself by +the still cold form of the Prophet that he was indeed dead. He went out +with despair in his countenance, and convinced the Faithful that the soul +of their leader had passed. There fell upon Islam the hush of an +intolerable knowledge, and in the first blankness of realisation they +were dumb and passive. + +When the army at Jorf was apprised of the news, it broke up at once and +returned to Medina. With the withdrawal of the guiding hand their battle +enthusiasm became as nought, and they could only join the waiting ranks +of the Citizens--a crowd that would now be driven whither its masters +saw fit. + +The Faithful assembled round the mosque to question the future of +themselves and their rulers. Abu Bekr addressed them at once, and it was +soon evident that he had them well in hand. He was supported by Omar and +the chief leaders, except Ali, who maintained a jealous attitude, chiefly +due to the feelings of envy aroused in the mind of Fatima, his wife, at +the sight of Ayesha's privileges. At last, when Abu Bekr had told the +circumstances of the Prophet's death, tenderly and with that loving +reverence which characterised him, the Faithful were attuned to the +acceptance of this man as their Prophet's successor. The chief men, +followed by the rank and file, swore fealty to him, and covenanted to +maintain intact and precious the Faith bequeathed them by their leader, +who had been also their guide and fellow-worshipper of Allah. + + +There remained only the last dignity of burial. The Prophet's body was +washed and prepared for the grave. Around it was wrapped white linen and +an outer covering of striped Yemen stuff. Abu Bekr and Omar performed +these simple services for their Prophet, and then a grave was dug for him +in Ayesha's house, and a partition made between the grave and the +antechamber. It was dug vaulted fashion, and the body deposited there +upon the evening of the day of death. The people were permitted to visit +it, and after the long procession had looked their last upon their +Prophet, Abu Bekr and Omar delivered speeches to the assembled multitude, +urging them to remain faithful to their religion, and to hold before them +continually the example of the Prophet, who even now was received into +the Paradise he had described so ardently and loved with such enshrining +desire. + +Thus the Prophet of Islam, religious and political leader, director of +armies, lover of women, austere, devout, passionate, cunning, lay as he +would have wished in the simplicity of that communal life, in the midst +of his followers, near the sacred temple of his own devising. He had +lived close to his disciples, had appeared to them a man among men, +indued only with the divine authority of his religious enthusiasm; now he +rested among them as one of themselves, and none but felt the inspiration +of his energy inform their activities after him, though the manifestation +thereof confined itself to the violence necessary to maintain the +Prophet's domain secure from its earthly enemies. + +Mahomet, indeed, in his mortal likeness rested in the quiet of Ayesha's +chamber, but his spirit still led his followers to prayer and conquest, +still stood at the head of his armies, urging to victory and plunder, so +that they might find in the flaunting banners of Islam the fulfilment of +their lusts and aspirations, their worldly triumphs and the glories of +their heavenly vision. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +"The Jews say, 'Ezra is a son of God,' and the Christians say, 'The +Messiah is a son of God' ... they resemble the saying of the Infidels +of old.... They take their teachers and their monks and the Messiah, +son of Mary, for Lords beside God, though bidden to worship one +God only. There is no God but He! Far what from his glory be +what they associate with Him."--_The Kuran_. + +The Prophet of Arabia had scarcely been committed to the keeping of +earth, when on all sides rebellion against his rule arose. The unity that +he had laboured so long to create was still in embryo, but the seed of it +was living, and developed rapidly to its full fruition. In the political +sphere his achievement is not limited to the immediate security of his +dominion. He had inculcated, mainly by the forcible logic of the sword, +the idea of union and discipline, and had restored in mightier degree the +fallen greatness of his land. Traditions of Arabian prosperity during the +time when it was the trade route from Persia and the East to Petraea, +Palestine, and even Asia Minor lingered in the native mind. The caravan +routes from Southern Arabia, famous in Biblical story, had made the +importance of such cities as Mecca and Sana, but with the maritime +enterprise of Rome their well-being declined, and the consequent distress +in Yemen induced its tribes to emigrate northwards to Mecca, to Syria, +and the Central Desert. Southern Arabia never recovered from the blow to +its trade, and in the sixth century Yemen became merely a dependency of +Persia. Central Arabia was an unknown country, inhabited by marauding +tribes in a constant state of political flux; while Hira, the kingdom to +the east of the desert on the banks of the Euphrates, had become a +satrapy of Persia early in the century in which Mahomet lived, and +Heraclius by frequent inroads had reduced the kingdom of Palmyra to +impotence. Arabia was ripe for the rise of a strong political leader; for +it was flanked by no powerful kingdom, and within itself there was no +organisation and no reliable political influence. + +The material was there, but it needed the shaping of a master-hand at the +instigation of unflagging zeal if it was to be wrought into order and +strength. Tireless energy and unceasing belief in his own power could +alone accomplish the task, and these Mahomet possessed in abundance. +Before his death he had secured the subjection of Yemen and Hadramaut, +had penetrated far into the Syrian borderland, and had made his rule felt +among the nomad tribes of the interior as far as the confines of Persia. +With his rise to power the national feeling of Arabia was born, and under +his successors developed by the enticements of plunder and glory until it +soared beyond mere nationality and dreamt of world-conquest, by which +presumption its ruin was wrought. Mahomet was the instigator of all this +absorbing activity, although he never calculated the extent of his +political impulse. In superseding the already effete tribal ideals he was +to himself only spreading the faith of his inspiration. All governmental +conceptions die slowly, and the tribal life of Arabia was far from +extinguished at the end of his mission. But its vitality was gone, and +the focus of Arabia's obedience had shifted from the clan to the Prophet +as military overlord. + +It is pre-eminently in the domain of political actions that Mahomet's +personality is revealed. The living fibres of his unique character pulse +through all his dealings with his fellow-leaders and opponents. Before +all things he possessed the capacity of inspiring both love and fear. +Ali, Abu Bekr, Hamza, Omar, Zeid, every one of his followers, felt the +force of his affection continually upon them, and were bound to him by +ties that neither misfortune nor any unworthy act of his could break. And +their devotion was called upon to suffer many tests. Mahomet was +self-willed and ruthless, subordinating the means to the end without any +misgivings. In his remorseless dealings with the Jews, in his calm +repudiation of obligations with the heathen as soon as he felt himself +strong enough, he shows affinities to the most conscienceless statesman +that ever graced European diplomacy. + +His method of conquest and government combines watchfulness and strength. +No help was scorned by this builder of power. What he could not achieve +by force he attempted to gain by cunning. He had a large faith in the +power of argument backed by force, and his winning over of Abbas and Abu +Sofian chiefly by the aid of these two factors, combined with their +personal ambition, is only the supreme instance of his master-strokes of +policy. He knew how to play upon the baser passions of men, and +especially was he mindful of the lure of gold. His first forays against +the Kureisch were set before the eyes of his disciples as much +in the light of plundering expeditions as religious wars against an +infidel and oppressive nation. + +He is at once the outcome of circumstances, and independent of them. He +gave coherence to all the unformulated desires for a fuller scope of +military and mercantile power stirring at the fount of Arabia's life, and +at the same time he founded his dominion in a unique and absolutely +personal manner. Within his sphere of governance his will was supreme and +unassailable. + +If these mutable tribal entities were to be united at all, despotism was +the only possible form of command. As his polity demanded authority +vested in one person only, so his conception of God is that of an +absolute monarch, resistance to whom is annihilation. + +Out of this idea the doctrine of fatalism was evolved. It was necessary +during the first terrible years of uncertainty in Islam, in order to +produce among Mahomet's followers a recklessness in battle, and in the +varying fortunes of their life at Medina, born of the knowledge that +their fate was irrevocably decided. They fought for the true God against +the idolaters; this true God held their destinies in his hand; nothing +could be altered. The result was that the Muslim fought with superhuman +daring, and faced overwhelming forces undaunted. But the time came when +Islam had no longer any need to fight, and the doctrine of fatalism still +lived. It sank into mental and physical inactivity, and of that +inactivity, induced by the knowledge that their energies were unavailing, +pessimism was bred. Despotism and fatality are perhaps the purely +personal ideas that Mahomet gave to his political state, the latter +encroaching, however, as most of his secular principles, upon the realm +of philosophy. Indeed, his political rule is inseparable from his +religion, and as a religious leader he is more justly appraised. + +In the sphere of religion the raw material was to his hand. At the +inception of his mission Mecca and Central Arabia, though confirmed in +idolatry, still mingled with their rites some distorted Jewish traditions +and ceremonies, while Yemen had embraced the Christian faith for a short +time as a dependency of Abyssinia, but had relapsed into idolatry with +the interference of Persia. Both the border kingdoms to the north, +Palmyra and Hira, were Christian, and in the time of their prosperity had +influenced Arabia in the direction of Christianity. The Christian +Scriptures were known and respected, but these impulses were feeble and +spasmodic, so that the bulk of Arabia remained fixed in its ancient +idolatry. + +By far the more enduring influence was that of Judaism. Many Jewish +tribes were settled in Arabia, and the ancient traditions of the Jewish +race, the great figures of Abraham, Lot, and Noah were set vividly before +the eyes of the Arabs. There was every indication that a religious +teacher might use the existing elements of Judaism and Christianity to +produce a monotheistic faith, partaking of their nature, and for a time +Mahomet endeavoured to bring both forms within the scope of his mission. +But compromise, whether with idolaters or Jews, was found to be +impossible, and here religious and political ideals are inextricably +blended. If Mahomet had acquiesced in the Jewish religion, had submitted +to the sovereignty of Jerusalem as the Holy Place, he would have found it +impossible to have established his supremacy in Medina, and the religion +of Islam as he conceived it would have been overriden by the older and +more hallowed faith of the Jews. He saw the danger, and his dominant +spirit could not allow the existence of an equal or superior power to his +own. With that fiery daring and supreme belief in his destiny which +characterised him in later life, he cast away all pretensions to +friendliness either with the Jews or the Christians, and steered his +followers triumphantly through the perils that beset every adherent to an +idea. + +But in compelling acceptance of his central thesis of the unity of the +Godhead, he showed signal wisdom and knowledge of men. He was himself by +no means impervious to the value of tradition, and never conceived his +faith as having no historical basis in the religious legends of his +birthplace. That the Muslim belief possesses institutions such as the +reverence for the Kaaba, the rite of Pilgrimage, the acceptance of Mecca +as its sacred city, is due to its founder's love of his native place, and +the ceremonial of which his own creed was really the inseparable outcome. + +Besides his recognition of the need of ritual, he was fully aware of the +repugnance of most men to the wholly new. Whenever possible he emphasized +his connection with the ancient ceremonies of Mecca in their purer form, +and as soon as his power was sufficient, he enforced the recognition of +his claims upon the city itself. + +His achievement as religious reformer rests largely upon the state of +preparation in which he found his medium, but it owes its efficiency to +one force alone. Mahomet was possessed of one central idea, the +indivisibility of God, and it was sufficient to uphold him against all +calamities. The Kuran sounds the note of insistence which rings the +clarion call of his message. With eloquence of mind and soul, with a +repetition that is wearisome to the outsider, he forces that dominant +truth into the hearts of his hearers. It cannot escape them, for he will +not cease to remind them of their doom if they do not obey. What he set +out to do for the religious life of Arabia he accomplished, chiefly +because he concentrated the whole of his demands into one formula, "There +is no God but God"; then when success had shown him the measure of his +ascendancy, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His prophet." + +At the end of his life idolatry was uprooted from his native country. The +tribes might rebel against the heaviness of his political yoke, and were +often held to him by the slenderest of diplomatic threads, but their +monotheistic beliefs remained intact once Islam had gained the ascendancy +over them. At the end of the Farewell Pilgrimage, he realised with one +grand uplifting of his soul in thanksgiving that he had indeed caught up +the errant attempts of Arabia to remodel its unsatisfying faith, and had +made of them a triumphant reality, in which the conception of Allah's +unity was the essential belief. + +Besides his religious and political attainments, he gave to Arabia as a +whole its first written social and moral code. Here the estimate of his +accomplishment is difficult to render, bemuse comparison with the +existing state is almost impossible. Extensively in the Kuran, but to a +greater degree in the mass of his traditional sayings, crystallised into +a standard edition by Al-Bokhari, when due allowance has been made +for the additions and exaggerations of his followers, the chief +characteristic is the casual nature of his laws. + +All his dictates as to the control of marriage, the sale and tenure of +land, commerce, plunder, as well as health and dietary are the result of +definite cases coming within his adjudication. Such an idea as the +deliberate compilation of a code never occurred to him, and there is no +evidence that he ever referred to his former decisions in similar cases, +so that possibilities of contradiction and evasion are limitless. Out of +this jumble of inconsistencies Muslim law and practice has grown. He was +enabled to impose his commands upon the conquered peoples by means of his +military organisation, so that it was not long before Arabia was ruled in +rough fashion by his social and moral precepts enforced by the sword. His +wives offend him, and he forthwith sets down the duties and position of +women in his temporal state. He desires the wife of his friend, and the +result is a Kuranic decree sanctioning the taking of a woman under those +conditions. He is jealous of his younger and more comely associates, and +thereupon ordains the perpetual seclusion of women. He is annoyed at the +untimely visits to his house of assembly, and so he commands that no +Believer shall enter another's apartment uninvited. It is inconvenient to +relinquish the watch night or day during the period of siege in Medina, +therefore he institutes a system whereby half the army is to pray while +the other half remains at its post. Instances may be multiplied without +ceasing of this building up of a whole social code upon the most casual +foundations. But unheeding as was its genesis, it was in the main effective +for those times, and in any case it substituted definite laws for the +measureless wastes of tradition and custom. + +It is probable that Mahomet relied a great deal upon existing usages. He +was too wise to disturb them unnecessarily. His was a nature of extremes +combined with a wisdom that came as a revelation to his followers. Where +he hates it is with a hurricane of wrath and destruction, where he loves +it is with the same impetuous tenacity. His denunciations of the +infidels, of his enemies among the Kureisch, of the laggards within his +own city, of the defamers of holy things, of drunkards, of the unclean, +of those who even copy the features of their kindred or picture their +idea of God, are written in the most violent words, whose fury seems to +smite upon the ear with the rushing of flame. + +And so the prevailing stamp upon Muslim institutions is fanaticism and +intolerance. As the Prophet drew up hard-and-fast rules, so his followers +insisted upon their remorseless continuance. Mahomet found himself +compelled to issue ordinances, often hurried and unreflecting, to meet +immediate needs, to settle disputes whose prolongation would have meant +his ruin. He possessed the qualities of poet, seer, and religious mystic, +but these in his later life were overshadowed by the characteristics of +lawgiver, soldier, and statesman demanded by his position as head of a +body of men. But neither his mysticism nor his poetic feeling entirely +desert him. They flash out at rare moments in the later suras of the +Kuran, and are apparent in his actions and the traditional accounts of +his sayings, while his creed remained steadfast and unassailable with a +strength that neither defeat nor disaffection could shake. With all +the incompleteness and often contradiction of his administration, he +nevertheless was able to satisfy his followers as to its efficacy mainly +by his exhaustless belief in himself and his work. + +In military development his contribution was unique. He gathered together +all the war-loving propensities of the Faithful, and wove them into a +solidarity of aim. His personal courage was not great, but his strategy +and above all his invincible confidence, which refused to admit defeat, +were beyond question. Every leader he sent upon plundering or admonitory +expeditions bore witness to his efficiency and his zeal. He subjected the +Muslim to a discipline that brought out their best qualities of tenacity +and daring. He would not allow his soldiery to become individual +plunderers, but insisted that the booty should be equally divided. In the +beginning he possessed few horsemen, but he rapidly produced a squadron +of cavalry as soon as he became convinced of their usefulness. His +readiness to accept advice as to the defence of Medina proved the +salvation of the city. Under him the military prowess of Islam had ample +scope, for he gave his leaders complete freedom of action; the result was +visible in the supreme fighting quality of Ali, Omar, and Hamza, while +the chances of achieving glory under his banner were the moving motives +of the conversion of Khalid and Abbas. He subdued internecine warfare, +and by a bold stroke united the warrior instincts of Arabia against +external foes, laying upon them the sanction of religion and the promise +of eternal happiness. + +Though unskilled in the mechanism of knowledge--he could neither read nor +write--he has left his mark upon the literature of his age and the years +succeeding him. The Kuran was the sum of his inspiration, the expression +in poetic and visionary language of his beliefs and ideals. He found the +medium prepared. The Arabs had long previously evolved a poetry of their +own which lived not in written words, but in their traditional songs. +Mahomet's first flush of inspiration, which waned before the heaviness of +his later tasks, is the cumulation of that wild and fervid art with the +breath of the desert urgent within it. + +The Kuran was never written down during his lifetime, but was collected +into a jumble of fragments, "gathered together from date-leaves and +tablets of white stone, and from the breasts of men," by Zeid in the +first troublous years of the Caliphate. We have inevitably lost much of +its original fire, and its effect is weakened by any translation into the +unsuitable medium of modern speech. But that it is a valuable +contribution to the literature of its country cannot be doubted, +especially in the earlier portions, before Mahomet's love of harangue and +the necessity of some vehicle by which to make his political dictates +known had transformed its style into the bald reiterative medley of its +later pages. + + +Through it all runs the fire of his genius; in the later suras it is the +reflection of his energy that looks out from the pages; the flame itself +has now lighted his actions and inspired his dreams of conquest. The +Kuran is the best revelation of Mahomet himself that posterity possesses, +imperfect as was the manner of its handing down to the modern world. It +shows us both the beauty and strength of his personality and his cruelty, +evasions, magnanimities, and lusts. More than all, the passionate zeal +beating through it makes clear the secret of his sustained endeavours +through discouragement and defeat until his triumph dawned. + +To those outside the sphere of his magnetism, Mahomet seems urged on by a +power beyond himself and scarcely within his control. His gifts bear +intimate relation to the particular phase in the task of creating a +religion and a political entity that was uppermost at the moment. + +In Mecca he is poet and visionary, the man who speaks with angels and has +seen Gabriel and Israfil, "whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has +the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." He penetrates in fancy to the +innermost Holy Place and beholds the God of battles, even feels his +touch, icy-cold upon his shoulder, and returns with the glow of that +immortal intercourse upon him. It sustains him in defeat and danger, and +by the power of it he converts a few in Medina and flees thither to +complete his task. In Medina he becomes a watchful leader, and still +inspired by heavenly visitants, he produces order out of chaos and guards +his power from numberless assaults. + +In attempting to explain his achievements, when allowance is made for all +those factors which gave him help, we are compelled to do homage to the +strength of his personality. Neither in his revelations through the Kuran +nor in the traditions of him is his secret to be found. He lived outside +himself, and his actions are the standard of his accomplishments. He +found Arabia the prey of warring tribes, without leader, without laws, +without religion, save an idolatry obstinate but creatively dead, and he +took the existing elements, wrought into them his own convictions, +quickened them with the fire of his zeal, and created an embryo with +effective laws, fitting social and religious institutions, but greater +than all these, with the enthusiasm for an idea that led his followers to +prayer and conquest. The Kuran, tradition, the later histories, all +minister to that personality which informed the Muslim, so that they +swept through the land like flame, impelled not only by religious zeal, +but also by the memory of their leader's struggles and victories, and of +his journey before them on the perilous path of warfare to the Paradise +promised to the Faithful. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10738 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..524d9ad --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10738 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10738) diff --git a/old/10738-8.txt b/old/10738-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5674f59 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10738-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7619 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mahomet + Founder of Islam + +Author: Gladys M. Draycott + +Release Date: January 18, 2004 [EBook #10738] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAHOMET *** + + + + +Produced by Afra Ullah, Bonny Fafard and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +MAHOMET + +FOUNDER OF ISLAM + +BY G. M. DRAYCOTT + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +I. MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + +II. CHILDHOOD + +III. STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +IV. ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +V. INSPIRATION + +VI. SEVERANCE + +VII. THE CHOSEN CITY + +VIII. THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + +IX. THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + +X. THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +XI. THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +XII. THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +XIII. THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +XIV. THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +XV. THE WAR OF THE DITCH + +XVI. THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + +XVII. THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + +XVIII. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + +XIX. MAHOMET, VICTOR + +XX. ICONOCLASM + +XXI. LAST RITES + +XXII. THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +INDEX + + +"Il estimait sincèrement la force.... Jetée dans le monde, son +âme se trouva à la mesure du monde et l'embrassa tout.... C'est +l'état prodigieux des hommes d'action. Ils sont tout entiers dans la +moment qu'ils vivent et leur génie se ramasse sur un point." + +ANATOLE FRANCE + + + +MAHOMET + + +INTRODUCTION + +The impetus that gave victory to Islam is spent. Since its material +prosperity overwhelmed its spiritual ascendancy in the first years of +triumph its vitality has waned under the stress of riches, then beneath +lassitude and the slow decrease of power. The Prophet Mahomet is at once +the glory and bane of his people, the source of their strength and the +mainspring of their weakness. He represents more effectively than any +other religious teacher the sum of his followers' spiritual and worldly +ideas. His position in religion and philosophy is substantially the +position of all his followers; none have progressed beyond the primary +thesis he gave to the Arabian world at the close of his career. + +He closes a long line of semi-divine teachers and monitors. After him the +curtains of heaven close, and its glory is veiled from men's eyes. He is +the last great man who imposed enthusiasm for an idea upon countless +numbers of his fellow-creatures, so that whole tribes fought and died at +his bidding, and at the command of God through him. Now that the vital +history of Islam has been written, some decision as to the position and +achievements of its founder may be formulated. + +Mahomet conceived the office of Prophet to be the result of an +irresistible divine call. Verily the angel Gabriel appeared to him, +commanding him to "arise and warn." He was the vehicle through whom the +will of Allah was revealed. The inspired character of his rule was the +prime factor in its prevailing; by virtue of his heavenly authority he +exercised his sway over the religious actions of his followers, their +aspirations and their beliefs. In order to promulgate the divine +ordinances the Kuran was sent down, inspired directly by the angel +Gabriel at the bidding of the Lord. Upon all matters of belief and upon +all other matters dealt with, however cursorily, in the Kuran Mahomet +spoke with the power of God Himself; upon matters not within the scope of +religion or of the Sacred Book he was only a human and fallible +counsellor. + +"I am no more than man; when I order you anything with respect to +religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the +world, then am I nothing more than man." + +There is no question of his equality with the Godhead, or even of his +sharing any part of the divine nature. He is simply the instrument, +endowed with a power and authority outside himself, a man who possesses +one cardinal thesis which all those within his faith must accept. + +The idea which represents at once the scope of his teaching and the +source of his triumphs is the unity and indivisibility of the Godhead. +This is the sole contribution he has made to the progressive thought of +the world. Though he came later in time than the culture of Greece and +Rome, he never knew their philosophies or the sum of their knowledge. His +religion could never he built upon such basic strength as Christianity. +It sprang too rapidly into prominence, and had no foundation of slowly +developed ideas upon which to rest both its enthusiasm and its earthly +endeavour. + +Mahomet bears closer resemblance to the ancient Hebrew prophets than to +any Christian leader or saint. His mind was akin to theirs in its +denunciatory fury, its prostration before the might and majesty +of a single God. The evolution of the tribal deity from the local +wonderworker, whose shrine enclosed his image, to the impersonal and +distant but awful power who held the earth beneath his sway, was +Mahomet's contribution to the mental development of his country, and the +achievement within those confines was wonderful. But to the sum of the +world's thought he gave little. His central tenet had already gained its +votaries in other lands, and, moreover, their form of belief in one God +was such that further development of thought was still possible to them. +The philosophy of Islam blocks the way of evolution for itself, because +its system leaves no room for such pregnant ideas as divine incarnation, +divine immanence, the fatherhood of God. It has been content to formulate +one article of faith: "There is no God but God," the corollary as to +Mahomet's divine appointment to the office of Prophet being merely an +affirmation of loyalty to the particular mode of faith he imposed. +Therefore the part taken by Islam in the reading of the world's +mystery ceased with the acceptance of that previously conceived central +tenet. + +In the sphere of ideas, indeed, Mahomet gave his people nothing original, +for his power did not lie in intellect, but in action. His mind had not +passed the stage that has just exchanged many fetishes for one spiritual +God, still to be propitiated, not alone by sacrifices, but by prayers, +ceremonies, and praise. In the world of action lay the strength of Islam +and the genius of its founder; it is therefore in the impress it made +upon events and not in its theology and philosophy that its secret is to +be found. But besides the acceptance of one God as Lord, Islam forced +upon its devotees a still more potent idea, whose influence is felt both +in the spheres of thought and action. + +As an outcome of its political and military needs Mahomet created and +established its unassailable belief in fatality--not the fatalism +of cause and effect, bearing within itself the essence of a reason too +vast for humanity to comprehend, but the fatalism of an omnipotent and +capricious power inherent in the Mahomedan conception of God. With this +mighty and irresponsible being nothing can prevail. Before every event +the result of it is irrevocably decreed. Mankind can alter no tiniest +detail of his destined lot. The idea corresponds with Mahomet's vision of +God--an awful, incomprehensible deity, who dwells perpetually in the +terrors of earth, not in its gentleness and compassion. The doctrine of +fatalism proved Islam's greatest asset during its first hard years of +struggle, for it gave to its battlefields the glory of God's +surveillance: "Death is a favour to a Muslim." But with prosperity and +conquest came inaction; then fatalism, out of the weakening of endurance, +created the pessimism of Islam's later years. Being philosophically +uncreative, it descended into the sloth of those who believe, without +exercise of reason or will, in the uselessness of effort. + +Before Islam decayed into inertia it had experienced a fierce and flaming +life. The impulse bestowed upon it by its founder operated chiefly in the +religious world, and indirectly in the realm of political and military +power. How far the religion of Islam is indebted to Mahomet's knowledge +of the Jewish and Christian systems becomes clear upon a study of the +Kuran and the Muslim institutions. That Mahomet was familiar with Jewish +Scriptures and tradition is beyond doubt. + +The middle portion of the Kuran is filled to the point of weariness with +reiterations of Jewish legend and hero-myths. It is evident that Mahomet +took the God of the Jews to be his own deity, combining in his conception +also the traditional connection of Jehovah and His Chosen People with the +ancient faith and ceremonies of Mecca, purged of their idolatries. From +the Jews he took his belief in the might and terror of the Lord and the +admonitory character of his mission. From them also he took the +separatist nature of his creed. The Jewish teachers postulated a religion +distinct from every other belief, self-sufficient, owning no interpreter +save the Law and the Scriptures. Mahomet conceived himself also as the +sole vehicle during his lifetime and after his death for the commands of +the Most High. He aimed at the superseding of Rabbinical power, and hoped +to win the Jews into recognition of himself as successor to their own +teachers and prophets. + +But his claims were met by an unyielding reliance upon the completed Law. +If the Jewish religion had rejected a Redeemer from among its own people, +it was impossible that it should accept a leader from an alien and +despised race. Mahomet, finding coalition impossible, gave free play to +his separatist instinct, so that in this respect, and also in its +fundamental conception of the deity, as well as in its reliance upon +inspired Scriptures and oral traditions, Mahomedanism approximates to the +Jewish system. It misses the influence of an immemorial history, and +receives no help in its campaign of warfare from the traditional glories +of long lines of warrior kings. Chief of all, it lacks the inspiration of +the matchless Jewish Scriptures and Sacred Books, depending for +instruction upon a document confined to the revelation of one man's +personality and view of life. + +Still the narrowness of the Mahomedan system provoked its power; its +rapid rush to the heights Of dominion was born of the straitening of its +impulse into the channel of conquest and the forcible imposition of its +faith. + +Of Christianity Mahomet knew far less than of Judaism. He went to the +Christian doctrines as they were known in heterodox Syria, far off from +the main stream of Christian life and teaching. He went to them with a +prejudiced mind, full of anger against their exponents for declaring the +Messiah to be the Son of God. The whole idea of the Incarnation and the +dogma of the Trinity were thoroughly abhorrent to him, and the only +conception he entertains as to the personality of Jesus is that of a +Prophet even as he is himself, the receiver of divine inspiration, but +having no connection in essence with God, whom he conceived pre-eminently +as the one supreme Being, indivisible in nature. Certainly he knew far +less of the Christian than of the Jewish Scriptures, and necessarily less +of the inner meaning of the Christian faith, still in fluid state, +unconsidered of its profoundest future exponents. His mind was assuredly +not attuned to the reception of its more revolutionary ideas. Very little +compassion and no tenderness breathe from the pages of the Kuran, and +from a religion whose Founder had laboured to bring just those two +elements into the thorny ways of the world, Mahomet could only turn away +baffled and uncomprehending. The doctrine of the non-resistance to evil, +and indeed all the wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount, he passed by +unseeing. + +It is useless and indeed unfair to attempt the comparison of Mahomedanism +with Christianity, seeing that without the preliminary culture of Greece +and Rome modern Christian doctrines would not exist in their present +form, and of the former Mahomet had no cognisance. He stands altogether +apart from the Christian system, finding no affinity in its doctrines or +practices, scorning its monasticism no less than its conception of the +Trinity. His position in history lies between the warriors and the +saints, at the head of the Prophets, who went, flail in hand, to summon +to repentance, but unlike the generality, bearing also the sword and +sceptre of a kingdom. + +No other religious leader has ever bound his creed so closely to definite +political conceptions, Mahomet was not only the instrument of divine +revelation, but he was also at the end of his life the head of a temporal +state with minutest laws and regulations--chaotic it may be, but still +binding so that Islamic influence extended over the whole of the lives of +its adherents. This constitutes its strength. Its leader swayed not only +the convictions but the activities of his subjects. + +His position with regard to the political institution of other countries +is unique. His temporal power grew almost in spite of himself, and he +unconsciously adopted ideas in connection with it which arose out of the +circumstances involved. Any form of government except despotism was +impossible among so heterogeneous and unruly a people; despotism also +bore out his own idea as to the nature of God's governance. Political +ideas were largely built upon religious conceptions, sometimes +outstripping, sometimes lagging behind them, but always with some +irrefragable connection. Despotism, therefore, was the form best suited +to Islam, and becomes its chief legacy to posterity, since without the +religious sanction Islam politically could not exist. + +Together with despotism and inextricably mingled with it is the second +great Islamic enthusiasm--the belief in the supremacy of force. With +violence the Muslim kingdom was to be attained. Mahomet gave to the +battle lust of Arabia the approval of his puissant deity, bidding his +followers put their supreme faith in the arbitrament of the sword. He +knew, too, the value of diplomacy and the use of well-calculated +treachery, but chief of all he bade his followers arm themselves to seize +by force what they could not obtain by cunning. In the insistence upon +these two factors, complete obedience to his will as the revelation of +Allah's decrees and the justification of violence to proclaim the merits +of his faith, we gain the nearest approach to his character and beliefs; +for these, together with his conception of fate, are perhaps the most +personal of all his institutions. + +Mahomet has suffered not a little at the hands of his immediate successors. +They have sought to record the full sum of his personality, and finding +the subject elude them, as the translation of actions into words must +ever fall short of finality, they have overloaded their narrative with +minutest and almost always apocryphal details which leave the main +outlines blurred. Only two biographies can be said to be in the nature +of sources, that of Muhammad ibn Hischam, written on the model of +an earlier biography, undertaken about 760 for the Abbasside Caliph +Mansur, and of Wakidi, written about 820, which is important as +containing the text of many treaties made by Mahomet with various tribes. +Al-Tabari, too, included the life of Mahomet in his extensive history of +Arabia, but his work serves only as a check, consisting, as it +does, mainly of extracts from Wakidi. By far the more valuable is the +Kuran and the Sunna of tradition. But even these are fragmentary and +confused, bearing upon them the ineradicable stamp of alien writers and +much second-hand thought. + +In the dim, pregnant dawn of religions, by the transfusing power of a +great idea, seized upon and made living by a single personality, the +world of imagination mingles with the world of fact as we perceive it. +The real is felt to be merely the frail shell of forces more powerful and +permanent. Legend and myth crowd in upon actual life as imperfect +vehicles for the compelling demand made by that new idea for expression. +Moreover, personality, that subtle essence, exercises a kind of +centripetal force, attracting not only the devotion but the imaginations +of those who come within its influence. + +Mahomet, together with all the men of action in history, possessed an +energy of will so vast as to bring forth the creative faculties of his +adherents, and the legends that cluster round him have a special +significance as the measure of his personality and influence. The +story, for instance, of his midnight journey into the seven heavens +is the symbol of an intense spiritual experience that, following the +mental temper of the age in which he lived, had to be translated into +the concrete. All the affirmations as to his intercourse with Djinn, +his inspiration by the angel Gabriel, are inherent factors in the +manifestation of his ceaseless mental activity. His marvellous birth and +the myths of his childhood are the sum of his followers' devotion, and +reveal their reverence translated into terms of the imagination. +Character was the mysterious force that his co-religionists tried +unconsciously to portray in all those legends relative to his life at +Medina, his ruthlessness and cruelty finding a place no less than his +humility, and steadfastness under discouragement. + +But beneath the weight of the marvellous the real man is almost buried. +He has stood for so long with the mists of obscure imaginings about him +that his true lineaments are almost impossible to reproduce. The Western +world has alternated between the conception of him as a devil, almost +Antichrist himself, and a negligible impostor whose power is transient. +It has seldom troubled to look for the human energy that wrought out his +successes, the faith that upheld them, and the enthusiasm that burned in +the Prophet himself with a sombre flame, lighting his followers to prayer +and conquest. + +And indeed it is difficult, if not impossible, to re-create effectively +the world in which he lived. It is so remote from the seas of the +world's progression, an eddy in the tide of belief which loses itself in +the larger surging, that it makes no appeal of familiarity. But that a +study of the period and Mahomet's own personality operating no less +through his deeds, faith, and institutions than in the one doubtfully +reliable record of his teachings, will result in the perception of the +Prophet of Islam as a man among men, has been the central belief during +the writing of this biography. Mahomet's personality is revealed in his +dealing with his fellows, in the belief and ritual that he imposed upon +Arabia, in the mighty achievement of a political unity and military +discipline, and therein he shows himself inexorable, cruel, passionate, +treacherous, bad, subject to depression and overwhelming doubt, but +never weak or purposeless, continually the master of his circumstances, +whom no emergency found unprepared, whose confidence in himself nothing +could shake, and who by virtue of enthusiasm and resistless activity +wrested his triumphs from the hands of his enemies, and bequeathed to +his followers his own unconquerable faith and the means wherewith they +might attain wealth and sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + + "And how many cities were mightier in strength than thy city that + hath cast thee forth?"--_The Kuran_. + +In Arabia nature cannot be ignored. Pastures and cornland, mountain +slopes and quiet rivers may be admired, even reverenced; but they are +things external to the gaze, and make no insistent demand upon the spirit +for penetration of their mystery. Arabia, and Mecca as typical of Arabia, +is a country governed by earth's primal forces. It has not yet emerged +from the shadow of that early world, bare and chaotic, where a blinding +sun pours down upon dusty mountain ridges, and nothing is temperate or +subdued. It fosters a race of men, whose gods are relentless and +inscrutable, revealing themselves seldom, and dwelling in a fierce +splendour beyond earthly knowledge. To the spirit of a seeker for truth +with senses alert to the outer world, this country speaks of boundless +force, and impels into activity under the spur of conviction; by its very +desolation it sets its ineradicable mark upon the creed built up within +it. + +Mahomet spent forty years in the city of Mecca, watching its temple +services with his grandfather, taking part in its mercantile life, +learning something of Christian and Jewish doctrine through the varied +multitudes that thronged its public places. In the desert beyond the city +boundaries he wandered, searching for inspiration, waiting dumbly in the +darkness until the angel Gabriel descended with rush of wings through the +brightness of heaven, commanding: + +"Cry aloud, in the name of the Lord who created thee. O, thou enwrapped +in thy mantle, arise and warn!" + +Mecca lies in a stony valley midway between Yemen, "the Blessed," and +Syria, in the midst of the western coast-chain of Arabia, which slopes +gradually towards the Red Sea. The height of Abu Kobeis overlooks the +eastern quarter of the town, whence hills of granite stretch to the +holy places, Mina and Arafat, enclosed by the ramparts of the Jebel +Kora range. Beyond these mountains to the south lies Taif, with +its glory of gardens and fruit-trees. But the luxuriance of Taif +finds no counterpart on the western side. Mecca is barren and treeless; +its sandy stretches only broken here and there by low hills of quartz +or gneiss, scrub-covered and dusty. The sun beats upon the shelterless +town until it becomes a great cauldron within its amphitheatre of hills. +During the Greater Pilgrimage the cauldron seethes with heat and +humanity, and surges over into Mina and Arafat. In the daytime Mecca is +limitless heat and noise, but under the stars it has all the magic of a +dream-city in a country of wide horizons. + +The shadow of its ancient prosperity, when it was the centre of the +caravan trade from Yemen to Syria, still hung about it in the years +immediately before the birth of Mahomet, and the legends concerning the +founding of the city lingered in the native mind. Hagar, in her terrible +journey through the desert, reached Mecca and laid her son in the midst +of the valley to go on the hopeless quest for water. The child kicked the +ground in torment, and God was merciful, so that from his heel marks +arose a spring of clear water--the well Zemzem, hallowed ever after by +Meccans. In this desolate place part of the Amalekites and tribes from +Yemen settled; the child Ishmael grew up amongst them and founded his +race by marrying a daughter of the chief. Abraham visited him, and under +his guidance the native temple of the Kaaba was built and dedicated to +the true God, but afterwards desecrated by the worship of idols within +it. + +Such are the legends surrounding the foundation of Mecca and of the +Kaaba, of which, as of the legends concerning the early days of Rome, it +may be said that they are chiefly interesting as throwing light upon the +character of the race which produced them. In the case of Mecca they were +mainly the result of an unconscious desire to associate the city as far +as possible with the most renowned heroes of old time, and also to +conciliate the Jewish element within Arabia, now firmly planted at +Medina, Kheibar, and some of the adjoining territory, by insisting on a +Jewish origin for their holy of holies, and as soon as Abraham and +Ishmael were established as fathers of the race, legends concerning them +were in perpetual creation. + +The Kaaba thus reputed to be the work of Abraham bears evidence of an +antiquity so remote that its beginnings will be forever lost to us. From +very early times it was a goal of pilgrimage for all Arabia, because of +the position of Mecca upon the chief trade route, and united in its +ceremonies the native worship of the sun and stars, idols and misshapen +stones. The Black Stone, the kissing of which formed the chief +ceremonial, is a relic of the rites practised by the stone-worshippers of +old; while the seven circuits of the Kaaba, obligatory on all pilgrims, +are probably a symbol of the courses of the planets. Arab divinities, +such as Alilat and Uzza, were associated with the Kaaba before any +records are available, and at the time of Mahomet, idolatry mingled with +various rites still held sway among the Meccans, though the leaven of +Jewish tradition was of great help to him in the establishment of the +monotheistic idea. At Mahomet's birth the Kaaba consisted of a small +roofless house, with the Black Stone imbedded in its wall. Near it lay +the well Zemzem, and the reputed grave of Ishmael. The Holy Place of +Arabia held thus within itself traces of a purer faith, that +were to be discovered and filled in by Mahomet, until the Kaaba +became the goal of thousands, the recipient of the devotion and longings +of that mighty host of Muslim who went forth to subdue the world. +Mahomet's ancestors had for some time held a high position in the city. +He came of the race of Hashim, whose privilege it was to give service to +the pilgrims coming to worship at the Kaaba. The Hashim were renowned for +generosity, and Mahomet's grandfather, Abd al Muttalib, was revered by +the Kureisch, inhabitants of Mecca, as a just and honourable man, who had +greatly increased their prosperity by his rediscovery of the holy well. + +Its healing waters had been choked by the accumulations of years, so +that even the knowledge of its site was lost, when an angel appeared to +Abd al Muttalib, as he slept at the gate of the temple, saying: + +"Dig up that which is pure!" + +Three times the command fell on uncomprehending ears, until the angel +revealed to the sleeper where the precious water might be found. And as +he dug, the well burst forth once more, and behold within its deeps lay +two golden gazelles, with weapons, the treasure of former kings. And +there was strife among the Kureisch for the possession of these riches, +until they were forced to draw lots. So the treasure fell to Abd al +Muttalib, who melted the weapons to make a door for the Kaaba, and set +up the golden gazelles within it. + +Abd al Muttalib figures very prominently in the early legends concerning +Mahomet, because he was sole guardian of the Prophet during very early +childhood. These legends are mainly later accretions, but the kernel of +truth within them is not difficult to discover. Like all forerunners of +the great teachers, he stands in communion with heavenly messengers, the +symbol of his purity of heart. He is humble, compassionate, and devout, +living continually in the presence of his god--a fitting guardian for +the renewer of the faith of his nation. Most significant of the legends +is the story of his vow to sacrifice a son if ten were born to him, and +of the choice of Abdullah, Mahomet's father, and the repeated staying of +the father's hand, so that the sacrifice could not be accomplished until +is son's life was bought with the blood of a hundred camels. This and +all allied legends are fruit of a desire to magnify the divine authority +of Mahomet's mission by dwelling on the intervention of a higher power +in the disposal of his fate. + +Of Abd al Muttalib's ten sons, Abdallah was the most handsome in form +and stature, so that the fame of his beauty spread into the harems +of the city, and many women coveted him in their hearts. But he, after +his father had sacrificed the camels in his stead, went straightway to +the house of Amina, a maiden well-born and lovely, and remained there to +complete his nuptials with her. Then, after some weeks, he departed to +Gaza for the exchange of merchandise, but, returning, was overtaken by +sickness and died at Medina. + +Amina, left thus desolate, sought the house of Abd al Muttalib, where +she stayed until her child was born. Visions of his future greatness +were vouchsafed to her before his birth by an angel, who told her the +name he was to bear, and his destiny as Prophet of his people. Long +before the child's eyes opened to the light, a brightness surrounded his +mother, so that by it might be seen the far-off towers of the castles in +Syrian Bostra. A tenderness hangs over the story of Mahomet's birth, +akin to that immortal beauty surrounding the coming of Christ. We have +faint glimpses of Amina, in the dignity of her sorrow, waiting for the +birth of her son, and in the house of Mecca's leading citizen, hearing +around her not alone the celestial voices of her spirit-comforters, but +also rumours of earthly strife and the threatenings of strange armies +from the south. + +At Sana, capital of Yemen, ruled Abraha, king of the southern province. +He built a vast temple within its walls, and purposed to make Sana the +pilgrim-city for all Arabia. But the old custom still clove to Mecca, +and finding he could in nowise coerce the people into forsaking the +Kaaba, he determined to invade Mecca itself and to destroy the rival +place of worship. So he gathered together a great army, which numbered +amongst it an elephant, a fearful sight to the Meccans, who had never +seen so great an animal. With this force he marched upon Mecca, and was +about to enter the city after fruitless attempts by Abd al Muttalib to +obtain quarter, when God sent down a scourge of sickness upon his army +and he was forced to retreat, returning miserably to Sana with a remnant +of his men. But so much had the presence of the elephant alarmed the +Meccans that the year (A.D. 570) was called ever after "The Year of the +Elephant," and in August thereof Mahomet was born. + +Then Amina sent for Abd al Muttalib and told him the marvels she had +seen and heard, and his grandfather took the child and presented him in +the Kaaba, after the manner of the Jews, and gave him the name Mahomet +(the Praised One), according as the angel had commanded Amina. + +The countless legends surrounding Mahomet's birth, even to the physical +marvel that accompanied it, cannot be set aside as utterly worthless. +They serve to show the temper of the nation producing them, deeply +imaginative and incoherently poetical, and they indicate the weight of +the personality to which they cling. All the devotion of the East +informs them; but since the spirit that caused them to be is in its +essence one of relentless activity, neither contemplative nor +mystic, they lack that subtle sweetness that belongs to the Buddhist and +Christian histories, and dwell rather within the region of the +marvellous than of the spiritually symbolic. Neither Mahomet's father +nor mother are known to us in any detail; they are merely the passive +instruments of Mahomet's prophetic mission. His real parents are his +grandfather and his uncle Abu Talib; but more than these, the desert +that nurtured him, physically and mentally, that bounded his horizon +throughout his life and impressed its mighty mysteries upon his +unconscious childhood and his eager, imaginative youth. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +CHILDHOOD + +"Paradise lies at the feet of mothers."--MAHOMET. + +No more beautiful and tender legends cluster round Mahomet than those +which grace his life in the desert under the loving care of his +foster-mother Hailima. She was a woman of the tribe of Beni Sa'ad, who +for generations had roamed the desert, tent-dwellers, who visited cities +but rarely, and kept about them the remoteness and freedom of their +adventurous life beneath the sun and stars. + +About the time of Mahomet's birth a famine fell upon the Beni Sa'ad, +which left nothing of all their stores, and the women of the tribe +journeyed,[28] weary and stricken with hunger, into the city of Mecca +that they might obtain foster-children whose parents would give them +money and blessings if they could but get their little ones taken away +from that unhealthy place. Among these was Hailima, who, according to +tradition, has left behind her the narrative of that dreadful journey +across the desert with her husband and her child, and with only an ass +and a she-camel for transport. Famine oppressed them sorely, together +with the heat of desert suns, until there was no sustenance for any +living creature; then, faint and travel-weary, they reached the city and +began their quest. + +Mahomet was offered to every woman of the tribe, but they rejected him +as he had no father, and there was little hope of much payment from the +mothers of these children. Those of rich parents were eagerly spoken +for, but no one would care for the little fatherless child. And it +happened that Hailima also was unsuccessful in her search, and was like +to have returned to her people disconsolate, but when she saw +Mahomet she bethought herself and said to her husband: + +"By the God of my fathers, I will not go back to my companions without +foster-child. I will take this orphan." + +And her husband replied: "It cannot harm thee to do this, and if thou +takest him it may be that through him God will bless us." + +So Hailima took him, and she relates how good fortune attended her from +that day. Her camels gave abundant milk during the homeward journey, and +in the unfruitful land of the Beni Sa'ad her cattle were always fattest +and yielded most milk, until her neighbours besought her to allow them +to pasture their cattle with hers. But, adds the chronicler naively, in +spite of this their cattle returned to them thin and yielding little, +while Hailima's waxed fat and fruitful. These legends are the translation +into poetic fact of the peace and love surrounding Mahomet during the five +years he spent with Hailima; for in all primitive communities every +experience must pass through transmutation into the definite and tangible +and be given a local habitation and a name. + +When Mahomet was two years old and the time had come to restore him to +his mother, Hailima took him back to Mecca; but his mother gave him to +her again because he had thriven so well under desert skies, and she +feared the stifling air of Mecca for her only son. So Hailima returned +with him and brought him up as one of her children until he was five, +when the first signs of his nervous, highly-strung nature showed +themselves in a kind of epileptic fit. The Arabians, unskilled as they +were in any medical science, attributed manifestations of this kind to +evil spirits, and it is not surprising that we find Hailima bringing him +back to his grandfather in great alarm. So ended his fostering by the +desert and by Hailima. + +Of these five years spent among the Beni Sa'ad chroniclers have spoken +in much detail, but their confused accounts are so interwoven with +legend that it is impossible to re-create events, and we can only obtain +a general idea of his life as a tiny child among the children of the +tribe, sharing their fortunes, playing and quarrelling with them, and at +moments, when the spirit seemed to advance beyond its dwelling-place, +gazing wide-eyed upon the limitless desert under the blaze of sun or +below the velvet dark, with swift, half-conscious questionings uttering +the universal why and how [31] of childhood. Legend regards even this +early time as one of preparation for his mission, and there are stories +of the coming of two men clothed in white and shining garments, who +ripped open his body, took out his heart, and having purged it of all +unrighteousness, returned it, symbolically cleansing him of sin that he +might forward the work of God. It was an imaginative rightness that +decreed that Mahomet's most impressionable years should be spent in the +great desert, whose twin influences of fierceness and fatalism he felt +throughout his life, and which finally became the key-notes of his +worship of Allah. + +Hailima, convinced that her foster-son was possessed by evil spirits, +resolved to return him to Abd al Muttalib, but as she journeyed through +Upper Mecca, the child wandered away and was lost for a time. Hailima +hurried, much agitated, to his grandfather, who immediately sent his +sons to search, and after a short time they returned with the boy, +unharmed and unfrightened by his adventure. The legend--it is quite a +late accretion--is interesting, as showing an acquaintance with, and a +parallelism to, the story of the losing of Jesus among the Passover +crowds, and the search for Him by His kindred. Mahomet was at last +lodged with his mother, who indignantly explained to Hailima the real +meaning of his malady, and spoke of his future glory as manifested to +her by the light that enfolded her before his birth. Not long after, +Amina decided to visit her [32] husband's tomb at Medina, and thither +Mahomet accompanied her, travelling through the rocky, desolate valleys +and hills that separate the two, with just his mother and a slave girl. + + +Mahomet was too young to remember much about the journey to Medina, +except that it was hot and that he was often tired, and since his father +was but a name to him, the visit to his tomb faded altogether from his +mind. But on the homeward journey a calamity overtook him which he +remembered all his life. Amina, weakened by journeying and much +sorrow, and perhaps feeling her desire for life forsake her after the +fulfillment of her pilgrimage, sickened and died at Abwa, and Mahomet +and the slave girl continued their mournful way alone. + +Amina is drawn by tradition in very vague outline, and Mahomet's memory +of her as given in the Kuran does not throw so much light upon the woman +herself as upon her child's devotion and affectionate memory of the +mother he lost almost before he knew her. His grief for her was very +real; she remained continually in his thoughts, and in after years +he paid tribute at her tomb to her tenderness and love for him. + +"This is the grave of my mother ... the Lord hath permitted me to visit +it.... I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her +overcame me and I wept." + +The sensitive, over-nervous child, left thus solitary, away from all his +kindred, must have brought back with him to Mecca confused but vivid +impressions of the long journey and of the catastrophe which lay at the +end of it. The uncertainty of his future, and the joys of gaining at +last a foster-father in Abd al Muttalib, finds reflection in the Kuran +in one little burst of praise to God: "Did He not find thee an orphan, +and furnish thee with a refuge?" + +Life for two years as the foster-child of Abd al Muttalib, the venerable, +much honoured chief of the house of Hashim, passed very pleasantly for +Mahomet. He was the darling of his grandfather's last years of life; for, +perhaps having pity on his defencelessness, perhaps divining with that +prescience which often marks old age, something of the revelation this +child was to be to his countrymen, he protected him from the harshness of +his uncles. A rug used to be placed in the shadow of the Kaaba, and there +the aged ruler rested during the heat of the day, and his sons sat around +him at respectful distance, listening to his words. But the child +Mahomet, who loved his grandfather, ran fearlessly up, and would have +seated himself by Abd al Muttalib's side. Then the sons sought to +punish him for his lack of reverence, but their father prevented them: + +"Leave the child in peace. By the God of my fathers, I swear he will one +day be a mighty prophet." + +So Mahomet remained in close attendance upon the old man, until he died +in the eighth year after the Year of the Elephant, and there was mourning +for him in the houses of his sons. + +When Abd al Muttalib knew his end was near he sent for his daughters, and +bade them make lamentation over him. We possess traditional accounts of +these funeral songs; they are representative of the wild rhetorical +eloquence of the poetry of the day. They lose immensely in translation, +and even in reading with the eye instead of hearing, for they were never +meant to find immortality in the written words, but in the speech of men. + +"When in the night season a voice of loud lament proclaimed the sorrowful +tidings I wept, so that the tears ran down my face like pearls. I wept +for a noble man, greater than all others, for Sheibar, the generous, +endowed with virtues; for my beloved father, the inheritor of all good +things, for the man faithful in his own house, who never shrank from +combat, who stood fast and needed not a prop, mighty, well-favoured, +rich in gifts. If a man could live for ever by reason of his noble +nature--but to none is this lot vouchsafed--he would remain untouched of +death because of his fair fame and his good deeds." + +The songs furnish ample evidence as to the high position which Abd al +Muttalib held among the Kureisch. His death was a great loss to his +nation, but it was a greater calamity to his little foster-child, for it +brought him from ease and riches to comparative poverty and obscurity +with his uncle, Abu Talib. None of Abd al Muttalib's sons inherited the +nature of their father, and with his death the greatness of the house of +Hashim diminished, until it gave place to the Omeyya branch, with Harb at +its head. The offices at Mecca were seized by the Omeyya, and to the +descendants of Abd al Muttalib there remained but the privilege of caring +for the well Zemzem, and of giving its water for the refreshment of +pilgrims. Only two of his sons, except Abu Talib, who earns renown +chiefly as the guardian of Mahomet, attain anything like prominence. +Hamza was converted at the beginning of Mahomet's mission, and continued +his helper and warrior until he died in battle for Islam; Abu Lahab (the +flame) opposed Mahomet's teaching with a vehemence that earned him one of +the fiercest denunciations in the early, passionate Suras of the +Kuran: + + "Blasted be the hands of Abu Lahab; let himself perish; + His wealth and his gains shall avail him not; + Burned shall he be with the fiery flame, + His wife shall be laden with firewood-- + On her neck a rope of palm fibre." + +Mahomet, bereft a second time of one he loved and on whom he depended, +passed into the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. This was a man of no great +force of character, well-disposed and kindly, but of straitened means, +and lacking in the qualities that secure success. Later, he seems to have +attained a more important position, mainly, one would imagine, through +the lion courage and unfaltering faith in the Prophet of his son, the +mighty warrior Ali, of whom it is written, "Mahomet is the City of +Knowledge, and Ali is the Gate thereof." But although Abu Talib was +sufficiently strong to withstand the popular fury of the Kureisch against +Mahomet, and to protect him for a time on the grounds of kinship, he +never finally decided upon which side he would take his stand. Had he +been a far-seeing, imaginative man, able to calculate even a little the +force that had entered into Arabian polity, the history of the foundation +of Islam would have been continued, with Mecca as its base, and have +probably resolved itself into the war of two factions within the city, +wherein the new faith, being bound to the more powerful political party, +would have had a speedier conquest. + +With Abu Talib Mahomet spent the rest of his childhood and youth--quiet +years, except for a journey to Syria, and his insignificant part in the +war against the Hawazin, a desert tribe that engaged the Kureisch for +some time. In Abu Talib's house there was none of the ease that had +surrounded him with Abd al Muttalib. But Mahomet was naturally an +affectionate child, and was equally attached to his uncle as he had been +to his grandfather. + +Two years later Abu Talib set out on a mercantile journey, and was minded +to leave his small foster-child behind him, but Mahomet came to him +as he sat on his camel equipped for his journey, and clinging to him +passionately implored his uncle not to go without him. Abu Talib could +not resist his pleading, and so Mahomet accompanied him on that magical +journey through the desert, so glorious yet awesome to an imaginative +child, Bostra was the principal city of exchange for merchandise +circulating between Yemen, Northern Arabia, and the cities of Upper +Palestine, and Mahomet must thus have travelled on the caravan route +through the heart of Syria, past Jerash, Ammon, and the site of the +fated Cities of the Plain. In Syria, too, he first encountered the +Christian faith, and planted those remembrances that were to be revived +and strengthened upon his second journey through that wonderful land--in +religion, and in a lesser degree in polity, a law unto itself, forging +out its own history apart from the main stream of Christian life and +thought. + +Legends concerning this journey are rife, and all emphasise the influence +Christianity had upon his mind, and also the ready recognition of his +coming greatness by all those Christians who saw him. On the homeward +journey the monk Bahirah is fabled to have met the party and to have +bidden them to a feast. When he saw the child was not among them he was +wroth, and commanded his guests to bring "every man of the company." He +interrogated Mahomet and Abu Talib concerning the parentage of the boy, +and we have here the first traditional record of Mahomet's speech. + +"Ask what thou wilt," he said to Bahirah, "and I will make answer." + +So Bahirah questioned him as to the signs that had been vouchsafed him, +and looking between his shoulders found the seal of the prophetic office, +a mole covered with hair. Then Bahirah knew this was he who was foretold, +and counselled Abu Talib to take him to his native land, and to beware +[39] of the Jews, for he would one day attain high honour. At this time +Mahomet was little more than a child, but although few thoughts of God or +of human destiny can have crossed his mind, he retained a vivid +impression of the storied places through which he passed--Jerash, Ammon, +the valley of Hejr, and saw in imagination the mighty stream of the +Tigris, the ruinous cities, and Palmyra with its golden pillars fronting +the sun. The tribes which the caravan encountered were rich in legend and +myth, and their influence, together with the more subtle spell of the +desert vastness, wrought in him that fervour of spirit, a leaping, +troubled flame, which found mortal expression in the poetry of the early +part of the Kuran, where the vision of God's majesty compels the gazer +into speech that sweeps from his mind in a stream of fire: + + "By the Sun and his noonday brightness, + By the Moon when she followeth him, + By Day when it revealeth his glory, + By the night when it enshroudeth him, + By the Heaven and Him who built it, + By the Earth and Him who spread it forth, + By the Soul and Him who balanced it, + Breathed into its good, yea, and its evil-- + Verily man's lot is cast amid destruction + Save those who believe and deal justly, + And enjoin upon each other steadfastness and truth." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +"God hath treasuries beneath the throne, the keys whereof are the tongues +of poets."--MAHOMET. + +The Arabian calendar has always been in a distinctive manner subject to +the religion of the people. Before Mahomet imposed his faith upon Mecca, +there were four sacred months following each other, in which no war might +be waged. For four months, therefore, the tumultuous Arab spirit was +restrained from that most precious to it; pilgrimages to holy places were +undertaken, and there was a little leisure for the cultivation of art and +learning. + +The Greater Pilgrimage to Mecca, comprising the sevenfold circuit of the +Kaaba and the kissing of the sacred Black Stone, and culminating in a +procession to the holy places of Mina and Arafat, could only be +undertaken in Dzul-Higg, corresponding in the time of Mahomet to our +March. The month preceding, Dzul-Cada, was occupied in a kind of +preparation and rejoicing, which took the form of a fair at Ocatz, three +days' journey east of Mecca, when representatives of all the surrounding +nations used to assemble to exchange merchandise, to take part in the +games, to listen to the contests in poetry and rhetoric, and sometimes to +be roused into sinister excitement at the proximity of so many tribes +differing from them in nationality, and often in their religion and moral +code. + +Into this vast concourse came Mahomet, a lad of fifteen, eager to see, +hear, and know. He was present at the poetic contests, and caught from +the protagonists a reflection of their vivid, fitful eloquence, with its +ceaseless undercurrent of monotony. + +Romance, in so far as it represents the love of the strange, is a product +of the West. There is a rigidity in the Eastern mind that does not allow +of much change or seeking after new things. Wild and beautiful as this +poetry of Arabia is, its themes and their manner of treatment seldom +vary; as the desert is changeless in contour, filled with a brilliant +sameness, whirling at times into sombre fury and as suddenly subsiding, +so is the literature which it fostered. The monotony is expressed in a +reiteration of subject, barbarous to the intellect of the West; endurance +is born of that monotony, and strength, and the acquiescence in things as +they are, but not the discovery and development of ideas. Arabia does not +flash forth a new presentment of beauty, following the vivid apprehension +of some lovely form, but broods over it in a kind of slumbering +enthusiasm that mounts at last into a glory of metaphor, drowning the +subject in intensest light. The rival poets assembled to discover who +could turn the deftest phrases in satire of the opposing tribe, or extol +most eloquently the bravery and skill of his own people, the beauty and +modesty of their women, and from these wild outpourings Mahomet learnt to +clothe his thoughts in that splendid garment whose jewels illumine the +earlier part of the Kuran. + +Perhaps more important than the poetical contests was the religious +aspect of the fair at Ocatz. Here were gathered Jew, Christian, and +Arabian worshipper of many gods, in a vast hostile confusion. Mahomet was +familiar with Jewish cosmogony from his knowledge of their faith within +his own land, and he had heard dimly of the Christian principles during +his Syrian journey. But here, though both Jews and Christians claimed to +be worshippers of a single God, and although the Jews took for their +protector Abraham, the mighty founder of Mahomet's own city, yet there +was nothing between all the sects but fruitless strife. He saw the Jews +looking disdainfully upon the Christian dogs, and the Christians firmly +convinced that an irrevocable doom would shortly descend upon every Jew. +Both united in condemning to eternal wrath the idol-worshippers of the +Kaaba. It was a fiercely outspoken, remorseless enmity that he saw around +him, and the impotence born of distrust he saw also. + +It is not possible that any hint of his future mission enlightened him as +to the part he was to play in eliminating this conflict, but may it not +be that there was sown in his mind a seed of thought concerning the +uselessness of all this strife of religions, and the limitless power that +might accrue to his nation if it could but be persuaded to become united +in allegiance to the one true God? For even at that early stage Mahomet, +with the examples of Judaism and Christianity before him, must have +rejected, even if unthinkingly, the polytheistic idea. + +The poetic and warlike contests partook of the fiery earnestness +characteristic of the combatants, and it was seldom that the fair at +Ocatz passed by without some hostile demonstration. The greatest rivals +were the Kureisch and the Hawazin, a tribe dwelling between Mecca and +Taif. + +The Hawazin were tumultuous and unruly, and the Kureisch ever ready to +rouse their hostility by numerous small slights and taunts. We read +traditionally of an insult by some Kureisch youths towards a girl of the +Hawazin; this incident was closed peaceably, but some years later the +Kureisch (always the aggressive party because of their stronghold in +Mecca) committed an outrage that could not be passed over. As the fair +progressed, news came of the murder of a Hawazin, chief of a caravan, and +the seizure of his treasure by an ally of the Kureisch. That tribe, +knowing themselves at a disadvantage and fearing vengeance, fled back to +Mecca. The Hawazin pursued them remorselessly to the borders of the +sacred precincts, beyond which it was sacrilegious to wage war. Some +traditions say they followed their foe undaunted by fear of divine wrath, +and thus incurred a double disgrace of having fought in the sacred month +and within the sacred territory. But their pursuit cannot have lasted +long, because we find them challenging the Kureisch to battle at the same +time the next year. All Mahomet's uncles took part in the Sacrilegious +War that followed, and stirring times continued for Mahomet until a truce +was made after four years. He attended his uncles in warfare, and we hear +of his collecting the enemy's arrows that fell harmlessly into their +lines, in order to reinforce the Kureisch ammunition. + +A vivid picture by the hand of tradition is this period in Mahomet's +life, for he was between eighteen and nineteen, just at the age when +fighting would appeal to his wild, yet determined nature. He must have +learned resource and some of the stratagem of war from this attendance +upon warriors, if he did not become filled with much physical daring, +never one of his characteristics, nor, indeed, of any man of his nervous +temperament, and his imagination was certainly kindled by the spectacle +of the horrors and triumphs of strife. Several battles were fought with +varying success, until at the end of about five years' fighting both +sides were weary and a truce was called. It was found that twenty more +Hawazin had been killed than Kureisch, and according to the simple yet +equitable custom of the time, a like number of hostages was given to the +Hawazin that there might not be blood feud between them. + +The Kureisch passed as suddenly into peace as they had plunged into +strife. After the Sacrilegious War, a period of prosperity began for the +city of Mecca. It was wealthy enough to support its population, and trade +flourished with the marts of Bostra, Damascus, and Northern Syria. Its +political condition had never been very stable, and it seems to have +preserved during the Omeyyad ascendancy the same loose but roughly +effective organisation that it possessed under the Hashim branch. The +intellect that could see the potentialities of such a polity, once it +could be knit together by some common bond, had not arisen; but the scene +was prepared for his coming, and we have to think of the Mecca of that +time as offering untold suggestions for its religious, and later for its +political, salvation to a mind anxious to produce, but uncertain as yet +of its medium. + +Mahomet returned with Abu Talib, and passed with him into obscurity of a +poverty not too burdensome, and to a quiet, somewhat reflective +household. He lived under the spell of that tranquillity until he was +twenty-five, and of this time there is not much notice in the traditions, +but its contemplation is revealed to us in the earlier chapters of the +Kuran. At one time Mahomet acted as shepherd upon the Meccan hills--low, +rocky ranges covered with a dull scrub, and open to the limitless vaults +of sky. Here, whether under sun or stars, he learned that love and awe of +Nature that throbs through the early chapters of the Kuran like a deep +organ note of praise, dominated almost always with fear. + +"Consider the Heaven--with His Hand has He built it up, and given it its +vastness--and the Earth has He stretched out like a carpet, smoothly has +He spread it forth! Verily, God is the sole sustainer, possessed of +might, the unshaken! Fly then to God." + +Indeed, a haunting terror broods over all those souls who know the +desert, and this fear translated into action becomes fierce and terrible +deeds, and into the world of the spirit, angry dogmatic commands. It is +the result of the knowledge that to those who stray from the well-known +desert track comes death; equally certain is the destruction of the soul +for those who transgress against the law of the Ruler of the earth. The +God of the early Kuran is the spiritual representative of the forces +surrounding Mahomet, whether of Nature or government. The country around +Mecca conveys one central thought to one who meditates--the sense of +power, not the might of one kindly and familiar, but the unapproachable +sovereignty of one alien and remote, a dweller in far-off places, who +nevertheless fills the earth with his dominion. Mahomet passing by, as he +did, the gaieties and temptations of youth, had his mind alert for the +influences of this Nature, full of awful power, and for the contemplation +of life and the Universe around him. + +In common with many enthusiasts and men of action, certain sides of his +nature, especially the sexual and the practical, awoke late, and were +preceded by a reflective period wherein the poet held full sway. He never +desired the companionship of those of his own age and their rather +debased pleasures. There are legends of his being miraculously preserved +from the corruption of the youthful vices of Mecca, but the more probable +reason for his shunning them is that they made no appeal to his desires. +Some minds and tastes unfold by imperceptible degrees--flowers that +attain fruition by the shedding of their earlier petals. Mahomet was of +this nature. At this time the poet was paramount in his mental activities +He loved silence and solitude, so that he might use those imaginative and +contemplative gifts of which he felt himself to possess so large a share. + +It is not possible at this distance of time to attempt to estimate the +importance of this period in Mahomet's mental development. There are not +sufficient data to enable history to fill in any detailed sketch, but the +outlines may be safely indicated by the help of his later life and the +testimony of that commentary upon his feelings and actions, the Kuran. +His nature now seems to be in a pause of expectation, whose vain urgency +lasted until he became convinced of his prophetic mission. He must have +been at this time the seeker, whose youth, if not his very eagerness, +prevented his attaining what he sought. He was earnest and sincere, grave +beyond his years, and so gained from his fellows the respect always meted +out, in an essentially religion-loving community, to any who give promise +of future "inspiration," before its actuality has rendered him too +uncomfortable a citizen. He received from his comrades the title of +Al-Amin (the Faithful), and continued his life apart from his kind, +performing his duties well, but still remaining aloof from others as +one not of their world. From his sojourn in the mountains came the +inspiration that created the poetry of the Kuran and the reflective +interest in what he knew of his world and its religion; both embryos, but +especially the latter, germinated in his mind until they emerged into +full consciousness and became his fire of religious conviction, and his +zeal for the foundation and glory of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +"Women are the twin-halves of men."--MAHOMET. + +Abu Talib's straitened circumstances never prevented him from treating +his foster-child with all the affection of which his kindly but somewhat +weak character was capable. But the cares of a growing family soon became +too much for his means, and when Mahomet was about twenty-five his uncle +suggested that he should embark upon a mercantile journey for some rich +trader in Mecca. We can imagine Mahomet, immersed in his solitudes, +responding reluctantly to a call that could not be evaded. He was not by +nature a trader, and the proposal was repugnant to him, except for his +desire to help his uncle, and more than this, his curiosity to revisit at +a more assimilative age the lands that he remembered dimly from childhood. + +Khadijah, a beautiful widow, daughter of an honoured house and the cousin +of Mahomet, rich and much sought after by the Kureisch, desired someone +to accompany her trading venture to Bostra, and hearing of the wisdom and +faithfulness of Mahomet, sent for him, asking if he would travel for her +into Syria and pursue her bargains in that northern city. She was willing +to reward him far more generously than most merchants. Mahomet, anxious +to requite his uncle in some way, and with his young imagination kindled +at the prospect of new scenes and ideas, prepared eagerly for the +journey. With one other man-servant, Meisara, he set out with the +merchandise to Bostra, traversing as a young man the same desert path he +had journeyed along in boyhood. + +He was of an age to appreciate all that this experience could teach, in +the regions both of Nature and religion. The lonely desert only increased +his pervading sense of the mystery lying beyond his immediate knowledge, +and its vastness confirmed his vague belief in some kind of a power who +alone controlled so mighty a creation as the abounding spaces around him, +and the "star-bespangled" heaven above. On this journey, too, he first +saw with conscious eyes the desert storms in all the splendour and terror +of their fury, and caught the significance of those sudden squalls that +urge the waters of the upper Syrian lakes into a tumult of destruction. +Frequent allusions to sea and lake storms are to be found in the earlier +part of the Kuran: "When the seas shall be commingled, when the seas +shall boil, then shall man tremble before his creator." "By the swollen +sea, verily a chastisement from thy Lord is imminent." In every natural +manifestation that struck Mahomet's imagination in these early days, God +appeared to him as the sovereign of power, as terrible and as remote as +He was in the lightnings on Sinai. What wonder, then, that when the call +came to him to take up his mission it became a command to "arise and +warn"? + +The chroniclers would have us believe that his contact with Christianity +was more important than his communion with Nature. Most of the legends +surrounding his relations with Christian Syria may be safely accepted as +later additions, but it is certain that he paid some attention to the +religion of those people through whose country he passed. A Syrian monk +is said to have seen Mahomet sitting beneath a tree, and to have hailed +him as a prophet; there is even a traditional account of an interview +with Nestorius, but this must be set aside at once as pure fiction. + +The kernel of these legends seems to be the desire to show that Mahomet +had studied Christianity, and was not imposing a new religion without +having considered the potentialities of those already existing. However +that may be, Christianity certainly interested Mahomet, and must have +influenced him towards the monotheistic idea. The Arabians themselves +were not entirely ignorant of it; they witnessed the worship of one God +by the Jews and Christians on the borders of their territory, and +although it is a very debatable point how far the idea of one God had +progressed in Arabia when Mahomet began his mission, it may fairly be +accepted that dissatisfaction with the old tribal gods was not wanting. +Mahomet saw the countries through which he passed in a state of religious +flux, and heard around him diverse creeds, detecting doubtless an +undercurrent of unrest and a desire for some religion of more compelling +power. + +With the single slave he reached Bostra in safety with the merchandise, +and having concluded his barter very successfully, and retaining in his +mind many impressions of that crowded city, returned to Mecca by the same +desert route. Meisara, the slave, relates (in what is doubtless a later +addition) of the fierce noonday heat that beset the travellers, and how, +when Mahomet was almost exhausted, two angels sat on his camel and +protected him with their wings. When they reached Mecca, Khadijah sold +the merchandise and found her wealth doubled, so careful had Mahomet been +to ensure the prosperity of his client, and before long love grew up in +her heart for this tall, grave youth, who was faithful in small things as +well as in great. + +Khadijah had been much sought after by the men of Mecca, both for her +riches and for her beauty, but she had preferred to remain independent, +and continued her orderly life among her maidens, attending to her +household, and finding enough occupation in the supervision of her many +mercantile ventures. She was about forty, fair of countenance, and gifted +with a rich nature, whose leading qualities were affection and sympathy. +She seems to have been pre-eminently one of those receptive women who are +good to consult for the clarification of ideas. Her intelligence was +quick to grasp another's thought, if she did not originate thought within +herself. She was a woman fitted to be the helper and guide of such a man +as Mahomet, eager, impulsive, prone to swiftly alternating extremes of +depression and elation. A subtle mental attraction drew them together, +and Khadijah divined intuitively the power lying within the mind of this +youth and also his need of her, both mentally and materially, to enable +him to realise his whole self. Therefore as she was the first to awaken +to her desire for him, the first advances come from her. + +She sent her sister to Mahomet to induce him to change his mind upon the +subject of marriage, and when he found that the rich and gracious +Khadijah offered him her hand, he could not believe his good fortune, and +assured the sister that he was eager to make her his wife. The alliance, +in spite of its personal suitability, was far from being advantageous to +Khadijah from a worldly point of view, and the traditions of how her +father's consent was obtained have all the savour of contemporary +evidence. + +The father was bidden to a feast, and there plied right royally with +wine. When his reason returned he asked the meaning of the great spread +of viands, the canopy, and the chapleted heads of the guests. Thereupon +he was told it was the marriage-feast of Mahomet and Khadijah, and his +wrath and amazement were great, for had he not by his presence given +sanction to the nuptials? The incident throws some light upon the +marriage laws current at the time. Khadijah, though forty and a widow, +was still under the guardianship of her father, having passed to him +after the death of her husband, and his consent was needed before she +married again. + +The marriage contracted by mutual desire was followed by a time of leisure +and happiness, which Mahomet remembered all his life. Never did any man +feel his marriage gift (in Mahomet's case twenty young camels) more fitly +given than the youth whom Khudijah rescued from poverty, and to whom she +gave the boon of her companionship and counsel. The marriage was fruitful; +two sons were born, the eldest Kasim, wherefore Mahomet received the title +of Abu-el-Kasim, the father of Kasim, but both these died in infancy. +There were also four daughters born to Mahomet--Zeineb, Rockeya, Umm +Kolthum, and Fatima. These were important later on for the marriages they +contracted with Mahomet's supporters, and indeed his whole position was +considerably solidified by the alliances between his daughters and his +chief adherents. + +Ten years passed thus in prosperity and study. Mahomet was no longer +obscure but the chief of a wealthy house, revered for his piety, and +looked upon already as one of those "to whom God whispers in the ear." +His character now exhibited more than ever the marks of the poet and +seer; the time was at hand when all the subdued enthusiasm of his mind +was to break forth in the opening Suras of the Kuran. The inspiration had +not yet descended upon him, but it was imminent, and the shadow of its +stern requirements was about him as he attended to his work of +supervising Khadijah's wealth or took part in the religious life of +Mecca. + +In A.D. 605, when Mahomet was thirty-five years old, the chief men of +Mecca decided to rebuild the Kaaba. The story of its rebuilding is +perhaps the most interesting of the many strange, naive tales of this +adventurous city. Valley floods had shattered the house of the gods. It +was roofless, and so insecure that its treasury had already been rifled +by blasphemous men. It stood only as high as the stature of a man, and +was made simply of stones laid one above the other. Rebuilding was +absolutely necessary, but materials were needed before the work could +begin, and this delayed the Kureisch until chance provided them with +means of accomplishing their design. A Grecian ship had been driven in a +Red Sea storm upon the coast near Mecca and was rapidly being broken up. +When the Kureisch heard of it, they set out in a body to the seashore and +took away the wood of the ship to build a roof for the Kaaba. It is a +significant fact that tradition puts a Greek carpenter in Mecca who was +able to advise them as to the construction. The Meccans themselves were +not sufficiently skilled in the art of building. + +But now a great difficulty awaited them. Who was to undertake the +responsibility of demolishing so holy a place, even if it were only that +it might be rebuilt more fittingly? Many legends cluster round the +demolition. It would seem that the gods only understood gradually that a +complete destruction of the Kaaba was not intended. Their opposition was +at first implacable. The loosened stones flew back into their places, and +finally none could be induced to make the attempt to pull down the Kaaba. +There was a pause in the work, during which no one dared venture near the +temple, then Al-Welid, being a bold and god-fearing spirit, took an axe, +and crying: + +"I will make a beginning, let no evil ensue, O Lord!" he began to +dislodge the stones. + +Then the rest of the Kureisch rather cravenly waited until the next day, +but seeing that no calamity had befallen Al-Welid, they were ready to +continue the work. The rebuilding prospered until they came to a point +where the Black Stone must be embedded in the eastern wall. + +At this juncture a vehement dispute arose among the Kureisch as to who +was to have the honour of depositing the Black Stone in its place. They +wrangled for days, and finally decided to appeal to Mahomet, who had a +reputation for wisdom and resource. Mahomet, after carefully considering +the question, ordered a large cloth to be brought, and commanded the +representatives of the four chief Meccan houses to hold each a corner. +Then he deposited the Black Stone in the centre of it, and in this +manner, with the help of every party in the quarrel, the sacred object +was raised to the proper height. When this was done Mahomet conducted the +Black Stone to its niche in the wall with his own hand. + +The building of the Kaaba was ultimately completed, and a great +festival was held in honour. Many hymns of praise were sung at the +accomplishment of so difficult and important a work. The Kaaba has +remained substantially the same as it was when it was first rebuilt. It +is a small place of no architectural pretensions, merely a square with no +windows, and a tiny door raised from the ground, by which the Faithful, +duly prepared, are allowed to enter upon rare occasions. The sacred Black +Stone lies embedded about three feet from the ground in the eastern wall, +at first a dark greenish stone of volcanic or aerolitic origin, now worn +black and polished by thousands of kisses. There is little in the Kaaba +to account for the reverence bestowed upon it, and its insignificance +bears witness to the Eastern capacity for worshipping the idea for which +its symbols stand. This was the sacred temple of Abraham and Ishmael, +therefore its exterior mattered little. + +Mahomet's share in the construction of the Kaaba brought him further +honour among the Kureisch. From this time until the beginning of his +mission he lived a quiet, easeful domestic life, interrupted only by +mental storms and depressions. He found leisure to meditate and observe, +and of this necessarily uneventful time there is little or no mention in +the histories. He certainly gained an opportunity of examining somewhat +closely the tenets of Christianity by the entrance into his household of +Zeid, a Christian slave, cultured and well-informed as to the doctrines +of his religion, and his presence doubtless influenced Mahomet in the +spiritual battles he encountered at a time when as yet he was certain +neither of God nor himself. Besides Zeid another important personage +entered Mahomet's household, Ali, son of Abu Talib, and future convert +and pride of Islam, "the lion of the Faith." The adoption of Ali was +Mahomet's small recompense to Abu Talib for his care of him, and the +advantages there from to Islam were inestimable. Ali was no statesman, +but he was an indomitable fighter, with whose aid Mahomet founded his +religion of the sword. + +In such quiet manner Mahomet passed the years immediately preceding the +discovery of his mission, and as religious doubts and fears alternated in +him with fervour and hopefulness, so signs were not wanting of a spirit +of inquiry found abroad in Arabia, discontented with the old religions, +seeking for a clearer enthusiasm and withheld from its goal. Legends +gather round the figures of four inquirers who are reputed to have come +to Mahomet for enlightenment, and the story is but the primitive device +of rendering concrete and material all those vague stirrings of the +communal spirit towards a more convincing conception of the world-- +legends that embody ideas in personalities, mainly because their language +has no words for the expression of the abstract, and also that, clothed +in living garments, they may capture the hearts of men. The time for the +coming of a prophet and a teacher could not be long delayed, and a +foreboding of his imperious destiny, dark with war and aflame with God's +judgment, had already begun to steal across Mahomet's hesitant soul. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +INSPIRATION + + + "Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created, + Yan, who hath made man from Clots of Blood, + Recite thou, for thy Lord, he is most bounteous." + _The Kuran_. + +The mental growth by which Mahomet attained the capacity of Prophet and +ruler will always have spread about it a misty veil, wherein strange +shapes and awful visions are dimly discerned. Did his soul face the +blankness that baffles and entices the human spirit with any convictions, +the gradual products of thought and experience, or was it with an +unmeaning chaos within him that he stumbled into faith and evolved his +own creed? His knowledge of Christianity and Judaism undoubtedly helped +to foster in him his central idea of the indivisibility of God. But how +was this faith wrought out into his conception of himself as the Prophet +of his people? + +It is impossible for any decision to be made as to the mainspring of his +beliefs, except in the light of his character and development of mind. He +was passionate and yet practical, holding within himself the elements of +seer and statesman, prophet and law-giver, as yet doubtful of the voice +which inspired him, but spurred on in his quest for the truth by an +intensity of spirit that carried him forward resistlessly as soon as +conviction came to him. The man who imposed his dauntless determination +upon a whole people, who founded a system of religious and social laws, +who moved armies to fight primarily for an idea, could not lightly gain +is right to exhort and control. His nature is almost cataclysmic, and +once filled with the fire of the Lord, he bursts forth among his +fellow-men "with the right hand striking," to use his own vivid metaphor, +but before this evidence of power has come an agonising period of doubt. + +Traces of his mental turmoil are seen abundantly in his physical nature. +We read of his exhaustion after the inspiration comes, and of "the +terrific Suras" that took their toll of his vitality afterwards. The +mission imposed upon him was no light burden, and demanded of him +strength both of body and mind. The successive stages by which he became +convinced of his divine call are only detailed in the histories with the +concurrence of the supernatural; he sees material visions and dreams +fervent dreams. With the ecstacy of Heaven about him, according to +legend, he holds converse with the angel Gabriel, arch-messenger of God, +and the divine injunctions must be translated into mental enthusiasms +before the true evolution of Mahomet's mind can be dimly conceived. + +When he was forty he sought solitude more constantly than formerly. There +were deeps in his own nature of which he was only now becoming aware. A +restlessness of mind beset him, and continually he retired to a cave at +the base of Mount Hira, where he could meditate undisturbed. This +mountain, hallowed for ever by the followers of Islam, is now called +somewhat ironically, considering its natural barrenness, Jebel Nur, the +mountain of Light. Mahomet was of a nervous temperament, the nature that +suffers more intensely through its imaginative foresight than in actual +experience. He was of those who see keenly and feel towards their +beliefs. His faith in God produced none of that self-abnegating +rapture to be found in the devotions of many early Christians; it was a +personal passion, sweeping up his whole nature within its folds, and +rousing the enfolded not to meditation but to instant action. + +Through all the legendary accounts there beats that excitement that tells +of a mind wrought to the highest pitch, afire with visions, alive with +desire. Then, when his fervour attained its zenith, Gabriel came to him +in sleep with a silken cloth in his hand covered with writing and said to +Mahomet: + +"Read!" + +"I cannot read." + +Then the angel wrapped the cloth about him and once more commanded, +"Read!" + +Again came the answer, "I cannot read," and again the angel covered him, +still repeating, "Read!" + +Then his mouth was opened and he read the first sura of the Kuran: +"Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created thee," and when he awoke +it seemed to him that these words were graven upon his heart. + +Mahomet went immediately up into the mountain, and there Gabriel appeared +to him waking and said: + +"Thou art God's Prophet, and I am Gabriel." + +The archangel vanished, but Mahomet remained rooted to the spot, until +Khadijah's messengers found him and brought him to her. The simple story +of Mahomet's call to the prophetic office from the lips of the old +chroniclers is peculiarly fragrant, but it leaves us in considerable +doubt as to the real means by which he attained his faith and was +emboldened to preach to his people. It is certain that he had no idea at +the time when he received his inspiration, of the ultimate political role +in store for him. He was now simply the man who warned the people of +their sins, and who insisted upon the sovereignty of one God. Very little +argument is ever used by Mahomet to spread his faith. He spoke a plain +message, and those who disregarded it were infallibly doomed. He saw +himself in the forefront as the man who knew God, and strove to win his +countrymen to right ways of life; he did not see himself at the head of +earthly armies, controlling the nucleus of a mighty and united Arabia, +and until his flight from Mecca to Medina he regarded himself merely as a +religious teacher, the political side of his mission growing out of the +exigencies of circumstance, almost without his own volition. + +His exaltation upon the mountain of light soon faded into uncertainty and +fearfulness before the influence of the world's harsh wisdom. Mahomet +entered upon a period of hesitation and dreariness, doubtful of himself, +of his vision, and of the divine favour. His soul voyaged on dark and +troubled seas and gazed into abysmal spaces. At one time he would receive +the light of the seven Heavens within his mind, and feel upon him the +fervour of the Hebrew prophets of old, and again he would call in vain +upon God, and, and seeking, would be flung back upon a darkness of doubt +more terrible than the lightnings of divine wrath. + +In all those exaltations and glooms Khadijah had part; she comforted his +distress and shared his elation until the sorrowful period of the +Fattrah, the pause in the revelation, was past. The period is variously +estimated by the chroniclers, and there are many nebulous and spurious +legends attaching to it, but whatever its length it seems certain that +Mahomet gained within it a fuller knowledge of Jewish and Christian +tenets, probably through Zeid, the Christian slave in his household, and +most accounts agree that the Fattrah was ended by the revelation of the +sura entitled "The Enwrapped," the mandate of the angel Gabriel: + + "O thou enwrapped in thy mantle, + Arise and warn!" + +The explanation of the term "enwrapped in thy mantle" shows the +prevailing belief in good and evil spirits characteristic of Mahomet's +time. Wandering on the mountain, he saw in a vision the angel Gabriel +seated on a throne between heaven and earth, and afraid before so much +glory, ran to Khadijah, beseeching her to cover him with his mantle that +the evil spirits whom he felt so near him might be avoided. Thereupon +Gabriel came down to earth and revealed the Sura of Admonition. This +supernatural command would appear to be the translation into the +imaginative world of the peace of mind that descended upon Mahomet, and +the conviction as to the reality of his inspiration following on a time +of despair. + +The command fell to one who was peculiarly fitted by nature and +circumstance to obey it effectively. To Mahomet, who knew somewhat the +chaos of religions around him--Pagan, Jewish, and Christian struggling +together in unholy strife--the conception of God's unity, once it +attained the strength of a conviction, necessarily resolved itself into +an admonitory mission. "There is no God but God," therefore all who +believe otherwise have incurred His wrath; hasten then to warn men of +their sins. So his conviction passed out of the region of thought into +action and received upon it the stamp of time and place, becoming thereby +inevitably more circumscribed and intense. + +From now onwards the course of Mahomet's life is rendered indisputably +plainer by our possession of that famous and much-maligned document, the +Kuran, virtually a record of his inspired sayings as remembered and +written down by his immediate successors. Apart from its intrinsic value +as the universally recognised vehicle of the Islamic creed, it is of +immense importance as a commentary upon Mahomet's career. When allowance +has been made for its numberless contradictions and repetitions, it still +remains the best means of tracing Mahomet's mental development, as well +as the course of his religious and political dominance. Although the +original document was compiled regardless of chronology, expert +scholarship has succeeded in determining the order of most of it +contents, and if we cannot say the precise sequence of every sura, at +least we can classify each as belonging to one of the two great periods, +the Meccan and Medinan, and may even distinguish with comparative +accuracy three divisions within the former. + +After Mahomet's mandate to preach and warn his fellow-men of their peril, +the suras continue intermittently throughout his life. Those of the first +period, when his mission was hardly accepted outside his family, bear +upon them the stamp of a fiery nature, obsessed with its one idea; but +behind the wild words lies a store of energy as yet undiscovered, which +will find no fulfilment but in action. That zeal for an idea which caused +the Kuran to be, expressed itself at first in words alone, but later was +translated into political action, and it is the emptying of this vitality +from his words into his works that is responsible for the contrasting +prose of the later suras. + +But no lack of poetic fire is discernible in the suras immediately +following his call to the prophetic office, and from them much may be +gathered as to the depth and intensity of his faith. They are almost +strident with feeling; his sentences fall like blows upon an anvil, crude +in their emphasis, and so swiftly uttered forth from the flame of his +zeal, that they glow with reflected glory: + + "Say, he is God alone, + God the Eternal, + He begetteth not and is not begotten, + There is none like to Him." + + "Verily, we have caused It (the Kuran) to descend on the night of + power, + And who shall teach thee what the Night of Power is? + The Night of Power excelleth a thousand months, + Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of the Lord." + + "By the snorting Chargers, + By those that breathe forth sparks of fire + And those that rush to the attack at morn! + And stir therein the dust aloft, + Cleaving their midmost passage through a host! + Truly man is to his Lord ungrateful, + And of this is himself a witness; + And truly he is covetous in love of this world's good. + Ah, knoweth he not, that when what lies in the grave shall be bared + And that brought forth that is in men's breasts, + Verily in that day shall the Lord be made wise concerning them?" + +After the first fire of prophetic zeal had illuminated him, Mahomet +devoted himself to the conversion of his own household and family. +Khadijah was the first convert, as might have been expected from the +close interdependence of their minds. She had become initiated into his +prophetship almost equally with her husband, and it was her courage and +firm trust in his inspiration that had sustained him during the terrible +period of negation. Zeid, the Christian slave who had helped to mould +Mahomet's thought by his knowledge of Christian doctrine, was his next +convert, but both of these were eclipsed by the devotion to Mahomet's +gospel of Ali, the future warrior, son of Abu Talib, and one destined to +play a foremost part in the foundation of Islam. + +Mahomet's gospel then penetrated beyond the confines of his household +with the conversion of his friend Abu Bekr, a successful merchant living +in the same quarter of the town as the Prophet. Abu Bekr, whose honesty +gained him the title of Al-Siddick (the true), and Ali were by far the +most important of Mahomet's "companions." They helped to rule Islam +during Mahomet's lifetime, and after his death took successive charge of +its fortunes. Ali was too young at this time to manifest his qualities as +warrior and ruler, but Abu Bekr was of middle age, and his nature +remained substantially the same as at the inception of Islam. He was of +short stature, with deep-seated eyes and a thoughtful, somewhat undecided +mouth, by nature he was shrewd and intelligent, but possessed little of +that original genius necessary to statesmanship in troublous times. His +mild, sympathetic character endured him to his fellow-men, and his calm +reasonableness earned the gratitude of all who confided in him. He was +never ruled by impulse, and of the fire burning almost indestructibly +within Mahomet he knew nothing. + +It is strange to consider what agency brought these two dissimilar souls +into such close relationship. For the rest of his life Mahomet found a +never-failing friend in Abu Bekr, and the attachment between the two, +apart from their common fount of zeal for Islam, must have been such as +is inspired by those of contrasting nature for each other. Mahomet saw a +kindly, almost commonplace man, in whose sweet sanity his troubled soul +could find a little peace. He was burdened at times with over-resolve +that ate into his mind like acid. In Abu Bekr he could find the soothing +influence he so often needed, and after the death of Khadijah this friend +might be said in a measure to take her place. Abu Bekr, on the other +hand, revered his leader as a man of finer, subtler stuff than himself, +more alive to the virtue of speed, filled with a greater daring and a +profounder impulse than he was. Mahomet, in common with most men meriting +the title of great, had a capacity for lifelong friendships as well as +the power of inspiring belief and devotion in others. + +Through Abu Bekr five converts were gained for the new religion, of whom +Othman is the most important. His part in the establishment of the +Islamic dominion was no slight one, but at the present he remains simply +one of the early enthusiastic converts to Mahomet's evangel, while he +enwound himself into the fortunes of his teacher by marrying Rockeya, one +of Mahomet's daughters. + +The conversion to Islam proceeded slowly but surely among the Kureisch; +several slaves were won over, but at the end of four years only forty +converts had been made, among whom, however, was Bilal, a slave, who +later became the first Muaddzin, or summoner to prayer. During these four +years the suras of the first Meccan period were revealed, and enough may +be gathered from them to judge both the limits of Mahomet's preaching and +the attitude towards it on the part of the Kureisch. + +Mahomet was content at this time to emphasise in eloquent, almost +incoherent words his central theme--the unity of God. He calls upon the +people to believe, and warns them of their fate if they refuse. The suras +indicate the attitude of indifference borne by the Kureisch towards +Mahomet's mission at its inception. Wherever there are denunciatory +suras, they are either for the chastisement of unbelievers or, as in Sura +cxi, in revenge for the refusal of his relations to believe in his +inspiration. Prophecies of bliss in store for the Faithful are frequent, +and of the corresponding woe for Unbelievers. The whole is permeated with +the spirit of the poet and visionary, a poetry tumultuous but strong, a +vision lurid but inspiring. + +The little band of converts under guidance of this fierce rhetoric became +united and strengthened in its faith, prepared to defend it, and to +spread it as far as possible throughout their kindred. + +About three years after Mahomet's receipt of his mission, in A.D. 618, an +important change came over the attitude of the Kureisch towards Islam. +Hitherto they had jeered or remained indifferent. Mahomet's uncles, Abu +Talib and Abu Lahab, represented the two poles of Kureischite feeling. +Abu Talib remained untouched by the new faith, but his kindly nature did +not allow him to adopt any severe measures for its repression, and, +moreover, Mahomet was of his kindred, and he was willing to afford him +protection in case of need. Abu Lahab jeered openly, and manifested his +scorn by definite speeches. But as the bands of converts grew, the +Kureisch found it undesirable to maintain their indifferent attitude. +They began to persecute, first refusing to allow the Believers to meet, +and then seeking them out individually to endeavour to torture them into +recanting. + +From this time dates the creation of one of the foremost principles in +the creed of the Prophet. If a Believer is in danger of torture, he may +dissemble his faith to save himself from infamy and death. Though in +striking contrast to the Christian tenets, this exhortation was neither +cowardly nor imprudent. In his eyes reckless courting of death would not +avail the propagation of Islam, and though a man might die to some good +service on the battlefield, smiting his enemies, no wise end could be +served when his death would merely gratify the lust of his murderers. + +The persecution continued in spite of Mahomet's attempts to withstand it, +until he was forced to go to Abu Talib for protection. This was accorded +willingly, on account of kindred ties, but there can have been little +cordiality between uncle and nephew on the subject, for Mahomet was more +than ever determined upon the maintenance and growth of his principles. +Still the conversions to Islam continued, and the persecution of its +adherents, until there came to the Kureisch a sharp intimation that this +new sect arisen in their midst was not an ephemeral affair of a few +weeks, but a prolonged endeavour to pursue the ideal of a single God. In +615 the first company of Muslim converts broke from the confined +religious area of Mecca and journeyed into Abyssinia, where they could +practice their faith in peace. This move convinced the Kureisch of the +sincerity of their opponents, for they were almost strong enough to merit +the name, and compelled them to believe a little in the force lying +behind this strange manifestation of religious zeal in their midst. + +Mahomet does not at this time seem to have been definitely ranged against +the Kureisch. He was still on negotiable terms with them, and they were a +little distrustful of his capacity and ignorant of his power. The stages +by which he developed from a discredited citizen, obsessed by one idea, +into a political opponent worthy of their best steel and bravest men was +necessarily gradual, and indeed the Prophet himself had no knowledge of +the role marked out for him by his own personality and the destinies +of Arabia. The cause of Islam stood as yet in parlous condition, +half-formulated, unwieldy, awaiting the moulding hand of persecution to +develop it into a political and social system. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +SEVERANCE + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third idol beside? +These are the exalted females, and truly their intercession is to be +expected."--_The Kuran_ (last two lines excised later by Mahomet). + +The little band of converts, driven by the Kureisch to seek peace and +freedom in Abyssinia, remained for two years in their country of refuge, +but in 615 returned to Mecca for reasons which have never been fully +explained, though it is easy, in the light of future events, to discover +the motive behind such a move. + +Mahomet was not yet convinced of the impossibility of compromise, neither +was the powerful party among the Kureisch utterly indifferent to +Mahomet's ancestry as a member of the house of Hashim, and his position +as the husband of Khadijah. He had been respected among men for his +uprightness before he affronted their prejudices by scorning their gods. +His power was daily becoming a source of strife and faction within the +city, and the Kureisch were not averse from attempting to come to terms. +Mahomet for his part, as far as the scanty evidence of history unfolds +his state of mind, seems to have been almost desperately anxious to +effect an understanding with the Kureisch. His cause still journeyed by +perilous ways, and at the time hopes of his future achievement were +apparently dependent upon the goodwill of the dominant Meccan party. + +The story runs that the chief men of Mecca were discussing within the +Kaaba the affairs of the city. Mahomet came to them and recited Sura +liii--The Star--a fulgent psalm in praise of God and heavenly joys. When +he came to the verses: + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third beside," he inserted: + +"Verily these are the exalted females, and truly their intercession may +be expected." + +They Kureisch were rejoiced at this homage to their deities, and +speedily welcomed Mahomet's change of front; but he, disquieted, +returned moodily to his house, where Gabriel appeared to him in +stern rebuke: + +"Thou hast repeated before the people words I never gave to thee." + +And Mahomet, whether conscience-stricken by his lapse from the Muslim +faith, or convinced that compromise with the Kureisch was impossible and +also undesirable in face of his growing power, quickly repudiated the +whole affair, which had been unquestionably born of impulse, or possibly +an adventurous mood that prompted him "to see what would happen" if he +ministered to the prejudices of the Kureisch. It must be acknowledged, +however, that repentance for his homage to heathen idols was the +mainspring of his recantation, for the period immediately following was +one of hardship and persecution for him, and his transitory lapse injured +his cause appreciably with the brethren of his faith. The attempt was +honourably made, and only failed by Mahomet's swift realisation that his +acknowledgment of Lat and Ozza as spirits sanctioned the worship of their +images by his fellow-citizens, and this his stern monotheism could not +for a moment entertain. + +The Muslim, with numbers that increased very slowly, were harried afresh +by the Kureisch as soon as Mahomet had withdrawn his concessions, and +most of them were forced at length to return to Abyssinia. His pathetic +little band, wandering from city to city, doubtful of ever attaining +security and uncertain of its ultimate destiny, was the prototype in its +vagrancy of that larger and confident band which cast aside its +traditions and the city of its birth, headed by a spirit heroic in +disaster and supreme in faith, to find its goal in the foundation of a +new order for Arabia. Chief among them were Othman and Rockeya, and these +were the only ones who returned to Mecca, for the rest remained in +Abyssinia until after the migration to Medina, in fact until after +Mahomet had carried out the expedition to Kheibar. + +Left without any supporters within the city, Mahomet was exposed to all +the vituperations and insults which his recent refusal of compromise had +brought him. The Kureisch now directed all their energies towards +persuading Abu Talib to repudiate his nephew. If once this could be +effected, the Kureisch would have a free hand to pursue their desire to +exterminate the Muslim and to overthrow the Prophet's power. He was +immune from bodily attack, chiefly because of Abu Talib's position in the +city as nominal head of the house of Hashim. No Kureisch could run the +risk of alienating so great a number of fellow-citizens, and a personal +attack upon Abu Talib's nephew could but have that result. + +Dark and stormy as the Muslim destiny appeared during this period of +transition from religious to political conceptions, nevertheless it was +now enriched by the conversion of two of the most influential characters +upon its later fortunes--Hamza and Omar. Many stories have been woven +round their discovery of the truth of Islam, and by reading between the +lines later commentators may discover the forces at work to induce +them to take this dubious step. It is beyond question that Mahomet's +personality was the moving factor in the conversion of each, for each +relates an incident which serves peculiarly to illustrate the Prophet's +magnetism. + +Hamza, "the lion of God," and a son of Abd-al-Muttalib in his old age, +was accosted by a slave girl as he passed on his way through the city +She told him breathlessly that she had seen "the Lord Mahomet" insulted +and reviled by Abu Jahl, and being unprotected and alone, he could only +suffer in silence. Hamza listened to her story with indignation, and +determined to revenge the insult to his uncle and foster-brother, for by +the ties of kinship they were one. In the Kaaba he publicly declared his +allegiance to Islam, and revenged upon Abu Jahl the injuries he had +inflicted upon his kinsman. Hamza never repented of his championship of +Mahomet. The adventurous fortunes of Islam satisfied his warrior-spirit, +and under Mahomet's guidance he helped to control and direct its military +zeal, until it had perforce established its religion through the sword. +Mahomet's personal magnetism had drawn him irresistibly to the religion +he upheld so steadfastly, and in the face of revilement and danger. + +Omar was Mahomet's bitterest enemy, and had proved his ability by his +persistent opposition to Islam. He was feared by all the company of +religionists that had taken up their precarious quarters near Mahomet. He +was visiting the house of his sister Fatima when he heard murmurs of +someone reciting. He inquired what it was, and learned with anger that it +was the Sacred Book of the abhorred Muslim sect. His sister and Zeid, her +husband, tremblingly confessed their adherence to Islam, and awaited in +terror the probable result. Omar was about to fall upon Zeid, but his +wife interposed and received the blow herself. At the sight of his +sister's blood Omar paused and then asked for the volume, so that he +might judge the message for himself, for he was a writer of no mean +standing. Fatima insisted that he should first perform ablutions, so that +his touch might not defile the Sacred Book. + +Then Omar took it and read it, and the strength and beauty of it smote +him. He felt upon him the insistence of a divine command, and straightway +asked to be led before Mahomet that he might unburden his conviction to +him. He girt on his sword and came to the Prophet's house. As he rapped +upon the door a Companion of Mahomet's looked through the lattice, and at +the sight of Omar with buckled sword fled in despair to his master. But +Mahomet replied: + + +"Let him enter; if he bring good tidings we will reward him; if he bring +bad news, we will smite him, yea, with his own sword." + +So the door was opened and Mahomet advanced, asking what was his mission. +Omar answered: + +"O Prophet of God, I am come to confess that I believe in Allah and in +his Prophet." + +"Allah Akbar!" (God is great) replied Mahomet gravely, and all the +household knew that Omar had become one of themselves. + +The conversion of Omar was infinitely important to Islam, and the +adherence of this impetuous and dauntless mind was directly due to the +strength and steadfastness of Mahomet's faith in himself and his message. +Omar was an influential personage among the Kureisch, quick-tempered, but +keen as steel, and rejoicing in strife; he stands out among the many +warrior-souls to whom Islam gave the opportunity of tasting in its +fullness "the splendour of spears." Mahomet had indeed gathered around +him a group of men who were remarkable for their character and influence +upon Islam. Ali, the warrior par excellence, Abu Bekr, statesman and +counsellor, Othman the soldier, Hamza and Omar, are not merely blind +followers, but forceful personalities, contributing each in his own +manner towards those assets of endurance, leadership, and unshaken faith +which ensured the continuance of the Medinan colony and its ultimate +victory over the Kureisch. + +Omar's conversion did not have the effect of softening the Kureischite +fury. On the contrary, the event seems to have stimulated them to +further persecution, as if they had some foreshadowings of their waning +power, and had determined with a desperate energy to quell for ever, if +it might be, this discord in their midst. Their next step was to try an +introduce the political element into this conflict of faiths by putting a +ban upon the house of Hashim and confining it to Abu Talib's quarter of +Sheb. This act, instigated mainly by Abu Jahl, who now becomes prominent +as the most terrible of Mahomet's persecutors, had a very notable effect +upon his position as well as upon the qualities of the cause for which +his party was contending. + +For the first time the political aspect of Islam obtrudes itself. +Mahomet's followers are now not only the opponents of the Kureischite +faith and the enemies of their idols, but they are also their political +foes, and have drawn the whole house of Hashim into faction against the +ruling power--the Omeyyad house. Moreover, Mahomet and his companions, +now shut up and almost besieged within a definite quarter of the city, +were precluded from all attempts to spread their faith. Mahomet had +secured his little company of followers, but cut off from the rest of the +city his cause remained stationary, neither gaining nor losing adherents, +during the years 617-619. + +The suras of this period show some of the discouragement he felt at the +time, but through them all beats a note of endurance and confidence: +God is continually behind his cause, therefore that cause will prevail +against all obstacles. Mahomet has become more familiar with the Jewish +Scriptures, and many of the suras are recapitulations of the lives of +Jewish heroes, especial preference being given to Abraham as mythical +founder of his race, and to Lot as the typical example of one righteous +man sent to warn the iniquitous. The style has certainly matured, and in +so doing has lost much of its primal fire. It is still stirring and +vibrant, but passages of almost bald narrative are interposed, shadows +upon the shining floor of his original zeal. He has become increasingly +reiterative, too,--a quality easily attained by those who have but +one message, in this case a message of warning and exhortation, and +are feverishly anxious to brand its urgency upon the hearts of their +fellow-men. + + +Confined within so limited an area, his energy recoiled upon itself, and +the despondency that so easily besets men of action when that necessity +is denied them, overcame his mind. Only at the yearly pilgrimage was he +able to gain a hearing from his Meccan brethren, and then, says the +chronicler bitterly, "none would believe." The Hashim could not trade or +intermarry with any outside their clan, and there seemed no chance of +circumstances removing their disabilities. Mahomet's hopes of embracing +all Mecca in his faith wavered and fled, until it seemed as if Allah no +longer protected his chosen. + +But after two years of negation and impotence, an end to the persecution +of the Muslim was in sight, and in 619 the ban was removed. Legend has it +that when the chiefs of the Kaaba went to look upon the document they +found it devoured by ants, and took this as a sign of the displeasure of +their gods. The ban was thus removed by supernatural agency when its +prolongation would have meant final disaster for Mahomet. In the light of +later knowledge it is evident that the removal of the ban was the result +of the exertions of Abu Talib, and it was owing to his high reputation +among the Kureisch that they pardoned his turbulent and blasphemous +nephew. At the end of two years also, the Muslim were considerably +weakened, both in staying powers and reputation. They were now allowed to +go freely in the city, and the immediate prospect seemed certainly +brighter for Mahomet when there fell the greatest blow that could have +afflicted his sensitive spirit. + +Khadijah, his companion and sustainer through so many troublous years, +died in 619, having borne with him all his revilings and discouragements, +his source of strength even when there appeared no prospect of the +abatement of his hardships, much less for the success of his cause. +Mahomet's grief was too profound for the passing shadow of it even to +darken the pages of the Kuran. He paid her the compliment of silence; but +her memory was continually with him, even when he had taken many fairer +women to wife. Ayesha, in all the insolence of beauty, scoffed at +Khadijah's age and lack of comeliness: + +"Am I not dearer to thee than she was?" + +"No, by Allah!" cried Mahomet; "for she believed when no one else +believed." + +It was her strength of character and sweetness of mind that impelled him +to utter the amazing words--amazing for his time and environment, +seventh-century Arabia--"women are the twin-halves of men." + +But fortune or Allah had not finished the "strong affliction" whereby +Mahomet was forced to cast off from his moorings and venture into strange +and perilous seas. Five weeks after the death of his wife came the death +of his uncle, Abu Talib. If the first had been a catastrophe affecting +his courage and quietude of mind, this was calculated to crush both +himself and his companions. Abu Talib was well loved by Mahomet, who +manifested throughout his life the strongest capacity for friendship. But +more important than the personal grief was the loss of the one man whose +efforts bridged over the widening gulf between himself and the Kureisch. +As such, his death was irreparable damage to Mahomet's safety from their +hostilities. + +Abu Lahab, it is true, touched a little by the sorrows crowding so +thickly upon his nephew, protected him for a time, but very soon withdrew +his support and joined the opposition. Ranged against Abu Lahab and Abu +Jahl, with their influential following, and lacking the support hitherto +provided by Abu Talib, Mahomet perceived that a crisis was fast +approaching. His band was too numerous to be ignored or even tolerated by +the Kureisch, but against such odds as Mecca's most powerful citizens, +Mahomet was too wise to attempt to resist. There seemed no other way but +the withdrawal of his little concourse to such place of safety as would +enable them to strengthen themselves and prepare for the inevitable +struggle for supremacy. No more conversions of importance had taken place +since Omar's and Hamza's allegiance to Islam, and now three years +had passed. Mahomet felt increasingly the need for their exodus from the +city of his birth. It is not evident from the chroniclers that he had any +definite political aims whatever when he first considered the plan of +evacuation. His motive was simply to obtain peace in which he might +worship in his own fashion, and win others to worship with him. With this +idea in mind he cast about for a suitable resting-place for his small +flock, and discovered what he imagined his goal in Taif, a village +south-east of Mecca, upon the eastern slopes of Jhebel Kora. + +Taif is situated on the fertile side of this mountain range, the side +remote from the sea. It stands amid a wealth of gardens, and is renowned +for its fruits and flowers. Thither in 620 Mahomet set out, filled with +the knowledge of his invincible mission, strong in his power to conquer +and persuade. Zeid, his slave and foster-child, was his only companion, +and together they had resolved to convert Taif to the one true religion. +But their adventure was doomed to failure, and though we have necessarily +brief descriptions of it, all Mahomet's biographers naturally passing +quickly over so painful a scene, there is sufficient evidence to show how +really disastrous their venture proved. + +The chief men of the city remained unconvinced, and at last the populace, +in one of those blind furies that attack crowds at the sight of +impotence, egged on the rabble to stone them. Chased from the city, sore, +bleeding and despairing, Mahomet found shelter in one of the hill gardens +of the locality. There he was solaced with fruit by some kindly owners of +the place, and there he remained, meditating in profound dejection at his +failure, but still with supreme trust in the support of his God. + + "O Lord, I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance; + It is Thine to cleanse away the darkness, + And to give peace both for this world and the next." + +In this valley of Nakhla, too, so runs the tale, he was consoled by +genii, who refreshed him, after the fashion of angels upholding the weary +prophets in the wilderness. Mahomet was now in dire straits; he could not +return to Mecca at once, because the object of his Taif journey was +known; as Taif had spurned him, so he was forced to halt in Hira until he +obtained the protection of Mutaim, an influential man in Mecca, and after +some difficulty made his way back to the city, discredited and solitary, +except for his former followers. For some months he rested in obscurity +and contempt at Mecca, gaining none to his cause, but still filled with +the fervent conviction of his future triumph, which neither wavered +nor faltered. The divine fire which upheld him during the period of +his violent persecution burned within his soul, and never was his +steadfastness of character and faith in himself and his mission more +fully manifested than during these despondent months. + +He now began to seek in greater measure the society of women, although +the consuming sexual life of his later years had hardly awakened. While +Khadijah was with him he remained faithful to her, but her bright +presence once withdrawn, he was impelled by a kind of impassioned seeking +to the quest for her substitute, and not finding it in one woman, to +continue his search among others. He now married Sawda, a nonentity with +a certain physical charm but no personality, and sued for the hand of +Ayesha, the small daughter of Abu Bekr. + +Mahomet at this time was not blessed with many riches. His frugal, +anxious life led him to perform many small duties of his household for +himself. His food was coarse and often scanty, and he lived among his +followers as one of themselves. It is no small tribute to his singleness +of mind and lofty character that in the "dreary intercourse of daily +life," lived in that primitive, communal fashion, which admits of no +illusions and scarcely any secrets, he retained by the force of +personality the reverence of the faithful, and ever in this hour of +defeat and negation remained their leader and lord--the symbol, in fact, +of their loyalty to Allah, and their supreme belief in his guidance and +care. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE CHOSEN CITY + +Medina, city of exile and despairing beginnings, destined to achieve +glory by difficult ways, only to be eclipsed finally by its mightier +neighbour and mistress, became, rather by chance than by design, the +scene of Mahomet's struggles for temporal power and his ruthless wielding +of the sword for God and Islam. The city lies north-east of Mecca, on the +opposite side of the mountain spur that skirts the eastern boundary. +Always weakly peopled, it remained from immemorial time an arena of +strife, for it was on the borderland, the boundary of several tribes, and +was far enough north for the outer waves of Syrian disturbances to fling +their varying tides upon its shores--a meagre city, always fiercely at +civil warfare, impotent, unfertile. + +In the dark days of Judaea's humiliation at the hands of Titus, two +Jewish tribes, the Kainukua and the Koreitza, outcast and desolate, even +as they had been warned in their time of dominion, lighted upon Medina in +desperate search for a dwelling-place and a respite from persecution, and +forthwith took possession of the little hill-girt town. They settled +there, driving out or conciliating the former inhabitants, until in the +fourth century their tenuous prosperity was disturbed by the inroads of +two Bedouin tribes, the Beni Aus and the Beni Khazraj. The desert was +wide, and these tribes were familiar with its manifold opportunities and +devious ways. Against such a foe, who swooped down suddenly upon the +city, plundered and then escaped into the limitless unknown, the Jews had +no chance of reprisal. + +Before long the Beni Aus and Khazraj had subjugated the Jewish +communities, and their dominion in Medina was only weakened by their +devastating quarrels among themselves. The city therefore offered a +peculiar opening for the teaching of Islam within it. Its religious life +indeed was varied and chaotic. Jews, Arabian idolaters, immigrants from +Christian Syria, torn by schisms, thronged its public places, and this +confusion of faiths sharpened the religious and debating instincts of its +people. The ground was thus broken up for the reception of the new creed +of one God and of his messenger, who had already divided Mecca into +believers and heretics, and who was spoken of in the city with that awe +that attaches itself to distant marvels. + +Intercourse with Mecca was chiefly carried on at the time of the yearly +Pilgrimage; the Greater Pilgrimage, only undertaken during Dzul Hijj, +corresponding then to our March, and in Dzul Hijj, 620, came a band of +strangers over the hills, along the toilsome caravan route to the Kaaba, +the goal of their intentions, the shrine of all their prayers. They +performed all the necessary ceremonies at Mecca, and were proceeding to +Mina, a small valley just east of Mecca, for the completion of their +sacred duties, when they were accosted by Mahomet. + +The Prophet was despondent and sceptical of his power to persuade, though +his belief in Allah's might never wavered. He had failed so far to +produce any decisive impression upon the Meccan people, but might there +not be another town in Arabia which would receive his message? The little +band of pilgrims seemed to him sent in answer to his self-distrust, and +his failure at Taif as eclipsed by this sudden success. The caravan +returned to its native city, and there remained little for Mahomet to do +except to wait for the arrival of next year's pilgrims, and to keep +shining and ambient the flame of his religious fervour. He remained in +Mecca virtually on sufferance, and rapidly recognised the uselessness of +attempting any further conversions. His hopes were now definitely set on +Medina, and to this end he seems to devoted himself more than ever to the +perusal and interpretation of the Jewish scriptures. + +The portion of the Kuran written at this time contains little else than +Bible stories told and retold to the point of weariness. Lot, of course, +is the characteristic figure; but we also have the life stories of +Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Joseph, and many others. The style has suffered a +marked diminution in poetic qualities. It has become reiterative and even +laboured. He continues his practice of alluding to current events, which +at Medina he was to pursue to the extent of making the Kuran a kind of +spasmodic history of his time, as well as an elementary text-book of law +and morality. In one of the suras--"The Cow"--Mahomet makes first mention +of that comfortable doctrine of "cancelling," by which later verses of +the Kuran cancel all previous revelations dealing with the same subject +if these prove contradictory: "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we bring a better or its like; knowest thou not that God hath +power over all things?" + +There is not much record in the Kuran of the influence of Christian +thought upon Islam. We have a few stories of Elizabeth and Mary, and +scattered allusions to the despised "Prophet of the Jews." But the great +body of Christian thought, its central dogmas of Incarnation and +Redemption, passed Mahomet entirely by, for his mind was practical and +not speculative, and indeed to himself no less than to his followers the +fundamentals of Christianity were of necessity too philosophic to be +realised with any intensity of belief. The Christian virtues of meekness +and resignation, too, might be respected in the abstract--passages in the +Kuran and tradition assure us they were--but they were so utterly +antagonistic to the fierce, free nature of the Arab that they never +entered into his religious life. Mahomet revered the Founder of +Christianity, and placed Him with John in the second Heaven of his +Immortals, but though He is secure among the teachers of the world, He +can never compete with the omnipotence and glory of the Prophet. + +During the period of Mahomet's life immediately preceding his departure +to Medina, we have his personal appearance described in detail by Ali. He +is a man of medium stature, with a magnificent head and a thick, flowing +beard. His eyes were black and ardent, his jaw firm but not prominent. He +looked an upstanding man of open countenance, benignant and powerful, +bearing between his shoulders the sign of his divine mission. He had +great patience, says Ali, and "in nowise despised the poor for their +poverty, nor honoured the rich for their possessions. Nor if any took him +by the hand to salute him was he the first to relinquish his grasp." + +He lived openly among his disciples, holding frequent converse with them, +mending his own clothes and even shoes, a frugal liver and a fervent +preacher of the flaming faith within him. He became at this time +betrothed to Ayesha, the splendid woman, now just a merry child, who was +to keep her reigning place in his affections until the end of his life. +Daughter of Abu Bekr, she united in herself for Mahomet both policy and +attractiveness, for by this betrothal he became of blood-kin with Abu +Bekr, and thereby strengthened his friend's allegiance. The union marks +the inauguration of his policy of marriage alliances by which he bound +the supporters of his Faith more closely to him, either through his own +marriage with their daughters, or the bestowal of his offspring upon +them. + +Ayesha was lovely and imperious, with a luxurious but shrewd nature, +and her counsel was always sought by Mahomet. Other women appeared +frequently like comets in his sky, flamed for a little into brightness +and disappeared into conjugal obscurity, but Ayesha's star remained fixed, +even if it was transitorily eclipsed by the brilliance of a new-comer. +Sexual relations held for Mahomet towards the end of his life a peculiar +potency, born of his intense energetic nature. He sought the society of +woman because of the mental clarity that for him followed any expression +of emotion. He was one of those men who must express--the artist, in fact; +but an artist who used the medium of action, not that of literature, +painting, or music. "Poète, il ne connut que la poésie d'action," and like +Napoleon, his introspection was completely overshadowed by his consuming +energy. Therefore emotion was to him unconsciously the means by which this +immortal energy of mind could be conserved, and he used it unsparingly. + +Ayesha has revealed for us the most intimate details of Mahomet's life, +and it is due to her that later traditions are enabled to represent him +as a man among men. He appears to us fierce and subtle, by turns +impetuous and calculating, a man who never missed an opportunity, and +gauged exactly the efforts needed to compass any intention. To him "every +fortress had its key, and every man his price." He was as keen a +politician us he was a religious reformer, but before all he paid homage +to the sword, prime artificer in his career of conquest. But in those +confidently intimate traditions handed down to us from his immediate +entourage, and especially from Ayesha, we find him alternately passionate +and gentle, wearing his power with conscious authority, mild in his +treatment of the poor, terrible to his enemies, autocratic, intolerant, +with a strange magnetism that bound men to him. The mystery enveloping +great men even in their lifetime, among primitive races, creeps +down in these documents to hide much of his personality from us, but his +works proclaim his energy and tireless organising powers, even if the +mythical, allegoric element predominates in the earlier traditions. The +man who undertook and achieved the gigantic task of organising a new +social and political as well as religious order may be justly credited +with calling forth and centering in himself the vivid imaginations of +that most credulous age. + +The year 620-621 passed chiefly in expectation of the Greater Pilgrimage, +when the disciples from Medina were to come to report progress and to +confirm their faith. The momentous time arrived, and Mahomet went almost +fearfully to meet the nucleus of his future kingdom in Acaba, a valley +near Mina. But his fears were groundless, for the little party had been +faithful to their leader, and had also increased their numbers. + +They met in secret, and we may picture them a little diffident in so +strange a place, ever expectant of the swift descent of the Kureisch and +their own annihilation. Withal they were enthusiastic and confident of +their leader. One is irresistibly reminded, in reading of this meeting, +of that little outcast band from Judea which ultimately prevailed over +Cæsar Imperator through its mighty quality of faith. The accredited words +of the first pledge given at Acaba are traditionally extant; they combine +curiously religious, moral, and social covenants, and assert even at that +early stage the headship of the Prophet over his servants: + +"We will not worship any but God; we will not steal, neither will we +commit adultery nor kill our children; we will not slander in any wise, +nor will we disobey the Prophet in anything that is right." + +The converts then departed to their native city, for Mahomet did not deem +the time yet ripe enough for migration thither. He possessed the +difficult art of waiting until the effectual time should arrive, and +there is no doubt that by now he had formed definite plans to set up his +rule in Medina when there should be sufficient supporters there to +guarantee his success. Musab, a Meccan convert of some learning, was +deputed to accompany the Medinan citizens to their city and give +instruction therein to all who were willing to study the Muslim creed. + +For yet another year Mahomet was to possess his soul in patience, but it +was with feelings of far greater confidence that he awaited the passing +of time. More than ever he became sure of the guiding hand of Allah, that +pointed indisputably to the stranger city as the goal of his strivings. +This city held a goodly proportion of Jews, therefore the connection +between his faith and that of Judaism must be continually emphasised. + +We have seen how large a space Jewish legend and history fill in the +contemporary suras of the Kuran, and Mahomet's friendship with Israel +increased noticeably during his last two years at Mecca. He paid them the +honour of taking Jerusalem as his Kibla, or Holy Place, to which all +Believers turn in prayer, and the starting-place for his immortal +Midnight Journey was the Sacred City encompassing the Temple of the Lord. + +No account of this journey appears except in the traditions crystallized +by Al Bokharil, but there is one short mention of it in the Kuran, Sura +xviii. + +"Glory be to him who carried his servant by night from the sacred temple +of Mecca to the temple that is more remote, i.e. Jerusalem." + +The vision, however, looms so large in his followers' minds, and +exercised so profound an influence over their regard for Mahomet, that it +throws some light, upon the measure of his ascendancy during his last +years at Mecca, and establishes beyond dispute the inspired character of +his Prophetship in the imaginations of the few Believers. There have been +solemn and wordy disputes by theologians as to whether he made the +journey in the flesh, or whether his spirit alone crossed the dread +portals dividing our night from the celestial day. + +He was lying in the Kaaba, so runs the legend, when the Angel of the Lord +appeared to him, and after having purged his heart of all sin, carried +him to the Temple at Jerusalem. He penetrated its sacred enclosure and +saw the beast Borak, "greater than ass, smaller than mule," and was told +to mount. The Faithful still show the spot at Jerusalem where his steed's +hoof marked the ground as he spurned it with flying feet. With Gabriel by +his side, mounted on a beast mighty in strength, Mahomet scaled the +appalling spaces and came at last to the outer Heaven, before the gate +that guards the celestial realms. The angel knocked upon the brazen doors +and a voice within cried: + +"Who art thou, and who is with thee?" + +"I am Gabriel," came the answer, "and this is Mahomet." + +And behold, the brazen gates that may not be unclosed for mortal man were +flung wide, and Mahomet entered alone with the angel. He penetrated to +the first Heaven and saw Adam, who interrogated him in the same words, +and received the same reply. And all the heavenly hierarchies, even unto +the seventh Heaven, John and Jesus, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses, Abraham, +acknowledged Mahomet in the same words, until the two came to "the tree +called Sedrat," beyond which no man may pass and live, whose fruits are +shining serpents, and whose leaves are great beasts, round which flow +four rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates guarding it without, and within +these the celestial streams that water Paradise, too wondrous for a name. + +Awed but undaunted, Mahomet passed alone beyond the sacred tree, for even +the Angel could not bear any longer so fierce a glory, and came to +Al-M'amur, even the Hall of Heavenly Audience, where are seventy thousand +angels. He mounted the steps of the throne between their serried ranks, +until at the touch of Allah's awful hand he stopped and felt its icy +coldness penetrate to his heart. He was given milk, wine, or honey to +drink, and he chose milk. + +"Hadst thou chosen honey, O Mahomet," said Allah, "all thy people would be +saved, now only a part shall find perfection." + +And Mahomet was troubled. + +"Bid my people pray to Me fifty times a day." + +At the resistless mandate Mahomet turned and retraced his steps to the +seventh Heaven, where dwelt Abraham. + +"The people of the earth will be in nowise constrained to pray fifty +times a day. Return thou and beg that the number be lessened." + +So Mahomet returned again and again at Abraham's command, until he had +reduced the number to five, which the father of his people considered +was sufficient burden for his feeble subjects to bear. Wherefore the five +periods set apart for prayer in the Muslim faith are proportionately +sacred, and with this divine mandate the vision ceased. + +With his hopes now set on founding an earthly dominion with the help of +Allah, he had perforce to consider the political situation, and to mature +his policy for dealing with it as soon as events proved favourable. The +achievements of the Persians on the Greek frontier had already attracted +his attention in 616; there is an allusion to the battle and the Greek +defeat in the Kuran, and a vague prophecy of their ultimate success, for +Mahomet was in sympathy with the Greek Empire, seeing that, from the +point of view of Arabia, it was the less formidable enemy. + +But really the events of such outlying territories only troubled him in +regard to Medina, for his whole thoughts were centred now upon the chosen +city of his dreams. His followers became less aggressive in Mecca when +they knew that the Prophet had the nucleus of a new colony in another +city. Persecution within Mecca therefore died down considerably, and the +period is one of pause upon either side, the Kureisch watching to see +what the next move was to be, Mahomet carefully and secretly maturing his +plans. + +During this year there fell a drought upon Mecca, followed by a famine, +which the devout attributed directly to divine anger at the rejection of +the Prophet's heavenly message, and which Mahomet interpreted as the +punishment of God, and this doubtless added to the sum of reasons which +impelled him to relinquish his native town. + +From this time until the Hegira, or Flight from the City, events in the +world of action move but slowly for Mahomet. He was careful not to excite +undue suspicion among the Kureisch, and we can imagine him silent and +preoccupied, fulfilling his duties among them, visiting the Kaaba, and +mingling somewhat coldly with their daily life. Still keeping his purpose +immutable, he sought to strengthen the faith of his followers for the +trials he knew must come. The Kuran thus became more important as the +mouthpiece of his exhortations. The suras of this time resound with words +of encouragement and confidence. He is about to become the leader of a +perilous venture in honour of God. The reflex of the expectancy in the +hearts of the Muslim may be traced in his messages to them. Their whole +world, as it were, waited breathless, quiet, and tense for the record of +the year's achievements in Medina, and for the time appointed by God. +But how far their leader's actions were the result of painstaking +calculations, an insight into the qualities and energies of men, a +prevision startling in its range and accuracy, they never suspected; but, +serene in their confidence, they held their magnificent faith in the +divine guidance and in the inspiration of their Prophet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + + "Knowest thou not that the dominion of the Heavens and of the + Earth is God's? and that ye have neither patron nor helper save + God?"--_The Kuran_. + +The expectancy which burned like revivifying fire in the hearts of the +Meccan Muslim, kindled and nourished by their leader himself, was to +culminate at the time of the yearly pilgrimage in 622. In that month came +the great concourse of pilgrims from Yathreb to Mecca, among them seventy +of the "Faithful" who had received the faith at Medina, headed by their +teacher Musab and strengthened by the knowledge that they were before +long to stand face to face with their Prophet. + +Musab had reported to Mahomet the success of his mission in the city, and +had prepared him for the advent of the little band of followers secured +for Islam. Secrecy was essential, for the Muslim from Medina were in +heart strangers among their own people, in such a precarious situation +that any treachery would have meant their utter annihilation, if not at +the hands of their countrymen, who would doubtless throw in their lot +with the stronger, certainly at the hands of the Kureisch, the implacable +foes of Islam, in whose territory they fearfully were. The rites of +pilgrimage were accordingly performed faithfully, though many breathed +more freely as they departed for the last ceremony at Mina. All was now +completed, and the Medinan party prepared to return, when Mahomet +summoned the Faithful by night to the old meeting-place in the gloomy +valley of Akaba. + +About seventy men and two women of both Medinan tribes, the Beni Khazraj +and the Beni Aus, assembled thus in that barren place, under the +brilliant night skies of Arabia, to pledge themselves anew to an unseen, +untried God and to the service of his Prophet, who as yet counted but few +among his followers, and whose word carried no weight with the great ones +of their world. + +To this meeting Mahomet brought Abbas, his uncle, younger son of +Abd-al-Muttalib, a weak and insignificant character, who had endeared +himself to Mahomet chiefly because of his doglike devotion. He was not a +convert, but he revered his energetic nephew too highly and was also too +greatly in awe of him to imagine such a thing as treachery. He was in +part a guarantee to the Khazraj of Mahomet's good faith, in part an asset +for him against the Kureisch, for his family were still influential in +Mecca. + +The two made their way from the city unaccompanied, by steep and stony +ways, until they came to Akaba, and Mahomet saw awaiting him that +concourse summoned by his persistence and tireless faith--a concourse +part of himself, almost his own child, upon which all his hopes were now +set. Coming thus into that circle of faces, illumined dimly by the +torches, which prudence even now urged them to extinguish, he could not +but feel some foreshadowing of the mighty future that awaited this little +gathering, as yet impotent and tremulous, but bearing within itself the +seeds of that loyalty and courage that were to spread "the Faith" over +half the world. + +When the greetings were over, Abbas stepped forward and spoke, while the +lines of dark faces closed around him in earnest scrutiny. + +"Ye men of the Beni Khazraj, this my kinsmen dwelleth amongst us in +honour and safety; his clan will defend him, but he preferreth to seek +protection from you. Wherefore, ye Khazraj, consider the matter well and +count the cost." + +Then answered Bara, who stood for them in position of Chief: + +"We have listened to your words. Our resolution is unshaken. Our lives +are at the Prophet's service. It is now for him to speak." + +Mahomet stepped forward into the circle of their glances, and with the +solemnity of the occasion urgent within him recited to them verses of the +Kuran, whose fire and eloquence kindled those passionate souls into an +enthusiasm glowing with a sombre resolve, and prompted them to stake all +upon their enterprise. At the end of those tumultuous words he assured +them that he would be content if they would pledge themselves to defend +him. + +"And if we die in thy defence, what reward have we?" + +"Paradise!" replied Mahomet, exalted, raising his hand in token of his +belief in Allah and the certitude of his cause. + +Then arose a murmur deep and long, the protestation of loyalty that +threatened to rise into triumphant acclamation, but Abbas, the fearful of +the party, stayed them in dread of spies. So the tumult died down, and +Bara, taking upon himself the authority of his fellows, stretched forth +his hand to Mahomet, and with their clasping the Second Pledge of the +Akaba was sealed. They broke up swiftly, dreading to prolong their +meeting, for danger was all around them and the air heavy with suspected +treacheries. + +And their apprehension was not groundless, for the Kureisch had heard of +their assembly through some secret messenger, though not until the +Medinan caravan with its concourse of the Faithful and the Unbelievers +was well on its homeward way across the dreary desert paths which lead to +Mecca from Medina. Their wrath was intense, and in fury they pursued it; +but either they were ignorant as to which road the party had taken, or +the Medinans eluded them by greater speed, for they returned disconsolate +from the pursuit, having only succeeded in finding two luckless men, one +of whom escaped, but the other, Sa'd ibn Obada, was dragged back to Mecca +and subjected to much brutality before he ultimately made his escape to +his native city. + +The Kureisch were not content with attempting reprisals against Medina, +or possibly they were enraged because they had effected so little, for +they recommenced the persecution of Islam at Mecca with much violence. +From March until April they harassed the Believers in their city, +imposing restrictions upon them, and in many cases inflicting bodily harm +upon Mahomet's unfortunate and now defenceless followers. The renewed +persecution doubtless gave an added impetus to the Prophet's resolve to +quit Mecca. + +Indeed, the time was fully ripe, and with the prescience that continually +characterised him in his role of leader of a religious state, he felt +that now the ground was prepared at Medina, emigration of the Muslim from +Mecca could not fail to be advantageous to him. + +The command was given in April 622, and found immediate popularity, +except with a few malcontents who had large interests in their native +city. Then began the slow removal of a whole colony. The families of +Abu Talib's quarter of Mecca tranquilly forsook their birthplace in +orderly groups, taking with them their household treasures, until the +neighbourhood showed tenantless houses falling into the swift decay +accompanying neglect in such a climate, barricaded doors and gaping +windows, filled only with an immense feeling of desolation and the +blankness which overtakes a city when its humanity has deputed to another +abiding place. Weeds grew in the deserted streets, and over all lay a +fine film of dust, the almost impalpable effort of the desert to merge +once more into itself the territory wrung from it by human will. + +The effect of this emigration upon the Kureisch can hardly be estimated. +They were amazed and helpless before it; for with their wrath hot against +Mahomet, it was as if their antagonist had melted into insubstantial +vapours to leave them enraged and breathless, pursuing a phantom +continually elusive. So silent was the emigration that they were only +made aware of it when the quarter was almost deserted. Scattered +groups of travellers journeying along the desert tracks had evoked no +hostilities, and no treachery broke the loyalty to Islam at Mecca. The +Kureisch were indeed outwitted, and only became conscious of the +subtleties of their antagonist when his plan was accomplished. + +But in spite of the seemingly favourable situation, the leader tarried +because "the Lord had not as yet given him command to emigrate." The very +natural hesitation of Mahomet is only characteristic of him. He knew very +well what issues were at stake, and was not anxious to burn his boats +rashly; indeed, he bore upon his shoulders at this time all the +responsibility of the future of his little flock, who so confidently +resigned their fortunes into his hands. If his scheme at Medina should +fail, he knew that nothing would save him from Kureischite fury, and he +also felt great reluctance in leaving Mecca himself, for at that time it +could not but mean the knell of his hopes of gaining his native city to +his creed. He must have foreseen his establishment of power in Medina, +and possibly he had visions of its extension to neighbouring tribes, but +he could not have foreseen the humiliation of his native city at his +feet, glad at last to receive the faith of one whom she now regarded as +the sovereign potentate of Arabian territory. + +And with their friend and guide remained Abu Bekr and Ali--Abu Bekr +because he would not leave his companion in prayer and persecution, +and Ali because his valour and enthusiasm made him a protector against +possible attacks. Here was the opportunity for the Kureisch. They knew +the extent of the emigration, and that Abu Bekr and Ali were the only +Muslim of importance left except the Prophet. They determined to make one +last attempt to coerce into submission this fantastic but resolute +leader, who possessed in supreme measure the power of winning the faith +and devotion of men. + +Tradition has it that Mahomet's assassination was definitely planned, and +Mahomet assuredly thought so too, when he discovered that a man from each +tribe had been chosen to visit his home at night. The motive can hardly +have been assassination, but doubtless the chiefs were prepared to take +rather strong measures to restrain Mahomet, and this action finally +decided the Prophet that delay was dangerous. + +At this crisis in his fortunes he had two staunch helpers, who did not +hesitate to risk their lives in his service, and with them he anticipated +his foes. Ali was chosen to represent his beloved master before the +menaces of the Kureisch. Mahomet put him into his own bed and arrayed +him in his sacred green mantle; then, as legend has it, taking a handful +of dust, he recited the sura "Ya Sin," which he himself reverenced as +"the heart of the Kuran," and scattering the dust abroad, he called down +confusion upon the heads of the Unbelievers. With Abu Bekr he then fled +swiftly and silently from the city and made his way unseen to the cave of +Thaur, a few miles outside its boundaries. + +Around the cave of Thaur cluster as many and as beautiful legends as +surround the stable at Bethlehem. The wild pigeons flew out and in +unharmed, screening the Prophet by their untroubled presence from the +searchings of the Kureisch, and a thorn tree spread her branches across +the mouth of the cave supporting a spider's frail and glistening web, +which was renewed whenever a friend visited the two prisoners to bring +food and tidings. + +Here Mahomet and Abu Bekr, henceforward known as the "Second of Two," +remained until the fierceness of the pursuit slackened. Asma, Abu Bekr's +daughter, brought them food at sundown, and what news she could glean +from the rumours that were abroad, and from the lips of Ali. There was +very real danger of their surprise and capture, but once more Mahomet's +magnificent faith in God and his cause never wavered. Abu Bekr was afraid +for his master: + +"We are but two, and if the Kureisch find us unarmed, what chance have +we?" + +"We are but two," replied Mahomet, "but God is in the midst a third." + +He looked unflinchingly to Allah for succour and protection, and his +faith was justified. His thanksgiving is contained in the Kuran: "God +assisted your Prophet formerly, when the Unbelievers drove him forth in +company with a second only; when they two were in the cave; when the +Prophet said to his companion, 'Be not distressed; verily God is with +us.' And God sent down his tranquillity upon him and strengthened him +with hosts ye saw not, and made the word of those who believed not the +abased, and the word of God was the exalted." + +At the end of three days the Kureischite search abated, and that night +Mahomet and Abu Bekr decided to leave the cave. Two camels were brought, +and food loaded upon them by Asma and her servants. The fastenings were +not long enough to tie on the food wallet; wherefore Asma tore her girdle +in two and bound them round it, so that she is known to this day among +the Faithful as "She of Two Shreds." After a prayer to Allah in thanks +for their safety, Mahomet and Abu Bekr mounted the camels and sallied +forth to meet what unknown destiny should await them on the road to +Medina. They rapidly gained the sea-coast near Asfan in comparative +safety, secure from the attacks of the Kureisch, who would not pursue +their quarry so far into a strange country. + +The Kureisch had indeed considerably abated their anger against Mahomet. +He was now safely out of their midst, and possibly they thought +themselves well rid of a man whose only object, from their point of view, +was to stir up strife, and they felt that any resentment against either +himself or his kin would be unnecessary and not worth their pains. With +remarkable tolerance for so revengeful an age, they left the families of +Mahomet and Abu Bekr quite free from molestation, nor did they offer any +opposition to Ali when they found he had successfully foiled them, and he +made his way out of the city three days after his leader had quitted it. + +Mahomet and Abu Bekr journeyed on, two pilgrims making their way, +solitary but unappalled, to a strange city, whose temper and disposition +they but faintly understood. But evidences as to its friendliness were +not wanting, and these were renewed when Abu Bekr's cousin, a previous +emigrant to Medina, met them half-way and declared that the city waited +in joy and expectation for the coming of its Prophet. After some days +they crossed the valley of Akik in extreme heat, and came at last to +Coba, an outlying suburb at Medina, where, weary and apprehensive, +Mahomet rested for a while, prudently desiring that his welcome at Medina +might be assured before he ventured into its confines. + +His entry into Coba savoured of a triumphal procession; the people +thronged around his camel shouting, "The Prophet; he is come!" mingling +their cries with homage and wondering awe, that the divine servant of +whom they had heard so much should appear to them in so human a guise, a +man among them, verily one of themselves. Mahomet's camel stopped at the +house of Omm Kolthum, and there he elected to abide during his stay in +Coba, for he possessed throughout his life a reverence for the instinct +in animals that characterises the Eastern races of all time. There, +dismounting, he addressed the people, bidding them be of good cheer, and +giving them thanks for their joyous welcome: + +"Ye people, show your joy by giving your neighbours the salvation of +peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship, and +offer up your prayers whilst others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise +in peace." + +For four days Mahomet dwelt in Coba, where he had encountered unfailing +support and friendship, and there was joined by Ali. His memories of Coba +were always grateful, for at the outset of his doubtful and even +dangerous enterprise he had received a good augury. Before he set out to +Medina he laid the foundations of the Mosque at Coba, where the Faithful +would be enabled to pray according to their fashion, undisturbed and +beneath the favour of Allah, and decreed that Friday was to be set apart +as a special day of prayer, when addresses were to be given at the Mosque +and the doctrines of Islam expounded. + +Even as early as this Mahomet felt the mantle of sovereignty descending +upon him, for we hear now of the first of those ordinances or decrees by +which in later times he rules the lives and actions of his subjects to +the last detail. Clearly he perceived himself a leader among men, who had +it within his power to build up a community following his own dictates, +which might by consolidation even rival those already existent in +Arabia. He was taking command of a weak and factious city, and he +realised that in his hands lay its prosperity or downfall; he was, in +fact, the arbiter of its fate and of the fate of his colleagues who had +dared all with him. + +But he could not stay long in Coba, while the final assay upon the +Medinans remained to be undertaken, and so we find him on the fourth day +of his sojourn making preparations for the entry into the city. It was +undertaken with some confidence of success from the messages already sent +to Coba, and proved as triumphal an entry as his former one. The populace +awaited him in expectation and reverence, and hailed him as their +Prophet, the mighty leader who had come to their deliverance. They +surrounded his camel Al-Caswa, and the camels of his followers, and when +Al-Caswa stopped outside the house of Abu Ayub, Mahomet once more +received the beast's augury and sojourned there until the building of the +Mosque. As Al-Caswa entered the paved courtyard, Mahomet dismounted to +receive the allegiance of Abu Ayub and his household; then, turning to +the people, he greeted them with words of good cheer and encouragement, +and they responded with acclamations. + +For seven months the Prophet lodged in the house of Abu Ayub, and he +bought the yard where Al-Caswa halted as a token of his first entry into +Medina, and a remembrance in later years of his abiding place during the +difficult time of his inception. The decisive step had been taken. The +die was now cast. It was as if the little fleet of human souls had +finally cast its moorings and ventured into the unpathed waters of +temporal dominion under the command of one whose skill in pilotage was as +yet unknown. Many changes became necessary in the conduct of the +enterprise, of which not the least was the change of attitude between the +leader and his followers. Mahomet, heretofore religious visionary and +teacher, became the temporal head of a community, and in time the leader +of a political State. The changed aspect of his mission can never be +over-emphasised, for it altered the tenor of his thoughts and the +progress of his words. All the poetry and fire informing the early pages +of the Kuran departs with his reception at Medina, except for occasional +flashes that illumine the chronicle of detailed ordinances that the Book +has now become. + +This apparent death of poetic energy had crept gradually over the Kuran, +helped on by the controversial character of the last two Meccan periods, +when he attempted the conciliation of the Jewish element within Arabia +with that long-sightedness which already discerned Medina as his possible +refuge. In reality the whole energy of his nature was transmuted from his +words to his actions and therein he found his fitting sphere, for he was +essentially the doer, one whose works are the expression of his secret, +whose personality, in fact, is only gauged by his deeds. As a result of +his political leadership, the despotism of his nature, inherent in his +conception of God, inevitably revealed itself; he had postulated a Being +who held mankind in the hollow of his hand, whose decrees were absolute +among his subjects; now that he was to found an earthly kingdom under the +guidance of Allah, the majesty of divine despotism overshadowed its +Prophet, and enabled him to impose upon a willing people the same +obedience to authority which fostered the military idea. + +We must perforce believe in Mahomet's good faith. There is a tendency in +modern times to think of him as a man who knowingly played upon the +credulity of his followers to establish a sovereignty whereof he should +be head. But no student of psychology can support this conception of the +Prophet of Islam. There is a subtle _rapprochement_ between leader +and people in all great movements that divines instinctively any +imposture. Mahomet used and moulded men by reason of his faith in his own +creed. The establishment of the worship of Allah brought in its train the +aggrandisement of his Prophet, but it was not achieved by profanation of +the source whence his greatness came. + +Mahomet is the last of those leaders who win both the religious +devotion and the political trust of his followers. He wrought out his +sovereignty perforce and created his own _milieu_; but more than all, he +diffused around him the tradition of loyalty to one God and one state +with sword for artificer, which outlived its creator through centuries of +Arabian prosperity. Stone by slow stone his empire was built up, an +edifice owing its contour to his complete grasp of detail and his +dauntless energy. The last days at Mecca had shown him a careful schemer, +the early days at Medina proved his capacity as leader and his skill in +organisation and government. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + + "The Infidels, moreover, will say: Thou art not sent of God. + Say: God is witness enough betwixt me and you, and whoever hath + knowledge of the Book."--_The Kuran_. + +Mahomet, now established at Medina, at once began that careful planning +of the lives of his followers and the ceaseless fostering of his own +ideas within them that endeared him to the Believers as leader and lord, +and enabled him in time to prosecute his designs against his opponents +with a confidence in their faith and loyalty. + +His grasp of detail was wonderful; without haste and without coercion he +subdued the turbulent factions within Medina, and his own perfervid +followers to discipline as despotic as it was salutary; Mahomet became +what circumstances made him; by reason of his mighty gift of moulding +those men and forces that came his way, he impressed his personality upon +his age; but the material fashioning of his energy, the flower of his +creative art, drew its formative sustenance from the soil of his +surroundings. The time for admonition, with the voice of one crying in +the wilderness, the time for praise and poesy, for the expression of that +rapt immortal passion filling his mind as he contemplated God, all these +were past, and had become but a lingering brightness upon the stormy +urgency of his later life. + +Now his flock demanded from him organisation, leadership, political and +social prevision. Therefore the full force of his nature is revealed to +us not so much as heretofore in the Kuran, but rather in his institutions +and ordinances, his enmities and conciliations. He has become not only +the Prophet, but the Lawgiver, the Statesman, almost the King. + +His first act, after his establishment in the house of Abu Ayub, was the +joining together in brotherhood of the Muhajerim and Ansar. These were +two distinct entities within Medina; the Muhajerim (refugees) had either +accompanied their master from Mecca or had emigrated previously; the +Ansar (helpers) comprised all the converts to Islam within the city +itself. These parties were now joined in a close bond, each individual +taking another of the opposite party into brotherhood with himself, to be +accorded the rights and privileges of kinship. Mahomet took as his +brother Ali, who became indeed not only his kinsman, but his military +commander and chief of staff. The wisdom of this arrangement, which +lasted about a year and a half--until, in fact, its usefulness was +outworn by the union of both the Medinan tribes under his leadership +--was immediate and far-reaching. It enabled Mahomet to keep a close +surveillance over the Medinan converts, who might possibly recant when +they became aware of the hazards involved in partnership with the Muslim. +It also gave a coherence to the two parties and allowed the Muhajerim +some foothold in an alien city, not as yet unanimously friendly. And the +Muhajerim had need of all the kindliness and help they could obtain, for +the first six months in Medina were trying both to their health and +endurance, so that many repented their venture and would have returned if +the Ansar had not come forward with ministrations and gifts, and also if +their chances of reaching Mecca alive had not been so precarious. + +The climate at Medina is damp and variable. Hot days alternate with cold +nights, and in winter there is almost continuous rain. The Meccans, used +to the dry, hot days and nights of their native city, where but little +rain fell, and even that became absorbed immediately in the parched +ground, endured much discomfort, even pain, before becoming acclimatised. +Fever broke out amongst them, and it was some months before the epidemic +was stayed with the primitive medical skill at their command. + +Nevertheless, in spite of their weakness and the difficulties of their +position, in these first seven months the Mosque of Mahomet was built +Legend says that the Prophet himself took a share in the work, carrying +stones and tools with the humblest of his followers, and we can well +believe that he did not look on at the labour of his fellow-believers, +and that his consuming zeal prompted him to forward, in whatever way was +necessary, the work lying to his hand. + +The Medinan Mosque, built with fervent hearts and anxious prayers by +the Muslim and their leader, contains the embryo of all the later +masterpieces of Arabian architecture--that art unique and splendid, which +developed with the Islamic spirit until it culminated in the glorious +temple at Delhi, whose exponents have given to the world the palaces of +southern Spain, the mysterious, remote beauty of ancient Granada. In its +embryo minarets and domes, its slender arches and delicate traceries, it +expressed the latent poetry in the heart of Islam which the claims of +Allah and the fiercely jealous worship of him had hitherto obscured; for +like Jahweh of old, Allah was an exacting spirit, who suffered no emotion +but worship to be lord of his people's hearts. + +The Mosque was square in design, made of stone and brick, and wrought +with the best skill of which they were capable. The Kibla, or direction +of prayer, was towards Jerusalem, symbolic of Mahomet's desire to +propitiate the Jews, and finally to unite them with his own people in a +community with himself as temporal head. Opposite this was the Bab +Rahmah, the Gate of Mercy, and general entrance to the holy place. Ranged +round the outer wall of the Mosque were houses for the Prophet's wives +and daughters, little stone buildings, of two or three rooms, almost +huts, where Mahomet's household had its home--Rockeya, his daughter, and +Othman, her husband; Fatima and Ali, Sawda and Ayesha, soon to be his +girl-bride, and who even now showed exceeding loveliness and force of +character. + +Mahomet himself had no separate house, but dwelt with each of his wives +in turn, favouring Ayesha most, and as his harem increased a house was +added for each wife, so that his entourage was continually near him and +under his surveillance. On the north side the ground was open, and there +the poorer followers of Mahomet gathered, living upon the never-failing +hospitality of the East and its ready generosity in the necessities of +life. + +As soon as the Mosque was built, organised religious life at Medina came +into being. A daily service was instituted in the Mosque itself, and the +heaven-sent command to prayer five times a day for every Muslim was +enforced. Five times in every turn of the world Allah receives his +supplicatory incense; at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset, and +at night the Muslim renders his due reverence and praise to the lord of +his welfare, thanking Allah, his supreme guide and votary, for the gift +of the Prophet, guide and protector of the Faithful. Lustration before +prayer was instituted as symbolic of the Believers' purification of heart +before entering the presence of God, and provision for the ceremony made +inside the Mosque. The public service on Friday, instituted at Coba, was +continued at Medina, and consisted chiefly of a sermon given by Mahomet +from a pulpit, erected inside the Mosque, whose sanctity was proverbial +and unassailed. Thus the seed was sown of a corporate religious life, the +embryo from which the Arabian military organisation, its polity, even its +social system, were to spring. + +In spite of the increasing numbers of the Ansar, there still remained a +party in Medina, "the Disaffected," who had not as yet accepted the +Prophet or his creed. Over these Mahomet exercised a strict surveillance, +in accordance with his conviction that a successful ruler leaves nothing +to Providence that he can discover and regulate for himself. "Trust in +God, but tie your camel." By this means, as well as by personal influence +and exhortation, "Disaffected" were controlled and ultimately converted +into good Muslim; for the more cautious of them--those who waited to see +how events would shape--soon assured themselves of Mahomet's capacity, +and the weakly passive were caught in the swirl of enthusiasm surrounding +the Prophet that continually drew unto itself all conditions of men +within its ever-widening circle. + +Having organised his own followers, and secured their immunity from +internal strife, Mahomet was forced to turn his attention to the Jewish +element within his adopted city, and to decide swiftly his policy towards +the three Israelite tribes who comprised the wealthier and trading +population of Medina. + +From the first, Mahomet's desires were in the direction of a federal +union, wherein each party would follow his own faith and have control of +his own tribal affairs and finances, save when the necessity of mutual +protection against enemies called for a union of forces. Again Mahomet +framed his policy upon the doctrine of opportunism. His ultimate aim was +beyond doubt to unite both Jews and Medinans under his rule in a common +religious and political bond, but he recognised the present impossibility +of such action in view of the Jews' greater stability and the weakness of +his party within the city. His negotiations and conciliations with the +Jews offer one of the many examples of his supreme skill as a statesman. + +The Jews themselves, taken almost unawares by the suddenness of Mahomet's +entry into their civic life, agreed to the treaty he proposed, and +acquiesced unconsciously in his subtle attempts to merge the two faiths +into a whole wherein Islam would be the dominant factor. When Mahomet +made Jerusalem his Kibla, or direction of prayer, and emphasised the +connection between Jewish and Arabian history, they suffered these +advances, and agreed to a treaty which would have formed the foundations +of a political and social convergence and ultimate absorption of their +own nation. + +Mahomet knew that federalism with the Jews was a necessary step to his +desired end, and therefore he drew up a treaty wherein mutual protection +against outward enemies, as well as against internal sedition, was +assured. Hospitality was to be freely rendered and demanded, and neither +party was to support an Infidel against a Believer. Guarantees for mutual +security were exchanged, and it was agreed that each should be free to +worship in his own fashion. The treaty throws light upon the clan-system +still obtaining in seventh-century Arabia. The Jews were their own +masters in the ordering of their lives, as were the Medinan tribes, even +after many years of neighbourhood and frequent interchange of commerce +and mutual assurances. The most significant political work achieved by +Mahomet, the planting of the federal, and later, the national idea in +Arabia in place of the tribal one, was thus inaugurated, and throughout +the development of his political power it will be seen that the struggles +between himself and the surrounding peoples virtually hinged upon the +acceptance or rejection of it. + +The Jews, with their narrow conception of the political unit, could +acquiesce neither in federalism nor in union, and as soon as Mahomet +perceived their incapacity he became implacable, and either drove them +forth or compelled their submission by terror and slaughter. But for the +present his policy and prudence dictated compromise, and he was strong +enough to achieve his will. + +The political and social problems of his embryo state had found temporary +solution, and Mahomet was free to turn his attention to external foes. In +his attitude towards those who had persecuted him he evinced more than +ever his determination to build up not only a religious society, but a +powerful temporal state. + +The Meccans would have been content to leave matters as they stood, and +were quite prepared to let Mahomet establish his power at Medina +unmolested, provided they were given like immunity from attacks. But from +the beginning other plans filled the Prophet's thoughts, and though +revenge for his privations was declared to be the instigator of his +attacks on the Kureisch trade, the determining motive must be looked for +much more deeply. The great project of the harassment and final overthrow +of the Kureisch was dimly foreshadowed in Mahomet's mind, and he became +ever more deeply aware of the part that must be played therein by the +sword. + +As yet he hesitated to acclaim war as the supreme arbiter in his own and +his followers' destinies, for the valour of his levies and the skill of +his leaders was unproved. The forays undertaken before the battle of Bedr +are really nothing more than essays by the Muslim in the game of war, and +it was not until proof of their power against the Kureisch had been given +that Mahomet gave up his future policy into the keeping of that bright +disastrous deity that lures all sons of men. In a measure it was true +that the clash between Mahomet and the Kureisch was unavoidable, but that +it loomed so large upon the horizon of Medina's policy is due to the +Prophet's determination to strike immediately at the wealth and security +of his rival. Lust for plunder, too, added its weight to Mahomet's +reprisals against Mecca; even if that city was content to leave him in +peace, still the Kureischite caravans to Bostra and Syria, passing so +near to Medina, were too tempting to be ignored. + +Along these age-old routes Meccan merchandise still travelled its devious +way, at the mercy of sun and desert storms and the unheeding fierceness +of that cataclysmic country, a prey to any marauding tribes, and +dependent for its existence upon the strength of its escort. And since +plunder is sweeter than labour, every chief with swift riders and good +spearmen hoped to gain his riches at Meccan expense. But their attempts +were for the most part abortive, chiefly because of the lack of cohesion +and generalship; until Mahomet none really constituted a serious menace +to the Kureischite wealth. + +In Muharram 622 (April) the Hegira took place, and six months sufficed +Mahomet to establish his power securely enough to be able to send out his +first expedition against the Kureisch in Ramadan (December) of the same +year. The party was led by Hamza, whose soldier qualities were only at +the beginning of their development, and probably consisted of a few +Muslim horsemen on their beautiful swift mounts and one or two spearmen, +and possibly several warriors skilled in the use of arrows. They sallied +forth from Medina and went to meet the caravan as it prepared to pass by +their town. The Kureisch had placed Abu Jahl in command--a man whose +invincible hatred for Islam and the Prophet had manifested itself in the +persecution at Mecca, and whose hostility increased as the Muslim power +advanced. + +The caravan was guarded, but none too strongly, and Hamza's troop pursued +and had almost attacked it when a Bedouin chief of the desert more +powerful than either party interposed and compelled the Muslim to +withdraw, while he forbade Abu Jahl to pursue them or attempt revenge. So +the caravan continued its way unmolested into Syria and there exchanged +its gums, leather, and frankincense for the silks and precious metals, +the fine stuffs and luxurious draperies which made the Syrian markets a +vivid medley of sheen and gloss, stored with bright colours and burnished +surfaces shimmering in the hot radiance of the East. In Jan. 623 the +caravan set out homeward "on its lone journey o'er the desert," and again +the Muslim sent out an attacking party in the hope of securing this +larger prize. But the Kureisch were wise and had provided themselves +with a stronger escort before which the Muslim could do nothing but +retreat--not, however, before they had sent a few tentative arrows at the +cavalcade. Obeida, their leader and a cousin of Mahomet, gave the command +to shoot, and is renowned henceforth as "he who shot the first arrow for +Islam." + +After a month another essay was made upon a northward-bound caravan by +Sa'd, again without success, for he had miscalculated dates and missed +his quarry by some days. Each leader on his return to Medina was received +with honour by Mahomet as one who had shown his prowess in the cause of +Isalm and presented with a white banner. + +So far the prophet himself had not taken the field; now, however, in the +summer and autumn of 623, in spite of signs that all was not well with +the Jewish alliance at home, Mahomet took the field in person and +conducted three larger but still unsuccessful expeditions; the last +attacking levy of October 623 consisted of 200 men, but even then Mahomet +was able to effect nothing against the Kureischite escort. The attempted +raid had nevertheless an important outcome, for by this exhibition of +strength Mahomet succeeded in convincing a neighboring desert tribe, +hitherto friendly to Mecca, of the advisability of seeking alliance with +the Muslim. + +The treaty between Mahomet and the Bedouin tribe marks the beginning of a +significant development in his foreign polity. Like the Romans, and all +military nations, he knew the worth of making advantageous alliances, +while he was clear-sighted enough to realise that the struggle with Mecca +was inevitable. During the months preceding the battle of Bedr he +concluded several treaties with desert tribes, and it is to this policy +he owes in part his power to maintain his aggressive attitude towards the +Kureisch, for with the alliance of the tribes around the caravan routes +Mahomet could be sure of hampering the Meccan trade. + +While the Prophet was in the field he left representatives to care for +the affairs of his city. These representatives were designated by him, +and were always members of his personal following. Ali and Abu Bekr were +most often chosen until All proved his worth as a warrior, and so usually +accompanied or commanded the expeditionary force. The representatives +held their authority direct from Mahomet, and had in all matters the +identical power of the Prophet during his absence. It speaks well for the +loyalty and acumen of these ministers that Mahomet was enabled to leave +the city so often and so confidently, and that the government continued +as if under his personal supervision. + +Whether the Jews were overbold because of Mahomet's frequent absences, or +whether they now became conscious of the trend of Mahomet's policy +towards the absorption of the Jewish element within the city into Islam, +will never be made clear, beyond the fact that the Jewish tribes were not +enthusiastic in their union with the Muslim, and that their national +character precluded them from accepting an alliance that threatened the +autonomy of their religion. It is, however, certain that the discontent +of the Jews voiced itself more and more loudly as the year advanced. The +suras of the period are full of revilings and threats against them, and +form a greater contrast coming after the later Meccan suras wherein +Israel was honoured and its heroes held up as examples. A few Jews had +been won over to his cause, but the mass showed themselves either hostile +or indifferent to the federal idea. As yet no definite sundering +of relationships had occurred, but everything pointed to a speedy +dissolution of the treaty unless one side or the other moderated its +views. + +The autumn of 628 saw Mahomet fully established in Medina. He had made +his worth known by his energy and organising power, by his devotion to +Allah and his zeal for the faith he had founded. The Medinans regarded +him already as their natural leader, and he had definitely adopted their +city as his headquarters. Through his skill as a statesman and his +loyalty to an idea he wrought out, the foundations of his future state, +and if the latter months of 623 saw him not yet strong enough to overcome +the Meccans, at least he was so firmly established that he could afford +to dispense with any overtures to the increasingly hostile Jews, and he +had gained sufficient adherents to allow him to contemplate with +equanimity the prospect of a sharp and prolonged struggle with the +Kureisch. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +_"Even though thou shouldst bring every kind of sign to those who have +received the Scriptures, yet Thy Kibla they will not adopt; nor shalt +thou adopt their Kibla; nor will one part of them adopt the Kibla of the +other."--The Kuran_. + +Mahomet realised the position of affairs at Medina too acutely to allow +of his undertaking in person any predatory expeditions against the +Kureisch during the autumn and winter of 623. The Jews were chafing under +his tacit assumption of State control, and although their murmurings had +not reached the recklessness of strife, still both their leaders and the +Muslim perceived that their disaffection was inevitable. Insecurity at +home, however, did not prevent him from sending out an expedition in +Rajab (October) of that year under Abdallah. Rajab is a sacred month in +the Mohamedan calendar, one in which war is forbidden. Strictly, +therefore, in sending out an expedition at all just then Mahomet was +transgressing against the laws of that religion which, purged of its +idolatries, he claimed as his own. But it was a favourable opportunity to +attack the Kureischite caravan on its way to Taif, and therefore Mahomet +recked nothing of the prohibition. + +Taif was a very distant objective for an expeditionary band from Medina, +and that Mahomet contemplated attack upon his enemy by a company so far +removed from its base is convincing proof, should any be needed, of his +confidence in his followers' prowess and his conciliation of the tribes +lying between the two hostile cities. + +Sealed orders were given to Abdallah, with instructions not to open the +parchment until he was two days south of Medina. At sunset on the second +day he came with his eight followers to a well in the midst of the +desert. There under the few date palms, which gave them rough shelter, he +broke the seal and read: + +"When thou readest this writing depart unto Nakhla, between Taif and +Mecca; there lie in wait for the Kureisch, and bring thy comrades news +concerning them." + +As Abdallah read his mind alternated between apprehension and daring, and +turning to his companions he took counsel of them. + +"Mahomet has commanded me to go to Nakhla and there await the Kureisch; +also he has commanded me to say unto you whoever desireth martyrdom for +Islam let him follow me, and whoever will not suffer it, let him turn +back. As for me, I am resolved to carry out the commands of God's +Prophet" + +Then one and all the eight companions assured him they would not forsake +him until the quest was achieved. At dawn they resumed their march and +arrived at length at Nakhla, where they encountered the Kureisch caravan +laden with spice and leather. Now, it was the last day of the month of +Rajab, wherein it was unlawful to fight, wherefore the Muslim took +counsel, saying: + +"If we fight not this day, they will elude us and escape." + +But the Prophet's implied command was strong enough to induce initiative +and hardihood in the small attacking party. They bore down upon the +Kureisch, showering arrows in their path, so that one man was killed and +several wounded. The rest forsook their merchandise and fled, leaving +behind them two prisoners, whose retreat had been cut off. Abdallah was +left in possession of the field, and joyfully he returned to Medina, +bearing with him the first plunder captured by the Muslim. + +But his return led Mahomet into a quandary from which there seemed +no escape. Politically, he was bound to approve Abdallah's deed; +religiously, he could neither laud it nor share the fruits of it. For +days the spoils remained undivided, but Abdallah was not punished or even +reprimanded. Meanwhile, the Jews and the Kureisch vied with one another +in execrating Mahomet, and even his own people murmured against him. It +was clearly time that an authoritative sanction should be given to the +deed, and accordingly in the sura, "The Cow," we have the revelation from +Allah proclaiming the greater culpability of the Infidels and of those +who would stir up civil strife: + +"They will ask thee concerning war in the Sacred Month. Say: To war +therein is bad, but to turn aside from the cause of God, and to have no +faith in Him, and in the Sacred Temple, and to drive out its people, is +worse in the sight of God; civil strife is worse than bloodshed." + +No possible doubt must be cast in this and similar cases upon Mahomet's +sincerity. The Kuran was the vehicle of the Lord; he had used it to +proclaim his unity and power and his warnings to the unrighteous. Now +that Islam had recognised his august and indissoluble majesty, and had +accorded the throne of Heaven and the governance of earth to him +indivisibly, the world was split up into Believers and Unbelievers. The +Kuran, therefore, must of necessity cease to be merely the proclamation +of divine unity that it had been and become the vehicle for definite +orders and regulations, the outcome of those theocratic ideas upon which +Mahomet's creed was founded. The justification would not appeal to the +people unless Allah's sanction supported it, and Mahomet realised with +all his ardour of faith that the transgression was slight compared with +the result achieved towards the progress of Islam. The Prophet therefore +received, with Allah's approval, a fifth of the spoil, but the captives +he released after receiving ransom. + +"This," says the historian, "was the first booty that Mahomet obtained, +the first captives they seized, and the first life they took." The +significance of the event was vividly felt throughout Islam, and +Abdallah, its hero, received at Mahomet's hands the title of "Amir-al- +Momirim," Commander of the Faithful--a title which recalls inseparably +the cruelty and magnificence, the glamour and rapacity, of Arabian Bagdad +under Haroun-al-Raschid. The valorous enterprise had now been achieved, +the Kureisch caravan was despoiled, and the Kureisch themselves wrought +into fury against the Prophet's insolence; but more than all, the channel +of Mahomet's policy of warfare became thereby so deeply carved that he +could not have effaced it had he desired. Henceforth his creative genius +limited itself to the deepening of its course and the direction of its +outlet. + +The Jews had not rested content with murmuring against Mahomet's rule, +they sought to embarrass him by active sedition. One of their first +attempts against Mahomet's regime was to stir up strife between the +Refugees and Helpers. In this they would have been successful but for +Mahomet's efficient system of espionage, a method upon which he relied +throughout his life. Failing to foment a rebellion in secret they +proceeded to open hostilities, and the Muslim, jealous for their faith, +retaliated by contempt and estrangement. During the winter of 623 +personal attack was made by the mob upon Mahomet. The people were hounded +on by their leaders to stone the Prophet, but he was warned in time and +escaped their assaults. + +The popular fury was merely the reflex of a fundamental division of +thought between the opposing parties. The Jewish and Muslim systems +could never coalesce, for each claimed the dominance and ignored all +compromise. The age-long, hallowed traditions of the Jews which supported +a theocracy as unyielding as any conception of Divine sovereignty +preached by Mahomet, found themselves faced with a new creative force +rapidly evolving its own legends, and strong enough in its enthusiasm to +overwhelm their own. The Rabbis felt that Mahomet and his warrior +heroes--Ali, Omar, Othman, and the rest--would in time dislodge from +their high places their own peculiar saints, just as they saw Mahomet +with Abu Bekr and his personnel of administrators and informers +already overriding their own councillors in the civil and military +departments of their state. The old regime could not amalgamate with the +new, for that would mean absorption by its more vigorous neighbour, and +the Jewish spirit is exclusive in essence and separatist perforce. +Mahomet took no pains to conciliate his allies; they had made a treaty +with him in the days of his insecurity and he was grateful, but now his +position in Medina was beyond assailment, and he was indifferent to their +goodwill. As their aggression increased he deliberately withdrew his +participation in their religious life, and severed his connection with +their rites and ordinances. + +The Kibla of the Muslim, whither at every prayer they turned their faces, +and which he had declared to be the Temple at Jerusalem, scene of his +embarkation upon the wondrous "Midnight Journey," was now changed to the +Kaaba at Mecca. What prevision or prophetic inspiration prompted Mahomet +to turn his followers' eyes away from the north and fix them upon their +former home with its fierce and ruthless heat, the materialisation, it +seemed, of his own inexorable and passionate aims? Henceforth Mecca +became unconsciously the goal of every Muslim, the desired city, to be +fought for and died for, the dwelling-place of their Prophet, the crown +of their faith. + +The Jewish Fast of Atonement, which plays so important a part in Semite +faith and doctrine, had been made part of the Muslim ritual in 622, while +a federal union still seemed possible, but the next year such an +amalgamation could not take place. In Ramadan (Dec. to January), +therefore, Mahomet instituted a separate fast for the Faithful. It was to +extend throughout the Sacred Month in which the Kuran had first been sent +down to men. Its sanctity became henceforth a potent reminder for the +Muslim of his special duties towards Allah, of the reverence meet to be +accorded to the Divine Upholder of Islam. During all the days of Ramadan, +no food or drink might pass a Muslim lip, nor might he touch a woman, but +the moment the sun's rim dipped below the horizon he was absolved from +the fast until dawn. No institution in Islam is so peculiarly sacred as +Ramadan, and none so scrupulously observed, even when, by the revolution +of the lunar year, the fast falls during the bitter heat of summer. It is +a characteristic ordinance, and one which emphasises the vivid Muslim +apprehension of the part played by abstention in their religious code. +At the end of the fast--that is, upon the sight of the next new +moon--Mahomet proclaimed a festival, Eed-al-Fitr, which was to take the +place of the great Jewish ceremony of rejoicing. + +At this time, too, Mahomet, evidently bent on consolidating his religious +observances and regulating their conduct, decreed a fresh institution, +with parallels in no religion--the Adzan, or call to prayer. Mahomet +wished to summon the Believers to the Mosque, and there was no way except +to ring a bell such as the Christians use, which rite was displeasing to +the Faithful. Indeed, Mahomet is reported later to have said, "The bell +is the devil's musical instrument." + +But Abdallah, a man of profound faith and love for Islam, received +thereafter a vision wherein a "spirit, in the guise of man, clad in green +garments," appeared to him and summoned him to call the Believers to +prayer from the Mosque at every time set apart for devotion. + +"Call ye four times 'God is great,' and then, 'I bear witness that there +is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet. Come unto prayer, come +unto salvation. God is great; there is no God but Him.'" + +"A true vision," declared Mahomet. "Go and teach it to Bilal, that he may +call to prayer, for he has a better voice than thou." + +When Bilal, a slave, received the command, he went up to the Mosque, and +climbing its highest minaret, he cried aloud his summons, adding at each +dawn: + +"Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep." + +And when Omar heard the call, he went to Mahomet and declared that he had +the previous night received the same vision. + +And Mahomet answered him, "Praise be to Allah!" + +Therewith was inaugurated the most characteristic observance in Islam, +the one which impresses itself very strongly upon the Western traveller +as he hears in the dimness of every dawning, before the sun's edge is +seen in the east, the voices of the Muezzin from each mosque in the city +proclaiming their changeless message, their insistent command to prayer +and praise. He sees the city leap into magical life, the dark figures of +the Muslim hurrying to the Holy Place that lies shimmering in the golden +light of early day, and knows that, behind this outward manifestation, +lies a faith, at root incomprehensible by reason of its aloofness from +the advancing streams of modern thought, a faith spiritually impotent, +since it flees from mysticism, generating an energy which has expended +its vital force in conquest, only to find itself too intellectually +backward and physically sluggish to gather in prosperity the fruits of +its attainments. Its lack of imagination, its utter ignorance of the lure +of what is strange, have been responsible for its achievement of +stupendous tasks, for the driving energy behind was never appalled by +anticipation, nor checked by any realisation of coming stress and terror. +And the same qualities that led the Muslim to world-conquest thereafter +caused their downfall, for their minds could not visualise that world of +imagination necessary for any creative science, while they were not +attuned in intellect for the reception of such generative ideas as have +contributed to the philosophic and speculative development of the Western +world. + +All the characteristics which distinguish Islam to the making and the +blasting of its fortunes may be found in embryo in the small Medinan +community; for their leader, by his own creative ardour, imposed upon his +flock every idea which shaped the form and content of its future career +from its rising even to its zenith and decline. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +_"They plotted, but God plotted, and of plotters is God the best."--The +Koran_. + +Mahomet's star, now continually upon the ascendant, flamed into sudden +glory in Ramadan of the second year of the Hegira. Its brilliance and the +bewilderment caused by its triumphant continuance is reflected in all the +chronicles and legends clustered around that period. + +If Nakhlu had been an achievement worthy of God's emissary, the victory +which followed it was an irrefutable argument in favour of Mahomet's +divinely ordained rulership of the Arabian peoples. It appeared to the +Muslim, and even to contemporary hostile tribes, nothing less than a +stupendous proof of their championship by God. Muslim poets and +historians are never weary of expatiating upon the glories achieved by +their tiny community with little but abiding zeal and supreme faith with +which to confound their foes. No military event in the life of the +Prophet called forth such rejoicings from his own lips as the triumph at +Bedr: + +"O ye Meccans, if ye desired a decision, now hath the decision come to +you. It will be better for you if ye give over the struggle. If ye +return to it, we will return, and your forces, though they be many, shall +never avail you aught, for God is with the Faithful." + +Through the whole of Sura viii the strain of exultation runs, the +presentment in dull words of fierce and splendid courage wrought out into +victory in the midst of the storms and lightnings of Heaven. + +Such an earth-shaking event, the effects of which reached far beyond its +immediate environment, received fitting treatment at the hands of all +Arabian chronicles, so that we are enabled to reconstruct the events +preceding the battle itself, its action and result, with a vivid +completeness that is often denied us in the lesser events. + +The caravan under Abu Sofian, about thirty or forty strong, which had +eluded Mahomet and reached Syria, was now due to return to Mecca with its +bartered merchandise. Mahomet was determined that this time it should not +escape, and that he would exact from it full penalty of the vengeance he +owed the Meccans for his insults and final expulsion from their city. As +soon as the time for its approach drew nigh, Mahomet sent two scouts to +Hama, north of Medina, who were to bring tidings to him the moment they +caught sight of its advancing dust. But Abu Sofian had been warned of +Mahomet's activity and turned off swiftly to the coast, keeping the +seaward route, while he sent a messenger to Mecca with the news that an +attack by the Muslim was meditated. + +Dhamdham, sent by his anxious leader, arrived in the city after three +days' journey in desperate haste across the desert, and flung himself +from his camel before the Kaaba. There he beat the camel to its knees, +cut off its ears and nose, and put the saddle hind foremost. Then, +rending his garments, he cried with a loud voice: + +"Help, O Kureisch, your caravan is pursued by Mahomet!" + +With one accord the Meccan warriors, angered by the news that spread +wildly among the populace, assembled before their holy place and swore a +great oath that they would uphold their dignity and avenge their loss +upon the upstart followers of a demented leader. Every man who could bear +arms prepared in haste for the expedition, and those who could not fight +found young men as their representatives. In the midst of all the tumult +and eager resolutions to exterminate the Muslim, so runs the tale, there +were few who would listen to Atikah, the daughter of Abd-al-Muttalib. + +"I have dreamed three nights ago, that the Kureisch will be called to +arms in three days and will perish. Behold the fulfilment of my dream! +Woe to the Kureisch, for their slaughter is foretold!" + +But she was treated as of no account, a woman and frail, and the army set +out upon its expedition in all the bravery of that pomp-loving nation. + +With Abu Jahl at its head, and accompanied by slave girls with lutes and +tabrets, who were to gladden the eyes and minister to the pleasure of its +warriors, the Kureisch army moved on through the desert towards its +destined goal; but we are told by a recorder, "dreams of disaster +accompanied it, nor was its sleep tranquil for the evil portents that +appeared therein." Thus, apprehensive but dauntless, the Meccan army +advanced to Safra, one day's march from Bedr, where it encountered +messengers from Abu Sofian, who announced that the caravan had eluded the +Muslim and was safe. + +Then arose a debate among the Kureisch as to their next course. Many +desired to return to Mecca, deeming their purpose accomplished now that +the caravan was secure from attack, but the bolder amongst them were +anxious to advance, and the more deliberative favoured this also, because +by so doing they might hope to overawe Mahomet into quietude. But before +all there was the safety of their homes to consider, and they were +fearful lest an attack by a hostile tribe, the Beni Bekr, might be made +upon Mecca in the absence of its fighting men. Upon receiving assurances +of good faith from a tribe friendly to both, they dismissed that fear and +resolved to advance, so that they might compel Mahomet to abandon his +attacks upon their merchandise. + +This proceeding seemed a reasonable and politic measure, until it was +viewed in the light of its consequences, and indeed, judging from +ordinary calculation, such a host could have no other effect than a +complete rout upon such a small and inefficient band as Mahomet's +followers. Therefore, in estimating, if they did at all carefully, the +forces matched against them, the Kureisch found themselves materially +invincible, though they had not reckoned the spiritual factor of +enthusiasm which transcended their own physical superiority. + +These events had taken over nine days, and meanwhile Mahomet had not been +idle. His two spies had brought news of the approach of the caravan, but +beyond that meagre information he knew nothing. The Kureischite activity +thereafter was swallowed up in the vastnesses of the desert, which drew a +curtain as effective as death around the opposing armies. + +But news of the caravan's advance was sufficient for the Prophet. With +the greatest possible speed he collected his army--not, we are told, +without some opposition from the fearful among the Medinan population, +who were anxious to avoid any act which might bring down upon them the +ruthless Meccan hosts. Legend has counted as her own this gathering +together of the Muslim before Bedr, and translating the engendered +enthusiasm into imaginative fact, has woven a pattern of barbaric +colours, wherein deeds are transformed by the spirit which prompts them. +The heroes panted for martyrdom, and each craved to be among the first to +pour forth his blood in the sacred cause. They crowded to battle on +camels and on foot. Abu Bekr in his zeal walked every step of the way, +which he regarded as the road to supreme benediction. Mahomet himself led +his valorous band, mounted on a camel with Ali by his side, having before +him two black flags borne by standard-bearers whose strength and bravery +were the envy of the rest. He possessed only seventy camels and two +horses, and the riders were chosen by lot. Behind marched or rode the +flower of Islam's warriors and statesmen--Abu Bekr, Omar, Hamza, and +Zeid, whose names already resounded through Islam for valiant deeds; +Abdallah, with Mahomet's chosen leaders of expeditions; the rank and +file, three hundred strong, regardless of what perils might overtake +them, intent on plunder and the upholding of their vigorous faith, +sallied forth from Medina as soon as they could be equipped, and took the +direct road to Mecca. On reaching Safra, for reasons we are not told, +they turned west to Bedr, a halting-place on the Syrian road, possibly +hoping to catch the caravan on its journey westwards towards the sea. + +But Abu Sofian was too quick for them. Mahomet's scouts had only reached +Bedr, reconnoitered and retired, when Abu Sofian approached the well +within its precincts and demanded of a man belonging to a neighbouring +tribe if there were strangers in the vicinity. + +"I have seen none but two men, O Chief," he replied; "they came to the +well to water their camels." + +But he had been bribed by Mahomet, and knew well they were Muslim. + +Abu Sofian was silent, and looked around him carefully. Suddenly he +started up as he caught sight of their camels' litter, wherein were +visible the small date stones peculiar to Medinan palms. + +"Camels from Yathreb!" he cried quickly; "these be the scouts of +Mahomet." Then he gathered his company together and departed hastily +towards the sea. He despatched a messenger to Mecca to tell of the +caravan's safety, and a little later heard with joy of his countrymen's +progress to oppose Mahomet. + +"Doth Mahomet indeed imagine that it will be this time as in the affair +of the Hadramate (slain at Nakhla)? Never! He shall know that it is +otherwise!" + +But the army that caused such joy to Abu Sofian created nothing but +apprehension in Mahomet's camp. He knew the caravan had eluded him, and +now there was a greater force more than three times his own advancing on +him. Hurriedly he convened a council of war, whereat his whole following +urged an immediate advance. The excitement had now fully captured their +tumultuous souls, and there was more danger for Mahomet in a retreat than +in an attack. An immediate advance was therefore decided upon, and +Mahomet sent Ali, on the day before the battle, to reconnoitre, as they +were nearing Bedr. The same journey which told Abu Sofian of the +presence of the Muslim also resulted for them in the capture of three +water-carriers by Ali, who dragged them before Mahomet, where they were +compelled to give the information he wanted, and from them he learned the +disposition and strength of the enemy. + +The valley of Bedr is a plain, with hills flanking it to the north and +east. On the west are small sandy hillocks which render progress +difficult, especially if the ground is at all damp from recent rains. +Through this shallow valley runs the little stream, having at its +south-western extremity the springs and wells which give the place its +importance as a halting stage. Command of the wells was of the highest +importance, but as yet neither army had obtained it, for the Muslim had +not taken up their final position, and the Kureisch were hemmed in by the +sandy ground in front of them. + +The wretched water-carriers being brought before Mahomet at first +declared they knew nothing, but after some time confessed they were Abu +Jahl's servants. + +"And where is the abiding place of Abu Jahl?" + +"Beyond the sand-hills to the east." + +"And how many of his countrymen abide with him?" + +"They are numerous; I cannot tell; they are as numerous as leaves." + +"On one day nine, the next ten." + +"Then they number 950 men," exclaimed the Prophet to Ali; "take the men +away." + +Mahomet now called a council of generals, and it was decided to advance +up the valley to the farther side of the wells, so as to secure the +water-supply, and destroy all except the one they themselves needed. This +manoeuvre was carried out successfully, and the Muslim army encamped +opposite the Kureisch, at the foot of the western hills and separated +from their adversaries by the low sandy hillocks in front of them. A +rough hut of palm branches was built for Mahomet whence he could direct +the battle, and where he could retire for counsel with Abu Bekr, and for +prayer. + +Both sides had now made their dispositions, and there remained nothing +but to wait till daybreak. That night the rain descended upon the doomed +Kureisch like the spears of the Lord, whelming their sandy soil and +churning up the rising ground in front of the troops into a quagmire of +bottomless mud. The clouds were tempered towards the higher Muslim +position, and the water drained off the hilly land. + +"See, the Lord is with us; he has sent his heavy rain upon our enemies," +declared Mahomet, looking from his hut in the early dawn, weary with +anxiety for the issue of this fateful hour, but strong in faith and +confident in the favour of Allah. Then he retired to the hut for prayer +and contemplation. + +"O Allah, forget not thy promise! O Lord, if this little band be +vanquished idolatry will prevail and thy pure worship cease from off the +earth." + +He set himself to the encouragement and instruction of his troops. He had +no cavalry with which to cover an advance, and he therefore ordered his +troops to remain firm and await the oncoming rush until the word to +charge was given. + +But on no account were they to lose command of the wells. Drawn up in +several lines, their champions in front and Mahomet with Abu Bekr to +direct them from the rear, the little troop of Muslim awaited the +onslaught of their greater foes. + +But dissent had broken out among the Kureisch generals. Obi, one of +their best warriors, perhaps feeling the confident carelessness of the +Kureisch was misplaced, wanted to go back without attacking. He was +overruled after much discussion and some bad feeling by Abu Jahl, who +declared that if they refrained from attack now all the land would ring +with their cowardice. So a general advance was ordered, and the Kureisch +champions led the way. + +The battle began, as most battles of primitive times, by a series of +single combats, one champion challenging another to fight. The glory of +being the first Muslim to kill a Meccan in this encounter fell to Hamza. +Aswad of the Kureisch swore to drink of the water of those wells guarded +by the Muslim. Hamza opposed, and his first sword stroke severed the leg +of Aswad; but he, undaunted, crawled on until at the fountain he was +slain by Hamza before its waters passed his lips. Now three champions of +the Kureisch came forward to challenge three Muslim of equal birth. +Hamza, Ali, and Obeida answered the charge, and in front of the opposing +ranks three Homeric conflicts raged. + +Hamza, the lion of God, and Ali, the sword of the faith, quickly overcame +their opponents, but Obeida was wounded before he could spear his man. +The sight gave courage to the Kureisch, and now the main body of them +pressed on, seeking to overwhelm the Muslim by sheer weight. The heavy +ground impeded their movements, and they came on slowly with what anxious +expectation on the part of Mahomet's soldiers, whom their Prophet had +commanded to await his signal. + +When the Kureisch were near enough Mahomet lifted his hand: + +"Ya Mansur amit!" (Ye conquerors, strike!) he cried, pointing with +outstretched finger at the close ranks bearing down upon them; "Paradise +awaits him who lays down his life for Islam." + +The Muslim with a wild cry dashed forward against their foe. But the +Kureisch were brave and they were numerous, and the Muslim were few and +almost untutored. The battle raged, surging like foam within the narrow +valley; its waves now roaring almost up to the Prophet's vantage ground, +now retreating in eddies towards the rear of the Kureisch, under a +lowering sky, whose wind-swept clouds seemed to reflect the strife in the +Heavens. + +"Behold Gabriel with a thousand angels charging down upon the Infidels!" +cried Mahomet, as a blast of wind tore shrieking down the valley. "See +Muhail and Seraphil with their troops rush to the help of God's chosen." + +Then as the Muslim seemed to waver, pressed back by the mass of their +enemies, he appeared in their midst, and, taking a handful of dust, cast +it in the face of the foe: + +"Let their faces be confounded!" + +The Muslim, caught by the magnetism of Mahomet's presence, seized by the +immortal energy which radiated from him, rallied their strength. With a +shout they bore down upon the Kureisch, who wavered and broke beneath +this inspired onrush, within whose vigour dwelt all Mahomet's surcharged +ambition and indomitable aims. He commanded the attack to be followed up +at once, and the Kureisch, hampered in their retreat by the marshy +ground, fell in confusion, their ranks shattered, their champions crushed +in the welter of spears and horsemen, swords, armour, sand, blood, and +the bodies of men. + +The order went forth from Mahomet to spare as much as possible his own +house of Hashim, but otherwise the slaughter was as remorseless as the +temper of the Muslim ensured. Of the Prophet's army, so tell the +Chronicles, only fourteen were killed, but of the Kureisch the dead +numbered forty-nine, with a like haul of prisoners. Abu Jahl was among +those sorely wounded; but when Abdallah saw him lying helpless, he +recognised him, and slew him without a word. Then having cut off his +head, he brought the prize to Mahomet. + +"It is the head of God's enemy," cried the Prophet as he gazed on it in +exaltation; "it is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel in all +Arabia." + +The broken remnants of the Kureisch army journeyed slowly back to Mecca +through the same desert that had seen all the bravery and splendour of +their advance, and the news of their terrible fate preceded them. All the +city was draped in cloths of mourning, for there was no distinguished +house that did not bewail its dead. One alone did not weep--Hind, wife of +Abu Sofian, went forth to meet her husband. + +"What doest thou with unrent garments? Knowest thou not the affliction +that hath fallen on this thy city?" + +"I will not weep," replied Hind, "until this wrong has been avenged. When +thou hast gone forth, hast conquered this accursed, then will I mourn for +those who are slain this day. Nay, my lord, I will not deck myself, nor +perfume my hair, nor come near thy couch until I see the avenging of this +humiliation." + +Then Abu Sofian swore a great oath that he would immediately collect men +and take the field once more against Islam. + +There remained now for the victors but the distribution of the spoil and +the decision of the fate of the prisoners. The less valuable of these +were put to death, their bodies cast into a pit, but the Muslim took the +rest with them, hoping for ransom. The spoil was taken up in haste, and +the Prophet repaired joyfully to Safra, where he proposed to divide +it. But there contention arose, as was almost inevitable, over the +distribution of the wealth, and so acute did the disaffection become that +Mahomet revealed the will of Allah concerning it: + +"And know ye, when ye have taken any booty, a fifth part belongeth to God +and to the Apostle, and to the near of kin and to orphans and to the +poor, and to the wayfarer, if ye believe in God, and in that which we +have sent down to our servant on the day of the victory, the day of the + meeting of the Hosts." As part of his due, Mahomet took the famous sword +Dhul Ficar, which has gathered around it as many legends as the weapons +of classical heroes, and which hereafter never left him whenever he took +command of his followers in battle. So the Muslim, flushed with victory, +laden with spoil, returned to Medina, whose entire population assembled +to accord them triumphal entry. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain," cried the little children, catching the +phrase from their parents' lips. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain, and the foes of Islam laid low!" was +cried from the mosque and market-place, from minaret and house-top. +"Allah Akbar Islam!" + +The great testing day had come and was past. In open fight, before a host +of their foes, the Muslim with smaller numbers had prevailed. The effect +upon Medina and upon Mahomet's later career cannot be overestimated. It +was indeed a turning point, whence Mahomet proceeded irrevocably upon the +road to success and fame. Reverses hereafter he certainly had, and at +times the outlook was almost insuperably dark, but no misfortune or gloom +could dull the splendour of that day at Bedr, when besides his own +slender following, the hosts of the Lord, whose turbans glowed like +crowns, led by Gabriel in golden armour, had fought for him and +vanquished his foes. The glory of this battle was the lamp by which he +planned his future wins. + +At Medina the Disaffected were triumphantly gathered beneath his banner; +his position became, for the time at least, established. No longer did he +need to conciliate, flatter, spy upon the various factions within his +walls. His prisoners were kindly treated, and some converted by these +means to the faith he had vainly sought to impose upon them. Affairs +within the city were organised and consolidated. Registers were prepared, +the famous "Registers of Omar," which were to contain the names of all +those who had given distinguished service to the cause of Allah, and to +confer upon them exalted rank. The three hundred names inscribed therein +were the embryo of a Muslim aristocracy, constituting, in fact, a peerage +of Islam. Mahomet's religious ordinances were strengthened and confirmed, +while his faith received that homage paid to success which had raised its +founder from the commander of a small hand of religionists to the chief +of a prosperous city, the leader of an efficient army, the head of a +community which held within itself the future dominion of Arabia, of +western Asia, southern Europe, in fact, the greater part of the middle +world. + +More than ever Mahomet perceived that his success lay in the sword. Bedr +set the seal upon his acceptance of warfare as a means of propaganda. +Henceforth the sword becomes to him the bright but awful instrument +through which the will of Allah is achieved. In the measure that he +trusted its power and confided to it his own destiny and that of his +followers, so did war exact of him its ceaseless penalty, urging him on +continually, through motives of policy and self-defence, until he became +its slave, compelled to continue along the path appointed him, or perish +by that very instrument by which his power had been wrought. Henceforward +his activities consist chiefly of wars aggressive and defensive, while +the religion actuating them receives slighter notice, because the main +thesis has been established in his own state and requires the force of +arms to obtain its supremacy over alien races. + +After Bedr, the poet and Prophet becomes the administrator and Prophet. +The quietude and meditation of the Meccan hill-slopes are exchanged for +the council-chamber and the battlefield, and appear upon the background +of his anxious life with the glamour and aloofness of a dream-country; +the inevitable turmoil and preoccupation which accompanies the direction +of affairs took hold upon his life. The fervour of his nature, its +remorseless activity, compelled him to legislate for his followers with +that minute attention to detail almost inconceivable to the modern mind +with its conceptions of the various "departments" of state. + +We see him mainly through tradition, but also to a great extent in the +Kuran directing the humblest details in the lives of the Muslim, +organising their ritual, regulating their commerce, their usury laws, +their personal cleanliness, their dietary, their social and moral +relations. Regarding the multifarious duties and cares of his growing +state, its almost complete helplessness in its hands, for he alone was +its guiding force, it is the clearest testimony to his vital energy, his +strength and sanity of brain, that he was not overwhelmed by them, and +that the creative side of his nature was not crushed beyond recovery; +although confronted by the clamorous demands of government and warfare, +these could not touch his spiritual enthusiasm nor his glowing and +changeless devotion to Allah and his cause. At the end of his long years +of rule he could still say with perfect truth, "My chief delight is in +prayer." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +"And if the people of the Book had believed, it had surely been better +for them: Believers there are among them, but most of them are perverse." +--_The Kuran_. + +The songs of triumph over Bedr had scarcely left the lips of Muslim poets +when the voice of faction was heard again in Medina. The Jews, that +"stiff-necked nation," unimpressed by Mahomet's triumph, careful only of +its probable effect on their own position, which effect they could not +but regard as disastrous, seeing that it augured their own submission to +a superior power, murmured against his success, and tried their utmost to +sow dissension by the publication of contemptuous songs through the +mouths of their poets and prophetesses. Not only did the Jews murmur in +secret against him, but they tried hard to induce members of the original +Medinan tribes to join with them in a desperate effort to throw off the +Muslim yoke. + +Chief among these defamers of Mahomet's prestige was Asma, a prophetess +of the tribe of Beni Aus. She published abroad several libellous songs +upon Mahomet, but was quickly silenced by Omeir, a blind man devoted to +his leader, who felt his way to her dwelling-place at dead of night, and, +creeping past her servant, slew her in the midst of her children. News of +the outrage was brought to Mahomet; it was expected he would punish +Omeir, but: + +"Thou shalt not call him blind, but the seeing," replied the Prophet; +"for indeed he hath done me great service." + +The result of this ruthlessness was the official conversion of the tribe, +for resistance was useless, and they had not, like the Jews, the flame of +faith to keep their resistance alive. "The only alternative to a hopeless +blood feud was the adoption of Islam." But the Jews, with stubborn +consciousness of their own essential autonomy, preferred the more +terrible alternative, and so the defamatory songs continued. When it is +remembered that these compositions took the place of newspapers, were as +universal and wielded as such influence, it is not to be expected that +Mahomet could ignore the campaign against him. Abu Afak, a belated +representative of the prophetic spirits of old, fired by the ancient +glory of Israel and its present threatened degradation at the hands of +this upstart, continued, in spite of all warnings, to publish abroad his +contempt and hatred for the Prophet. + +It was no time for half-measures. With such a ferment as this universal +abuse was creating, the whole of his hard-won power might crumble. Victor +though he was, it wanted only the torch of some malcontents to set +alight the flame of rebellion. Therefore Mahomet, with his inexorable +determination and force of will, took the only course possible in such a +time. The singer was slain by his express command. + +"Who will rid me of this pestilence?" he cried, and like all strong +natures he had not long to wait before his will became the inspired act +of another. + +So fear entered into the souls of the people at Medina, and for a time +there were no more disloyal songs, nor did the populace dare to oppose +one who had given so efficient proof of his power. + +But it was not enough for Mahomet to have silenced disaffection. He +aimed at nothing less than the complete union of all Medina under his +leadership and in one religious belief. To this end he went in Shawwal of +the second year of the Hegira (Jan. 624) unto the Jewish tribe, the Beni +Kainukaa, goldsmiths of Medina, whose works lay outside the city's +confines. There he summoned their chief men in the bazaar, and exhorted +them fervently to become converted to Islam. But the Kainukaa were firm +in their faith and refused him with contemptuous coldness. + +"O Mahomet, thou thinkest we are men akin to thine own race! Hitherto +thou hast met only men unskilled in battle, and therefore couldst thou +slay them. But when thou meetest us, by the God of Israel, thou shalt +know we are men!" Therewith Mahomet was forced to acknowledge defeat, and +he journeyed back to the city, vowing that if Allah were pleased to give +him opportunity he would avenge this slight upon Islam and his own +divinely appointed mission. Friction between him and the Kainukaa +naturally increased, and it was therefore not long before a pretext +arose. The story of a Jew's insult to a Muslim girl and its avenging by +one of her co-religionists is probably only a fiction to explain +Mahomet's aggression against this tribe. It is uncertain how the first +definite breach arose, but it is easy to see that whatever the actual +_casus belli,_ such a development was inevitable. + +The anger of the Prophet was aroused, for were they not presuming to +oppose his will and that of Allah, whose instrument he was? He marshalled +his army and put a great white banner at their head, gave the leadership +to Hamza, and so marched forth to attack the rebellious Kainukaa. For +fifteen days the tribe was besieged in its strongholds, until at last, +beaten and discouraged, faced by scarcity of supplies, and the certainty +of disease, it surrendered at discretion. + +Then was shown in all its fullness the implacable despotism conceived by +Mahomet as the only possible method of government, which indeed for those +times and with that nation it certainly was. The order went forth for the +slaying and despoiling of the Kainukaa, and the grim work began by the +seizure of their armour, precious stones, gold, and goldsmith's tools. +But Abdallah, chief of the Khazraj, and formerly leader of the +Disaffected, became suppliant for their release. He sought audience of +Mahomet, and there petitioned with many tears for the lives of his +friends and kinsmen. But Mahomet turned his back upon him. Abdallah, in +an ecstacy of importunity, grasped the skirt of Mahomet's garment. + +"Loose thou thy hand!" cried Mahomet, while his face grew dark with +anger. + +But Abdallah in the boldness of desperation replied, "I will not let thee +go until thou hast shown favour to my kinsmen." + +Then said Mahomet, "As thou wilt not be silent, I give thee the lives of +those I have taken prisoner." + +Nevertheless, the exile of the tribe was enforced, and Mahomet compelled +their immediate removal from the outskirts of Medina. The Prophet's +later policy towards the Jews was hereby inaugurated. He set himself +deliberately to break up their strongholds one by one, and did not swerve +from his purpose until the whole of the hated race had been removed +either by slaughter or by enforced exile from the precincts of his +adopted city. He would suffer no one but himself to govern, and uprooted, +with his unwavering purpose, all who refused to accept him as lord. + +For about a month affairs took their normal and uninterrupted course in +Medina, but in the following month, Dzul Higg (March), the last of that +eventful second year, a slight disturbance of his steady work of +government threatened his followers. + +Abu Sofian's vow pressed sorely upon his conscience until, unable to +endure inaction further, he gathered together 200 horsemen and took the +highway towards Medina. He travelled by the inland road, and arrived at +length at the settlements of the Beni Nadhir, one of the Jewish tribes in +the vicinity of Medina. He harried their palm-gardens, burnt their +cornfields, and killed two of their men. Mahomet had plundered the Meccan +wealth, his allies should in turn be harassed by his victims. It was +purely a private enterprise undertaken out of bravado and in fulfilment +of a vow. As soon as the predatory attack had been made, Abu Sofian +deemed himself absolved and prepared to return. + +But Mahomet was on his traces. For five days he pursued the flying +Kureisch, whose retreat turned into such a headlong rout that they threw +away their sacks of meal so as to travel more lightly. Therefore the +incident has been known ever since, according to the vivid Arab method of +description, as the Battle of the Meal-bags. But the foe was not worthy +of his pursuit, and Mahomet made no further attempt to come up with Abu +Sofian, but returned at once to Medina. The attack had ended more or less +in fiasco, and as a trial of strength upon either side it was negligible. + +The sacred month, Dzul Higg, and the only one in which it was lawful to +make the Greater Pilgrimage in far-off Mecca, was now fully upon him, and +Mahomet felt drawn irresistibly to the ceremonies surrounding the ancient +and now to him distorted faith. He felt compelled to acknowledge his +kinship with the ancient ritual of Arabia, and to this end appointed a +festival, Eed-al-Zoha, to be celebrated in this month, which was not only +to take the place of the Jewish sacrificial ceremony, but to strengthen +his connection with the rites still performed at Mecca, of which the +Kaaba and the Black Stone formed the emblem and the goal. + +In commemoration of the ceremonial slaying of victims in the vale of Mina +at the end of the Greater Pilgrimage, Mahomet ordered two kids to be +sacrificed at every festival, so that his people were continually +reminded that at Mecca, beneath the infidel yoke, the sacred ritual, so +peculiarly their own by virtue of the Abrahamic descent and their +inexorable monotheism, was being unworthily performed. + +The institution is important, as indicating the development of Mahomet's +religious and ritualistic conceptions. In the first days of his +enthusiasm he was content to enjoin worship of one God by prayer and +praise, taking secondary account of forms and ceremonies. Then came the +uprooting of his outward religious life and the demands of his embryo +state for the manifestations essential to a communistic faith. He found +Israelite beliefs uncontaminated by the worship of many Gods, and turned +to their ritual in the hope of establishing with their aid a ceremonial +which should incorporate their system with his own fervent faith. Now, +finding no middle road between separatism and absorption possible with +such a people as the Jews, and unconsciously divining that in no great +length of time Islam would be sufficient unto itself, he turned again to +the practices of his native religion and ancestral ceremonies. Henceforth +he puts forward definitely his conception of Islam as a purified and +divinely regulated form of the worship followed by his Arabian forbears, +purged of its idol-worship and freed from numerous age-long corruptions. + +Not only in ritual did his mind turn towards Mecca. It looms before his +eyes still as the Chosen City, the city of his dreams, whose conquest and +rendering back purified to the guidance of Allah he sets before his mind +as the ultimate, dim-descried goal of all his intermediary wars. The +Kibla had long since been changed to Mecca; thither at prayer every +Muslim turned his face and directed his thoughts, and now every possible +detail of ancient Meccan ritual was performed in scrupulous deference to +the one God, so that when the time came and in fulfilment of his desires +he set foot on its soil, no part of the ceremonies, with the lingering +enthusiasm of his youth still sweet upon them, might be omitted or be +allowed to lose its savour through disuse. + +The third year of the Hegira began favourably for Mahomet. During the +first month, Muharram, there were three small expeditions against unruly +desert tribes. The Beni Ghatafan on the eastern Babylonian route were +friendly to the Kureisch. This was undesirable, because they might allow +the Meccan caravan to pass through in safety, and the Prophet had +resolved that it should be despoiled by whichever route it journeyed, +coast road or arid tableland. When therefore he received news that they +were assembling in force at Carcarat-al-Kadr, a desert oasis on the +confines of their territory, he marched thither in haste, hoping to catch +and overcome them before they dispersed. + +But the Beni Ghatafan were too wise to suffer this, and when Mahomet came +to the place he found it deserted, save for some camels, left behind in +the flight, which he captured and brought to Medina, deeming it useless +to attempt the pursuit of his quarry through the trackless desert. + +The raid in Jumad II (September) by Zeid was far more successful. Since +the victory at Bedr the coast route had been entirely barred for the +Kureischite caravans, and they were forced to try the central desert, +which road lay through the middle tableland leading on to Babylonia and +the Syrian wastes. The Meccan caravan had only reached Carada when it was +met by a Muslim force under Zeid, sent by the prescience and predatory +instincts of Mahomet. The guard was not strong, possibly because the +Meccans thought there was little fear of attack by this route, and so +Zeid was easily able to overcome his foe and secure the spoil, which +amounted to many bales of goods, camels, trappings, and armour. The +conquerer returned elated to Medina, where he cast the spoil at the feet +of the Prophet. The usual division was made, and the whole city rejoiced +over the wealth it had secured and the increasing discomfiture of its +enemies. + +Meanwhile matters were becoming urgent between the Muslim and the Jews. +Neither the murder of their singers, nor the expulsion of the Kainukaa +could silence the voice of Jewish discontent, which found its most +effective mouthpiece in the poet Ka'b al' Ashraf, son of a Jewess of the +tribe of the Beni Nadhir. This man had been righteously indignant at the +slaughter of the Kureischite champions at Bedr. The story seemed to him +so monstrous that he could not believe it. + +"Is this true?" he asked the messenger; "has Mahomet verily slain these +men? By the Lord, if he has done this, then is the innermost part of the +earth better than the surface thereof!" + +He journeyed in haste to Mecca, and when he heard the dreadful news +confirmed he did his utmost to stir up the Kureisch against the murderer. +As soon as he returned he published verses lamenting the disgraceful +victory purchased at such a price; moreover, he also addressed insulting +love poems to the Muslim women, always with the intent of causing as much +disaffection as possible. At last Mahomet waxed impatient and cried: + +"Who will give me peace from this Ka'b al' Ashraf?" + +Mahomet Mosleima replied, "I, even I will slay him." + +The method of his accomplishment of this deed is instructive of the +estimation in which individual life was then held. Mosleima secured the +assistance of Ka'b's treacherous brother--how, we are not told, but most +probably by bribes. Together the two went to the poet's house by +moonlight, and begged his company on a discussion of much importance. His +young wife would have prevented Ka'b, sensing treachery from the manner +and time of the request, but he disregarded her prayers. In the gleam of +moonbeams the three walked past the outskirts of the city in deepest +converse, the subject of which was rebellion against the Prophet. + +They came at length to the ravine Adjuz, a lonely place overhung with +ghastly silence and pallid under the white light. Here they stopped, and +soon his brother began to stroke the hair of Ka'b until he had lulled him +into drowsiness. Then suddenly seizing the forelock he shouted: + +"Let the enemy of God perish!" + +Ka'b was pinioned, while four men of the Beni Aus slashed at him with +their swords. But he was a brave man and strong, determined to sell his +life dearly. The struggle became furious. + +"When I saw that," relates Mosleima through the mouth of tradition, "I +remembered my dagger, and thrust it into his body with such violence that +it penetrated the entire bulk. The enemy of God gave one cry and fell to +the ground." + +Then they left him, and hastened to tell their master of the good news. +Mahomet rejoiced, and was at no pains to conceal his satisfaction. Ka'b +had made himself objectionable to the Prophet and dangerous to Islam; Ka'b +was removed; it was well; Allah Akbar Islam. + +Eastern nations have never been so careful of human life as Western, and +especially as the Anglo-Saxon peoples. To Mahomet the security of his +state came before all, and if a hundred poets had threatened to undermine +his authority, he would have had them all slain with equal steadfastness. +Men were bound to die, and those who disturbed the progress of affairs +merely suffered more swiftly the universal lot. It is obvious that no +modern Western standard can be set up for Mahomet; the deed must be +interpreted by that inflexible will and determination to achieve his +aims, which lies at the root of all his crimes of state. But the +unfortunate Jews went in fear and trembling, and their panic was +increased when Mahomet issued an order to his followers with permission +to kill them wherever they might be found. He very soon, however, allowed +so drastic a command to lapse, but not before some had taken advantage of +his savage policy, and after a time he made a new treaty with the Jews, +not at all on the old federal lines, but guaranteeing them some sort of +security, provided they showed proper submission to his superior power. +This treaty smoothed over matters somewhat, but nevertheless the Jews +were now thoroughly intimidated, and those who were left lived a +restricted life, wherein fear played the greater part. + +But for the time being Mahomet was satisfied, and no further punitive +acts were attempted; not many months later he was faced with a far +greater danger, the appearance in force of his old enemy the Kureisch, +burning for vengeance, fierce in their hatred of such a despoiler, and +before them Mahomet in the new-found arrogance of his dominion was forced +to pause. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +"If a wound hath befallen you, a wound like it hath already befallen +others; we alternate these days (of good and evil fortune) among men, +that God may know those who have believed and that He may take martyrs +from among you."--_The Kuran_. + +The Jews had been alternately forced and cajoled into submission, the +Disaffected had been swept into temporary loyalty after the triumph at +Bedr, his own followers were magnificently proud of his dominance, +the Kureisch had made as yet no serious endeavours to avenge their +humiliation at Bedr; moreover, the religious and political affairs of the +city had been regulated so that it was possible to carry on the usual +business of life in security--a security which certainly possessed no +guaranteed permanence, and which might at any moment crack beneath the +feet of those who walked thereon and plunge them back into an anarchy of +warring creeds and chiefs--still a security such as Medina had seldom +known, built up by the one strong personality within its walls. + +For a few months Mahomet could live in peace among his followers, +and the interest shifts not to his religious ordinances and work of +government--these had been successfully started, and were now continuing +almost automatically--but to his domestic life and his relations with his +intimate circle of friends. As his years increased he felt the continual +need of companionship and consolation, and while he sought for advice in +government and counsel in war from such men as Abu Bekr, Ali, and Othman, +he found solace and refreshment in the ministering hands of women. + +Sawda he already possessed, and her slow softness and unimaginative mind +had already begun to pall; Ayesha, with her beauty and shrewdness, her +jewel-like nature, bright and almost as hard, could lessen the continual +strain of his life, and induce by a kind of reflex action that tireless +energy of mind find body which was the secret of his power. But these +were not enough, and now he sought fresh pleasure in Haphsa, and in other +and lesser women, though he never cast away his earlier loves, still with +the same unformulated desire, to obtain some respite from the cares which +beset him, some renewal of his vivid nature, burning with self-destroying +fire. + +The emotional stimulus, whose agents women were, became for him as +necessary as prayer, and we see him in later life adding experience after +experience in his search for solace, nevertheless cleaving most to +Ayesha, whose vitality fulfilled his intensest need. Secondary to the +necessity of refreshment came the not inconsiderable duty of securing the +permanence of his power by the foundation of a line of male successors. +His earlier marriages had been productive only of daughters, while his +later unions, and also his most recent with Haphsa, had been unfruitful. +But though so far no direct male issue had been vouchsafed him, he was +careful to unite with himself the most important men in his state by +marriage with his children, binding them thereby with the closest blood +ties. Rockeya, now dead, had married the warrior Othman, and Fatima, the +Prophet's youngest daughter, was bestowed upon the bright and impetuous +Ali, whose exploits in warfare had filled the Muslim with pride and a +wondering fear. Of this marriage were born the famous Hassan and Hosein, +names written indelibly upon the Muslim roll of fame. + +As each inmate became added to his household, rough houses, almost huts, +were built for their reception, but the Prophet himself had no abiding +place, only a council-chamber, where he conducted public business, and +dwelt by turn in the houses of his wives, but delighted most to visit +Ayesha, who occupied the foremost position by virtue of her beauty and +personality. Mahomet's household grew up gradually near the Mosque in +this manner; together with the houses of his sons-in-law, not far away, +and the sacred place itself, it constituted the centre of activity for +the Muslim world, witnessing the arrival and despatch of embassies, the +administration of justice and public business, the performance of the +Muslim religious ceremonial, the Kuranic revelations of Allah's will. It +radiated Mahomet's personality, and concentrated for his followers all +the enthusiasm and persistence that had gone to its creation, as well as +the endurance and foresight ensuring its continuance. + +But such security was not permanently possible for Mahomet; his spirit +was doomed to perpetual sojourn amid tumult and effort. It was almost +twelve months since the victory of Bedr. The broken Kureisch had had time +to recover themselves, and they were now prepared for revenge. The wealth +of Abu Sofian's caravan, so dearly acquired, had not been distributed +after Bedr. It remained inviolate at Mecca, a weapon wherefrom was to be +wrought their bitter vengeance. All their fighting men were massed into a +great host. Horses and armour, weapons and trappings were bought with +their hoarded wealth, and at length, 3000 strong, including 700 mailed +warriors and 200 well-mounted cavalry, they prepared to set forth upon +their work of punishment. + +Not only were their own citizens pressed into the service, but the +fighting men from allied neighbouring tribes, who were very ready to take +part in an expedition that promised excitement and bloodshed, with the +hope of plunder. The wives of their chief men implored permission to go +with the army, pointing out their usefulness and their great eagerness to +share the coming triumph. But many warriors murmured against this, for +the undertaking was a difficult one, and they knew the discomforts of a +long march. At length fifteen specially privileged women were allowed to +travel with the host, among them Hind, the fierce wife of Abu Sofian, who +brought in her train an immense negro, specially reserved for her +crowning act of vengeance, the murder of Hamza, in revenge for the +slaying of her father. The army took the easier seaward route, travelling +as before in all the pomp and gorgeousness of Eastern warfare, and +finally reached the valley of Akik, five miles west of Medina. Thence +they turned to the left, so as to command a more vulnerable place in the +city's defences, and finally encamped at Ohod at the base of the hill on +a fertile plain, separated from the city to the north by several rocky +ridges, impassable for such an army. + +Mahomet's first news of the premeditated attack reached him through his +uncle Abbas, that weak doubter, who never could make up his mind to +become either the friend or the foe of Islam. He sent a messenger to Coba +to say that the Kureiseh were advancing in force. Mahomet was inevitably +the leader of the city in spite of the bad feeling between himself and +certain sections within it. Jews and Disaffected alike looked to him for +leadership in such a crisis; by virtue of his former prowess his counsels +were sought. + +Mahomet knew perfectly well that this attacking force was unlike the +last, which had been gathered together hurriedly and had underestimated +its opposition. He knew that besides a better equipment they possessed +the strongest incentive to daring and determination, the desire to avenge +some wrong. It was with no false estimate of their foe that he counselled +his followers to remain in their city and allow the enemy to waste his +strength on their defences. Abdallah agreed with the Prophet's decision, +but the younger section, and especially those who had not fought at Bedr, +were clamorously dissentient. They pointed out that if Mahomet did not go +forth to meet the Kureisch he would lay himself open to the charge of +cowardice, and they openly declared that their loyalty to the Prophet +would not endure this outrage, but would turn to contempt. Against his +will Mahomet was forced into action. He might succeed in defeating his +foe, and at all events his position would not endure the disloyalty and +disaffection that his refusal would entail. + +After Friday's service he retired to his chamber, and appeared before the +people in armour. He called for three lances and fixed his banners to +them, designing one for the leaders of the refugees, and the other two +for the tribes of the Beni Aus and Khazraj. He could muster in this +year an army of 1000 men, but he had no cavalry, and fewer mailed +warriors than the Kureisch. Abdallah tried his best to dissuade Mahomet, +but the Prophet was firm. + +"It does not become me to lay aside my armour when once I have put it on, +without meeting my foe in battle." + +At dawn the army moved to Ohod, and he drew up his line of battle at the +base of the hill directly facing the Kureisch. But before he could take +up his final position, Abdallah with three hundred men turned their backs +upon him and hastened again to Medina, declaring that the enterprise was +too perilous, and that it had been undertaken against their judgment. +Mahomet let them go with the same proud sufficiency that he had showed +before the advancing host at Bedr. + +"We do not need them, the Lord is on our side." + +Then he directed his attention to the disposition of his forces. He +stationed fifty archers under a captain on the left of his line, with +strict orders that they were to hold their ground whatever chance befell, +so as to guard his rear and foil a Kureischite flank movement. Then, +having provided for the enemy's probable tactics, he drew out his main +line facing Medina in rather shallow formation. + +The attack began as usual, by single combats, in which none of the +champions seem to have taken part, and soon Mahomet's whole line was +engaged in a ruthless onward sweep, before which the Kureisch wavered. +But the Muslim pressed too hotly, and unable to retain their ground at +all points, were driven back here and there. Again their long line +recovered and pursued its foes, only to lose its coherence and +discipline; for a section of them, counting the day already won, began +plundering the Kureisch camp. This was too much for the archers on the +left. Forgetting everything in one wild desire to share the enemy's +wealth, they left their post and charged down into the struggling central +mass. + +Here was Khalid's chance. The chief warrior and counsellor of the +Kureisch gathered his men together hastily, and circling round the now +oblivious Muslim, drove his force against their rear, which broke up and +fled. Mahomet instantly saw the fatal mistake, and commanded the archers +across the sea of men and weapons to remember their orders and stand +firm. But it was too late, and all he could do was to attempt to stay the +Muslim flight. + +"I am the Apostle of God, return!" he called across the tumult. + +But even his magnetism failed to rally the stricken Muslim, and they +rushed in headlong flight towards the slopes of Ohod. In the chaos +that followed, Hind saw her enemy standing against the press of his +fellow-citizens, striving to encourage them, while with his sword he cut +at the pursuing Kureisch. She sent her giant negro, Wahschi, to cleave +his way to the abhorred one through the struggling men, and he crashed +them asunder with spear uplifted to strike. Hamza was felled to the +ground, and with one despairing upward thrust, easily parried by his huge +assailant, he succumbed to Wahschi's spear and lay lifeless, the first +martyr in the cause of Islam, which still remembers with pride his +glorious end. + +Seven refugees and citizens gathered round their leader to defend him, +but the battle raged in his vicinity, and his friends could not keep off +the blows of his enemies. He was wounded, and some of his teeth were +knocked out. Then the cry arose that he was slain, and the evil tidings +heightened the Muslim disaster. A wretched remnant managed to gain the +security of the hill slopes, and not the good news of Mahomet's escape +when they saw him amongst them could make of them aught but a vanquished +and ignominious band. They lay hidden among the hills, while the Kureisch +worked their triumphant vengeance upon the corpses of their victims, +which they mutilated before burying, after the barbarous fashion of the +time, and the savage wrath of Hind found appeasement in her destruction +of Hamza's body. At length the Kureisch prepared to depart, and their +spokesman, going to the base of the fatal hill, demanded the Prophet's +agreement to a fresh encounter in the following year. Omar consented on +behalf of the Prophet and his followers, and Mahomet remained silent, +wishing to confirm the impression that he was dead. + +Why the Kureisch did not follow up their victory and attempt a raid upon +Medina, it is difficult to imagine. Possibly they were apprehensive that +Mahomet might have fresh reserves and strong defences within the city; +but more probably they felt they had accomplished their purpose and the +Muslim would now be cured of seeking to plunder their caravans. So they +retreated again towards Mecca, and the forlorn Muslim crept silently from +their hiding-places to discover the extent of their defeat. They found +seventy-four bodies of their own following and twenty of the enemy. Their +ignominy was complete, and to the bitterness of their reverse was added +the terrible fear that the Kureisch would proceed further and attack +their defenceless city. + +They returned to Medina at sunset, a mournful and piteous band, bearing +with them their leader, whose wounds had been hastily dressed on the +field. Mahomet was indeed in sore straits; himself maimed, the bulk of +his army scattered, his foes victorious and his headquarters full of +seething discontent, brought to the surface by his defeat, he felt +himself in peril even at Medina, and passed the night fearfully awaiting +what events might bring fresh disaster. But his determination and +foresight did not desert him, and once the tormenting night was passed he +recovered his old resourcefulness and his wonderful energy. + +He commanded Bilal to announce that he would pursue the Kureisch, and put +himself, stricken and suffering, at the head of the expedition. They +reached Safra, and remained there three days, returning then to Medina +with the announcement that the Kureisch had eluded them. This sortie was +nothing more than a manifestation of courage, and by it Mahomet hoped to +restore in a measure his shaken confidence in the city, and also to +apprise the Kureisch that he was not utterly crushed. + +But his defeat had damaged his prestige far more than a mere expedition +could remedy, and his followers were aghast at his humiliation. Their +world was upturned. It was as if the Lord Himself, for whom they had +suffered so much, had suddenly demonstrated His frailty and human +weakness. And the malcontents in Medina triumphed, especially the Jews, +who saw with joy some measure of the Prophet's brutality towards them +being meted to him in turn. The situation was grave, and Mahomet's +reputation must be at all costs re-established. He retired for some time +to his own quarters, and received the revelation of part of Sura iii, +wherein he explains the whole matter, urging first that Allah was pleased +to make a selection between the brave and the cowardly, the weak and the +steadfast, and then that the defeat was the punishment for disobeying his +divine commands. The passage is written in Mahomet's most forcible style, +and stands out clearly as a reliable account, for neither the defeat of +the Muslim, nor their own culpability, are minimised. The martyrs at Ohod +receive at his hands their crown of praise. + +"And repute not those slain on God's path to be dead. Nay, alive with +their Lord are they, and richly sustained. Rejoicing in what God of His +bounty hath vouchsafed, filled with joy at the favours of God, and at His +mercy; and that God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish." + +He spends most time, however, in speaking for the encouragement of his +sorely tried flock, and for the confusion of those who doubt him. The +revelation came in answer to a direct need, and is inseparable from the +events which called it forth. + +As far as was possible it achieved its purpose, for the Faithful received +it with humility, but it could not fully restore the shaken confidence in +the Prophet. + +The immediate result of the battle of Ohod was to render Mahomet free +from any more threatenings from the Kureisch, who had fulfilled the task +of overawing him into quietude towards them, but its ultimate results +were far-reaching and endured for many years; in fact, it was by reason +of the reverse at Ohod that the next period of his life is crowded with +defensive and punitive expeditions, and attacks upon his followers by +desert tribes. His position at Medina had been rendered thoroughly +insecure, and every tribe deemed it possible to accomplish some kind of +demonstration against him. Jew and Arabian both pitted themselves +against the embryo state, and the powerful desert allies of the Kureisch +constituted a perpetual menace to his own stronghold. It was only when he +had murdered or exiled every Jew, and carried out repeated campaigns +against the tribes of the interior, that his position in Medina was +removed beyond possibility of assailment. + +Ruthlessness and trust in the sword were his only chances of success. If +he relaxed his vigilance or allowed any humane feelings to prevent the +execution of severe measures upon any of his enemies, his very existence +would be menaced. From now he may be said to pass under the tyranny of +war, and its remorseless urging was never slackened until he had his own +native city within his power. The god of battles exacted his pitiless +toll from his devotee, compelling him to work out his destiny by the +sword's rough means. The thinker has become irrevocably the man of +action; prayer has been supplemented by the command, "Fight, and yet +again fight, that God may conquer and retain." Reverses show the temper +of heroes, and Mahomet is never more fully revealed than in the first +gloomy days after Ohod, when he steadfastly set himself to retrieve what +was lost, refusing to acknowledge that his position was impaired, +impervious to the whispers that spoke of failure, supreme in his mighty +asset of an impregnable faith. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +"And we have sent down Iron. Dire evil resideth in it, as well as +advantage to mankind."--_The Kuran._ + +After the battle of Ohod, two months passed quietly for Mahomet. He was +unable to undertake any aggressive expeditions, and both the Jews at +Medina and the exterior desert tribes were lulled into tranquillity by +the knowledge that his power was for the time considerably weakened. But +the Prophet knew that this security could not continue for long, and for +the character of his future wars he was fully prepared--sufficient proof, +if one were still necessary, of his skill as soldier and leader. + +He knew the Kureisch had instituted a policy of alliance with the +surrounding tribes, and that now their plan would be to crush him by a +ceaseless pressure from the east, united to the inevitable disaffection +within the city as its inhabitants witnessed the decline of their +leader's power. Watchfulness and severity were the only means of holding +his position, and these two qualities he used with a tenacity which alone +secured his ultimate success. + +The first threatenings came from the Beni Asad, a powerful tribe +inhabiting the country directly east of Medina. Under their chief +Tuleiha, they planned a raid against Mahomet. But his excellent system of +espionage stood him, now as always, in good stead, so that he heard of +their scheme before it was ripe, and despatched 150 men to frustrate it. +The Beni Asad were wise enough to give up the attempt after Mahomet's men +had found and plundered their camp. They dispersed for the time being, +and the danger of an attack was averted. But scarcely had the expedition +returned when news came of another gathering at Orna, between Mecca and +Taif. Again Mahomet lost no time, but sent a force large enough to +disperse them in a skirmish, in which the chief of the Lahyan tribe was +killed. + +In the next month Mahomet sent six of his followers to Mecca, probably as +spies, but they were not allowed to reach their goal in safety. At Raja +they fell in with a party of the Beni Lahyan proceeding the same way. The +men were armed, and Mahomet's followers were glad to accompany them, +because of the additional security. At the oasis the party encamped for +the night, and the Muslim prepared unsuspectingly for sleep. At dead of +night they were surrounded by their professed friends, who were resolved +on revenge for the murder of their chief. Four were killed, and two, Zeid +and Khubeib, taken bound to Mecca, whose citizens gloated over their +prey. Legends in plenty group themselves around these two figures--the +first real martyrs for Islam, and one of the most profound testimonies to +the love which Mahomet inspired in his followers is given traditionally +in a few significant sentences dealing with the episode. + +The prisoners were kept a month before being led to the inevitable +torture. Abu Sofian, the scoffer, came to Zeid as he was preparing to +face his death. + +"Wouldst thou not, O Zeid," he asked, "that thou wert once more with thy +family, and that Mahomet suffered in thy place?" + +"By Allah! I would not that Mahomet should suffer the smallest prick from +a thorn; no, not even if by that means I could be safe once more among my +kindred." + +Then the enemy of Islam marvelled at his words and said: "Never have I +seen among men such love as Mahomet's followers bear towards him." + +And after that Zeid was put to death. Mahomet was powerless to retaliate, +and was obliged to suffer from afar the murder of his fellow-believers. + +The fate of these six Muslim gave courage to Mahomet's enemies +everywhere, and prompted even his friends to treachery. The Beni Aamir, +a branch of the great Hawazin tribe dwelling between the Beni Asad and +the Beni Lahyan, were friendly towards Medina, and sent Mahomet gifts as +a guarantee. These Mahomet refused to receive unless the tribe became +converts to Islam. He knew the danger of compromise--his Meccan +experiences had not faded from his mind; moreover, he recognised that in +his present weakened position firmness was essential. He could not open +the gates of his fortress even a chink without letting in a flood before +which it must topple into ruin. + +But their chief would not be so coerced, neither would he give up his +ancestral faith without due examination of that offered in its stead. He +demanded that a party of Muslim should accompany him back to his own +people and strive by reasoning and eloquence to convert them to Islam. +After much deliberation, for he was chary of sending any of his chosen to +what would be swift death in the event of treachery, Mahomet consented, +and gave orders for a party of men skilled in their faith to accompany +Abu Bera back to his people. The men were received in all honour, and +were escorted as befitted their position as far as Bir Mauna, where they +halted, and a Muslim messenger was sent with a letter to the chief of +another branch of the same tribe. This leader, Aamir ibn Sofail, +immediately put the messenger to death, and called upon his allies to +exterminate the followers of the blasphemous Prophet. But the tribe +refused to break Abu Bera's pledge, so Aamir, determined to root them +out, appealed to the Beni Suleim, Mahomet's avowed enemies, and with +their aid proceeded to Bir Mauna. There they fell upon the band of Muslim +and slaughtered them to a man, then returned to their desert fastnesses, +proudly confident in their ability to elude pursuit. The news was carried +to Mahomet, and at first he was convinced that Abu Bera had betrayed him. +His followers, who had brought the news, had fallen upon and killed some +luckless members of the Beni Aamir in reprisal, and Mahomet acclaimed +their action. When, however, he heard from Abu Bera that he and his tribe +had been faithful to their pledge, he paid blood money for the murdered +men; then calling his people together he solemnly cursed each tribe by +name who had dared to attack the Faithful by treachery. + +But the incident did not end here. Mahomet could not compass the +destruction of the Beni Aamir; they were too powerful and dwelt too far +off for his vengeance to assail them, but the Beni Nadhir, the second +Jewish tribe within the Prophet's territory, were near, and they were +confederate with the treacherous people. Mahomet's action was swift and +effective. Force was his only temporal weapon; compulsion his only +policy. + +The command went forth through the lips of Mosleima: + +"Thus saith the Prophet of the Lord: Ye shall go forth out of my land +within a space of ten days; whosoever that remaineth behind shall be +put to death." + +The Beni Nadhir were aghast and trembling. They urged their former +treaties with Mahomet, and the antiquity of their settlements. It was +impossible that they should break up their homesteads thus suddenly and +depart forlorn into an unknown land. But Mahomet was obdurate, with that +same fixity of purpose which was everywhere the keynote of his dominance. + +"Hearts are changed now," was the only reply to their prayers, their +entreaties, and their throats. Abdallah, leader of the Beni Aus and +Khazraj, sought desperately for a reconciliation, but to no purpose; the +die was cast. Then the Jews, brought to bay and careless with the despair +of impotence, refused to obey the command, and prepared to encounter the +wrath of Allah and the vengeance of his emissary. + +"Behold the Jews prepare to fight: great is the Lord!" the Prophet +declared when the news was brought to him. + +He was sure of his victim, and ruthless in destruction. All things were +made ready for the undertaking. The army was assembled and the march +begun. Ali carried the great green banner of the Prophet towards the +stronghold of his enemies. The Beni Nadhir were invested in their own +quarters, the date trees lying outside their fort were burned, their +fields were laid waste. For three weeks the siege endured, each day +bringing the miserable garrison nearer to the inevitable privations and +final surrender. At last the Jews recognised the hopelessness of their +lot and came to reluctant terms, submitting to exile and agreeing to +depart immediately. + +Then followed the terrible breaking up of homes, and the wandering forth +of a whole tribe, as of old, to seek other dwelling-places. Some went to +Kheibar, where they were to suffer later on still more severely at +Mahomet's hands; some went to Jericho and the highlands south of Syria, +but all vanished from their ancient abiding places as suddenly as if a +plague had reduced their land to silence. It was an important conquest +for Mahomet, and has found fitting notice in the Kuran. The number of his +enemies within the city was considerably reduced. He was gradually +proving his power by breaking up the Jewish federations, and thereby +advancing far towards his goal, his unassailable, almost royal dominance +of Medina. Moreover, he bound the refugees closer to him by dividing the +despoiled country amongst them. It was an event worthy of incorporation +into the record of divine favours, for by it the sacred cause of Islam +had been rendered more triumphant. + +"God is the mighty, the wise! He it is who caused the unbelievers among +the people of the Book to quit their homes. And were it not that God had +decreed their exile, surely in this world would he have chastised them: +but in the world to come the chastisement of the fire awaiteth them. This +because they set them against God and His Apostle, and whoso setteth him +against God--! God truly is vehement in punishing." + +The sura ends in a mood of fierce exultation unrivalled by any ecstatic +utterances of his early visions. It is the measure of his relief at his +first great success since the humiliation of Ohod. His fervour beats +through it like the clamour of waters, in whose triumphant gladness no +pauses are heard. + +"He is God, beside whom there is no God: He is the King, the Holy, the +Peaceful, the Faithful, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Strong, the Most +High! Far be the glory of God from that which they unite with Him! He is +God, the Producer, the Maker, the Fashioner! To Him are ascribed excellent +titles. What ever is in the Heavens and in the Earth praiseth Him. He is +the Mighty, the Wise!" + +The expulsion of the Beni Nadhir was a brutal, but necessary act. The +choice lay between their security and his future dominion, and he +uprooted their dwellings as ruthlessly as any conqueror sets aside the +obstacles in his path. Half measures were impossible, even dangerous, and +Mahomet was not afraid to use terrible means to achieve his all-absorbing +end. He had avowedly accepted the behests of the sword, and did not +repudiate his master. The hated Jews were enemies of his God, whose +vicegerent he now ranked himself; their ruin was in the divinely +appointed order of the world. + +The time was soon at hand when, by arrangement, the Medinan army was to +repair to Bedr to meet the Kureisch. The Meccans sent a messenger in +Schaban (Nov. 625) to Mahomet, saying that they were prepared to advance +against him with 2000 foot and 50 horse. This large army did in reality +set out, but was soon forced to return, owing to lack of supplies and +scarcity of food. + +The message was sent mainly in the hope of intimidating the Muslim, but +Mahomet was probably as well informed of the Kureisch movements as they +were themselves, and knew that no real attack was possible. He therefore +determined to show both friends and enemies that he was ready to meet +his foes. The Muslim were not very agreeable, knowing what fate had +decreed at their last encounter with the Meccans, but Mahomet's stern +determination prevailed. He declared that he would go to Bedr even if he +went alone, and so collected by sheer force of will 1500 men. He marched +to Bedr, held camp there for eight days, during which, of course, no +demonstration was made, and the whole expedition was turned into a +peaceable mercantile undertaking. When all their goods had been +profitably sold or exchanged, Mahomet broke up the camp and returned in +triumph to Medina. His prestige had certainly been much increased by this +unmolested sortie. It was therefore in a glad and confident mood that he +returned to his native city and prepared to enjoy his success. + +He took thereupon two wives, Zeinab and Omm Salma, of whom very little is +known, except that Zeinab was the widow of Mahomet's cousin killed at +Bedr. The incident of his marriage with Zeinab finds allusion in the +Kuran in the briefest of passages. She was probably taken as much out of +a desire to protect as a desire to possess, and she quickly became one of +the many with whom Mahomet was content to pass a few days and nights. +There are also signs in the Kuran at this time of disagreements between +the different members of his household, and of their extravagant demands +upon Mahomet. + +It was evidently not so easy to rule his wives as to acquire them. +Moreover, he was beginning to feel the sting of jealousy towards every +other man of the Muslim. + +Here really begins the insistence upon restrictive regulations for women +which has been ever since the bane of Islam. Mahomet could not allow his +wives to go abroad freely, decked in the ornaments he himself had +bestowed, to become a mark for every envious gazer. They were not as +other women, and his imperious nature regarded them as peculiarly +inviolate, so that he fenced in their actions and secluded their lives. +As early as his marriage with Zeinab he imposed restrictions upon women's +dress abroad. They are not to traverse the streets in jewels or beautiful +robes, but are to cover themselves closely with a long sober garment. +Whereas his former sura regarding women had been confined to codifying +and rendering fairer divorce and property laws, now the personal note +sounds strongly, and continues throughout the whole of his later +pronouncements, regarding Muslim women. The next few months were to see +dangers and disturbances in his domestic life which were to fix the +position of women in Islam throughout the coming centuries, but before he +had long completed his latest marriage he was called away upon another +necessary expedition. Thus casually, almost from purely personal +considerations, was the law regarding the status of women established in +Islam. His ordinances have the savour of their impetuous creator, who +found in the subject sex no opposition against the writing down, in their +most sacred book, of those decrees which rendered their inferior position +permanent and authorised. It was Allah speaking through the lips of His +Prophet, and they submitted with willing hearts with no shadow of the +knowledge of all it was to mean to their descendants darkening their +minds. + +In Muharram of 626 the Beni Ghatafan, always formidable on account +of their size and their desert hinterland, assembled in force at +Dzat-al-Rica. Mahomet determinedly marched against them, and once more at +the news of his approach their courage failed them, and they fled to the +mountains. Mahomet came unexpectedly upon their habitations, carried off +some of their women as slaves, and returned to Medina after fifteen days, +having effectively crushed the incipient rising against him. The event is +chiefly important as being the occasion which led Mahomet to institute +the Service of Danger described in the Kuran, whereby half the army +prayed or slept while the other watched. A body of men was therefore kept +constantly under arms while the army was in the field, and public prayers +were repeated twice. + +"And when ye go forth to war in the land, it shall be no crime in you to +cut short your prayers.... And when thou, O Apostle, shalt be among +them and shalt pray with them, then let a party of them rise up with +thee, but let them take their arms; and when they shall have made their +prostrations, let them retire to your rear: then let another party that +hath not prayed come forward, and let them pray with you; but let them +take their precautions and their arms." + +The military organisation is being gradually perfected, so that the +Mahometan sword may finally be in the perpetual ascendant. This was the +chief significance of a campaign which at best was only an interlude in +the daily life of prayer, civil and domestic cares and regulations which +took up Mahomet's life in the breathing space before the great Meccan +attack. + +Mahomet was absent from Medina but fifteen days, and he returned home +resolved to take advantage of the respite from war. Not long after his +return he happened to visit the house of Zeid, his adopted son, and +chanced not on Zeid, but on his wife at her tiring. Mahomet was filled +with her beauty, for her loveliness was past praise, and he coveted her. +Zeinab herself was proud of the honour vouchsafed her, and was willing, +indeed anxious, to become divorced for so mighty a ruler. Zeid, her +husband, with that measureless devotion which the Prophet inspired in his +followers, offered to divorce her for him. Mahomet at first refused, +declaring it was not meet that such a thing should be, but after a time +his desire proved too strong for him, and he consented. So Zeinab was +divorced, and passed into the harem of the Prophet. And he justified the +proceedings in Sura 33: + + "And when Zeid had settled concerning her + to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it + might not be a crime in the Faithful to marry + the wives of their adopted sons, when they have + settled the affair concerning them.... No + blame attacheth to the Prophet when God hath + given him a permission." + +There follows the sum of Mahomet's restrictions upon the dress and +demeanour of women. They are to veil their faces when abroad, and suffer +no man but their intimate kinsmen to look upon them. The Faithful are +forbidden to go near the dwelling-places of the Prophet's wives without +his permission, nor are they even to desire to marry them after the +Prophet is dead. By such casual means, by decrees born out of the +circumstances of his age and personal temperament, did Mahomet institute +the customs which are more vital to the position and fate of Muslim women +than all his utterances as to their just treatment and his injunctions +against their oppression. + +Power was already taking its insidious hold upon him, and his feet were +set upon the path that led to the despotism of the Chalifate and the +horrors of Muslim conquests. Allah is still omnipotent, but He is making +continual and indispensable use of temporal means to achieve His ends, +and His servant does likewise. + +After the interlude of peace, Mahomet was called upon in July, 626, +to undertake a punitive expedition to Jumat-al-Gandal, an oasis +midway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Persia. The expedition was +successful, and the marauders dispersed. He had now reached the confines +of Syria, and, with the extension of his expeditionary activities, his +political horizon widened. He began to conceive himself as the predatory +chief of Arabia, one who was regarded with awe and fear by the +surrounding tribes, with the one exception of the stiff-necked city, +Mecca, whose inhabitants he longed in vain to subdue. The success +fostered his love of plunder, and inclined him more than ever to hold out +this reward of valour to his followers. His stern and wary policy was +justified by its success, for by it he had recovered from the severe blow +at Ohod, but it threatened to become his master and set its perpetual +seal upon his life. + +In December, 626, he heard of the defection of the Beni Mustalik, a +branch of the Khozaa tribe. They joined the Kureisch for mixed motives, +chiefly political, for they hoped to make themselves and their religion +secure by alliance with Mahomet's enemies. Mahomet learnt of their +desertion through his efficient spies, and determined to anticipate any +disturbance. With Ayesha and Omm Salma to accompany him, and an adequate +army to support him, he set out for the quarters of the Beni Mustalik, +and before long reached Moraisi, where he encamped. The Beni Mustalik +were deserted by their allies, and in the skirmish that followed Mahomet +was easily successful. Their camp was plundered, their women and some of +their men taken prisoner. The expedition was, however, provocative of two +consequences which take up considerable attention in contemporary +records, the quarrel between the Citizens and the Refugees, and the +scandal regarding Ayesha. + +The punishment of the Beni Mustalik had been effected, and nought +remained but the division of the spoil. The captives had mostly been +ransomed, but one, a girl, Juweira, remained sorrowfully with the Muslim, +for her ransom was fixed so high that payment was impossible. Mahomet +listened to her tale, and the loveliness of her face and figure did not +escape him. + +"Wilt thou hearken to what may be better?" he asked her, "even that I +should pay thy ransom and take thee myself?" + +Juweira was thankful for her safety, and rejoiced at her good fortune. +Mahomet married her straightway, and for her bridal gift gave her the +lives of her fellow tribesmen. + +"Wherefore," says Ayesha, "Juweira was the best benefactress to her +people in that she restored the captives to their kinsfolk." + +But the Citizens and Refugees were by no means so contented. Their +quarrel arose nominally out of the distribution of spoil, but really it +was a long smouldering discontent that finally burst into flame. Mahomet +was faced with what threatened to be a serious revolt, and only his +orders for an immediate march prevented the outbreak of desperate +passions--greed and envy. + +Abdallah, their ubiquitous leader, is chidden in the Kuran, where the +whole affair brings down the strength of Mahomet's scorn upon his +offending people. + +The camp broke up immediately, and through its hasty departure Ayesha was +faced with what might have been the tragedy of her life. Her litter was +carried away without her by an oversight on the part of the bearers, and +she was left alone in the desert's velvet dusk with no alternative but to +await its return. The dark deepened, adding its mysterious vastness and +silence to trouble her already tremulous mind. In the first hours of the +night Safwan, one of Mahomet's rear, came towards her as she sat forlorn, +and was amazed to find the Prophet's wife in such a position. He brought +his mule near her, then turned his face away as she mounted, so as to +keep her inviolate from his gaze. Closely veiled, and trembling as to her +meeting with Mahomet, Ayesha rode with Safwan at her bridle until the +next day they came up with the main column. + +Now murmurs against her broke out on all sides. Mahomet refused to +believe her story, and remained estranged from her until she asked +permission to return to her father as her word was thus doubted. Ali was +consulted by the Prophet, and he, with that antagonism towards Ayesha +which germinated later into open hatred, was inclined to believe her +defamers. At last the outcry became so great that Mahomet called upon +Allah. Entering his chamber in Medina, he received the signs of divine +inspiration. When the trance was over, he declared that Ayesha was +innocent, and revealed the passage dealing with divorce in Sura 24: + +"They who defame virtuous women and bring not four witnesses, scourge +them with fourscore stripes, and receive ye not their testimony forever, +for these are perverse persons.... And they who shall accuse their wives, +and have no witnesses but themselves, the testimony of each of them shall +be a testimony by God four times repeated, that He is indeed of them that +speak the truth." + +The revelation ends with a repetition of the restrictions imposed upon +women and an injunction to the Muslim not to enter each other's houses +until they have asked leave. This was a necessary ordinance in that +primitive community, where bolts were little used and there was virtually +no privacy, and was designed, in common with most of his present +utterances, to encourage the leading of decent, well-regulated lives by +the followers of so magnificent a faith. Ayesha's defamers were publicly +scourged, and the matter dismissed from the Muslim mind, save that +regulations had once more been framed upon personal feelings and specific +events, and were to constitute the whole future law regarding an +important and difficult question. + +Mahomet was justly content with the position of affairs after the +dispersion of the Beni Mustalik. He had shown his strength to the +surrounding desert tribes; by systematically crushing each rebellion as +it arose, he had demonstrated to them the impossibility of alliance +against him. He knew they were each prone to self-seeking and distrustful +of each other, and he played unhesitatingly upon their jealousies and +passions. Thus he kept them disunited and fearful, afraid even to ally +with his powerful enemy the Kureisch. For after all, the Meccans were his +chief obstacle; their opposition was spirited and urged on by the memory +of past humiliations and triumphs. They alone were really worthy of his +steel, and he knew that, as far as the intermediary wars were concerned, +they were but the prelude to another encounter in the year-long warfare +with his native city. + +The drama closes in now upon the protagonists; save for the expulsion of +the last Jewish tribe in the neighbourhood of Medina, there is little to +compare with that central causal hatred. The final hour was not yet, but +the struggle grew in intensity with the passage of time--the struggle +wherein one fought for revenge and future freedom from molestation, but +the other for the establishment of a faith in its rightful environment, +the manifestation before men of that Faith's determined achievement, the +symbol of its destined conquests and divinely appointed power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE WAR OF THE DITCH + + "And God drove back the Infidels in their wrath; they won no + advantage; God sufficed the Faithful in the fight, for God is strong, + mighty."--_The Kuran._ + +The Kureischite plans for the annihilation of Mahomet were now complete. +They had achieved an alliance against him not only among the Bedouin +tribes of the interior, but also among the exiled and bitterly vengeful +Medinan Jews. Now in Schawwal, 627, Mahomet's unresting foes summoned all +their confederates to warfare "against this man." The allied tribes, +chief among whom were the Beni Suleim and Ghatafan, always at feud with +Mahomet, hastened to mass themselves at Mecca, where they were welcomed +confidently by the Kureiseh. + +The host was organised in three separate camps, and Abu Sofian was placed +at the head of the entire army. Each leader, however, was to have +alternating command of the campaign; and this primitive arrangement--the +only one, it seems, by which early nations, lacking an indisputable +leader, can surmount the jealousy and self-will displayed by every petty +chief--is responsible in great measure for their ultimate failure. In +such fashion, still with the bravery and splendour of Eastern warfare +wrapped about them, an army of 4000 men, with 300 horses, 1500 camels, +countless stores, spears, arrows, armour and accoutrements, moved forward +upon the small and factious city of the Prophet, whose fighting strength +was hampered by the exhaustion of many campaigns and the disloyalty of +those within his very walls. + +The Prophet was outwardly undismayed; whatever fears preyed upon his +inner mind, they were dominated by his unshakable belief in the +protection and favour of Allah. He did not allow the days of respite to +pass him idly by. As soon as he received the news of this fateful +expedition, he called together a meeting of his wisest and bravest, and +explained to them the position. He told them of the hordes massed against +them, and dwelt upon the impossibility of opposing them in the open field +and the necessity of guarding their own city. This time there were no +dissentient voices; both the Disaffected and the Muslim had had a lesson +at Ohod that was not lightly forgotten. Then Salman, a Persian, and one +skilled in war, suggested that their stronghold should be further +defended by a trench dug at the most vulnerable parts of the city's +outposts. + +Medina is built upon "an outcropping mass of rock" which renders attack +impossible upon the north-west side. Detached from it, and leaving a +considerable vacant space between, a row of compactly built houses stood, +making a very passable stone wall defence for that portion of the city. +The trench was dug in that level ground between the rocks and the houses, +and continued also upon the unsheltered south and east sides. There are +many legends of the digging of the trench and the desperate haste with +which it was accomplished. Mahomet himself is said to have helped in the +work, and it is almost certain that here tradition has not erred. The +deed coincides so well with his eager and resolute nature, that never +neglected any means, however humble, that would achieve his purpose. The +Faithful worked determinedly, devoting their whole days to the task, and +never resting from their labours until the whole trench was dug. The hard +ground was softened by water, and legendary accounts of Mahomet's powers +in pulverising the rocks are numerous. + +The great work was completed in six days, and on the evening of its +achievement the Muslim army encamped between the trench and the city in +the open space thus formed. A tent of red leather was set up for Mahomet, +where Zeinab and Omm Salma, as well as his favourite and companion, +Ayesha, visited him in turn. Around him rested his chief warriors, Ali, +Othman, Zeid, Omar, with his counseller Abu Bekr and his numerous +entourage of heroes and enthusiasts. They were infused with the same +exalted resolve as their leader, and waited undismayed for the Infidel +attack. But with the rest of the citizens, and especially with the +Disaffected, it was otherwise. Ever since the rumour of the onrush of +their foe reached Medina, they had murmured openly against their leader's +rule. They had refused to help in the digging of the ditch, and now +waited in ill-concealed discontent mingled with a base panic fear for +their own safety. + +The Meccan host advanced as before by way of Ohod, and pursued their way +to the city rejoicing in the freedom from attack, and convinced thereby +that their conquest of Medina would be rapid and complete. They +penetrated to the rampart wall of houses and marched past them to the +level ground, intending to rush the city and pen the Muslim army within +its narrow streets, there to be crushed at will by the sheer mass of its +foes. Then as the whole army in battle array moved forward, strong in its +might of numbers, the advance was checked and thrown into confusion by +the opposing trench. Abu Sofian, hurrying up, learnt with anger of this +unexpected barrier. Finding he could not cross it, he waxed indignant, +and declared the device was cowardly and "unlike an Arab." The +traditionalist, as usual, was disconcerted by the resourceful man of +action, and the Muslim obstinately remained behind their defence. + +The Kureisch discharged a shower of arrows over the ditch among the +entrenched Muslim and then retired a little from their first position, so +as to encamp not far from the city and try to starve it into surrender. +Mahomet was content that he had staved off immediate attack, and set to +work to complete his defences and strengthen his fighting force, when +grave news reached him from the immediate environs of the city. +Successful as he had been in extirpating two of the hated Jewish tribes, +Mahomet was nevertheless forced to submit to the presence of the Beni +Koreitza, whose fortresses were situated near the city on its undefended +side. It is uncertain whether there was ever a treaty between this tribe +and the Prophet, or what its provisions were supposing such a document to +have existed, but it is evident that there must have been some peaceable +relations between the Muslim and the Koreitza, and that the latter were +of some account politically. Now, the Jewish tribe, resentful at the +treatment of their fellow-believers, and seeing the t me ripe for +secession to the probable winning side, cast away even their nominal +allegiance to Mahomet and openly joined his enemies. A Muslim spy was +sent to their territory to discover their true feeling, and his +report was so disquieting that the Prophet immediately set a guard over +his tent, fearing assassination, and ordered patrols to keep the Medinan +streets free from any attempts to disturb the peace and threaten his army +from within the city's confines. + +The Muslim were now in parlous state. The trench might avail to stop the +enemy for a time, but an opportunity was sure to occur when they would +attempt a crossing, and once within the city Mahomet knew they would +carry destruction before them, and irretrievable ruin to his cause. His +Jewish enemies made common enmity against him with the Kureisch, and the +Disaffected declared their intention of joining the rest of his foes. But +he would not yield, and continued unabashed to defend the trench and city +with all the skill and energy he could command from his harassed +followers. + +The Kureisch remained several days inactive, but at last Abu Jahl +discovered a weak spot in his enemies' line where the trench was narrow +and undefended. He determined on immediate attack, and sent a troop of +horsemen to clear the ditch and give battle on the opposite side. The +move was noticed from within the defence. Ali and a body of picked men +were sent to frustrate it. Ali reached the ground just as the foremost of +the Kureisch cleared the ditch and prepared to advance upon the city. +Swiftly he leapt from his horse, and challenged an aged chief of the +Kureisch to single combat. The gage was accepted, but the chieftain could +stand up to Ali no better than a reed stands upright before the wind that +shakes it. The chief was slain before the eyes of his friend, and +thereupon the general onslaught began. The Muslim fought like those +possessed, until in a little space there remained not one of the defiant +party that had recently crossed the gulf between the armies. But the +Kureisch were undaunted; the order for a general attack upon the trench +was now ordered. The assault began in the early morning and continued +throughout the day. For long weary hours, without respite and with very +little sustenance the Muslin army kept the Kureisch host at bay. The +encounters were sharp and prolonged, and none of the men could be spared +from the strife to make their daily devotions to Allah. + +"They have kept us from our prayers," declared Mahomet in wrath, as he +watched the unresting attack, "God fill their bellies and their graves +with fire!" + +He cursed the Infidel dogs, while exhorting his men to stand firm, and +before all things keep their lines unbroken. The attack was repulsed, but +not without great loss and misery upon Mahomet's side. His prestige was +now entirely lost among the citizens, only the Faithful still rallied +round him out of their invincible trust in his personality. The +Disaffected began to foment agitation within the narrow streets, the +bazaars and public places. There was great distress among the people of +Medina; scarcity of food mingled with their fears for the future to +create an insecurity wherein crime finds its dwelling-place and brutality +its fostering soil. "Then were the Faithful tried, and with strong +quaking did they quake." Nevertheless, they stood firm, and took no part +in the murmuring of the Disaffected, and presently Allah sent them down +succour for their steadfastness and high courage. + +Mahomet, failing in direct warfare to drive back his enemies, resorted to +strategy. He planned to send a secret embassy to buy off the Beni +Ghatafan, and so strive to break up the Kureisch alliance. But the rest +of the city were unwilling to adopt this measure, preferring to trust +more firmly in the strength of their defences. Finally, Mahomet +determined to essay upon his own initiative some means of subtlety +whereby he might force back this encompassing foe that hourly threatened +his whole dominion. He sent an embassy to the Jews outside the city with +intent to sow dissension between them and the Kureisch. + +"See now," he commanded his envoy, "whether thou canst not break up this +confederacy, for war, after all, is but a game of deception." + +The Muslim pursued his way unchecked to the camp of the Koreitza, just +outside the city, where he whispered his insidious messages into the ears +of the chief, saying the Kureisch were already weary of fighting and were +even now planning a retreat, and would forsake their allies as soon as +was expedient, leaving them to the mercy of a Muslim revenge. He promised +bribes of money, slave girls, and land from the Prophet if they would +betray their new-found allies. Self-interest prevailed; at last the plan +was agreed upon, and the messenger returned to Mahomet with the good news +of the breaking-up of the confederacy. + +The treachery of the Koreitza spread discouragement among the Arab +chiefs. Moreover, their supplies were already running short. They ceased +to press the siege so severely; the attacks became weaker, and Mahomet +was easily able to prevent any further incursions beyond the trench. And +now the weather broke up. The sunny country was transformed suddenly into +a dreary, storm-swept wilderness. Blasts of wind came skurrying down upon +the Kureisch camp, driving rain and sleet before them. To Mahomet it was +the wrath of the Lord made manifest upon the presumptuous Meccans. Their +camp-fires were blown out, their tents damp and draggled, their men +dispirited, their forage scarce. Suddenly Abu Sofian, weary of inaction, +thoroughly disheartened by the hardships of his position, broke up the +camp and ordered a retreat. + +The vast army faded away as magically as it had come. The morning after +their departure the Muslim awoke to see only a few scattered tents and +the disorderly remains of human occupation as evidences of the presence +of a foe that had accounted itself invincible. The Meccans evidently +accepted defeat, for they returned speedily to their own country, +realising bitterly the impossibility of keeping together so heterogeneous +an army in the face of a prolonged check. Medina was free of its +immediate menace, and great was the rejoicing when the camp was abandoned +and Islam returned in security to its sanctuary within the city. Mahomet +repaired immediately to Ayesha's house, and was cleansing the stains of +conflict from his body when the mandate came from Heaven through the lips +of Gabriel: + +"Hast thou laid aside thine arms? Lo, the angels have not yet put down +their weapons, and I am come to bid thee go against the Beni Koreitza to +destroy their citadel." + +Mahomet's swift nature, alive to the value of speed, had realised in a +flash that now was the time to strike at the Koreitza, the treacherous +Hebrew dogs, before they could grow strong and gather together any allies +to help them ward off their certain chastisement. The enterprise was +proclaimed at once to the weary Muslim, and the great banner, still +unfurled, placed in the hands of Ali. The Faithful were eager for rest, +but at the command of their leader they forgot their exhaustion and +rallied round him again with the same loving and invincible devotion that +had sustained them during the terrible days of siege. + +The expedition marched to the Koreitza fortress, and laid siege to it in +March, 627. For twenty-five days it was besieged by Islam, says the +chronicler, until God put terror into the hearts of the Jews, and they +were reduced to sore straits. Then they offered to depart as the Kainukaa +had departed, empty-handed, with neither gold nor cattle, into a strange +land. But Mahomet had not forgotten their treachery to him under the +suasion of the Kureisch, and he determined on sterner measures. The Jews +were now thoroughly terrified, and sent in haste to crave permission +for a visit from Abu Lubaba, an ally of the Beni Aus, their former +confederates. Mahomet consented, as one who grants the trivial wish of a +doomed man. In sorrow Abu Lubaba went into the camp of the Koreitza, +and when they questioned him he told them openly that they must abandon +hope. Their doom was decreed by the Prophet, sanctioned by Allah; it was +irrevocable. + +When the Koreitza heard the sentence they bowed their heads, some in +wrath, some in despair, and charged Abu Lubaba with supplications for +Mahomet's clemency. The messenger returned and told the Prophet what he +had disclosed to the Jews concerning their impending fate. + +"Thou hast done ill," declared Mahomet, "for I would not that mine +enemies know their doom before it is accomplished." + +Thereupon, says tradition, Abu Lubaba was filled with remorse at having +displeased his master, and entering the Mosque bound himself to one of +its pillars, whence it is called the Pillar of Repentance to this day. At +last the Jews, worn out with the siege, without resources, allies, or any +hope of relief, surrendered at discretion to the Beni Aus. Immediately +their citadel was seized and plundered, while their men were handcuffed +and kept apart, their women and children given into the keeping of a +renegade Jew. Their cattle were driven into Medina before their eyes, and +soon the whole tribe was withdrawn from its ancestral habitation, +awaiting what might come from the hand of their terrible foe. + +Then Mahomet pronounced judgment. He sent for Sa'ad ibn Muadh, the chief +of the Beni Aus, and into his hands he gave the fate of all those souls +who belonged to the tribe of Koreitza. Sa'ad was elderly, fat, irritable, +and vindictive. He had a long-standing grudge against this people, and +knew nothing of the mercy which greater men bestow upon the fallen. + +"My judgment is that the men shall be put to death, the women and +children sold into slavery, and the spoil divided among the army." + +Mahomet was exultant at the sentence. + +"Truly the judgment of Sa'ad is the judgment of God pronounced on high +from beyond the seventh Heaven." + +It accorded with his mood of angry resentment against the earlier +treachery of the Koreitza, but why he deputed its pronouncement to Sa'ad +instead of taking it upon himself is not easy to discover. Possibly he +may have dreaded to acquire such a reputation for cruelty as this would +bestow upon him, possibly he wished to make clear to the world that the +Jews had been doomed to death by a member of their allied tribe. +Certainly he welcomed the terrible sentence, and ensured its +accomplishment. The Koreitza were dragged pitilessly to Medina, the men +kept together under strict guard, the women and children made ready to be +sold at the marts within the city. + +That night the outskirts of Medina became the scene of grim activity. In +the soft darkness of the Arabian night Mahomet's followers laboured with +dreadful haste at the digging of many trenches. The day dawned upon their +uncompleted work, and not until the sun was high did they return to the +heart of the city. Then the men of the Koreitza were divided into +companies and led out in turn to the trenches. The slaughter began. As +they filed to the edge of the pits they were struck down by the waiting +Muslim, so that their bodies fell into the common grave, mingled with the +blood and quivering flesh of those who followed. As one company after +another marched out and did not return, their chief man asked the Muslim +soldier concerning his countrymen's fate: + +"Seest thou not that each company departs and is seen no more? Will ye +never understand?" + +The doom of the Koreitza was wrought out to its terrible end, which was +not until set of sun. The number of butchered men is variously estimated, +but it cannot have been less than between 700 and 800. + +So the Koreitza perished, each moving forward to meet the irremediable +without fear, without supplication, and when the carnage was over, +Mahomet turned to the distribution of the spoil. His eyes lighted upon +Rihana, a beautiful Jewess, and he desired her as solace after this +ruthless but necessary punishment. He offered her marriage; she refused, +and became of necessity and forthwith his concubine. Then he took the +possessions, slaves, and cattle of the vanquished tribe and divided them +among the Faithful, keeping a fifth part himself, and the land he +partitioned also. A few women who had found favour in the eyes of Muslim +were retained, the rest were sent to be sold as slaves among the Bedouin +tribes of Nejd. The Koreitza no longer existed; their treachery had been +visited again upon themselves. + +The massacre of the Koreitza and the War of the Ditch cannot be viewed +apart. The ruthlessness of the former is the outcome of the success which +made it possible. Mahomet had defeated a most formidable attempt to +overthrow him, an attempt which would have lost much of its potency if +the Koreitza had remained either friendly or neutral, and in the triumph +which followed he sought to make such treachery henceforth impossible. He +never lost an opportunity; he saw that the Koreitza must be dealt with +instantly after the failure of the Meccan attack, and unhesitatingly he +accomplished his work. + +His act is a plain proof of his increasing confidence in his mission and +in himself as ruler and emissary from on high. It speaks not only of his +barbarity and courage in the use of it when occasion arose, but also of +his tireless energy and swift perception of the right moment to strike. + +His lack of compunction over the cruelty bears upon it the stamp of his +age and environment. The Koreitza were the enemies of Allah and his +Prophet; they had dared to betray him. Their doom was just. The result of +the failure of the Meccan attack was to restore in great measure +Mahomet's reputation, so that he had less trouble hereafter with the +Disaffected within Medina and with the maraudings of desert tribes. For +the moment his position within the city was comparatively secure; +moreover, in exterminating the Koreitza he had removed the last of the +hated Hebrew race from the precincts of his adopted city, and could +regard himself as master of all its neighbouring territory. The +Disaffected, it is true, remained sufficiently at variance with him to +resent, though impotently, his severity towards the Koreitza, and to +declare that Sa'ad ibn Muadh's death, which occurred soon after, was the +direct result of his bloody judgment. But their resentment was confined +to speech. The Meccans had retired discredited, and were unlikely to +attack again for some time at least. + +For a little space Mahomet seemed secure in his city, whence active +opposition had been driven out. + +The period after the War of the Ditch shows him definitely the ruler of a +rival city to Mecca. The Kureisch have made their last concerted attack +and are now forced to recognise him as a permanent factor in their +political world, though they would not name him equal until he had made +further displays of strength. He takes his place now among the city +chieftains of Western Arabia, and has next to reckon with the nomad +Bedouin tribes of the interior, in which position he is akin to the ruler +of Mecca himself. He is still never at rest from warfare. One expedition +succeeds another, until there is some chance of the realisation of his +dream, whose splendour even now beats with insistence upon his spirit, +the establishment of his mighty faith within the mother-city which gave +it birth, whence, purged of its idolatries and aflame with devotion, it +shall make of that city the goal of its followers' prayers, the crown of +its earthly sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + + "And He it was who held their hands from you and your hands + from them in the valley of Mecca, after that He had given you the + victory over them; for God saw what ye did."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet, now secure from immediate attack, counted himself permanently +rid of the Meccan menace and devoted his care to the strengthening of his +position among the surrounding desert tribes. The year 627-628 is filled +with minor expeditions to chastise or conquer his numerous enemies in the +interior. His ceaseless vigilance, made effectual through his elaborate +spy system, enabled him to keep the Bedouin hordes in check, though he +was by no means uniformly successful in his attacks upon them. The period +is characterised by the absence of pitched battles, and by the employment +of very small raiding parties, who go out simply to plunder and to +disperse the hostile forces. + +His first expedition after the Koreitza massacre in June 627 was directed +against the Beni Lahyan, in revenge for their slaughter of the Faithful +at Radji. He took the north-west road to Syria as a feint, then swiftly +turning, marched along the sea-shore route to Mecca, and the Beni Lahyan +fled before him. Mahomet was anxious to give battle, but as he found his +foe was moving hastily towards the hostile city with intent to draw him +on to his doom, he gave up the chase and contented himself with breaking +up their encampments, plundering their wealth and women, and so returned +to Medina. + +He had been there only a few nights when he learnt that Oyeina, chief of +the Fazara tribe, in concert with the Beni Ghatafan, had made a raid upon +his milch camels at Ghaba, killing their keeper and torturing his wife. +Mahomet pursued, but the raiders were too quick for him and got away with +the spoil. Mahomet did not follow them up, as nothing was to be gained +from such a fruitless quest. + +In August of the same year another raid on his camels was attempted by +the famished tribes of Nejd, and Mahomet sent an expedition under Maslama +to chastise them, but the Muslim were overpowered by a superior force and +most of their company slain. The Prophet vowed vengeance upon the +perpetrators of this defeat when he should have the power to carry it +out. And now the Meccan caravan, venturing once more to take the seaward +road, so long barred to them, was plundered by Zeid at Al Is, thereby +confirming Mahomet's hostile intentions towards the Kureisch, and +ensuring their continued enmity. But reprisals on their part were +impossible after the failure before Medina, and they suffered the outrage +in silence. + +Mahomet was not content to rest upon his newly won security, but now +determined to send out messengers and embassies to the rulers of +surrounding lands, exhorting them to embrace Islam. This policy was to +develop later into a regular system, but for the moment only one envoy +was sent upon a hazardous mission to the Roman emperor, whose recent +conquests in Persia had made him famous among the Arabs. The envoy was +not permitted a quiet journey. At Wadi-al-Cora he was seized and +plundered by the Beni Judzam, but his property afterwards restored by the +influence of a neighbouring tribe allied to Mahomet, who knew something +of the revenge meted out by the Prophet. As it was, as soon as he heard +of it he despatched Zeid with 500 men, who fell upon the Beni Judzam and +slaughtered many. When the expedition returned to Medina with the news, +they found that the tribe in question had sent in its submission before +the slaying of its members. The Judzam envoys demanded compensation. + +"What can be done?" replied Mahomet. "I cannot restore dead men to life, +but the booty that has been taken I will return and give you safe escort +hence." + +Mahomet's next enterprise was to send one of his chief warriors and wise + men to Dumah to try and convert the tribe. They listened to his words +and promises, and after a time, judging it was not alone to their +spiritual, but also to their political welfare to follow this powerful +leader, they embraced Islam, and received the protectorship of the +Prophet. + +Zeid returned from the plunder of the Kureisch caravan and straightway +set out upon several mercantile journeys, upon one of which he was set +upon and plundered by the Beni Fazara, near Wadi-al-Cora. Swift +retribution followed at the hands of Mahomet, who was not minded to see +the expeditions that were securing the wealth of his land the prey of +marauding tribes. Many barbarities were practised at the overthrow of the +Beni Fazara, possibly as a salutary lesson to neighbouring tribes, lest +they should presume to attempt like attacks. + +But now a further menace threatened Mahomet from the persecuted but still +actively hostile Jews at Kheibar. They were suspected of stirring up +revolt, and so the Prophet, knowing the activity centred in their leader, +slew him by treachery. Still, his successor continued his father's work, +only in the fullness of time to be removed from the Prophet's path by the +same effectual but illicit means. Dark and tortuous indeed were some of +the ways by which Mahomet held his power. His cruelty and treachery were +in a measure demanded of him as a necessity for his continued office. +They were the price he paid for earthly dominion, and together with the +avowed help of the sword they were the stern and pitiless means that +secured the triumph of Islam. As time went on the scope of his +state-craft widened; its exigencies became more varied, and exacted new +and often barbarous deeds, that the position won with years of thought +and energy might be maintained. Mahomet has now paid complete homage to +the fickle goddesses force and craft. + +The sacred month Dzul-Cada of 628 came round, bringing with it disturbing +dreams and yearnings for Mahomet. For long past, indeed ever since he had +found himself the leader of a religious organisation and had taken the +broad traditions of Meccan ceremony half unconsciously to himself as the +basis of his faith, he had longed to perform the pilgrimage to the holy +city. He had upheld Mecca before the eyes of his followers as the crown +and cradle of their faith. He had preached of pilgrimage thereto as a +sacred duty, the inalienable right of every Muslim. Six years had elapsed +since he had himself performed the sacred rites; it is no wonder, +therefore, that his whole being was seized with the fervent dream of +accomplishing once more the ceremonies inseparable from his faith. +Political considerations also swayed his decision. If he were allowed to +come peaceably to Mecca and perform the pilgrimage, it was conceivable +that a permanent truce might be agreed upon by the Kureisch, and the deed +itself could not but enhance his prestige among the Bedouins. He was +strong enough to resist the Meccans in case of an attack, and if such a +thing should occur the blame would attach to the Kureisch as violators of +the sacred month. + +With his thoughts attuned thus, it is not surprising that in Dzul-Cada a +vision was vouchsafed him, wherein he saw himself within the sacred +precincts, performing the rites of pilgrimage. The dream was communicated +to the Faithful, and instant preparations made for the expedition, +Mahomet called upon the surrounding tribes to join in his march to Mecca, +but they, fearing the Kureisch hosts, for the most part declined, and +earned thereby Mahomet's fierce anger in the pages of the Kuran. At +length the cavalcade was ready; 1500 men in the garments of pilgrims, but +with swords and armour accompanying them in the rear, journeyed over the +desert track that had seen the migration to Medina of a small hunted band +six short years previously. With them were seventy camels devoted to +sacrifice. The pilgrims marched as far as Osfan, when a messenger came to +them saying that the Kureisch were opposing their advance. + +"They have withdrawn their milch camels from the outskirts, and now lie +encamped, having girded themselves with leopard skins, a signal that they +will fight like wild beasts. Even now Khalid with their cavalry has +advanced to oppose thee." + +"Curses upon the Kureisch!" replied Mahomet. "Who will show me a way +where they will not meet us?" + +A guide was quickly found, and Mahomet turned his company aside, +journeying by devious routes until he came to the place of Hodeibia, a +plain upon the verge of the sacred territory. Here Al-Cawsa, Mahomet's +prized camel, halted, and would in nowise be urged farther. + +"She is weary," clamoured the populace, but Mahomet knew otherwise. + +"Al-Caswa is not weary," he replied, "but that which restrained the +armies in the Year of the Elephant now restraineth her." + +And he would go no farther into the sacred territory, fearing the doom +that had afflicted Abraha in that fateful year. So his pilgrim host +encamped at Hodeibia, and Mahomet sent men to clear the wells of sand and +dust, so that there might be ample supply of water. Thereupon +negotiations began between the Prophet and Mecca. The Kureisch sent an +ambassador to learn the reason of the appearance of Mahomet. When the +peaceable intent of the army had been explained to him he remained in +earnest converse with the Prophet, until at last he moved to catch +at the sacred beard after the manner of his race when speaking. Instantly +one of Mahomet's companions seized his hand: + +"Come not near the sacred countenance of God's Prophet." + +The enemy was amazed, and returning told the citizens that he had seen +many kings in his lifetime but never a man so devotedly loved as Mahomet. +The negotiations, however, proceeded very tardily, and at last Mahomet +sent Othman, his famous warrior and companion, to Mecca to conduct the +final overtures. He had been chosen because of his kinship with the most +powerful men of Mecca. He was invited to perform the sacred ceremony of +encircling the Kaaba, but this he refused to do until the Prophet should +accompany him. The Kureisch then detained him at Mecca to complete, if it +might be, the negotiations. + +While Othman tarried, the report spread among the Muslim that he was +treacherously slain. Mahomet felt that a blow had been struck at his very +heart. Instantly he summoned the Faithful to him beneath a tall tree upon +that undulating plain of Hodeibia, and enjoined upon them an oath that +they would not forsake him but would stand by him till death. The Muslim +with one accord gave their solemn word in gladness and devotion, and the +Pledge of the Tree was brought into being. Mahomet felt the significance +of their loyalty very deeply. It was the first oath he had enjoined upon +the Believers since the days of the Pledge of Acaba long ago when he was +but a persecuted zealot fleeing before the menace of his foes. He was +glad because of this proof of loyalty, and his joy finds expression in +the Muslim Book of Books: + +"Well pleased hath God been now with the Believers when they plighted +fealty to thee under the tree; and He knew what was in their hearts; +therefore did He send down upon them a spirit of secure repose, and +rewarded them with a speedy victory." + +But rumour, as ever, proved untrustworthy, and before long Othman +returned with the news that the Kureisch were undisposed to battle, and +later they sent Suheil of their own clan to make terms with Mahomet, +namely, that he was to return to Medina that year, but that the next year +he might come again as a pilgrim during the sacred month, and having +entered Mecca perform the Pilgrimage. Ali was commanded to write down the +conditions of the treaty, and he began with the formula: + +"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." + +Suheil protested, "I know not that title, write, 'In Thy Name, O God.'" + +Mahomet acquiesced, and Ali continued, "The Treaty of Mahomet, Prophet of +God, with Suheil ibn Amr," but Suheil interrupted again: + +"If I acknowledged Thee as Prophet of God I should not have made war on +thee; write simply thy name and the name of thy father." + +And so the treaty was drawn up. The traditional text of it is simple and +clear, and the only point requiring comment is the clause providing for +the treatment of those who go over to Islam and those of the Believers +who rejoin the Kureisch. Mahomet was sure enough of himself and his +magnetism to allow the clause to stand, which allowed any backslider full +permission to return to Mecca. He knew there would not be many, who +having come under the spell of Islam would return again to idolatry. The +text of the treaty stood substantially in these terms: + +"In thy Name, O God! These are the conditions of peace between Mahomet, +son of Abdallah and Suheil, son of Amr. War shall be suspended for ten +years. Whosoever wisheth to join Mahomet or enter into treaty with him +shall have liberty to do so; and likewise whoever wisheth to join the +Kureisch or enter into treaty with them. If one goeth over to Mahomet +without permission of his guardian he shall be sent back to his guardian; +but should any of the followers of Mahomet return to the Kureisch they +shall not be sent back. Mahomet shall retire this year without entering +the city. In the coming year Mahomet may visit Mecca, he and his +followers, for three days, during which the Kureisch shall retire and +leave the city to them. But they may not enter it with any weapons save +those of the traveller, namely, to each a sheathed sword." + +After the solemn pledging of the treaty Mahomet sacrificed his victims, +shaved his head and changed his raiment, as a symbol of the completed +ceremonial in spirit, if not in fact, and ordered the immediate +withdrawal to Medina. His followers were crestfallen, for they had been +led to expect his speedy entry into Mecca, and they were disappointed too +because their warlike desires had been curbed to stifling point. But the +Prophet was firm, and promised them fighting in plenty as soon as they +should have reached Medina again. So the host moved back to its city of +origin, fortified by the treaty with its hitherto implacable foes, and +exulting in the promise that next year the sacred ceremonies would be +accomplished by all true Believers. + +The depression that at first seized his followers at the conclusion of +their enterprise found no reflex in the mind of Mahomet. He was well +aware of the significance of the transaction. In the Kuran the episode +has a sura inspired directly by it and entitled "Victory," the burden of +which is the goodness of God upon the occasion of the Prophet's +pilgrimage to Hodeibia. + +"In truth they who plighted fealty to thee really plighted fealty to God; +the hand of God was over their hands! Whoever, therefore, shall break his +oath shall only break it to his own hurt; but whoever shall be true to +his engagements with God, He will give him a great reward." + +It was, in fact, a great step forward towards his ultimate goal. It +involved his recognition by the Kureisch as a power of equal importance +with themselves. No longer was he the outcast fanatic for whose overthrow +the Kureisch army was not required to put forth its full strength. No +longer even was he a rebel leader who had succeeded in establishing his +precarious power by the sword alone. The treaty of Hodeibia recognises +him as sovereign of Medina, and formally concedes to him by implication +his temporal governance. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that his +mood on returning to the city was one of rejoicing and praise to Allah +who had made such a victory possible. + +Henceforward the dream of universal sovereignty took ever more +distinctive lineaments in his mind. He pictured first a great and united +Arabia, mighty because of its homage to the true God, and supreme because +of its birthing of the world-subduing faith. To say that these thoughts +had been with him since his first hazardous entry into Medina is to grant +him a long-sightedness which his opportunist rule does not warrant. The +creator of them was his boundless energy, his force of personality, which +kept steadily before him his unquenchable faith and led him from strength +to strength. By diplomacy and the sword he had carved out his kingdom, +and now he purposed to extend it by suasion and cunning, which +nevertheless was to be supported by his soldier's skill and courage. The +next phase in his career is one in which reliance is placed as much upon +statecraft as warfare, in which he tries with varying success to array +his state and his religion along with the great empires and +principalities of his Eastern world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + + "O ye to whom the Scriptures have been given! Believe in what + we have sent down confirmatory of the Scriptures which is in your + hands, ere we efface your features and twist your head round backward, + or curse you as we cursed the Sabbath-breakers: and the + command of God was carried into effect." + +The end of Dzul-Cada saw Mahomet safe in his own city, but with his +promises of booty and warfare for his followers unfulfilled. He remained +a month at Medina, and then sought means to carry out his pact. He had +now determined upon a pure war of aggression, and for this the outcast +Jews of Kheibar offered themselves as an acceptable sacrifice in his +eyes. In Muharram he prepared an expedition against them, important as +being the first of any size that he had undertaken from the offensive. It +is a greater proof of his renewed security and rapidly growing power than +all the eulogies of his followers and the curses of his enemies. The +white standard was placed in the hands of Ali, and the whole host of 1000 +strong went up against the fortresses of Kheibar. The Jews were taken +completely off their guard. Without allies and with no stores of food and +ammunition they could make no prolonged resistance. One by one their +forts fell before the Muslim raiders until only the stronghold of Kamuss +remained. Mahomet was exultant. + +"Allah Akbar! truly when I light upon the coasts of any people, woe unto +them in that day." + +Then he assembled all his men and put the sacred eagle standard at their +head, the white standard with the black eagle embossed, wrought out of +the cloak of his wife, Ayesha. He bade them lead the assault upon Kamuss +and spare nothing until it should fall to them. In the carnage that +followed Marhab, chief of Kheibar, was slain, and at length the Jews were +beaten back with terrible loss. There was now no hope left: the fortress +Kamuss must fall, and with it the last resistance of the Jews. Their +houses, goods, and women were seized, their lands confiscated. Kinana, +the chief who had dared to try and originate a coalition previously +against Mahomet, was tortured by the burning brand and put to death, +while Safia, his seventeen year old bride, passed tranquilly into the +hands of the conqueror. Mahomet married her and she was content, indeed +rejoiced at this sudden change; for, according to legend, she had dreamed +that such honour should befall her. + +But all the women of the Jews were not so complacent, and in Zeinab, +sister of Marhab, burned all the fierceness and lust for revenge of which +the proud Hebrew spirit is capable. She would smite this plunderer of her +nation, though it might be by treacherous means. Had he not betrayed her +kindred far more terribly upon the bloody slaughter ground of the +Koreitza? She prepared for his pleasure a young kid, dressed it with +care, and placed it before him. In the shoulder she put the most +effective poison she knew, and the rest of the meat she polluted also. +When Mahomet came to the partaking he took his favourite morsel, the +shoulder, and set it to his lips. Instantly he realised the tainted +flavour. He cried to his companions: + +"This meat telleth me it is poisoned; eat ye not of it." + +But it was too late to save two of the Faithful, who had swallowed +mouthfuls of it. They died in tortures a few hours afterwards. Mahomet +himself was not immune from its poison. He had himself bled at once, and +immediate evil was averted. But he felt the effects of it ever after, and +attributed not a little of his later exhaustion to the poisoned meats he +had eaten in Kheibar. The woman was put to death horribly, and the Muslim +army hastened to depart from the ill-omened place. + +They returned to Medina after several months absence, and there the spoil +was divided. The land as usual was given out to Muslim followers, or the +Jews were allowed to keep their holdings, provided they paid half the +produce as tribute to Mahomet. Half the conquered territory, however, was +reserved exclusively for the Prophet, constituting a sort of crown +domain, whence he drew revenues and profit. Thus was temporal wealth +continually employed to strengthen his spiritual kingdom and put his +faith upon an unassailable foundation. + +The expedition to Kheibar saw the promulgation of several ordinances +dealing with the personal and social life of his followers. The dietary +laws were put into stricter practice; the flesh of carnivorous animals +was forbidden, and a severer embargo was laid upon the drinking of +wine--the result of Mahomet's knowledge of the havoc it made among men in +that fierce country and among those wild and passionate souls. +Henceforward also the most careful count was kept of all the booty taken +in warfare, and those who were discovered in the possession of spoil +fraudulently obtained were subject to extreme penalties. All spoil was +inviolate until the formal division of it, which usually took place upon +the battlefield itself or less frequently within Medina. The Prophet's +share was one-fifth, and the rest was distributed equally among the +warriors and companions. Since Islam derived its temporal wealth chiefly +by spoliation, the destiny of its plunder was an important question and +gave rise to frequent disputes between the Disaffected and the Believers +which are mentioned in the Kuran. By now, however, the malcontents were +for the most part silenced, and we hear little disputation after this as +to the apportionment of wealth. + +With the return to Medina came the inaugury of Mahomet's extension of +diplomacy--the dream which had filled his mind since the tide of his +fortunes had turned with the Kureisch failure to capture his city. The +year 628, the first year of embassies, saw his couriers journeying to the +princes and emperors of his immediate world to demand or cajole +acknowledgment of his mission. A great seal was engraved, having for its +sign "Mahomet, the Prophet of God," and this was appended to the strange +and incoherent documents which spread abroad his creed and pretensions. + +The first embassy to Heraclius was sent in this year summoning him to +follow the religion of God's Prophet and to acknowledge his supremacy. At +the same time the Prophet sent a like missive to the Ghassanide prince +Harith, ally of Heraclius and a great soldier. The envoys were treated +with the contempt inevitable before so strange a request from an unknown +fanatic, and Heraclius dismissed the whole matter as the idle word of a +barbarian dreamer. But Harith, with the quick resentment harboured by +smaller men, asked permission of the Emperor to chastise the impostor. +Heraclius refused; the embassy was not worthy of his notice, and he was +certainly determined not to lose good fighting men in a useless journey +through the desert. So Mahomet received no message in return from the +Emperor, but the omission made no difference to his determination to +proceed upon his course of diplomacy. + +He then sent to Siroes of Persia a similar letter, but here he was +treated more rudely. The envoy was received in audience by the king, who +read the extraordinary letter and in a flash of anger tore it up. He did +not ill-treat the messenger, however, and suffered him to return to his +own land. + +"Even so, O Lord, rend Thou his kingdom from him!" cried Mahomet as he +heard the story of his flouting. + +His next enterprise was more successful. The governor of Yemen, Badzan, +nominally under the sway of Persia, had separated himself almost entirely +from his overlord during the unstable rule of Siroes, son of the warrior +Chosroes. Now Badzan embraced Islam, and with his conversion the Yemen +population became officially followers of the Prophet. Encouraged by the +success, Mahomet sent a despatch to Egypt, where he was courteously +received and given two slave girls, Mary and Shirin, as presents. Mary he +kept for himself because of her exceeding beauty, but Shirin was bestowed +upon one of the Companions. Although the Egyptian king did not embrace +Islam, he was kindly disposed towards its Prophet. + +The next despatch, to Abyssinia, is distinguished by the importance of +its indirect results. Ever since the small body of Islamic converts had +fled thither for refuge before the persecutions of the Kureisch, Mahomet +had desired to convert Abyssinia to his creed. Now he sent an envoy to +its king enjoining him to embrace Islam, and asking for the hand of Omm +Haliba in marriage, daughter of Abu Sofian and widow of Obeidallah, one +of the "Four Inquirers" of an earlier and almost forgotten time. The +despatch was well received by the governor, who allowed Omm Haliba and +all who wished of the original immigrants to return to their native +country. Jafar, Mahomet's cousin, exiled to Abyssinia in the old +troublous times, was the most famous of these disciples. He was a great +warrior, and found his glory fighting at the head of the armies of the +Prophet at Muta, where he was slain, and entered forthwith upon the +Paradise of joy which awaits the martyrs for Islam. Not long after his +return from Kheibar the Refugees arrived, and Mahomet took Omm Haliba to +wife. + +During the remainder of 628 the Prophet held his state in Medina, only +sending out some of his lesser leaders at intervals upon small defensive +expeditions. His position was now secure, but only just as long as his +right arm never wavered and his hands never rested from slaughter. By the +edge of the sword his conquests had been made, by the edge of the sword +alone they would be kept. But it was now necessary only for him to show +his power. The frightened Arab tribes crept away, cowed before his +vigilance, but if the whip were once put out of sight they would spring +again to the attack. + +He now receives the title of Prince of Hadaz, how and by whom bestowed +upon him we have no record. Most probably he wrested it himself by force +from the tribes inhabiting that country, and compelled them to +acknowledge him by that sign of overlordship. The year before the +stipulated time for Mahomet to repair once more to Mecca was spent in +consolidating his position by every means in his power. He was resolved +that no weakness on his part should give the Kureisch the chance to +refuse him again the entry into their city. His position was to be such +that any question of ignoring the treaty would be made impossible, and by +the time of Dzul Cada, 629, he had carried out his designs with that +thoroughness of which only he in all Arabia seemed at that period +capable. + +Two thousand men gathered round him to participate in the important +ceremony which was for them the visible sign of their kinship with the +sacred city, and its ultimate religious absorption in their own +all-conquering creed. They were clad in the dress of pilgrims, and +carried with them only the sheathed sword of their compact for defence. +But a body of men brought up the rear, themselves in armour, driving +before them pack-camels, whereon rested arms and munitions of all kinds. +Sixty camels were taken for sacrifice, and Mahomet, son of Maslama, with +one hundred horse formed the vanguard, so as to prove a defence should +the passions of the Kureisch overcome their discretion and nullify their +plighted words. Abdallah, the impetuous, would fain have shouted some +defiant words as the cavalcade neared the portals of the city, but Omar +restrained him and Mahomet gave the command. + + +"Speak ye only these words, 'There is no God but God; it is He that hath +upholden His servant. Alone hath He put to flight the hosts of the +Confederates.'" + +So any tumult was prevented and the truce carried out. + +Then began one of the most wonderful episodes ever written upon the pages +of history--nothing less than the peaceable emigration for three days of +a whole city before the hosts of one who but a little time since had fled +thence from the persecution of his fellows. All the Meccan armed +population retired to the hills and left their city free for the +completion of Mahomet's religious rites. With the sublimest faith in his +integrity they left their city defenceless at his feet. Truly the +Prophet's magnetism had won him many an adherent and secured him great +triumphs in warfare, but never had his power shone with such lustre as at +the time of his Fulfilled Pilgrimage. The city was left weaponless before +his soldiery, and the dwellers within its walls were content to +trust to the power of a written agreement, which in the hands of an +unscrupulous man would be as effective as a reed against a whirlwind. +Mahomet entered the city, and for three days pitched his tent of leather +beneath the shadow of the Kaaba. He made the sevenfold circuit thereof +and kissed the Black Stone. Thence he journeyed with all his followers to +Safa and Marwa, where he performed the necessary rites, and at which +latter place he sacrificed his victims, drawing them up in line between +himself and the city. Then returning there he asked for and obtained +the hand of Meimuna, sister-in-law of his uncle Abbas, a bold and +characteristic stroke which did much to pave the way for the later +conversion of his uncle and the final enrolment of the chief men of Mecca +upon his side. + +This was the last marriage he contracted, and it shows, as so many other +alliances, his keen political foresight and the exercise of his favourite +method of attempting to win over hostile states. He was still the +political leader and schemer, though the ecstasy of religion, symbolised +for him just now in the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, had caught him +for the moment in its sweep. Public prayer was offered upon the third day +from the Kaaba itself, and with that the Pilgrimage came to an end. +Mahomet tried earnestly to win over and conciliate the Meccans during +this meagre three days' sojourn, but his task was beyond the power even +of his magnificent energy. + +At the end of the third day the Meccans returned. + +"Thy time is outrun: depart thou out of our city." + +Mahomet answered: "What can it matter if ye allow me to celebrate my +marriage here and make a feast as is the custom?" + +But they replied with anger, "We need not thy feasts; depart thou hence." + +And Mahomet was reluctantly forced to comply. He had been not without +hope that the Kureisch would be won over to his cause in such great +numbers that he might be suffered to remain as head of a converted Mecca, +and he was loth to see such an unrivalled opportunity slip by without +trying his utmost to gain some kind of permanent foothold in the city of +his desires. But his faith weighed not so well with the Kureisch, and, +having within himself the strength which knows when to desist from +importunity, he quitted the city and retired to Sarif, eight miles away, +where he rested together with his host of believers, now content and +reverent towards the master who had made their dreams incarnate, their +ideals tangible. + +At Sarif Mahomet received what was perhaps the best fortune that had come +to him outside his own powerful volition. Khalid, the skilful leader at +Ohod and the greatest warrior the Kureisch possessed, together with Amru, +poet and scholar as well as future warrior and conqueror of Egypt, were +won over to the faith they had so obstinately opposed. They joined +Mahomet at Sarif, and were forthwith appointed among the Companions, the +equals of Ali, Othman and Omar. Following their adherence to the winning +cause came the allegiance to Mahomet of Othman ibn Talha, custodian of +the Kaaba. With these men of weight and influence ranged upon his side, +the chief in war, the supreme in song, and the representative of Meccan +ritualistic life, Mahomet had indeed justification for rejoicing. They +were the first of the famous men and rulers in Mecca to range themselves +with him, and they marked the turn of the tide, which came to its full +flowing with the occupation of the sacred city and the conversion of Abu +Sofian and Abbas. + +Slowly, with pain and striving, Mahomet was overcoming the measureless +opposition to things new. Six years of ceaseless effort, warfare and +exhortation, compulsion and rewards were needed to secure for him the +undisputed exercise of his religion in the place that was its sanctuary. +Faith, backed by the strength and wealth of his armies, now gathered in +the choicest of his opponents. The time was come when he was beginning to +taste the wine of success. He had scarcely penetrated the borderland of +that delectable garden, but the first meagre fruit thereof was sweet. It +spurred him on to the perpetual renewal of alertness that he might keep +what he had won and pursue his way to the innermost far-off enclosure, +around the portal of which was written, as a mandate for all the world: +"Bear witness, there is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet." + +The Fulfilled Pilgrimage, however, was but the preliminary to his +master-stroke of policy strengthened by force of arms: months of hard +fighting and diplomacy were needed before he could direct the blow that +made his triumph possible. For the time he had simply made clear to +Arabia that Mecca was his holy city, the queen of his would-be dominion, +and by scrupulous performance of the old religious rites he had +identified Islam both to his followers and to the Meccans themselves with +the ancient fadeless traditions of their earlier faith, purified and made +permanent by their homage to one God, "the Compassionate, the Merciful, +the Mighty, the Wise." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + + "When the help of God and the Victory arrive, + And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops, + Then utter the praise of thy Lord, implore His pardon, for He + loveth to turn in mercy."--_The Kuran._ + +After the swordless triumph of Dzul Cada, 629, Mahomet rested in Medina +for about nine months, while he sent out his leaders of expeditions into +all parts of the peninsula wherever a rising was threatened, or where he +saw the prospect of a conversion by force of arms. The Beni Suleim, whose +more powerful allies, the Ghatafan, had given Mahomet much trouble in the +past, were still recusant. Mahomet sent an expedition to essay their +conversion early in the year, but the Suleim persisted in their enmity +and received the Muslim envoys with a shower of arrows. They retired +hastily, being insufficiently equipped to risk an attack, and came back +to Medina. The Prophet, unabashed, now sent a detachment against the Beni +Leith. The encampment was surprised, their camels plundered, their +chattels seized, while they themselves were forced to flee in haste to +the fastnesses of the desert. The Beni Murra, conquerors of Mahomet's +expeditionary force at Fadak, received now at his hands their delayed but +inevitable punishment. The Prophet found himself strong enough, and +without any compunction he inflicted the severest chastisement upon them, +more especially as an example to the neighbouring tribes of the +retribution in store for all who dared to revolt against his newly-won +but still precarious power. + +Soon after an expedition of fifteen men was sent to Dzat Allah upon the +borders of Syria. The men journeyed confidently to their far-off goal, +but instead of finding, as they expected, a few chiefs at the head of +ill-organised armies, they found arrayed against them an overwhelming +force, well led and disciplined. They called upon them to embrace Islam +with the fine courage of certain failure. The Bedouin hordes scoffed at +the exhortation, and forthwith slew the whole company except one, who +managed to escape to Medina with the tale. The catastrophe was a signal +for a massed attack upon Mahomet's power from the whole of the border +district, led by the feudatories of Heraclius, who were bent upon +exterminating the upstart. + +Hastily the Muslim army was mobilised, given into the leadership of Zeid, +who with Jafar and Abdallah was commissioned to resist the infidels to +the last and to continue their attack upon the foe until they were either +slain or victorious. The army marched to Muta in September, 629, and +while on the way heard with alarm of the massing of the foe, whose +numbers daunted even their savage bravery. + +At Muta a council of war was called at which Zeid and Abdallah were the +principal speakers. After the peril of their position had been discussed +and the reasons for retreat given, Abdallah rose from among his fellows, +determined to rally their spirits. He pressed for an immediate advance, +urging the invincibility of Allah, the power of their Prophet, and the +glory of their cause. It was impossible for those warrior spirits not to +respond to his enthusiasm, and the order was given. The Muslim marched to +Beleea by the Dead Sea, but finding themselves in no good strategic +position and hearing still further news as to the immensity of their +opposition, they retired to Muta, where at the head of a narrow ravine +they offered battle to the Roman auxiliaries, who far outweighed them in +numbers and efficiency. + +The Roman phalanx bore down upon them, and Zeid at the head of his troops +urged them to resist with all their strength. He was cut down in the van +as he led the opposing rush, and instantly Jafar, leaping from his horse, +maimed it, as a symbol that he would fight to the death, and rushed +forward on foot. The fight grew furious, and as the Muslim army saw +itself slowly pressed back by the enemy its leader fell, covered with +wounds. Abdallah seized the standard and tried to rally the Faithful, +whose slow retreat was now breaking into a headlong flight. At his cry +there was a brief rally, until in his turn he was cut down by the +advancing foe. A citizen sprang to the standard and kept it aloft while +he strove to stem the tide, but in vain. The Muslim ranks were broken and +dispirited. They fell back quickly, and only the military genius of +Khalid, in command of the rear, was able to save them from annihilation. +He succeeded in covering their retreat by his swift and skilful moving, +and enabled the remnant to return to Medina in safety. + +Mahomet's grief at the loss of Jafar and Zeid was great. Jafar had only +lately returned from Abyssinia, and was just at the beginning of his +military career. He was the brother of Ali, and the martial spirit that +had raised that warrior to eminence was only just now given opportunity +to manifest itself. His loss was rightly felt by Mahomet to be a blow to +the military as well as the intellectual prowess of Islam. + +The Syrian feudatories, however, were not permitted to enjoy their +triumph in peace. In October, 629, Amru, Mahomet's recent convert, was +sent to chastise the offenders and exact tribute from them. He found the +task was greater than he had imagined, and sent hurriedly to Medina for +reinforcements. Abu Obeida was in command of the new army, and when he +came up with Amru there was an angry discussion as to who should be +leader. Abu Obeida had the precedent of experience and the asset of +having been longer in Mahomet's service than Amru, but he was a mild man, +fearful, and a laggard in dispute. Amru's impetuous determination +overruled him, and he yielded to the compulsion of his more energetic +rival, fearing to provoke disaster by prolonging the quarrel. The hostile +Syrian tribes were rapidly dispersed with the increased forces at Amru's +command, and he returned triumphant to Medina. + +As a recompense for his yielding of the leadership to Amru, Abu Obeida +was entrusted by Mahomet with the task of reducing the tribe of Joheina +to submission. The expedition was wholly successful; the Joheina accepted +the Prophet's yoke without opposition, and their lead was followed later +in the year by the Beni Abs Murra and the Beni Dzobian, and finally the +Beni Suleim, whose enmity in conjunction with the Beni Ghatafan had done +much to prolong the siege of Medina. + +The Prophet was exultant. The year's successes had surpassed his +expectations, and the maturing of his deep-laid plans for the reduction +of Mecca by pressure without bloodshed satisfied his ambitious and +dominating soul. He was now master of Hedaz, overlord of Yemen and the +Bedouin tribes of the interior as far as the dim Syrian border. + +But with all his newly-found sovereignty there was one stronghold which +he could neither conquer nor even impress. On the crowning achievement of +subduing Mecca all his hopes were set, and there were no means that he +did not employ to increase his power so that its continued resistance +might ultimately become impossible. He strengthened his hold over the +rest of Arabia; he won from Mecca as many allies as he could; he +continually impressed upon both his followers and the surrounding tribes +that the city was his natural home, the true abiding-place of his faith. +Now, having prepared the way, he ventured to ensure the safety thereof by +diplomacy and a skilful use of the demonstration of force. He was strong +enough to compel an encounter with the Kureisch which should prove +decisive. + +In the attack upon the Khozaa, allies of the Prophet, the Beni Bekr, who +gave their allegiance to the Kureisch, supplied Mahomet with the +necessary _casus belli_. He declared upon the evidence of his friends +that the Kureisch had helped the Beni Bekr in disguise and announced the +swift enforcement of his vengeance. In alarm the Kureisch sent Abu Sofian +to Medina to make their depositions as to the rights of the case and to +beg for clemency. But their emissary met with no success. Mahomet felt +himself powerful enough to flout him, and accordingly Abu Sofian was sent +back to his native city discomfited. + +There follows a tradition which has become obscured with the passing of +time, and whose import we can only dimly investigate. Abu Sofian was +returning somewhat uneasily to Mecca when he encountered the chief of the +Khozaa, the outraged tribe. An interview of some length is reported, and +it is supposed that the chief represented to the Meccan citizen the +hopelessness of his resistance and the advantages in belonging to the +party that was rapidly bringing all Arabia under its sway. Abu Sofian +listened, and it may be that the chief's words induced him to consider +seriously the possibility of ranging himself beneath the banner of the +Prophet. + +Meanwhile Mahomet had summoned all the matchless energy of which he was +capable, and set on foot preparations for the overwhelming of Mecca. +Every Believer was called to arms; equipment, horses, camels, stores were +gathered in vast concourse upon the outskirts of Medina, awaiting only +the command of the Prophet to go up against the scornful city whose +humiliation was at hand. The order to march was given on January 1, 630, +and soon the whole army was bearing down upon Mecca with that rapidity +which continually characterised the Prophet's actions, and which was more +than ever necessary now in face of the difficult task to be performed. In +a week the Prophet, with Zeinab and Dram Salma as his companions, at the +head of 10,000 men, the largest army ever seen in Medina, arrived within +a stage of his goal. He encamped at Mar Azzahran and there rested his +army from the long desert march, the toilsome and difficult route +connecting the two long-sundered cities that had given feature to the +origin and growth of Islam. While he was there he received what was +perhaps the most important asset since the conversion of Khalid. Abbas, +his uncle, still timorous and vacillating, but now impelled into a firmer +courage by the powerful agency of Mahomet's recent triumphs, quitted +Mecca with his following and joined his nephew, professing the creed of +Islam, and enjoining it also upon those who accompanied him. + +The conversion did not come as a surprise to Mahomet. He had been +watching carefully by means of his spies the trend of events in Mecca, +and he knew that the allegiance of Abbas was his whenever he should +collect sufficient force to demonstrate his superiority. Abbas loved the +winning cause. When Mahomet was obscure and persecuted he had befriended +him as far as personal protection, but his was not the nature to venture +upon a hazardous enterprise such as the Prophet's attempt to found a new +religious community in another city. Now, however, that the undertaking +had proved so completely victorious that it threatened to make of Mecca +the weaker side, Abbas, with the solemnity which falls upon such people +when self-interest points the same way as previous inclination, threw in +his lot with Islam. + +The Muslim rested that night at Mar Azzahran, kindling their camp-fires +upon the crest of a hill whose summit could be seen from the holy city. +The glare flamed red against the purple night sky, and by its ominous +glow Abu Sofian ventured beyond the city's boundaries to reconnoitre. +Before he could penetrate as far as the Muslim encampment he was met by +Abbas, who took him straightway to Mahomet. When the morning came the +Prophet sent for his rival and greeted him with contempt: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; seest thou not that there are no gods but +God?" + +But he answered with professions of his regard for Mahomet. + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; believest thou not that I am the Prophet of +God?" + +"Thou art well appraised by us, and I see thy great goodness among the +companions. As for what thou hast said I know not the wherefore of it." + +Then Abbas, standing by Mahomet, besought him: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; become one of the Faithful and believe there +is no god but God and that Mahomet is his Prophet before we sever thy +head from the body!" + +Under such strong compulsion, says tradition, Abu Sofian was converted +and sent back to Mecca with promises of clemency. It is almost impossible +not to believe that collusion between Abbas and Abu Sofian existed before +this interview. Abbas had given the lead, for his prescience had divined +the uselessness of resistance, and he foresaw greater glory as the +upholder of Islam, the triumphing cause, than as the vain opposer of what +he firmly believed to be an all-conquering power. Abu Sofian took +somewhat longer to convince, and never really gave up his dream of +resistance until he met Abbas on the fateful night and was shown the +vastness of the Medinan army, their good organisation and their boundless +enthusiasm. Thereat his hopes of victory became dust, and he bowed to the +inevitable in the same manner as Abbas had done before him, though from +different motives, one being actuated by the desire for favour and fame, +the other only anxious to save his city from the horrors of a prolonged +and ultimately unsuccessful siege. + +Thereafter the army marched upon Mecca, and Mahomet completed his plans +for a peaceful entry. Zobeir, one of his most trusted commanders, was to +enter from the north, Khalid and the Bedouins from the southern or lower +suburb, where possible resistance might be met, as it was the most +populous and turbulent quarter. Abu Obeida, followed by Mahomet, took the +nearest road, skirting Jebel Hind. It was an anxious time as the force +divided and made its appointed way so as to come upon the city from three +sides. Mahomet watched his armies from the rear in a kind of paralysis of +thought, which overtakes men of action who have provided for every +contingency and now can do nothing but wait. Khalid alone encountered +opposition, but his skill and the force behind him soon drove the Meccans +back within their narrow streets, and there separated them into small +companies, robbing them of all concerted action, and rendering them an +easy prey to his oncoming soldiery. Mahomet drew breath once more, and +seeing all was well and that the other entries had been peacefully +effected, directed his tent to be pitched to the north of the city. + +It was, in fact, a bloodless revolution. Mahomet, the outcast, the +despised, was now lord of the whole splendid city that stretched before +his eyes. He had seen what few men are vouchsafed, the material +fulfilment of his year-long dreams, and knew it was by his own tireless +energy and overmastering faith that they had been wrought upon the soil +of his native land. + +His first act was to worship at the Kaaba, but before completing the +whole ancestral rites he destroyed the idols that polluted the sanctuary. +Then he commanded Bilal to summon the Faithful to prayer from the summit +of the Kaaba, and when the concourse of Believers crowded to the +precincts of that sacred place he knew that this occupation of Mecca +would be written among the triumphant deeds of the world. + +His victory was not stained by any relentless vengeance. Strength is +always the harbinger of mercy. Only four people were put to death, +according to tradition, two women-singers who had continued their +insulting poems even after his occupation of the city, and two renegades +from Islam. About ten or twelve were proscribed, but of these several +were afterwards pardoned. Even Hind, the savage slayer of Hamza, +submitted, and received her pardon at Mahomet's hands. An order was +promulgated forbidding bloodshed, and the orderly settlement of Believers +among the Meccan population embarked upon. Only one commander violated +the peace. Khalid, sent to convert the Jadzima just outside the city, +found them recalcitrant and took ruthless vengeance. He slew them most +barbarously, and returned to Mecca expecting rewards. But Mahomet knew +well the value of mercy, and he was not by nature vindictive towards the +weak and inoffensive. He could punish without remorse those who opposed +him and were his equals in strength, but towards inferior tribes he had +the compassion of the strong. He could not censure Khalid as he was too +valuable a general, but he was really grieved at the barbarity practised +against the Jadzima. He effectually prevented any further cruelties, and +on that very account rendered his authority secure and his rulership free +from attempts to throw off its yoke within the vicinity of his newly-won +power. + +The populace was far too weak to resist the Muslim incursion. Its +leaders, Abu Sofian and Abbas with their followings, had surrendered to +the hostile faith; for the inhabitants there was nothing now between +submission and death. The Believers were merciful, and they had nought to +fear from their violence. They embraced the new faith in self-defence, +and received the rulership of the Prophet very much as they had received +the government of all the other chieftains before him. + +One command, however, was to be rigidly obeyed, the command inseparable +from the dominion of Islam. Idolatry was to be exterminated, the accursed +idols torn down and annihilated. Parties of Muslim were sent out to the +neighbouring districts to break these desecrators of Islam. The famous +Al-Ozza and Manat, whose power Mahomet for a brief space had formerly +acknowledged, were swept into forgetfulness at Nakhla, every image was +destroyed that pictured the abominations, and the temples were cleansed +of pollution. + +Out of his spirit-fervour Mahomet's triumph had been achieved. In the dim +beginnings of his faith, when nothing but its conception of the +indivisible godhead had been accomplished, he had brought to its altars +only the quenchless fire of his inspiration. He had not dreamed at first +of political supremacy, only the rapture of belief and the imperious +desire to convert had made his foundation of a city and then an +overlordship inevitable. But circumstances having forced a temporal +dominance upon him, he became concerned for the ultimate triumph of his +earthly power. Thereupon his dreams took upon themselves the colouring of +external ambitions. Conversion might only be achieved by conquest, +therefore his first thoughts turned to its attainment. And as soon as he +looked upon Arabia with the eyes of a potential despot he saw Mecca the +centre of his ceremonial, his parent city, hostile and unsubdued. +Certainly from the time of the Kureisch failure to capture Medina he had +set his deliberate aims towards its humiliation. With diplomacy, with +caution, by cruelty, cajolements, threatenings, and slaughter he had made +his position sufficiently stable to attack her. Now she lay at his feet, +acknowledging him her master--Mecca, the headstone of Arabia, the +inviolate city whose traditions spoke of her kinship with the heroes and +prophets of an earlier world. + +Henceforward the command of Arabia was but a question of time. With Mecca +subdued his anxiety for the fate of his creed was at an end. As far as +the mastery of the surrounding country was concerned, all that was needed +was vigilance and promptitude. These two qualities he possessed in +fullest measure, and he had efficient soldiery, informed with a devoted +enthusiasm, to supplement his diplomacy. He was still to encounter +resistance, even defeat, but none that could endanger the final success +of his cause within Arabia. Full of exaltation he settled the affairs of +his now subject city, altered its usages to conform to his own, and +conciliated its members by clemency and goodwill. + +The conquest of Mecca marks a new period in the history of Islam, a +period which places it perpetually among the ruling factors of the East, +and removes it for ever from the condition of a diffident minor state +struggling with equally powerful neighbours. Islam is now the master +power in Arabia, mightier than the Kureisch, than the Bedouin tribes or +any idolaters, soon to fare beyond the confines of its peninsula to +impose its rigid code and resistless enthusiasm upon the peoples dwelling +both to the east and west of its narrow cradle. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +MAHOMET, VICTOR + + "Now hath God helped you in many battlefields and on the day + of Honein, when ye prided yourselves on your numbers but it availed + you nothing ... then ye turned your backs in flight. Then did God + lend down his spirit of repose upon his Apostle and upon the Faithful, + and he sent down the hosts which ye saw not and punished the + Infidels."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet's triumph at Mecca was not left long undisturbed. If the Kureisch +had yielded in the face of his superior armies, the great tribe of the +Hawazin were by no means minded to suffer his lordship, indeed they +determined forthwith vigorously to oppose it. They were devoted to +idol-worship, and leaven of Mahomet's teaching had not effected even +remotely their age-long faith. They now saw themselves face to face not +only with a religious revolution, but also with political absorption in +the victorious sect if they did not make good their opposition to this +overwhelming enemy in their midst. + +They assembled at Autas, in the range of mountains north-east of Taif, +and threatened to raid the sacred city itself. Mahomet was obliged to +leave Mecca hurriedly after having only occupied the city for about three +weeks. He left Muadh ibn Jabal to instruct the Meccans and secure their +allegiance, and called off the whole of his army, together with 2000 of +the more warlike spirits of his newly conquered territory. The force drew +near the valley of Honein, where Mahomet fell in with the vanguard of the +Hawazin. There the two armies, the rebels under Malik, the Muslim under +the combined leadership of Khalid and Mahomet, joined battle. Khalid led +the van and charged up the steep and narrow valley, hoping to overwhelm +the Hawazin by his speed, but the enemy fell upon them from an ambuscade +at the top of the hill and swept unexpectedly into the narrow, choked +path. The Muslim, unprepared for the sudden onslaught, turned abruptly +and made for flight. Instantly above the tumult rose the voice of their +leader: + +"Whither go ye? The Prophet of the Lord is here, return!" + +Abbas lent his encouragement to the wavering files: + +"Citizens of Medina! Ye men of the Pledge of the Tree of Fealty, return +to your posts!" + +In the narrow defile the battle surged in confluent waves, until Mahomet, +seizing the moment when a little advantage was in his favour, pressed +home the attack and, casting dust in the face of the enemy, cried: + +"Ruin seize them! By the Lord of the Kaaba they yield! God hath cast fear +into their hearts!" + +The inspired words of their leader, whose vehement power all knew and +reverenced, turned the day for the Muslim hosts. They charged up the +valley and overwhelmed the troops at the rear of the Hawazin. The enemy's +rout was complete. Their camp and families fell into the hands of the +conqueror. Six thousand prisoners were removed to Jeirana, and the +fugitive army pursued to Nakhla. Mahomet's losses were more severe than +any which he had encountered for some time, but, undeterred and exultant, +he marched to Taif, whose idolatrous citadel had become a refuge for the +flying auxiliaries of the Hawazin. + +Taif remained hostile and idolatrous. Ever since it had rejected his +message with contumely, in the days when he was but a religious visionary +inspired by a dream, it had refused negotiations and even recognition to +the blasphemous Prophet. + +Now Mahomet conceived that his day of vengeance had come. He invested the +city, bringing his army close up to its walls, and hoping to reduce it +speedily. But the walls of Taif were strong, its citadels like towers, +its garrison well provisioned, its inmates determined to resist to the +end. A shower of arrows from the walls wrought such destruction among his +Muslim force that Mahomet was forced to withdraw out of range where the +camp was pitched, two tents of red leather being erected for his +favourite wives, Omm Salma and Zeineb. From the camp frequent assaults +were made upon the town, which were carried out with the help of +testudos, catapults, and the primitive besieging engines of the time. + +But Taif remained inviolate, and each attack upon her walls made with +massed troops in the hope of scaling her fortresses was received by +heated balls flung from the battlements which set the scaling ladders on +fire and brought destruction upon the helpless bodies of Mahomet's +soldiery. But if he could not impress the city Mahomet wreaked his full +vengeance upon its neighbourhood. The vineyards were cut down pitilessly, +and the whole land of Taif laid desolate. Liberty was even offered to the +slaves of the city who would desert to the invader. Nothing ruthless or +guileful was spared by the Prophet to gain his ends, but with no avail. +Taif held out until Mahomet grew weary, and finally raised the siege, +which had considerably lessened in political importance, owing to the +overtures of the Hawazin, who now wished to be reconciled with Mahomet, +having perceived that their wisdom lay in peace with so powerful an +adversary. They promised alliance with him and their prisoners were +restored, but the booty taken from them was retained, after the old +imperious custom, which demanded wealth from the conquered. + +Mahomet forthwith distributed largesse among the lesser Arabs of the +neighbourhood, an act of policy which called down the resentment of his +adherents and caused the details of the law of almsgiving to be +promulgated in the Kuran. The Muslim point of view was that having fought +for the spoil they were entitled to receive a share of it, but their +leader held that it must first be distributed in part to those needy +Bedouin tribes who had flocked to his banner. The bounty had its desired +effect. Malik, the Hawazin chieftain, moved either by his love of spoil +or genuinely convinced of the truth of Islam, possibly by the influence +of both these considerations, tendered his submission to Mahomet and +became converted. February and March, 630, were occupied in distributing +equitably the wealth that had fallen into his hands. + +It was now the time of the Lesser Pilgrimage, and Mahomet returned to +Mecca to perform it. Then, having fulfilled every ceremony and surrounded +by his followers, he returned to Medina, still the capital of his +formless principality and the keystone of his power. + +Thereafter Mahomet rested in his own city, where he lived in potential +kingship, receiving and sending out embassies, administering justice, +instructing his adherents, but still keeping his army alert, his leaders +well trained to quell the least disturbance or threatenings of revolt. +The conquest of Mecca and the victory of Honein had rendered him secure +from all except those abortive attacks that were instantly crushed by the +marching of the force that was to subdue them. + +The year 680-681 was spent in the receiving and sending out of embassies, +alternating with the organising of small expeditions to chastise +recusants, but to Mahomet himself there came besides the flower of an +idyll, the frost of a grief. + +Mary, the Coptic maid, young, lovely, and forlorn, the helpless barter of +an Egyptian king, reached Medina in the first year of embassies and was +reserved for the Prophet because of her beauty and her innocence. She had +become long since a humble inmate of his harem, and would have ended her +days in the same obscurity if potential motherhood had not come to her as +an honour and a crowning. When Mahomet perceived that she was with child +he had her removed from the company of his other wives, and built for her +a "garden-house" in Upper Medina, where she lived until her child was +born. Mahomet, returning from his campaigns, sought her in her retreat +and gave her his companionship and his prayers. + + +In April of 630 she bore a son to her master, who could hardly believe +that such a gift had been granted him. Never before had his arms held a +man-child of his own begetting, and the honours lavished upon the +slave-mother showed his boundless gratitude to Allah. A son meant much to +him, for by that was ensured his hope for a continuance of power when his +earthly sojourn was over. The child was named Ibrahim, and all the lawful +ceremonies were scrupulously observed by his father. He sacrificed a kid +upon the seventh day, and sought for the best and most fitting nurses for +his new-born son. Mary received in full measure the smiles and favour of +her master, and the Prophet's wives became jealous to fury, so that their +former anger was revived--the anger that also had its roots in jealousy +when Mahomet had first looked upon Mary with desiring eyes. Then they had +gained their lord's displeasure as far as to cause a rebuke against them +to be inscribed in the Kuran, but now their rage, though still +smouldering, was useless against the triumph of that long-looked-for +birth. + +But Mahomet's joy was short-lived. Scarcely had three months passed when +Ibrahim sickened even beneath the most devoted care. His father was +inconsolable, and the little garden-house that had been the scene of so +much rejoicing was now filled with sorrow. Ibrahim grew rapidly worse, +until Mahomet perceived that there was no more hope. Then he became +resigned, and having closed the child's eyes gave directions for its +burial with all fitting ceremonial. Thereafter he knew that Allah had not +ordained him an heir, and became reconciled to the vast decrees of fate. +Mary, instrument of his hopes and despairs, passed into the oblivion of +the despised and now useless slave. We never hear any more of her beyond +that the Prophet treated her kindly and would not suffer her to be +ill-used. She was the mere necessary means of the fulfilment of his +intent. Having failed in her task she was no longer important, no longer +even desired. + +Meanwhile the tasks of administration had been increasing steadily. +Mahomet was now strong enough to insist that none but Believers were to +be admitted to the Kaaba and its ceremonies, and although all the +idolatrous practices in Mecca were not removed until after Abu Bekr's +pilgrimage, yet the power of polytheism was completely subdued, and +before long was to be extirpated from the holy places. + +The next matter to be taken in hand owes its origin to the extent of +Mahomet's domains in the year 630. It was imperative that some sort of +financial system should be adopted, so that the Prophet and the Believers +might possess adequate means for keeping up the efficiency of the army, +giving presents to embassies from foreign lands, rewarding worthy +subjects, and all the numerous demands upon a chieftain's wealth. +Deputies were therefore sent out to the various tribes now under his sway +to gather from every subject tribe the price of their protection and +championship by Mahomet. + +In most cases the tax-gatherers were received as the inevitable result of +submission, but there were occasional resistances organised by the bolder +tribes, chief of whom was the Temim, who drove out Mahomet's envoy with +contempt and ill-usage. Reprisals were immediately set on foot, the tribe +was attacked and routed, many of its members being taken prisoner. These +were subsequently liberated upon the tribe's guarantee of good faith. The +Beni Mustalik also drove out the tax-gatherer, but afterwards repented +and sent a deputation to Mahomet to explain the circumstance. They were +pardoned and gave guarantees that they would dwell henceforth at peace +with the Prophet. The summer saw a few minor expeditions to chastise +resisters, chief of which was All's campaign against the Beni Tay. He was +wholly successful, and brought back to Medina prisoners and booty. + +The "second year of embassies" proved more gratifying than the first. +Mahomet's power had increased sufficiently to awe the tribes of the +interior into submission and to gain at least a hearing from lands beyond +his immediate vicinity. Slowly and surely he was building up the fabric +of his dominion. With a watchfulness and sense of organisation +irresistible in its efficiency he made his presence known. The sword had +gained him his dominion, the sword should preserve it with the help of +his unfailing vigilance and diplomatic skill. As his power progressed it +drew to itself not only the fighting material but the dreams and poetic +aspirations of the wild, untutored races who found themselves beneath his +yoke. Islam was before all an ideal, a real and material tradition, +giving scope to the manifold qualities of courage, devotion, aspiration, +and endeavour. Every tribe coming fully within its magnetism felt it to +be the sum of his life, a religion which had not only an indivisible +mighty God at its head, but a strong and resolute Prophet as its earthly +leader. Around the central figure each saw the majesty of the Lord and +also the headship of armies, the crown of power, and the sovereignty of +wealth. They invested Mahomet with the royalty of romance, and the +potency of his magnetism is realised in the story of the conversion of +Ka'b the poet. He had for years voiced the feelings of contempt and anger +against the Prophet, and had been the chief vehicle for the launching of +defamatory songs. His conversion to the cause of Islam is momentous, +because it deprived the idolaters of their chief means of vituperation +and ensured the gradual dying down of the fire of abuse. Mahomet received +Ka'b with the utmost honour, and threw over him his own mantle as a sign +of his rejoicing at the acquisition of so potent a man. Ka'b thereupon +composed the "Poem of the Mantle" in praise of his leader and lord, a +poem which has rendered him famous and well-beloved throughout the whole +Muslim world. + +Now embassies came to Mahomet from all parts of Arabia. Instead of being +the suppliant he became the dictator, for whose favour princes sued. +Hadramaut and Yemen sent tokens of alliance and promises of conversion, +even the far-off tribes upon the borders of Syria were not all equally +hostile and were content to send deputations. + +Nevertheless, it was from the North that his power was threatened. Secure +as was his control over Central and Southern Arabia, the northern +feudatories backed by Heraclius were still obdurate and even openly +hostile. They were the one hope that Arabia possessed of throwing off the +Prophet's yoke, which even now was threatening to press hardly upon their +unrestrained natures. All the malcontents looked towards the North +for deliverance, and made haste to rally, if possible, to the side of the +Syrian border states. Towards the end of the year signs were not wanting +of a concerted effort to overthrow his power on the part of all the +northern tribes, who had as their ally a powerful emperor, and therefore +might with reason expect to triumph over a usurper who had put his yoke +upon their brethren of the southern interior, and was only deterred from +attempting their complete reduction to the status of tributary states by +the distance between his capital and themselves, added to the menace of +the imperial legions. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ICONOCLASM + + "Oh Prophet, contend against the Infidels and the hypocrites, + and be rigorous with them. Hell shall be their dwelling-place! + Wretched the journey thither."--_The Kuran._ + +The clouds upon the Syrian border gathered so rapidly that they +threatened any moment to burst during the autumn of 680. When Mahomet +heard that the feudatories were massed under the bidding of Heraclius at +Hims, he realised there was no time to be lost. Eagerly he summoned his +army, and expected from it the same enthusiasm for the campaign as he +himself displayed. + +But there was no generous response to his call. Syria was far away, the +Believers could not be convinced of the importance of the attack. They +were weary of the incessant warfare and it was, moreover, the season of +the heats, when no man willingly embarked upon arduous tasks. The +Companions rallied at once to the side of their leader, and many true +Believers also supported their lord, but the Citizens and the Bedouins +murmured against his exactions, and for the most part refused to accompany +him. + +Only Mahomet's indefatigable energy summoned together a sufficient army. +But the Believers were generous, and gave not only themselves but their +gold, and after some delay the expedition was organised. + +Mahomet himself led the troop, leaving Abu Bekr in Medina to conduct the +daily prayer and have charge of the religious life of the city, while to +Molleima were given the administrative duties. The expedition reached the +valley of Heja, where Mahomet called a halt, and there, about half-way +from his goal, rested the greater part of two days. The next days saw him +continually advancing over the scanty desert ways, urging on his soldiers +with prayers and exhortations, so that they might not grow weary with the +long heat and the silence. Finally he sighted Tebuk, where the rebel army +was reported to be. + +But by this time the border tribes had dispersed, frightened into +inactivity by the strength of Mahomet's army, and incapacitated further +by lack of definite leadership. There seemed no fighting to be done, but +Mahomet was determined to make sure of his peaceful triumph. The main +force stayed at Tebuk, while Khalid was despatched to Dumah, there to +intimidate both Jews and Bedouins by the size of his force and their +fighting prowess. The manoeuvre was entirely successful, and before +long Mahomet had received the submission of the tribes dwelling along the +shores of the Elanitic Gulf. + +Meanwhile, he had recourse to diplomacy as well as the sword. He sent a +letter to John, Christian prince of Eyla, and received from him a most +favourable hearing. John accompanied the messenger back to the Prophet, +where he accorded him meet reverence and regard as the leader of a mighty +faith. Between the two princes a treaty was drawn up, the text of which +is extant, and very probably authentic. It is characteristic of the whole +series of treaties entered into at this time by Mahomet with the desert +tribes, and as such is interesting enough to reproduce. These treaties +are given at full length in Wakidi; they differ from each other by only +small details, and that drawn up for John of Eyla may be taken as fairly +representative. It is little more than a guarantee of safe conduct upon +either side, and is noticeably free from any religious requirements or +commissions: + +"In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. A compact of peace from +God and from Mahomet, the Prophet and Apostle of God, granted unto +Yuhanna, son of Rubah, and unto the people of Eyla. For them who remain +at home and for those that travel by sea or by land, there is the +guarantee of God and of Mahomet, the Apostle of God, and for all that are +with them, whether of Syria or of Yeman, or of the Sea Coast. Whoso +contraveneth this treaty, his wealth shall not save him--it shall be the +fair prize of him that taketh it. Now it shall not be lawful to hinder +the men of Eyla from any springs which they have been in the habit of +frequenting, nor from any journey they desire to make, whether by sea or +by land. The writing of Juheim and Sharrabil, by command of the Apostle +of God." + +When this scanty document had been completed John of Eyla betook himself +again to his own country, leaving Mahomet free to enter into further +compacts with the Jews of Mauna, Adzuh, and Jaaba. When these had been +ratified and Mahomet had received tribute from the surrounding people, he +set out again for Medina, having first made sure of Khalid's success in +Dumah, and receiving the conversion of the chief of that tribe with much +gladness. + +Now, departing to Medina confident in his success, it was with no good +will that he entered its walls. Many of his erstwhile followers, +especially the tribes of Bedouins, had refused him their help upon this +adventure, and, immediate danger being past, he returned to rend them in +the fury of his eloquence. His success had given him the right to +chastise; even the Ansar were not exempt from his wrath. Three who +remained behind were proscribed, and compelled to fulfil fifty days of +penance. + +"Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would +certainly have followed thee; but the way seemed long to them. Yet they +will swear by God, 'Had we been able we had surely gone forth with you; +they are self-destroyers! And God knoweth that they are surely liars!'" + +Before he had entered the city his anger was further provoked by the Beni +Ganim, who had erected a mosque, ostensibly out of piety, really to spite +the Beni Amru ibn Auf and to make them jealous for their own mosque at +Kuba, whose stones he had laid with his own hands. He fell upon the +Ganim, "some who have built a mosque for mischief," and demolished the +building. Then he drew attention to their perfidy in the Kuran, and took +care that there should be no more mosques built in the spirit of rivalry +and envy. + +Very little time after his return to Medina, Abdallah, leader of the +Disaffected, his opponent and critic for so many years, died suddenly. +His death meant a great change in the position of his party. There was no +strong man to succeed Abdallah, and they found themselves without leader +or policy. They had for long been nominally allies of Mahomet, but had +not scrupled under Abdallah's leadership to question his authority by +opposition and sometimes in open acts of war. Abdallah's death crushed +for ever any attempts at revolt in Medina, and fused the Disaffected into +the common stock of Believers. + +Abdallah occupies rather a peculiar position in Mahomet's entourage; he +was often the Prophet's opponent, sometimes his open defier, and yet +Mahomet's dealings with him were uniformly gentle and forbearing. He may +have had some personal regard for him. Abdallah was a stern and upright +man, whose uncompromising nature would speedily win Mahomet's respect. +Possibly the Prophet felt he might be too powerful an enemy, and +determined to ignore his insurrections. He paid him that respect which +his generosity of mind allowed him to offer towards any he knew and +liked. The Mahomet whose ruthlessness towards his opponents fell like an +awe upon all Arabia, could know and do homage to an enemy who had shown +himself worthy of his steel. All things seemed to be working towards +Mahomet's final prevailing. Now at last after many years the city of +Medina was unfeignedly his, the Jews were extirpated, the Disaffected +united under his banner. + +Meanwhile, the city of Taif still held out in spite of Malik's incessant +warfare against it. But its defences were steadily growing weaker, and at +last the inhabitants knew they could no longer continue the hopeless +struggle. The chief citizens sent an embassy to Mahomet, promising to +destroy their idol within three years if the Prophet would release them +from their harassment. But Mahomet refused unconditionally. The uprooting +of idolatry was ever the price of his mercy. The message was sent back +that instant demolition of the accursed thing must be made or the siege +would continue. Then the people of Taif, hoping once more for clemency, +asked to be released from the obligation of daily prayer. This request +Mahomet also refused, but in deference to their ancestral worship, and no +doubt in some pity for their plight, he allowed their idol to be +destroyed by other hands than their own. Abu Sofian and Molleima were +despatched with a covering force to destroy the great image Lat, which +had stood for time immemorial in the centre of Taif and was the shrine +for all the prayers and devotions of that fair and ancient city. + +Taif was the last stronghold of the idolaters. When that had fallen +beneath the sway of the Prophet and his remote, austerely majestic +God-head, indivisible and personless, the doom of the old gods was at +hand. They were dethroned from their high places at the bidding of a man; +but they had not bowed their heads before his proclaimed message, but +before the strength of his armies, the onward sweep of his ceaseless and +victorious warfare. To Mahomet, indeed, Allah had never shown himself +more gracious than at the fall of idolatrous Taif. He resolved thereupon +that the crowning act of homage should be fulfilled. He would make a +solemn journey to the holy city, and accomplish the Greater Pilgrimage +with purified rites freed from the curse of the worship of many gods. + +But when he came to the setting forth, and the sacred month of Dzul Higg +was upon him, he found that many idolatrous practices still remained as +part of the great ceremonial. He could not contaminate himself by +undertaking the pilgrimage while these remained, but he could send Abu +Bekr to ensure that none should remain after this year's cleansing. He +was now strong enough to insist that the rooting out of idolatry was his +chief policy, and to make the breaking up of the ancestral gods incumbent +upon the whole country. Abu Bekr was commissioned to set forth upon his +task with 300 men, and to spare neither himself nor them until the +mission was accomplished and every idolatrous practice blotted out. + +And now follows one of the most characteristic acts Mahomet ever +performed, wherein obligation is made to bow to expediency and the bonds +of treaties snap and break before the wind of the Prophet's will. Abu +Bekr had started but one day's journey upon the Meccan road when Ali was +sent after him with a document bearing the Prophet's seal. This he was to +read to the Faithful, and receive their pledge that they would act upon +its contents. Mahomet also published abroad a like proclamation in the +city itself. The document drawn up and despatched with such haste was +nothing less than a Release for the Prophet and his followers from all +obligations to the Infidels after a term of four months. + +"A Release by God and the Apostle in respect of the Heathen with whom ye +have entered into treaty. Go to and fro in the earth securely in the four +months to come. And know ye cannot hinder God, and that verily God will +bring disgrace upon the Unbelievers. And an announcement from God and his +Apostle unto the People on the day of Pilgrimage that God is discharged +from (liability to) the Heathen and his Prophet likewise.... Fulfil unto +these their engagements until the expiration of their terms; for God +loveth the pious. And when the forbidden months are over then fight +gainst the heathen, wheresoever ye find them, ... but if they repent and +establish Prayer and give the Tithes, leave them in peace.... O ye that +believe, verily the Unbelievers are unclean. Wherefore let them not +approach the Holy Temple after this year." + +No one reading this writing, which bears upon it all the stamps of +authenticity, can fail to see the motive behind its words. Its +unscrupulousness has received in all good faith the sanction of the Most +High. Mahomet knew that the time was ripe for an uncompromising +insistence upon the acceptance of his faith. He was strong enough to +compel. It was Allah who had strengthened his armies and given him +dominion, therefore in Allah's name he repudiated his agreements with +heathen peoples, and by virtue of his power he purposed to bestow upon +his Lord a greater glory. An act wrought in such defiance of honour at +the inspiration of God savours unquestionably of hypocrisy, but none who +estimates aright the age and environment in which Mahomet dwelt can +accuse him of anything more than a keenness of political cunning which +led him to value accurately his own power and the waning reputation of +idolatry. + +The evil example he had set in this first Release extended with his +conquests until it was accounted of universal application, and no Muslim +considered himself dishonoured if he broke his pledge with any +Unbeliever. From this time a more dogmatic and terrible note enters into +his message. He openly asserts that idolatry is to be extirpated from +Arabia by the sword, and that Judaism and Christianity are to be reduced +to subordinate positions. Judaism he had never forgiven for its rejection +of him as Prophet and head of a federal state; Christianity he hated and +despised, because to him in these later years monotheism had become a +fanatic belief, and the whole conception of Christ's divinity was +abhorrent to his worship of Allah. He was not strong enough to proclaim a +destructive war against either faith, but he allowed them to exist in his +dominions upon a precarious footing, always liable to abuse, attack, and +profanation. + +From the spring of 631 until the end of his life, Mahomet's campaigns +consist in defensive and punitive expeditions. The realm of Arabia was +virtually his, and the constant succession of embassies promising +obedience and expressing homage continued until the end. But he was not +allowed to enjoy his power in peace. The continuous series of small +insurrections, speedily suppressed, which had accompanied his rise to +power in later years, was by no means ended with his comparative +security. But they never grew sufficiently in volume to threaten his +dominion; they were wiped out at once by the alertness and political +genius of his rule, until his death gave all the smaller chieftains +fresh hope and became the signal for a desperate and almost successful +attempt to throw off the shackles. + +The first important conversion after his return from Taif was that of +Jeyfar, King of Oman, followed closely by the districts of Mahra and +Yemen, which localities had been hovering for some time between Islam and +idolatry. The tribes of Najran were inclined to Christianity, and Mahomet +was now anxious to gain them over to himself. The severity he had +practised against a certain Christian church of Hanifa, however, weighed +with them against any allegiance until he promised that theirs should be +more favourably treated. A treaty was then made with these tribes by +which each was to respect the religion of the other. + +Mahomet remained in Medina throughout the year 631 and the beginning of +632, keeping his state like unto that of a king, surrounded by his +Companions and Believers, receiving and sending forth embassies, +receiving also tribute from those lands he had conquered, the beginning +of that wealth which was to create the magnificence of Bagdad, the +treasures of Cordova. The tribes of the Beni Asad, the Beni Kunda, and +many from the territory of Hadramaut made their submission; tax-gatherers +were also sent out to all the tributary peoples, and returned in safety +with their toll. Almost it seemed as if peace had settled for good upon +the land. The only threatenings came from the Beni Harith of the country +bordering Najran, and the Beni Nakhla, with a few minor tribes near +Yemen. Khalid was sent to call the Beni Harith to conversion at the point +of the sword, and Ali subdued without effort the enfeebled resistance of +the Beni Nakhla. Continual embassies poured into Medina. The country was +quiet at last. After years of tumult Arabia had settled for the +moment peaceably under the yoke of a religious enthusiast, who +nevertheless possessed sufficient political and military genius to found +his kingdom well and strongly. + +Mahomet had attained his aims, and whether he could keep what he had now +rested with himself alone. After this period of calm there is a +diminution in his energy and fiery zeal. The effort of that continual +warfare had kept him in perpetual fever of action; when its strain was +removed he felt the weight of his kingdom and the religion he had so +fearlessly reared. Until the end of his life he kept his hold upon his +subjects, and every branch of justice, law, administration, and military +policy felt his detailed guiding, but with the attainment of peace for +Arabia under his sway, his aggressive strivings vanished. Virtually he +had accomplished his destiny, and with the keen prescience of those who +have lived and worked for one object, he knew that the outermost +stronghold of those which Islam was destined to subdue had yielded to his +passionate insistence. His successors would carry his work to higher +attainments, but his personal part was done, and it was with a sense of +finality that almost brought peace to his perpetually striving nature +that he prepared for his last witness to the glory and unity of Allah, +the performance of the Greater and Farewell Pilgrimage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +LAST RITES + + "This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have filled + up the measure of my favours upon you; and it is my pleasure that + Islam be your religion."--_The Kuran_. + +A year had passed since Abu Bekr's purgatory Pilgrimage, and now the +sacred month drew near once more and found Mahomet secure in his adopted +city, the acknowledged spiritual and political leader among the Arabian +tribes. Not since his exile had the Prophet performed in their entirety +the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage. Now he felt that his achievements +would receive upon them the seal of Allah and become attested in the eyes +of the world if he should undertake a complete and purified Pilgrimage in +company with the host of his followers. The Pilgrimage was proclaimed +abroad in Islam, and every Believer who could by any means accomplish it +assumed the Pilgrim's garb, until the army of the devout numbered about +40,000 men. All the Prophet's wives accompanied him, and every Believer +of any standing in the newly formed state was his close attendant. It was +felt, indeed, that this was to be the Pilgrimage that was to ordain and +sanction the rite for all time. In the deepest spirit of religion and +devotion it was undertaken and completed. Islam was now to show to the +world the measure of its strength, and to succeeding generations the sum +of its being and the insistence of its call. + +With the host travelled also a hundred camels, destined as a sacrifice +upon the triumphant day when the ceremonies should be accomplished. By +easy stages the Pilgrims journeyed through the desert. There was no +hurry, for there was no fear of attack. The whole company was unarmed, +save for the defensive sword allowed to each man. Over the desert they +moved like locusts, overwhelming the country, and the tune of their march +spread far around. In ten days the pilgrim army, in the gladness of +self-confidence and power, arrived at Sarif, a short day's march from +their goal. There Mahomet rested before he embarked upon the final +journey. + +Mecca lay before him, awaiting his coming, her animosities silenced, her +populace acquiescent, her temples freed from the curse of idolatry. His +mind was uplifted into a fervour of praise. He seemed in truth about to +enter upon his triumph, to celebrate in very flesh the ceremonies he had +reverenced, to celebrate them in his own peculiar manner, freed of what +was to him their bane and degradation. Something of the foreknowledge of +the approaching cessation of activity flashed across him as he mounted +Al-Caswa and prepared to make the entry of the city. + +He came upon the upper suburbs by the same route as he had entered Mecca +two years before, and proceeded to the Kaaba. There he performed the +circuits of the sacred place and the preliminary rites of the Greater +Pilgrimage. Then he returned to the valley outside the city where his +tent was pitched, and tarried there the night. And now Ali, the mighty in +arms, reached the city from an admonitory expedition and demanded the +privilege of performing the Pilgrimage. Mahomet replied that like most +other Believers he might perform the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, but +that the Greater was barred to him because he had no victims. But Ali +refused to forego his privilege, and at last Mahomet, urged by his love +for him and his fear of creating any disturbance at such a time, felt it +wiser to yield. He gave Ali the half of his own victims, and their +friendship and Ali's devotion to his master were idealised and made +sweeter for the gift. + +Now the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage properly began. Mahomet preached +to the people from the Kaaba on the morning of the next day, and when his +words had roused the intense religious spirit of those listening masses +he set out for Mina, accompanied by Bilal, followed by every Believer, +and prepared to spend the night in the sacred valley. When morning dawned +he made his way to Arafat, where he climbed the hill in the midst of the +low-lying desolate ground. Standing at the summit of the hill, surrounded +by the hosts of his followers, revealed to their eyes in all the +splendour and dignity of his familiarity and personally wrested +authority, he recited some of the verses of the Kuran dealing with the +fit and proper celebration of the Pilgrimage. He expounded then the +manner in which that rite was to be performed for all time. So long as +there remains one Muslim upon earth his Pilgrimage will be carried out +along the traditions laid down for him at this beneficent moment. + +Now, having ordered all matters, Mahomet raised his hands to Heaven and +called Allah to witness that he had completed his task: + +"This day have I perfected your religion for you." + +The supreme moment came and fled, and the Prophet descended once more +into the plain and journeyed again to the valley of Mecca, where, +according to immemorial tradition, he cast stones, or rather small +pebbles, at the rock of the Devil's Corner, symbolic of the defeat of the +powers of darkness by puny and assailed mankind. Thereafter he slew his +victims in thankful and devout spirit, and the Greater Pilgrimage was +completed. In token he shaved his head, pared his nails, and +removed the pilgrim's robe; then, coming before the people, he exhorted +them further, enjoining upon them the strict observance of daily prayers, +the fast of Ramadan, the rites of Pilgrimage, and all the essential +ceremonial of the Muslim faith. He abolished also with one short verse of +the Kuran the intercalary year, which had been in use among the Faithful +during the whole of his Medinan rule. The Believers were now subject to +the fluctuation of their months, so that their years follow a perpetually +changing cycle, bearing no relation to the solar seasons. + +When the exhortation was ended Mahomet departed to Mecca, and there he +encircled the Kaaba and entered its portals for prayer. But of this last +act he repented later, inasmuch as it would not be possible hereafter for +every Muslim to do so, and he had desired to perform in all particulars +the exact ceremonies incumbent upon the Faithful for all the future +years. He now made an ending of all his observances, and with every rite +fulfilled, at the head of his vast concourse, summoned by his tireless +will and held together by his overmastering zeal, the Prophet returned to +his governmental city, ready to take up anew the reins of his temporal +ruling, with the sense of fine things fittingly achieved, a great purpose +accomplished, which rendered him as much at peace as his fiery +temperament and the flame of his activity could compass. + +Fulfilment had come with the performance of the Greater Pilgrimage, but +still his state demanded his personal government. Death alone could still +his ardent pulses and bring about his relinquishment of command over the +kingdom that was his--death that was even now winging his silent way +nearer, and whose shadow had almost touched the fount of the Prophet's +earthly life. + +In such manner the Greater Pilgrimage was fulfilled, and the burden of +its accomplishing is the Muslim reverence for ceremony. The ritual in all +its forgotten superstition and immemorial tradition appealed most +potently to the emotions of every Believer, all the more so because it +had not been imposed upon him as a new and untried ceremony by a +religious reformer, but came to him with all its hallowed sanctity fresh +upon it, to be bound up inseparably with his religious life by its +purification under the Prophet's guidance. + +Its use by the founder of Islam bears witness at once to his knowledge of +the earlier faith and traditions and his reverence for them, as well as +his keen insight, which placed the rite of pilgrimage in the forefront of +his religious system. He knew the value of ritual and the force of +age-long association. The Farewell Pilgrimage is the last great public +act he performed. He felt that it strengthened Islam's connection with +the beliefs and ceremonies of his ancestors, legendarily free from +idolatry under the governance of Abraham and Ishmael. He realised, too, +that it rounded off the ceremonial side of his faith, giving his +followers an example and a material union with himself and his God. It +was the knowledge that this union would always be a living fact to his +descendants, so long as the sacred ceremony was performed, that caused +him to assert its necessity and to place it among the few unalterable +injunctions to all the Faithful. + +Meanwhile a phenomenon had arisen inseparable from the activities of +great men. Wherever there are strong souls, from whose spirit flows any +inspiring energy, there will always be found their imitators, when the +battle has been won. Whether hypocrites, or genuinely led by a sheep-like +instinct into the same path as their models, they follow the steps of +their forerunners, and usually achieve some slight fame before the dark +closes around them. + +Early in the year Badzan, Governor of Marab, Nazran, and Hamadan, died. +His territory was seized by Mahomet, in defiance of the claims of his son +Shehr, and divided among different governors. His success in the temporal +world, and especially this peaceful annexation of land, wrought so +vividly upon the imaginations of his countrymen that three false Prophets +arose and three separate bands of devoted fanatics appeared to uphold +them. Of these three men the most effective was Tuleiha of the Beri Asad, +who gathered together an army and was only repelled and crushed by Khalid +himself. But Tuleiha still persisted in spite of defeat, and was content +to bide his time until, under Abu Bekr, his faction rose again to +importance and constituted a serious disturbance to the rule of the first +Caliph. + +Moseilama, of whom not so much is known, also attempted to usurp the +Prophet's power at the close of his life. Mahomet demanded his +submission; Moseilama refused, but before adequate punishment could be +meted out the Prophet was stricken down with illness, so that the task of +chastisement devolved upon Abu Bekr. Aswad, "the veiled Prophet of +Yemen," might have proved the most formidable of the three, had not +rashness of conduct and lack of governance caused his undoing. He cast +off the Muslim yoke while the Prophet was still alive, and proclaimed +himself the magician prince who would liberate his followers from the +tyrant's yoke. Najran rose in his favour, and he marched confidently upon +Sana, the great capital city of Yemen, slew the puppet king Shehr and +took command of the surrounding country. Mahomet purposed to send a force +against him, but even while his army was massing for the march he heard +that the Veiled Prophet was assassinated. The sudden success had proved +his ruin. Aswad only needed the touch of power to call out his latent +tyranny, cruelty, and stupidity. He treated the people harshly, and they +could not retaliate effectually; but he forgot, being of unreflecting +mould, the imperative necessity of conciliating the chiefs of his armed +forces. He offended his leaders of armies, and the end came swiftly. The +leaders deserted to Mahomet, and treacherously murdered him when he had +counted their submission was beyond question. The three impostors were +not powerful enough to disturb seriously the steady flow of Mahomet's +organising and administrative activities, but they are indicative of the +thin crust that divided his rule from anarchy, a crust even now cracking +under the weight of the burdens imposed upon it, needing the constant +cement of armed expeditions to keep it from crumbling beyond Mahomet's +own remedying. + +April passed quietly enough at Medina, but with May came the news of fresh +disturbances upon the Syrian border. They were not serious, but the pretext +was sufficient. Muta was as yet unavenged, and Mahomet was glad to be able +to send a force again to the troublesome frontier. Osama, son of Zeid, +slain in that disastrous battle, was chosen for leader of this expedition +in spite of his youth, which aroused the quick anger of some of the Muslim +warriors. But Mahomet maintained his choice. He was given the battle banner +by the Prophet himself, and the expedition sallied forth to Jorf, where it +was delayed and finally hastily recalled by news of a grave and most +disturbing nature. + +Even as he blessed the Syrian expedition and sent it on its road, Mahomet +was in no fit state of health for public duties. After a little while, +however, his will triumphed over his flesh, and he thrust back the +weakness. But his physical nature had already been strained to breaking +point under the stress of his life. He had perforce to bow to the +dictates of his body. He gave up attempting to throw off the fever, and +retired to Ayesha's house, attributing the seizure to the effects of the +poison at Kheibar, and convinced that his end was at hand. + +In the house of his favourite wife he remained during the few remaining +days of his life. He lingered for about a week before his indomitable +soul gave way before the assaults of death, and all the time he continued +to attend to public affairs and to take his accustomed part in them as +long as possible. About the third day of his illness he heard the people +still murmuring over the appointment of Osama upon the Syrian expedition. +Rising from his couch he went out to speak to them, and commanded them to +cease from such empty discontent, reminding them that he was their +Prophet and master, and that they might safely rely upon him. + +The exertion of moving proved too much for his strength. He was now +indeed a broken man, and this activity was but the last conquest of mind +over his ever-growing weakness of body. He returned exhausted to Ayesha's +room, and, knowing that his mission was over, commanded Abu Bekr to lead +the public prayers. By this act he virtually nominated Abu Bekr his +successor; for the privilege of leading the prayers belonged exclusively +to himself, and his designation of the office was as plain a proof as +there could be that he considered the mantle of authority to have +descended upon his friend and counsellor, who had been to him so +unfailing a resource in defeat and triumph through all the tumultuous +years. + +From this time the Prophet grew steadily worse. His physical break-up was +complete. He had used every particle of his enormous energy in the +fulfilment of his work; now that activity had ceased there were no +reserves left. + +He became delirious, and finally weak to the point of utter exhaustion. +Many are the traditions concerning his dying words, chiefly exhortations +for the preservation of the faith he had so laboriously brought to life. +He is said to have cursed both Jews and Christians in his paroxysms of +fever, but in his lucid moments he seems to have been filled with love +for his disciples, and fears for the future of his religion and temporal +state. + +He lingered thus for two more days--days which gathered round him the +deep spiritual fervour, the human love and affection of every Believer, +so that the records are interpenetrated with the grief and tenderness of +a people's sorrow. On the third day he rallied sufficiently to come to +morning prayer, where he took a seat by Abu Bekr in token of his +dedication of the headship of Islam to him alone. The Believers' joy at +the sight of their Prophet showed itself in their thronging thanksgivings +and in their escort of their chief back to his place of rest. It seemed +that his illness was but slight, and that before long he would appear +among them once more in all the fullness of his strength. But the +exertion sapped his little remaining vitality, and he could scarcely +reach Ayesha's room again. There a few hours afterwards, after a period +of semi-consciousness, he died in her arms while it was yet only a little +after mid-day. + +The forlorn Ayesha was almost too terrified to impart the dreadful news. +Abu Bekr was summoned instantly, and came with awe and horror into the +mosque. Omar, Mahomet's beloved warrior-friend, refused to believe that +his leader was really dead, and even rushed to announce his belief to the +people. But Abu Bekr visited the place of death and assured himself by +the still cold form of the Prophet that he was indeed dead. He went out +with despair in his countenance, and convinced the Faithful that the soul +of their leader had passed. There fell upon Islam the hush of an +intolerable knowledge, and in the first blankness of realisation they +were dumb and passive. + +When the army at Jorf was apprised of the news, it broke up at once and +returned to Medina. With the withdrawal of the guiding hand their battle +enthusiasm became as nought, and they could only join the waiting ranks +of the Citizens--a crowd that would now be driven whither its masters +saw fit. + +The Faithful assembled round the mosque to question the future of +themselves and their rulers. Abu Bekr addressed them at once, and it was +soon evident that he had them well in hand. He was supported by Omar and +the chief leaders, except Ali, who maintained a jealous attitude, chiefly +due to the feelings of envy aroused in the mind of Fatima, his wife, at +the sight of Ayesha's privileges. At last, when Abu Bekr had told the +circumstances of the Prophet's death, tenderly and with that loving +reverence which characterised him, the Faithful were attuned to the +acceptance of this man as their Prophet's successor. The chief men, +followed by the rank and file, swore fealty to him, and covenanted to +maintain intact and precious the Faith bequeathed them by their leader, +who had been also their guide and fellow-worshipper of Allah. + + +There remained only the last dignity of burial. The Prophet's body was +washed and prepared for the grave. Around it was wrapped white linen and +an outer covering of striped Yemen stuff. Abu Bekr and Omar performed +these simple services for their Prophet, and then a grave was dug for him +in Ayesha's house, and a partition made between the grave and the +antechamber. It was dug vaulted fashion, and the body deposited there +upon the evening of the day of death. The people were permitted to visit +it, and after the long procession had looked their last upon their +Prophet, Abu Bekr and Omar delivered speeches to the assembled multitude, +urging them to remain faithful to their religion, and to hold before them +continually the example of the Prophet, who even now was received into +the Paradise he had described so ardently and loved with such enshrining +desire. + +Thus the Prophet of Islam, religious and political leader, director of +armies, lover of women, austere, devout, passionate, cunning, lay as he +would have wished in the simplicity of that communal life, in the midst +of his followers, near the sacred temple of his own devising. He had +lived close to his disciples, had appeared to them a man among men, +indued only with the divine authority of his religious enthusiasm; now he +rested among them as one of themselves, and none but felt the inspiration +of his energy inform their activities after him, though the manifestation +thereof confined itself to the violence necessary to maintain the +Prophet's domain secure from its earthly enemies. + +Mahomet, indeed, in his mortal likeness rested in the quiet of Ayesha's +chamber, but his spirit still led his followers to prayer and conquest, +still stood at the head of his armies, urging to victory and plunder, so +that they might find in the flaunting banners of Islam the fulfilment of +their lusts and aspirations, their worldly triumphs and the glories of +their heavenly vision. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +"The Jews say, 'Ezra is a son of God,' and the Christians say, 'The +Messiah is a son of God' ... they resemble the saying of the Infidels +of old.... They take their teachers and their monks and the Messiah, +son of Mary, for Lords beside God, though bidden to worship one +God only. There is no God but He! Far what from his glory be +what they associate with Him."--_The Kuran_. + +The Prophet of Arabia had scarcely been committed to the keeping of +earth, when on all sides rebellion against his rule arose. The unity that +he had laboured so long to create was still in embryo, but the seed of it +was living, and developed rapidly to its full fruition. In the political +sphere his achievement is not limited to the immediate security of his +dominion. He had inculcated, mainly by the forcible logic of the sword, +the idea of union and discipline, and had restored in mightier degree the +fallen greatness of his land. Traditions of Arabian prosperity during the +time when it was the trade route from Persia and the East to Petraea, +Palestine, and even Asia Minor lingered in the native mind. The caravan +routes from Southern Arabia, famous in Biblical story, had made the +importance of such cities as Mecca and Sana, but with the maritime +enterprise of Rome their well-being declined, and the consequent distress +in Yemen induced its tribes to emigrate northwards to Mecca, to Syria, +and the Central Desert. Southern Arabia never recovered from the blow to +its trade, and in the sixth century Yemen became merely a dependency of +Persia. Central Arabia was an unknown country, inhabited by marauding +tribes in a constant state of political flux; while Hira, the kingdom to +the east of the desert on the banks of the Euphrates, had become a +satrapy of Persia early in the century in which Mahomet lived, and +Heraclius by frequent inroads had reduced the kingdom of Palmyra to +impotence. Arabia was ripe for the rise of a strong political leader; for +it was flanked by no powerful kingdom, and within itself there was no +organisation and no reliable political influence. + +The material was there, but it needed the shaping of a master-hand at the +instigation of unflagging zeal if it was to be wrought into order and +strength. Tireless energy and unceasing belief in his own power could +alone accomplish the task, and these Mahomet possessed in abundance. +Before his death he had secured the subjection of Yemen and Hadramaut, +had penetrated far into the Syrian borderland, and had made his rule felt +among the nomad tribes of the interior as far as the confines of Persia. +With his rise to power the national feeling of Arabia was born, and under +his successors developed by the enticements of plunder and glory until it +soared beyond mere nationality and dreamt of world-conquest, by which +presumption its ruin was wrought. Mahomet was the instigator of all this +absorbing activity, although he never calculated the extent of his +political impulse. In superseding the already effete tribal ideals he was +to himself only spreading the faith of his inspiration. All governmental +conceptions die slowly, and the tribal life of Arabia was far from +extinguished at the end of his mission. But its vitality was gone, and +the focus of Arabia's obedience had shifted from the clan to the Prophet +as military overlord. + +It is pre-eminently in the domain of political actions that Mahomet's +personality is revealed. The living fibres of his unique character pulse +through all his dealings with his fellow-leaders and opponents. Before +all things he possessed the capacity of inspiring both love and fear. +Ali, Abu Bekr, Hamza, Omar, Zeid, every one of his followers, felt the +force of his affection continually upon them, and were bound to him by +ties that neither misfortune nor any unworthy act of his could break. And +their devotion was called upon to suffer many tests. Mahomet was +self-willed and ruthless, subordinating the means to the end without any +misgivings. In his remorseless dealings with the Jews, in his calm +repudiation of obligations with the heathen as soon as he felt himself +strong enough, he shows affinities to the most conscienceless statesman +that ever graced European diplomacy. + +His method of conquest and government combines watchfulness and strength. +No help was scorned by this builder of power. What he could not achieve +by force he attempted to gain by cunning. He had a large faith in the +power of argument backed by force, and his winning over of Abbas and Abu +Sofian chiefly by the aid of these two factors, combined with their +personal ambition, is only the supreme instance of his master-strokes of +policy. He knew how to play upon the baser passions of men, and +especially was he mindful of the lure of gold. His first forays against +the Kureisch were set before the eyes of his disciples as much +in the light of plundering expeditions as religious wars against an +infidel and oppressive nation. + +He is at once the outcome of circumstances, and independent of them. He +gave coherence to all the unformulated desires for a fuller scope of +military and mercantile power stirring at the fount of Arabia's life, and +at the same time he founded his dominion in a unique and absolutely +personal manner. Within his sphere of governance his will was supreme and +unassailable. + +If these mutable tribal entities were to be united at all, despotism was +the only possible form of command. As his polity demanded authority +vested in one person only, so his conception of God is that of an +absolute monarch, resistance to whom is annihilation. + +Out of this idea the doctrine of fatalism was evolved. It was necessary +during the first terrible years of uncertainty in Islam, in order to +produce among Mahomet's followers a recklessness in battle, and in the +varying fortunes of their life at Medina, born of the knowledge that +their fate was irrevocably decided. They fought for the true God against +the idolaters; this true God held their destinies in his hand; nothing +could be altered. The result was that the Muslim fought with superhuman +daring, and faced overwhelming forces undaunted. But the time came when +Islam had no longer any need to fight, and the doctrine of fatalism still +lived. It sank into mental and physical inactivity, and of that +inactivity, induced by the knowledge that their energies were unavailing, +pessimism was bred. Despotism and fatality are perhaps the purely +personal ideas that Mahomet gave to his political state, the latter +encroaching, however, as most of his secular principles, upon the realm +of philosophy. Indeed, his political rule is inseparable from his +religion, and as a religious leader he is more justly appraised. + +In the sphere of religion the raw material was to his hand. At the +inception of his mission Mecca and Central Arabia, though confirmed in +idolatry, still mingled with their rites some distorted Jewish traditions +and ceremonies, while Yemen had embraced the Christian faith for a short +time as a dependency of Abyssinia, but had relapsed into idolatry with +the interference of Persia. Both the border kingdoms to the north, +Palmyra and Hira, were Christian, and in the time of their prosperity had +influenced Arabia in the direction of Christianity. The Christian +Scriptures were known and respected, but these impulses were feeble and +spasmodic, so that the bulk of Arabia remained fixed in its ancient +idolatry. + +By far the more enduring influence was that of Judaism. Many Jewish +tribes were settled in Arabia, and the ancient traditions of the Jewish +race, the great figures of Abraham, Lot, and Noah were set vividly before +the eyes of the Arabs. There was every indication that a religious +teacher might use the existing elements of Judaism and Christianity to +produce a monotheistic faith, partaking of their nature, and for a time +Mahomet endeavoured to bring both forms within the scope of his mission. +But compromise, whether with idolaters or Jews, was found to be +impossible, and here religious and political ideals are inextricably +blended. If Mahomet had acquiesced in the Jewish religion, had submitted +to the sovereignty of Jerusalem as the Holy Place, he would have found it +impossible to have established his supremacy in Medina, and the religion +of Islam as he conceived it would have been overriden by the older and +more hallowed faith of the Jews. He saw the danger, and his dominant +spirit could not allow the existence of an equal or superior power to his +own. With that fiery daring and supreme belief in his destiny which +characterised him in later life, he cast away all pretensions to +friendliness either with the Jews or the Christians, and steered his +followers triumphantly through the perils that beset every adherent to an +idea. + +But in compelling acceptance of his central thesis of the unity of the +Godhead, he showed signal wisdom and knowledge of men. He was himself by +no means impervious to the value of tradition, and never conceived his +faith as having no historical basis in the religious legends of his +birthplace. That the Muslim belief possesses institutions such as the +reverence for the Kaaba, the rite of Pilgrimage, the acceptance of Mecca +as its sacred city, is due to its founder's love of his native place, and +the ceremonial of which his own creed was really the inseparable outcome. + +Besides his recognition of the need of ritual, he was fully aware of the +repugnance of most men to the wholly new. Whenever possible he emphasized +his connection with the ancient ceremonies of Mecca in their purer form, +and as soon as his power was sufficient, he enforced the recognition of +his claims upon the city itself. + +His achievement as religious reformer rests largely upon the state of +preparation in which he found his medium, but it owes its efficiency to +one force alone. Mahomet was possessed of one central idea, the +indivisibility of God, and it was sufficient to uphold him against all +calamities. The Kuran sounds the note of insistence which rings the +clarion call of his message. With eloquence of mind and soul, with a +repetition that is wearisome to the outsider, he forces that dominant +truth into the hearts of his hearers. It cannot escape them, for he will +not cease to remind them of their doom if they do not obey. What he set +out to do for the religious life of Arabia he accomplished, chiefly +because he concentrated the whole of his demands into one formula, "There +is no God but God"; then when success had shown him the measure of his +ascendancy, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His prophet." + +At the end of his life idolatry was uprooted from his native country. The +tribes might rebel against the heaviness of his political yoke, and were +often held to him by the slenderest of diplomatic threads, but their +monotheistic beliefs remained intact once Islam had gained the ascendancy +over them. At the end of the Farewell Pilgrimage, he realised with one +grand uplifting of his soul in thanksgiving that he had indeed caught up +the errant attempts of Arabia to remodel its unsatisfying faith, and had +made of them a triumphant reality, in which the conception of Allah's +unity was the essential belief. + +Besides his religious and political attainments, he gave to Arabia as a +whole its first written social and moral code. Here the estimate of his +accomplishment is difficult to render, bemuse comparison with the +existing state is almost impossible. Extensively in the Kuran, but to a +greater degree in the mass of his traditional sayings, crystallised into +a standard edition by Al-Bokhari, when due allowance has been made +for the additions and exaggerations of his followers, the chief +characteristic is the casual nature of his laws. + +All his dictates as to the control of marriage, the sale and tenure of +land, commerce, plunder, as well as health and dietary are the result of +definite cases coming within his adjudication. Such an idea as the +deliberate compilation of a code never occurred to him, and there is no +evidence that he ever referred to his former decisions in similar cases, +so that possibilities of contradiction and evasion are limitless. Out of +this jumble of inconsistencies Muslim law and practice has grown. He was +enabled to impose his commands upon the conquered peoples by means of his +military organisation, so that it was not long before Arabia was ruled in +rough fashion by his social and moral precepts enforced by the sword. His +wives offend him, and he forthwith sets down the duties and position of +women in his temporal state. He desires the wife of his friend, and the +result is a Kuranic decree sanctioning the taking of a woman under those +conditions. He is jealous of his younger and more comely associates, and +thereupon ordains the perpetual seclusion of women. He is annoyed at the +untimely visits to his house of assembly, and so he commands that no +Believer shall enter another's apartment uninvited. It is inconvenient to +relinquish the watch night or day during the period of siege in Medina, +therefore he institutes a system whereby half the army is to pray while +the other half remains at its post. Instances may be multiplied without +ceasing of this building up of a whole social code upon the most casual +foundations. But unheeding as was its genesis, it was in the main effective +for those times, and in any case it substituted definite laws for the +measureless wastes of tradition and custom. + +It is probable that Mahomet relied a great deal upon existing usages. He +was too wise to disturb them unnecessarily. His was a nature of extremes +combined with a wisdom that came as a revelation to his followers. Where +he hates it is with a hurricane of wrath and destruction, where he loves +it is with the same impetuous tenacity. His denunciations of the +infidels, of his enemies among the Kureisch, of the laggards within his +own city, of the defamers of holy things, of drunkards, of the unclean, +of those who even copy the features of their kindred or picture their +idea of God, are written in the most violent words, whose fury seems to +smite upon the ear with the rushing of flame. + +And so the prevailing stamp upon Muslim institutions is fanaticism and +intolerance. As the Prophet drew up hard-and-fast rules, so his followers +insisted upon their remorseless continuance. Mahomet found himself +compelled to issue ordinances, often hurried and unreflecting, to meet +immediate needs, to settle disputes whose prolongation would have meant +his ruin. He possessed the qualities of poet, seer, and religious mystic, +but these in his later life were overshadowed by the characteristics of +lawgiver, soldier, and statesman demanded by his position as head of a +body of men. But neither his mysticism nor his poetic feeling entirely +desert him. They flash out at rare moments in the later suras of the +Kuran, and are apparent in his actions and the traditional accounts of +his sayings, while his creed remained steadfast and unassailable with a +strength that neither defeat nor disaffection could shake. With all +the incompleteness and often contradiction of his administration, he +nevertheless was able to satisfy his followers as to its efficacy mainly +by his exhaustless belief in himself and his work. + +In military development his contribution was unique. He gathered together +all the war-loving propensities of the Faithful, and wove them into a +solidarity of aim. His personal courage was not great, but his strategy +and above all his invincible confidence, which refused to admit defeat, +were beyond question. Every leader he sent upon plundering or admonitory +expeditions bore witness to his efficiency and his zeal. He subjected the +Muslim to a discipline that brought out their best qualities of tenacity +and daring. He would not allow his soldiery to become individual +plunderers, but insisted that the booty should be equally divided. In the +beginning he possessed few horsemen, but he rapidly produced a squadron +of cavalry as soon as he became convinced of their usefulness. His +readiness to accept advice as to the defence of Medina proved the +salvation of the city. Under him the military prowess of Islam had ample +scope, for he gave his leaders complete freedom of action; the result was +visible in the supreme fighting quality of Ali, Omar, and Hamza, while +the chances of achieving glory under his banner were the moving motives +of the conversion of Khalid and Abbas. He subdued internecine warfare, +and by a bold stroke united the warrior instincts of Arabia against +external foes, laying upon them the sanction of religion and the promise +of eternal happiness. + +Though unskilled in the mechanism of knowledge--he could neither read nor +write--he has left his mark upon the literature of his age and the years +succeeding him. The Kuran was the sum of his inspiration, the expression +in poetic and visionary language of his beliefs and ideals. He found the +medium prepared. The Arabs had long previously evolved a poetry of their +own which lived not in written words, but in their traditional songs. +Mahomet's first flush of inspiration, which waned before the heaviness of +his later tasks, is the cumulation of that wild and fervid art with the +breath of the desert urgent within it. + +The Kuran was never written down during his lifetime, but was collected +into a jumble of fragments, "gathered together from date-leaves and +tablets of white stone, and from the breasts of men," by Zeid in the +first troublous years of the Caliphate. We have inevitably lost much of +its original fire, and its effect is weakened by any translation into the +unsuitable medium of modern speech. But that it is a valuable +contribution to the literature of its country cannot be doubted, +especially in the earlier portions, before Mahomet's love of harangue and +the necessity of some vehicle by which to make his political dictates +known had transformed its style into the bald reiterative medley of its +later pages. + + +Through it all runs the fire of his genius; in the later suras it is the +reflection of his energy that looks out from the pages; the flame itself +has now lighted his actions and inspired his dreams of conquest. The +Kuran is the best revelation of Mahomet himself that posterity possesses, +imperfect as was the manner of its handing down to the modern world. It +shows us both the beauty and strength of his personality and his cruelty, +evasions, magnanimities, and lusts. More than all, the passionate zeal +beating through it makes clear the secret of his sustained endeavours +through discouragement and defeat until his triumph dawned. + +To those outside the sphere of his magnetism, Mahomet seems urged on by a +power beyond himself and scarcely within his control. His gifts bear +intimate relation to the particular phase in the task of creating a +religion and a political entity that was uppermost at the moment. + +In Mecca he is poet and visionary, the man who speaks with angels and has +seen Gabriel and Israfil, "whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has +the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." He penetrates in fancy to the +innermost Holy Place and beholds the God of battles, even feels his +touch, icy-cold upon his shoulder, and returns with the glow of that +immortal intercourse upon him. It sustains him in defeat and danger, and +by the power of it he converts a few in Medina and flees thither to +complete his task. In Medina he becomes a watchful leader, and still +inspired by heavenly visitants, he produces order out of chaos and guards +his power from numberless assaults. + +In attempting to explain his achievements, when allowance is made for all +those factors which gave him help, we are compelled to do homage to the +strength of his personality. Neither in his revelations through the Kuran +nor in the traditions of him is his secret to be found. He lived outside +himself, and his actions are the standard of his accomplishments. He +found Arabia the prey of warring tribes, without leader, without laws, +without religion, save an idolatry obstinate but creatively dead, and he +took the existing elements, wrought into them his own convictions, +quickened them with the fire of his zeal, and created an embryo with +effective laws, fitting social and religious institutions, but greater +than all these, with the enthusiasm for an idea that led his followers to +prayer and conquest. The Kuran, tradition, the later histories, all +minister to that personality which informed the Muslim, so that they +swept through the land like flame, impelled not only by religious zeal, +but also by the memory of their leader's struggles and victories, and of +his journey before them on the perilous path of warfare to the Paradise +promised to the Faithful. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAHOMET *** + +***** This file should be named 10738-8.txt or 10738-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/7/3/10738/ + +Produced by Afra Ullah, Bonny Fafard and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10738-8.zip b/old/10738-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3a4ab3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10738-8.zip diff --git a/old/10738.txt b/old/10738.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfecb5b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10738.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7619 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Mahomet + Founder of Islam + +Author: Gladys M. Draycott + +Release Date: January 18, 2004 [EBook #10738] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAHOMET *** + + + + +Produced by Afra Ullah, Bonny Fafard and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +MAHOMET + +FOUNDER OF ISLAM + +BY G. M. DRAYCOTT + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +I. MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + +II. CHILDHOOD + +III. STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +IV. ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +V. INSPIRATION + +VI. SEVERANCE + +VII. THE CHOSEN CITY + +VIII. THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + +IX. THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + +X. THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +XI. THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +XII. THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +XIII. THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +XIV. THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +XV. THE WAR OF THE DITCH + +XVI. THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + +XVII. THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + +XVIII. THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + +XIX. MAHOMET, VICTOR + +XX. ICONOCLASM + +XXI. LAST RITES + +XXII. THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +INDEX + + +"Il estimait sincerement la force.... Jetee dans le monde, son +ame se trouva a la mesure du monde et l'embrassa tout.... C'est +l'etat prodigieux des hommes d'action. Ils sont tout entiers dans la +moment qu'ils vivent et leur genie se ramasse sur un point." + +ANATOLE FRANCE + + + +MAHOMET + + +INTRODUCTION + +The impetus that gave victory to Islam is spent. Since its material +prosperity overwhelmed its spiritual ascendancy in the first years of +triumph its vitality has waned under the stress of riches, then beneath +lassitude and the slow decrease of power. The Prophet Mahomet is at once +the glory and bane of his people, the source of their strength and the +mainspring of their weakness. He represents more effectively than any +other religious teacher the sum of his followers' spiritual and worldly +ideas. His position in religion and philosophy is substantially the +position of all his followers; none have progressed beyond the primary +thesis he gave to the Arabian world at the close of his career. + +He closes a long line of semi-divine teachers and monitors. After him the +curtains of heaven close, and its glory is veiled from men's eyes. He is +the last great man who imposed enthusiasm for an idea upon countless +numbers of his fellow-creatures, so that whole tribes fought and died at +his bidding, and at the command of God through him. Now that the vital +history of Islam has been written, some decision as to the position and +achievements of its founder may be formulated. + +Mahomet conceived the office of Prophet to be the result of an +irresistible divine call. Verily the angel Gabriel appeared to him, +commanding him to "arise and warn." He was the vehicle through whom the +will of Allah was revealed. The inspired character of his rule was the +prime factor in its prevailing; by virtue of his heavenly authority he +exercised his sway over the religious actions of his followers, their +aspirations and their beliefs. In order to promulgate the divine +ordinances the Kuran was sent down, inspired directly by the angel +Gabriel at the bidding of the Lord. Upon all matters of belief and upon +all other matters dealt with, however cursorily, in the Kuran Mahomet +spoke with the power of God Himself; upon matters not within the scope of +religion or of the Sacred Book he was only a human and fallible +counsellor. + +"I am no more than man; when I order you anything with respect to +religion, receive it, and when I order you about the affairs of the +world, then am I nothing more than man." + +There is no question of his equality with the Godhead, or even of his +sharing any part of the divine nature. He is simply the instrument, +endowed with a power and authority outside himself, a man who possesses +one cardinal thesis which all those within his faith must accept. + +The idea which represents at once the scope of his teaching and the +source of his triumphs is the unity and indivisibility of the Godhead. +This is the sole contribution he has made to the progressive thought of +the world. Though he came later in time than the culture of Greece and +Rome, he never knew their philosophies or the sum of their knowledge. His +religion could never he built upon such basic strength as Christianity. +It sprang too rapidly into prominence, and had no foundation of slowly +developed ideas upon which to rest both its enthusiasm and its earthly +endeavour. + +Mahomet bears closer resemblance to the ancient Hebrew prophets than to +any Christian leader or saint. His mind was akin to theirs in its +denunciatory fury, its prostration before the might and majesty +of a single God. The evolution of the tribal deity from the local +wonderworker, whose shrine enclosed his image, to the impersonal and +distant but awful power who held the earth beneath his sway, was +Mahomet's contribution to the mental development of his country, and the +achievement within those confines was wonderful. But to the sum of the +world's thought he gave little. His central tenet had already gained its +votaries in other lands, and, moreover, their form of belief in one God +was such that further development of thought was still possible to them. +The philosophy of Islam blocks the way of evolution for itself, because +its system leaves no room for such pregnant ideas as divine incarnation, +divine immanence, the fatherhood of God. It has been content to formulate +one article of faith: "There is no God but God," the corollary as to +Mahomet's divine appointment to the office of Prophet being merely an +affirmation of loyalty to the particular mode of faith he imposed. +Therefore the part taken by Islam in the reading of the world's +mystery ceased with the acceptance of that previously conceived central +tenet. + +In the sphere of ideas, indeed, Mahomet gave his people nothing original, +for his power did not lie in intellect, but in action. His mind had not +passed the stage that has just exchanged many fetishes for one spiritual +God, still to be propitiated, not alone by sacrifices, but by prayers, +ceremonies, and praise. In the world of action lay the strength of Islam +and the genius of its founder; it is therefore in the impress it made +upon events and not in its theology and philosophy that its secret is to +be found. But besides the acceptance of one God as Lord, Islam forced +upon its devotees a still more potent idea, whose influence is felt both +in the spheres of thought and action. + +As an outcome of its political and military needs Mahomet created and +established its unassailable belief in fatality--not the fatalism +of cause and effect, bearing within itself the essence of a reason too +vast for humanity to comprehend, but the fatalism of an omnipotent and +capricious power inherent in the Mahomedan conception of God. With this +mighty and irresponsible being nothing can prevail. Before every event +the result of it is irrevocably decreed. Mankind can alter no tiniest +detail of his destined lot. The idea corresponds with Mahomet's vision of +God--an awful, incomprehensible deity, who dwells perpetually in the +terrors of earth, not in its gentleness and compassion. The doctrine of +fatalism proved Islam's greatest asset during its first hard years of +struggle, for it gave to its battlefields the glory of God's +surveillance: "Death is a favour to a Muslim." But with prosperity and +conquest came inaction; then fatalism, out of the weakening of endurance, +created the pessimism of Islam's later years. Being philosophically +uncreative, it descended into the sloth of those who believe, without +exercise of reason or will, in the uselessness of effort. + +Before Islam decayed into inertia it had experienced a fierce and flaming +life. The impulse bestowed upon it by its founder operated chiefly in the +religious world, and indirectly in the realm of political and military +power. How far the religion of Islam is indebted to Mahomet's knowledge +of the Jewish and Christian systems becomes clear upon a study of the +Kuran and the Muslim institutions. That Mahomet was familiar with Jewish +Scriptures and tradition is beyond doubt. + +The middle portion of the Kuran is filled to the point of weariness with +reiterations of Jewish legend and hero-myths. It is evident that Mahomet +took the God of the Jews to be his own deity, combining in his conception +also the traditional connection of Jehovah and His Chosen People with the +ancient faith and ceremonies of Mecca, purged of their idolatries. From +the Jews he took his belief in the might and terror of the Lord and the +admonitory character of his mission. From them also he took the +separatist nature of his creed. The Jewish teachers postulated a religion +distinct from every other belief, self-sufficient, owning no interpreter +save the Law and the Scriptures. Mahomet conceived himself also as the +sole vehicle during his lifetime and after his death for the commands of +the Most High. He aimed at the superseding of Rabbinical power, and hoped +to win the Jews into recognition of himself as successor to their own +teachers and prophets. + +But his claims were met by an unyielding reliance upon the completed Law. +If the Jewish religion had rejected a Redeemer from among its own people, +it was impossible that it should accept a leader from an alien and +despised race. Mahomet, finding coalition impossible, gave free play to +his separatist instinct, so that in this respect, and also in its +fundamental conception of the deity, as well as in its reliance upon +inspired Scriptures and oral traditions, Mahomedanism approximates to the +Jewish system. It misses the influence of an immemorial history, and +receives no help in its campaign of warfare from the traditional glories +of long lines of warrior kings. Chief of all, it lacks the inspiration of +the matchless Jewish Scriptures and Sacred Books, depending for +instruction upon a document confined to the revelation of one man's +personality and view of life. + +Still the narrowness of the Mahomedan system provoked its power; its +rapid rush to the heights Of dominion was born of the straitening of its +impulse into the channel of conquest and the forcible imposition of its +faith. + +Of Christianity Mahomet knew far less than of Judaism. He went to the +Christian doctrines as they were known in heterodox Syria, far off from +the main stream of Christian life and teaching. He went to them with a +prejudiced mind, full of anger against their exponents for declaring the +Messiah to be the Son of God. The whole idea of the Incarnation and the +dogma of the Trinity were thoroughly abhorrent to him, and the only +conception he entertains as to the personality of Jesus is that of a +Prophet even as he is himself, the receiver of divine inspiration, but +having no connection in essence with God, whom he conceived pre-eminently +as the one supreme Being, indivisible in nature. Certainly he knew far +less of the Christian than of the Jewish Scriptures, and necessarily less +of the inner meaning of the Christian faith, still in fluid state, +unconsidered of its profoundest future exponents. His mind was assuredly +not attuned to the reception of its more revolutionary ideas. Very little +compassion and no tenderness breathe from the pages of the Kuran, and +from a religion whose Founder had laboured to bring just those two +elements into the thorny ways of the world, Mahomet could only turn away +baffled and uncomprehending. The doctrine of the non-resistance to evil, +and indeed all the wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount, he passed by +unseeing. + +It is useless and indeed unfair to attempt the comparison of Mahomedanism +with Christianity, seeing that without the preliminary culture of Greece +and Rome modern Christian doctrines would not exist in their present +form, and of the former Mahomet had no cognisance. He stands altogether +apart from the Christian system, finding no affinity in its doctrines or +practices, scorning its monasticism no less than its conception of the +Trinity. His position in history lies between the warriors and the +saints, at the head of the Prophets, who went, flail in hand, to summon +to repentance, but unlike the generality, bearing also the sword and +sceptre of a kingdom. + +No other religious leader has ever bound his creed so closely to definite +political conceptions, Mahomet was not only the instrument of divine +revelation, but he was also at the end of his life the head of a temporal +state with minutest laws and regulations--chaotic it may be, but still +binding so that Islamic influence extended over the whole of the lives of +its adherents. This constitutes its strength. Its leader swayed not only +the convictions but the activities of his subjects. + +His position with regard to the political institution of other countries +is unique. His temporal power grew almost in spite of himself, and he +unconsciously adopted ideas in connection with it which arose out of the +circumstances involved. Any form of government except despotism was +impossible among so heterogeneous and unruly a people; despotism also +bore out his own idea as to the nature of God's governance. Political +ideas were largely built upon religious conceptions, sometimes +outstripping, sometimes lagging behind them, but always with some +irrefragable connection. Despotism, therefore, was the form best suited +to Islam, and becomes its chief legacy to posterity, since without the +religious sanction Islam politically could not exist. + +Together with despotism and inextricably mingled with it is the second +great Islamic enthusiasm--the belief in the supremacy of force. With +violence the Muslim kingdom was to be attained. Mahomet gave to the +battle lust of Arabia the approval of his puissant deity, bidding his +followers put their supreme faith in the arbitrament of the sword. He +knew, too, the value of diplomacy and the use of well-calculated +treachery, but chief of all he bade his followers arm themselves to seize +by force what they could not obtain by cunning. In the insistence upon +these two factors, complete obedience to his will as the revelation of +Allah's decrees and the justification of violence to proclaim the merits +of his faith, we gain the nearest approach to his character and beliefs; +for these, together with his conception of fate, are perhaps the most +personal of all his institutions. + +Mahomet has suffered not a little at the hands of his immediate successors. +They have sought to record the full sum of his personality, and finding +the subject elude them, as the translation of actions into words must +ever fall short of finality, they have overloaded their narrative with +minutest and almost always apocryphal details which leave the main +outlines blurred. Only two biographies can be said to be in the nature +of sources, that of Muhammad ibn Hischam, written on the model of +an earlier biography, undertaken about 760 for the Abbasside Caliph +Mansur, and of Wakidi, written about 820, which is important as +containing the text of many treaties made by Mahomet with various tribes. +Al-Tabari, too, included the life of Mahomet in his extensive history of +Arabia, but his work serves only as a check, consisting, as it +does, mainly of extracts from Wakidi. By far the more valuable is the +Kuran and the Sunna of tradition. But even these are fragmentary and +confused, bearing upon them the ineradicable stamp of alien writers and +much second-hand thought. + +In the dim, pregnant dawn of religions, by the transfusing power of a +great idea, seized upon and made living by a single personality, the +world of imagination mingles with the world of fact as we perceive it. +The real is felt to be merely the frail shell of forces more powerful and +permanent. Legend and myth crowd in upon actual life as imperfect +vehicles for the compelling demand made by that new idea for expression. +Moreover, personality, that subtle essence, exercises a kind of +centripetal force, attracting not only the devotion but the imaginations +of those who come within its influence. + +Mahomet, together with all the men of action in history, possessed an +energy of will so vast as to bring forth the creative faculties of his +adherents, and the legends that cluster round him have a special +significance as the measure of his personality and influence. The +story, for instance, of his midnight journey into the seven heavens +is the symbol of an intense spiritual experience that, following the +mental temper of the age in which he lived, had to be translated into +the concrete. All the affirmations as to his intercourse with Djinn, +his inspiration by the angel Gabriel, are inherent factors in the +manifestation of his ceaseless mental activity. His marvellous birth and +the myths of his childhood are the sum of his followers' devotion, and +reveal their reverence translated into terms of the imagination. +Character was the mysterious force that his co-religionists tried +unconsciously to portray in all those legends relative to his life at +Medina, his ruthlessness and cruelty finding a place no less than his +humility, and steadfastness under discouragement. + +But beneath the weight of the marvellous the real man is almost buried. +He has stood for so long with the mists of obscure imaginings about him +that his true lineaments are almost impossible to reproduce. The Western +world has alternated between the conception of him as a devil, almost +Antichrist himself, and a negligible impostor whose power is transient. +It has seldom troubled to look for the human energy that wrought out his +successes, the faith that upheld them, and the enthusiasm that burned in +the Prophet himself with a sombre flame, lighting his followers to prayer +and conquest. + +And indeed it is difficult, if not impossible, to re-create effectively +the world in which he lived. It is so remote from the seas of the +world's progression, an eddy in the tide of belief which loses itself in +the larger surging, that it makes no appeal of familiarity. But that a +study of the period and Mahomet's own personality operating no less +through his deeds, faith, and institutions than in the one doubtfully +reliable record of his teachings, will result in the perception of the +Prophet of Islam as a man among men, has been the central belief during +the writing of this biography. Mahomet's personality is revealed in his +dealing with his fellows, in the belief and ritual that he imposed upon +Arabia, in the mighty achievement of a political unity and military +discipline, and therein he shows himself inexorable, cruel, passionate, +treacherous, bad, subject to depression and overwhelming doubt, but +never weak or purposeless, continually the master of his circumstances, +whom no emergency found unprepared, whose confidence in himself nothing +could shake, and who by virtue of enthusiasm and resistless activity +wrested his triumphs from the hands of his enemies, and bequeathed to +his followers his own unconquerable faith and the means wherewith they +might attain wealth and sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +MAHOMET'S BIRTHPLACE + + "And how many cities were mightier in strength than thy city that + hath cast thee forth?"--_The Kuran_. + +In Arabia nature cannot be ignored. Pastures and cornland, mountain +slopes and quiet rivers may be admired, even reverenced; but they are +things external to the gaze, and make no insistent demand upon the spirit +for penetration of their mystery. Arabia, and Mecca as typical of Arabia, +is a country governed by earth's primal forces. It has not yet emerged +from the shadow of that early world, bare and chaotic, where a blinding +sun pours down upon dusty mountain ridges, and nothing is temperate or +subdued. It fosters a race of men, whose gods are relentless and +inscrutable, revealing themselves seldom, and dwelling in a fierce +splendour beyond earthly knowledge. To the spirit of a seeker for truth +with senses alert to the outer world, this country speaks of boundless +force, and impels into activity under the spur of conviction; by its very +desolation it sets its ineradicable mark upon the creed built up within +it. + +Mahomet spent forty years in the city of Mecca, watching its temple +services with his grandfather, taking part in its mercantile life, +learning something of Christian and Jewish doctrine through the varied +multitudes that thronged its public places. In the desert beyond the city +boundaries he wandered, searching for inspiration, waiting dumbly in the +darkness until the angel Gabriel descended with rush of wings through the +brightness of heaven, commanding: + +"Cry aloud, in the name of the Lord who created thee. O, thou enwrapped +in thy mantle, arise and warn!" + +Mecca lies in a stony valley midway between Yemen, "the Blessed," and +Syria, in the midst of the western coast-chain of Arabia, which slopes +gradually towards the Red Sea. The height of Abu Kobeis overlooks the +eastern quarter of the town, whence hills of granite stretch to the +holy places, Mina and Arafat, enclosed by the ramparts of the Jebel +Kora range. Beyond these mountains to the south lies Taif, with +its glory of gardens and fruit-trees. But the luxuriance of Taif +finds no counterpart on the western side. Mecca is barren and treeless; +its sandy stretches only broken here and there by low hills of quartz +or gneiss, scrub-covered and dusty. The sun beats upon the shelterless +town until it becomes a great cauldron within its amphitheatre of hills. +During the Greater Pilgrimage the cauldron seethes with heat and +humanity, and surges over into Mina and Arafat. In the daytime Mecca is +limitless heat and noise, but under the stars it has all the magic of a +dream-city in a country of wide horizons. + +The shadow of its ancient prosperity, when it was the centre of the +caravan trade from Yemen to Syria, still hung about it in the years +immediately before the birth of Mahomet, and the legends concerning the +founding of the city lingered in the native mind. Hagar, in her terrible +journey through the desert, reached Mecca and laid her son in the midst +of the valley to go on the hopeless quest for water. The child kicked the +ground in torment, and God was merciful, so that from his heel marks +arose a spring of clear water--the well Zemzem, hallowed ever after by +Meccans. In this desolate place part of the Amalekites and tribes from +Yemen settled; the child Ishmael grew up amongst them and founded his +race by marrying a daughter of the chief. Abraham visited him, and under +his guidance the native temple of the Kaaba was built and dedicated to +the true God, but afterwards desecrated by the worship of idols within +it. + +Such are the legends surrounding the foundation of Mecca and of the +Kaaba, of which, as of the legends concerning the early days of Rome, it +may be said that they are chiefly interesting as throwing light upon the +character of the race which produced them. In the case of Mecca they were +mainly the result of an unconscious desire to associate the city as far +as possible with the most renowned heroes of old time, and also to +conciliate the Jewish element within Arabia, now firmly planted at +Medina, Kheibar, and some of the adjoining territory, by insisting on a +Jewish origin for their holy of holies, and as soon as Abraham and +Ishmael were established as fathers of the race, legends concerning them +were in perpetual creation. + +The Kaaba thus reputed to be the work of Abraham bears evidence of an +antiquity so remote that its beginnings will be forever lost to us. From +very early times it was a goal of pilgrimage for all Arabia, because of +the position of Mecca upon the chief trade route, and united in its +ceremonies the native worship of the sun and stars, idols and misshapen +stones. The Black Stone, the kissing of which formed the chief +ceremonial, is a relic of the rites practised by the stone-worshippers of +old; while the seven circuits of the Kaaba, obligatory on all pilgrims, +are probably a symbol of the courses of the planets. Arab divinities, +such as Alilat and Uzza, were associated with the Kaaba before any +records are available, and at the time of Mahomet, idolatry mingled with +various rites still held sway among the Meccans, though the leaven of +Jewish tradition was of great help to him in the establishment of the +monotheistic idea. At Mahomet's birth the Kaaba consisted of a small +roofless house, with the Black Stone imbedded in its wall. Near it lay +the well Zemzem, and the reputed grave of Ishmael. The Holy Place of +Arabia held thus within itself traces of a purer faith, that +were to be discovered and filled in by Mahomet, until the Kaaba +became the goal of thousands, the recipient of the devotion and longings +of that mighty host of Muslim who went forth to subdue the world. +Mahomet's ancestors had for some time held a high position in the city. +He came of the race of Hashim, whose privilege it was to give service to +the pilgrims coming to worship at the Kaaba. The Hashim were renowned for +generosity, and Mahomet's grandfather, Abd al Muttalib, was revered by +the Kureisch, inhabitants of Mecca, as a just and honourable man, who had +greatly increased their prosperity by his rediscovery of the holy well. + +Its healing waters had been choked by the accumulations of years, so +that even the knowledge of its site was lost, when an angel appeared to +Abd al Muttalib, as he slept at the gate of the temple, saying: + +"Dig up that which is pure!" + +Three times the command fell on uncomprehending ears, until the angel +revealed to the sleeper where the precious water might be found. And as +he dug, the well burst forth once more, and behold within its deeps lay +two golden gazelles, with weapons, the treasure of former kings. And +there was strife among the Kureisch for the possession of these riches, +until they were forced to draw lots. So the treasure fell to Abd al +Muttalib, who melted the weapons to make a door for the Kaaba, and set +up the golden gazelles within it. + +Abd al Muttalib figures very prominently in the early legends concerning +Mahomet, because he was sole guardian of the Prophet during very early +childhood. These legends are mainly later accretions, but the kernel of +truth within them is not difficult to discover. Like all forerunners of +the great teachers, he stands in communion with heavenly messengers, the +symbol of his purity of heart. He is humble, compassionate, and devout, +living continually in the presence of his god--a fitting guardian for +the renewer of the faith of his nation. Most significant of the legends +is the story of his vow to sacrifice a son if ten were born to him, and +of the choice of Abdullah, Mahomet's father, and the repeated staying of +the father's hand, so that the sacrifice could not be accomplished until +is son's life was bought with the blood of a hundred camels. This and +all allied legends are fruit of a desire to magnify the divine authority +of Mahomet's mission by dwelling on the intervention of a higher power +in the disposal of his fate. + +Of Abd al Muttalib's ten sons, Abdallah was the most handsome in form +and stature, so that the fame of his beauty spread into the harems +of the city, and many women coveted him in their hearts. But he, after +his father had sacrificed the camels in his stead, went straightway to +the house of Amina, a maiden well-born and lovely, and remained there to +complete his nuptials with her. Then, after some weeks, he departed to +Gaza for the exchange of merchandise, but, returning, was overtaken by +sickness and died at Medina. + +Amina, left thus desolate, sought the house of Abd al Muttalib, where +she stayed until her child was born. Visions of his future greatness +were vouchsafed to her before his birth by an angel, who told her the +name he was to bear, and his destiny as Prophet of his people. Long +before the child's eyes opened to the light, a brightness surrounded his +mother, so that by it might be seen the far-off towers of the castles in +Syrian Bostra. A tenderness hangs over the story of Mahomet's birth, +akin to that immortal beauty surrounding the coming of Christ. We have +faint glimpses of Amina, in the dignity of her sorrow, waiting for the +birth of her son, and in the house of Mecca's leading citizen, hearing +around her not alone the celestial voices of her spirit-comforters, but +also rumours of earthly strife and the threatenings of strange armies +from the south. + +At Sana, capital of Yemen, ruled Abraha, king of the southern province. +He built a vast temple within its walls, and purposed to make Sana the +pilgrim-city for all Arabia. But the old custom still clove to Mecca, +and finding he could in nowise coerce the people into forsaking the +Kaaba, he determined to invade Mecca itself and to destroy the rival +place of worship. So he gathered together a great army, which numbered +amongst it an elephant, a fearful sight to the Meccans, who had never +seen so great an animal. With this force he marched upon Mecca, and was +about to enter the city after fruitless attempts by Abd al Muttalib to +obtain quarter, when God sent down a scourge of sickness upon his army +and he was forced to retreat, returning miserably to Sana with a remnant +of his men. But so much had the presence of the elephant alarmed the +Meccans that the year (A.D. 570) was called ever after "The Year of the +Elephant," and in August thereof Mahomet was born. + +Then Amina sent for Abd al Muttalib and told him the marvels she had +seen and heard, and his grandfather took the child and presented him in +the Kaaba, after the manner of the Jews, and gave him the name Mahomet +(the Praised One), according as the angel had commanded Amina. + +The countless legends surrounding Mahomet's birth, even to the physical +marvel that accompanied it, cannot be set aside as utterly worthless. +They serve to show the temper of the nation producing them, deeply +imaginative and incoherently poetical, and they indicate the weight of +the personality to which they cling. All the devotion of the East +informs them; but since the spirit that caused them to be is in its +essence one of relentless activity, neither contemplative nor +mystic, they lack that subtle sweetness that belongs to the Buddhist and +Christian histories, and dwell rather within the region of the +marvellous than of the spiritually symbolic. Neither Mahomet's father +nor mother are known to us in any detail; they are merely the passive +instruments of Mahomet's prophetic mission. His real parents are his +grandfather and his uncle Abu Talib; but more than these, the desert +that nurtured him, physically and mentally, that bounded his horizon +throughout his life and impressed its mighty mysteries upon his +unconscious childhood and his eager, imaginative youth. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +CHILDHOOD + +"Paradise lies at the feet of mothers."--MAHOMET. + +No more beautiful and tender legends cluster round Mahomet than those +which grace his life in the desert under the loving care of his +foster-mother Hailima. She was a woman of the tribe of Beni Sa'ad, who +for generations had roamed the desert, tent-dwellers, who visited cities +but rarely, and kept about them the remoteness and freedom of their +adventurous life beneath the sun and stars. + +About the time of Mahomet's birth a famine fell upon the Beni Sa'ad, +which left nothing of all their stores, and the women of the tribe +journeyed,[28] weary and stricken with hunger, into the city of Mecca +that they might obtain foster-children whose parents would give them +money and blessings if they could but get their little ones taken away +from that unhealthy place. Among these was Hailima, who, according to +tradition, has left behind her the narrative of that dreadful journey +across the desert with her husband and her child, and with only an ass +and a she-camel for transport. Famine oppressed them sorely, together +with the heat of desert suns, until there was no sustenance for any +living creature; then, faint and travel-weary, they reached the city and +began their quest. + +Mahomet was offered to every woman of the tribe, but they rejected him +as he had no father, and there was little hope of much payment from the +mothers of these children. Those of rich parents were eagerly spoken +for, but no one would care for the little fatherless child. And it +happened that Hailima also was unsuccessful in her search, and was like +to have returned to her people disconsolate, but when she saw +Mahomet she bethought herself and said to her husband: + +"By the God of my fathers, I will not go back to my companions without +foster-child. I will take this orphan." + +And her husband replied: "It cannot harm thee to do this, and if thou +takest him it may be that through him God will bless us." + +So Hailima took him, and she relates how good fortune attended her from +that day. Her camels gave abundant milk during the homeward journey, and +in the unfruitful land of the Beni Sa'ad her cattle were always fattest +and yielded most milk, until her neighbours besought her to allow them +to pasture their cattle with hers. But, adds the chronicler naively, in +spite of this their cattle returned to them thin and yielding little, +while Hailima's waxed fat and fruitful. These legends are the translation +into poetic fact of the peace and love surrounding Mahomet during the five +years he spent with Hailima; for in all primitive communities every +experience must pass through transmutation into the definite and tangible +and be given a local habitation and a name. + +When Mahomet was two years old and the time had come to restore him to +his mother, Hailima took him back to Mecca; but his mother gave him to +her again because he had thriven so well under desert skies, and she +feared the stifling air of Mecca for her only son. So Hailima returned +with him and brought him up as one of her children until he was five, +when the first signs of his nervous, highly-strung nature showed +themselves in a kind of epileptic fit. The Arabians, unskilled as they +were in any medical science, attributed manifestations of this kind to +evil spirits, and it is not surprising that we find Hailima bringing him +back to his grandfather in great alarm. So ended his fostering by the +desert and by Hailima. + +Of these five years spent among the Beni Sa'ad chroniclers have spoken +in much detail, but their confused accounts are so interwoven with +legend that it is impossible to re-create events, and we can only obtain +a general idea of his life as a tiny child among the children of the +tribe, sharing their fortunes, playing and quarrelling with them, and at +moments, when the spirit seemed to advance beyond its dwelling-place, +gazing wide-eyed upon the limitless desert under the blaze of sun or +below the velvet dark, with swift, half-conscious questionings uttering +the universal why and how [31] of childhood. Legend regards even this +early time as one of preparation for his mission, and there are stories +of the coming of two men clothed in white and shining garments, who +ripped open his body, took out his heart, and having purged it of all +unrighteousness, returned it, symbolically cleansing him of sin that he +might forward the work of God. It was an imaginative rightness that +decreed that Mahomet's most impressionable years should be spent in the +great desert, whose twin influences of fierceness and fatalism he felt +throughout his life, and which finally became the key-notes of his +worship of Allah. + +Hailima, convinced that her foster-son was possessed by evil spirits, +resolved to return him to Abd al Muttalib, but as she journeyed through +Upper Mecca, the child wandered away and was lost for a time. Hailima +hurried, much agitated, to his grandfather, who immediately sent his +sons to search, and after a short time they returned with the boy, +unharmed and unfrightened by his adventure. The legend--it is quite a +late accretion--is interesting, as showing an acquaintance with, and a +parallelism to, the story of the losing of Jesus among the Passover +crowds, and the search for Him by His kindred. Mahomet was at last +lodged with his mother, who indignantly explained to Hailima the real +meaning of his malady, and spoke of his future glory as manifested to +her by the light that enfolded her before his birth. Not long after, +Amina decided to visit her [32] husband's tomb at Medina, and thither +Mahomet accompanied her, travelling through the rocky, desolate valleys +and hills that separate the two, with just his mother and a slave girl. + + +Mahomet was too young to remember much about the journey to Medina, +except that it was hot and that he was often tired, and since his father +was but a name to him, the visit to his tomb faded altogether from his +mind. But on the homeward journey a calamity overtook him which he +remembered all his life. Amina, weakened by journeying and much +sorrow, and perhaps feeling her desire for life forsake her after the +fulfillment of her pilgrimage, sickened and died at Abwa, and Mahomet +and the slave girl continued their mournful way alone. + +Amina is drawn by tradition in very vague outline, and Mahomet's memory +of her as given in the Kuran does not throw so much light upon the woman +herself as upon her child's devotion and affectionate memory of the +mother he lost almost before he knew her. His grief for her was very +real; she remained continually in his thoughts, and in after years +he paid tribute at her tomb to her tenderness and love for him. + +"This is the grave of my mother ... the Lord hath permitted me to visit +it.... I called my mother to remembrance, and the tender memory of her +overcame me and I wept." + +The sensitive, over-nervous child, left thus solitary, away from all his +kindred, must have brought back with him to Mecca confused but vivid +impressions of the long journey and of the catastrophe which lay at the +end of it. The uncertainty of his future, and the joys of gaining at +last a foster-father in Abd al Muttalib, finds reflection in the Kuran +in one little burst of praise to God: "Did He not find thee an orphan, +and furnish thee with a refuge?" + +Life for two years as the foster-child of Abd al Muttalib, the venerable, +much honoured chief of the house of Hashim, passed very pleasantly for +Mahomet. He was the darling of his grandfather's last years of life; for, +perhaps having pity on his defencelessness, perhaps divining with that +prescience which often marks old age, something of the revelation this +child was to be to his countrymen, he protected him from the harshness of +his uncles. A rug used to be placed in the shadow of the Kaaba, and there +the aged ruler rested during the heat of the day, and his sons sat around +him at respectful distance, listening to his words. But the child +Mahomet, who loved his grandfather, ran fearlessly up, and would have +seated himself by Abd al Muttalib's side. Then the sons sought to +punish him for his lack of reverence, but their father prevented them: + +"Leave the child in peace. By the God of my fathers, I swear he will one +day be a mighty prophet." + +So Mahomet remained in close attendance upon the old man, until he died +in the eighth year after the Year of the Elephant, and there was mourning +for him in the houses of his sons. + +When Abd al Muttalib knew his end was near he sent for his daughters, and +bade them make lamentation over him. We possess traditional accounts of +these funeral songs; they are representative of the wild rhetorical +eloquence of the poetry of the day. They lose immensely in translation, +and even in reading with the eye instead of hearing, for they were never +meant to find immortality in the written words, but in the speech of men. + +"When in the night season a voice of loud lament proclaimed the sorrowful +tidings I wept, so that the tears ran down my face like pearls. I wept +for a noble man, greater than all others, for Sheibar, the generous, +endowed with virtues; for my beloved father, the inheritor of all good +things, for the man faithful in his own house, who never shrank from +combat, who stood fast and needed not a prop, mighty, well-favoured, +rich in gifts. If a man could live for ever by reason of his noble +nature--but to none is this lot vouchsafed--he would remain untouched of +death because of his fair fame and his good deeds." + +The songs furnish ample evidence as to the high position which Abd al +Muttalib held among the Kureisch. His death was a great loss to his +nation, but it was a greater calamity to his little foster-child, for it +brought him from ease and riches to comparative poverty and obscurity +with his uncle, Abu Talib. None of Abd al Muttalib's sons inherited the +nature of their father, and with his death the greatness of the house of +Hashim diminished, until it gave place to the Omeyya branch, with Harb at +its head. The offices at Mecca were seized by the Omeyya, and to the +descendants of Abd al Muttalib there remained but the privilege of caring +for the well Zemzem, and of giving its water for the refreshment of +pilgrims. Only two of his sons, except Abu Talib, who earns renown +chiefly as the guardian of Mahomet, attain anything like prominence. +Hamza was converted at the beginning of Mahomet's mission, and continued +his helper and warrior until he died in battle for Islam; Abu Lahab (the +flame) opposed Mahomet's teaching with a vehemence that earned him one of +the fiercest denunciations in the early, passionate Suras of the +Kuran: + + "Blasted be the hands of Abu Lahab; let himself perish; + His wealth and his gains shall avail him not; + Burned shall he be with the fiery flame, + His wife shall be laden with firewood-- + On her neck a rope of palm fibre." + +Mahomet, bereft a second time of one he loved and on whom he depended, +passed into the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. This was a man of no great +force of character, well-disposed and kindly, but of straitened means, +and lacking in the qualities that secure success. Later, he seems to have +attained a more important position, mainly, one would imagine, through +the lion courage and unfaltering faith in the Prophet of his son, the +mighty warrior Ali, of whom it is written, "Mahomet is the City of +Knowledge, and Ali is the Gate thereof." But although Abu Talib was +sufficiently strong to withstand the popular fury of the Kureisch against +Mahomet, and to protect him for a time on the grounds of kinship, he +never finally decided upon which side he would take his stand. Had he +been a far-seeing, imaginative man, able to calculate even a little the +force that had entered into Arabian polity, the history of the foundation +of Islam would have been continued, with Mecca as its base, and have +probably resolved itself into the war of two factions within the city, +wherein the new faith, being bound to the more powerful political party, +would have had a speedier conquest. + +With Abu Talib Mahomet spent the rest of his childhood and youth--quiet +years, except for a journey to Syria, and his insignificant part in the +war against the Hawazin, a desert tribe that engaged the Kureisch for +some time. In Abu Talib's house there was none of the ease that had +surrounded him with Abd al Muttalib. But Mahomet was naturally an +affectionate child, and was equally attached to his uncle as he had been +to his grandfather. + +Two years later Abu Talib set out on a mercantile journey, and was minded +to leave his small foster-child behind him, but Mahomet came to him +as he sat on his camel equipped for his journey, and clinging to him +passionately implored his uncle not to go without him. Abu Talib could +not resist his pleading, and so Mahomet accompanied him on that magical +journey through the desert, so glorious yet awesome to an imaginative +child, Bostra was the principal city of exchange for merchandise +circulating between Yemen, Northern Arabia, and the cities of Upper +Palestine, and Mahomet must thus have travelled on the caravan route +through the heart of Syria, past Jerash, Ammon, and the site of the +fated Cities of the Plain. In Syria, too, he first encountered the +Christian faith, and planted those remembrances that were to be revived +and strengthened upon his second journey through that wonderful land--in +religion, and in a lesser degree in polity, a law unto itself, forging +out its own history apart from the main stream of Christian life and +thought. + +Legends concerning this journey are rife, and all emphasise the influence +Christianity had upon his mind, and also the ready recognition of his +coming greatness by all those Christians who saw him. On the homeward +journey the monk Bahirah is fabled to have met the party and to have +bidden them to a feast. When he saw the child was not among them he was +wroth, and commanded his guests to bring "every man of the company." He +interrogated Mahomet and Abu Talib concerning the parentage of the boy, +and we have here the first traditional record of Mahomet's speech. + +"Ask what thou wilt," he said to Bahirah, "and I will make answer." + +So Bahirah questioned him as to the signs that had been vouchsafed him, +and looking between his shoulders found the seal of the prophetic office, +a mole covered with hair. Then Bahirah knew this was he who was foretold, +and counselled Abu Talib to take him to his native land, and to beware +[39] of the Jews, for he would one day attain high honour. At this time +Mahomet was little more than a child, but although few thoughts of God or +of human destiny can have crossed his mind, he retained a vivid +impression of the storied places through which he passed--Jerash, Ammon, +the valley of Hejr, and saw in imagination the mighty stream of the +Tigris, the ruinous cities, and Palmyra with its golden pillars fronting +the sun. The tribes which the caravan encountered were rich in legend and +myth, and their influence, together with the more subtle spell of the +desert vastness, wrought in him that fervour of spirit, a leaping, +troubled flame, which found mortal expression in the poetry of the early +part of the Kuran, where the vision of God's majesty compels the gazer +into speech that sweeps from his mind in a stream of fire: + + "By the Sun and his noonday brightness, + By the Moon when she followeth him, + By Day when it revealeth his glory, + By the night when it enshroudeth him, + By the Heaven and Him who built it, + By the Earth and Him who spread it forth, + By the Soul and Him who balanced it, + Breathed into its good, yea, and its evil-- + Verily man's lot is cast amid destruction + Save those who believe and deal justly, + And enjoin upon each other steadfastness and truth." + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +STRIFE AND MEDITATION + +"God hath treasuries beneath the throne, the keys whereof are the tongues +of poets."--MAHOMET. + +The Arabian calendar has always been in a distinctive manner subject to +the religion of the people. Before Mahomet imposed his faith upon Mecca, +there were four sacred months following each other, in which no war might +be waged. For four months, therefore, the tumultuous Arab spirit was +restrained from that most precious to it; pilgrimages to holy places were +undertaken, and there was a little leisure for the cultivation of art and +learning. + +The Greater Pilgrimage to Mecca, comprising the sevenfold circuit of the +Kaaba and the kissing of the sacred Black Stone, and culminating in a +procession to the holy places of Mina and Arafat, could only be +undertaken in Dzul-Higg, corresponding in the time of Mahomet to our +March. The month preceding, Dzul-Cada, was occupied in a kind of +preparation and rejoicing, which took the form of a fair at Ocatz, three +days' journey east of Mecca, when representatives of all the surrounding +nations used to assemble to exchange merchandise, to take part in the +games, to listen to the contests in poetry and rhetoric, and sometimes to +be roused into sinister excitement at the proximity of so many tribes +differing from them in nationality, and often in their religion and moral +code. + +Into this vast concourse came Mahomet, a lad of fifteen, eager to see, +hear, and know. He was present at the poetic contests, and caught from +the protagonists a reflection of their vivid, fitful eloquence, with its +ceaseless undercurrent of monotony. + +Romance, in so far as it represents the love of the strange, is a product +of the West. There is a rigidity in the Eastern mind that does not allow +of much change or seeking after new things. Wild and beautiful as this +poetry of Arabia is, its themes and their manner of treatment seldom +vary; as the desert is changeless in contour, filled with a brilliant +sameness, whirling at times into sombre fury and as suddenly subsiding, +so is the literature which it fostered. The monotony is expressed in a +reiteration of subject, barbarous to the intellect of the West; endurance +is born of that monotony, and strength, and the acquiescence in things as +they are, but not the discovery and development of ideas. Arabia does not +flash forth a new presentment of beauty, following the vivid apprehension +of some lovely form, but broods over it in a kind of slumbering +enthusiasm that mounts at last into a glory of metaphor, drowning the +subject in intensest light. The rival poets assembled to discover who +could turn the deftest phrases in satire of the opposing tribe, or extol +most eloquently the bravery and skill of his own people, the beauty and +modesty of their women, and from these wild outpourings Mahomet learnt to +clothe his thoughts in that splendid garment whose jewels illumine the +earlier part of the Kuran. + +Perhaps more important than the poetical contests was the religious +aspect of the fair at Ocatz. Here were gathered Jew, Christian, and +Arabian worshipper of many gods, in a vast hostile confusion. Mahomet was +familiar with Jewish cosmogony from his knowledge of their faith within +his own land, and he had heard dimly of the Christian principles during +his Syrian journey. But here, though both Jews and Christians claimed to +be worshippers of a single God, and although the Jews took for their +protector Abraham, the mighty founder of Mahomet's own city, yet there +was nothing between all the sects but fruitless strife. He saw the Jews +looking disdainfully upon the Christian dogs, and the Christians firmly +convinced that an irrevocable doom would shortly descend upon every Jew. +Both united in condemning to eternal wrath the idol-worshippers of the +Kaaba. It was a fiercely outspoken, remorseless enmity that he saw around +him, and the impotence born of distrust he saw also. + +It is not possible that any hint of his future mission enlightened him as +to the part he was to play in eliminating this conflict, but may it not +be that there was sown in his mind a seed of thought concerning the +uselessness of all this strife of religions, and the limitless power that +might accrue to his nation if it could but be persuaded to become united +in allegiance to the one true God? For even at that early stage Mahomet, +with the examples of Judaism and Christianity before him, must have +rejected, even if unthinkingly, the polytheistic idea. + +The poetic and warlike contests partook of the fiery earnestness +characteristic of the combatants, and it was seldom that the fair at +Ocatz passed by without some hostile demonstration. The greatest rivals +were the Kureisch and the Hawazin, a tribe dwelling between Mecca and +Taif. + +The Hawazin were tumultuous and unruly, and the Kureisch ever ready to +rouse their hostility by numerous small slights and taunts. We read +traditionally of an insult by some Kureisch youths towards a girl of the +Hawazin; this incident was closed peaceably, but some years later the +Kureisch (always the aggressive party because of their stronghold in +Mecca) committed an outrage that could not be passed over. As the fair +progressed, news came of the murder of a Hawazin, chief of a caravan, and +the seizure of his treasure by an ally of the Kureisch. That tribe, +knowing themselves at a disadvantage and fearing vengeance, fled back to +Mecca. The Hawazin pursued them remorselessly to the borders of the +sacred precincts, beyond which it was sacrilegious to wage war. Some +traditions say they followed their foe undaunted by fear of divine wrath, +and thus incurred a double disgrace of having fought in the sacred month +and within the sacred territory. But their pursuit cannot have lasted +long, because we find them challenging the Kureisch to battle at the same +time the next year. All Mahomet's uncles took part in the Sacrilegious +War that followed, and stirring times continued for Mahomet until a truce +was made after four years. He attended his uncles in warfare, and we hear +of his collecting the enemy's arrows that fell harmlessly into their +lines, in order to reinforce the Kureisch ammunition. + +A vivid picture by the hand of tradition is this period in Mahomet's +life, for he was between eighteen and nineteen, just at the age when +fighting would appeal to his wild, yet determined nature. He must have +learned resource and some of the stratagem of war from this attendance +upon warriors, if he did not become filled with much physical daring, +never one of his characteristics, nor, indeed, of any man of his nervous +temperament, and his imagination was certainly kindled by the spectacle +of the horrors and triumphs of strife. Several battles were fought with +varying success, until at the end of about five years' fighting both +sides were weary and a truce was called. It was found that twenty more +Hawazin had been killed than Kureisch, and according to the simple yet +equitable custom of the time, a like number of hostages was given to the +Hawazin that there might not be blood feud between them. + +The Kureisch passed as suddenly into peace as they had plunged into +strife. After the Sacrilegious War, a period of prosperity began for the +city of Mecca. It was wealthy enough to support its population, and trade +flourished with the marts of Bostra, Damascus, and Northern Syria. Its +political condition had never been very stable, and it seems to have +preserved during the Omeyyad ascendancy the same loose but roughly +effective organisation that it possessed under the Hashim branch. The +intellect that could see the potentialities of such a polity, once it +could be knit together by some common bond, had not arisen; but the scene +was prepared for his coming, and we have to think of the Mecca of that +time as offering untold suggestions for its religious, and later for its +political, salvation to a mind anxious to produce, but uncertain as yet +of its medium. + +Mahomet returned with Abu Talib, and passed with him into obscurity of a +poverty not too burdensome, and to a quiet, somewhat reflective +household. He lived under the spell of that tranquillity until he was +twenty-five, and of this time there is not much notice in the traditions, +but its contemplation is revealed to us in the earlier chapters of the +Kuran. At one time Mahomet acted as shepherd upon the Meccan hills--low, +rocky ranges covered with a dull scrub, and open to the limitless vaults +of sky. Here, whether under sun or stars, he learned that love and awe of +Nature that throbs through the early chapters of the Kuran like a deep +organ note of praise, dominated almost always with fear. + +"Consider the Heaven--with His Hand has He built it up, and given it its +vastness--and the Earth has He stretched out like a carpet, smoothly has +He spread it forth! Verily, God is the sole sustainer, possessed of +might, the unshaken! Fly then to God." + +Indeed, a haunting terror broods over all those souls who know the +desert, and this fear translated into action becomes fierce and terrible +deeds, and into the world of the spirit, angry dogmatic commands. It is +the result of the knowledge that to those who stray from the well-known +desert track comes death; equally certain is the destruction of the soul +for those who transgress against the law of the Ruler of the earth. The +God of the early Kuran is the spiritual representative of the forces +surrounding Mahomet, whether of Nature or government. The country around +Mecca conveys one central thought to one who meditates--the sense of +power, not the might of one kindly and familiar, but the unapproachable +sovereignty of one alien and remote, a dweller in far-off places, who +nevertheless fills the earth with his dominion. Mahomet passing by, as he +did, the gaieties and temptations of youth, had his mind alert for the +influences of this Nature, full of awful power, and for the contemplation +of life and the Universe around him. + +In common with many enthusiasts and men of action, certain sides of his +nature, especially the sexual and the practical, awoke late, and were +preceded by a reflective period wherein the poet held full sway. He never +desired the companionship of those of his own age and their rather +debased pleasures. There are legends of his being miraculously preserved +from the corruption of the youthful vices of Mecca, but the more probable +reason for his shunning them is that they made no appeal to his desires. +Some minds and tastes unfold by imperceptible degrees--flowers that +attain fruition by the shedding of their earlier petals. Mahomet was of +this nature. At this time the poet was paramount in his mental activities +He loved silence and solitude, so that he might use those imaginative and +contemplative gifts of which he felt himself to possess so large a share. + +It is not possible at this distance of time to attempt to estimate the +importance of this period in Mahomet's mental development. There are not +sufficient data to enable history to fill in any detailed sketch, but the +outlines may be safely indicated by the help of his later life and the +testimony of that commentary upon his feelings and actions, the Kuran. +His nature now seems to be in a pause of expectation, whose vain urgency +lasted until he became convinced of his prophetic mission. He must have +been at this time the seeker, whose youth, if not his very eagerness, +prevented his attaining what he sought. He was earnest and sincere, grave +beyond his years, and so gained from his fellows the respect always meted +out, in an essentially religion-loving community, to any who give promise +of future "inspiration," before its actuality has rendered him too +uncomfortable a citizen. He received from his comrades the title of +Al-Amin (the Faithful), and continued his life apart from his kind, +performing his duties well, but still remaining aloof from others as +one not of their world. From his sojourn in the mountains came the +inspiration that created the poetry of the Kuran and the reflective +interest in what he knew of his world and its religion; both embryos, but +especially the latter, germinated in his mind until they emerged into +full consciousness and became his fire of religious conviction, and his +zeal for the foundation and glory of Islam. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ADVENTURE AND SECURITY + +"Women are the twin-halves of men."--MAHOMET. + +Abu Talib's straitened circumstances never prevented him from treating +his foster-child with all the affection of which his kindly but somewhat +weak character was capable. But the cares of a growing family soon became +too much for his means, and when Mahomet was about twenty-five his uncle +suggested that he should embark upon a mercantile journey for some rich +trader in Mecca. We can imagine Mahomet, immersed in his solitudes, +responding reluctantly to a call that could not be evaded. He was not by +nature a trader, and the proposal was repugnant to him, except for his +desire to help his uncle, and more than this, his curiosity to revisit at +a more assimilative age the lands that he remembered dimly from childhood. + +Khadijah, a beautiful widow, daughter of an honoured house and the cousin +of Mahomet, rich and much sought after by the Kureisch, desired someone +to accompany her trading venture to Bostra, and hearing of the wisdom and +faithfulness of Mahomet, sent for him, asking if he would travel for her +into Syria and pursue her bargains in that northern city. She was willing +to reward him far more generously than most merchants. Mahomet, anxious +to requite his uncle in some way, and with his young imagination kindled +at the prospect of new scenes and ideas, prepared eagerly for the +journey. With one other man-servant, Meisara, he set out with the +merchandise to Bostra, traversing as a young man the same desert path he +had journeyed along in boyhood. + +He was of an age to appreciate all that this experience could teach, in +the regions both of Nature and religion. The lonely desert only increased +his pervading sense of the mystery lying beyond his immediate knowledge, +and its vastness confirmed his vague belief in some kind of a power who +alone controlled so mighty a creation as the abounding spaces around him, +and the "star-bespangled" heaven above. On this journey, too, he first +saw with conscious eyes the desert storms in all the splendour and terror +of their fury, and caught the significance of those sudden squalls that +urge the waters of the upper Syrian lakes into a tumult of destruction. +Frequent allusions to sea and lake storms are to be found in the earlier +part of the Kuran: "When the seas shall be commingled, when the seas +shall boil, then shall man tremble before his creator." "By the swollen +sea, verily a chastisement from thy Lord is imminent." In every natural +manifestation that struck Mahomet's imagination in these early days, God +appeared to him as the sovereign of power, as terrible and as remote as +He was in the lightnings on Sinai. What wonder, then, that when the call +came to him to take up his mission it became a command to "arise and +warn"? + +The chroniclers would have us believe that his contact with Christianity +was more important than his communion with Nature. Most of the legends +surrounding his relations with Christian Syria may be safely accepted as +later additions, but it is certain that he paid some attention to the +religion of those people through whose country he passed. A Syrian monk +is said to have seen Mahomet sitting beneath a tree, and to have hailed +him as a prophet; there is even a traditional account of an interview +with Nestorius, but this must be set aside at once as pure fiction. + +The kernel of these legends seems to be the desire to show that Mahomet +had studied Christianity, and was not imposing a new religion without +having considered the potentialities of those already existing. However +that may be, Christianity certainly interested Mahomet, and must have +influenced him towards the monotheistic idea. The Arabians themselves +were not entirely ignorant of it; they witnessed the worship of one God +by the Jews and Christians on the borders of their territory, and +although it is a very debatable point how far the idea of one God had +progressed in Arabia when Mahomet began his mission, it may fairly be +accepted that dissatisfaction with the old tribal gods was not wanting. +Mahomet saw the countries through which he passed in a state of religious +flux, and heard around him diverse creeds, detecting doubtless an +undercurrent of unrest and a desire for some religion of more compelling +power. + +With the single slave he reached Bostra in safety with the merchandise, +and having concluded his barter very successfully, and retaining in his +mind many impressions of that crowded city, returned to Mecca by the same +desert route. Meisara, the slave, relates (in what is doubtless a later +addition) of the fierce noonday heat that beset the travellers, and how, +when Mahomet was almost exhausted, two angels sat on his camel and +protected him with their wings. When they reached Mecca, Khadijah sold +the merchandise and found her wealth doubled, so careful had Mahomet been +to ensure the prosperity of his client, and before long love grew up in +her heart for this tall, grave youth, who was faithful in small things as +well as in great. + +Khadijah had been much sought after by the men of Mecca, both for her +riches and for her beauty, but she had preferred to remain independent, +and continued her orderly life among her maidens, attending to her +household, and finding enough occupation in the supervision of her many +mercantile ventures. She was about forty, fair of countenance, and gifted +with a rich nature, whose leading qualities were affection and sympathy. +She seems to have been pre-eminently one of those receptive women who are +good to consult for the clarification of ideas. Her intelligence was +quick to grasp another's thought, if she did not originate thought within +herself. She was a woman fitted to be the helper and guide of such a man +as Mahomet, eager, impulsive, prone to swiftly alternating extremes of +depression and elation. A subtle mental attraction drew them together, +and Khadijah divined intuitively the power lying within the mind of this +youth and also his need of her, both mentally and materially, to enable +him to realise his whole self. Therefore as she was the first to awaken +to her desire for him, the first advances come from her. + +She sent her sister to Mahomet to induce him to change his mind upon the +subject of marriage, and when he found that the rich and gracious +Khadijah offered him her hand, he could not believe his good fortune, and +assured the sister that he was eager to make her his wife. The alliance, +in spite of its personal suitability, was far from being advantageous to +Khadijah from a worldly point of view, and the traditions of how her +father's consent was obtained have all the savour of contemporary +evidence. + +The father was bidden to a feast, and there plied right royally with +wine. When his reason returned he asked the meaning of the great spread +of viands, the canopy, and the chapleted heads of the guests. Thereupon +he was told it was the marriage-feast of Mahomet and Khadijah, and his +wrath and amazement were great, for had he not by his presence given +sanction to the nuptials? The incident throws some light upon the +marriage laws current at the time. Khadijah, though forty and a widow, +was still under the guardianship of her father, having passed to him +after the death of her husband, and his consent was needed before she +married again. + +The marriage contracted by mutual desire was followed by a time of leisure +and happiness, which Mahomet remembered all his life. Never did any man +feel his marriage gift (in Mahomet's case twenty young camels) more fitly +given than the youth whom Khudijah rescued from poverty, and to whom she +gave the boon of her companionship and counsel. The marriage was fruitful; +two sons were born, the eldest Kasim, wherefore Mahomet received the title +of Abu-el-Kasim, the father of Kasim, but both these died in infancy. +There were also four daughters born to Mahomet--Zeineb, Rockeya, Umm +Kolthum, and Fatima. These were important later on for the marriages they +contracted with Mahomet's supporters, and indeed his whole position was +considerably solidified by the alliances between his daughters and his +chief adherents. + +Ten years passed thus in prosperity and study. Mahomet was no longer +obscure but the chief of a wealthy house, revered for his piety, and +looked upon already as one of those "to whom God whispers in the ear." +His character now exhibited more than ever the marks of the poet and +seer; the time was at hand when all the subdued enthusiasm of his mind +was to break forth in the opening Suras of the Kuran. The inspiration had +not yet descended upon him, but it was imminent, and the shadow of its +stern requirements was about him as he attended to his work of +supervising Khadijah's wealth or took part in the religious life of +Mecca. + +In A.D. 605, when Mahomet was thirty-five years old, the chief men of +Mecca decided to rebuild the Kaaba. The story of its rebuilding is +perhaps the most interesting of the many strange, naive tales of this +adventurous city. Valley floods had shattered the house of the gods. It +was roofless, and so insecure that its treasury had already been rifled +by blasphemous men. It stood only as high as the stature of a man, and +was made simply of stones laid one above the other. Rebuilding was +absolutely necessary, but materials were needed before the work could +begin, and this delayed the Kureisch until chance provided them with +means of accomplishing their design. A Grecian ship had been driven in a +Red Sea storm upon the coast near Mecca and was rapidly being broken up. +When the Kureisch heard of it, they set out in a body to the seashore and +took away the wood of the ship to build a roof for the Kaaba. It is a +significant fact that tradition puts a Greek carpenter in Mecca who was +able to advise them as to the construction. The Meccans themselves were +not sufficiently skilled in the art of building. + +But now a great difficulty awaited them. Who was to undertake the +responsibility of demolishing so holy a place, even if it were only that +it might be rebuilt more fittingly? Many legends cluster round the +demolition. It would seem that the gods only understood gradually that a +complete destruction of the Kaaba was not intended. Their opposition was +at first implacable. The loosened stones flew back into their places, and +finally none could be induced to make the attempt to pull down the Kaaba. +There was a pause in the work, during which no one dared venture near the +temple, then Al-Welid, being a bold and god-fearing spirit, took an axe, +and crying: + +"I will make a beginning, let no evil ensue, O Lord!" he began to +dislodge the stones. + +Then the rest of the Kureisch rather cravenly waited until the next day, +but seeing that no calamity had befallen Al-Welid, they were ready to +continue the work. The rebuilding prospered until they came to a point +where the Black Stone must be embedded in the eastern wall. + +At this juncture a vehement dispute arose among the Kureisch as to who +was to have the honour of depositing the Black Stone in its place. They +wrangled for days, and finally decided to appeal to Mahomet, who had a +reputation for wisdom and resource. Mahomet, after carefully considering +the question, ordered a large cloth to be brought, and commanded the +representatives of the four chief Meccan houses to hold each a corner. +Then he deposited the Black Stone in the centre of it, and in this +manner, with the help of every party in the quarrel, the sacred object +was raised to the proper height. When this was done Mahomet conducted the +Black Stone to its niche in the wall with his own hand. + +The building of the Kaaba was ultimately completed, and a great +festival was held in honour. Many hymns of praise were sung at the +accomplishment of so difficult and important a work. The Kaaba has +remained substantially the same as it was when it was first rebuilt. It +is a small place of no architectural pretensions, merely a square with no +windows, and a tiny door raised from the ground, by which the Faithful, +duly prepared, are allowed to enter upon rare occasions. The sacred Black +Stone lies embedded about three feet from the ground in the eastern wall, +at first a dark greenish stone of volcanic or aerolitic origin, now worn +black and polished by thousands of kisses. There is little in the Kaaba +to account for the reverence bestowed upon it, and its insignificance +bears witness to the Eastern capacity for worshipping the idea for which +its symbols stand. This was the sacred temple of Abraham and Ishmael, +therefore its exterior mattered little. + +Mahomet's share in the construction of the Kaaba brought him further +honour among the Kureisch. From this time until the beginning of his +mission he lived a quiet, easeful domestic life, interrupted only by +mental storms and depressions. He found leisure to meditate and observe, +and of this necessarily uneventful time there is little or no mention in +the histories. He certainly gained an opportunity of examining somewhat +closely the tenets of Christianity by the entrance into his household of +Zeid, a Christian slave, cultured and well-informed as to the doctrines +of his religion, and his presence doubtless influenced Mahomet in the +spiritual battles he encountered at a time when as yet he was certain +neither of God nor himself. Besides Zeid another important personage +entered Mahomet's household, Ali, son of Abu Talib, and future convert +and pride of Islam, "the lion of the Faith." The adoption of Ali was +Mahomet's small recompense to Abu Talib for his care of him, and the +advantages there from to Islam were inestimable. Ali was no statesman, +but he was an indomitable fighter, with whose aid Mahomet founded his +religion of the sword. + +In such quiet manner Mahomet passed the years immediately preceding the +discovery of his mission, and as religious doubts and fears alternated in +him with fervour and hopefulness, so signs were not wanting of a spirit +of inquiry found abroad in Arabia, discontented with the old religions, +seeking for a clearer enthusiasm and withheld from its goal. Legends +gather round the figures of four inquirers who are reputed to have come +to Mahomet for enlightenment, and the story is but the primitive device +of rendering concrete and material all those vague stirrings of the +communal spirit towards a more convincing conception of the world-- +legends that embody ideas in personalities, mainly because their language +has no words for the expression of the abstract, and also that, clothed +in living garments, they may capture the hearts of men. The time for the +coming of a prophet and a teacher could not be long delayed, and a +foreboding of his imperious destiny, dark with war and aflame with God's +judgment, had already begun to steal across Mahomet's hesitant soul. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +INSPIRATION + + + "Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created, + Yan, who hath made man from Clots of Blood, + Recite thou, for thy Lord, he is most bounteous." + _The Kuran_. + +The mental growth by which Mahomet attained the capacity of Prophet and +ruler will always have spread about it a misty veil, wherein strange +shapes and awful visions are dimly discerned. Did his soul face the +blankness that baffles and entices the human spirit with any convictions, +the gradual products of thought and experience, or was it with an +unmeaning chaos within him that he stumbled into faith and evolved his +own creed? His knowledge of Christianity and Judaism undoubtedly helped +to foster in him his central idea of the indivisibility of God. But how +was this faith wrought out into his conception of himself as the Prophet +of his people? + +It is impossible for any decision to be made as to the mainspring of his +beliefs, except in the light of his character and development of mind. He +was passionate and yet practical, holding within himself the elements of +seer and statesman, prophet and law-giver, as yet doubtful of the voice +which inspired him, but spurred on in his quest for the truth by an +intensity of spirit that carried him forward resistlessly as soon as +conviction came to him. The man who imposed his dauntless determination +upon a whole people, who founded a system of religious and social laws, +who moved armies to fight primarily for an idea, could not lightly gain +is right to exhort and control. His nature is almost cataclysmic, and +once filled with the fire of the Lord, he bursts forth among his +fellow-men "with the right hand striking," to use his own vivid metaphor, +but before this evidence of power has come an agonising period of doubt. + +Traces of his mental turmoil are seen abundantly in his physical nature. +We read of his exhaustion after the inspiration comes, and of "the +terrific Suras" that took their toll of his vitality afterwards. The +mission imposed upon him was no light burden, and demanded of him +strength both of body and mind. The successive stages by which he became +convinced of his divine call are only detailed in the histories with the +concurrence of the supernatural; he sees material visions and dreams +fervent dreams. With the ecstacy of Heaven about him, according to +legend, he holds converse with the angel Gabriel, arch-messenger of God, +and the divine injunctions must be translated into mental enthusiasms +before the true evolution of Mahomet's mind can be dimly conceived. + +When he was forty he sought solitude more constantly than formerly. There +were deeps in his own nature of which he was only now becoming aware. A +restlessness of mind beset him, and continually he retired to a cave at +the base of Mount Hira, where he could meditate undisturbed. This +mountain, hallowed for ever by the followers of Islam, is now called +somewhat ironically, considering its natural barrenness, Jebel Nur, the +mountain of Light. Mahomet was of a nervous temperament, the nature that +suffers more intensely through its imaginative foresight than in actual +experience. He was of those who see keenly and feel towards their +beliefs. His faith in God produced none of that self-abnegating +rapture to be found in the devotions of many early Christians; it was a +personal passion, sweeping up his whole nature within its folds, and +rousing the enfolded not to meditation but to instant action. + +Through all the legendary accounts there beats that excitement that tells +of a mind wrought to the highest pitch, afire with visions, alive with +desire. Then, when his fervour attained its zenith, Gabriel came to him +in sleep with a silken cloth in his hand covered with writing and said to +Mahomet: + +"Read!" + +"I cannot read." + +Then the angel wrapped the cloth about him and once more commanded, +"Read!" + +Again came the answer, "I cannot read," and again the angel covered him, +still repeating, "Read!" + +Then his mouth was opened and he read the first sura of the Kuran: +"Recite thou in the name of thy Lord who created thee," and when he awoke +it seemed to him that these words were graven upon his heart. + +Mahomet went immediately up into the mountain, and there Gabriel appeared +to him waking and said: + +"Thou art God's Prophet, and I am Gabriel." + +The archangel vanished, but Mahomet remained rooted to the spot, until +Khadijah's messengers found him and brought him to her. The simple story +of Mahomet's call to the prophetic office from the lips of the old +chroniclers is peculiarly fragrant, but it leaves us in considerable +doubt as to the real means by which he attained his faith and was +emboldened to preach to his people. It is certain that he had no idea at +the time when he received his inspiration, of the ultimate political role +in store for him. He was now simply the man who warned the people of +their sins, and who insisted upon the sovereignty of one God. Very little +argument is ever used by Mahomet to spread his faith. He spoke a plain +message, and those who disregarded it were infallibly doomed. He saw +himself in the forefront as the man who knew God, and strove to win his +countrymen to right ways of life; he did not see himself at the head of +earthly armies, controlling the nucleus of a mighty and united Arabia, +and until his flight from Mecca to Medina he regarded himself merely as a +religious teacher, the political side of his mission growing out of the +exigencies of circumstance, almost without his own volition. + +His exaltation upon the mountain of light soon faded into uncertainty and +fearfulness before the influence of the world's harsh wisdom. Mahomet +entered upon a period of hesitation and dreariness, doubtful of himself, +of his vision, and of the divine favour. His soul voyaged on dark and +troubled seas and gazed into abysmal spaces. At one time he would receive +the light of the seven Heavens within his mind, and feel upon him the +fervour of the Hebrew prophets of old, and again he would call in vain +upon God, and, and seeking, would be flung back upon a darkness of doubt +more terrible than the lightnings of divine wrath. + +In all those exaltations and glooms Khadijah had part; she comforted his +distress and shared his elation until the sorrowful period of the +Fattrah, the pause in the revelation, was past. The period is variously +estimated by the chroniclers, and there are many nebulous and spurious +legends attaching to it, but whatever its length it seems certain that +Mahomet gained within it a fuller knowledge of Jewish and Christian +tenets, probably through Zeid, the Christian slave in his household, and +most accounts agree that the Fattrah was ended by the revelation of the +sura entitled "The Enwrapped," the mandate of the angel Gabriel: + + "O thou enwrapped in thy mantle, + Arise and warn!" + +The explanation of the term "enwrapped in thy mantle" shows the +prevailing belief in good and evil spirits characteristic of Mahomet's +time. Wandering on the mountain, he saw in a vision the angel Gabriel +seated on a throne between heaven and earth, and afraid before so much +glory, ran to Khadijah, beseeching her to cover him with his mantle that +the evil spirits whom he felt so near him might be avoided. Thereupon +Gabriel came down to earth and revealed the Sura of Admonition. This +supernatural command would appear to be the translation into the +imaginative world of the peace of mind that descended upon Mahomet, and +the conviction as to the reality of his inspiration following on a time +of despair. + +The command fell to one who was peculiarly fitted by nature and +circumstance to obey it effectively. To Mahomet, who knew somewhat the +chaos of religions around him--Pagan, Jewish, and Christian struggling +together in unholy strife--the conception of God's unity, once it +attained the strength of a conviction, necessarily resolved itself into +an admonitory mission. "There is no God but God," therefore all who +believe otherwise have incurred His wrath; hasten then to warn men of +their sins. So his conviction passed out of the region of thought into +action and received upon it the stamp of time and place, becoming thereby +inevitably more circumscribed and intense. + +From now onwards the course of Mahomet's life is rendered indisputably +plainer by our possession of that famous and much-maligned document, the +Kuran, virtually a record of his inspired sayings as remembered and +written down by his immediate successors. Apart from its intrinsic value +as the universally recognised vehicle of the Islamic creed, it is of +immense importance as a commentary upon Mahomet's career. When allowance +has been made for its numberless contradictions and repetitions, it still +remains the best means of tracing Mahomet's mental development, as well +as the course of his religious and political dominance. Although the +original document was compiled regardless of chronology, expert +scholarship has succeeded in determining the order of most of it +contents, and if we cannot say the precise sequence of every sura, at +least we can classify each as belonging to one of the two great periods, +the Meccan and Medinan, and may even distinguish with comparative +accuracy three divisions within the former. + +After Mahomet's mandate to preach and warn his fellow-men of their peril, +the suras continue intermittently throughout his life. Those of the first +period, when his mission was hardly accepted outside his family, bear +upon them the stamp of a fiery nature, obsessed with its one idea; but +behind the wild words lies a store of energy as yet undiscovered, which +will find no fulfilment but in action. That zeal for an idea which caused +the Kuran to be, expressed itself at first in words alone, but later was +translated into political action, and it is the emptying of this vitality +from his words into his works that is responsible for the contrasting +prose of the later suras. + +But no lack of poetic fire is discernible in the suras immediately +following his call to the prophetic office, and from them much may be +gathered as to the depth and intensity of his faith. They are almost +strident with feeling; his sentences fall like blows upon an anvil, crude +in their emphasis, and so swiftly uttered forth from the flame of his +zeal, that they glow with reflected glory: + + "Say, he is God alone, + God the Eternal, + He begetteth not and is not begotten, + There is none like to Him." + + "Verily, we have caused It (the Kuran) to descend on the night of + power, + And who shall teach thee what the Night of Power is? + The Night of Power excelleth a thousand months, + Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of the Lord." + + "By the snorting Chargers, + By those that breathe forth sparks of fire + And those that rush to the attack at morn! + And stir therein the dust aloft, + Cleaving their midmost passage through a host! + Truly man is to his Lord ungrateful, + And of this is himself a witness; + And truly he is covetous in love of this world's good. + Ah, knoweth he not, that when what lies in the grave shall be bared + And that brought forth that is in men's breasts, + Verily in that day shall the Lord be made wise concerning them?" + +After the first fire of prophetic zeal had illuminated him, Mahomet +devoted himself to the conversion of his own household and family. +Khadijah was the first convert, as might have been expected from the +close interdependence of their minds. She had become initiated into his +prophetship almost equally with her husband, and it was her courage and +firm trust in his inspiration that had sustained him during the terrible +period of negation. Zeid, the Christian slave who had helped to mould +Mahomet's thought by his knowledge of Christian doctrine, was his next +convert, but both of these were eclipsed by the devotion to Mahomet's +gospel of Ali, the future warrior, son of Abu Talib, and one destined to +play a foremost part in the foundation of Islam. + +Mahomet's gospel then penetrated beyond the confines of his household +with the conversion of his friend Abu Bekr, a successful merchant living +in the same quarter of the town as the Prophet. Abu Bekr, whose honesty +gained him the title of Al-Siddick (the true), and Ali were by far the +most important of Mahomet's "companions." They helped to rule Islam +during Mahomet's lifetime, and after his death took successive charge of +its fortunes. Ali was too young at this time to manifest his qualities as +warrior and ruler, but Abu Bekr was of middle age, and his nature +remained substantially the same as at the inception of Islam. He was of +short stature, with deep-seated eyes and a thoughtful, somewhat undecided +mouth, by nature he was shrewd and intelligent, but possessed little of +that original genius necessary to statesmanship in troublous times. His +mild, sympathetic character endured him to his fellow-men, and his calm +reasonableness earned the gratitude of all who confided in him. He was +never ruled by impulse, and of the fire burning almost indestructibly +within Mahomet he knew nothing. + +It is strange to consider what agency brought these two dissimilar souls +into such close relationship. For the rest of his life Mahomet found a +never-failing friend in Abu Bekr, and the attachment between the two, +apart from their common fount of zeal for Islam, must have been such as +is inspired by those of contrasting nature for each other. Mahomet saw a +kindly, almost commonplace man, in whose sweet sanity his troubled soul +could find a little peace. He was burdened at times with over-resolve +that ate into his mind like acid. In Abu Bekr he could find the soothing +influence he so often needed, and after the death of Khadijah this friend +might be said in a measure to take her place. Abu Bekr, on the other +hand, revered his leader as a man of finer, subtler stuff than himself, +more alive to the virtue of speed, filled with a greater daring and a +profounder impulse than he was. Mahomet, in common with most men meriting +the title of great, had a capacity for lifelong friendships as well as +the power of inspiring belief and devotion in others. + +Through Abu Bekr five converts were gained for the new religion, of whom +Othman is the most important. His part in the establishment of the +Islamic dominion was no slight one, but at the present he remains simply +one of the early enthusiastic converts to Mahomet's evangel, while he +enwound himself into the fortunes of his teacher by marrying Rockeya, one +of Mahomet's daughters. + +The conversion to Islam proceeded slowly but surely among the Kureisch; +several slaves were won over, but at the end of four years only forty +converts had been made, among whom, however, was Bilal, a slave, who +later became the first Muaddzin, or summoner to prayer. During these four +years the suras of the first Meccan period were revealed, and enough may +be gathered from them to judge both the limits of Mahomet's preaching and +the attitude towards it on the part of the Kureisch. + +Mahomet was content at this time to emphasise in eloquent, almost +incoherent words his central theme--the unity of God. He calls upon the +people to believe, and warns them of their fate if they refuse. The suras +indicate the attitude of indifference borne by the Kureisch towards +Mahomet's mission at its inception. Wherever there are denunciatory +suras, they are either for the chastisement of unbelievers or, as in Sura +cxi, in revenge for the refusal of his relations to believe in his +inspiration. Prophecies of bliss in store for the Faithful are frequent, +and of the corresponding woe for Unbelievers. The whole is permeated with +the spirit of the poet and visionary, a poetry tumultuous but strong, a +vision lurid but inspiring. + +The little band of converts under guidance of this fierce rhetoric became +united and strengthened in its faith, prepared to defend it, and to +spread it as far as possible throughout their kindred. + +About three years after Mahomet's receipt of his mission, in A.D. 618, an +important change came over the attitude of the Kureisch towards Islam. +Hitherto they had jeered or remained indifferent. Mahomet's uncles, Abu +Talib and Abu Lahab, represented the two poles of Kureischite feeling. +Abu Talib remained untouched by the new faith, but his kindly nature did +not allow him to adopt any severe measures for its repression, and, +moreover, Mahomet was of his kindred, and he was willing to afford him +protection in case of need. Abu Lahab jeered openly, and manifested his +scorn by definite speeches. But as the bands of converts grew, the +Kureisch found it undesirable to maintain their indifferent attitude. +They began to persecute, first refusing to allow the Believers to meet, +and then seeking them out individually to endeavour to torture them into +recanting. + +From this time dates the creation of one of the foremost principles in +the creed of the Prophet. If a Believer is in danger of torture, he may +dissemble his faith to save himself from infamy and death. Though in +striking contrast to the Christian tenets, this exhortation was neither +cowardly nor imprudent. In his eyes reckless courting of death would not +avail the propagation of Islam, and though a man might die to some good +service on the battlefield, smiting his enemies, no wise end could be +served when his death would merely gratify the lust of his murderers. + +The persecution continued in spite of Mahomet's attempts to withstand it, +until he was forced to go to Abu Talib for protection. This was accorded +willingly, on account of kindred ties, but there can have been little +cordiality between uncle and nephew on the subject, for Mahomet was more +than ever determined upon the maintenance and growth of his principles. +Still the conversions to Islam continued, and the persecution of its +adherents, until there came to the Kureisch a sharp intimation that this +new sect arisen in their midst was not an ephemeral affair of a few +weeks, but a prolonged endeavour to pursue the ideal of a single God. In +615 the first company of Muslim converts broke from the confined +religious area of Mecca and journeyed into Abyssinia, where they could +practice their faith in peace. This move convinced the Kureisch of the +sincerity of their opponents, for they were almost strong enough to merit +the name, and compelled them to believe a little in the force lying +behind this strange manifestation of religious zeal in their midst. + +Mahomet does not at this time seem to have been definitely ranged against +the Kureisch. He was still on negotiable terms with them, and they were a +little distrustful of his capacity and ignorant of his power. The stages +by which he developed from a discredited citizen, obsessed by one idea, +into a political opponent worthy of their best steel and bravest men was +necessarily gradual, and indeed the Prophet himself had no knowledge of +the role marked out for him by his own personality and the destinies +of Arabia. The cause of Islam stood as yet in parlous condition, +half-formulated, unwieldy, awaiting the moulding hand of persecution to +develop it into a political and social system. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +SEVERANCE + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third idol beside? +These are the exalted females, and truly their intercession is to be +expected."--_The Kuran_ (last two lines excised later by Mahomet). + +The little band of converts, driven by the Kureisch to seek peace and +freedom in Abyssinia, remained for two years in their country of refuge, +but in 615 returned to Mecca for reasons which have never been fully +explained, though it is easy, in the light of future events, to discover +the motive behind such a move. + +Mahomet was not yet convinced of the impossibility of compromise, neither +was the powerful party among the Kureisch utterly indifferent to +Mahomet's ancestry as a member of the house of Hashim, and his position +as the husband of Khadijah. He had been respected among men for his +uprightness before he affronted their prejudices by scorning their gods. +His power was daily becoming a source of strife and faction within the +city, and the Kureisch were not averse from attempting to come to terms. +Mahomet for his part, as far as the scanty evidence of history unfolds +his state of mind, seems to have been almost desperately anxious to +effect an understanding with the Kureisch. His cause still journeyed by +perilous ways, and at the time hopes of his future achievement were +apparently dependent upon the goodwill of the dominant Meccan party. + +The story runs that the chief men of Mecca were discussing within the +Kaaba the affairs of the city. Mahomet came to them and recited Sura +liii--The Star--a fulgent psalm in praise of God and heavenly joys. When +he came to the verses: + +"Do you see Al-Lat and Al-Ozza and Manat the third beside," he inserted: + +"Verily these are the exalted females, and truly their intercession may +be expected." + +They Kureisch were rejoiced at this homage to their deities, and +speedily welcomed Mahomet's change of front; but he, disquieted, +returned moodily to his house, where Gabriel appeared to him in +stern rebuke: + +"Thou hast repeated before the people words I never gave to thee." + +And Mahomet, whether conscience-stricken by his lapse from the Muslim +faith, or convinced that compromise with the Kureisch was impossible and +also undesirable in face of his growing power, quickly repudiated the +whole affair, which had been unquestionably born of impulse, or possibly +an adventurous mood that prompted him "to see what would happen" if he +ministered to the prejudices of the Kureisch. It must be acknowledged, +however, that repentance for his homage to heathen idols was the +mainspring of his recantation, for the period immediately following was +one of hardship and persecution for him, and his transitory lapse injured +his cause appreciably with the brethren of his faith. The attempt was +honourably made, and only failed by Mahomet's swift realisation that his +acknowledgment of Lat and Ozza as spirits sanctioned the worship of their +images by his fellow-citizens, and this his stern monotheism could not +for a moment entertain. + +The Muslim, with numbers that increased very slowly, were harried afresh +by the Kureisch as soon as Mahomet had withdrawn his concessions, and +most of them were forced at length to return to Abyssinia. His pathetic +little band, wandering from city to city, doubtful of ever attaining +security and uncertain of its ultimate destiny, was the prototype in its +vagrancy of that larger and confident band which cast aside its +traditions and the city of its birth, headed by a spirit heroic in +disaster and supreme in faith, to find its goal in the foundation of a +new order for Arabia. Chief among them were Othman and Rockeya, and these +were the only ones who returned to Mecca, for the rest remained in +Abyssinia until after the migration to Medina, in fact until after +Mahomet had carried out the expedition to Kheibar. + +Left without any supporters within the city, Mahomet was exposed to all +the vituperations and insults which his recent refusal of compromise had +brought him. The Kureisch now directed all their energies towards +persuading Abu Talib to repudiate his nephew. If once this could be +effected, the Kureisch would have a free hand to pursue their desire to +exterminate the Muslim and to overthrow the Prophet's power. He was +immune from bodily attack, chiefly because of Abu Talib's position in the +city as nominal head of the house of Hashim. No Kureisch could run the +risk of alienating so great a number of fellow-citizens, and a personal +attack upon Abu Talib's nephew could but have that result. + +Dark and stormy as the Muslim destiny appeared during this period of +transition from religious to political conceptions, nevertheless it was +now enriched by the conversion of two of the most influential characters +upon its later fortunes--Hamza and Omar. Many stories have been woven +round their discovery of the truth of Islam, and by reading between the +lines later commentators may discover the forces at work to induce +them to take this dubious step. It is beyond question that Mahomet's +personality was the moving factor in the conversion of each, for each +relates an incident which serves peculiarly to illustrate the Prophet's +magnetism. + +Hamza, "the lion of God," and a son of Abd-al-Muttalib in his old age, +was accosted by a slave girl as he passed on his way through the city +She told him breathlessly that she had seen "the Lord Mahomet" insulted +and reviled by Abu Jahl, and being unprotected and alone, he could only +suffer in silence. Hamza listened to her story with indignation, and +determined to revenge the insult to his uncle and foster-brother, for by +the ties of kinship they were one. In the Kaaba he publicly declared his +allegiance to Islam, and revenged upon Abu Jahl the injuries he had +inflicted upon his kinsman. Hamza never repented of his championship of +Mahomet. The adventurous fortunes of Islam satisfied his warrior-spirit, +and under Mahomet's guidance he helped to control and direct its military +zeal, until it had perforce established its religion through the sword. +Mahomet's personal magnetism had drawn him irresistibly to the religion +he upheld so steadfastly, and in the face of revilement and danger. + +Omar was Mahomet's bitterest enemy, and had proved his ability by his +persistent opposition to Islam. He was feared by all the company of +religionists that had taken up their precarious quarters near Mahomet. He +was visiting the house of his sister Fatima when he heard murmurs of +someone reciting. He inquired what it was, and learned with anger that it +was the Sacred Book of the abhorred Muslim sect. His sister and Zeid, her +husband, tremblingly confessed their adherence to Islam, and awaited in +terror the probable result. Omar was about to fall upon Zeid, but his +wife interposed and received the blow herself. At the sight of his +sister's blood Omar paused and then asked for the volume, so that he +might judge the message for himself, for he was a writer of no mean +standing. Fatima insisted that he should first perform ablutions, so that +his touch might not defile the Sacred Book. + +Then Omar took it and read it, and the strength and beauty of it smote +him. He felt upon him the insistence of a divine command, and straightway +asked to be led before Mahomet that he might unburden his conviction to +him. He girt on his sword and came to the Prophet's house. As he rapped +upon the door a Companion of Mahomet's looked through the lattice, and at +the sight of Omar with buckled sword fled in despair to his master. But +Mahomet replied: + + +"Let him enter; if he bring good tidings we will reward him; if he bring +bad news, we will smite him, yea, with his own sword." + +So the door was opened and Mahomet advanced, asking what was his mission. +Omar answered: + +"O Prophet of God, I am come to confess that I believe in Allah and in +his Prophet." + +"Allah Akbar!" (God is great) replied Mahomet gravely, and all the +household knew that Omar had become one of themselves. + +The conversion of Omar was infinitely important to Islam, and the +adherence of this impetuous and dauntless mind was directly due to the +strength and steadfastness of Mahomet's faith in himself and his message. +Omar was an influential personage among the Kureisch, quick-tempered, but +keen as steel, and rejoicing in strife; he stands out among the many +warrior-souls to whom Islam gave the opportunity of tasting in its +fullness "the splendour of spears." Mahomet had indeed gathered around +him a group of men who were remarkable for their character and influence +upon Islam. Ali, the warrior par excellence, Abu Bekr, statesman and +counsellor, Othman the soldier, Hamza and Omar, are not merely blind +followers, but forceful personalities, contributing each in his own +manner towards those assets of endurance, leadership, and unshaken faith +which ensured the continuance of the Medinan colony and its ultimate +victory over the Kureisch. + +Omar's conversion did not have the effect of softening the Kureischite +fury. On the contrary, the event seems to have stimulated them to +further persecution, as if they had some foreshadowings of their waning +power, and had determined with a desperate energy to quell for ever, if +it might be, this discord in their midst. Their next step was to try an +introduce the political element into this conflict of faiths by putting a +ban upon the house of Hashim and confining it to Abu Talib's quarter of +Sheb. This act, instigated mainly by Abu Jahl, who now becomes prominent +as the most terrible of Mahomet's persecutors, had a very notable effect +upon his position as well as upon the qualities of the cause for which +his party was contending. + +For the first time the political aspect of Islam obtrudes itself. +Mahomet's followers are now not only the opponents of the Kureischite +faith and the enemies of their idols, but they are also their political +foes, and have drawn the whole house of Hashim into faction against the +ruling power--the Omeyyad house. Moreover, Mahomet and his companions, +now shut up and almost besieged within a definite quarter of the city, +were precluded from all attempts to spread their faith. Mahomet had +secured his little company of followers, but cut off from the rest of the +city his cause remained stationary, neither gaining nor losing adherents, +during the years 617-619. + +The suras of this period show some of the discouragement he felt at the +time, but through them all beats a note of endurance and confidence: +God is continually behind his cause, therefore that cause will prevail +against all obstacles. Mahomet has become more familiar with the Jewish +Scriptures, and many of the suras are recapitulations of the lives of +Jewish heroes, especial preference being given to Abraham as mythical +founder of his race, and to Lot as the typical example of one righteous +man sent to warn the iniquitous. The style has certainly matured, and in +so doing has lost much of its primal fire. It is still stirring and +vibrant, but passages of almost bald narrative are interposed, shadows +upon the shining floor of his original zeal. He has become increasingly +reiterative, too,--a quality easily attained by those who have but +one message, in this case a message of warning and exhortation, and +are feverishly anxious to brand its urgency upon the hearts of their +fellow-men. + + +Confined within so limited an area, his energy recoiled upon itself, and +the despondency that so easily besets men of action when that necessity +is denied them, overcame his mind. Only at the yearly pilgrimage was he +able to gain a hearing from his Meccan brethren, and then, says the +chronicler bitterly, "none would believe." The Hashim could not trade or +intermarry with any outside their clan, and there seemed no chance of +circumstances removing their disabilities. Mahomet's hopes of embracing +all Mecca in his faith wavered and fled, until it seemed as if Allah no +longer protected his chosen. + +But after two years of negation and impotence, an end to the persecution +of the Muslim was in sight, and in 619 the ban was removed. Legend has it +that when the chiefs of the Kaaba went to look upon the document they +found it devoured by ants, and took this as a sign of the displeasure of +their gods. The ban was thus removed by supernatural agency when its +prolongation would have meant final disaster for Mahomet. In the light of +later knowledge it is evident that the removal of the ban was the result +of the exertions of Abu Talib, and it was owing to his high reputation +among the Kureisch that they pardoned his turbulent and blasphemous +nephew. At the end of two years also, the Muslim were considerably +weakened, both in staying powers and reputation. They were now allowed to +go freely in the city, and the immediate prospect seemed certainly +brighter for Mahomet when there fell the greatest blow that could have +afflicted his sensitive spirit. + +Khadijah, his companion and sustainer through so many troublous years, +died in 619, having borne with him all his revilings and discouragements, +his source of strength even when there appeared no prospect of the +abatement of his hardships, much less for the success of his cause. +Mahomet's grief was too profound for the passing shadow of it even to +darken the pages of the Kuran. He paid her the compliment of silence; but +her memory was continually with him, even when he had taken many fairer +women to wife. Ayesha, in all the insolence of beauty, scoffed at +Khadijah's age and lack of comeliness: + +"Am I not dearer to thee than she was?" + +"No, by Allah!" cried Mahomet; "for she believed when no one else +believed." + +It was her strength of character and sweetness of mind that impelled him +to utter the amazing words--amazing for his time and environment, +seventh-century Arabia--"women are the twin-halves of men." + +But fortune or Allah had not finished the "strong affliction" whereby +Mahomet was forced to cast off from his moorings and venture into strange +and perilous seas. Five weeks after the death of his wife came the death +of his uncle, Abu Talib. If the first had been a catastrophe affecting +his courage and quietude of mind, this was calculated to crush both +himself and his companions. Abu Talib was well loved by Mahomet, who +manifested throughout his life the strongest capacity for friendship. But +more important than the personal grief was the loss of the one man whose +efforts bridged over the widening gulf between himself and the Kureisch. +As such, his death was irreparable damage to Mahomet's safety from their +hostilities. + +Abu Lahab, it is true, touched a little by the sorrows crowding so +thickly upon his nephew, protected him for a time, but very soon withdrew +his support and joined the opposition. Ranged against Abu Lahab and Abu +Jahl, with their influential following, and lacking the support hitherto +provided by Abu Talib, Mahomet perceived that a crisis was fast +approaching. His band was too numerous to be ignored or even tolerated by +the Kureisch, but against such odds as Mecca's most powerful citizens, +Mahomet was too wise to attempt to resist. There seemed no other way but +the withdrawal of his little concourse to such place of safety as would +enable them to strengthen themselves and prepare for the inevitable +struggle for supremacy. No more conversions of importance had taken place +since Omar's and Hamza's allegiance to Islam, and now three years +had passed. Mahomet felt increasingly the need for their exodus from the +city of his birth. It is not evident from the chroniclers that he had any +definite political aims whatever when he first considered the plan of +evacuation. His motive was simply to obtain peace in which he might +worship in his own fashion, and win others to worship with him. With this +idea in mind he cast about for a suitable resting-place for his small +flock, and discovered what he imagined his goal in Taif, a village +south-east of Mecca, upon the eastern slopes of Jhebel Kora. + +Taif is situated on the fertile side of this mountain range, the side +remote from the sea. It stands amid a wealth of gardens, and is renowned +for its fruits and flowers. Thither in 620 Mahomet set out, filled with +the knowledge of his invincible mission, strong in his power to conquer +and persuade. Zeid, his slave and foster-child, was his only companion, +and together they had resolved to convert Taif to the one true religion. +But their adventure was doomed to failure, and though we have necessarily +brief descriptions of it, all Mahomet's biographers naturally passing +quickly over so painful a scene, there is sufficient evidence to show how +really disastrous their venture proved. + +The chief men of the city remained unconvinced, and at last the populace, +in one of those blind furies that attack crowds at the sight of +impotence, egged on the rabble to stone them. Chased from the city, sore, +bleeding and despairing, Mahomet found shelter in one of the hill gardens +of the locality. There he was solaced with fruit by some kindly owners of +the place, and there he remained, meditating in profound dejection at his +failure, but still with supreme trust in the support of his God. + + "O Lord, I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance; + It is Thine to cleanse away the darkness, + And to give peace both for this world and the next." + +In this valley of Nakhla, too, so runs the tale, he was consoled by +genii, who refreshed him, after the fashion of angels upholding the weary +prophets in the wilderness. Mahomet was now in dire straits; he could not +return to Mecca at once, because the object of his Taif journey was +known; as Taif had spurned him, so he was forced to halt in Hira until he +obtained the protection of Mutaim, an influential man in Mecca, and after +some difficulty made his way back to the city, discredited and solitary, +except for his former followers. For some months he rested in obscurity +and contempt at Mecca, gaining none to his cause, but still filled with +the fervent conviction of his future triumph, which neither wavered +nor faltered. The divine fire which upheld him during the period of +his violent persecution burned within his soul, and never was his +steadfastness of character and faith in himself and his mission more +fully manifested than during these despondent months. + +He now began to seek in greater measure the society of women, although +the consuming sexual life of his later years had hardly awakened. While +Khadijah was with him he remained faithful to her, but her bright +presence once withdrawn, he was impelled by a kind of impassioned seeking +to the quest for her substitute, and not finding it in one woman, to +continue his search among others. He now married Sawda, a nonentity with +a certain physical charm but no personality, and sued for the hand of +Ayesha, the small daughter of Abu Bekr. + +Mahomet at this time was not blessed with many riches. His frugal, +anxious life led him to perform many small duties of his household for +himself. His food was coarse and often scanty, and he lived among his +followers as one of themselves. It is no small tribute to his singleness +of mind and lofty character that in the "dreary intercourse of daily +life," lived in that primitive, communal fashion, which admits of no +illusions and scarcely any secrets, he retained by the force of +personality the reverence of the faithful, and ever in this hour of +defeat and negation remained their leader and lord--the symbol, in fact, +of their loyalty to Allah, and their supreme belief in his guidance and +care. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE CHOSEN CITY + +Medina, city of exile and despairing beginnings, destined to achieve +glory by difficult ways, only to be eclipsed finally by its mightier +neighbour and mistress, became, rather by chance than by design, the +scene of Mahomet's struggles for temporal power and his ruthless wielding +of the sword for God and Islam. The city lies north-east of Mecca, on the +opposite side of the mountain spur that skirts the eastern boundary. +Always weakly peopled, it remained from immemorial time an arena of +strife, for it was on the borderland, the boundary of several tribes, and +was far enough north for the outer waves of Syrian disturbances to fling +their varying tides upon its shores--a meagre city, always fiercely at +civil warfare, impotent, unfertile. + +In the dark days of Judaea's humiliation at the hands of Titus, two +Jewish tribes, the Kainukua and the Koreitza, outcast and desolate, even +as they had been warned in their time of dominion, lighted upon Medina in +desperate search for a dwelling-place and a respite from persecution, and +forthwith took possession of the little hill-girt town. They settled +there, driving out or conciliating the former inhabitants, until in the +fourth century their tenuous prosperity was disturbed by the inroads of +two Bedouin tribes, the Beni Aus and the Beni Khazraj. The desert was +wide, and these tribes were familiar with its manifold opportunities and +devious ways. Against such a foe, who swooped down suddenly upon the +city, plundered and then escaped into the limitless unknown, the Jews had +no chance of reprisal. + +Before long the Beni Aus and Khazraj had subjugated the Jewish +communities, and their dominion in Medina was only weakened by their +devastating quarrels among themselves. The city therefore offered a +peculiar opening for the teaching of Islam within it. Its religious life +indeed was varied and chaotic. Jews, Arabian idolaters, immigrants from +Christian Syria, torn by schisms, thronged its public places, and this +confusion of faiths sharpened the religious and debating instincts of its +people. The ground was thus broken up for the reception of the new creed +of one God and of his messenger, who had already divided Mecca into +believers and heretics, and who was spoken of in the city with that awe +that attaches itself to distant marvels. + +Intercourse with Mecca was chiefly carried on at the time of the yearly +Pilgrimage; the Greater Pilgrimage, only undertaken during Dzul Hijj, +corresponding then to our March, and in Dzul Hijj, 620, came a band of +strangers over the hills, along the toilsome caravan route to the Kaaba, +the goal of their intentions, the shrine of all their prayers. They +performed all the necessary ceremonies at Mecca, and were proceeding to +Mina, a small valley just east of Mecca, for the completion of their +sacred duties, when they were accosted by Mahomet. + +The Prophet was despondent and sceptical of his power to persuade, though +his belief in Allah's might never wavered. He had failed so far to +produce any decisive impression upon the Meccan people, but might there +not be another town in Arabia which would receive his message? The little +band of pilgrims seemed to him sent in answer to his self-distrust, and +his failure at Taif as eclipsed by this sudden success. The caravan +returned to its native city, and there remained little for Mahomet to do +except to wait for the arrival of next year's pilgrims, and to keep +shining and ambient the flame of his religious fervour. He remained in +Mecca virtually on sufferance, and rapidly recognised the uselessness of +attempting any further conversions. His hopes were now definitely set on +Medina, and to this end he seems to devoted himself more than ever to the +perusal and interpretation of the Jewish scriptures. + +The portion of the Kuran written at this time contains little else than +Bible stories told and retold to the point of weariness. Lot, of course, +is the characteristic figure; but we also have the life stories of +Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Joseph, and many others. The style has suffered a +marked diminution in poetic qualities. It has become reiterative and even +laboured. He continues his practice of alluding to current events, which +at Medina he was to pursue to the extent of making the Kuran a kind of +spasmodic history of his time, as well as an elementary text-book of law +and morality. In one of the suras--"The Cow"--Mahomet makes first mention +of that comfortable doctrine of "cancelling," by which later verses of +the Kuran cancel all previous revelations dealing with the same subject +if these prove contradictory: "Whatever verses we cancel or cause thee to +forget, we bring a better or its like; knowest thou not that God hath +power over all things?" + +There is not much record in the Kuran of the influence of Christian +thought upon Islam. We have a few stories of Elizabeth and Mary, and +scattered allusions to the despised "Prophet of the Jews." But the great +body of Christian thought, its central dogmas of Incarnation and +Redemption, passed Mahomet entirely by, for his mind was practical and +not speculative, and indeed to himself no less than to his followers the +fundamentals of Christianity were of necessity too philosophic to be +realised with any intensity of belief. The Christian virtues of meekness +and resignation, too, might be respected in the abstract--passages in the +Kuran and tradition assure us they were--but they were so utterly +antagonistic to the fierce, free nature of the Arab that they never +entered into his religious life. Mahomet revered the Founder of +Christianity, and placed Him with John in the second Heaven of his +Immortals, but though He is secure among the teachers of the world, He +can never compete with the omnipotence and glory of the Prophet. + +During the period of Mahomet's life immediately preceding his departure +to Medina, we have his personal appearance described in detail by Ali. He +is a man of medium stature, with a magnificent head and a thick, flowing +beard. His eyes were black and ardent, his jaw firm but not prominent. He +looked an upstanding man of open countenance, benignant and powerful, +bearing between his shoulders the sign of his divine mission. He had +great patience, says Ali, and "in nowise despised the poor for their +poverty, nor honoured the rich for their possessions. Nor if any took him +by the hand to salute him was he the first to relinquish his grasp." + +He lived openly among his disciples, holding frequent converse with them, +mending his own clothes and even shoes, a frugal liver and a fervent +preacher of the flaming faith within him. He became at this time +betrothed to Ayesha, the splendid woman, now just a merry child, who was +to keep her reigning place in his affections until the end of his life. +Daughter of Abu Bekr, she united in herself for Mahomet both policy and +attractiveness, for by this betrothal he became of blood-kin with Abu +Bekr, and thereby strengthened his friend's allegiance. The union marks +the inauguration of his policy of marriage alliances by which he bound +the supporters of his Faith more closely to him, either through his own +marriage with their daughters, or the bestowal of his offspring upon +them. + +Ayesha was lovely and imperious, with a luxurious but shrewd nature, +and her counsel was always sought by Mahomet. Other women appeared +frequently like comets in his sky, flamed for a little into brightness +and disappeared into conjugal obscurity, but Ayesha's star remained fixed, +even if it was transitorily eclipsed by the brilliance of a new-comer. +Sexual relations held for Mahomet towards the end of his life a peculiar +potency, born of his intense energetic nature. He sought the society of +woman because of the mental clarity that for him followed any expression +of emotion. He was one of those men who must express--the artist, in fact; +but an artist who used the medium of action, not that of literature, +painting, or music. "Poete, il ne connut que la poesie d'action," and like +Napoleon, his introspection was completely overshadowed by his consuming +energy. Therefore emotion was to him unconsciously the means by which this +immortal energy of mind could be conserved, and he used it unsparingly. + +Ayesha has revealed for us the most intimate details of Mahomet's life, +and it is due to her that later traditions are enabled to represent him +as a man among men. He appears to us fierce and subtle, by turns +impetuous and calculating, a man who never missed an opportunity, and +gauged exactly the efforts needed to compass any intention. To him "every +fortress had its key, and every man his price." He was as keen a +politician us he was a religious reformer, but before all he paid homage +to the sword, prime artificer in his career of conquest. But in those +confidently intimate traditions handed down to us from his immediate +entourage, and especially from Ayesha, we find him alternately passionate +and gentle, wearing his power with conscious authority, mild in his +treatment of the poor, terrible to his enemies, autocratic, intolerant, +with a strange magnetism that bound men to him. The mystery enveloping +great men even in their lifetime, among primitive races, creeps +down in these documents to hide much of his personality from us, but his +works proclaim his energy and tireless organising powers, even if the +mythical, allegoric element predominates in the earlier traditions. The +man who undertook and achieved the gigantic task of organising a new +social and political as well as religious order may be justly credited +with calling forth and centering in himself the vivid imaginations of +that most credulous age. + +The year 620-621 passed chiefly in expectation of the Greater Pilgrimage, +when the disciples from Medina were to come to report progress and to +confirm their faith. The momentous time arrived, and Mahomet went almost +fearfully to meet the nucleus of his future kingdom in Acaba, a valley +near Mina. But his fears were groundless, for the little party had been +faithful to their leader, and had also increased their numbers. + +They met in secret, and we may picture them a little diffident in so +strange a place, ever expectant of the swift descent of the Kureisch and +their own annihilation. Withal they were enthusiastic and confident of +their leader. One is irresistibly reminded, in reading of this meeting, +of that little outcast band from Judea which ultimately prevailed over +Caesar Imperator through its mighty quality of faith. The accredited words +of the first pledge given at Acaba are traditionally extant; they combine +curiously religious, moral, and social covenants, and assert even at that +early stage the headship of the Prophet over his servants: + +"We will not worship any but God; we will not steal, neither will we +commit adultery nor kill our children; we will not slander in any wise, +nor will we disobey the Prophet in anything that is right." + +The converts then departed to their native city, for Mahomet did not deem +the time yet ripe enough for migration thither. He possessed the +difficult art of waiting until the effectual time should arrive, and +there is no doubt that by now he had formed definite plans to set up his +rule in Medina when there should be sufficient supporters there to +guarantee his success. Musab, a Meccan convert of some learning, was +deputed to accompany the Medinan citizens to their city and give +instruction therein to all who were willing to study the Muslim creed. + +For yet another year Mahomet was to possess his soul in patience, but it +was with feelings of far greater confidence that he awaited the passing +of time. More than ever he became sure of the guiding hand of Allah, that +pointed indisputably to the stranger city as the goal of his strivings. +This city held a goodly proportion of Jews, therefore the connection +between his faith and that of Judaism must be continually emphasised. + +We have seen how large a space Jewish legend and history fill in the +contemporary suras of the Kuran, and Mahomet's friendship with Israel +increased noticeably during his last two years at Mecca. He paid them the +honour of taking Jerusalem as his Kibla, or Holy Place, to which all +Believers turn in prayer, and the starting-place for his immortal +Midnight Journey was the Sacred City encompassing the Temple of the Lord. + +No account of this journey appears except in the traditions crystallized +by Al Bokharil, but there is one short mention of it in the Kuran, Sura +xviii. + +"Glory be to him who carried his servant by night from the sacred temple +of Mecca to the temple that is more remote, i.e. Jerusalem." + +The vision, however, looms so large in his followers' minds, and +exercised so profound an influence over their regard for Mahomet, that it +throws some light, upon the measure of his ascendancy during his last +years at Mecca, and establishes beyond dispute the inspired character of +his Prophetship in the imaginations of the few Believers. There have been +solemn and wordy disputes by theologians as to whether he made the +journey in the flesh, or whether his spirit alone crossed the dread +portals dividing our night from the celestial day. + +He was lying in the Kaaba, so runs the legend, when the Angel of the Lord +appeared to him, and after having purged his heart of all sin, carried +him to the Temple at Jerusalem. He penetrated its sacred enclosure and +saw the beast Borak, "greater than ass, smaller than mule," and was told +to mount. The Faithful still show the spot at Jerusalem where his steed's +hoof marked the ground as he spurned it with flying feet. With Gabriel by +his side, mounted on a beast mighty in strength, Mahomet scaled the +appalling spaces and came at last to the outer Heaven, before the gate +that guards the celestial realms. The angel knocked upon the brazen doors +and a voice within cried: + +"Who art thou, and who is with thee?" + +"I am Gabriel," came the answer, "and this is Mahomet." + +And behold, the brazen gates that may not be unclosed for mortal man were +flung wide, and Mahomet entered alone with the angel. He penetrated to +the first Heaven and saw Adam, who interrogated him in the same words, +and received the same reply. And all the heavenly hierarchies, even unto +the seventh Heaven, John and Jesus, Joseph, Enoch, Aaron, Moses, Abraham, +acknowledged Mahomet in the same words, until the two came to "the tree +called Sedrat," beyond which no man may pass and live, whose fruits are +shining serpents, and whose leaves are great beasts, round which flow +four rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates guarding it without, and within +these the celestial streams that water Paradise, too wondrous for a name. + +Awed but undaunted, Mahomet passed alone beyond the sacred tree, for even +the Angel could not bear any longer so fierce a glory, and came to +Al-M'amur, even the Hall of Heavenly Audience, where are seventy thousand +angels. He mounted the steps of the throne between their serried ranks, +until at the touch of Allah's awful hand he stopped and felt its icy +coldness penetrate to his heart. He was given milk, wine, or honey to +drink, and he chose milk. + +"Hadst thou chosen honey, O Mahomet," said Allah, "all thy people would be +saved, now only a part shall find perfection." + +And Mahomet was troubled. + +"Bid my people pray to Me fifty times a day." + +At the resistless mandate Mahomet turned and retraced his steps to the +seventh Heaven, where dwelt Abraham. + +"The people of the earth will be in nowise constrained to pray fifty +times a day. Return thou and beg that the number be lessened." + +So Mahomet returned again and again at Abraham's command, until he had +reduced the number to five, which the father of his people considered +was sufficient burden for his feeble subjects to bear. Wherefore the five +periods set apart for prayer in the Muslim faith are proportionately +sacred, and with this divine mandate the vision ceased. + +With his hopes now set on founding an earthly dominion with the help of +Allah, he had perforce to consider the political situation, and to mature +his policy for dealing with it as soon as events proved favourable. The +achievements of the Persians on the Greek frontier had already attracted +his attention in 616; there is an allusion to the battle and the Greek +defeat in the Kuran, and a vague prophecy of their ultimate success, for +Mahomet was in sympathy with the Greek Empire, seeing that, from the +point of view of Arabia, it was the less formidable enemy. + +But really the events of such outlying territories only troubled him in +regard to Medina, for his whole thoughts were centred now upon the chosen +city of his dreams. His followers became less aggressive in Mecca when +they knew that the Prophet had the nucleus of a new colony in another +city. Persecution within Mecca therefore died down considerably, and the +period is one of pause upon either side, the Kureisch watching to see +what the next move was to be, Mahomet carefully and secretly maturing his +plans. + +During this year there fell a drought upon Mecca, followed by a famine, +which the devout attributed directly to divine anger at the rejection of +the Prophet's heavenly message, and which Mahomet interpreted as the +punishment of God, and this doubtless added to the sum of reasons which +impelled him to relinquish his native town. + +From this time until the Hegira, or Flight from the City, events in the +world of action move but slowly for Mahomet. He was careful not to excite +undue suspicion among the Kureisch, and we can imagine him silent and +preoccupied, fulfilling his duties among them, visiting the Kaaba, and +mingling somewhat coldly with their daily life. Still keeping his purpose +immutable, he sought to strengthen the faith of his followers for the +trials he knew must come. The Kuran thus became more important as the +mouthpiece of his exhortations. The suras of this time resound with words +of encouragement and confidence. He is about to become the leader of a +perilous venture in honour of God. The reflex of the expectancy in the +hearts of the Muslim may be traced in his messages to them. Their whole +world, as it were, waited breathless, quiet, and tense for the record of +the year's achievements in Medina, and for the time appointed by God. +But how far their leader's actions were the result of painstaking +calculations, an insight into the qualities and energies of men, a +prevision startling in its range and accuracy, they never suspected; but, +serene in their confidence, they held their magnificent faith in the +divine guidance and in the inspiration of their Prophet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA + + "Knowest thou not that the dominion of the Heavens and of the + Earth is God's? and that ye have neither patron nor helper save + God?"--_The Kuran_. + +The expectancy which burned like revivifying fire in the hearts of the +Meccan Muslim, kindled and nourished by their leader himself, was to +culminate at the time of the yearly pilgrimage in 622. In that month came +the great concourse of pilgrims from Yathreb to Mecca, among them seventy +of the "Faithful" who had received the faith at Medina, headed by their +teacher Musab and strengthened by the knowledge that they were before +long to stand face to face with their Prophet. + +Musab had reported to Mahomet the success of his mission in the city, and +had prepared him for the advent of the little band of followers secured +for Islam. Secrecy was essential, for the Muslim from Medina were in +heart strangers among their own people, in such a precarious situation +that any treachery would have meant their utter annihilation, if not at +the hands of their countrymen, who would doubtless throw in their lot +with the stronger, certainly at the hands of the Kureisch, the implacable +foes of Islam, in whose territory they fearfully were. The rites of +pilgrimage were accordingly performed faithfully, though many breathed +more freely as they departed for the last ceremony at Mina. All was now +completed, and the Medinan party prepared to return, when Mahomet +summoned the Faithful by night to the old meeting-place in the gloomy +valley of Akaba. + +About seventy men and two women of both Medinan tribes, the Beni Khazraj +and the Beni Aus, assembled thus in that barren place, under the +brilliant night skies of Arabia, to pledge themselves anew to an unseen, +untried God and to the service of his Prophet, who as yet counted but few +among his followers, and whose word carried no weight with the great ones +of their world. + +To this meeting Mahomet brought Abbas, his uncle, younger son of +Abd-al-Muttalib, a weak and insignificant character, who had endeared +himself to Mahomet chiefly because of his doglike devotion. He was not a +convert, but he revered his energetic nephew too highly and was also too +greatly in awe of him to imagine such a thing as treachery. He was in +part a guarantee to the Khazraj of Mahomet's good faith, in part an asset +for him against the Kureisch, for his family were still influential in +Mecca. + +The two made their way from the city unaccompanied, by steep and stony +ways, until they came to Akaba, and Mahomet saw awaiting him that +concourse summoned by his persistence and tireless faith--a concourse +part of himself, almost his own child, upon which all his hopes were now +set. Coming thus into that circle of faces, illumined dimly by the +torches, which prudence even now urged them to extinguish, he could not +but feel some foreshadowing of the mighty future that awaited this little +gathering, as yet impotent and tremulous, but bearing within itself the +seeds of that loyalty and courage that were to spread "the Faith" over +half the world. + +When the greetings were over, Abbas stepped forward and spoke, while the +lines of dark faces closed around him in earnest scrutiny. + +"Ye men of the Beni Khazraj, this my kinsmen dwelleth amongst us in +honour and safety; his clan will defend him, but he preferreth to seek +protection from you. Wherefore, ye Khazraj, consider the matter well and +count the cost." + +Then answered Bara, who stood for them in position of Chief: + +"We have listened to your words. Our resolution is unshaken. Our lives +are at the Prophet's service. It is now for him to speak." + +Mahomet stepped forward into the circle of their glances, and with the +solemnity of the occasion urgent within him recited to them verses of the +Kuran, whose fire and eloquence kindled those passionate souls into an +enthusiasm glowing with a sombre resolve, and prompted them to stake all +upon their enterprise. At the end of those tumultuous words he assured +them that he would be content if they would pledge themselves to defend +him. + +"And if we die in thy defence, what reward have we?" + +"Paradise!" replied Mahomet, exalted, raising his hand in token of his +belief in Allah and the certitude of his cause. + +Then arose a murmur deep and long, the protestation of loyalty that +threatened to rise into triumphant acclamation, but Abbas, the fearful of +the party, stayed them in dread of spies. So the tumult died down, and +Bara, taking upon himself the authority of his fellows, stretched forth +his hand to Mahomet, and with their clasping the Second Pledge of the +Akaba was sealed. They broke up swiftly, dreading to prolong their +meeting, for danger was all around them and the air heavy with suspected +treacheries. + +And their apprehension was not groundless, for the Kureisch had heard of +their assembly through some secret messenger, though not until the +Medinan caravan with its concourse of the Faithful and the Unbelievers +was well on its homeward way across the dreary desert paths which lead to +Mecca from Medina. Their wrath was intense, and in fury they pursued it; +but either they were ignorant as to which road the party had taken, or +the Medinans eluded them by greater speed, for they returned disconsolate +from the pursuit, having only succeeded in finding two luckless men, one +of whom escaped, but the other, Sa'd ibn Obada, was dragged back to Mecca +and subjected to much brutality before he ultimately made his escape to +his native city. + +The Kureisch were not content with attempting reprisals against Medina, +or possibly they were enraged because they had effected so little, for +they recommenced the persecution of Islam at Mecca with much violence. +From March until April they harassed the Believers in their city, +imposing restrictions upon them, and in many cases inflicting bodily harm +upon Mahomet's unfortunate and now defenceless followers. The renewed +persecution doubtless gave an added impetus to the Prophet's resolve to +quit Mecca. + +Indeed, the time was fully ripe, and with the prescience that continually +characterised him in his role of leader of a religious state, he felt +that now the ground was prepared at Medina, emigration of the Muslim from +Mecca could not fail to be advantageous to him. + +The command was given in April 622, and found immediate popularity, +except with a few malcontents who had large interests in their native +city. Then began the slow removal of a whole colony. The families of +Abu Talib's quarter of Mecca tranquilly forsook their birthplace in +orderly groups, taking with them their household treasures, until the +neighbourhood showed tenantless houses falling into the swift decay +accompanying neglect in such a climate, barricaded doors and gaping +windows, filled only with an immense feeling of desolation and the +blankness which overtakes a city when its humanity has deputed to another +abiding place. Weeds grew in the deserted streets, and over all lay a +fine film of dust, the almost impalpable effort of the desert to merge +once more into itself the territory wrung from it by human will. + +The effect of this emigration upon the Kureisch can hardly be estimated. +They were amazed and helpless before it; for with their wrath hot against +Mahomet, it was as if their antagonist had melted into insubstantial +vapours to leave them enraged and breathless, pursuing a phantom +continually elusive. So silent was the emigration that they were only +made aware of it when the quarter was almost deserted. Scattered +groups of travellers journeying along the desert tracks had evoked no +hostilities, and no treachery broke the loyalty to Islam at Mecca. The +Kureisch were indeed outwitted, and only became conscious of the +subtleties of their antagonist when his plan was accomplished. + +But in spite of the seemingly favourable situation, the leader tarried +because "the Lord had not as yet given him command to emigrate." The very +natural hesitation of Mahomet is only characteristic of him. He knew very +well what issues were at stake, and was not anxious to burn his boats +rashly; indeed, he bore upon his shoulders at this time all the +responsibility of the future of his little flock, who so confidently +resigned their fortunes into his hands. If his scheme at Medina should +fail, he knew that nothing would save him from Kureischite fury, and he +also felt great reluctance in leaving Mecca himself, for at that time it +could not but mean the knell of his hopes of gaining his native city to +his creed. He must have foreseen his establishment of power in Medina, +and possibly he had visions of its extension to neighbouring tribes, but +he could not have foreseen the humiliation of his native city at his +feet, glad at last to receive the faith of one whom she now regarded as +the sovereign potentate of Arabian territory. + +And with their friend and guide remained Abu Bekr and Ali--Abu Bekr +because he would not leave his companion in prayer and persecution, +and Ali because his valour and enthusiasm made him a protector against +possible attacks. Here was the opportunity for the Kureisch. They knew +the extent of the emigration, and that Abu Bekr and Ali were the only +Muslim of importance left except the Prophet. They determined to make one +last attempt to coerce into submission this fantastic but resolute +leader, who possessed in supreme measure the power of winning the faith +and devotion of men. + +Tradition has it that Mahomet's assassination was definitely planned, and +Mahomet assuredly thought so too, when he discovered that a man from each +tribe had been chosen to visit his home at night. The motive can hardly +have been assassination, but doubtless the chiefs were prepared to take +rather strong measures to restrain Mahomet, and this action finally +decided the Prophet that delay was dangerous. + +At this crisis in his fortunes he had two staunch helpers, who did not +hesitate to risk their lives in his service, and with them he anticipated +his foes. Ali was chosen to represent his beloved master before the +menaces of the Kureisch. Mahomet put him into his own bed and arrayed +him in his sacred green mantle; then, as legend has it, taking a handful +of dust, he recited the sura "Ya Sin," which he himself reverenced as +"the heart of the Kuran," and scattering the dust abroad, he called down +confusion upon the heads of the Unbelievers. With Abu Bekr he then fled +swiftly and silently from the city and made his way unseen to the cave of +Thaur, a few miles outside its boundaries. + +Around the cave of Thaur cluster as many and as beautiful legends as +surround the stable at Bethlehem. The wild pigeons flew out and in +unharmed, screening the Prophet by their untroubled presence from the +searchings of the Kureisch, and a thorn tree spread her branches across +the mouth of the cave supporting a spider's frail and glistening web, +which was renewed whenever a friend visited the two prisoners to bring +food and tidings. + +Here Mahomet and Abu Bekr, henceforward known as the "Second of Two," +remained until the fierceness of the pursuit slackened. Asma, Abu Bekr's +daughter, brought them food at sundown, and what news she could glean +from the rumours that were abroad, and from the lips of Ali. There was +very real danger of their surprise and capture, but once more Mahomet's +magnificent faith in God and his cause never wavered. Abu Bekr was afraid +for his master: + +"We are but two, and if the Kureisch find us unarmed, what chance have +we?" + +"We are but two," replied Mahomet, "but God is in the midst a third." + +He looked unflinchingly to Allah for succour and protection, and his +faith was justified. His thanksgiving is contained in the Kuran: "God +assisted your Prophet formerly, when the Unbelievers drove him forth in +company with a second only; when they two were in the cave; when the +Prophet said to his companion, 'Be not distressed; verily God is with +us.' And God sent down his tranquillity upon him and strengthened him +with hosts ye saw not, and made the word of those who believed not the +abased, and the word of God was the exalted." + +At the end of three days the Kureischite search abated, and that night +Mahomet and Abu Bekr decided to leave the cave. Two camels were brought, +and food loaded upon them by Asma and her servants. The fastenings were +not long enough to tie on the food wallet; wherefore Asma tore her girdle +in two and bound them round it, so that she is known to this day among +the Faithful as "She of Two Shreds." After a prayer to Allah in thanks +for their safety, Mahomet and Abu Bekr mounted the camels and sallied +forth to meet what unknown destiny should await them on the road to +Medina. They rapidly gained the sea-coast near Asfan in comparative +safety, secure from the attacks of the Kureisch, who would not pursue +their quarry so far into a strange country. + +The Kureisch had indeed considerably abated their anger against Mahomet. +He was now safely out of their midst, and possibly they thought +themselves well rid of a man whose only object, from their point of view, +was to stir up strife, and they felt that any resentment against either +himself or his kin would be unnecessary and not worth their pains. With +remarkable tolerance for so revengeful an age, they left the families of +Mahomet and Abu Bekr quite free from molestation, nor did they offer any +opposition to Ali when they found he had successfully foiled them, and he +made his way out of the city three days after his leader had quitted it. + +Mahomet and Abu Bekr journeyed on, two pilgrims making their way, +solitary but unappalled, to a strange city, whose temper and disposition +they but faintly understood. But evidences as to its friendliness were +not wanting, and these were renewed when Abu Bekr's cousin, a previous +emigrant to Medina, met them half-way and declared that the city waited +in joy and expectation for the coming of its Prophet. After some days +they crossed the valley of Akik in extreme heat, and came at last to +Coba, an outlying suburb at Medina, where, weary and apprehensive, +Mahomet rested for a while, prudently desiring that his welcome at Medina +might be assured before he ventured into its confines. + +His entry into Coba savoured of a triumphal procession; the people +thronged around his camel shouting, "The Prophet; he is come!" mingling +their cries with homage and wondering awe, that the divine servant of +whom they had heard so much should appear to them in so human a guise, a +man among them, verily one of themselves. Mahomet's camel stopped at the +house of Omm Kolthum, and there he elected to abide during his stay in +Coba, for he possessed throughout his life a reverence for the instinct +in animals that characterises the Eastern races of all time. There, +dismounting, he addressed the people, bidding them be of good cheer, and +giving them thanks for their joyous welcome: + +"Ye people, show your joy by giving your neighbours the salvation of +peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship, and +offer up your prayers whilst others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise +in peace." + +For four days Mahomet dwelt in Coba, where he had encountered unfailing +support and friendship, and there was joined by Ali. His memories of Coba +were always grateful, for at the outset of his doubtful and even +dangerous enterprise he had received a good augury. Before he set out to +Medina he laid the foundations of the Mosque at Coba, where the Faithful +would be enabled to pray according to their fashion, undisturbed and +beneath the favour of Allah, and decreed that Friday was to be set apart +as a special day of prayer, when addresses were to be given at the Mosque +and the doctrines of Islam expounded. + +Even as early as this Mahomet felt the mantle of sovereignty descending +upon him, for we hear now of the first of those ordinances or decrees by +which in later times he rules the lives and actions of his subjects to +the last detail. Clearly he perceived himself a leader among men, who had +it within his power to build up a community following his own dictates, +which might by consolidation even rival those already existent in +Arabia. He was taking command of a weak and factious city, and he +realised that in his hands lay its prosperity or downfall; he was, in +fact, the arbiter of its fate and of the fate of his colleagues who had +dared all with him. + +But he could not stay long in Coba, while the final assay upon the +Medinans remained to be undertaken, and so we find him on the fourth day +of his sojourn making preparations for the entry into the city. It was +undertaken with some confidence of success from the messages already sent +to Coba, and proved as triumphal an entry as his former one. The populace +awaited him in expectation and reverence, and hailed him as their +Prophet, the mighty leader who had come to their deliverance. They +surrounded his camel Al-Caswa, and the camels of his followers, and when +Al-Caswa stopped outside the house of Abu Ayub, Mahomet once more +received the beast's augury and sojourned there until the building of the +Mosque. As Al-Caswa entered the paved courtyard, Mahomet dismounted to +receive the allegiance of Abu Ayub and his household; then, turning to +the people, he greeted them with words of good cheer and encouragement, +and they responded with acclamations. + +For seven months the Prophet lodged in the house of Abu Ayub, and he +bought the yard where Al-Caswa halted as a token of his first entry into +Medina, and a remembrance in later years of his abiding place during the +difficult time of his inception. The decisive step had been taken. The +die was now cast. It was as if the little fleet of human souls had +finally cast its moorings and ventured into the unpathed waters of +temporal dominion under the command of one whose skill in pilotage was as +yet unknown. Many changes became necessary in the conduct of the +enterprise, of which not the least was the change of attitude between the +leader and his followers. Mahomet, heretofore religious visionary and +teacher, became the temporal head of a community, and in time the leader +of a political State. The changed aspect of his mission can never be +over-emphasised, for it altered the tenor of his thoughts and the +progress of his words. All the poetry and fire informing the early pages +of the Kuran departs with his reception at Medina, except for occasional +flashes that illumine the chronicle of detailed ordinances that the Book +has now become. + +This apparent death of poetic energy had crept gradually over the Kuran, +helped on by the controversial character of the last two Meccan periods, +when he attempted the conciliation of the Jewish element within Arabia +with that long-sightedness which already discerned Medina as his possible +refuge. In reality the whole energy of his nature was transmuted from his +words to his actions and therein he found his fitting sphere, for he was +essentially the doer, one whose works are the expression of his secret, +whose personality, in fact, is only gauged by his deeds. As a result of +his political leadership, the despotism of his nature, inherent in his +conception of God, inevitably revealed itself; he had postulated a Being +who held mankind in the hollow of his hand, whose decrees were absolute +among his subjects; now that he was to found an earthly kingdom under the +guidance of Allah, the majesty of divine despotism overshadowed its +Prophet, and enabled him to impose upon a willing people the same +obedience to authority which fostered the military idea. + +We must perforce believe in Mahomet's good faith. There is a tendency in +modern times to think of him as a man who knowingly played upon the +credulity of his followers to establish a sovereignty whereof he should +be head. But no student of psychology can support this conception of the +Prophet of Islam. There is a subtle _rapprochement_ between leader +and people in all great movements that divines instinctively any +imposture. Mahomet used and moulded men by reason of his faith in his own +creed. The establishment of the worship of Allah brought in its train the +aggrandisement of his Prophet, but it was not achieved by profanation of +the source whence his greatness came. + +Mahomet is the last of those leaders who win both the religious +devotion and the political trust of his followers. He wrought out his +sovereignty perforce and created his own _milieu_; but more than all, he +diffused around him the tradition of loyalty to one God and one state +with sword for artificer, which outlived its creator through centuries of +Arabian prosperity. Stone by slow stone his empire was built up, an +edifice owing its contour to his complete grasp of detail and his +dauntless energy. The last days at Mecca had shown him a careful schemer, +the early days at Medina proved his capacity as leader and his skill in +organisation and government. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER + + "The Infidels, moreover, will say: Thou art not sent of God. + Say: God is witness enough betwixt me and you, and whoever hath + knowledge of the Book."--_The Kuran_. + +Mahomet, now established at Medina, at once began that careful planning +of the lives of his followers and the ceaseless fostering of his own +ideas within them that endeared him to the Believers as leader and lord, +and enabled him in time to prosecute his designs against his opponents +with a confidence in their faith and loyalty. + +His grasp of detail was wonderful; without haste and without coercion he +subdued the turbulent factions within Medina, and his own perfervid +followers to discipline as despotic as it was salutary; Mahomet became +what circumstances made him; by reason of his mighty gift of moulding +those men and forces that came his way, he impressed his personality upon +his age; but the material fashioning of his energy, the flower of his +creative art, drew its formative sustenance from the soil of his +surroundings. The time for admonition, with the voice of one crying in +the wilderness, the time for praise and poesy, for the expression of that +rapt immortal passion filling his mind as he contemplated God, all these +were past, and had become but a lingering brightness upon the stormy +urgency of his later life. + +Now his flock demanded from him organisation, leadership, political and +social prevision. Therefore the full force of his nature is revealed to +us not so much as heretofore in the Kuran, but rather in his institutions +and ordinances, his enmities and conciliations. He has become not only +the Prophet, but the Lawgiver, the Statesman, almost the King. + +His first act, after his establishment in the house of Abu Ayub, was the +joining together in brotherhood of the Muhajerim and Ansar. These were +two distinct entities within Medina; the Muhajerim (refugees) had either +accompanied their master from Mecca or had emigrated previously; the +Ansar (helpers) comprised all the converts to Islam within the city +itself. These parties were now joined in a close bond, each individual +taking another of the opposite party into brotherhood with himself, to be +accorded the rights and privileges of kinship. Mahomet took as his +brother Ali, who became indeed not only his kinsman, but his military +commander and chief of staff. The wisdom of this arrangement, which +lasted about a year and a half--until, in fact, its usefulness was +outworn by the union of both the Medinan tribes under his leadership +--was immediate and far-reaching. It enabled Mahomet to keep a close +surveillance over the Medinan converts, who might possibly recant when +they became aware of the hazards involved in partnership with the Muslim. +It also gave a coherence to the two parties and allowed the Muhajerim +some foothold in an alien city, not as yet unanimously friendly. And the +Muhajerim had need of all the kindliness and help they could obtain, for +the first six months in Medina were trying both to their health and +endurance, so that many repented their venture and would have returned if +the Ansar had not come forward with ministrations and gifts, and also if +their chances of reaching Mecca alive had not been so precarious. + +The climate at Medina is damp and variable. Hot days alternate with cold +nights, and in winter there is almost continuous rain. The Meccans, used +to the dry, hot days and nights of their native city, where but little +rain fell, and even that became absorbed immediately in the parched +ground, endured much discomfort, even pain, before becoming acclimatised. +Fever broke out amongst them, and it was some months before the epidemic +was stayed with the primitive medical skill at their command. + +Nevertheless, in spite of their weakness and the difficulties of their +position, in these first seven months the Mosque of Mahomet was built +Legend says that the Prophet himself took a share in the work, carrying +stones and tools with the humblest of his followers, and we can well +believe that he did not look on at the labour of his fellow-believers, +and that his consuming zeal prompted him to forward, in whatever way was +necessary, the work lying to his hand. + +The Medinan Mosque, built with fervent hearts and anxious prayers by +the Muslim and their leader, contains the embryo of all the later +masterpieces of Arabian architecture--that art unique and splendid, which +developed with the Islamic spirit until it culminated in the glorious +temple at Delhi, whose exponents have given to the world the palaces of +southern Spain, the mysterious, remote beauty of ancient Granada. In its +embryo minarets and domes, its slender arches and delicate traceries, it +expressed the latent poetry in the heart of Islam which the claims of +Allah and the fiercely jealous worship of him had hitherto obscured; for +like Jahweh of old, Allah was an exacting spirit, who suffered no emotion +but worship to be lord of his people's hearts. + +The Mosque was square in design, made of stone and brick, and wrought +with the best skill of which they were capable. The Kibla, or direction +of prayer, was towards Jerusalem, symbolic of Mahomet's desire to +propitiate the Jews, and finally to unite them with his own people in a +community with himself as temporal head. Opposite this was the Bab +Rahmah, the Gate of Mercy, and general entrance to the holy place. Ranged +round the outer wall of the Mosque were houses for the Prophet's wives +and daughters, little stone buildings, of two or three rooms, almost +huts, where Mahomet's household had its home--Rockeya, his daughter, and +Othman, her husband; Fatima and Ali, Sawda and Ayesha, soon to be his +girl-bride, and who even now showed exceeding loveliness and force of +character. + +Mahomet himself had no separate house, but dwelt with each of his wives +in turn, favouring Ayesha most, and as his harem increased a house was +added for each wife, so that his entourage was continually near him and +under his surveillance. On the north side the ground was open, and there +the poorer followers of Mahomet gathered, living upon the never-failing +hospitality of the East and its ready generosity in the necessities of +life. + +As soon as the Mosque was built, organised religious life at Medina came +into being. A daily service was instituted in the Mosque itself, and the +heaven-sent command to prayer five times a day for every Muslim was +enforced. Five times in every turn of the world Allah receives his +supplicatory incense; at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset, and +at night the Muslim renders his due reverence and praise to the lord of +his welfare, thanking Allah, his supreme guide and votary, for the gift +of the Prophet, guide and protector of the Faithful. Lustration before +prayer was instituted as symbolic of the Believers' purification of heart +before entering the presence of God, and provision for the ceremony made +inside the Mosque. The public service on Friday, instituted at Coba, was +continued at Medina, and consisted chiefly of a sermon given by Mahomet +from a pulpit, erected inside the Mosque, whose sanctity was proverbial +and unassailed. Thus the seed was sown of a corporate religious life, the +embryo from which the Arabian military organisation, its polity, even its +social system, were to spring. + +In spite of the increasing numbers of the Ansar, there still remained a +party in Medina, "the Disaffected," who had not as yet accepted the +Prophet or his creed. Over these Mahomet exercised a strict surveillance, +in accordance with his conviction that a successful ruler leaves nothing +to Providence that he can discover and regulate for himself. "Trust in +God, but tie your camel." By this means, as well as by personal influence +and exhortation, "Disaffected" were controlled and ultimately converted +into good Muslim; for the more cautious of them--those who waited to see +how events would shape--soon assured themselves of Mahomet's capacity, +and the weakly passive were caught in the swirl of enthusiasm surrounding +the Prophet that continually drew unto itself all conditions of men +within its ever-widening circle. + +Having organised his own followers, and secured their immunity from +internal strife, Mahomet was forced to turn his attention to the Jewish +element within his adopted city, and to decide swiftly his policy towards +the three Israelite tribes who comprised the wealthier and trading +population of Medina. + +From the first, Mahomet's desires were in the direction of a federal +union, wherein each party would follow his own faith and have control of +his own tribal affairs and finances, save when the necessity of mutual +protection against enemies called for a union of forces. Again Mahomet +framed his policy upon the doctrine of opportunism. His ultimate aim was +beyond doubt to unite both Jews and Medinans under his rule in a common +religious and political bond, but he recognised the present impossibility +of such action in view of the Jews' greater stability and the weakness of +his party within the city. His negotiations and conciliations with the +Jews offer one of the many examples of his supreme skill as a statesman. + +The Jews themselves, taken almost unawares by the suddenness of Mahomet's +entry into their civic life, agreed to the treaty he proposed, and +acquiesced unconsciously in his subtle attempts to merge the two faiths +into a whole wherein Islam would be the dominant factor. When Mahomet +made Jerusalem his Kibla, or direction of prayer, and emphasised the +connection between Jewish and Arabian history, they suffered these +advances, and agreed to a treaty which would have formed the foundations +of a political and social convergence and ultimate absorption of their +own nation. + +Mahomet knew that federalism with the Jews was a necessary step to his +desired end, and therefore he drew up a treaty wherein mutual protection +against outward enemies, as well as against internal sedition, was +assured. Hospitality was to be freely rendered and demanded, and neither +party was to support an Infidel against a Believer. Guarantees for mutual +security were exchanged, and it was agreed that each should be free to +worship in his own fashion. The treaty throws light upon the clan-system +still obtaining in seventh-century Arabia. The Jews were their own +masters in the ordering of their lives, as were the Medinan tribes, even +after many years of neighbourhood and frequent interchange of commerce +and mutual assurances. The most significant political work achieved by +Mahomet, the planting of the federal, and later, the national idea in +Arabia in place of the tribal one, was thus inaugurated, and throughout +the development of his political power it will be seen that the struggles +between himself and the surrounding peoples virtually hinged upon the +acceptance or rejection of it. + +The Jews, with their narrow conception of the political unit, could +acquiesce neither in federalism nor in union, and as soon as Mahomet +perceived their incapacity he became implacable, and either drove them +forth or compelled their submission by terror and slaughter. But for the +present his policy and prudence dictated compromise, and he was strong +enough to achieve his will. + +The political and social problems of his embryo state had found temporary +solution, and Mahomet was free to turn his attention to external foes. In +his attitude towards those who had persecuted him he evinced more than +ever his determination to build up not only a religious society, but a +powerful temporal state. + +The Meccans would have been content to leave matters as they stood, and +were quite prepared to let Mahomet establish his power at Medina +unmolested, provided they were given like immunity from attacks. But from +the beginning other plans filled the Prophet's thoughts, and though +revenge for his privations was declared to be the instigator of his +attacks on the Kureisch trade, the determining motive must be looked for +much more deeply. The great project of the harassment and final overthrow +of the Kureisch was dimly foreshadowed in Mahomet's mind, and he became +ever more deeply aware of the part that must be played therein by the +sword. + +As yet he hesitated to acclaim war as the supreme arbiter in his own and +his followers' destinies, for the valour of his levies and the skill of +his leaders was unproved. The forays undertaken before the battle of Bedr +are really nothing more than essays by the Muslim in the game of war, and +it was not until proof of their power against the Kureisch had been given +that Mahomet gave up his future policy into the keeping of that bright +disastrous deity that lures all sons of men. In a measure it was true +that the clash between Mahomet and the Kureisch was unavoidable, but that +it loomed so large upon the horizon of Medina's policy is due to the +Prophet's determination to strike immediately at the wealth and security +of his rival. Lust for plunder, too, added its weight to Mahomet's +reprisals against Mecca; even if that city was content to leave him in +peace, still the Kureischite caravans to Bostra and Syria, passing so +near to Medina, were too tempting to be ignored. + +Along these age-old routes Meccan merchandise still travelled its devious +way, at the mercy of sun and desert storms and the unheeding fierceness +of that cataclysmic country, a prey to any marauding tribes, and +dependent for its existence upon the strength of its escort. And since +plunder is sweeter than labour, every chief with swift riders and good +spearmen hoped to gain his riches at Meccan expense. But their attempts +were for the most part abortive, chiefly because of the lack of cohesion +and generalship; until Mahomet none really constituted a serious menace +to the Kureischite wealth. + +In Muharram 622 (April) the Hegira took place, and six months sufficed +Mahomet to establish his power securely enough to be able to send out his +first expedition against the Kureisch in Ramadan (December) of the same +year. The party was led by Hamza, whose soldier qualities were only at +the beginning of their development, and probably consisted of a few +Muslim horsemen on their beautiful swift mounts and one or two spearmen, +and possibly several warriors skilled in the use of arrows. They sallied +forth from Medina and went to meet the caravan as it prepared to pass by +their town. The Kureisch had placed Abu Jahl in command--a man whose +invincible hatred for Islam and the Prophet had manifested itself in the +persecution at Mecca, and whose hostility increased as the Muslim power +advanced. + +The caravan was guarded, but none too strongly, and Hamza's troop pursued +and had almost attacked it when a Bedouin chief of the desert more +powerful than either party interposed and compelled the Muslim to +withdraw, while he forbade Abu Jahl to pursue them or attempt revenge. So +the caravan continued its way unmolested into Syria and there exchanged +its gums, leather, and frankincense for the silks and precious metals, +the fine stuffs and luxurious draperies which made the Syrian markets a +vivid medley of sheen and gloss, stored with bright colours and burnished +surfaces shimmering in the hot radiance of the East. In Jan. 623 the +caravan set out homeward "on its lone journey o'er the desert," and again +the Muslim sent out an attacking party in the hope of securing this +larger prize. But the Kureisch were wise and had provided themselves +with a stronger escort before which the Muslim could do nothing but +retreat--not, however, before they had sent a few tentative arrows at the +cavalcade. Obeida, their leader and a cousin of Mahomet, gave the command +to shoot, and is renowned henceforth as "he who shot the first arrow for +Islam." + +After a month another essay was made upon a northward-bound caravan by +Sa'd, again without success, for he had miscalculated dates and missed +his quarry by some days. Each leader on his return to Medina was received +with honour by Mahomet as one who had shown his prowess in the cause of +Isalm and presented with a white banner. + +So far the prophet himself had not taken the field; now, however, in the +summer and autumn of 623, in spite of signs that all was not well with +the Jewish alliance at home, Mahomet took the field in person and +conducted three larger but still unsuccessful expeditions; the last +attacking levy of October 623 consisted of 200 men, but even then Mahomet +was able to effect nothing against the Kureischite escort. The attempted +raid had nevertheless an important outcome, for by this exhibition of +strength Mahomet succeeded in convincing a neighboring desert tribe, +hitherto friendly to Mecca, of the advisability of seeking alliance with +the Muslim. + +The treaty between Mahomet and the Bedouin tribe marks the beginning of a +significant development in his foreign polity. Like the Romans, and all +military nations, he knew the worth of making advantageous alliances, +while he was clear-sighted enough to realise that the struggle with Mecca +was inevitable. During the months preceding the battle of Bedr he +concluded several treaties with desert tribes, and it is to this policy +he owes in part his power to maintain his aggressive attitude towards the +Kureisch, for with the alliance of the tribes around the caravan routes +Mahomet could be sure of hampering the Meccan trade. + +While the Prophet was in the field he left representatives to care for +the affairs of his city. These representatives were designated by him, +and were always members of his personal following. Ali and Abu Bekr were +most often chosen until All proved his worth as a warrior, and so usually +accompanied or commanded the expeditionary force. The representatives +held their authority direct from Mahomet, and had in all matters the +identical power of the Prophet during his absence. It speaks well for the +loyalty and acumen of these ministers that Mahomet was enabled to leave +the city so often and so confidently, and that the government continued +as if under his personal supervision. + +Whether the Jews were overbold because of Mahomet's frequent absences, or +whether they now became conscious of the trend of Mahomet's policy +towards the absorption of the Jewish element within the city into Islam, +will never be made clear, beyond the fact that the Jewish tribes were not +enthusiastic in their union with the Muslim, and that their national +character precluded them from accepting an alliance that threatened the +autonomy of their religion. It is, however, certain that the discontent +of the Jews voiced itself more and more loudly as the year advanced. The +suras of the period are full of revilings and threats against them, and +form a greater contrast coming after the later Meccan suras wherein +Israel was honoured and its heroes held up as examples. A few Jews had +been won over to his cause, but the mass showed themselves either hostile +or indifferent to the federal idea. As yet no definite sundering +of relationships had occurred, but everything pointed to a speedy +dissolution of the treaty unless one side or the other moderated its +views. + +The autumn of 628 saw Mahomet fully established in Medina. He had made +his worth known by his energy and organising power, by his devotion to +Allah and his zeal for the faith he had founded. The Medinans regarded +him already as their natural leader, and he had definitely adopted their +city as his headquarters. Through his skill as a statesman and his +loyalty to an idea he wrought out, the foundations of his future state, +and if the latter months of 623 saw him not yet strong enough to overcome +the Meccans, at least he was so firmly established that he could afford +to dispense with any overtures to the increasingly hostile Jews, and he +had gained sufficient adherents to allow him to contemplate with +equanimity the prospect of a sharp and prolonged struggle with the +Kureisch. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECESSION OF THE JEWS + +_"Even though thou shouldst bring every kind of sign to those who have +received the Scriptures, yet Thy Kibla they will not adopt; nor shalt +thou adopt their Kibla; nor will one part of them adopt the Kibla of the +other."--The Kuran_. + +Mahomet realised the position of affairs at Medina too acutely to allow +of his undertaking in person any predatory expeditions against the +Kureisch during the autumn and winter of 623. The Jews were chafing under +his tacit assumption of State control, and although their murmurings had +not reached the recklessness of strife, still both their leaders and the +Muslim perceived that their disaffection was inevitable. Insecurity at +home, however, did not prevent him from sending out an expedition in +Rajab (October) of that year under Abdallah. Rajab is a sacred month in +the Mohamedan calendar, one in which war is forbidden. Strictly, +therefore, in sending out an expedition at all just then Mahomet was +transgressing against the laws of that religion which, purged of its +idolatries, he claimed as his own. But it was a favourable opportunity to +attack the Kureischite caravan on its way to Taif, and therefore Mahomet +recked nothing of the prohibition. + +Taif was a very distant objective for an expeditionary band from Medina, +and that Mahomet contemplated attack upon his enemy by a company so far +removed from its base is convincing proof, should any be needed, of his +confidence in his followers' prowess and his conciliation of the tribes +lying between the two hostile cities. + +Sealed orders were given to Abdallah, with instructions not to open the +parchment until he was two days south of Medina. At sunset on the second +day he came with his eight followers to a well in the midst of the +desert. There under the few date palms, which gave them rough shelter, he +broke the seal and read: + +"When thou readest this writing depart unto Nakhla, between Taif and +Mecca; there lie in wait for the Kureisch, and bring thy comrades news +concerning them." + +As Abdallah read his mind alternated between apprehension and daring, and +turning to his companions he took counsel of them. + +"Mahomet has commanded me to go to Nakhla and there await the Kureisch; +also he has commanded me to say unto you whoever desireth martyrdom for +Islam let him follow me, and whoever will not suffer it, let him turn +back. As for me, I am resolved to carry out the commands of God's +Prophet" + +Then one and all the eight companions assured him they would not forsake +him until the quest was achieved. At dawn they resumed their march and +arrived at length at Nakhla, where they encountered the Kureisch caravan +laden with spice and leather. Now, it was the last day of the month of +Rajab, wherein it was unlawful to fight, wherefore the Muslim took +counsel, saying: + +"If we fight not this day, they will elude us and escape." + +But the Prophet's implied command was strong enough to induce initiative +and hardihood in the small attacking party. They bore down upon the +Kureisch, showering arrows in their path, so that one man was killed and +several wounded. The rest forsook their merchandise and fled, leaving +behind them two prisoners, whose retreat had been cut off. Abdallah was +left in possession of the field, and joyfully he returned to Medina, +bearing with him the first plunder captured by the Muslim. + +But his return led Mahomet into a quandary from which there seemed +no escape. Politically, he was bound to approve Abdallah's deed; +religiously, he could neither laud it nor share the fruits of it. For +days the spoils remained undivided, but Abdallah was not punished or even +reprimanded. Meanwhile, the Jews and the Kureisch vied with one another +in execrating Mahomet, and even his own people murmured against him. It +was clearly time that an authoritative sanction should be given to the +deed, and accordingly in the sura, "The Cow," we have the revelation from +Allah proclaiming the greater culpability of the Infidels and of those +who would stir up civil strife: + +"They will ask thee concerning war in the Sacred Month. Say: To war +therein is bad, but to turn aside from the cause of God, and to have no +faith in Him, and in the Sacred Temple, and to drive out its people, is +worse in the sight of God; civil strife is worse than bloodshed." + +No possible doubt must be cast in this and similar cases upon Mahomet's +sincerity. The Kuran was the vehicle of the Lord; he had used it to +proclaim his unity and power and his warnings to the unrighteous. Now +that Islam had recognised his august and indissoluble majesty, and had +accorded the throne of Heaven and the governance of earth to him +indivisibly, the world was split up into Believers and Unbelievers. The +Kuran, therefore, must of necessity cease to be merely the proclamation +of divine unity that it had been and become the vehicle for definite +orders and regulations, the outcome of those theocratic ideas upon which +Mahomet's creed was founded. The justification would not appeal to the +people unless Allah's sanction supported it, and Mahomet realised with +all his ardour of faith that the transgression was slight compared with +the result achieved towards the progress of Islam. The Prophet therefore +received, with Allah's approval, a fifth of the spoil, but the captives +he released after receiving ransom. + +"This," says the historian, "was the first booty that Mahomet obtained, +the first captives they seized, and the first life they took." The +significance of the event was vividly felt throughout Islam, and +Abdallah, its hero, received at Mahomet's hands the title of "Amir-al- +Momirim," Commander of the Faithful--a title which recalls inseparably +the cruelty and magnificence, the glamour and rapacity, of Arabian Bagdad +under Haroun-al-Raschid. The valorous enterprise had now been achieved, +the Kureisch caravan was despoiled, and the Kureisch themselves wrought +into fury against the Prophet's insolence; but more than all, the channel +of Mahomet's policy of warfare became thereby so deeply carved that he +could not have effaced it had he desired. Henceforth his creative genius +limited itself to the deepening of its course and the direction of its +outlet. + +The Jews had not rested content with murmuring against Mahomet's rule, +they sought to embarrass him by active sedition. One of their first +attempts against Mahomet's regime was to stir up strife between the +Refugees and Helpers. In this they would have been successful but for +Mahomet's efficient system of espionage, a method upon which he relied +throughout his life. Failing to foment a rebellion in secret they +proceeded to open hostilities, and the Muslim, jealous for their faith, +retaliated by contempt and estrangement. During the winter of 623 +personal attack was made by the mob upon Mahomet. The people were hounded +on by their leaders to stone the Prophet, but he was warned in time and +escaped their assaults. + +The popular fury was merely the reflex of a fundamental division of +thought between the opposing parties. The Jewish and Muslim systems +could never coalesce, for each claimed the dominance and ignored all +compromise. The age-long, hallowed traditions of the Jews which supported +a theocracy as unyielding as any conception of Divine sovereignty +preached by Mahomet, found themselves faced with a new creative force +rapidly evolving its own legends, and strong enough in its enthusiasm to +overwhelm their own. The Rabbis felt that Mahomet and his warrior +heroes--Ali, Omar, Othman, and the rest--would in time dislodge from +their high places their own peculiar saints, just as they saw Mahomet +with Abu Bekr and his personnel of administrators and informers +already overriding their own councillors in the civil and military +departments of their state. The old regime could not amalgamate with the +new, for that would mean absorption by its more vigorous neighbour, and +the Jewish spirit is exclusive in essence and separatist perforce. +Mahomet took no pains to conciliate his allies; they had made a treaty +with him in the days of his insecurity and he was grateful, but now his +position in Medina was beyond assailment, and he was indifferent to their +goodwill. As their aggression increased he deliberately withdrew his +participation in their religious life, and severed his connection with +their rites and ordinances. + +The Kibla of the Muslim, whither at every prayer they turned their faces, +and which he had declared to be the Temple at Jerusalem, scene of his +embarkation upon the wondrous "Midnight Journey," was now changed to the +Kaaba at Mecca. What prevision or prophetic inspiration prompted Mahomet +to turn his followers' eyes away from the north and fix them upon their +former home with its fierce and ruthless heat, the materialisation, it +seemed, of his own inexorable and passionate aims? Henceforth Mecca +became unconsciously the goal of every Muslim, the desired city, to be +fought for and died for, the dwelling-place of their Prophet, the crown +of their faith. + +The Jewish Fast of Atonement, which plays so important a part in Semite +faith and doctrine, had been made part of the Muslim ritual in 622, while +a federal union still seemed possible, but the next year such an +amalgamation could not take place. In Ramadan (Dec. to January), +therefore, Mahomet instituted a separate fast for the Faithful. It was to +extend throughout the Sacred Month in which the Kuran had first been sent +down to men. Its sanctity became henceforth a potent reminder for the +Muslim of his special duties towards Allah, of the reverence meet to be +accorded to the Divine Upholder of Islam. During all the days of Ramadan, +no food or drink might pass a Muslim lip, nor might he touch a woman, but +the moment the sun's rim dipped below the horizon he was absolved from +the fast until dawn. No institution in Islam is so peculiarly sacred as +Ramadan, and none so scrupulously observed, even when, by the revolution +of the lunar year, the fast falls during the bitter heat of summer. It is +a characteristic ordinance, and one which emphasises the vivid Muslim +apprehension of the part played by abstention in their religious code. +At the end of the fast--that is, upon the sight of the next new +moon--Mahomet proclaimed a festival, Eed-al-Fitr, which was to take the +place of the great Jewish ceremony of rejoicing. + +At this time, too, Mahomet, evidently bent on consolidating his religious +observances and regulating their conduct, decreed a fresh institution, +with parallels in no religion--the Adzan, or call to prayer. Mahomet +wished to summon the Believers to the Mosque, and there was no way except +to ring a bell such as the Christians use, which rite was displeasing to +the Faithful. Indeed, Mahomet is reported later to have said, "The bell +is the devil's musical instrument." + +But Abdallah, a man of profound faith and love for Islam, received +thereafter a vision wherein a "spirit, in the guise of man, clad in green +garments," appeared to him and summoned him to call the Believers to +prayer from the Mosque at every time set apart for devotion. + +"Call ye four times 'God is great,' and then, 'I bear witness that there +is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet. Come unto prayer, come +unto salvation. God is great; there is no God but Him.'" + +"A true vision," declared Mahomet. "Go and teach it to Bilal, that he may +call to prayer, for he has a better voice than thou." + +When Bilal, a slave, received the command, he went up to the Mosque, and +climbing its highest minaret, he cried aloud his summons, adding at each +dawn: + +"Prayer is better than sleep, prayer is better than sleep." + +And when Omar heard the call, he went to Mahomet and declared that he had +the previous night received the same vision. + +And Mahomet answered him, "Praise be to Allah!" + +Therewith was inaugurated the most characteristic observance in Islam, +the one which impresses itself very strongly upon the Western traveller +as he hears in the dimness of every dawning, before the sun's edge is +seen in the east, the voices of the Muezzin from each mosque in the city +proclaiming their changeless message, their insistent command to prayer +and praise. He sees the city leap into magical life, the dark figures of +the Muslim hurrying to the Holy Place that lies shimmering in the golden +light of early day, and knows that, behind this outward manifestation, +lies a faith, at root incomprehensible by reason of its aloofness from +the advancing streams of modern thought, a faith spiritually impotent, +since it flees from mysticism, generating an energy which has expended +its vital force in conquest, only to find itself too intellectually +backward and physically sluggish to gather in prosperity the fruits of +its attainments. Its lack of imagination, its utter ignorance of the lure +of what is strange, have been responsible for its achievement of +stupendous tasks, for the driving energy behind was never appalled by +anticipation, nor checked by any realisation of coming stress and terror. +And the same qualities that led the Muslim to world-conquest thereafter +caused their downfall, for their minds could not visualise that world of +imagination necessary for any creative science, while they were not +attuned in intellect for the reception of such generative ideas as have +contributed to the philosophic and speculative development of the Western +world. + +All the characteristics which distinguish Islam to the making and the +blasting of its fortunes may be found in embryo in the small Medinan +community; for their leader, by his own creative ardour, imposed upon his +flock every idea which shaped the form and content of its future career +from its rising even to its zenith and decline. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE BATTLE OF BEDR + +_"They plotted, but God plotted, and of plotters is God the best."--The +Koran_. + +Mahomet's star, now continually upon the ascendant, flamed into sudden +glory in Ramadan of the second year of the Hegira. Its brilliance and the +bewilderment caused by its triumphant continuance is reflected in all the +chronicles and legends clustered around that period. + +If Nakhlu had been an achievement worthy of God's emissary, the victory +which followed it was an irrefutable argument in favour of Mahomet's +divinely ordained rulership of the Arabian peoples. It appeared to the +Muslim, and even to contemporary hostile tribes, nothing less than a +stupendous proof of their championship by God. Muslim poets and +historians are never weary of expatiating upon the glories achieved by +their tiny community with little but abiding zeal and supreme faith with +which to confound their foes. No military event in the life of the +Prophet called forth such rejoicings from his own lips as the triumph at +Bedr: + +"O ye Meccans, if ye desired a decision, now hath the decision come to +you. It will be better for you if ye give over the struggle. If ye +return to it, we will return, and your forces, though they be many, shall +never avail you aught, for God is with the Faithful." + +Through the whole of Sura viii the strain of exultation runs, the +presentment in dull words of fierce and splendid courage wrought out into +victory in the midst of the storms and lightnings of Heaven. + +Such an earth-shaking event, the effects of which reached far beyond its +immediate environment, received fitting treatment at the hands of all +Arabian chronicles, so that we are enabled to reconstruct the events +preceding the battle itself, its action and result, with a vivid +completeness that is often denied us in the lesser events. + +The caravan under Abu Sofian, about thirty or forty strong, which had +eluded Mahomet and reached Syria, was now due to return to Mecca with its +bartered merchandise. Mahomet was determined that this time it should not +escape, and that he would exact from it full penalty of the vengeance he +owed the Meccans for his insults and final expulsion from their city. As +soon as the time for its approach drew nigh, Mahomet sent two scouts to +Hama, north of Medina, who were to bring tidings to him the moment they +caught sight of its advancing dust. But Abu Sofian had been warned of +Mahomet's activity and turned off swiftly to the coast, keeping the +seaward route, while he sent a messenger to Mecca with the news that an +attack by the Muslim was meditated. + +Dhamdham, sent by his anxious leader, arrived in the city after three +days' journey in desperate haste across the desert, and flung himself +from his camel before the Kaaba. There he beat the camel to its knees, +cut off its ears and nose, and put the saddle hind foremost. Then, +rending his garments, he cried with a loud voice: + +"Help, O Kureisch, your caravan is pursued by Mahomet!" + +With one accord the Meccan warriors, angered by the news that spread +wildly among the populace, assembled before their holy place and swore a +great oath that they would uphold their dignity and avenge their loss +upon the upstart followers of a demented leader. Every man who could bear +arms prepared in haste for the expedition, and those who could not fight +found young men as their representatives. In the midst of all the tumult +and eager resolutions to exterminate the Muslim, so runs the tale, there +were few who would listen to Atikah, the daughter of Abd-al-Muttalib. + +"I have dreamed three nights ago, that the Kureisch will be called to +arms in three days and will perish. Behold the fulfilment of my dream! +Woe to the Kureisch, for their slaughter is foretold!" + +But she was treated as of no account, a woman and frail, and the army set +out upon its expedition in all the bravery of that pomp-loving nation. + +With Abu Jahl at its head, and accompanied by slave girls with lutes and +tabrets, who were to gladden the eyes and minister to the pleasure of its +warriors, the Kureisch army moved on through the desert towards its +destined goal; but we are told by a recorder, "dreams of disaster +accompanied it, nor was its sleep tranquil for the evil portents that +appeared therein." Thus, apprehensive but dauntless, the Meccan army +advanced to Safra, one day's march from Bedr, where it encountered +messengers from Abu Sofian, who announced that the caravan had eluded the +Muslim and was safe. + +Then arose a debate among the Kureisch as to their next course. Many +desired to return to Mecca, deeming their purpose accomplished now that +the caravan was secure from attack, but the bolder amongst them were +anxious to advance, and the more deliberative favoured this also, because +by so doing they might hope to overawe Mahomet into quietude. But before +all there was the safety of their homes to consider, and they were +fearful lest an attack by a hostile tribe, the Beni Bekr, might be made +upon Mecca in the absence of its fighting men. Upon receiving assurances +of good faith from a tribe friendly to both, they dismissed that fear and +resolved to advance, so that they might compel Mahomet to abandon his +attacks upon their merchandise. + +This proceeding seemed a reasonable and politic measure, until it was +viewed in the light of its consequences, and indeed, judging from +ordinary calculation, such a host could have no other effect than a +complete rout upon such a small and inefficient band as Mahomet's +followers. Therefore, in estimating, if they did at all carefully, the +forces matched against them, the Kureisch found themselves materially +invincible, though they had not reckoned the spiritual factor of +enthusiasm which transcended their own physical superiority. + +These events had taken over nine days, and meanwhile Mahomet had not been +idle. His two spies had brought news of the approach of the caravan, but +beyond that meagre information he knew nothing. The Kureischite activity +thereafter was swallowed up in the vastnesses of the desert, which drew a +curtain as effective as death around the opposing armies. + +But news of the caravan's advance was sufficient for the Prophet. With +the greatest possible speed he collected his army--not, we are told, +without some opposition from the fearful among the Medinan population, +who were anxious to avoid any act which might bring down upon them the +ruthless Meccan hosts. Legend has counted as her own this gathering +together of the Muslim before Bedr, and translating the engendered +enthusiasm into imaginative fact, has woven a pattern of barbaric +colours, wherein deeds are transformed by the spirit which prompts them. +The heroes panted for martyrdom, and each craved to be among the first to +pour forth his blood in the sacred cause. They crowded to battle on +camels and on foot. Abu Bekr in his zeal walked every step of the way, +which he regarded as the road to supreme benediction. Mahomet himself led +his valorous band, mounted on a camel with Ali by his side, having before +him two black flags borne by standard-bearers whose strength and bravery +were the envy of the rest. He possessed only seventy camels and two +horses, and the riders were chosen by lot. Behind marched or rode the +flower of Islam's warriors and statesmen--Abu Bekr, Omar, Hamza, and +Zeid, whose names already resounded through Islam for valiant deeds; +Abdallah, with Mahomet's chosen leaders of expeditions; the rank and +file, three hundred strong, regardless of what perils might overtake +them, intent on plunder and the upholding of their vigorous faith, +sallied forth from Medina as soon as they could be equipped, and took the +direct road to Mecca. On reaching Safra, for reasons we are not told, +they turned west to Bedr, a halting-place on the Syrian road, possibly +hoping to catch the caravan on its journey westwards towards the sea. + +But Abu Sofian was too quick for them. Mahomet's scouts had only reached +Bedr, reconnoitered and retired, when Abu Sofian approached the well +within its precincts and demanded of a man belonging to a neighbouring +tribe if there were strangers in the vicinity. + +"I have seen none but two men, O Chief," he replied; "they came to the +well to water their camels." + +But he had been bribed by Mahomet, and knew well they were Muslim. + +Abu Sofian was silent, and looked around him carefully. Suddenly he +started up as he caught sight of their camels' litter, wherein were +visible the small date stones peculiar to Medinan palms. + +"Camels from Yathreb!" he cried quickly; "these be the scouts of +Mahomet." Then he gathered his company together and departed hastily +towards the sea. He despatched a messenger to Mecca to tell of the +caravan's safety, and a little later heard with joy of his countrymen's +progress to oppose Mahomet. + +"Doth Mahomet indeed imagine that it will be this time as in the affair +of the Hadramate (slain at Nakhla)? Never! He shall know that it is +otherwise!" + +But the army that caused such joy to Abu Sofian created nothing but +apprehension in Mahomet's camp. He knew the caravan had eluded him, and +now there was a greater force more than three times his own advancing on +him. Hurriedly he convened a council of war, whereat his whole following +urged an immediate advance. The excitement had now fully captured their +tumultuous souls, and there was more danger for Mahomet in a retreat than +in an attack. An immediate advance was therefore decided upon, and +Mahomet sent Ali, on the day before the battle, to reconnoitre, as they +were nearing Bedr. The same journey which told Abu Sofian of the +presence of the Muslim also resulted for them in the capture of three +water-carriers by Ali, who dragged them before Mahomet, where they were +compelled to give the information he wanted, and from them he learned the +disposition and strength of the enemy. + +The valley of Bedr is a plain, with hills flanking it to the north and +east. On the west are small sandy hillocks which render progress +difficult, especially if the ground is at all damp from recent rains. +Through this shallow valley runs the little stream, having at its +south-western extremity the springs and wells which give the place its +importance as a halting stage. Command of the wells was of the highest +importance, but as yet neither army had obtained it, for the Muslim had +not taken up their final position, and the Kureisch were hemmed in by the +sandy ground in front of them. + +The wretched water-carriers being brought before Mahomet at first +declared they knew nothing, but after some time confessed they were Abu +Jahl's servants. + +"And where is the abiding place of Abu Jahl?" + +"Beyond the sand-hills to the east." + +"And how many of his countrymen abide with him?" + +"They are numerous; I cannot tell; they are as numerous as leaves." + +"On one day nine, the next ten." + +"Then they number 950 men," exclaimed the Prophet to Ali; "take the men +away." + +Mahomet now called a council of generals, and it was decided to advance +up the valley to the farther side of the wells, so as to secure the +water-supply, and destroy all except the one they themselves needed. This +manoeuvre was carried out successfully, and the Muslim army encamped +opposite the Kureisch, at the foot of the western hills and separated +from their adversaries by the low sandy hillocks in front of them. A +rough hut of palm branches was built for Mahomet whence he could direct +the battle, and where he could retire for counsel with Abu Bekr, and for +prayer. + +Both sides had now made their dispositions, and there remained nothing +but to wait till daybreak. That night the rain descended upon the doomed +Kureisch like the spears of the Lord, whelming their sandy soil and +churning up the rising ground in front of the troops into a quagmire of +bottomless mud. The clouds were tempered towards the higher Muslim +position, and the water drained off the hilly land. + +"See, the Lord is with us; he has sent his heavy rain upon our enemies," +declared Mahomet, looking from his hut in the early dawn, weary with +anxiety for the issue of this fateful hour, but strong in faith and +confident in the favour of Allah. Then he retired to the hut for prayer +and contemplation. + +"O Allah, forget not thy promise! O Lord, if this little band be +vanquished idolatry will prevail and thy pure worship cease from off the +earth." + +He set himself to the encouragement and instruction of his troops. He had +no cavalry with which to cover an advance, and he therefore ordered his +troops to remain firm and await the oncoming rush until the word to +charge was given. + +But on no account were they to lose command of the wells. Drawn up in +several lines, their champions in front and Mahomet with Abu Bekr to +direct them from the rear, the little troop of Muslim awaited the +onslaught of their greater foes. + +But dissent had broken out among the Kureisch generals. Obi, one of +their best warriors, perhaps feeling the confident carelessness of the +Kureisch was misplaced, wanted to go back without attacking. He was +overruled after much discussion and some bad feeling by Abu Jahl, who +declared that if they refrained from attack now all the land would ring +with their cowardice. So a general advance was ordered, and the Kureisch +champions led the way. + +The battle began, as most battles of primitive times, by a series of +single combats, one champion challenging another to fight. The glory of +being the first Muslim to kill a Meccan in this encounter fell to Hamza. +Aswad of the Kureisch swore to drink of the water of those wells guarded +by the Muslim. Hamza opposed, and his first sword stroke severed the leg +of Aswad; but he, undaunted, crawled on until at the fountain he was +slain by Hamza before its waters passed his lips. Now three champions of +the Kureisch came forward to challenge three Muslim of equal birth. +Hamza, Ali, and Obeida answered the charge, and in front of the opposing +ranks three Homeric conflicts raged. + +Hamza, the lion of God, and Ali, the sword of the faith, quickly overcame +their opponents, but Obeida was wounded before he could spear his man. +The sight gave courage to the Kureisch, and now the main body of them +pressed on, seeking to overwhelm the Muslim by sheer weight. The heavy +ground impeded their movements, and they came on slowly with what anxious +expectation on the part of Mahomet's soldiers, whom their Prophet had +commanded to await his signal. + +When the Kureisch were near enough Mahomet lifted his hand: + +"Ya Mansur amit!" (Ye conquerors, strike!) he cried, pointing with +outstretched finger at the close ranks bearing down upon them; "Paradise +awaits him who lays down his life for Islam." + +The Muslim with a wild cry dashed forward against their foe. But the +Kureisch were brave and they were numerous, and the Muslim were few and +almost untutored. The battle raged, surging like foam within the narrow +valley; its waves now roaring almost up to the Prophet's vantage ground, +now retreating in eddies towards the rear of the Kureisch, under a +lowering sky, whose wind-swept clouds seemed to reflect the strife in the +Heavens. + +"Behold Gabriel with a thousand angels charging down upon the Infidels!" +cried Mahomet, as a blast of wind tore shrieking down the valley. "See +Muhail and Seraphil with their troops rush to the help of God's chosen." + +Then as the Muslim seemed to waver, pressed back by the mass of their +enemies, he appeared in their midst, and, taking a handful of dust, cast +it in the face of the foe: + +"Let their faces be confounded!" + +The Muslim, caught by the magnetism of Mahomet's presence, seized by the +immortal energy which radiated from him, rallied their strength. With a +shout they bore down upon the Kureisch, who wavered and broke beneath +this inspired onrush, within whose vigour dwelt all Mahomet's surcharged +ambition and indomitable aims. He commanded the attack to be followed up +at once, and the Kureisch, hampered in their retreat by the marshy +ground, fell in confusion, their ranks shattered, their champions crushed +in the welter of spears and horsemen, swords, armour, sand, blood, and +the bodies of men. + +The order went forth from Mahomet to spare as much as possible his own +house of Hashim, but otherwise the slaughter was as remorseless as the +temper of the Muslim ensured. Of the Prophet's army, so tell the +Chronicles, only fourteen were killed, but of the Kureisch the dead +numbered forty-nine, with a like haul of prisoners. Abu Jahl was among +those sorely wounded; but when Abdallah saw him lying helpless, he +recognised him, and slew him without a word. Then having cut off his +head, he brought the prize to Mahomet. + +"It is the head of God's enemy," cried the Prophet as he gazed on it in +exaltation; "it is more acceptable to me than the choicest camel in all +Arabia." + +The broken remnants of the Kureisch army journeyed slowly back to Mecca +through the same desert that had seen all the bravery and splendour of +their advance, and the news of their terrible fate preceded them. All the +city was draped in cloths of mourning, for there was no distinguished +house that did not bewail its dead. One alone did not weep--Hind, wife of +Abu Sofian, went forth to meet her husband. + +"What doest thou with unrent garments? Knowest thou not the affliction +that hath fallen on this thy city?" + +"I will not weep," replied Hind, "until this wrong has been avenged. When +thou hast gone forth, hast conquered this accursed, then will I mourn for +those who are slain this day. Nay, my lord, I will not deck myself, nor +perfume my hair, nor come near thy couch until I see the avenging of this +humiliation." + +Then Abu Sofian swore a great oath that he would immediately collect men +and take the field once more against Islam. + +There remained now for the victors but the distribution of the spoil and +the decision of the fate of the prisoners. The less valuable of these +were put to death, their bodies cast into a pit, but the Muslim took the +rest with them, hoping for ransom. The spoil was taken up in haste, and +the Prophet repaired joyfully to Safra, where he proposed to divide +it. But there contention arose, as was almost inevitable, over the +distribution of the wealth, and so acute did the disaffection become that +Mahomet revealed the will of Allah concerning it: + +"And know ye, when ye have taken any booty, a fifth part belongeth to God +and to the Apostle, and to the near of kin and to orphans and to the +poor, and to the wayfarer, if ye believe in God, and in that which we +have sent down to our servant on the day of the victory, the day of the + meeting of the Hosts." As part of his due, Mahomet took the famous sword +Dhul Ficar, which has gathered around it as many legends as the weapons +of classical heroes, and which hereafter never left him whenever he took +command of his followers in battle. So the Muslim, flushed with victory, +laden with spoil, returned to Medina, whose entire population assembled +to accord them triumphal entry. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain," cried the little children, catching the +phrase from their parents' lips. + +"Abu Jahl, the sinner, is slain, and the foes of Islam laid low!" was +cried from the mosque and market-place, from minaret and house-top. +"Allah Akbar Islam!" + +The great testing day had come and was past. In open fight, before a host +of their foes, the Muslim with smaller numbers had prevailed. The effect +upon Medina and upon Mahomet's later career cannot be overestimated. It +was indeed a turning point, whence Mahomet proceeded irrevocably upon the +road to success and fame. Reverses hereafter he certainly had, and at +times the outlook was almost insuperably dark, but no misfortune or gloom +could dull the splendour of that day at Bedr, when besides his own +slender following, the hosts of the Lord, whose turbans glowed like +crowns, led by Gabriel in golden armour, had fought for him and +vanquished his foes. The glory of this battle was the lamp by which he +planned his future wins. + +At Medina the Disaffected were triumphantly gathered beneath his banner; +his position became, for the time at least, established. No longer did he +need to conciliate, flatter, spy upon the various factions within his +walls. His prisoners were kindly treated, and some converted by these +means to the faith he had vainly sought to impose upon them. Affairs +within the city were organised and consolidated. Registers were prepared, +the famous "Registers of Omar," which were to contain the names of all +those who had given distinguished service to the cause of Allah, and to +confer upon them exalted rank. The three hundred names inscribed therein +were the embryo of a Muslim aristocracy, constituting, in fact, a peerage +of Islam. Mahomet's religious ordinances were strengthened and confirmed, +while his faith received that homage paid to success which had raised its +founder from the commander of a small hand of religionists to the chief +of a prosperous city, the leader of an efficient army, the head of a +community which held within itself the future dominion of Arabia, of +western Asia, southern Europe, in fact, the greater part of the middle +world. + +More than ever Mahomet perceived that his success lay in the sword. Bedr +set the seal upon his acceptance of warfare as a means of propaganda. +Henceforth the sword becomes to him the bright but awful instrument +through which the will of Allah is achieved. In the measure that he +trusted its power and confided to it his own destiny and that of his +followers, so did war exact of him its ceaseless penalty, urging him on +continually, through motives of policy and self-defence, until he became +its slave, compelled to continue along the path appointed him, or perish +by that very instrument by which his power had been wrought. Henceforward +his activities consist chiefly of wars aggressive and defensive, while +the religion actuating them receives slighter notice, because the main +thesis has been established in his own state and requires the force of +arms to obtain its supremacy over alien races. + +After Bedr, the poet and Prophet becomes the administrator and Prophet. +The quietude and meditation of the Meccan hill-slopes are exchanged for +the council-chamber and the battlefield, and appear upon the background +of his anxious life with the glamour and aloofness of a dream-country; +the inevitable turmoil and preoccupation which accompanies the direction +of affairs took hold upon his life. The fervour of his nature, its +remorseless activity, compelled him to legislate for his followers with +that minute attention to detail almost inconceivable to the modern mind +with its conceptions of the various "departments" of state. + +We see him mainly through tradition, but also to a great extent in the +Kuran directing the humblest details in the lives of the Muslim, +organising their ritual, regulating their commerce, their usury laws, +their personal cleanliness, their dietary, their social and moral +relations. Regarding the multifarious duties and cares of his growing +state, its almost complete helplessness in its hands, for he alone was +its guiding force, it is the clearest testimony to his vital energy, his +strength and sanity of brain, that he was not overwhelmed by them, and +that the creative side of his nature was not crushed beyond recovery; +although confronted by the clamorous demands of government and warfare, +these could not touch his spiritual enthusiasm nor his glowing and +changeless devotion to Allah and his cause. At the end of his long years +of rule he could still say with perfect truth, "My chief delight is in +prayer." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +THE JEWS AT MEDINA + +"And if the people of the Book had believed, it had surely been better +for them: Believers there are among them, but most of them are perverse." +--_The Kuran_. + +The songs of triumph over Bedr had scarcely left the lips of Muslim poets +when the voice of faction was heard again in Medina. The Jews, that +"stiff-necked nation," unimpressed by Mahomet's triumph, careful only of +its probable effect on their own position, which effect they could not +but regard as disastrous, seeing that it augured their own submission to +a superior power, murmured against his success, and tried their utmost to +sow dissension by the publication of contemptuous songs through the +mouths of their poets and prophetesses. Not only did the Jews murmur in +secret against him, but they tried hard to induce members of the original +Medinan tribes to join with them in a desperate effort to throw off the +Muslim yoke. + +Chief among these defamers of Mahomet's prestige was Asma, a prophetess +of the tribe of Beni Aus. She published abroad several libellous songs +upon Mahomet, but was quickly silenced by Omeir, a blind man devoted to +his leader, who felt his way to her dwelling-place at dead of night, and, +creeping past her servant, slew her in the midst of her children. News of +the outrage was brought to Mahomet; it was expected he would punish +Omeir, but: + +"Thou shalt not call him blind, but the seeing," replied the Prophet; +"for indeed he hath done me great service." + +The result of this ruthlessness was the official conversion of the tribe, +for resistance was useless, and they had not, like the Jews, the flame of +faith to keep their resistance alive. "The only alternative to a hopeless +blood feud was the adoption of Islam." But the Jews, with stubborn +consciousness of their own essential autonomy, preferred the more +terrible alternative, and so the defamatory songs continued. When it is +remembered that these compositions took the place of newspapers, were as +universal and wielded as such influence, it is not to be expected that +Mahomet could ignore the campaign against him. Abu Afak, a belated +representative of the prophetic spirits of old, fired by the ancient +glory of Israel and its present threatened degradation at the hands of +this upstart, continued, in spite of all warnings, to publish abroad his +contempt and hatred for the Prophet. + +It was no time for half-measures. With such a ferment as this universal +abuse was creating, the whole of his hard-won power might crumble. Victor +though he was, it wanted only the torch of some malcontents to set +alight the flame of rebellion. Therefore Mahomet, with his inexorable +determination and force of will, took the only course possible in such a +time. The singer was slain by his express command. + +"Who will rid me of this pestilence?" he cried, and like all strong +natures he had not long to wait before his will became the inspired act +of another. + +So fear entered into the souls of the people at Medina, and for a time +there were no more disloyal songs, nor did the populace dare to oppose +one who had given so efficient proof of his power. + +But it was not enough for Mahomet to have silenced disaffection. He +aimed at nothing less than the complete union of all Medina under his +leadership and in one religious belief. To this end he went in Shawwal of +the second year of the Hegira (Jan. 624) unto the Jewish tribe, the Beni +Kainukaa, goldsmiths of Medina, whose works lay outside the city's +confines. There he summoned their chief men in the bazaar, and exhorted +them fervently to become converted to Islam. But the Kainukaa were firm +in their faith and refused him with contemptuous coldness. + +"O Mahomet, thou thinkest we are men akin to thine own race! Hitherto +thou hast met only men unskilled in battle, and therefore couldst thou +slay them. But when thou meetest us, by the God of Israel, thou shalt +know we are men!" Therewith Mahomet was forced to acknowledge defeat, and +he journeyed back to the city, vowing that if Allah were pleased to give +him opportunity he would avenge this slight upon Islam and his own +divinely appointed mission. Friction between him and the Kainukaa +naturally increased, and it was therefore not long before a pretext +arose. The story of a Jew's insult to a Muslim girl and its avenging by +one of her co-religionists is probably only a fiction to explain +Mahomet's aggression against this tribe. It is uncertain how the first +definite breach arose, but it is easy to see that whatever the actual +_casus belli,_ such a development was inevitable. + +The anger of the Prophet was aroused, for were they not presuming to +oppose his will and that of Allah, whose instrument he was? He marshalled +his army and put a great white banner at their head, gave the leadership +to Hamza, and so marched forth to attack the rebellious Kainukaa. For +fifteen days the tribe was besieged in its strongholds, until at last, +beaten and discouraged, faced by scarcity of supplies, and the certainty +of disease, it surrendered at discretion. + +Then was shown in all its fullness the implacable despotism conceived by +Mahomet as the only possible method of government, which indeed for those +times and with that nation it certainly was. The order went forth for the +slaying and despoiling of the Kainukaa, and the grim work began by the +seizure of their armour, precious stones, gold, and goldsmith's tools. +But Abdallah, chief of the Khazraj, and formerly leader of the +Disaffected, became suppliant for their release. He sought audience of +Mahomet, and there petitioned with many tears for the lives of his +friends and kinsmen. But Mahomet turned his back upon him. Abdallah, in +an ecstacy of importunity, grasped the skirt of Mahomet's garment. + +"Loose thou thy hand!" cried Mahomet, while his face grew dark with +anger. + +But Abdallah in the boldness of desperation replied, "I will not let thee +go until thou hast shown favour to my kinsmen." + +Then said Mahomet, "As thou wilt not be silent, I give thee the lives of +those I have taken prisoner." + +Nevertheless, the exile of the tribe was enforced, and Mahomet compelled +their immediate removal from the outskirts of Medina. The Prophet's +later policy towards the Jews was hereby inaugurated. He set himself +deliberately to break up their strongholds one by one, and did not swerve +from his purpose until the whole of the hated race had been removed +either by slaughter or by enforced exile from the precincts of his +adopted city. He would suffer no one but himself to govern, and uprooted, +with his unwavering purpose, all who refused to accept him as lord. + +For about a month affairs took their normal and uninterrupted course in +Medina, but in the following month, Dzul Higg (March), the last of that +eventful second year, a slight disturbance of his steady work of +government threatened his followers. + +Abu Sofian's vow pressed sorely upon his conscience until, unable to +endure inaction further, he gathered together 200 horsemen and took the +highway towards Medina. He travelled by the inland road, and arrived at +length at the settlements of the Beni Nadhir, one of the Jewish tribes in +the vicinity of Medina. He harried their palm-gardens, burnt their +cornfields, and killed two of their men. Mahomet had plundered the Meccan +wealth, his allies should in turn be harassed by his victims. It was +purely a private enterprise undertaken out of bravado and in fulfilment +of a vow. As soon as the predatory attack had been made, Abu Sofian +deemed himself absolved and prepared to return. + +But Mahomet was on his traces. For five days he pursued the flying +Kureisch, whose retreat turned into such a headlong rout that they threw +away their sacks of meal so as to travel more lightly. Therefore the +incident has been known ever since, according to the vivid Arab method of +description, as the Battle of the Meal-bags. But the foe was not worthy +of his pursuit, and Mahomet made no further attempt to come up with Abu +Sofian, but returned at once to Medina. The attack had ended more or less +in fiasco, and as a trial of strength upon either side it was negligible. + +The sacred month, Dzul Higg, and the only one in which it was lawful to +make the Greater Pilgrimage in far-off Mecca, was now fully upon him, and +Mahomet felt drawn irresistibly to the ceremonies surrounding the ancient +and now to him distorted faith. He felt compelled to acknowledge his +kinship with the ancient ritual of Arabia, and to this end appointed a +festival, Eed-al-Zoha, to be celebrated in this month, which was not only +to take the place of the Jewish sacrificial ceremony, but to strengthen +his connection with the rites still performed at Mecca, of which the +Kaaba and the Black Stone formed the emblem and the goal. + +In commemoration of the ceremonial slaying of victims in the vale of Mina +at the end of the Greater Pilgrimage, Mahomet ordered two kids to be +sacrificed at every festival, so that his people were continually +reminded that at Mecca, beneath the infidel yoke, the sacred ritual, so +peculiarly their own by virtue of the Abrahamic descent and their +inexorable monotheism, was being unworthily performed. + +The institution is important, as indicating the development of Mahomet's +religious and ritualistic conceptions. In the first days of his +enthusiasm he was content to enjoin worship of one God by prayer and +praise, taking secondary account of forms and ceremonies. Then came the +uprooting of his outward religious life and the demands of his embryo +state for the manifestations essential to a communistic faith. He found +Israelite beliefs uncontaminated by the worship of many Gods, and turned +to their ritual in the hope of establishing with their aid a ceremonial +which should incorporate their system with his own fervent faith. Now, +finding no middle road between separatism and absorption possible with +such a people as the Jews, and unconsciously divining that in no great +length of time Islam would be sufficient unto itself, he turned again to +the practices of his native religion and ancestral ceremonies. Henceforth +he puts forward definitely his conception of Islam as a purified and +divinely regulated form of the worship followed by his Arabian forbears, +purged of its idol-worship and freed from numerous age-long corruptions. + +Not only in ritual did his mind turn towards Mecca. It looms before his +eyes still as the Chosen City, the city of his dreams, whose conquest and +rendering back purified to the guidance of Allah he sets before his mind +as the ultimate, dim-descried goal of all his intermediary wars. The +Kibla had long since been changed to Mecca; thither at prayer every +Muslim turned his face and directed his thoughts, and now every possible +detail of ancient Meccan ritual was performed in scrupulous deference to +the one God, so that when the time came and in fulfilment of his desires +he set foot on its soil, no part of the ceremonies, with the lingering +enthusiasm of his youth still sweet upon them, might be omitted or be +allowed to lose its savour through disuse. + +The third year of the Hegira began favourably for Mahomet. During the +first month, Muharram, there were three small expeditions against unruly +desert tribes. The Beni Ghatafan on the eastern Babylonian route were +friendly to the Kureisch. This was undesirable, because they might allow +the Meccan caravan to pass through in safety, and the Prophet had +resolved that it should be despoiled by whichever route it journeyed, +coast road or arid tableland. When therefore he received news that they +were assembling in force at Carcarat-al-Kadr, a desert oasis on the +confines of their territory, he marched thither in haste, hoping to catch +and overcome them before they dispersed. + +But the Beni Ghatafan were too wise to suffer this, and when Mahomet came +to the place he found it deserted, save for some camels, left behind in +the flight, which he captured and brought to Medina, deeming it useless +to attempt the pursuit of his quarry through the trackless desert. + +The raid in Jumad II (September) by Zeid was far more successful. Since +the victory at Bedr the coast route had been entirely barred for the +Kureischite caravans, and they were forced to try the central desert, +which road lay through the middle tableland leading on to Babylonia and +the Syrian wastes. The Meccan caravan had only reached Carada when it was +met by a Muslim force under Zeid, sent by the prescience and predatory +instincts of Mahomet. The guard was not strong, possibly because the +Meccans thought there was little fear of attack by this route, and so +Zeid was easily able to overcome his foe and secure the spoil, which +amounted to many bales of goods, camels, trappings, and armour. The +conquerer returned elated to Medina, where he cast the spoil at the feet +of the Prophet. The usual division was made, and the whole city rejoiced +over the wealth it had secured and the increasing discomfiture of its +enemies. + +Meanwhile matters were becoming urgent between the Muslim and the Jews. +Neither the murder of their singers, nor the expulsion of the Kainukaa +could silence the voice of Jewish discontent, which found its most +effective mouthpiece in the poet Ka'b al' Ashraf, son of a Jewess of the +tribe of the Beni Nadhir. This man had been righteously indignant at the +slaughter of the Kureischite champions at Bedr. The story seemed to him +so monstrous that he could not believe it. + +"Is this true?" he asked the messenger; "has Mahomet verily slain these +men? By the Lord, if he has done this, then is the innermost part of the +earth better than the surface thereof!" + +He journeyed in haste to Mecca, and when he heard the dreadful news +confirmed he did his utmost to stir up the Kureisch against the murderer. +As soon as he returned he published verses lamenting the disgraceful +victory purchased at such a price; moreover, he also addressed insulting +love poems to the Muslim women, always with the intent of causing as much +disaffection as possible. At last Mahomet waxed impatient and cried: + +"Who will give me peace from this Ka'b al' Ashraf?" + +Mahomet Mosleima replied, "I, even I will slay him." + +The method of his accomplishment of this deed is instructive of the +estimation in which individual life was then held. Mosleima secured the +assistance of Ka'b's treacherous brother--how, we are not told, but most +probably by bribes. Together the two went to the poet's house by +moonlight, and begged his company on a discussion of much importance. His +young wife would have prevented Ka'b, sensing treachery from the manner +and time of the request, but he disregarded her prayers. In the gleam of +moonbeams the three walked past the outskirts of the city in deepest +converse, the subject of which was rebellion against the Prophet. + +They came at length to the ravine Adjuz, a lonely place overhung with +ghastly silence and pallid under the white light. Here they stopped, and +soon his brother began to stroke the hair of Ka'b until he had lulled him +into drowsiness. Then suddenly seizing the forelock he shouted: + +"Let the enemy of God perish!" + +Ka'b was pinioned, while four men of the Beni Aus slashed at him with +their swords. But he was a brave man and strong, determined to sell his +life dearly. The struggle became furious. + +"When I saw that," relates Mosleima through the mouth of tradition, "I +remembered my dagger, and thrust it into his body with such violence that +it penetrated the entire bulk. The enemy of God gave one cry and fell to +the ground." + +Then they left him, and hastened to tell their master of the good news. +Mahomet rejoiced, and was at no pains to conceal his satisfaction. Ka'b +had made himself objectionable to the Prophet and dangerous to Islam; Ka'b +was removed; it was well; Allah Akbar Islam. + +Eastern nations have never been so careful of human life as Western, and +especially as the Anglo-Saxon peoples. To Mahomet the security of his +state came before all, and if a hundred poets had threatened to undermine +his authority, he would have had them all slain with equal steadfastness. +Men were bound to die, and those who disturbed the progress of affairs +merely suffered more swiftly the universal lot. It is obvious that no +modern Western standard can be set up for Mahomet; the deed must be +interpreted by that inflexible will and determination to achieve his +aims, which lies at the root of all his crimes of state. But the +unfortunate Jews went in fear and trembling, and their panic was +increased when Mahomet issued an order to his followers with permission +to kill them wherever they might be found. He very soon, however, allowed +so drastic a command to lapse, but not before some had taken advantage of +his savage policy, and after a time he made a new treaty with the Jews, +not at all on the old federal lines, but guaranteeing them some sort of +security, provided they showed proper submission to his superior power. +This treaty smoothed over matters somewhat, but nevertheless the Jews +were now thoroughly intimidated, and those who were left lived a +restricted life, wherein fear played the greater part. + +But for the time being Mahomet was satisfied, and no further punitive +acts were attempted; not many months later he was faced with a far +greater danger, the appearance in force of his old enemy the Kureisch, +burning for vengeance, fierce in their hatred of such a despoiler, and +before them Mahomet in the new-found arrogance of his dominion was forced +to pause. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +THE BATTLE OF OHOD + +"If a wound hath befallen you, a wound like it hath already befallen +others; we alternate these days (of good and evil fortune) among men, +that God may know those who have believed and that He may take martyrs +from among you."--_The Kuran_. + +The Jews had been alternately forced and cajoled into submission, the +Disaffected had been swept into temporary loyalty after the triumph at +Bedr, his own followers were magnificently proud of his dominance, +the Kureisch had made as yet no serious endeavours to avenge their +humiliation at Bedr; moreover, the religious and political affairs of the +city had been regulated so that it was possible to carry on the usual +business of life in security--a security which certainly possessed no +guaranteed permanence, and which might at any moment crack beneath the +feet of those who walked thereon and plunge them back into an anarchy of +warring creeds and chiefs--still a security such as Medina had seldom +known, built up by the one strong personality within its walls. + +For a few months Mahomet could live in peace among his followers, +and the interest shifts not to his religious ordinances and work of +government--these had been successfully started, and were now continuing +almost automatically--but to his domestic life and his relations with his +intimate circle of friends. As his years increased he felt the continual +need of companionship and consolation, and while he sought for advice in +government and counsel in war from such men as Abu Bekr, Ali, and Othman, +he found solace and refreshment in the ministering hands of women. + +Sawda he already possessed, and her slow softness and unimaginative mind +had already begun to pall; Ayesha, with her beauty and shrewdness, her +jewel-like nature, bright and almost as hard, could lessen the continual +strain of his life, and induce by a kind of reflex action that tireless +energy of mind find body which was the secret of his power. But these +were not enough, and now he sought fresh pleasure in Haphsa, and in other +and lesser women, though he never cast away his earlier loves, still with +the same unformulated desire, to obtain some respite from the cares which +beset him, some renewal of his vivid nature, burning with self-destroying +fire. + +The emotional stimulus, whose agents women were, became for him as +necessary as prayer, and we see him in later life adding experience after +experience in his search for solace, nevertheless cleaving most to +Ayesha, whose vitality fulfilled his intensest need. Secondary to the +necessity of refreshment came the not inconsiderable duty of securing the +permanence of his power by the foundation of a line of male successors. +His earlier marriages had been productive only of daughters, while his +later unions, and also his most recent with Haphsa, had been unfruitful. +But though so far no direct male issue had been vouchsafed him, he was +careful to unite with himself the most important men in his state by +marriage with his children, binding them thereby with the closest blood +ties. Rockeya, now dead, had married the warrior Othman, and Fatima, the +Prophet's youngest daughter, was bestowed upon the bright and impetuous +Ali, whose exploits in warfare had filled the Muslim with pride and a +wondering fear. Of this marriage were born the famous Hassan and Hosein, +names written indelibly upon the Muslim roll of fame. + +As each inmate became added to his household, rough houses, almost huts, +were built for their reception, but the Prophet himself had no abiding +place, only a council-chamber, where he conducted public business, and +dwelt by turn in the houses of his wives, but delighted most to visit +Ayesha, who occupied the foremost position by virtue of her beauty and +personality. Mahomet's household grew up gradually near the Mosque in +this manner; together with the houses of his sons-in-law, not far away, +and the sacred place itself, it constituted the centre of activity for +the Muslim world, witnessing the arrival and despatch of embassies, the +administration of justice and public business, the performance of the +Muslim religious ceremonial, the Kuranic revelations of Allah's will. It +radiated Mahomet's personality, and concentrated for his followers all +the enthusiasm and persistence that had gone to its creation, as well as +the endurance and foresight ensuring its continuance. + +But such security was not permanently possible for Mahomet; his spirit +was doomed to perpetual sojourn amid tumult and effort. It was almost +twelve months since the victory of Bedr. The broken Kureisch had had time +to recover themselves, and they were now prepared for revenge. The wealth +of Abu Sofian's caravan, so dearly acquired, had not been distributed +after Bedr. It remained inviolate at Mecca, a weapon wherefrom was to be +wrought their bitter vengeance. All their fighting men were massed into a +great host. Horses and armour, weapons and trappings were bought with +their hoarded wealth, and at length, 3000 strong, including 700 mailed +warriors and 200 well-mounted cavalry, they prepared to set forth upon +their work of punishment. + +Not only were their own citizens pressed into the service, but the +fighting men from allied neighbouring tribes, who were very ready to take +part in an expedition that promised excitement and bloodshed, with the +hope of plunder. The wives of their chief men implored permission to go +with the army, pointing out their usefulness and their great eagerness to +share the coming triumph. But many warriors murmured against this, for +the undertaking was a difficult one, and they knew the discomforts of a +long march. At length fifteen specially privileged women were allowed to +travel with the host, among them Hind, the fierce wife of Abu Sofian, who +brought in her train an immense negro, specially reserved for her +crowning act of vengeance, the murder of Hamza, in revenge for the +slaying of her father. The army took the easier seaward route, travelling +as before in all the pomp and gorgeousness of Eastern warfare, and +finally reached the valley of Akik, five miles west of Medina. Thence +they turned to the left, so as to command a more vulnerable place in the +city's defences, and finally encamped at Ohod at the base of the hill on +a fertile plain, separated from the city to the north by several rocky +ridges, impassable for such an army. + +Mahomet's first news of the premeditated attack reached him through his +uncle Abbas, that weak doubter, who never could make up his mind to +become either the friend or the foe of Islam. He sent a messenger to Coba +to say that the Kureiseh were advancing in force. Mahomet was inevitably +the leader of the city in spite of the bad feeling between himself and +certain sections within it. Jews and Disaffected alike looked to him for +leadership in such a crisis; by virtue of his former prowess his counsels +were sought. + +Mahomet knew perfectly well that this attacking force was unlike the +last, which had been gathered together hurriedly and had underestimated +its opposition. He knew that besides a better equipment they possessed +the strongest incentive to daring and determination, the desire to avenge +some wrong. It was with no false estimate of their foe that he counselled +his followers to remain in their city and allow the enemy to waste his +strength on their defences. Abdallah agreed with the Prophet's decision, +but the younger section, and especially those who had not fought at Bedr, +were clamorously dissentient. They pointed out that if Mahomet did not go +forth to meet the Kureisch he would lay himself open to the charge of +cowardice, and they openly declared that their loyalty to the Prophet +would not endure this outrage, but would turn to contempt. Against his +will Mahomet was forced into action. He might succeed in defeating his +foe, and at all events his position would not endure the disloyalty and +disaffection that his refusal would entail. + +After Friday's service he retired to his chamber, and appeared before the +people in armour. He called for three lances and fixed his banners to +them, designing one for the leaders of the refugees, and the other two +for the tribes of the Beni Aus and Khazraj. He could muster in this +year an army of 1000 men, but he had no cavalry, and fewer mailed +warriors than the Kureisch. Abdallah tried his best to dissuade Mahomet, +but the Prophet was firm. + +"It does not become me to lay aside my armour when once I have put it on, +without meeting my foe in battle." + +At dawn the army moved to Ohod, and he drew up his line of battle at the +base of the hill directly facing the Kureisch. But before he could take +up his final position, Abdallah with three hundred men turned their backs +upon him and hastened again to Medina, declaring that the enterprise was +too perilous, and that it had been undertaken against their judgment. +Mahomet let them go with the same proud sufficiency that he had showed +before the advancing host at Bedr. + +"We do not need them, the Lord is on our side." + +Then he directed his attention to the disposition of his forces. He +stationed fifty archers under a captain on the left of his line, with +strict orders that they were to hold their ground whatever chance befell, +so as to guard his rear and foil a Kureischite flank movement. Then, +having provided for the enemy's probable tactics, he drew out his main +line facing Medina in rather shallow formation. + +The attack began as usual, by single combats, in which none of the +champions seem to have taken part, and soon Mahomet's whole line was +engaged in a ruthless onward sweep, before which the Kureisch wavered. +But the Muslim pressed too hotly, and unable to retain their ground at +all points, were driven back here and there. Again their long line +recovered and pursued its foes, only to lose its coherence and +discipline; for a section of them, counting the day already won, began +plundering the Kureisch camp. This was too much for the archers on the +left. Forgetting everything in one wild desire to share the enemy's +wealth, they left their post and charged down into the struggling central +mass. + +Here was Khalid's chance. The chief warrior and counsellor of the +Kureisch gathered his men together hastily, and circling round the now +oblivious Muslim, drove his force against their rear, which broke up and +fled. Mahomet instantly saw the fatal mistake, and commanded the archers +across the sea of men and weapons to remember their orders and stand +firm. But it was too late, and all he could do was to attempt to stay the +Muslim flight. + +"I am the Apostle of God, return!" he called across the tumult. + +But even his magnetism failed to rally the stricken Muslim, and they +rushed in headlong flight towards the slopes of Ohod. In the chaos +that followed, Hind saw her enemy standing against the press of his +fellow-citizens, striving to encourage them, while with his sword he cut +at the pursuing Kureisch. She sent her giant negro, Wahschi, to cleave +his way to the abhorred one through the struggling men, and he crashed +them asunder with spear uplifted to strike. Hamza was felled to the +ground, and with one despairing upward thrust, easily parried by his huge +assailant, he succumbed to Wahschi's spear and lay lifeless, the first +martyr in the cause of Islam, which still remembers with pride his +glorious end. + +Seven refugees and citizens gathered round their leader to defend him, +but the battle raged in his vicinity, and his friends could not keep off +the blows of his enemies. He was wounded, and some of his teeth were +knocked out. Then the cry arose that he was slain, and the evil tidings +heightened the Muslim disaster. A wretched remnant managed to gain the +security of the hill slopes, and not the good news of Mahomet's escape +when they saw him amongst them could make of them aught but a vanquished +and ignominious band. They lay hidden among the hills, while the Kureisch +worked their triumphant vengeance upon the corpses of their victims, +which they mutilated before burying, after the barbarous fashion of the +time, and the savage wrath of Hind found appeasement in her destruction +of Hamza's body. At length the Kureisch prepared to depart, and their +spokesman, going to the base of the fatal hill, demanded the Prophet's +agreement to a fresh encounter in the following year. Omar consented on +behalf of the Prophet and his followers, and Mahomet remained silent, +wishing to confirm the impression that he was dead. + +Why the Kureisch did not follow up their victory and attempt a raid upon +Medina, it is difficult to imagine. Possibly they were apprehensive that +Mahomet might have fresh reserves and strong defences within the city; +but more probably they felt they had accomplished their purpose and the +Muslim would now be cured of seeking to plunder their caravans. So they +retreated again towards Mecca, and the forlorn Muslim crept silently from +their hiding-places to discover the extent of their defeat. They found +seventy-four bodies of their own following and twenty of the enemy. Their +ignominy was complete, and to the bitterness of their reverse was added +the terrible fear that the Kureisch would proceed further and attack +their defenceless city. + +They returned to Medina at sunset, a mournful and piteous band, bearing +with them their leader, whose wounds had been hastily dressed on the +field. Mahomet was indeed in sore straits; himself maimed, the bulk of +his army scattered, his foes victorious and his headquarters full of +seething discontent, brought to the surface by his defeat, he felt +himself in peril even at Medina, and passed the night fearfully awaiting +what events might bring fresh disaster. But his determination and +foresight did not desert him, and once the tormenting night was passed he +recovered his old resourcefulness and his wonderful energy. + +He commanded Bilal to announce that he would pursue the Kureisch, and put +himself, stricken and suffering, at the head of the expedition. They +reached Safra, and remained there three days, returning then to Medina +with the announcement that the Kureisch had eluded them. This sortie was +nothing more than a manifestation of courage, and by it Mahomet hoped to +restore in a measure his shaken confidence in the city, and also to +apprise the Kureisch that he was not utterly crushed. + +But his defeat had damaged his prestige far more than a mere expedition +could remedy, and his followers were aghast at his humiliation. Their +world was upturned. It was as if the Lord Himself, for whom they had +suffered so much, had suddenly demonstrated His frailty and human +weakness. And the malcontents in Medina triumphed, especially the Jews, +who saw with joy some measure of the Prophet's brutality towards them +being meted to him in turn. The situation was grave, and Mahomet's +reputation must be at all costs re-established. He retired for some time +to his own quarters, and received the revelation of part of Sura iii, +wherein he explains the whole matter, urging first that Allah was pleased +to make a selection between the brave and the cowardly, the weak and the +steadfast, and then that the defeat was the punishment for disobeying his +divine commands. The passage is written in Mahomet's most forcible style, +and stands out clearly as a reliable account, for neither the defeat of +the Muslim, nor their own culpability, are minimised. The martyrs at Ohod +receive at his hands their crown of praise. + +"And repute not those slain on God's path to be dead. Nay, alive with +their Lord are they, and richly sustained. Rejoicing in what God of His +bounty hath vouchsafed, filled with joy at the favours of God, and at His +mercy; and that God suffereth not the reward of the faithful to perish." + +He spends most time, however, in speaking for the encouragement of his +sorely tried flock, and for the confusion of those who doubt him. The +revelation came in answer to a direct need, and is inseparable from the +events which called it forth. + +As far as was possible it achieved its purpose, for the Faithful received +it with humility, but it could not fully restore the shaken confidence in +the Prophet. + +The immediate result of the battle of Ohod was to render Mahomet free +from any more threatenings from the Kureisch, who had fulfilled the task +of overawing him into quietude towards them, but its ultimate results +were far-reaching and endured for many years; in fact, it was by reason +of the reverse at Ohod that the next period of his life is crowded with +defensive and punitive expeditions, and attacks upon his followers by +desert tribes. His position at Medina had been rendered thoroughly +insecure, and every tribe deemed it possible to accomplish some kind of +demonstration against him. Jew and Arabian both pitted themselves +against the embryo state, and the powerful desert allies of the Kureisch +constituted a perpetual menace to his own stronghold. It was only when he +had murdered or exiled every Jew, and carried out repeated campaigns +against the tribes of the interior, that his position in Medina was +removed beyond possibility of assailment. + +Ruthlessness and trust in the sword were his only chances of success. If +he relaxed his vigilance or allowed any humane feelings to prevent the +execution of severe measures upon any of his enemies, his very existence +would be menaced. From now he may be said to pass under the tyranny of +war, and its remorseless urging was never slackened until he had his own +native city within his power. The god of battles exacted his pitiless +toll from his devotee, compelling him to work out his destiny by the +sword's rough means. The thinker has become irrevocably the man of +action; prayer has been supplemented by the command, "Fight, and yet +again fight, that God may conquer and retain." Reverses show the temper +of heroes, and Mahomet is never more fully revealed than in the first +gloomy days after Ohod, when he steadfastly set himself to retrieve what +was lost, refusing to acknowledge that his position was impaired, +impervious to the whispers that spoke of failure, supreme in his mighty +asset of an impregnable faith. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE TYRANNY OF WAR + +"And we have sent down Iron. Dire evil resideth in it, as well as +advantage to mankind."--_The Kuran._ + +After the battle of Ohod, two months passed quietly for Mahomet. He was +unable to undertake any aggressive expeditions, and both the Jews at +Medina and the exterior desert tribes were lulled into tranquillity by +the knowledge that his power was for the time considerably weakened. But +the Prophet knew that this security could not continue for long, and for +the character of his future wars he was fully prepared--sufficient proof, +if one were still necessary, of his skill as soldier and leader. + +He knew the Kureisch had instituted a policy of alliance with the +surrounding tribes, and that now their plan would be to crush him by a +ceaseless pressure from the east, united to the inevitable disaffection +within the city as its inhabitants witnessed the decline of their +leader's power. Watchfulness and severity were the only means of holding +his position, and these two qualities he used with a tenacity which alone +secured his ultimate success. + +The first threatenings came from the Beni Asad, a powerful tribe +inhabiting the country directly east of Medina. Under their chief +Tuleiha, they planned a raid against Mahomet. But his excellent system of +espionage stood him, now as always, in good stead, so that he heard of +their scheme before it was ripe, and despatched 150 men to frustrate it. +The Beni Asad were wise enough to give up the attempt after Mahomet's men +had found and plundered their camp. They dispersed for the time being, +and the danger of an attack was averted. But scarcely had the expedition +returned when news came of another gathering at Orna, between Mecca and +Taif. Again Mahomet lost no time, but sent a force large enough to +disperse them in a skirmish, in which the chief of the Lahyan tribe was +killed. + +In the next month Mahomet sent six of his followers to Mecca, probably as +spies, but they were not allowed to reach their goal in safety. At Raja +they fell in with a party of the Beni Lahyan proceeding the same way. The +men were armed, and Mahomet's followers were glad to accompany them, +because of the additional security. At the oasis the party encamped for +the night, and the Muslim prepared unsuspectingly for sleep. At dead of +night they were surrounded by their professed friends, who were resolved +on revenge for the murder of their chief. Four were killed, and two, Zeid +and Khubeib, taken bound to Mecca, whose citizens gloated over their +prey. Legends in plenty group themselves around these two figures--the +first real martyrs for Islam, and one of the most profound testimonies to +the love which Mahomet inspired in his followers is given traditionally +in a few significant sentences dealing with the episode. + +The prisoners were kept a month before being led to the inevitable +torture. Abu Sofian, the scoffer, came to Zeid as he was preparing to +face his death. + +"Wouldst thou not, O Zeid," he asked, "that thou wert once more with thy +family, and that Mahomet suffered in thy place?" + +"By Allah! I would not that Mahomet should suffer the smallest prick from +a thorn; no, not even if by that means I could be safe once more among my +kindred." + +Then the enemy of Islam marvelled at his words and said: "Never have I +seen among men such love as Mahomet's followers bear towards him." + +And after that Zeid was put to death. Mahomet was powerless to retaliate, +and was obliged to suffer from afar the murder of his fellow-believers. + +The fate of these six Muslim gave courage to Mahomet's enemies +everywhere, and prompted even his friends to treachery. The Beni Aamir, +a branch of the great Hawazin tribe dwelling between the Beni Asad and +the Beni Lahyan, were friendly towards Medina, and sent Mahomet gifts as +a guarantee. These Mahomet refused to receive unless the tribe became +converts to Islam. He knew the danger of compromise--his Meccan +experiences had not faded from his mind; moreover, he recognised that in +his present weakened position firmness was essential. He could not open +the gates of his fortress even a chink without letting in a flood before +which it must topple into ruin. + +But their chief would not be so coerced, neither would he give up his +ancestral faith without due examination of that offered in its stead. He +demanded that a party of Muslim should accompany him back to his own +people and strive by reasoning and eloquence to convert them to Islam. +After much deliberation, for he was chary of sending any of his chosen to +what would be swift death in the event of treachery, Mahomet consented, +and gave orders for a party of men skilled in their faith to accompany +Abu Bera back to his people. The men were received in all honour, and +were escorted as befitted their position as far as Bir Mauna, where they +halted, and a Muslim messenger was sent with a letter to the chief of +another branch of the same tribe. This leader, Aamir ibn Sofail, +immediately put the messenger to death, and called upon his allies to +exterminate the followers of the blasphemous Prophet. But the tribe +refused to break Abu Bera's pledge, so Aamir, determined to root them +out, appealed to the Beni Suleim, Mahomet's avowed enemies, and with +their aid proceeded to Bir Mauna. There they fell upon the band of Muslim +and slaughtered them to a man, then returned to their desert fastnesses, +proudly confident in their ability to elude pursuit. The news was carried +to Mahomet, and at first he was convinced that Abu Bera had betrayed him. +His followers, who had brought the news, had fallen upon and killed some +luckless members of the Beni Aamir in reprisal, and Mahomet acclaimed +their action. When, however, he heard from Abu Bera that he and his tribe +had been faithful to their pledge, he paid blood money for the murdered +men; then calling his people together he solemnly cursed each tribe by +name who had dared to attack the Faithful by treachery. + +But the incident did not end here. Mahomet could not compass the +destruction of the Beni Aamir; they were too powerful and dwelt too far +off for his vengeance to assail them, but the Beni Nadhir, the second +Jewish tribe within the Prophet's territory, were near, and they were +confederate with the treacherous people. Mahomet's action was swift and +effective. Force was his only temporal weapon; compulsion his only +policy. + +The command went forth through the lips of Mosleima: + +"Thus saith the Prophet of the Lord: Ye shall go forth out of my land +within a space of ten days; whosoever that remaineth behind shall be +put to death." + +The Beni Nadhir were aghast and trembling. They urged their former +treaties with Mahomet, and the antiquity of their settlements. It was +impossible that they should break up their homesteads thus suddenly and +depart forlorn into an unknown land. But Mahomet was obdurate, with that +same fixity of purpose which was everywhere the keynote of his dominance. + +"Hearts are changed now," was the only reply to their prayers, their +entreaties, and their throats. Abdallah, leader of the Beni Aus and +Khazraj, sought desperately for a reconciliation, but to no purpose; the +die was cast. Then the Jews, brought to bay and careless with the despair +of impotence, refused to obey the command, and prepared to encounter the +wrath of Allah and the vengeance of his emissary. + +"Behold the Jews prepare to fight: great is the Lord!" the Prophet +declared when the news was brought to him. + +He was sure of his victim, and ruthless in destruction. All things were +made ready for the undertaking. The army was assembled and the march +begun. Ali carried the great green banner of the Prophet towards the +stronghold of his enemies. The Beni Nadhir were invested in their own +quarters, the date trees lying outside their fort were burned, their +fields were laid waste. For three weeks the siege endured, each day +bringing the miserable garrison nearer to the inevitable privations and +final surrender. At last the Jews recognised the hopelessness of their +lot and came to reluctant terms, submitting to exile and agreeing to +depart immediately. + +Then followed the terrible breaking up of homes, and the wandering forth +of a whole tribe, as of old, to seek other dwelling-places. Some went to +Kheibar, where they were to suffer later on still more severely at +Mahomet's hands; some went to Jericho and the highlands south of Syria, +but all vanished from their ancient abiding places as suddenly as if a +plague had reduced their land to silence. It was an important conquest +for Mahomet, and has found fitting notice in the Kuran. The number of his +enemies within the city was considerably reduced. He was gradually +proving his power by breaking up the Jewish federations, and thereby +advancing far towards his goal, his unassailable, almost royal dominance +of Medina. Moreover, he bound the refugees closer to him by dividing the +despoiled country amongst them. It was an event worthy of incorporation +into the record of divine favours, for by it the sacred cause of Islam +had been rendered more triumphant. + +"God is the mighty, the wise! He it is who caused the unbelievers among +the people of the Book to quit their homes. And were it not that God had +decreed their exile, surely in this world would he have chastised them: +but in the world to come the chastisement of the fire awaiteth them. This +because they set them against God and His Apostle, and whoso setteth him +against God--! God truly is vehement in punishing." + +The sura ends in a mood of fierce exultation unrivalled by any ecstatic +utterances of his early visions. It is the measure of his relief at his +first great success since the humiliation of Ohod. His fervour beats +through it like the clamour of waters, in whose triumphant gladness no +pauses are heard. + +"He is God, beside whom there is no God: He is the King, the Holy, the +Peaceful, the Faithful, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Strong, the Most +High! Far be the glory of God from that which they unite with Him! He is +God, the Producer, the Maker, the Fashioner! To Him are ascribed excellent +titles. What ever is in the Heavens and in the Earth praiseth Him. He is +the Mighty, the Wise!" + +The expulsion of the Beni Nadhir was a brutal, but necessary act. The +choice lay between their security and his future dominion, and he +uprooted their dwellings as ruthlessly as any conqueror sets aside the +obstacles in his path. Half measures were impossible, even dangerous, and +Mahomet was not afraid to use terrible means to achieve his all-absorbing +end. He had avowedly accepted the behests of the sword, and did not +repudiate his master. The hated Jews were enemies of his God, whose +vicegerent he now ranked himself; their ruin was in the divinely +appointed order of the world. + +The time was soon at hand when, by arrangement, the Medinan army was to +repair to Bedr to meet the Kureisch. The Meccans sent a messenger in +Schaban (Nov. 625) to Mahomet, saying that they were prepared to advance +against him with 2000 foot and 50 horse. This large army did in reality +set out, but was soon forced to return, owing to lack of supplies and +scarcity of food. + +The message was sent mainly in the hope of intimidating the Muslim, but +Mahomet was probably as well informed of the Kureisch movements as they +were themselves, and knew that no real attack was possible. He therefore +determined to show both friends and enemies that he was ready to meet +his foes. The Muslim were not very agreeable, knowing what fate had +decreed at their last encounter with the Meccans, but Mahomet's stern +determination prevailed. He declared that he would go to Bedr even if he +went alone, and so collected by sheer force of will 1500 men. He marched +to Bedr, held camp there for eight days, during which, of course, no +demonstration was made, and the whole expedition was turned into a +peaceable mercantile undertaking. When all their goods had been +profitably sold or exchanged, Mahomet broke up the camp and returned in +triumph to Medina. His prestige had certainly been much increased by this +unmolested sortie. It was therefore in a glad and confident mood that he +returned to his native city and prepared to enjoy his success. + +He took thereupon two wives, Zeinab and Omm Salma, of whom very little is +known, except that Zeinab was the widow of Mahomet's cousin killed at +Bedr. The incident of his marriage with Zeinab finds allusion in the +Kuran in the briefest of passages. She was probably taken as much out of +a desire to protect as a desire to possess, and she quickly became one of +the many with whom Mahomet was content to pass a few days and nights. +There are also signs in the Kuran at this time of disagreements between +the different members of his household, and of their extravagant demands +upon Mahomet. + +It was evidently not so easy to rule his wives as to acquire them. +Moreover, he was beginning to feel the sting of jealousy towards every +other man of the Muslim. + +Here really begins the insistence upon restrictive regulations for women +which has been ever since the bane of Islam. Mahomet could not allow his +wives to go abroad freely, decked in the ornaments he himself had +bestowed, to become a mark for every envious gazer. They were not as +other women, and his imperious nature regarded them as peculiarly +inviolate, so that he fenced in their actions and secluded their lives. +As early as his marriage with Zeinab he imposed restrictions upon women's +dress abroad. They are not to traverse the streets in jewels or beautiful +robes, but are to cover themselves closely with a long sober garment. +Whereas his former sura regarding women had been confined to codifying +and rendering fairer divorce and property laws, now the personal note +sounds strongly, and continues throughout the whole of his later +pronouncements, regarding Muslim women. The next few months were to see +dangers and disturbances in his domestic life which were to fix the +position of women in Islam throughout the coming centuries, but before he +had long completed his latest marriage he was called away upon another +necessary expedition. Thus casually, almost from purely personal +considerations, was the law regarding the status of women established in +Islam. His ordinances have the savour of their impetuous creator, who +found in the subject sex no opposition against the writing down, in their +most sacred book, of those decrees which rendered their inferior position +permanent and authorised. It was Allah speaking through the lips of His +Prophet, and they submitted with willing hearts with no shadow of the +knowledge of all it was to mean to their descendants darkening their +minds. + +In Muharram of 626 the Beni Ghatafan, always formidable on account +of their size and their desert hinterland, assembled in force at +Dzat-al-Rica. Mahomet determinedly marched against them, and once more at +the news of his approach their courage failed them, and they fled to the +mountains. Mahomet came unexpectedly upon their habitations, carried off +some of their women as slaves, and returned to Medina after fifteen days, +having effectively crushed the incipient rising against him. The event is +chiefly important as being the occasion which led Mahomet to institute +the Service of Danger described in the Kuran, whereby half the army +prayed or slept while the other watched. A body of men was therefore kept +constantly under arms while the army was in the field, and public prayers +were repeated twice. + +"And when ye go forth to war in the land, it shall be no crime in you to +cut short your prayers.... And when thou, O Apostle, shalt be among +them and shalt pray with them, then let a party of them rise up with +thee, but let them take their arms; and when they shall have made their +prostrations, let them retire to your rear: then let another party that +hath not prayed come forward, and let them pray with you; but let them +take their precautions and their arms." + +The military organisation is being gradually perfected, so that the +Mahometan sword may finally be in the perpetual ascendant. This was the +chief significance of a campaign which at best was only an interlude in +the daily life of prayer, civil and domestic cares and regulations which +took up Mahomet's life in the breathing space before the great Meccan +attack. + +Mahomet was absent from Medina but fifteen days, and he returned home +resolved to take advantage of the respite from war. Not long after his +return he happened to visit the house of Zeid, his adopted son, and +chanced not on Zeid, but on his wife at her tiring. Mahomet was filled +with her beauty, for her loveliness was past praise, and he coveted her. +Zeinab herself was proud of the honour vouchsafed her, and was willing, +indeed anxious, to become divorced for so mighty a ruler. Zeid, her +husband, with that measureless devotion which the Prophet inspired in his +followers, offered to divorce her for him. Mahomet at first refused, +declaring it was not meet that such a thing should be, but after a time +his desire proved too strong for him, and he consented. So Zeinab was +divorced, and passed into the harem of the Prophet. And he justified the +proceedings in Sura 33: + + "And when Zeid had settled concerning her + to divorce her, we married her to thee, that it + might not be a crime in the Faithful to marry + the wives of their adopted sons, when they have + settled the affair concerning them.... No + blame attacheth to the Prophet when God hath + given him a permission." + +There follows the sum of Mahomet's restrictions upon the dress and +demeanour of women. They are to veil their faces when abroad, and suffer +no man but their intimate kinsmen to look upon them. The Faithful are +forbidden to go near the dwelling-places of the Prophet's wives without +his permission, nor are they even to desire to marry them after the +Prophet is dead. By such casual means, by decrees born out of the +circumstances of his age and personal temperament, did Mahomet institute +the customs which are more vital to the position and fate of Muslim women +than all his utterances as to their just treatment and his injunctions +against their oppression. + +Power was already taking its insidious hold upon him, and his feet were +set upon the path that led to the despotism of the Chalifate and the +horrors of Muslim conquests. Allah is still omnipotent, but He is making +continual and indispensable use of temporal means to achieve His ends, +and His servant does likewise. + +After the interlude of peace, Mahomet was called upon in July, 626, +to undertake a punitive expedition to Jumat-al-Gandal, an oasis +midway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Persia. The expedition was +successful, and the marauders dispersed. He had now reached the confines +of Syria, and, with the extension of his expeditionary activities, his +political horizon widened. He began to conceive himself as the predatory +chief of Arabia, one who was regarded with awe and fear by the +surrounding tribes, with the one exception of the stiff-necked city, +Mecca, whose inhabitants he longed in vain to subdue. The success +fostered his love of plunder, and inclined him more than ever to hold out +this reward of valour to his followers. His stern and wary policy was +justified by its success, for by it he had recovered from the severe blow +at Ohod, but it threatened to become his master and set its perpetual +seal upon his life. + +In December, 626, he heard of the defection of the Beni Mustalik, a +branch of the Khozaa tribe. They joined the Kureisch for mixed motives, +chiefly political, for they hoped to make themselves and their religion +secure by alliance with Mahomet's enemies. Mahomet learnt of their +desertion through his efficient spies, and determined to anticipate any +disturbance. With Ayesha and Omm Salma to accompany him, and an adequate +army to support him, he set out for the quarters of the Beni Mustalik, +and before long reached Moraisi, where he encamped. The Beni Mustalik +were deserted by their allies, and in the skirmish that followed Mahomet +was easily successful. Their camp was plundered, their women and some of +their men taken prisoner. The expedition was, however, provocative of two +consequences which take up considerable attention in contemporary +records, the quarrel between the Citizens and the Refugees, and the +scandal regarding Ayesha. + +The punishment of the Beni Mustalik had been effected, and nought +remained but the division of the spoil. The captives had mostly been +ransomed, but one, a girl, Juweira, remained sorrowfully with the Muslim, +for her ransom was fixed so high that payment was impossible. Mahomet +listened to her tale, and the loveliness of her face and figure did not +escape him. + +"Wilt thou hearken to what may be better?" he asked her, "even that I +should pay thy ransom and take thee myself?" + +Juweira was thankful for her safety, and rejoiced at her good fortune. +Mahomet married her straightway, and for her bridal gift gave her the +lives of her fellow tribesmen. + +"Wherefore," says Ayesha, "Juweira was the best benefactress to her +people in that she restored the captives to their kinsfolk." + +But the Citizens and Refugees were by no means so contented. Their +quarrel arose nominally out of the distribution of spoil, but really it +was a long smouldering discontent that finally burst into flame. Mahomet +was faced with what threatened to be a serious revolt, and only his +orders for an immediate march prevented the outbreak of desperate +passions--greed and envy. + +Abdallah, their ubiquitous leader, is chidden in the Kuran, where the +whole affair brings down the strength of Mahomet's scorn upon his +offending people. + +The camp broke up immediately, and through its hasty departure Ayesha was +faced with what might have been the tragedy of her life. Her litter was +carried away without her by an oversight on the part of the bearers, and +she was left alone in the desert's velvet dusk with no alternative but to +await its return. The dark deepened, adding its mysterious vastness and +silence to trouble her already tremulous mind. In the first hours of the +night Safwan, one of Mahomet's rear, came towards her as she sat forlorn, +and was amazed to find the Prophet's wife in such a position. He brought +his mule near her, then turned his face away as she mounted, so as to +keep her inviolate from his gaze. Closely veiled, and trembling as to her +meeting with Mahomet, Ayesha rode with Safwan at her bridle until the +next day they came up with the main column. + +Now murmurs against her broke out on all sides. Mahomet refused to +believe her story, and remained estranged from her until she asked +permission to return to her father as her word was thus doubted. Ali was +consulted by the Prophet, and he, with that antagonism towards Ayesha +which germinated later into open hatred, was inclined to believe her +defamers. At last the outcry became so great that Mahomet called upon +Allah. Entering his chamber in Medina, he received the signs of divine +inspiration. When the trance was over, he declared that Ayesha was +innocent, and revealed the passage dealing with divorce in Sura 24: + +"They who defame virtuous women and bring not four witnesses, scourge +them with fourscore stripes, and receive ye not their testimony forever, +for these are perverse persons.... And they who shall accuse their wives, +and have no witnesses but themselves, the testimony of each of them shall +be a testimony by God four times repeated, that He is indeed of them that +speak the truth." + +The revelation ends with a repetition of the restrictions imposed upon +women and an injunction to the Muslim not to enter each other's houses +until they have asked leave. This was a necessary ordinance in that +primitive community, where bolts were little used and there was virtually +no privacy, and was designed, in common with most of his present +utterances, to encourage the leading of decent, well-regulated lives by +the followers of so magnificent a faith. Ayesha's defamers were publicly +scourged, and the matter dismissed from the Muslim mind, save that +regulations had once more been framed upon personal feelings and specific +events, and were to constitute the whole future law regarding an +important and difficult question. + +Mahomet was justly content with the position of affairs after the +dispersion of the Beni Mustalik. He had shown his strength to the +surrounding desert tribes; by systematically crushing each rebellion as +it arose, he had demonstrated to them the impossibility of alliance +against him. He knew they were each prone to self-seeking and distrustful +of each other, and he played unhesitatingly upon their jealousies and +passions. Thus he kept them disunited and fearful, afraid even to ally +with his powerful enemy the Kureisch. For after all, the Meccans were his +chief obstacle; their opposition was spirited and urged on by the memory +of past humiliations and triumphs. They alone were really worthy of his +steel, and he knew that, as far as the intermediary wars were concerned, +they were but the prelude to another encounter in the year-long warfare +with his native city. + +The drama closes in now upon the protagonists; save for the expulsion of +the last Jewish tribe in the neighbourhood of Medina, there is little to +compare with that central causal hatred. The final hour was not yet, but +the struggle grew in intensity with the passage of time--the struggle +wherein one fought for revenge and future freedom from molestation, but +the other for the establishment of a faith in its rightful environment, +the manifestation before men of that Faith's determined achievement, the +symbol of its destined conquests and divinely appointed power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE WAR OF THE DITCH + + "And God drove back the Infidels in their wrath; they won no + advantage; God sufficed the Faithful in the fight, for God is strong, + mighty."--_The Kuran._ + +The Kureischite plans for the annihilation of Mahomet were now complete. +They had achieved an alliance against him not only among the Bedouin +tribes of the interior, but also among the exiled and bitterly vengeful +Medinan Jews. Now in Schawwal, 627, Mahomet's unresting foes summoned all +their confederates to warfare "against this man." The allied tribes, +chief among whom were the Beni Suleim and Ghatafan, always at feud with +Mahomet, hastened to mass themselves at Mecca, where they were welcomed +confidently by the Kureiseh. + +The host was organised in three separate camps, and Abu Sofian was placed +at the head of the entire army. Each leader, however, was to have +alternating command of the campaign; and this primitive arrangement--the +only one, it seems, by which early nations, lacking an indisputable +leader, can surmount the jealousy and self-will displayed by every petty +chief--is responsible in great measure for their ultimate failure. In +such fashion, still with the bravery and splendour of Eastern warfare +wrapped about them, an army of 4000 men, with 300 horses, 1500 camels, +countless stores, spears, arrows, armour and accoutrements, moved forward +upon the small and factious city of the Prophet, whose fighting strength +was hampered by the exhaustion of many campaigns and the disloyalty of +those within his very walls. + +The Prophet was outwardly undismayed; whatever fears preyed upon his +inner mind, they were dominated by his unshakable belief in the +protection and favour of Allah. He did not allow the days of respite to +pass him idly by. As soon as he received the news of this fateful +expedition, he called together a meeting of his wisest and bravest, and +explained to them the position. He told them of the hordes massed against +them, and dwelt upon the impossibility of opposing them in the open field +and the necessity of guarding their own city. This time there were no +dissentient voices; both the Disaffected and the Muslim had had a lesson +at Ohod that was not lightly forgotten. Then Salman, a Persian, and one +skilled in war, suggested that their stronghold should be further +defended by a trench dug at the most vulnerable parts of the city's +outposts. + +Medina is built upon "an outcropping mass of rock" which renders attack +impossible upon the north-west side. Detached from it, and leaving a +considerable vacant space between, a row of compactly built houses stood, +making a very passable stone wall defence for that portion of the city. +The trench was dug in that level ground between the rocks and the houses, +and continued also upon the unsheltered south and east sides. There are +many legends of the digging of the trench and the desperate haste with +which it was accomplished. Mahomet himself is said to have helped in the +work, and it is almost certain that here tradition has not erred. The +deed coincides so well with his eager and resolute nature, that never +neglected any means, however humble, that would achieve his purpose. The +Faithful worked determinedly, devoting their whole days to the task, and +never resting from their labours until the whole trench was dug. The hard +ground was softened by water, and legendary accounts of Mahomet's powers +in pulverising the rocks are numerous. + +The great work was completed in six days, and on the evening of its +achievement the Muslim army encamped between the trench and the city in +the open space thus formed. A tent of red leather was set up for Mahomet, +where Zeinab and Omm Salma, as well as his favourite and companion, +Ayesha, visited him in turn. Around him rested his chief warriors, Ali, +Othman, Zeid, Omar, with his counseller Abu Bekr and his numerous +entourage of heroes and enthusiasts. They were infused with the same +exalted resolve as their leader, and waited undismayed for the Infidel +attack. But with the rest of the citizens, and especially with the +Disaffected, it was otherwise. Ever since the rumour of the onrush of +their foe reached Medina, they had murmured openly against their leader's +rule. They had refused to help in the digging of the ditch, and now +waited in ill-concealed discontent mingled with a base panic fear for +their own safety. + +The Meccan host advanced as before by way of Ohod, and pursued their way +to the city rejoicing in the freedom from attack, and convinced thereby +that their conquest of Medina would be rapid and complete. They +penetrated to the rampart wall of houses and marched past them to the +level ground, intending to rush the city and pen the Muslim army within +its narrow streets, there to be crushed at will by the sheer mass of its +foes. Then as the whole army in battle array moved forward, strong in its +might of numbers, the advance was checked and thrown into confusion by +the opposing trench. Abu Sofian, hurrying up, learnt with anger of this +unexpected barrier. Finding he could not cross it, he waxed indignant, +and declared the device was cowardly and "unlike an Arab." The +traditionalist, as usual, was disconcerted by the resourceful man of +action, and the Muslim obstinately remained behind their defence. + +The Kureisch discharged a shower of arrows over the ditch among the +entrenched Muslim and then retired a little from their first position, so +as to encamp not far from the city and try to starve it into surrender. +Mahomet was content that he had staved off immediate attack, and set to +work to complete his defences and strengthen his fighting force, when +grave news reached him from the immediate environs of the city. +Successful as he had been in extirpating two of the hated Jewish tribes, +Mahomet was nevertheless forced to submit to the presence of the Beni +Koreitza, whose fortresses were situated near the city on its undefended +side. It is uncertain whether there was ever a treaty between this tribe +and the Prophet, or what its provisions were supposing such a document to +have existed, but it is evident that there must have been some peaceable +relations between the Muslim and the Koreitza, and that the latter were +of some account politically. Now, the Jewish tribe, resentful at the +treatment of their fellow-believers, and seeing the t me ripe for +secession to the probable winning side, cast away even their nominal +allegiance to Mahomet and openly joined his enemies. A Muslim spy was +sent to their territory to discover their true feeling, and his +report was so disquieting that the Prophet immediately set a guard over +his tent, fearing assassination, and ordered patrols to keep the Medinan +streets free from any attempts to disturb the peace and threaten his army +from within the city's confines. + +The Muslim were now in parlous state. The trench might avail to stop the +enemy for a time, but an opportunity was sure to occur when they would +attempt a crossing, and once within the city Mahomet knew they would +carry destruction before them, and irretrievable ruin to his cause. His +Jewish enemies made common enmity against him with the Kureisch, and the +Disaffected declared their intention of joining the rest of his foes. But +he would not yield, and continued unabashed to defend the trench and city +with all the skill and energy he could command from his harassed +followers. + +The Kureisch remained several days inactive, but at last Abu Jahl +discovered a weak spot in his enemies' line where the trench was narrow +and undefended. He determined on immediate attack, and sent a troop of +horsemen to clear the ditch and give battle on the opposite side. The +move was noticed from within the defence. Ali and a body of picked men +were sent to frustrate it. Ali reached the ground just as the foremost of +the Kureisch cleared the ditch and prepared to advance upon the city. +Swiftly he leapt from his horse, and challenged an aged chief of the +Kureisch to single combat. The gage was accepted, but the chieftain could +stand up to Ali no better than a reed stands upright before the wind that +shakes it. The chief was slain before the eyes of his friend, and +thereupon the general onslaught began. The Muslim fought like those +possessed, until in a little space there remained not one of the defiant +party that had recently crossed the gulf between the armies. But the +Kureisch were undaunted; the order for a general attack upon the trench +was now ordered. The assault began in the early morning and continued +throughout the day. For long weary hours, without respite and with very +little sustenance the Muslin army kept the Kureisch host at bay. The +encounters were sharp and prolonged, and none of the men could be spared +from the strife to make their daily devotions to Allah. + +"They have kept us from our prayers," declared Mahomet in wrath, as he +watched the unresting attack, "God fill their bellies and their graves +with fire!" + +He cursed the Infidel dogs, while exhorting his men to stand firm, and +before all things keep their lines unbroken. The attack was repulsed, but +not without great loss and misery upon Mahomet's side. His prestige was +now entirely lost among the citizens, only the Faithful still rallied +round him out of their invincible trust in his personality. The +Disaffected began to foment agitation within the narrow streets, the +bazaars and public places. There was great distress among the people of +Medina; scarcity of food mingled with their fears for the future to +create an insecurity wherein crime finds its dwelling-place and brutality +its fostering soil. "Then were the Faithful tried, and with strong +quaking did they quake." Nevertheless, they stood firm, and took no part +in the murmuring of the Disaffected, and presently Allah sent them down +succour for their steadfastness and high courage. + +Mahomet, failing in direct warfare to drive back his enemies, resorted to +strategy. He planned to send a secret embassy to buy off the Beni +Ghatafan, and so strive to break up the Kureisch alliance. But the rest +of the city were unwilling to adopt this measure, preferring to trust +more firmly in the strength of their defences. Finally, Mahomet +determined to essay upon his own initiative some means of subtlety +whereby he might force back this encompassing foe that hourly threatened +his whole dominion. He sent an embassy to the Jews outside the city with +intent to sow dissension between them and the Kureisch. + +"See now," he commanded his envoy, "whether thou canst not break up this +confederacy, for war, after all, is but a game of deception." + +The Muslim pursued his way unchecked to the camp of the Koreitza, just +outside the city, where he whispered his insidious messages into the ears +of the chief, saying the Kureisch were already weary of fighting and were +even now planning a retreat, and would forsake their allies as soon as +was expedient, leaving them to the mercy of a Muslim revenge. He promised +bribes of money, slave girls, and land from the Prophet if they would +betray their new-found allies. Self-interest prevailed; at last the plan +was agreed upon, and the messenger returned to Mahomet with the good news +of the breaking-up of the confederacy. + +The treachery of the Koreitza spread discouragement among the Arab +chiefs. Moreover, their supplies were already running short. They ceased +to press the siege so severely; the attacks became weaker, and Mahomet +was easily able to prevent any further incursions beyond the trench. And +now the weather broke up. The sunny country was transformed suddenly into +a dreary, storm-swept wilderness. Blasts of wind came skurrying down upon +the Kureisch camp, driving rain and sleet before them. To Mahomet it was +the wrath of the Lord made manifest upon the presumptuous Meccans. Their +camp-fires were blown out, their tents damp and draggled, their men +dispirited, their forage scarce. Suddenly Abu Sofian, weary of inaction, +thoroughly disheartened by the hardships of his position, broke up the +camp and ordered a retreat. + +The vast army faded away as magically as it had come. The morning after +their departure the Muslim awoke to see only a few scattered tents and +the disorderly remains of human occupation as evidences of the presence +of a foe that had accounted itself invincible. The Meccans evidently +accepted defeat, for they returned speedily to their own country, +realising bitterly the impossibility of keeping together so heterogeneous +an army in the face of a prolonged check. Medina was free of its +immediate menace, and great was the rejoicing when the camp was abandoned +and Islam returned in security to its sanctuary within the city. Mahomet +repaired immediately to Ayesha's house, and was cleansing the stains of +conflict from his body when the mandate came from Heaven through the lips +of Gabriel: + +"Hast thou laid aside thine arms? Lo, the angels have not yet put down +their weapons, and I am come to bid thee go against the Beni Koreitza to +destroy their citadel." + +Mahomet's swift nature, alive to the value of speed, had realised in a +flash that now was the time to strike at the Koreitza, the treacherous +Hebrew dogs, before they could grow strong and gather together any allies +to help them ward off their certain chastisement. The enterprise was +proclaimed at once to the weary Muslim, and the great banner, still +unfurled, placed in the hands of Ali. The Faithful were eager for rest, +but at the command of their leader they forgot their exhaustion and +rallied round him again with the same loving and invincible devotion that +had sustained them during the terrible days of siege. + +The expedition marched to the Koreitza fortress, and laid siege to it in +March, 627. For twenty-five days it was besieged by Islam, says the +chronicler, until God put terror into the hearts of the Jews, and they +were reduced to sore straits. Then they offered to depart as the Kainukaa +had departed, empty-handed, with neither gold nor cattle, into a strange +land. But Mahomet had not forgotten their treachery to him under the +suasion of the Kureisch, and he determined on sterner measures. The Jews +were now thoroughly terrified, and sent in haste to crave permission +for a visit from Abu Lubaba, an ally of the Beni Aus, their former +confederates. Mahomet consented, as one who grants the trivial wish of a +doomed man. In sorrow Abu Lubaba went into the camp of the Koreitza, +and when they questioned him he told them openly that they must abandon +hope. Their doom was decreed by the Prophet, sanctioned by Allah; it was +irrevocable. + +When the Koreitza heard the sentence they bowed their heads, some in +wrath, some in despair, and charged Abu Lubaba with supplications for +Mahomet's clemency. The messenger returned and told the Prophet what he +had disclosed to the Jews concerning their impending fate. + +"Thou hast done ill," declared Mahomet, "for I would not that mine +enemies know their doom before it is accomplished." + +Thereupon, says tradition, Abu Lubaba was filled with remorse at having +displeased his master, and entering the Mosque bound himself to one of +its pillars, whence it is called the Pillar of Repentance to this day. At +last the Jews, worn out with the siege, without resources, allies, or any +hope of relief, surrendered at discretion to the Beni Aus. Immediately +their citadel was seized and plundered, while their men were handcuffed +and kept apart, their women and children given into the keeping of a +renegade Jew. Their cattle were driven into Medina before their eyes, and +soon the whole tribe was withdrawn from its ancestral habitation, +awaiting what might come from the hand of their terrible foe. + +Then Mahomet pronounced judgment. He sent for Sa'ad ibn Muadh, the chief +of the Beni Aus, and into his hands he gave the fate of all those souls +who belonged to the tribe of Koreitza. Sa'ad was elderly, fat, irritable, +and vindictive. He had a long-standing grudge against this people, and +knew nothing of the mercy which greater men bestow upon the fallen. + +"My judgment is that the men shall be put to death, the women and +children sold into slavery, and the spoil divided among the army." + +Mahomet was exultant at the sentence. + +"Truly the judgment of Sa'ad is the judgment of God pronounced on high +from beyond the seventh Heaven." + +It accorded with his mood of angry resentment against the earlier +treachery of the Koreitza, but why he deputed its pronouncement to Sa'ad +instead of taking it upon himself is not easy to discover. Possibly he +may have dreaded to acquire such a reputation for cruelty as this would +bestow upon him, possibly he wished to make clear to the world that the +Jews had been doomed to death by a member of their allied tribe. +Certainly he welcomed the terrible sentence, and ensured its +accomplishment. The Koreitza were dragged pitilessly to Medina, the men +kept together under strict guard, the women and children made ready to be +sold at the marts within the city. + +That night the outskirts of Medina became the scene of grim activity. In +the soft darkness of the Arabian night Mahomet's followers laboured with +dreadful haste at the digging of many trenches. The day dawned upon their +uncompleted work, and not until the sun was high did they return to the +heart of the city. Then the men of the Koreitza were divided into +companies and led out in turn to the trenches. The slaughter began. As +they filed to the edge of the pits they were struck down by the waiting +Muslim, so that their bodies fell into the common grave, mingled with the +blood and quivering flesh of those who followed. As one company after +another marched out and did not return, their chief man asked the Muslim +soldier concerning his countrymen's fate: + +"Seest thou not that each company departs and is seen no more? Will ye +never understand?" + +The doom of the Koreitza was wrought out to its terrible end, which was +not until set of sun. The number of butchered men is variously estimated, +but it cannot have been less than between 700 and 800. + +So the Koreitza perished, each moving forward to meet the irremediable +without fear, without supplication, and when the carnage was over, +Mahomet turned to the distribution of the spoil. His eyes lighted upon +Rihana, a beautiful Jewess, and he desired her as solace after this +ruthless but necessary punishment. He offered her marriage; she refused, +and became of necessity and forthwith his concubine. Then he took the +possessions, slaves, and cattle of the vanquished tribe and divided them +among the Faithful, keeping a fifth part himself, and the land he +partitioned also. A few women who had found favour in the eyes of Muslim +were retained, the rest were sent to be sold as slaves among the Bedouin +tribes of Nejd. The Koreitza no longer existed; their treachery had been +visited again upon themselves. + +The massacre of the Koreitza and the War of the Ditch cannot be viewed +apart. The ruthlessness of the former is the outcome of the success which +made it possible. Mahomet had defeated a most formidable attempt to +overthrow him, an attempt which would have lost much of its potency if +the Koreitza had remained either friendly or neutral, and in the triumph +which followed he sought to make such treachery henceforth impossible. He +never lost an opportunity; he saw that the Koreitza must be dealt with +instantly after the failure of the Meccan attack, and unhesitatingly he +accomplished his work. + +His act is a plain proof of his increasing confidence in his mission and +in himself as ruler and emissary from on high. It speaks not only of his +barbarity and courage in the use of it when occasion arose, but also of +his tireless energy and swift perception of the right moment to strike. + +His lack of compunction over the cruelty bears upon it the stamp of his +age and environment. The Koreitza were the enemies of Allah and his +Prophet; they had dared to betray him. Their doom was just. The result of +the failure of the Meccan attack was to restore in great measure +Mahomet's reputation, so that he had less trouble hereafter with the +Disaffected within Medina and with the maraudings of desert tribes. For +the moment his position within the city was comparatively secure; +moreover, in exterminating the Koreitza he had removed the last of the +hated Hebrew race from the precincts of his adopted city, and could +regard himself as master of all its neighbouring territory. The +Disaffected, it is true, remained sufficiently at variance with him to +resent, though impotently, his severity towards the Koreitza, and to +declare that Sa'ad ibn Muadh's death, which occurred soon after, was the +direct result of his bloody judgment. But their resentment was confined +to speech. The Meccans had retired discredited, and were unlikely to +attack again for some time at least. + +For a little space Mahomet seemed secure in his city, whence active +opposition had been driven out. + +The period after the War of the Ditch shows him definitely the ruler of a +rival city to Mecca. The Kureisch have made their last concerted attack +and are now forced to recognise him as a permanent factor in their +political world, though they would not name him equal until he had made +further displays of strength. He takes his place now among the city +chieftains of Western Arabia, and has next to reckon with the nomad +Bedouin tribes of the interior, in which position he is akin to the ruler +of Mecca himself. He is still never at rest from warfare. One expedition +succeeds another, until there is some chance of the realisation of his +dream, whose splendour even now beats with insistence upon his spirit, +the establishment of his mighty faith within the mother-city which gave +it birth, whence, purged of its idolatries and aflame with devotion, it +shall make of that city the goal of its followers' prayers, the crown of +its earthly sovereignty. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE PILGRIMAGE TO HODEIBIA + + "And He it was who held their hands from you and your hands + from them in the valley of Mecca, after that He had given you the + victory over them; for God saw what ye did."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet, now secure from immediate attack, counted himself permanently +rid of the Meccan menace and devoted his care to the strengthening of his +position among the surrounding desert tribes. The year 627-628 is filled +with minor expeditions to chastise or conquer his numerous enemies in the +interior. His ceaseless vigilance, made effectual through his elaborate +spy system, enabled him to keep the Bedouin hordes in check, though he +was by no means uniformly successful in his attacks upon them. The period +is characterised by the absence of pitched battles, and by the employment +of very small raiding parties, who go out simply to plunder and to +disperse the hostile forces. + +His first expedition after the Koreitza massacre in June 627 was directed +against the Beni Lahyan, in revenge for their slaughter of the Faithful +at Radji. He took the north-west road to Syria as a feint, then swiftly +turning, marched along the sea-shore route to Mecca, and the Beni Lahyan +fled before him. Mahomet was anxious to give battle, but as he found his +foe was moving hastily towards the hostile city with intent to draw him +on to his doom, he gave up the chase and contented himself with breaking +up their encampments, plundering their wealth and women, and so returned +to Medina. + +He had been there only a few nights when he learnt that Oyeina, chief of +the Fazara tribe, in concert with the Beni Ghatafan, had made a raid upon +his milch camels at Ghaba, killing their keeper and torturing his wife. +Mahomet pursued, but the raiders were too quick for him and got away with +the spoil. Mahomet did not follow them up, as nothing was to be gained +from such a fruitless quest. + +In August of the same year another raid on his camels was attempted by +the famished tribes of Nejd, and Mahomet sent an expedition under Maslama +to chastise them, but the Muslim were overpowered by a superior force and +most of their company slain. The Prophet vowed vengeance upon the +perpetrators of this defeat when he should have the power to carry it +out. And now the Meccan caravan, venturing once more to take the seaward +road, so long barred to them, was plundered by Zeid at Al Is, thereby +confirming Mahomet's hostile intentions towards the Kureisch, and +ensuring their continued enmity. But reprisals on their part were +impossible after the failure before Medina, and they suffered the outrage +in silence. + +Mahomet was not content to rest upon his newly won security, but now +determined to send out messengers and embassies to the rulers of +surrounding lands, exhorting them to embrace Islam. This policy was to +develop later into a regular system, but for the moment only one envoy +was sent upon a hazardous mission to the Roman emperor, whose recent +conquests in Persia had made him famous among the Arabs. The envoy was +not permitted a quiet journey. At Wadi-al-Cora he was seized and +plundered by the Beni Judzam, but his property afterwards restored by the +influence of a neighbouring tribe allied to Mahomet, who knew something +of the revenge meted out by the Prophet. As it was, as soon as he heard +of it he despatched Zeid with 500 men, who fell upon the Beni Judzam and +slaughtered many. When the expedition returned to Medina with the news, +they found that the tribe in question had sent in its submission before +the slaying of its members. The Judzam envoys demanded compensation. + +"What can be done?" replied Mahomet. "I cannot restore dead men to life, +but the booty that has been taken I will return and give you safe escort +hence." + +Mahomet's next enterprise was to send one of his chief warriors and wise + men to Dumah to try and convert the tribe. They listened to his words +and promises, and after a time, judging it was not alone to their +spiritual, but also to their political welfare to follow this powerful +leader, they embraced Islam, and received the protectorship of the +Prophet. + +Zeid returned from the plunder of the Kureisch caravan and straightway +set out upon several mercantile journeys, upon one of which he was set +upon and plundered by the Beni Fazara, near Wadi-al-Cora. Swift +retribution followed at the hands of Mahomet, who was not minded to see +the expeditions that were securing the wealth of his land the prey of +marauding tribes. Many barbarities were practised at the overthrow of the +Beni Fazara, possibly as a salutary lesson to neighbouring tribes, lest +they should presume to attempt like attacks. + +But now a further menace threatened Mahomet from the persecuted but still +actively hostile Jews at Kheibar. They were suspected of stirring up +revolt, and so the Prophet, knowing the activity centred in their leader, +slew him by treachery. Still, his successor continued his father's work, +only in the fullness of time to be removed from the Prophet's path by the +same effectual but illicit means. Dark and tortuous indeed were some of +the ways by which Mahomet held his power. His cruelty and treachery were +in a measure demanded of him as a necessity for his continued office. +They were the price he paid for earthly dominion, and together with the +avowed help of the sword they were the stern and pitiless means that +secured the triumph of Islam. As time went on the scope of his +state-craft widened; its exigencies became more varied, and exacted new +and often barbarous deeds, that the position won with years of thought +and energy might be maintained. Mahomet has now paid complete homage to +the fickle goddesses force and craft. + +The sacred month Dzul-Cada of 628 came round, bringing with it disturbing +dreams and yearnings for Mahomet. For long past, indeed ever since he had +found himself the leader of a religious organisation and had taken the +broad traditions of Meccan ceremony half unconsciously to himself as the +basis of his faith, he had longed to perform the pilgrimage to the holy +city. He had upheld Mecca before the eyes of his followers as the crown +and cradle of their faith. He had preached of pilgrimage thereto as a +sacred duty, the inalienable right of every Muslim. Six years had elapsed +since he had himself performed the sacred rites; it is no wonder, +therefore, that his whole being was seized with the fervent dream of +accomplishing once more the ceremonies inseparable from his faith. +Political considerations also swayed his decision. If he were allowed to +come peaceably to Mecca and perform the pilgrimage, it was conceivable +that a permanent truce might be agreed upon by the Kureisch, and the deed +itself could not but enhance his prestige among the Bedouins. He was +strong enough to resist the Meccans in case of an attack, and if such a +thing should occur the blame would attach to the Kureisch as violators of +the sacred month. + +With his thoughts attuned thus, it is not surprising that in Dzul-Cada a +vision was vouchsafed him, wherein he saw himself within the sacred +precincts, performing the rites of pilgrimage. The dream was communicated +to the Faithful, and instant preparations made for the expedition, +Mahomet called upon the surrounding tribes to join in his march to Mecca, +but they, fearing the Kureisch hosts, for the most part declined, and +earned thereby Mahomet's fierce anger in the pages of the Kuran. At +length the cavalcade was ready; 1500 men in the garments of pilgrims, but +with swords and armour accompanying them in the rear, journeyed over the +desert track that had seen the migration to Medina of a small hunted band +six short years previously. With them were seventy camels devoted to +sacrifice. The pilgrims marched as far as Osfan, when a messenger came to +them saying that the Kureisch were opposing their advance. + +"They have withdrawn their milch camels from the outskirts, and now lie +encamped, having girded themselves with leopard skins, a signal that they +will fight like wild beasts. Even now Khalid with their cavalry has +advanced to oppose thee." + +"Curses upon the Kureisch!" replied Mahomet. "Who will show me a way +where they will not meet us?" + +A guide was quickly found, and Mahomet turned his company aside, +journeying by devious routes until he came to the place of Hodeibia, a +plain upon the verge of the sacred territory. Here Al-Cawsa, Mahomet's +prized camel, halted, and would in nowise be urged farther. + +"She is weary," clamoured the populace, but Mahomet knew otherwise. + +"Al-Caswa is not weary," he replied, "but that which restrained the +armies in the Year of the Elephant now restraineth her." + +And he would go no farther into the sacred territory, fearing the doom +that had afflicted Abraha in that fateful year. So his pilgrim host +encamped at Hodeibia, and Mahomet sent men to clear the wells of sand and +dust, so that there might be ample supply of water. Thereupon +negotiations began between the Prophet and Mecca. The Kureisch sent an +ambassador to learn the reason of the appearance of Mahomet. When the +peaceable intent of the army had been explained to him he remained in +earnest converse with the Prophet, until at last he moved to catch +at the sacred beard after the manner of his race when speaking. Instantly +one of Mahomet's companions seized his hand: + +"Come not near the sacred countenance of God's Prophet." + +The enemy was amazed, and returning told the citizens that he had seen +many kings in his lifetime but never a man so devotedly loved as Mahomet. +The negotiations, however, proceeded very tardily, and at last Mahomet +sent Othman, his famous warrior and companion, to Mecca to conduct the +final overtures. He had been chosen because of his kinship with the most +powerful men of Mecca. He was invited to perform the sacred ceremony of +encircling the Kaaba, but this he refused to do until the Prophet should +accompany him. The Kureisch then detained him at Mecca to complete, if it +might be, the negotiations. + +While Othman tarried, the report spread among the Muslim that he was +treacherously slain. Mahomet felt that a blow had been struck at his very +heart. Instantly he summoned the Faithful to him beneath a tall tree upon +that undulating plain of Hodeibia, and enjoined upon them an oath that +they would not forsake him but would stand by him till death. The Muslim +with one accord gave their solemn word in gladness and devotion, and the +Pledge of the Tree was brought into being. Mahomet felt the significance +of their loyalty very deeply. It was the first oath he had enjoined upon +the Believers since the days of the Pledge of Acaba long ago when he was +but a persecuted zealot fleeing before the menace of his foes. He was +glad because of this proof of loyalty, and his joy finds expression in +the Muslim Book of Books: + +"Well pleased hath God been now with the Believers when they plighted +fealty to thee under the tree; and He knew what was in their hearts; +therefore did He send down upon them a spirit of secure repose, and +rewarded them with a speedy victory." + +But rumour, as ever, proved untrustworthy, and before long Othman +returned with the news that the Kureisch were undisposed to battle, and +later they sent Suheil of their own clan to make terms with Mahomet, +namely, that he was to return to Medina that year, but that the next year +he might come again as a pilgrim during the sacred month, and having +entered Mecca perform the Pilgrimage. Ali was commanded to write down the +conditions of the treaty, and he began with the formula: + +"In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful." + +Suheil protested, "I know not that title, write, 'In Thy Name, O God.'" + +Mahomet acquiesced, and Ali continued, "The Treaty of Mahomet, Prophet of +God, with Suheil ibn Amr," but Suheil interrupted again: + +"If I acknowledged Thee as Prophet of God I should not have made war on +thee; write simply thy name and the name of thy father." + +And so the treaty was drawn up. The traditional text of it is simple and +clear, and the only point requiring comment is the clause providing for +the treatment of those who go over to Islam and those of the Believers +who rejoin the Kureisch. Mahomet was sure enough of himself and his +magnetism to allow the clause to stand, which allowed any backslider full +permission to return to Mecca. He knew there would not be many, who +having come under the spell of Islam would return again to idolatry. The +text of the treaty stood substantially in these terms: + +"In thy Name, O God! These are the conditions of peace between Mahomet, +son of Abdallah and Suheil, son of Amr. War shall be suspended for ten +years. Whosoever wisheth to join Mahomet or enter into treaty with him +shall have liberty to do so; and likewise whoever wisheth to join the +Kureisch or enter into treaty with them. If one goeth over to Mahomet +without permission of his guardian he shall be sent back to his guardian; +but should any of the followers of Mahomet return to the Kureisch they +shall not be sent back. Mahomet shall retire this year without entering +the city. In the coming year Mahomet may visit Mecca, he and his +followers, for three days, during which the Kureisch shall retire and +leave the city to them. But they may not enter it with any weapons save +those of the traveller, namely, to each a sheathed sword." + +After the solemn pledging of the treaty Mahomet sacrificed his victims, +shaved his head and changed his raiment, as a symbol of the completed +ceremonial in spirit, if not in fact, and ordered the immediate +withdrawal to Medina. His followers were crestfallen, for they had been +led to expect his speedy entry into Mecca, and they were disappointed too +because their warlike desires had been curbed to stifling point. But the +Prophet was firm, and promised them fighting in plenty as soon as they +should have reached Medina again. So the host moved back to its city of +origin, fortified by the treaty with its hitherto implacable foes, and +exulting in the promise that next year the sacred ceremonies would be +accomplished by all true Believers. + +The depression that at first seized his followers at the conclusion of +their enterprise found no reflex in the mind of Mahomet. He was well +aware of the significance of the transaction. In the Kuran the episode +has a sura inspired directly by it and entitled "Victory," the burden of +which is the goodness of God upon the occasion of the Prophet's +pilgrimage to Hodeibia. + +"In truth they who plighted fealty to thee really plighted fealty to God; +the hand of God was over their hands! Whoever, therefore, shall break his +oath shall only break it to his own hurt; but whoever shall be true to +his engagements with God, He will give him a great reward." + +It was, in fact, a great step forward towards his ultimate goal. It +involved his recognition by the Kureisch as a power of equal importance +with themselves. No longer was he the outcast fanatic for whose overthrow +the Kureisch army was not required to put forth its full strength. No +longer even was he a rebel leader who had succeeded in establishing his +precarious power by the sword alone. The treaty of Hodeibia recognises +him as sovereign of Medina, and formally concedes to him by implication +his temporal governance. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that his +mood on returning to the city was one of rejoicing and praise to Allah +who had made such a victory possible. + +Henceforward the dream of universal sovereignty took ever more +distinctive lineaments in his mind. He pictured first a great and united +Arabia, mighty because of its homage to the true God, and supreme because +of its birthing of the world-subduing faith. To say that these thoughts +had been with him since his first hazardous entry into Medina is to grant +him a long-sightedness which his opportunist rule does not warrant. The +creator of them was his boundless energy, his force of personality, which +kept steadily before him his unquenchable faith and led him from strength +to strength. By diplomacy and the sword he had carved out his kingdom, +and now he purposed to extend it by suasion and cunning, which +nevertheless was to be supported by his soldier's skill and courage. The +next phase in his career is one in which reliance is placed as much upon +statecraft as warfare, in which he tries with varying success to array +his state and his religion along with the great empires and +principalities of his Eastern world. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE FULFILLED PILGRIMAGE + + "O ye to whom the Scriptures have been given! Believe in what + we have sent down confirmatory of the Scriptures which is in your + hands, ere we efface your features and twist your head round backward, + or curse you as we cursed the Sabbath-breakers: and the + command of God was carried into effect." + +The end of Dzul-Cada saw Mahomet safe in his own city, but with his +promises of booty and warfare for his followers unfulfilled. He remained +a month at Medina, and then sought means to carry out his pact. He had +now determined upon a pure war of aggression, and for this the outcast +Jews of Kheibar offered themselves as an acceptable sacrifice in his +eyes. In Muharram he prepared an expedition against them, important as +being the first of any size that he had undertaken from the offensive. It +is a greater proof of his renewed security and rapidly growing power than +all the eulogies of his followers and the curses of his enemies. The +white standard was placed in the hands of Ali, and the whole host of 1000 +strong went up against the fortresses of Kheibar. The Jews were taken +completely off their guard. Without allies and with no stores of food and +ammunition they could make no prolonged resistance. One by one their +forts fell before the Muslim raiders until only the stronghold of Kamuss +remained. Mahomet was exultant. + +"Allah Akbar! truly when I light upon the coasts of any people, woe unto +them in that day." + +Then he assembled all his men and put the sacred eagle standard at their +head, the white standard with the black eagle embossed, wrought out of +the cloak of his wife, Ayesha. He bade them lead the assault upon Kamuss +and spare nothing until it should fall to them. In the carnage that +followed Marhab, chief of Kheibar, was slain, and at length the Jews were +beaten back with terrible loss. There was now no hope left: the fortress +Kamuss must fall, and with it the last resistance of the Jews. Their +houses, goods, and women were seized, their lands confiscated. Kinana, +the chief who had dared to try and originate a coalition previously +against Mahomet, was tortured by the burning brand and put to death, +while Safia, his seventeen year old bride, passed tranquilly into the +hands of the conqueror. Mahomet married her and she was content, indeed +rejoiced at this sudden change; for, according to legend, she had dreamed +that such honour should befall her. + +But all the women of the Jews were not so complacent, and in Zeinab, +sister of Marhab, burned all the fierceness and lust for revenge of which +the proud Hebrew spirit is capable. She would smite this plunderer of her +nation, though it might be by treacherous means. Had he not betrayed her +kindred far more terribly upon the bloody slaughter ground of the +Koreitza? She prepared for his pleasure a young kid, dressed it with +care, and placed it before him. In the shoulder she put the most +effective poison she knew, and the rest of the meat she polluted also. +When Mahomet came to the partaking he took his favourite morsel, the +shoulder, and set it to his lips. Instantly he realised the tainted +flavour. He cried to his companions: + +"This meat telleth me it is poisoned; eat ye not of it." + +But it was too late to save two of the Faithful, who had swallowed +mouthfuls of it. They died in tortures a few hours afterwards. Mahomet +himself was not immune from its poison. He had himself bled at once, and +immediate evil was averted. But he felt the effects of it ever after, and +attributed not a little of his later exhaustion to the poisoned meats he +had eaten in Kheibar. The woman was put to death horribly, and the Muslim +army hastened to depart from the ill-omened place. + +They returned to Medina after several months absence, and there the spoil +was divided. The land as usual was given out to Muslim followers, or the +Jews were allowed to keep their holdings, provided they paid half the +produce as tribute to Mahomet. Half the conquered territory, however, was +reserved exclusively for the Prophet, constituting a sort of crown +domain, whence he drew revenues and profit. Thus was temporal wealth +continually employed to strengthen his spiritual kingdom and put his +faith upon an unassailable foundation. + +The expedition to Kheibar saw the promulgation of several ordinances +dealing with the personal and social life of his followers. The dietary +laws were put into stricter practice; the flesh of carnivorous animals +was forbidden, and a severer embargo was laid upon the drinking of +wine--the result of Mahomet's knowledge of the havoc it made among men in +that fierce country and among those wild and passionate souls. +Henceforward also the most careful count was kept of all the booty taken +in warfare, and those who were discovered in the possession of spoil +fraudulently obtained were subject to extreme penalties. All spoil was +inviolate until the formal division of it, which usually took place upon +the battlefield itself or less frequently within Medina. The Prophet's +share was one-fifth, and the rest was distributed equally among the +warriors and companions. Since Islam derived its temporal wealth chiefly +by spoliation, the destiny of its plunder was an important question and +gave rise to frequent disputes between the Disaffected and the Believers +which are mentioned in the Kuran. By now, however, the malcontents were +for the most part silenced, and we hear little disputation after this as +to the apportionment of wealth. + +With the return to Medina came the inaugury of Mahomet's extension of +diplomacy--the dream which had filled his mind since the tide of his +fortunes had turned with the Kureisch failure to capture his city. The +year 628, the first year of embassies, saw his couriers journeying to the +princes and emperors of his immediate world to demand or cajole +acknowledgment of his mission. A great seal was engraved, having for its +sign "Mahomet, the Prophet of God," and this was appended to the strange +and incoherent documents which spread abroad his creed and pretensions. + +The first embassy to Heraclius was sent in this year summoning him to +follow the religion of God's Prophet and to acknowledge his supremacy. At +the same time the Prophet sent a like missive to the Ghassanide prince +Harith, ally of Heraclius and a great soldier. The envoys were treated +with the contempt inevitable before so strange a request from an unknown +fanatic, and Heraclius dismissed the whole matter as the idle word of a +barbarian dreamer. But Harith, with the quick resentment harboured by +smaller men, asked permission of the Emperor to chastise the impostor. +Heraclius refused; the embassy was not worthy of his notice, and he was +certainly determined not to lose good fighting men in a useless journey +through the desert. So Mahomet received no message in return from the +Emperor, but the omission made no difference to his determination to +proceed upon his course of diplomacy. + +He then sent to Siroes of Persia a similar letter, but here he was +treated more rudely. The envoy was received in audience by the king, who +read the extraordinary letter and in a flash of anger tore it up. He did +not ill-treat the messenger, however, and suffered him to return to his +own land. + +"Even so, O Lord, rend Thou his kingdom from him!" cried Mahomet as he +heard the story of his flouting. + +His next enterprise was more successful. The governor of Yemen, Badzan, +nominally under the sway of Persia, had separated himself almost entirely +from his overlord during the unstable rule of Siroes, son of the warrior +Chosroes. Now Badzan embraced Islam, and with his conversion the Yemen +population became officially followers of the Prophet. Encouraged by the +success, Mahomet sent a despatch to Egypt, where he was courteously +received and given two slave girls, Mary and Shirin, as presents. Mary he +kept for himself because of her exceeding beauty, but Shirin was bestowed +upon one of the Companions. Although the Egyptian king did not embrace +Islam, he was kindly disposed towards its Prophet. + +The next despatch, to Abyssinia, is distinguished by the importance of +its indirect results. Ever since the small body of Islamic converts had +fled thither for refuge before the persecutions of the Kureisch, Mahomet +had desired to convert Abyssinia to his creed. Now he sent an envoy to +its king enjoining him to embrace Islam, and asking for the hand of Omm +Haliba in marriage, daughter of Abu Sofian and widow of Obeidallah, one +of the "Four Inquirers" of an earlier and almost forgotten time. The +despatch was well received by the governor, who allowed Omm Haliba and +all who wished of the original immigrants to return to their native +country. Jafar, Mahomet's cousin, exiled to Abyssinia in the old +troublous times, was the most famous of these disciples. He was a great +warrior, and found his glory fighting at the head of the armies of the +Prophet at Muta, where he was slain, and entered forthwith upon the +Paradise of joy which awaits the martyrs for Islam. Not long after his +return from Kheibar the Refugees arrived, and Mahomet took Omm Haliba to +wife. + +During the remainder of 628 the Prophet held his state in Medina, only +sending out some of his lesser leaders at intervals upon small defensive +expeditions. His position was now secure, but only just as long as his +right arm never wavered and his hands never rested from slaughter. By the +edge of the sword his conquests had been made, by the edge of the sword +alone they would be kept. But it was now necessary only for him to show +his power. The frightened Arab tribes crept away, cowed before his +vigilance, but if the whip were once put out of sight they would spring +again to the attack. + +He now receives the title of Prince of Hadaz, how and by whom bestowed +upon him we have no record. Most probably he wrested it himself by force +from the tribes inhabiting that country, and compelled them to +acknowledge him by that sign of overlordship. The year before the +stipulated time for Mahomet to repair once more to Mecca was spent in +consolidating his position by every means in his power. He was resolved +that no weakness on his part should give the Kureisch the chance to +refuse him again the entry into their city. His position was to be such +that any question of ignoring the treaty would be made impossible, and by +the time of Dzul Cada, 629, he had carried out his designs with that +thoroughness of which only he in all Arabia seemed at that period +capable. + +Two thousand men gathered round him to participate in the important +ceremony which was for them the visible sign of their kinship with the +sacred city, and its ultimate religious absorption in their own +all-conquering creed. They were clad in the dress of pilgrims, and +carried with them only the sheathed sword of their compact for defence. +But a body of men brought up the rear, themselves in armour, driving +before them pack-camels, whereon rested arms and munitions of all kinds. +Sixty camels were taken for sacrifice, and Mahomet, son of Maslama, with +one hundred horse formed the vanguard, so as to prove a defence should +the passions of the Kureisch overcome their discretion and nullify their +plighted words. Abdallah, the impetuous, would fain have shouted some +defiant words as the cavalcade neared the portals of the city, but Omar +restrained him and Mahomet gave the command. + + +"Speak ye only these words, 'There is no God but God; it is He that hath +upholden His servant. Alone hath He put to flight the hosts of the +Confederates.'" + +So any tumult was prevented and the truce carried out. + +Then began one of the most wonderful episodes ever written upon the pages +of history--nothing less than the peaceable emigration for three days of +a whole city before the hosts of one who but a little time since had fled +thence from the persecution of his fellows. All the Meccan armed +population retired to the hills and left their city free for the +completion of Mahomet's religious rites. With the sublimest faith in his +integrity they left their city defenceless at his feet. Truly the +Prophet's magnetism had won him many an adherent and secured him great +triumphs in warfare, but never had his power shone with such lustre as at +the time of his Fulfilled Pilgrimage. The city was left weaponless before +his soldiery, and the dwellers within its walls were content to +trust to the power of a written agreement, which in the hands of an +unscrupulous man would be as effective as a reed against a whirlwind. +Mahomet entered the city, and for three days pitched his tent of leather +beneath the shadow of the Kaaba. He made the sevenfold circuit thereof +and kissed the Black Stone. Thence he journeyed with all his followers to +Safa and Marwa, where he performed the necessary rites, and at which +latter place he sacrificed his victims, drawing them up in line between +himself and the city. Then returning there he asked for and obtained +the hand of Meimuna, sister-in-law of his uncle Abbas, a bold and +characteristic stroke which did much to pave the way for the later +conversion of his uncle and the final enrolment of the chief men of Mecca +upon his side. + +This was the last marriage he contracted, and it shows, as so many other +alliances, his keen political foresight and the exercise of his favourite +method of attempting to win over hostile states. He was still the +political leader and schemer, though the ecstasy of religion, symbolised +for him just now in the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, had caught him +for the moment in its sweep. Public prayer was offered upon the third day +from the Kaaba itself, and with that the Pilgrimage came to an end. +Mahomet tried earnestly to win over and conciliate the Meccans during +this meagre three days' sojourn, but his task was beyond the power even +of his magnificent energy. + +At the end of the third day the Meccans returned. + +"Thy time is outrun: depart thou out of our city." + +Mahomet answered: "What can it matter if ye allow me to celebrate my +marriage here and make a feast as is the custom?" + +But they replied with anger, "We need not thy feasts; depart thou hence." + +And Mahomet was reluctantly forced to comply. He had been not without +hope that the Kureisch would be won over to his cause in such great +numbers that he might be suffered to remain as head of a converted Mecca, +and he was loth to see such an unrivalled opportunity slip by without +trying his utmost to gain some kind of permanent foothold in the city of +his desires. But his faith weighed not so well with the Kureisch, and, +having within himself the strength which knows when to desist from +importunity, he quitted the city and retired to Sarif, eight miles away, +where he rested together with his host of believers, now content and +reverent towards the master who had made their dreams incarnate, their +ideals tangible. + +At Sarif Mahomet received what was perhaps the best fortune that had come +to him outside his own powerful volition. Khalid, the skilful leader at +Ohod and the greatest warrior the Kureisch possessed, together with Amru, +poet and scholar as well as future warrior and conqueror of Egypt, were +won over to the faith they had so obstinately opposed. They joined +Mahomet at Sarif, and were forthwith appointed among the Companions, the +equals of Ali, Othman and Omar. Following their adherence to the winning +cause came the allegiance to Mahomet of Othman ibn Talha, custodian of +the Kaaba. With these men of weight and influence ranged upon his side, +the chief in war, the supreme in song, and the representative of Meccan +ritualistic life, Mahomet had indeed justification for rejoicing. They +were the first of the famous men and rulers in Mecca to range themselves +with him, and they marked the turn of the tide, which came to its full +flowing with the occupation of the sacred city and the conversion of Abu +Sofian and Abbas. + +Slowly, with pain and striving, Mahomet was overcoming the measureless +opposition to things new. Six years of ceaseless effort, warfare and +exhortation, compulsion and rewards were needed to secure for him the +undisputed exercise of his religion in the place that was its sanctuary. +Faith, backed by the strength and wealth of his armies, now gathered in +the choicest of his opponents. The time was come when he was beginning to +taste the wine of success. He had scarcely penetrated the borderland of +that delectable garden, but the first meagre fruit thereof was sweet. It +spurred him on to the perpetual renewal of alertness that he might keep +what he had won and pursue his way to the innermost far-off enclosure, +around the portal of which was written, as a mandate for all the world: +"Bear witness, there is no God but God, and Mahomet is His Prophet." + +The Fulfilled Pilgrimage, however, was but the preliminary to his +master-stroke of policy strengthened by force of arms: months of hard +fighting and diplomacy were needed before he could direct the blow that +made his triumph possible. For the time he had simply made clear to +Arabia that Mecca was his holy city, the queen of his would-be dominion, +and by scrupulous performance of the old religious rites he had +identified Islam both to his followers and to the Meccans themselves with +the ancient fadeless traditions of their earlier faith, purified and made +permanent by their homage to one God, "the Compassionate, the Merciful, +the Mighty, the Wise." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY + + "When the help of God and the Victory arrive, + And thou seest men entering the religion of God by troops, + Then utter the praise of thy Lord, implore His pardon, for He + loveth to turn in mercy."--_The Kuran._ + +After the swordless triumph of Dzul Cada, 629, Mahomet rested in Medina +for about nine months, while he sent out his leaders of expeditions into +all parts of the peninsula wherever a rising was threatened, or where he +saw the prospect of a conversion by force of arms. The Beni Suleim, whose +more powerful allies, the Ghatafan, had given Mahomet much trouble in the +past, were still recusant. Mahomet sent an expedition to essay their +conversion early in the year, but the Suleim persisted in their enmity +and received the Muslim envoys with a shower of arrows. They retired +hastily, being insufficiently equipped to risk an attack, and came back +to Medina. The Prophet, unabashed, now sent a detachment against the Beni +Leith. The encampment was surprised, their camels plundered, their +chattels seized, while they themselves were forced to flee in haste to +the fastnesses of the desert. The Beni Murra, conquerors of Mahomet's +expeditionary force at Fadak, received now at his hands their delayed but +inevitable punishment. The Prophet found himself strong enough, and +without any compunction he inflicted the severest chastisement upon them, +more especially as an example to the neighbouring tribes of the +retribution in store for all who dared to revolt against his newly-won +but still precarious power. + +Soon after an expedition of fifteen men was sent to Dzat Allah upon the +borders of Syria. The men journeyed confidently to their far-off goal, +but instead of finding, as they expected, a few chiefs at the head of +ill-organised armies, they found arrayed against them an overwhelming +force, well led and disciplined. They called upon them to embrace Islam +with the fine courage of certain failure. The Bedouin hordes scoffed at +the exhortation, and forthwith slew the whole company except one, who +managed to escape to Medina with the tale. The catastrophe was a signal +for a massed attack upon Mahomet's power from the whole of the border +district, led by the feudatories of Heraclius, who were bent upon +exterminating the upstart. + +Hastily the Muslim army was mobilised, given into the leadership of Zeid, +who with Jafar and Abdallah was commissioned to resist the infidels to +the last and to continue their attack upon the foe until they were either +slain or victorious. The army marched to Muta in September, 629, and +while on the way heard with alarm of the massing of the foe, whose +numbers daunted even their savage bravery. + +At Muta a council of war was called at which Zeid and Abdallah were the +principal speakers. After the peril of their position had been discussed +and the reasons for retreat given, Abdallah rose from among his fellows, +determined to rally their spirits. He pressed for an immediate advance, +urging the invincibility of Allah, the power of their Prophet, and the +glory of their cause. It was impossible for those warrior spirits not to +respond to his enthusiasm, and the order was given. The Muslim marched to +Beleea by the Dead Sea, but finding themselves in no good strategic +position and hearing still further news as to the immensity of their +opposition, they retired to Muta, where at the head of a narrow ravine +they offered battle to the Roman auxiliaries, who far outweighed them in +numbers and efficiency. + +The Roman phalanx bore down upon them, and Zeid at the head of his troops +urged them to resist with all their strength. He was cut down in the van +as he led the opposing rush, and instantly Jafar, leaping from his horse, +maimed it, as a symbol that he would fight to the death, and rushed +forward on foot. The fight grew furious, and as the Muslim army saw +itself slowly pressed back by the enemy its leader fell, covered with +wounds. Abdallah seized the standard and tried to rally the Faithful, +whose slow retreat was now breaking into a headlong flight. At his cry +there was a brief rally, until in his turn he was cut down by the +advancing foe. A citizen sprang to the standard and kept it aloft while +he strove to stem the tide, but in vain. The Muslim ranks were broken and +dispirited. They fell back quickly, and only the military genius of +Khalid, in command of the rear, was able to save them from annihilation. +He succeeded in covering their retreat by his swift and skilful moving, +and enabled the remnant to return to Medina in safety. + +Mahomet's grief at the loss of Jafar and Zeid was great. Jafar had only +lately returned from Abyssinia, and was just at the beginning of his +military career. He was the brother of Ali, and the martial spirit that +had raised that warrior to eminence was only just now given opportunity +to manifest itself. His loss was rightly felt by Mahomet to be a blow to +the military as well as the intellectual prowess of Islam. + +The Syrian feudatories, however, were not permitted to enjoy their +triumph in peace. In October, 629, Amru, Mahomet's recent convert, was +sent to chastise the offenders and exact tribute from them. He found the +task was greater than he had imagined, and sent hurriedly to Medina for +reinforcements. Abu Obeida was in command of the new army, and when he +came up with Amru there was an angry discussion as to who should be +leader. Abu Obeida had the precedent of experience and the asset of +having been longer in Mahomet's service than Amru, but he was a mild man, +fearful, and a laggard in dispute. Amru's impetuous determination +overruled him, and he yielded to the compulsion of his more energetic +rival, fearing to provoke disaster by prolonging the quarrel. The hostile +Syrian tribes were rapidly dispersed with the increased forces at Amru's +command, and he returned triumphant to Medina. + +As a recompense for his yielding of the leadership to Amru, Abu Obeida +was entrusted by Mahomet with the task of reducing the tribe of Joheina +to submission. The expedition was wholly successful; the Joheina accepted +the Prophet's yoke without opposition, and their lead was followed later +in the year by the Beni Abs Murra and the Beni Dzobian, and finally the +Beni Suleim, whose enmity in conjunction with the Beni Ghatafan had done +much to prolong the siege of Medina. + +The Prophet was exultant. The year's successes had surpassed his +expectations, and the maturing of his deep-laid plans for the reduction +of Mecca by pressure without bloodshed satisfied his ambitious and +dominating soul. He was now master of Hedaz, overlord of Yemen and the +Bedouin tribes of the interior as far as the dim Syrian border. + +But with all his newly-found sovereignty there was one stronghold which +he could neither conquer nor even impress. On the crowning achievement of +subduing Mecca all his hopes were set, and there were no means that he +did not employ to increase his power so that its continued resistance +might ultimately become impossible. He strengthened his hold over the +rest of Arabia; he won from Mecca as many allies as he could; he +continually impressed upon both his followers and the surrounding tribes +that the city was his natural home, the true abiding-place of his faith. +Now, having prepared the way, he ventured to ensure the safety thereof by +diplomacy and a skilful use of the demonstration of force. He was strong +enough to compel an encounter with the Kureisch which should prove +decisive. + +In the attack upon the Khozaa, allies of the Prophet, the Beni Bekr, who +gave their allegiance to the Kureisch, supplied Mahomet with the +necessary _casus belli_. He declared upon the evidence of his friends +that the Kureisch had helped the Beni Bekr in disguise and announced the +swift enforcement of his vengeance. In alarm the Kureisch sent Abu Sofian +to Medina to make their depositions as to the rights of the case and to +beg for clemency. But their emissary met with no success. Mahomet felt +himself powerful enough to flout him, and accordingly Abu Sofian was sent +back to his native city discomfited. + +There follows a tradition which has become obscured with the passing of +time, and whose import we can only dimly investigate. Abu Sofian was +returning somewhat uneasily to Mecca when he encountered the chief of the +Khozaa, the outraged tribe. An interview of some length is reported, and +it is supposed that the chief represented to the Meccan citizen the +hopelessness of his resistance and the advantages in belonging to the +party that was rapidly bringing all Arabia under its sway. Abu Sofian +listened, and it may be that the chief's words induced him to consider +seriously the possibility of ranging himself beneath the banner of the +Prophet. + +Meanwhile Mahomet had summoned all the matchless energy of which he was +capable, and set on foot preparations for the overwhelming of Mecca. +Every Believer was called to arms; equipment, horses, camels, stores were +gathered in vast concourse upon the outskirts of Medina, awaiting only +the command of the Prophet to go up against the scornful city whose +humiliation was at hand. The order to march was given on January 1, 630, +and soon the whole army was bearing down upon Mecca with that rapidity +which continually characterised the Prophet's actions, and which was more +than ever necessary now in face of the difficult task to be performed. In +a week the Prophet, with Zeinab and Dram Salma as his companions, at the +head of 10,000 men, the largest army ever seen in Medina, arrived within +a stage of his goal. He encamped at Mar Azzahran and there rested his +army from the long desert march, the toilsome and difficult route +connecting the two long-sundered cities that had given feature to the +origin and growth of Islam. While he was there he received what was +perhaps the most important asset since the conversion of Khalid. Abbas, +his uncle, still timorous and vacillating, but now impelled into a firmer +courage by the powerful agency of Mahomet's recent triumphs, quitted +Mecca with his following and joined his nephew, professing the creed of +Islam, and enjoining it also upon those who accompanied him. + +The conversion did not come as a surprise to Mahomet. He had been +watching carefully by means of his spies the trend of events in Mecca, +and he knew that the allegiance of Abbas was his whenever he should +collect sufficient force to demonstrate his superiority. Abbas loved the +winning cause. When Mahomet was obscure and persecuted he had befriended +him as far as personal protection, but his was not the nature to venture +upon a hazardous enterprise such as the Prophet's attempt to found a new +religious community in another city. Now, however, that the undertaking +had proved so completely victorious that it threatened to make of Mecca +the weaker side, Abbas, with the solemnity which falls upon such people +when self-interest points the same way as previous inclination, threw in +his lot with Islam. + +The Muslim rested that night at Mar Azzahran, kindling their camp-fires +upon the crest of a hill whose summit could be seen from the holy city. +The glare flamed red against the purple night sky, and by its ominous +glow Abu Sofian ventured beyond the city's boundaries to reconnoitre. +Before he could penetrate as far as the Muslim encampment he was met by +Abbas, who took him straightway to Mahomet. When the morning came the +Prophet sent for his rival and greeted him with contempt: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; seest thou not that there are no gods but +God?" + +But he answered with professions of his regard for Mahomet. + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; believest thou not that I am the Prophet of +God?" + +"Thou art well appraised by us, and I see thy great goodness among the +companions. As for what thou hast said I know not the wherefore of it." + +Then Abbas, standing by Mahomet, besought him: + +"Woe unto thee, Abu Sofian; become one of the Faithful and believe there +is no god but God and that Mahomet is his Prophet before we sever thy +head from the body!" + +Under such strong compulsion, says tradition, Abu Sofian was converted +and sent back to Mecca with promises of clemency. It is almost impossible +not to believe that collusion between Abbas and Abu Sofian existed before +this interview. Abbas had given the lead, for his prescience had divined +the uselessness of resistance, and he foresaw greater glory as the +upholder of Islam, the triumphing cause, than as the vain opposer of what +he firmly believed to be an all-conquering power. Abu Sofian took +somewhat longer to convince, and never really gave up his dream of +resistance until he met Abbas on the fateful night and was shown the +vastness of the Medinan army, their good organisation and their boundless +enthusiasm. Thereat his hopes of victory became dust, and he bowed to the +inevitable in the same manner as Abbas had done before him, though from +different motives, one being actuated by the desire for favour and fame, +the other only anxious to save his city from the horrors of a prolonged +and ultimately unsuccessful siege. + +Thereafter the army marched upon Mecca, and Mahomet completed his plans +for a peaceful entry. Zobeir, one of his most trusted commanders, was to +enter from the north, Khalid and the Bedouins from the southern or lower +suburb, where possible resistance might be met, as it was the most +populous and turbulent quarter. Abu Obeida, followed by Mahomet, took the +nearest road, skirting Jebel Hind. It was an anxious time as the force +divided and made its appointed way so as to come upon the city from three +sides. Mahomet watched his armies from the rear in a kind of paralysis of +thought, which overtakes men of action who have provided for every +contingency and now can do nothing but wait. Khalid alone encountered +opposition, but his skill and the force behind him soon drove the Meccans +back within their narrow streets, and there separated them into small +companies, robbing them of all concerted action, and rendering them an +easy prey to his oncoming soldiery. Mahomet drew breath once more, and +seeing all was well and that the other entries had been peacefully +effected, directed his tent to be pitched to the north of the city. + +It was, in fact, a bloodless revolution. Mahomet, the outcast, the +despised, was now lord of the whole splendid city that stretched before +his eyes. He had seen what few men are vouchsafed, the material +fulfilment of his year-long dreams, and knew it was by his own tireless +energy and overmastering faith that they had been wrought upon the soil +of his native land. + +His first act was to worship at the Kaaba, but before completing the +whole ancestral rites he destroyed the idols that polluted the sanctuary. +Then he commanded Bilal to summon the Faithful to prayer from the summit +of the Kaaba, and when the concourse of Believers crowded to the +precincts of that sacred place he knew that this occupation of Mecca +would be written among the triumphant deeds of the world. + +His victory was not stained by any relentless vengeance. Strength is +always the harbinger of mercy. Only four people were put to death, +according to tradition, two women-singers who had continued their +insulting poems even after his occupation of the city, and two renegades +from Islam. About ten or twelve were proscribed, but of these several +were afterwards pardoned. Even Hind, the savage slayer of Hamza, +submitted, and received her pardon at Mahomet's hands. An order was +promulgated forbidding bloodshed, and the orderly settlement of Believers +among the Meccan population embarked upon. Only one commander violated +the peace. Khalid, sent to convert the Jadzima just outside the city, +found them recalcitrant and took ruthless vengeance. He slew them most +barbarously, and returned to Mecca expecting rewards. But Mahomet knew +well the value of mercy, and he was not by nature vindictive towards the +weak and inoffensive. He could punish without remorse those who opposed +him and were his equals in strength, but towards inferior tribes he had +the compassion of the strong. He could not censure Khalid as he was too +valuable a general, but he was really grieved at the barbarity practised +against the Jadzima. He effectually prevented any further cruelties, and +on that very account rendered his authority secure and his rulership free +from attempts to throw off its yoke within the vicinity of his newly-won +power. + +The populace was far too weak to resist the Muslim incursion. Its +leaders, Abu Sofian and Abbas with their followings, had surrendered to +the hostile faith; for the inhabitants there was nothing now between +submission and death. The Believers were merciful, and they had nought to +fear from their violence. They embraced the new faith in self-defence, +and received the rulership of the Prophet very much as they had received +the government of all the other chieftains before him. + +One command, however, was to be rigidly obeyed, the command inseparable +from the dominion of Islam. Idolatry was to be exterminated, the accursed +idols torn down and annihilated. Parties of Muslim were sent out to the +neighbouring districts to break these desecrators of Islam. The famous +Al-Ozza and Manat, whose power Mahomet for a brief space had formerly +acknowledged, were swept into forgetfulness at Nakhla, every image was +destroyed that pictured the abominations, and the temples were cleansed +of pollution. + +Out of his spirit-fervour Mahomet's triumph had been achieved. In the dim +beginnings of his faith, when nothing but its conception of the +indivisible godhead had been accomplished, he had brought to its altars +only the quenchless fire of his inspiration. He had not dreamed at first +of political supremacy, only the rapture of belief and the imperious +desire to convert had made his foundation of a city and then an +overlordship inevitable. But circumstances having forced a temporal +dominance upon him, he became concerned for the ultimate triumph of his +earthly power. Thereupon his dreams took upon themselves the colouring of +external ambitions. Conversion might only be achieved by conquest, +therefore his first thoughts turned to its attainment. And as soon as he +looked upon Arabia with the eyes of a potential despot he saw Mecca the +centre of his ceremonial, his parent city, hostile and unsubdued. +Certainly from the time of the Kureisch failure to capture Medina he had +set his deliberate aims towards its humiliation. With diplomacy, with +caution, by cruelty, cajolements, threatenings, and slaughter he had made +his position sufficiently stable to attack her. Now she lay at his feet, +acknowledging him her master--Mecca, the headstone of Arabia, the +inviolate city whose traditions spoke of her kinship with the heroes and +prophets of an earlier world. + +Henceforward the command of Arabia was but a question of time. With Mecca +subdued his anxiety for the fate of his creed was at an end. As far as +the mastery of the surrounding country was concerned, all that was needed +was vigilance and promptitude. These two qualities he possessed in +fullest measure, and he had efficient soldiery, informed with a devoted +enthusiasm, to supplement his diplomacy. He was still to encounter +resistance, even defeat, but none that could endanger the final success +of his cause within Arabia. Full of exaltation he settled the affairs of +his now subject city, altered its usages to conform to his own, and +conciliated its members by clemency and goodwill. + +The conquest of Mecca marks a new period in the history of Islam, a +period which places it perpetually among the ruling factors of the East, +and removes it for ever from the condition of a diffident minor state +struggling with equally powerful neighbours. Islam is now the master +power in Arabia, mightier than the Kureisch, than the Bedouin tribes or +any idolaters, soon to fare beyond the confines of its peninsula to +impose its rigid code and resistless enthusiasm upon the peoples dwelling +both to the east and west of its narrow cradle. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +MAHOMET, VICTOR + + "Now hath God helped you in many battlefields and on the day + of Honein, when ye prided yourselves on your numbers but it availed + you nothing ... then ye turned your backs in flight. Then did God + lend down his spirit of repose upon his Apostle and upon the Faithful, + and he sent down the hosts which ye saw not and punished the + Infidels."--_The Kuran._ + +Mahomet's triumph at Mecca was not left long undisturbed. If the Kureisch +had yielded in the face of his superior armies, the great tribe of the +Hawazin were by no means minded to suffer his lordship, indeed they +determined forthwith vigorously to oppose it. They were devoted to +idol-worship, and leaven of Mahomet's teaching had not effected even +remotely their age-long faith. They now saw themselves face to face not +only with a religious revolution, but also with political absorption in +the victorious sect if they did not make good their opposition to this +overwhelming enemy in their midst. + +They assembled at Autas, in the range of mountains north-east of Taif, +and threatened to raid the sacred city itself. Mahomet was obliged to +leave Mecca hurriedly after having only occupied the city for about three +weeks. He left Muadh ibn Jabal to instruct the Meccans and secure their +allegiance, and called off the whole of his army, together with 2000 of +the more warlike spirits of his newly conquered territory. The force drew +near the valley of Honein, where Mahomet fell in with the vanguard of the +Hawazin. There the two armies, the rebels under Malik, the Muslim under +the combined leadership of Khalid and Mahomet, joined battle. Khalid led +the van and charged up the steep and narrow valley, hoping to overwhelm +the Hawazin by his speed, but the enemy fell upon them from an ambuscade +at the top of the hill and swept unexpectedly into the narrow, choked +path. The Muslim, unprepared for the sudden onslaught, turned abruptly +and made for flight. Instantly above the tumult rose the voice of their +leader: + +"Whither go ye? The Prophet of the Lord is here, return!" + +Abbas lent his encouragement to the wavering files: + +"Citizens of Medina! Ye men of the Pledge of the Tree of Fealty, return +to your posts!" + +In the narrow defile the battle surged in confluent waves, until Mahomet, +seizing the moment when a little advantage was in his favour, pressed +home the attack and, casting dust in the face of the enemy, cried: + +"Ruin seize them! By the Lord of the Kaaba they yield! God hath cast fear +into their hearts!" + +The inspired words of their leader, whose vehement power all knew and +reverenced, turned the day for the Muslim hosts. They charged up the +valley and overwhelmed the troops at the rear of the Hawazin. The enemy's +rout was complete. Their camp and families fell into the hands of the +conqueror. Six thousand prisoners were removed to Jeirana, and the +fugitive army pursued to Nakhla. Mahomet's losses were more severe than +any which he had encountered for some time, but, undeterred and exultant, +he marched to Taif, whose idolatrous citadel had become a refuge for the +flying auxiliaries of the Hawazin. + +Taif remained hostile and idolatrous. Ever since it had rejected his +message with contumely, in the days when he was but a religious visionary +inspired by a dream, it had refused negotiations and even recognition to +the blasphemous Prophet. + +Now Mahomet conceived that his day of vengeance had come. He invested the +city, bringing his army close up to its walls, and hoping to reduce it +speedily. But the walls of Taif were strong, its citadels like towers, +its garrison well provisioned, its inmates determined to resist to the +end. A shower of arrows from the walls wrought such destruction among his +Muslim force that Mahomet was forced to withdraw out of range where the +camp was pitched, two tents of red leather being erected for his +favourite wives, Omm Salma and Zeineb. From the camp frequent assaults +were made upon the town, which were carried out with the help of +testudos, catapults, and the primitive besieging engines of the time. + +But Taif remained inviolate, and each attack upon her walls made with +massed troops in the hope of scaling her fortresses was received by +heated balls flung from the battlements which set the scaling ladders on +fire and brought destruction upon the helpless bodies of Mahomet's +soldiery. But if he could not impress the city Mahomet wreaked his full +vengeance upon its neighbourhood. The vineyards were cut down pitilessly, +and the whole land of Taif laid desolate. Liberty was even offered to the +slaves of the city who would desert to the invader. Nothing ruthless or +guileful was spared by the Prophet to gain his ends, but with no avail. +Taif held out until Mahomet grew weary, and finally raised the siege, +which had considerably lessened in political importance, owing to the +overtures of the Hawazin, who now wished to be reconciled with Mahomet, +having perceived that their wisdom lay in peace with so powerful an +adversary. They promised alliance with him and their prisoners were +restored, but the booty taken from them was retained, after the old +imperious custom, which demanded wealth from the conquered. + +Mahomet forthwith distributed largesse among the lesser Arabs of the +neighbourhood, an act of policy which called down the resentment of his +adherents and caused the details of the law of almsgiving to be +promulgated in the Kuran. The Muslim point of view was that having fought +for the spoil they were entitled to receive a share of it, but their +leader held that it must first be distributed in part to those needy +Bedouin tribes who had flocked to his banner. The bounty had its desired +effect. Malik, the Hawazin chieftain, moved either by his love of spoil +or genuinely convinced of the truth of Islam, possibly by the influence +of both these considerations, tendered his submission to Mahomet and +became converted. February and March, 630, were occupied in distributing +equitably the wealth that had fallen into his hands. + +It was now the time of the Lesser Pilgrimage, and Mahomet returned to +Mecca to perform it. Then, having fulfilled every ceremony and surrounded +by his followers, he returned to Medina, still the capital of his +formless principality and the keystone of his power. + +Thereafter Mahomet rested in his own city, where he lived in potential +kingship, receiving and sending out embassies, administering justice, +instructing his adherents, but still keeping his army alert, his leaders +well trained to quell the least disturbance or threatenings of revolt. +The conquest of Mecca and the victory of Honein had rendered him secure +from all except those abortive attacks that were instantly crushed by the +marching of the force that was to subdue them. + +The year 680-681 was spent in the receiving and sending out of embassies, +alternating with the organising of small expeditions to chastise +recusants, but to Mahomet himself there came besides the flower of an +idyll, the frost of a grief. + +Mary, the Coptic maid, young, lovely, and forlorn, the helpless barter of +an Egyptian king, reached Medina in the first year of embassies and was +reserved for the Prophet because of her beauty and her innocence. She had +become long since a humble inmate of his harem, and would have ended her +days in the same obscurity if potential motherhood had not come to her as +an honour and a crowning. When Mahomet perceived that she was with child +he had her removed from the company of his other wives, and built for her +a "garden-house" in Upper Medina, where she lived until her child was +born. Mahomet, returning from his campaigns, sought her in her retreat +and gave her his companionship and his prayers. + + +In April of 630 she bore a son to her master, who could hardly believe +that such a gift had been granted him. Never before had his arms held a +man-child of his own begetting, and the honours lavished upon the +slave-mother showed his boundless gratitude to Allah. A son meant much to +him, for by that was ensured his hope for a continuance of power when his +earthly sojourn was over. The child was named Ibrahim, and all the lawful +ceremonies were scrupulously observed by his father. He sacrificed a kid +upon the seventh day, and sought for the best and most fitting nurses for +his new-born son. Mary received in full measure the smiles and favour of +her master, and the Prophet's wives became jealous to fury, so that their +former anger was revived--the anger that also had its roots in jealousy +when Mahomet had first looked upon Mary with desiring eyes. Then they had +gained their lord's displeasure as far as to cause a rebuke against them +to be inscribed in the Kuran, but now their rage, though still +smouldering, was useless against the triumph of that long-looked-for +birth. + +But Mahomet's joy was short-lived. Scarcely had three months passed when +Ibrahim sickened even beneath the most devoted care. His father was +inconsolable, and the little garden-house that had been the scene of so +much rejoicing was now filled with sorrow. Ibrahim grew rapidly worse, +until Mahomet perceived that there was no more hope. Then he became +resigned, and having closed the child's eyes gave directions for its +burial with all fitting ceremonial. Thereafter he knew that Allah had not +ordained him an heir, and became reconciled to the vast decrees of fate. +Mary, instrument of his hopes and despairs, passed into the oblivion of +the despised and now useless slave. We never hear any more of her beyond +that the Prophet treated her kindly and would not suffer her to be +ill-used. She was the mere necessary means of the fulfilment of his +intent. Having failed in her task she was no longer important, no longer +even desired. + +Meanwhile the tasks of administration had been increasing steadily. +Mahomet was now strong enough to insist that none but Believers were to +be admitted to the Kaaba and its ceremonies, and although all the +idolatrous practices in Mecca were not removed until after Abu Bekr's +pilgrimage, yet the power of polytheism was completely subdued, and +before long was to be extirpated from the holy places. + +The next matter to be taken in hand owes its origin to the extent of +Mahomet's domains in the year 630. It was imperative that some sort of +financial system should be adopted, so that the Prophet and the Believers +might possess adequate means for keeping up the efficiency of the army, +giving presents to embassies from foreign lands, rewarding worthy +subjects, and all the numerous demands upon a chieftain's wealth. +Deputies were therefore sent out to the various tribes now under his sway +to gather from every subject tribe the price of their protection and +championship by Mahomet. + +In most cases the tax-gatherers were received as the inevitable result of +submission, but there were occasional resistances organised by the bolder +tribes, chief of whom was the Temim, who drove out Mahomet's envoy with +contempt and ill-usage. Reprisals were immediately set on foot, the tribe +was attacked and routed, many of its members being taken prisoner. These +were subsequently liberated upon the tribe's guarantee of good faith. The +Beni Mustalik also drove out the tax-gatherer, but afterwards repented +and sent a deputation to Mahomet to explain the circumstance. They were +pardoned and gave guarantees that they would dwell henceforth at peace +with the Prophet. The summer saw a few minor expeditions to chastise +resisters, chief of which was All's campaign against the Beni Tay. He was +wholly successful, and brought back to Medina prisoners and booty. + +The "second year of embassies" proved more gratifying than the first. +Mahomet's power had increased sufficiently to awe the tribes of the +interior into submission and to gain at least a hearing from lands beyond +his immediate vicinity. Slowly and surely he was building up the fabric +of his dominion. With a watchfulness and sense of organisation +irresistible in its efficiency he made his presence known. The sword had +gained him his dominion, the sword should preserve it with the help of +his unfailing vigilance and diplomatic skill. As his power progressed it +drew to itself not only the fighting material but the dreams and poetic +aspirations of the wild, untutored races who found themselves beneath his +yoke. Islam was before all an ideal, a real and material tradition, +giving scope to the manifold qualities of courage, devotion, aspiration, +and endeavour. Every tribe coming fully within its magnetism felt it to +be the sum of his life, a religion which had not only an indivisible +mighty God at its head, but a strong and resolute Prophet as its earthly +leader. Around the central figure each saw the majesty of the Lord and +also the headship of armies, the crown of power, and the sovereignty of +wealth. They invested Mahomet with the royalty of romance, and the +potency of his magnetism is realised in the story of the conversion of +Ka'b the poet. He had for years voiced the feelings of contempt and anger +against the Prophet, and had been the chief vehicle for the launching of +defamatory songs. His conversion to the cause of Islam is momentous, +because it deprived the idolaters of their chief means of vituperation +and ensured the gradual dying down of the fire of abuse. Mahomet received +Ka'b with the utmost honour, and threw over him his own mantle as a sign +of his rejoicing at the acquisition of so potent a man. Ka'b thereupon +composed the "Poem of the Mantle" in praise of his leader and lord, a +poem which has rendered him famous and well-beloved throughout the whole +Muslim world. + +Now embassies came to Mahomet from all parts of Arabia. Instead of being +the suppliant he became the dictator, for whose favour princes sued. +Hadramaut and Yemen sent tokens of alliance and promises of conversion, +even the far-off tribes upon the borders of Syria were not all equally +hostile and were content to send deputations. + +Nevertheless, it was from the North that his power was threatened. Secure +as was his control over Central and Southern Arabia, the northern +feudatories backed by Heraclius were still obdurate and even openly +hostile. They were the one hope that Arabia possessed of throwing off the +Prophet's yoke, which even now was threatening to press hardly upon their +unrestrained natures. All the malcontents looked towards the North +for deliverance, and made haste to rally, if possible, to the side of the +Syrian border states. Towards the end of the year signs were not wanting +of a concerted effort to overthrow his power on the part of all the +northern tribes, who had as their ally a powerful emperor, and therefore +might with reason expect to triumph over a usurper who had put his yoke +upon their brethren of the southern interior, and was only deterred from +attempting their complete reduction to the status of tributary states by +the distance between his capital and themselves, added to the menace of +the imperial legions. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +ICONOCLASM + + "Oh Prophet, contend against the Infidels and the hypocrites, + and be rigorous with them. Hell shall be their dwelling-place! + Wretched the journey thither."--_The Kuran._ + +The clouds upon the Syrian border gathered so rapidly that they +threatened any moment to burst during the autumn of 680. When Mahomet +heard that the feudatories were massed under the bidding of Heraclius at +Hims, he realised there was no time to be lost. Eagerly he summoned his +army, and expected from it the same enthusiasm for the campaign as he +himself displayed. + +But there was no generous response to his call. Syria was far away, the +Believers could not be convinced of the importance of the attack. They +were weary of the incessant warfare and it was, moreover, the season of +the heats, when no man willingly embarked upon arduous tasks. The +Companions rallied at once to the side of their leader, and many true +Believers also supported their lord, but the Citizens and the Bedouins +murmured against his exactions, and for the most part refused to accompany +him. + +Only Mahomet's indefatigable energy summoned together a sufficient army. +But the Believers were generous, and gave not only themselves but their +gold, and after some delay the expedition was organised. + +Mahomet himself led the troop, leaving Abu Bekr in Medina to conduct the +daily prayer and have charge of the religious life of the city, while to +Molleima were given the administrative duties. The expedition reached the +valley of Heja, where Mahomet called a halt, and there, about half-way +from his goal, rested the greater part of two days. The next days saw him +continually advancing over the scanty desert ways, urging on his soldiers +with prayers and exhortations, so that they might not grow weary with the +long heat and the silence. Finally he sighted Tebuk, where the rebel army +was reported to be. + +But by this time the border tribes had dispersed, frightened into +inactivity by the strength of Mahomet's army, and incapacitated further +by lack of definite leadership. There seemed no fighting to be done, but +Mahomet was determined to make sure of his peaceful triumph. The main +force stayed at Tebuk, while Khalid was despatched to Dumah, there to +intimidate both Jews and Bedouins by the size of his force and their +fighting prowess. The manoeuvre was entirely successful, and before +long Mahomet had received the submission of the tribes dwelling along the +shores of the Elanitic Gulf. + +Meanwhile, he had recourse to diplomacy as well as the sword. He sent a +letter to John, Christian prince of Eyla, and received from him a most +favourable hearing. John accompanied the messenger back to the Prophet, +where he accorded him meet reverence and regard as the leader of a mighty +faith. Between the two princes a treaty was drawn up, the text of which +is extant, and very probably authentic. It is characteristic of the whole +series of treaties entered into at this time by Mahomet with the desert +tribes, and as such is interesting enough to reproduce. These treaties +are given at full length in Wakidi; they differ from each other by only +small details, and that drawn up for John of Eyla may be taken as fairly +representative. It is little more than a guarantee of safe conduct upon +either side, and is noticeably free from any religious requirements or +commissions: + +"In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. A compact of peace from +God and from Mahomet, the Prophet and Apostle of God, granted unto +Yuhanna, son of Rubah, and unto the people of Eyla. For them who remain +at home and for those that travel by sea or by land, there is the +guarantee of God and of Mahomet, the Apostle of God, and for all that are +with them, whether of Syria or of Yeman, or of the Sea Coast. Whoso +contraveneth this treaty, his wealth shall not save him--it shall be the +fair prize of him that taketh it. Now it shall not be lawful to hinder +the men of Eyla from any springs which they have been in the habit of +frequenting, nor from any journey they desire to make, whether by sea or +by land. The writing of Juheim and Sharrabil, by command of the Apostle +of God." + +When this scanty document had been completed John of Eyla betook himself +again to his own country, leaving Mahomet free to enter into further +compacts with the Jews of Mauna, Adzuh, and Jaaba. When these had been +ratified and Mahomet had received tribute from the surrounding people, he +set out again for Medina, having first made sure of Khalid's success in +Dumah, and receiving the conversion of the chief of that tribe with much +gladness. + +Now, departing to Medina confident in his success, it was with no good +will that he entered its walls. Many of his erstwhile followers, +especially the tribes of Bedouins, had refused him their help upon this +adventure, and, immediate danger being past, he returned to rend them in +the fury of his eloquence. His success had given him the right to +chastise; even the Ansar were not exempt from his wrath. Three who +remained behind were proscribed, and compelled to fulfil fifty days of +penance. + +"Had there been a near advantage and a short journey, they would +certainly have followed thee; but the way seemed long to them. Yet they +will swear by God, 'Had we been able we had surely gone forth with you; +they are self-destroyers! And God knoweth that they are surely liars!'" + +Before he had entered the city his anger was further provoked by the Beni +Ganim, who had erected a mosque, ostensibly out of piety, really to spite +the Beni Amru ibn Auf and to make them jealous for their own mosque at +Kuba, whose stones he had laid with his own hands. He fell upon the +Ganim, "some who have built a mosque for mischief," and demolished the +building. Then he drew attention to their perfidy in the Kuran, and took +care that there should be no more mosques built in the spirit of rivalry +and envy. + +Very little time after his return to Medina, Abdallah, leader of the +Disaffected, his opponent and critic for so many years, died suddenly. +His death meant a great change in the position of his party. There was no +strong man to succeed Abdallah, and they found themselves without leader +or policy. They had for long been nominally allies of Mahomet, but had +not scrupled under Abdallah's leadership to question his authority by +opposition and sometimes in open acts of war. Abdallah's death crushed +for ever any attempts at revolt in Medina, and fused the Disaffected into +the common stock of Believers. + +Abdallah occupies rather a peculiar position in Mahomet's entourage; he +was often the Prophet's opponent, sometimes his open defier, and yet +Mahomet's dealings with him were uniformly gentle and forbearing. He may +have had some personal regard for him. Abdallah was a stern and upright +man, whose uncompromising nature would speedily win Mahomet's respect. +Possibly the Prophet felt he might be too powerful an enemy, and +determined to ignore his insurrections. He paid him that respect which +his generosity of mind allowed him to offer towards any he knew and +liked. The Mahomet whose ruthlessness towards his opponents fell like an +awe upon all Arabia, could know and do homage to an enemy who had shown +himself worthy of his steel. All things seemed to be working towards +Mahomet's final prevailing. Now at last after many years the city of +Medina was unfeignedly his, the Jews were extirpated, the Disaffected +united under his banner. + +Meanwhile, the city of Taif still held out in spite of Malik's incessant +warfare against it. But its defences were steadily growing weaker, and at +last the inhabitants knew they could no longer continue the hopeless +struggle. The chief citizens sent an embassy to Mahomet, promising to +destroy their idol within three years if the Prophet would release them +from their harassment. But Mahomet refused unconditionally. The uprooting +of idolatry was ever the price of his mercy. The message was sent back +that instant demolition of the accursed thing must be made or the siege +would continue. Then the people of Taif, hoping once more for clemency, +asked to be released from the obligation of daily prayer. This request +Mahomet also refused, but in deference to their ancestral worship, and no +doubt in some pity for their plight, he allowed their idol to be +destroyed by other hands than their own. Abu Sofian and Molleima were +despatched with a covering force to destroy the great image Lat, which +had stood for time immemorial in the centre of Taif and was the shrine +for all the prayers and devotions of that fair and ancient city. + +Taif was the last stronghold of the idolaters. When that had fallen +beneath the sway of the Prophet and his remote, austerely majestic +God-head, indivisible and personless, the doom of the old gods was at +hand. They were dethroned from their high places at the bidding of a man; +but they had not bowed their heads before his proclaimed message, but +before the strength of his armies, the onward sweep of his ceaseless and +victorious warfare. To Mahomet, indeed, Allah had never shown himself +more gracious than at the fall of idolatrous Taif. He resolved thereupon +that the crowning act of homage should be fulfilled. He would make a +solemn journey to the holy city, and accomplish the Greater Pilgrimage +with purified rites freed from the curse of the worship of many gods. + +But when he came to the setting forth, and the sacred month of Dzul Higg +was upon him, he found that many idolatrous practices still remained as +part of the great ceremonial. He could not contaminate himself by +undertaking the pilgrimage while these remained, but he could send Abu +Bekr to ensure that none should remain after this year's cleansing. He +was now strong enough to insist that the rooting out of idolatry was his +chief policy, and to make the breaking up of the ancestral gods incumbent +upon the whole country. Abu Bekr was commissioned to set forth upon his +task with 300 men, and to spare neither himself nor them until the +mission was accomplished and every idolatrous practice blotted out. + +And now follows one of the most characteristic acts Mahomet ever +performed, wherein obligation is made to bow to expediency and the bonds +of treaties snap and break before the wind of the Prophet's will. Abu +Bekr had started but one day's journey upon the Meccan road when Ali was +sent after him with a document bearing the Prophet's seal. This he was to +read to the Faithful, and receive their pledge that they would act upon +its contents. Mahomet also published abroad a like proclamation in the +city itself. The document drawn up and despatched with such haste was +nothing less than a Release for the Prophet and his followers from all +obligations to the Infidels after a term of four months. + +"A Release by God and the Apostle in respect of the Heathen with whom ye +have entered into treaty. Go to and fro in the earth securely in the four +months to come. And know ye cannot hinder God, and that verily God will +bring disgrace upon the Unbelievers. And an announcement from God and his +Apostle unto the People on the day of Pilgrimage that God is discharged +from (liability to) the Heathen and his Prophet likewise.... Fulfil unto +these their engagements until the expiration of their terms; for God +loveth the pious. And when the forbidden months are over then fight +gainst the heathen, wheresoever ye find them, ... but if they repent and +establish Prayer and give the Tithes, leave them in peace.... O ye that +believe, verily the Unbelievers are unclean. Wherefore let them not +approach the Holy Temple after this year." + +No one reading this writing, which bears upon it all the stamps of +authenticity, can fail to see the motive behind its words. Its +unscrupulousness has received in all good faith the sanction of the Most +High. Mahomet knew that the time was ripe for an uncompromising +insistence upon the acceptance of his faith. He was strong enough to +compel. It was Allah who had strengthened his armies and given him +dominion, therefore in Allah's name he repudiated his agreements with +heathen peoples, and by virtue of his power he purposed to bestow upon +his Lord a greater glory. An act wrought in such defiance of honour at +the inspiration of God savours unquestionably of hypocrisy, but none who +estimates aright the age and environment in which Mahomet dwelt can +accuse him of anything more than a keenness of political cunning which +led him to value accurately his own power and the waning reputation of +idolatry. + +The evil example he had set in this first Release extended with his +conquests until it was accounted of universal application, and no Muslim +considered himself dishonoured if he broke his pledge with any +Unbeliever. From this time a more dogmatic and terrible note enters into +his message. He openly asserts that idolatry is to be extirpated from +Arabia by the sword, and that Judaism and Christianity are to be reduced +to subordinate positions. Judaism he had never forgiven for its rejection +of him as Prophet and head of a federal state; Christianity he hated and +despised, because to him in these later years monotheism had become a +fanatic belief, and the whole conception of Christ's divinity was +abhorrent to his worship of Allah. He was not strong enough to proclaim a +destructive war against either faith, but he allowed them to exist in his +dominions upon a precarious footing, always liable to abuse, attack, and +profanation. + +From the spring of 631 until the end of his life, Mahomet's campaigns +consist in defensive and punitive expeditions. The realm of Arabia was +virtually his, and the constant succession of embassies promising +obedience and expressing homage continued until the end. But he was not +allowed to enjoy his power in peace. The continuous series of small +insurrections, speedily suppressed, which had accompanied his rise to +power in later years, was by no means ended with his comparative +security. But they never grew sufficiently in volume to threaten his +dominion; they were wiped out at once by the alertness and political +genius of his rule, until his death gave all the smaller chieftains +fresh hope and became the signal for a desperate and almost successful +attempt to throw off the shackles. + +The first important conversion after his return from Taif was that of +Jeyfar, King of Oman, followed closely by the districts of Mahra and +Yemen, which localities had been hovering for some time between Islam and +idolatry. The tribes of Najran were inclined to Christianity, and Mahomet +was now anxious to gain them over to himself. The severity he had +practised against a certain Christian church of Hanifa, however, weighed +with them against any allegiance until he promised that theirs should be +more favourably treated. A treaty was then made with these tribes by +which each was to respect the religion of the other. + +Mahomet remained in Medina throughout the year 631 and the beginning of +632, keeping his state like unto that of a king, surrounded by his +Companions and Believers, receiving and sending forth embassies, +receiving also tribute from those lands he had conquered, the beginning +of that wealth which was to create the magnificence of Bagdad, the +treasures of Cordova. The tribes of the Beni Asad, the Beni Kunda, and +many from the territory of Hadramaut made their submission; tax-gatherers +were also sent out to all the tributary peoples, and returned in safety +with their toll. Almost it seemed as if peace had settled for good upon +the land. The only threatenings came from the Beni Harith of the country +bordering Najran, and the Beni Nakhla, with a few minor tribes near +Yemen. Khalid was sent to call the Beni Harith to conversion at the point +of the sword, and Ali subdued without effort the enfeebled resistance of +the Beni Nakhla. Continual embassies poured into Medina. The country was +quiet at last. After years of tumult Arabia had settled for the +moment peaceably under the yoke of a religious enthusiast, who +nevertheless possessed sufficient political and military genius to found +his kingdom well and strongly. + +Mahomet had attained his aims, and whether he could keep what he had now +rested with himself alone. After this period of calm there is a +diminution in his energy and fiery zeal. The effort of that continual +warfare had kept him in perpetual fever of action; when its strain was +removed he felt the weight of his kingdom and the religion he had so +fearlessly reared. Until the end of his life he kept his hold upon his +subjects, and every branch of justice, law, administration, and military +policy felt his detailed guiding, but with the attainment of peace for +Arabia under his sway, his aggressive strivings vanished. Virtually he +had accomplished his destiny, and with the keen prescience of those who +have lived and worked for one object, he knew that the outermost +stronghold of those which Islam was destined to subdue had yielded to his +passionate insistence. His successors would carry his work to higher +attainments, but his personal part was done, and it was with a sense of +finality that almost brought peace to his perpetually striving nature +that he prepared for his last witness to the glory and unity of Allah, +the performance of the Greater and Farewell Pilgrimage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +LAST RITES + + "This day have I perfected your religion for you, and have filled + up the measure of my favours upon you; and it is my pleasure that + Islam be your religion."--_The Kuran_. + +A year had passed since Abu Bekr's purgatory Pilgrimage, and now the +sacred month drew near once more and found Mahomet secure in his adopted +city, the acknowledged spiritual and political leader among the Arabian +tribes. Not since his exile had the Prophet performed in their entirety +the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage. Now he felt that his achievements +would receive upon them the seal of Allah and become attested in the eyes +of the world if he should undertake a complete and purified Pilgrimage in +company with the host of his followers. The Pilgrimage was proclaimed +abroad in Islam, and every Believer who could by any means accomplish it +assumed the Pilgrim's garb, until the army of the devout numbered about +40,000 men. All the Prophet's wives accompanied him, and every Believer +of any standing in the newly formed state was his close attendant. It was +felt, indeed, that this was to be the Pilgrimage that was to ordain and +sanction the rite for all time. In the deepest spirit of religion and +devotion it was undertaken and completed. Islam was now to show to the +world the measure of its strength, and to succeeding generations the sum +of its being and the insistence of its call. + +With the host travelled also a hundred camels, destined as a sacrifice +upon the triumphant day when the ceremonies should be accomplished. By +easy stages the Pilgrims journeyed through the desert. There was no +hurry, for there was no fear of attack. The whole company was unarmed, +save for the defensive sword allowed to each man. Over the desert they +moved like locusts, overwhelming the country, and the tune of their march +spread far around. In ten days the pilgrim army, in the gladness of +self-confidence and power, arrived at Sarif, a short day's march from +their goal. There Mahomet rested before he embarked upon the final +journey. + +Mecca lay before him, awaiting his coming, her animosities silenced, her +populace acquiescent, her temples freed from the curse of idolatry. His +mind was uplifted into a fervour of praise. He seemed in truth about to +enter upon his triumph, to celebrate in very flesh the ceremonies he had +reverenced, to celebrate them in his own peculiar manner, freed of what +was to him their bane and degradation. Something of the foreknowledge of +the approaching cessation of activity flashed across him as he mounted +Al-Caswa and prepared to make the entry of the city. + +He came upon the upper suburbs by the same route as he had entered Mecca +two years before, and proceeded to the Kaaba. There he performed the +circuits of the sacred place and the preliminary rites of the Greater +Pilgrimage. Then he returned to the valley outside the city where his +tent was pitched, and tarried there the night. And now Ali, the mighty in +arms, reached the city from an admonitory expedition and demanded the +privilege of performing the Pilgrimage. Mahomet replied that like most +other Believers he might perform the rites of the Lesser Pilgrimage, but +that the Greater was barred to him because he had no victims. But Ali +refused to forego his privilege, and at last Mahomet, urged by his love +for him and his fear of creating any disturbance at such a time, felt it +wiser to yield. He gave Ali the half of his own victims, and their +friendship and Ali's devotion to his master were idealised and made +sweeter for the gift. + +Now the rites of the Greater Pilgrimage properly began. Mahomet preached +to the people from the Kaaba on the morning of the next day, and when his +words had roused the intense religious spirit of those listening masses +he set out for Mina, accompanied by Bilal, followed by every Believer, +and prepared to spend the night in the sacred valley. When morning dawned +he made his way to Arafat, where he climbed the hill in the midst of the +low-lying desolate ground. Standing at the summit of the hill, surrounded +by the hosts of his followers, revealed to their eyes in all the +splendour and dignity of his familiarity and personally wrested +authority, he recited some of the verses of the Kuran dealing with the +fit and proper celebration of the Pilgrimage. He expounded then the +manner in which that rite was to be performed for all time. So long as +there remains one Muslim upon earth his Pilgrimage will be carried out +along the traditions laid down for him at this beneficent moment. + +Now, having ordered all matters, Mahomet raised his hands to Heaven and +called Allah to witness that he had completed his task: + +"This day have I perfected your religion for you." + +The supreme moment came and fled, and the Prophet descended once more +into the plain and journeyed again to the valley of Mecca, where, +according to immemorial tradition, he cast stones, or rather small +pebbles, at the rock of the Devil's Corner, symbolic of the defeat of the +powers of darkness by puny and assailed mankind. Thereafter he slew his +victims in thankful and devout spirit, and the Greater Pilgrimage was +completed. In token he shaved his head, pared his nails, and +removed the pilgrim's robe; then, coming before the people, he exhorted +them further, enjoining upon them the strict observance of daily prayers, +the fast of Ramadan, the rites of Pilgrimage, and all the essential +ceremonial of the Muslim faith. He abolished also with one short verse of +the Kuran the intercalary year, which had been in use among the Faithful +during the whole of his Medinan rule. The Believers were now subject to +the fluctuation of their months, so that their years follow a perpetually +changing cycle, bearing no relation to the solar seasons. + +When the exhortation was ended Mahomet departed to Mecca, and there he +encircled the Kaaba and entered its portals for prayer. But of this last +act he repented later, inasmuch as it would not be possible hereafter for +every Muslim to do so, and he had desired to perform in all particulars +the exact ceremonies incumbent upon the Faithful for all the future +years. He now made an ending of all his observances, and with every rite +fulfilled, at the head of his vast concourse, summoned by his tireless +will and held together by his overmastering zeal, the Prophet returned to +his governmental city, ready to take up anew the reins of his temporal +ruling, with the sense of fine things fittingly achieved, a great purpose +accomplished, which rendered him as much at peace as his fiery +temperament and the flame of his activity could compass. + +Fulfilment had come with the performance of the Greater Pilgrimage, but +still his state demanded his personal government. Death alone could still +his ardent pulses and bring about his relinquishment of command over the +kingdom that was his--death that was even now winging his silent way +nearer, and whose shadow had almost touched the fount of the Prophet's +earthly life. + +In such manner the Greater Pilgrimage was fulfilled, and the burden of +its accomplishing is the Muslim reverence for ceremony. The ritual in all +its forgotten superstition and immemorial tradition appealed most +potently to the emotions of every Believer, all the more so because it +had not been imposed upon him as a new and untried ceremony by a +religious reformer, but came to him with all its hallowed sanctity fresh +upon it, to be bound up inseparably with his religious life by its +purification under the Prophet's guidance. + +Its use by the founder of Islam bears witness at once to his knowledge of +the earlier faith and traditions and his reverence for them, as well as +his keen insight, which placed the rite of pilgrimage in the forefront of +his religious system. He knew the value of ritual and the force of +age-long association. The Farewell Pilgrimage is the last great public +act he performed. He felt that it strengthened Islam's connection with +the beliefs and ceremonies of his ancestors, legendarily free from +idolatry under the governance of Abraham and Ishmael. He realised, too, +that it rounded off the ceremonial side of his faith, giving his +followers an example and a material union with himself and his God. It +was the knowledge that this union would always be a living fact to his +descendants, so long as the sacred ceremony was performed, that caused +him to assert its necessity and to place it among the few unalterable +injunctions to all the Faithful. + +Meanwhile a phenomenon had arisen inseparable from the activities of +great men. Wherever there are strong souls, from whose spirit flows any +inspiring energy, there will always be found their imitators, when the +battle has been won. Whether hypocrites, or genuinely led by a sheep-like +instinct into the same path as their models, they follow the steps of +their forerunners, and usually achieve some slight fame before the dark +closes around them. + +Early in the year Badzan, Governor of Marab, Nazran, and Hamadan, died. +His territory was seized by Mahomet, in defiance of the claims of his son +Shehr, and divided among different governors. His success in the temporal +world, and especially this peaceful annexation of land, wrought so +vividly upon the imaginations of his countrymen that three false Prophets +arose and three separate bands of devoted fanatics appeared to uphold +them. Of these three men the most effective was Tuleiha of the Beri Asad, +who gathered together an army and was only repelled and crushed by Khalid +himself. But Tuleiha still persisted in spite of defeat, and was content +to bide his time until, under Abu Bekr, his faction rose again to +importance and constituted a serious disturbance to the rule of the first +Caliph. + +Moseilama, of whom not so much is known, also attempted to usurp the +Prophet's power at the close of his life. Mahomet demanded his +submission; Moseilama refused, but before adequate punishment could be +meted out the Prophet was stricken down with illness, so that the task of +chastisement devolved upon Abu Bekr. Aswad, "the veiled Prophet of +Yemen," might have proved the most formidable of the three, had not +rashness of conduct and lack of governance caused his undoing. He cast +off the Muslim yoke while the Prophet was still alive, and proclaimed +himself the magician prince who would liberate his followers from the +tyrant's yoke. Najran rose in his favour, and he marched confidently upon +Sana, the great capital city of Yemen, slew the puppet king Shehr and +took command of the surrounding country. Mahomet purposed to send a force +against him, but even while his army was massing for the march he heard +that the Veiled Prophet was assassinated. The sudden success had proved +his ruin. Aswad only needed the touch of power to call out his latent +tyranny, cruelty, and stupidity. He treated the people harshly, and they +could not retaliate effectually; but he forgot, being of unreflecting +mould, the imperative necessity of conciliating the chiefs of his armed +forces. He offended his leaders of armies, and the end came swiftly. The +leaders deserted to Mahomet, and treacherously murdered him when he had +counted their submission was beyond question. The three impostors were +not powerful enough to disturb seriously the steady flow of Mahomet's +organising and administrative activities, but they are indicative of the +thin crust that divided his rule from anarchy, a crust even now cracking +under the weight of the burdens imposed upon it, needing the constant +cement of armed expeditions to keep it from crumbling beyond Mahomet's +own remedying. + +April passed quietly enough at Medina, but with May came the news of fresh +disturbances upon the Syrian border. They were not serious, but the pretext +was sufficient. Muta was as yet unavenged, and Mahomet was glad to be able +to send a force again to the troublesome frontier. Osama, son of Zeid, +slain in that disastrous battle, was chosen for leader of this expedition +in spite of his youth, which aroused the quick anger of some of the Muslim +warriors. But Mahomet maintained his choice. He was given the battle banner +by the Prophet himself, and the expedition sallied forth to Jorf, where it +was delayed and finally hastily recalled by news of a grave and most +disturbing nature. + +Even as he blessed the Syrian expedition and sent it on its road, Mahomet +was in no fit state of health for public duties. After a little while, +however, his will triumphed over his flesh, and he thrust back the +weakness. But his physical nature had already been strained to breaking +point under the stress of his life. He had perforce to bow to the +dictates of his body. He gave up attempting to throw off the fever, and +retired to Ayesha's house, attributing the seizure to the effects of the +poison at Kheibar, and convinced that his end was at hand. + +In the house of his favourite wife he remained during the few remaining +days of his life. He lingered for about a week before his indomitable +soul gave way before the assaults of death, and all the time he continued +to attend to public affairs and to take his accustomed part in them as +long as possible. About the third day of his illness he heard the people +still murmuring over the appointment of Osama upon the Syrian expedition. +Rising from his couch he went out to speak to them, and commanded them to +cease from such empty discontent, reminding them that he was their +Prophet and master, and that they might safely rely upon him. + +The exertion of moving proved too much for his strength. He was now +indeed a broken man, and this activity was but the last conquest of mind +over his ever-growing weakness of body. He returned exhausted to Ayesha's +room, and, knowing that his mission was over, commanded Abu Bekr to lead +the public prayers. By this act he virtually nominated Abu Bekr his +successor; for the privilege of leading the prayers belonged exclusively +to himself, and his designation of the office was as plain a proof as +there could be that he considered the mantle of authority to have +descended upon his friend and counsellor, who had been to him so +unfailing a resource in defeat and triumph through all the tumultuous +years. + +From this time the Prophet grew steadily worse. His physical break-up was +complete. He had used every particle of his enormous energy in the +fulfilment of his work; now that activity had ceased there were no +reserves left. + +He became delirious, and finally weak to the point of utter exhaustion. +Many are the traditions concerning his dying words, chiefly exhortations +for the preservation of the faith he had so laboriously brought to life. +He is said to have cursed both Jews and Christians in his paroxysms of +fever, but in his lucid moments he seems to have been filled with love +for his disciples, and fears for the future of his religion and temporal +state. + +He lingered thus for two more days--days which gathered round him the +deep spiritual fervour, the human love and affection of every Believer, +so that the records are interpenetrated with the grief and tenderness of +a people's sorrow. On the third day he rallied sufficiently to come to +morning prayer, where he took a seat by Abu Bekr in token of his +dedication of the headship of Islam to him alone. The Believers' joy at +the sight of their Prophet showed itself in their thronging thanksgivings +and in their escort of their chief back to his place of rest. It seemed +that his illness was but slight, and that before long he would appear +among them once more in all the fullness of his strength. But the +exertion sapped his little remaining vitality, and he could scarcely +reach Ayesha's room again. There a few hours afterwards, after a period +of semi-consciousness, he died in her arms while it was yet only a little +after mid-day. + +The forlorn Ayesha was almost too terrified to impart the dreadful news. +Abu Bekr was summoned instantly, and came with awe and horror into the +mosque. Omar, Mahomet's beloved warrior-friend, refused to believe that +his leader was really dead, and even rushed to announce his belief to the +people. But Abu Bekr visited the place of death and assured himself by +the still cold form of the Prophet that he was indeed dead. He went out +with despair in his countenance, and convinced the Faithful that the soul +of their leader had passed. There fell upon Islam the hush of an +intolerable knowledge, and in the first blankness of realisation they +were dumb and passive. + +When the army at Jorf was apprised of the news, it broke up at once and +returned to Medina. With the withdrawal of the guiding hand their battle +enthusiasm became as nought, and they could only join the waiting ranks +of the Citizens--a crowd that would now be driven whither its masters +saw fit. + +The Faithful assembled round the mosque to question the future of +themselves and their rulers. Abu Bekr addressed them at once, and it was +soon evident that he had them well in hand. He was supported by Omar and +the chief leaders, except Ali, who maintained a jealous attitude, chiefly +due to the feelings of envy aroused in the mind of Fatima, his wife, at +the sight of Ayesha's privileges. At last, when Abu Bekr had told the +circumstances of the Prophet's death, tenderly and with that loving +reverence which characterised him, the Faithful were attuned to the +acceptance of this man as their Prophet's successor. The chief men, +followed by the rank and file, swore fealty to him, and covenanted to +maintain intact and precious the Faith bequeathed them by their leader, +who had been also their guide and fellow-worshipper of Allah. + + +There remained only the last dignity of burial. The Prophet's body was +washed and prepared for the grave. Around it was wrapped white linen and +an outer covering of striped Yemen stuff. Abu Bekr and Omar performed +these simple services for their Prophet, and then a grave was dug for him +in Ayesha's house, and a partition made between the grave and the +antechamber. It was dug vaulted fashion, and the body deposited there +upon the evening of the day of death. The people were permitted to visit +it, and after the long procession had looked their last upon their +Prophet, Abu Bekr and Omar delivered speeches to the assembled multitude, +urging them to remain faithful to their religion, and to hold before them +continually the example of the Prophet, who even now was received into +the Paradise he had described so ardently and loved with such enshrining +desire. + +Thus the Prophet of Islam, religious and political leader, director of +armies, lover of women, austere, devout, passionate, cunning, lay as he +would have wished in the simplicity of that communal life, in the midst +of his followers, near the sacred temple of his own devising. He had +lived close to his disciples, had appeared to them a man among men, +indued only with the divine authority of his religious enthusiasm; now he +rested among them as one of themselves, and none but felt the inspiration +of his energy inform their activities after him, though the manifestation +thereof confined itself to the violence necessary to maintain the +Prophet's domain secure from its earthly enemies. + +Mahomet, indeed, in his mortal likeness rested in the quiet of Ayesha's +chamber, but his spirit still led his followers to prayer and conquest, +still stood at the head of his armies, urging to victory and plunder, so +that they might find in the flaunting banners of Islam the fulfilment of +their lusts and aspirations, their worldly triumphs and the glories of +their heavenly vision. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + +THE GENESIS OF ISLAM + +"The Jews say, 'Ezra is a son of God,' and the Christians say, 'The +Messiah is a son of God' ... they resemble the saying of the Infidels +of old.... They take their teachers and their monks and the Messiah, +son of Mary, for Lords beside God, though bidden to worship one +God only. There is no God but He! Far what from his glory be +what they associate with Him."--_The Kuran_. + +The Prophet of Arabia had scarcely been committed to the keeping of +earth, when on all sides rebellion against his rule arose. The unity that +he had laboured so long to create was still in embryo, but the seed of it +was living, and developed rapidly to its full fruition. In the political +sphere his achievement is not limited to the immediate security of his +dominion. He had inculcated, mainly by the forcible logic of the sword, +the idea of union and discipline, and had restored in mightier degree the +fallen greatness of his land. Traditions of Arabian prosperity during the +time when it was the trade route from Persia and the East to Petraea, +Palestine, and even Asia Minor lingered in the native mind. The caravan +routes from Southern Arabia, famous in Biblical story, had made the +importance of such cities as Mecca and Sana, but with the maritime +enterprise of Rome their well-being declined, and the consequent distress +in Yemen induced its tribes to emigrate northwards to Mecca, to Syria, +and the Central Desert. Southern Arabia never recovered from the blow to +its trade, and in the sixth century Yemen became merely a dependency of +Persia. Central Arabia was an unknown country, inhabited by marauding +tribes in a constant state of political flux; while Hira, the kingdom to +the east of the desert on the banks of the Euphrates, had become a +satrapy of Persia early in the century in which Mahomet lived, and +Heraclius by frequent inroads had reduced the kingdom of Palmyra to +impotence. Arabia was ripe for the rise of a strong political leader; for +it was flanked by no powerful kingdom, and within itself there was no +organisation and no reliable political influence. + +The material was there, but it needed the shaping of a master-hand at the +instigation of unflagging zeal if it was to be wrought into order and +strength. Tireless energy and unceasing belief in his own power could +alone accomplish the task, and these Mahomet possessed in abundance. +Before his death he had secured the subjection of Yemen and Hadramaut, +had penetrated far into the Syrian borderland, and had made his rule felt +among the nomad tribes of the interior as far as the confines of Persia. +With his rise to power the national feeling of Arabia was born, and under +his successors developed by the enticements of plunder and glory until it +soared beyond mere nationality and dreamt of world-conquest, by which +presumption its ruin was wrought. Mahomet was the instigator of all this +absorbing activity, although he never calculated the extent of his +political impulse. In superseding the already effete tribal ideals he was +to himself only spreading the faith of his inspiration. All governmental +conceptions die slowly, and the tribal life of Arabia was far from +extinguished at the end of his mission. But its vitality was gone, and +the focus of Arabia's obedience had shifted from the clan to the Prophet +as military overlord. + +It is pre-eminently in the domain of political actions that Mahomet's +personality is revealed. The living fibres of his unique character pulse +through all his dealings with his fellow-leaders and opponents. Before +all things he possessed the capacity of inspiring both love and fear. +Ali, Abu Bekr, Hamza, Omar, Zeid, every one of his followers, felt the +force of his affection continually upon them, and were bound to him by +ties that neither misfortune nor any unworthy act of his could break. And +their devotion was called upon to suffer many tests. Mahomet was +self-willed and ruthless, subordinating the means to the end without any +misgivings. In his remorseless dealings with the Jews, in his calm +repudiation of obligations with the heathen as soon as he felt himself +strong enough, he shows affinities to the most conscienceless statesman +that ever graced European diplomacy. + +His method of conquest and government combines watchfulness and strength. +No help was scorned by this builder of power. What he could not achieve +by force he attempted to gain by cunning. He had a large faith in the +power of argument backed by force, and his winning over of Abbas and Abu +Sofian chiefly by the aid of these two factors, combined with their +personal ambition, is only the supreme instance of his master-strokes of +policy. He knew how to play upon the baser passions of men, and +especially was he mindful of the lure of gold. His first forays against +the Kureisch were set before the eyes of his disciples as much +in the light of plundering expeditions as religious wars against an +infidel and oppressive nation. + +He is at once the outcome of circumstances, and independent of them. He +gave coherence to all the unformulated desires for a fuller scope of +military and mercantile power stirring at the fount of Arabia's life, and +at the same time he founded his dominion in a unique and absolutely +personal manner. Within his sphere of governance his will was supreme and +unassailable. + +If these mutable tribal entities were to be united at all, despotism was +the only possible form of command. As his polity demanded authority +vested in one person only, so his conception of God is that of an +absolute monarch, resistance to whom is annihilation. + +Out of this idea the doctrine of fatalism was evolved. It was necessary +during the first terrible years of uncertainty in Islam, in order to +produce among Mahomet's followers a recklessness in battle, and in the +varying fortunes of their life at Medina, born of the knowledge that +their fate was irrevocably decided. They fought for the true God against +the idolaters; this true God held their destinies in his hand; nothing +could be altered. The result was that the Muslim fought with superhuman +daring, and faced overwhelming forces undaunted. But the time came when +Islam had no longer any need to fight, and the doctrine of fatalism still +lived. It sank into mental and physical inactivity, and of that +inactivity, induced by the knowledge that their energies were unavailing, +pessimism was bred. Despotism and fatality are perhaps the purely +personal ideas that Mahomet gave to his political state, the latter +encroaching, however, as most of his secular principles, upon the realm +of philosophy. Indeed, his political rule is inseparable from his +religion, and as a religious leader he is more justly appraised. + +In the sphere of religion the raw material was to his hand. At the +inception of his mission Mecca and Central Arabia, though confirmed in +idolatry, still mingled with their rites some distorted Jewish traditions +and ceremonies, while Yemen had embraced the Christian faith for a short +time as a dependency of Abyssinia, but had relapsed into idolatry with +the interference of Persia. Both the border kingdoms to the north, +Palmyra and Hira, were Christian, and in the time of their prosperity had +influenced Arabia in the direction of Christianity. The Christian +Scriptures were known and respected, but these impulses were feeble and +spasmodic, so that the bulk of Arabia remained fixed in its ancient +idolatry. + +By far the more enduring influence was that of Judaism. Many Jewish +tribes were settled in Arabia, and the ancient traditions of the Jewish +race, the great figures of Abraham, Lot, and Noah were set vividly before +the eyes of the Arabs. There was every indication that a religious +teacher might use the existing elements of Judaism and Christianity to +produce a monotheistic faith, partaking of their nature, and for a time +Mahomet endeavoured to bring both forms within the scope of his mission. +But compromise, whether with idolaters or Jews, was found to be +impossible, and here religious and political ideals are inextricably +blended. If Mahomet had acquiesced in the Jewish religion, had submitted +to the sovereignty of Jerusalem as the Holy Place, he would have found it +impossible to have established his supremacy in Medina, and the religion +of Islam as he conceived it would have been overriden by the older and +more hallowed faith of the Jews. He saw the danger, and his dominant +spirit could not allow the existence of an equal or superior power to his +own. With that fiery daring and supreme belief in his destiny which +characterised him in later life, he cast away all pretensions to +friendliness either with the Jews or the Christians, and steered his +followers triumphantly through the perils that beset every adherent to an +idea. + +But in compelling acceptance of his central thesis of the unity of the +Godhead, he showed signal wisdom and knowledge of men. He was himself by +no means impervious to the value of tradition, and never conceived his +faith as having no historical basis in the religious legends of his +birthplace. That the Muslim belief possesses institutions such as the +reverence for the Kaaba, the rite of Pilgrimage, the acceptance of Mecca +as its sacred city, is due to its founder's love of his native place, and +the ceremonial of which his own creed was really the inseparable outcome. + +Besides his recognition of the need of ritual, he was fully aware of the +repugnance of most men to the wholly new. Whenever possible he emphasized +his connection with the ancient ceremonies of Mecca in their purer form, +and as soon as his power was sufficient, he enforced the recognition of +his claims upon the city itself. + +His achievement as religious reformer rests largely upon the state of +preparation in which he found his medium, but it owes its efficiency to +one force alone. Mahomet was possessed of one central idea, the +indivisibility of God, and it was sufficient to uphold him against all +calamities. The Kuran sounds the note of insistence which rings the +clarion call of his message. With eloquence of mind and soul, with a +repetition that is wearisome to the outsider, he forces that dominant +truth into the hearts of his hearers. It cannot escape them, for he will +not cease to remind them of their doom if they do not obey. What he set +out to do for the religious life of Arabia he accomplished, chiefly +because he concentrated the whole of his demands into one formula, "There +is no God but God"; then when success had shown him the measure of his +ascendancy, "There is no God but God, and Mahomet is His prophet." + +At the end of his life idolatry was uprooted from his native country. The +tribes might rebel against the heaviness of his political yoke, and were +often held to him by the slenderest of diplomatic threads, but their +monotheistic beliefs remained intact once Islam had gained the ascendancy +over them. At the end of the Farewell Pilgrimage, he realised with one +grand uplifting of his soul in thanksgiving that he had indeed caught up +the errant attempts of Arabia to remodel its unsatisfying faith, and had +made of them a triumphant reality, in which the conception of Allah's +unity was the essential belief. + +Besides his religious and political attainments, he gave to Arabia as a +whole its first written social and moral code. Here the estimate of his +accomplishment is difficult to render, bemuse comparison with the +existing state is almost impossible. Extensively in the Kuran, but to a +greater degree in the mass of his traditional sayings, crystallised into +a standard edition by Al-Bokhari, when due allowance has been made +for the additions and exaggerations of his followers, the chief +characteristic is the casual nature of his laws. + +All his dictates as to the control of marriage, the sale and tenure of +land, commerce, plunder, as well as health and dietary are the result of +definite cases coming within his adjudication. Such an idea as the +deliberate compilation of a code never occurred to him, and there is no +evidence that he ever referred to his former decisions in similar cases, +so that possibilities of contradiction and evasion are limitless. Out of +this jumble of inconsistencies Muslim law and practice has grown. He was +enabled to impose his commands upon the conquered peoples by means of his +military organisation, so that it was not long before Arabia was ruled in +rough fashion by his social and moral precepts enforced by the sword. His +wives offend him, and he forthwith sets down the duties and position of +women in his temporal state. He desires the wife of his friend, and the +result is a Kuranic decree sanctioning the taking of a woman under those +conditions. He is jealous of his younger and more comely associates, and +thereupon ordains the perpetual seclusion of women. He is annoyed at the +untimely visits to his house of assembly, and so he commands that no +Believer shall enter another's apartment uninvited. It is inconvenient to +relinquish the watch night or day during the period of siege in Medina, +therefore he institutes a system whereby half the army is to pray while +the other half remains at its post. Instances may be multiplied without +ceasing of this building up of a whole social code upon the most casual +foundations. But unheeding as was its genesis, it was in the main effective +for those times, and in any case it substituted definite laws for the +measureless wastes of tradition and custom. + +It is probable that Mahomet relied a great deal upon existing usages. He +was too wise to disturb them unnecessarily. His was a nature of extremes +combined with a wisdom that came as a revelation to his followers. Where +he hates it is with a hurricane of wrath and destruction, where he loves +it is with the same impetuous tenacity. His denunciations of the +infidels, of his enemies among the Kureisch, of the laggards within his +own city, of the defamers of holy things, of drunkards, of the unclean, +of those who even copy the features of their kindred or picture their +idea of God, are written in the most violent words, whose fury seems to +smite upon the ear with the rushing of flame. + +And so the prevailing stamp upon Muslim institutions is fanaticism and +intolerance. As the Prophet drew up hard-and-fast rules, so his followers +insisted upon their remorseless continuance. Mahomet found himself +compelled to issue ordinances, often hurried and unreflecting, to meet +immediate needs, to settle disputes whose prolongation would have meant +his ruin. He possessed the qualities of poet, seer, and religious mystic, +but these in his later life were overshadowed by the characteristics of +lawgiver, soldier, and statesman demanded by his position as head of a +body of men. But neither his mysticism nor his poetic feeling entirely +desert him. They flash out at rare moments in the later suras of the +Kuran, and are apparent in his actions and the traditional accounts of +his sayings, while his creed remained steadfast and unassailable with a +strength that neither defeat nor disaffection could shake. With all +the incompleteness and often contradiction of his administration, he +nevertheless was able to satisfy his followers as to its efficacy mainly +by his exhaustless belief in himself and his work. + +In military development his contribution was unique. He gathered together +all the war-loving propensities of the Faithful, and wove them into a +solidarity of aim. His personal courage was not great, but his strategy +and above all his invincible confidence, which refused to admit defeat, +were beyond question. Every leader he sent upon plundering or admonitory +expeditions bore witness to his efficiency and his zeal. He subjected the +Muslim to a discipline that brought out their best qualities of tenacity +and daring. He would not allow his soldiery to become individual +plunderers, but insisted that the booty should be equally divided. In the +beginning he possessed few horsemen, but he rapidly produced a squadron +of cavalry as soon as he became convinced of their usefulness. His +readiness to accept advice as to the defence of Medina proved the +salvation of the city. Under him the military prowess of Islam had ample +scope, for he gave his leaders complete freedom of action; the result was +visible in the supreme fighting quality of Ali, Omar, and Hamza, while +the chances of achieving glory under his banner were the moving motives +of the conversion of Khalid and Abbas. He subdued internecine warfare, +and by a bold stroke united the warrior instincts of Arabia against +external foes, laying upon them the sanction of religion and the promise +of eternal happiness. + +Though unskilled in the mechanism of knowledge--he could neither read nor +write--he has left his mark upon the literature of his age and the years +succeeding him. The Kuran was the sum of his inspiration, the expression +in poetic and visionary language of his beliefs and ideals. He found the +medium prepared. The Arabs had long previously evolved a poetry of their +own which lived not in written words, but in their traditional songs. +Mahomet's first flush of inspiration, which waned before the heaviness of +his later tasks, is the cumulation of that wild and fervid art with the +breath of the desert urgent within it. + +The Kuran was never written down during his lifetime, but was collected +into a jumble of fragments, "gathered together from date-leaves and +tablets of white stone, and from the breasts of men," by Zeid in the +first troublous years of the Caliphate. We have inevitably lost much of +its original fire, and its effect is weakened by any translation into the +unsuitable medium of modern speech. But that it is a valuable +contribution to the literature of its country cannot be doubted, +especially in the earlier portions, before Mahomet's love of harangue and +the necessity of some vehicle by which to make his political dictates +known had transformed its style into the bald reiterative medley of its +later pages. + + +Through it all runs the fire of his genius; in the later suras it is the +reflection of his energy that looks out from the pages; the flame itself +has now lighted his actions and inspired his dreams of conquest. The +Kuran is the best revelation of Mahomet himself that posterity possesses, +imperfect as was the manner of its handing down to the modern world. It +shows us both the beauty and strength of his personality and his cruelty, +evasions, magnanimities, and lusts. More than all, the passionate zeal +beating through it makes clear the secret of his sustained endeavours +through discouragement and defeat until his triumph dawned. + +To those outside the sphere of his magnetism, Mahomet seems urged on by a +power beyond himself and scarcely within his control. His gifts bear +intimate relation to the particular phase in the task of creating a +religion and a political entity that was uppermost at the moment. + +In Mecca he is poet and visionary, the man who speaks with angels and has +seen Gabriel and Israfil, "whose heart-strings are a lute, and who has +the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." He penetrates in fancy to the +innermost Holy Place and beholds the God of battles, even feels his +touch, icy-cold upon his shoulder, and returns with the glow of that +immortal intercourse upon him. It sustains him in defeat and danger, and +by the power of it he converts a few in Medina and flees thither to +complete his task. In Medina he becomes a watchful leader, and still +inspired by heavenly visitants, he produces order out of chaos and guards +his power from numberless assaults. + +In attempting to explain his achievements, when allowance is made for all +those factors which gave him help, we are compelled to do homage to the +strength of his personality. Neither in his revelations through the Kuran +nor in the traditions of him is his secret to be found. He lived outside +himself, and his actions are the standard of his accomplishments. He +found Arabia the prey of warring tribes, without leader, without laws, +without religion, save an idolatry obstinate but creatively dead, and he +took the existing elements, wrought into them his own convictions, +quickened them with the fire of his zeal, and created an embryo with +effective laws, fitting social and religious institutions, but greater +than all these, with the enthusiasm for an idea that led his followers to +prayer and conquest. The Kuran, tradition, the later histories, all +minister to that personality which informed the Muslim, so that they +swept through the land like flame, impelled not only by religious zeal, +but also by the memory of their leader's struggles and victories, and of +his journey before them on the perilous path of warfare to the Paradise +promised to the Faithful. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mahomet, by Gladys M. Draycott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAHOMET *** + +***** This file should be named 10738.txt or 10738.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/7/3/10738/ + +Produced by Afra Ullah, Bonny Fafard and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10738.zip b/old/10738.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6aa6083 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10738.zip |