In the beginning of the tenth year of his Mission (the fiftieth of his life), Mahomet and his kinsmen were still shut up in the isolated quarter of Abu Talib. The only interval of freedom and relief, as has been already stated, occurred at the annual pilgrimage. Buying and selling, giving and receiving in marriage-all the intercourse of social life, was totally suspended between them and the rest of the Coreish. The Hashimites were thus virtually blockaded for the space of two or three years.

At last the sympathies of a numerous section of of the Coreish were aroused. They saw in this form of persecution something more than a conscientious struggle against an impostor. The justice of extending the ban to the whole Hashimite stock seemed doubtful. Many, especially those related to the family, began to grieve at the rupture.

It was discovered by some of the friends of Mahomet that the parchment in the Kaaba, on

which the ban was engrossed, had been almost entirely devoured by insects.

The important news was told to Mahomet; and Abu Talib resolved to found thereon an effort for the dissolution of the league. The venerable chief now more than four-score years of age,¹ issued forth from his closed quarter, and proceeded, with a band of followers, to the Kaaba. Addressing the chief men of the Coreish, as usual assembled there, he said,- "Intelligence hath reached me that your parchment hath been eaten up of insects. If my words be found true, then desist from your evil designs; if false, I will deliver up Mahomet that ye may do with him as ye list." The whole company agreed that it should be thus. So they sent for the document; and when they had opened it out, they saw that it was even as Abu Talib had said; a great part had been devoured by white-ants and was no longer legible. Abu Talib, perceiving their confusion, bitterly upbraided them with inhumanity and breach of social obligation. He then advanced with his band to the Kaaba, and standing behind the curtain, prayed to the Lord of the Holy House for deliverance from their machinations. Having done this, he retired again to his abode.

The murmurs of the party that favoured the Hashimites, now found an opportunity of effective utterance. The partizans of the Prophet were

¹Katib al Wackidi, p.23.

emboldened. The Coreish had hardly recovered from surprise at the sudden appearance and sudden departure of Abu Talib, when five chief men rose up from their midst, and declaring themselves inimical to the league, put on their armour, and proceeded to the quarter of Abu Talib. Standing by, they commanded all that had taken refuge there to go forth to their respective homes in security and peace. So they went forth in the tenth year of the prophet's mission. The Coreish, confounded by the boldness of the stroke, offered no opposition. They perceived that a strong party had grown up who would resent by arms any attempt to lay violent hands upon the Moslems.²

² Among the five chiefs was Abul Bokhtari, whose safety in return Mahomet vainly endeavoured to secure at Badr. Another was Zohair, a maternal grandson of Abd al Muttalib. A third was Mutim, who shortly afterwards took the Prophet under his protection on his return from Tayif. See below.

The version in the text is chiefly from the Secretary of Wackidi, (p.40,) with the omission only of the fiction that God had communicated to his prophet the information that the document had been eaten up all except the words "in the name of God," with which (according to the ancient Meccan custom, Tabari, p.147,) it commenced, and that Abu Talib told this to the Coreish.

Two separate traditions are given both by Hishami and Tabari. One as above. The other that the five chiefs had preconcerted a plan for the dissolution of the league. Repairing to the place of concourse, each began, as if independently, to speak against the ban, ant' the Coreish were already influenced by their appeal, when Mutim arose to tear up the document, and found that it had been eaten up. Hishami, p.118; Tabari, p.145.

Repose and liberty followed the breaking up of the hostile league; but they were not long to be enjoyed by Mahomet. In a few months he was visited by trials more severe than any that had yet befallen him. The tenth year of his mission (the third before the Hegira) had not yet passed when Khadija died; and five weeks later he lost his protector Abu Talib also³.

I have endeavoured to weave both versions into the likeliest historical form. Weil supposes the document to have been destroyed during the night by some partizan of Mahomet. But this could hardly have been done. The ravages of white ants are not thus easily counterfeited: they have a peculiar appearance.

³The authorities regarding these dates are contradictory, and we must be content with probabilities.

The Katib al Wackidi says (p.23,) that Khadija died after Abu Talib a month and five days: Ibn Coteiba also, that she died after him three days. The authorities, however, quoted in the Mowahiballadoniya, give Ramadhan (December 619,) as the date of Khadija's death, and Shawwai (January 620,) for that of Abu Talib. Sprenger is not clear; in one place (p. 196, note 2,) he says that "Khadija died after Abu Talib;" but in the next page, "one month and five days after his wife he lost 'his uncle and protector, the noble-minded Abu Talib."

The middle of Shawwai is the date generally agreed upon for Abu Talib's decease (Katib al Wackidi p.23); and the end of the same month, or about a fortnight later, as the period when Mahomet, downcast and distressed by the two bereavements, set out for Tayif. We must therefore either suppose that Khadija died within this fortnight, i.e. within the last fifteen days of Shawwai, or that she died before Abu Talib. Ibn Coteiba’s tradition that she died three days after Abu Talib, would be consistent' with the former supposition. But this is unlikely; and moreover the interval between the two deaths is generally represented as thirty-five days. Katib al Wackidi, pp. 23, 40.

The death of his wife was a grievous affliction. For five-and-twenty years she had been his counselor and support; and now his heart and home were left desolate. His family however no longer needed her maternal care. The youngest daughter, Fatima, was approaching womanhood,⁴ and an attachment was perhaps already forming with Ali, her father's nephew, and adopted son. Though Khadija (at her death threescore and five years old) must long ago have lost the charms of youth, and though tire custom of Mecca allowed polygamy, yet Mahomet was, during her lifetime, restrained from other marriages by affection and gratitude, and perhaps also by the wish to secure more entirely for his cause the influence of her family. His grief at her death at first was inconsolable, for he was liable to violent and deep emotion; but its effects were transient. The place of Khadija could be filled, though her devotion and virtues might not be rivalled, by numerous successors.⁵ In this view, it seems more natural to adopt the alternative that sire died in the first half of Ramadhan (December 619); that Abu Talib died in the middle of Shawwai (January 620): and that Mahomet, overcome by despondency at these successive bereavements, and by the renewed opposition of the Coreish, set out for Tayif the end of the latter month.

⁴She would be then about twelve or thirteen years of age.

⁵She was buried in the cemetery of Mecca, (afterwards called Jannat al Maala,) to the north-west of the city. See Burton’s Description of the Tomb which is visited by pilgrims, vol. iii. p.351.

The loss of Abu Talib, who lived and died an death of an unbeliever, was, if possible, a still severer bereavement. We may dismiss without much attention the legend that on his deathbed, in reply to the earnest appeal of his nephew, he declared that he was prevented from giving his assent to the creed of Islam only because he feared the imputation of terror at the approach of death⁶. Whatever he may have said to comfort Mahomet, his whole life belies the accusation that the apprehended contempt of the Coreish restrained him from avowing his convictions; The sacrifices to which Abu Talib exposed himself and his family for the sake of his nephew, while yet incredulous of his mission, stamp his character as singularly noble and unselfish. They afford at the same time strong proof of the sincerity of Mahomet. Abu Talib would not have acted thus for an interested deceiver; and he had ample means of scrutiny.

The loss of Abu Talib severely felt

When the patriarch felt that life was ebbing, he summoned his brethren, the sons of Abd al Muttalib around his bed, commended his nephew to their protection; and, relieved of this trust, died in peace⁷. Mahomet wept bitterly for his uncle;

⁶ See Weil's Mohammad, p.67, note 79; and Katib al Wackidi; p.22 ½.

⁷"After his death Mahomet prayed for his salvation; but he had not yet gone forth from the house, when Gabriel descended with the verse forbidding to pray for unbelievers who have died

and not without good reason. For forty years he had been the prop of his childhood, the guardian of his youth, his tower of defence in later life. The place of Khadija might be supplied, but not that of Abu Talib. "is very unbelief rendered his influence the stronger. So long as he survived, Mahomet needed not to fear violence or attack. But there was no strong hand now to protect him from his foes.

Grieved and dispirited by these bereavements following so closely one upon the other, and dreading the unrepressed insolence of the Coreish, Mahomet kept chiefly at home, and seldom went abroad⁸. The dying behest of Abu Talib had now an unexpected in scepticism. Katib al Wackidi p. 23. See also Sura 115. This verse however occurs in one of the latest Suras; there is no reason to believe that the rule enunciated in it had yet been given forth before the Hegira, though the system was fast tending towards it.

It is also said that Mahomet wept and commanded All to wash his father's corpse, and place it in the winding sheet, and bury him. Katib al Wackidi, Ibid. But this looks like one of the Alyite traditions, which would refer all important commissions to Ali. It is not probable that the last services to a man of Abu Talib's position, surrounded by brothers and sons, would be left to Ali alone, acting under Mahomet's orders.

⁸Ibid. p.40; Hishami; p.138; Tabari, p.149. The two latter say that the indignities he suffered at this time were so great that on one occasion the populace cast did upon his head. He returned to his house in this plight: one of his daughters arose to wipe off the dirt, and she wept. And Mahomet said, "My daughter, weep not, for verily the Lord will be thy father's helper." They add that he suffered no such indignity as that while Abu Talib lived.

effect; for Abu Lahab, heretofore the avowed enemy of Mahomet, was softened by his despondency and distress, and spontaneously became his guardian. "Do," he said, "as thou hast been in the habit of doing, while Abu Talib was yet with us. By Lat! no one shall hurt thee while I live." But tire generous pledge was not long observed. Abu Lahab was gained over by the Coreish to their party, and Mahomet left to protect himself as he best could⁹.

The position of the Arabian Prophet now was critical. He must either gain the ascendancy at Mecca, abandon his prophetical claims, or perish in the struggle. Islam must either destroy idolatry, or idolatry must destroy Islam. Things could not remain stationary. His followers, though devotedly attached, and numbering a few once influential citizens, Were but a handful against a host. Open

⁹This curious episode is given in detail by the Katib al Wackidi, (p.40). At first when Ibn Ghaitala abused Abu Lahab as a renegade for taking the part of Mahomet, the Coreish admitted the excuse of Abu Lahab, and even praised him for his attempt "to bind up family differences." But shortly after Ocba and Abu Jahl told him to ask in what place Abd al Muttalib was; and on Mahomet's confessing that he was in hell, Abu Lahab left him in indignation, saying, - "I win not cease to be thine enemy for ever!"

Whatever may have been the immediate cause, It is evident that Abu Lahab soon was led again to abandon his nephew through the instigation of the evil-disposed Coreish.

hostilities, notwithstanding every endeavour to prevent them, might any day be precipitated, and ruin irretrievably his cause. The new faith had not been gaining ground at Mecca There had been no conversions, none at least of any note, since those of Omar and Hamza, three or four years before. A few more years of similar discouragement, and his chance of success was gone.

Urged by such reflections as these; Mahomet began to look around him. The Meccans knew not the day of their visitation, and had well nigh sealed their doom. It was perhaps the will of the Lord that succour and salvation should come from some other people. Tayif (sixty or seventy miles to the east of Mecca) was the nearest city of importance. It might be that God would turn the hearts of its inhabitants, the idolatrous. Thackifites, and use them as his instruments to chastise the Meccans, and establish his religion on the earth. To them, accordingly, he resolved to deliver his message.

Abu Talib had been buried hardly a fortnight, when Mahomet, followed only by the faithful Zeid, set out on his adventurous mission¹⁰. His road (as far as Arafat it was the pilgrim's route) lay over

¹⁰Hishami, (p.136,) and Tabari, (p.149,) say that he went entirely alone ; - but the Katib al Wackidi, (p. 40 ½,) that he was accompanied by Zeid, who was wounded in attempting to defend his master. As to the date, the latter says "there were still some days of Shawwal remaining," when he started.

dismal rocks and through barren defiles for about forty miles, when it emerged on the crowning heights of Jebel Kora, with its rich gardens and charming prospect. Thence, descending through fertile valleys, the smiling fruits and flowers of which suggested perhaps the bright picture of the conversion of the Thackifites, he advanced to their city. Though connected by frequent intermarriage, the inhabitants of Tayif were jealous of the Coreish¹¹. They had a Lat, or chief idol, of their own. It might be possible, by appealing to their national pride, as well as to their conscience, to enlist them on the side of Islam against the "people of Mecca. Mahomet proceeded to the three principal men of the city, who were brothers¹²; and, having explained his mission, invited them to claim the honour of sustaining the new faith, and supporting him in the face of his hostile tribe.

But he failed in producing conviction. They Cast in his teeth the common objections of his own people, and advised that he should seek protection in some other quarter¹³.

¹¹They were descended from a common ancestor with the Coreish, Modhar, (B.C. 31,) See Introduction, chap. iii. p.cxcvi. In illustration of their independent and antagonistic position, see their hostile conduct in siding with Abraha in his invasion of Mecca. Introduction, chap. iv. p. cclxiii.

¹²One of them had a Coreishite were of the Bani Jumh, a branch which contained many adherents of Islam, and must therefore have been intimately acquainted with the politics of Mecca and the claims and position of Mahomet.

¹³Hishami has given the words of each of the brothers, but they are probably imaginary, p.137.

Mahomet remained in Tayif for about ten days; but, though many of the influential men came at his call, no hopeful impression was made upon them. Thus repulsed, he solicited one favour only, that they would not divulge the object of his visit, for he feared on his return the taunts and aggravated hostility of the Coreish. But this, even if it had been possible, the men of Tayif were little likely to concede. For the first few days, perhaps, the com- mon people regarded with awe the Prophet who had turned Mecca upside down, and whose preaching probably many had heard at the pilgrimage or fairs. But the treatment he was receiving at the hands of their Chiefs, and the disproportion to the outward eye between the magnitude of his claims and his solitary helpless condition, turned fear into contempt. They were stirred up to hasten the departure of the unwelcome visitor. They hooted him in the streets; they pelted him with stones; and at last they obliged him to flee out of their city, pursued by a relentless rabble. Blood flowed from wounds in both his legs; and Zeid, endeavouring to shield him, received a" severe injury in his head. The mob did not desist until they had chased him two or three miles across the sandy plain to the foot of the hills that surround the city. There, wearied and mortified, he took refuge in one of the numerous orchards, and rested under a vine¹⁴.

¹⁴The town is celebrated all over Arabia for its beautiful gardens: but these are situated at the foot of the mountains which

Hard by was the garden of two of the Coreish, Otba and Sheyba; for the wealthy Meccans had their pleasure grounds (as they still have) near Tayif¹⁵. They watched the flight of Mahomet; and, moved with compassion, sent a tray of grapes for his refreshment¹⁶. Their slave, a Christian from Nineveh, who brought the fruit to him, was charmed by the pious style of the Prophet's address; and Mahomet was perhaps solaced more by the humble devotion of Addas than by the grateful shade and juicy grapes¹⁷. After a little, composed and re-assured, he encircle the sandy plain. I did not see any gardens, nor even a single tree within the walls; and the immediate neighbourhood is entirely destitute of verdure." The nearest gardens appeared to be on the S. W. side, at the distance of about half or three quarters of an hour." Burkhardts Travels in Arabia, p.85.

The quarter from which Mahomet made his escape would be the west; so that he would probably have at least some three miles of sandy plain to cross before he secured his retreat to one of the gardens.

¹⁵Ibid., p.85.

¹⁶Burkhardt "tasted at Thaif grapes of a very large size and delicious flavour. The gardens are also renowned for the abundance of their roses." Ibid. The gardens on the eminences of Jebel Kora also abound in vines "the produce of which is of the best quality," besides a variety of other fruits. Ibid. p., 64. The grapes were ripe when the' traveller passed in the months, of August and September; the visit of Mahomet was (according' to M. C. de Perceval's calculations,) about four months later.

¹⁷The story of Addas is not in the Katib al Wackidi. Hishami and Tabari gave it with many fanciful additions. 'When Addas offered the grapes, Mahomet exclaimed, "In the name of God," as he stretched forth his hand to receive them. "Is this the mode of speech," asked the slave, "of the people of this country?" VOL II

betook himself to prayer, and the following touching and plaintive petitions are still preserved as those in which his burdened soul gave vent to its distress.

Oh Lord! ¹⁸ I make my complaint unto Thee of the feebleness of my strength, and the poverty of my expedients; and of my insignificance

"And of what country" said Mahomet "art thou, and what is thy? "A Christian of the people of Nineveh." "Ah!" replied Mahomet, "the people of the righteous Jonas the son of Mattail" "And, what" rejoined the slave, "hath made thee acquainted with Jonas son of Mattai?" "He was my brother; for he was a prophet, and I too am a prophet." Whereupon Addas fell to kissing the head and hands and feet of Mahomet, to the astonishment of his masters who were looking on from a distance.

The story in this form is of course apocryphal; and I should have omitted the incidents regarding Addas altogether, but that it is difficult to conceive how they could have found their way into this particular part of the history, without some foundation of fact. It is probable therefore that Mahomet did meet and converse with a Christian slave on this occasion.

¹⁸Zeid may have overheard and repeated the petitions; but we cannot, of course, place much confidence in the traditions which hand down this prayer. It is thus given by Hishami, (p. 137,) and Tabari, (p. 151).

before mankind. Oh Thou most Merciful! thou art the Lord of the weak, and thou art my Lord. Into whose hands wilt thou abandon me? Into the hands of the strangers that beset me round? or of the enemy to whom thou hast given the mastery over me? If Thy wrath be not upon me, I have no concern; but rather thy favour is the more wide unto me. I seek for refuge in the light, of thy gracious countenance, by which the darkness is dispersed, and peace ariseth both for this world and the next, that thy wrath light not upon me, nor thine indignation. It is thine to show anger until Thou art pleased; and there is not any power or resource but in Thee."

Re-invigorated by the pause, he set forth on his journey homewards. About half way, l9th to return to Mecca, he halted in the valley of Nakhla, where was an idol-temple, a grove, and a garden¹⁹.

¹⁹Nakhla was a valley about half-way between Mecca and Tayit It is famous as the scene of the first expedition planned by Mahomet against the Meccans in which blood was shed. In describing it on that occasion, the Katib al Wackidi says, "the valley of Nakhla is a garden of Ibn Amir, near to Mecca." But the nearness has reference only to Medina, from which the expedition proceeded, and is quite consistent with the assumed position half-way between Mecca and Tayif.

There was there an image of Uzza, held in estimation by the Coreish and other tribes, and destroyed after the taking of Mecca; Katib al Wackidi p. 129; Hishami, p. 371; M.C. de Perceval vol. i. p.280, vol. LLL. p.24l. Its position is farther marked by the "engagement bf Nakhla" in the sacrilegious war during the youth of Mabomet. The Hawazin pursued the Coreish from the

There, as he arose at night to prayer, or perhaps as he dreamed, his nervous and excited imagination pictured crowds of Genii pressing forward to hear his exhortations, and ardent to embrace Islam. The romantic scene has been thus perpetuated in the Coran:-

"And call to mind when We caused a company of the Genii to turn aside unto thee that they might listen to the Coran. When they were present at the recitation thereof, they said Give ear. And when it was ended, they returned unto their people, preaching. They said,- Oh our People! verily we have been listening to a Book which hath been sent down since Moses, attesting the Truth of the Scripture preceding it. It guideth unto the Truth, and into the straight Path. Oh our People! Obey the Summoner from God, and believe in him, that he may forgive you your sins, and save you from an awful punishment²⁰.

fair of Ocatz to this spot, which was within the sacred limits around Mecca, or at least close upon them ;- See chap. ii. p.2; M.C. de Perceval, vol. i. p; 807.

It may probably be the same as the "Wady Mohram," noticed by Burkhardt as the point in the direction of Tayif at which the pilgrims assume the Ibram or pilgrim garb; (p 67). The supposition is, perhaps, confirmed by the fact that the party sent by Mahomet to Nakhla shaved themselves there, to, deceive the caravan they were about to attack into the belief that they were peaceable pilgrims. Wady Mohram, like the Nakhla of Mahomet's time, has still fruit trees and gardens. The Katib al Wackidi's statement that there was a garden at Nakhla proves that it was on the Tayif side of the mountain range; since all on the Meccan side is barren.

On the whole M. C. de Perceval's description of Nakhla as "midway between Mecca mid Tayif (vol. iii. p.34,) may be accepted as pretty accurate.

Cnf Sprenger's "First notice of A. von Kremer's Wackidi," Asiatic Society's Journal, 1866, p. 15, which I did not see till the above had been written.

²⁰Sura xlvi. 29 &c. The scene is described in Sura lxxii. which opens thus;-

After spending some days at Nakhla, he again proceeded toward Mecca. But before entering the city, which he feared to do (now that the object of

SAY; it hath been revealed to me that a company of Genii listened, and they said,- "Verily we have heard a marvellous discourse (lit. Coran;) It leadeth to the right direction; wherefore we believed therein, and we will not henceforth associate any with our Lord; And as to Him,- may the Majesty or our Lord be exalted! - He hath taken no Spouse, neither hath He any Offspring. But verily the foolish people amongst us have spoken of God that which is unjust; And we verily thought that no one amongst men or Genii would have uttered a lie against God. And truly there are people amongst Men, who have sought for refuge unto people among the Genii, but they only multiplied their folly. And they thought, as ye think, that God would not raise any from the dead. And we tried the heavens, but found them filled with a powerful Guard, and with flaming Darts; And we sat on some or the Stations to listen, but whoever listeneth now findeth an ambush of flaming Darts. And truly we know not whether evil be intended for them that are on Earth, or whether their Lord intendeth for them right direction And there are amongst us righteous persons, and amongst us person. of another kind ;-we are of various sorts: And verily we thought that no one could frustrate God on earth, neither could we escape from him by flight; Whencefore when we heard the direction, we hollered therein."- (and a On, the Genii speaking as true Moslems.)

And verily when the servant of God (Mahomet) stood up to call upon Him, they (the Genii) were near jostling him by their numbers, &C.

Notwithstanding the crowds of genii here alluded to, Hishami (whose traditional authorities seem to have had a wonderfully intimate acquaintance, with the habits and haunts of the Genii,) states that they were seven Genii belonging to Nisibin, who happened to pass that way, and were arrested by hearing Mahomet at his devotions reciting the Coran. Others say they were nine in number and came from Yemen, or from Nineveh. And it is added that they professed the Jewish religion! This of course arose from the reference made by them in the Coran to Moses.

his visit to Tayif could not be kept secret) without a protector, he turned aside by a northward path to his ancient haunts in the vicinity of M1ount Hira.²¹ From thence he despatched two unsuccessful messages to solicit the guardianship of certain influential chiefs. At last he bethought him of Mutim (one of the five who had been instrumental in procuring the removal of the ban); and sent word beseeching that he would bring him in to the city under his protection. Mutim assented; and, having summoned his sons and adherents, bade them buckle on their armour and take their stand by the Kaaba. Mahomet and Zeid then entered Mecca; and, when they had reached the Kaaba, Mutim stood upright on his camel and called aloud, - "O ye Coreish! verily I have given the pledge of protection unto Mahomet; wherefore let not any one amongst you molest him." Then Mahomet went forward, kissed the corner stone, and returned to his house guarded 'by Mutim and his party. The generosity and faithfulness of Mutim ²² have

²¹ Burkhardt mentions that on the Meccan side of the Mina valley (i.e. the Tayif road,) there is "a side valley leading toward Jabel Nur or Hira. It may have been by this or a similar glen that Mahomet now turned aside to his cave and old haunts. Burkhardt, p.279.

The modem traditions on the subject seem to place the site much nearer Mecca. See Burton, vol. iii, p.353.

²²The following are the lines, which form a good illustration of the value of contemporary poetry as auxiliary evidence or traditional facts:-

been perpetuated by Hassan the poet of Medina and friend of the Prophet.

There is something lofty and heroic in this journey of Mahomet to Tayif; a solitary man, despised and rejected by his own people, going boldly forth in the name of God, - like Jonah to Nineveh, - and summoning an idolatrous city to repentance and to the support of his mission. It sheds a strong light on the intensity of his own belief in the divine origin of his calling.

Mahomet sought for solace in the midst of family bereavement and public indignities, from a double matrimonial alliance. Sarkan with his wife Sawda, both of Coreishite blood (but of a stock remote from Mahomet), early became converts to Islam,

Weep, Oh my eyes, for the chief of men; let tears gush forth; and when they run dry, then pour forth blood!
If Greatness had caused any to Survive for ever amongst Mankind, then Greatness had preserved Mutim unto this day.
Thou gavest the pledge of protection to the prophet of God from the Coreish; and they became Thy servants so long as a pilgrim shall shout "Labeik!" or assume the pilgrim garb.

Mutim was a Chief descended from Abd Shams the brother or Hashim (great grandfather of Mahomet;) and, along with Harb, commanded his tribe in one of the great battles in the Sacrilegious War, 586 A.D.. M.C, de Perceval, vol.i. p.309.

and emigrated to Abyssinia. They had lately returned to Mecca, where Sakran died. Mahomet now made suit to Sawda, and the marriage (so far as we know not one of mere interest and convenience, but of affection,) was celebrated within two months from the death of Khadija.²³

About the same time he contracted a second marriage with Ayesha, the younger daughter of Abu Bakr,----a connection mainly designed to cement the attachment with his bosom-friend. The yet undeveloped charms of Ayesha could hardly have swayed the heart of Mahomet. Though her betrothed husband had reached fifty, she was but six or seven years of age. Still there may have been something more than ordinarily interesting and precocious about the child, for the real marriage with her took place not more than three years afterwards.

There is no information as to the terms on which meant Mahomet continued with the family of his deceased wife, Khadija; and whether he retained any part of the property that belonged to her. During the late

²⁰See chap. V. p.102. Sawda, (a cousin of her husband Sakran,) belonged to the distant branch of Amir ibn Lowey, which separated from the Hashimite stem at the seventh remove from Mahomet. Ibn Coteiba

Sprenger says she had a son by Sakran; but if so, he did not survive, for Ibn Coteiba says that Sakran left no issue. Supposing Khadija to have died in December, 619 A.D., Mahomet's nuptials with Sawda may have taken place in February or the beginning of March, 620.

few troublous years, and especially under the ban, it is probable that her wealth had much diminished. Perhaps it was shared with the poorer brethren. It is certain that during his remaining stay at Mecca the Prophet had not much property at his disposal; and there are even indications (as we shall see below,) that he was straitened in his means. He appears still to have continued to live, at least occasionally, in the quarter, if not in the house, of Abu Talib.²⁴

Repulsed from Tayif, and utterly hopeless of farther success at Mecca, the fortunes of Mahomet were enveloped in thick gloom, when hope suddenly dawned from an unexpected quarter.

The season of pilgrimage was at hand; and, as his custom was, the Prophet plied the crowds of pilgrims with his solicitations wherever they afforded a likely audience. The ceremonies were nearly at an end; Mahomet had followed the votaries of the Kaaba on their procession to the hill of Arafat, and now back again to Mina; whence, after sacrificing their victims, the multitude would disperse to their homes. Wandering through the busy scene that now presented itself in the narrow valley of Mina, he was attracted by a little group of six or seven

²⁴Thus at the Miraj or heavenly journey, Mahomet is said to have slept during the night in Abu Talib's house. Hishami p.129; Katib al Wackidi, p.41.

persons, whom he recognized as strangers from Medina. "Of what tribe are ye?" said he, coming up and kindly accosting them. "Of the tribe of Khazraj," they replied. "Ah! confederates of the Jews?" "We are." "Then, why should we not sit down for a little, and I wilt speak with you you?" The offer was accepted willingly, for the fame of Mahomet had been noised abroad in Medina, and the strangers were curious to see more of the man who had created in Mecca so great an excitement. He then expounded to them his doctrine, asserted the warrant of a divine mission, set forth the difficulties of his position at home, and enquired whether they would receive and protect him at Medina. The listeners were not slow to embrace the faith of Islam. "But as for protecting thee", said they, "we have hitherto been at variance among ourselves; and have fought great battles, as that of Boath,. If thou comest to us thus we shall be unable to rally around thee.

Let us, we pray thee, return unto our people, if haply the Lord will create peace amongst us; and we will come back again unto thee. Let the season of pilgrimage in the following year be the appointed time." Thus they returned to their homes, and invited their people to the faith; and many believed, so that there remained hardly a family in Medina in which mention was not made of the Prophet.²⁵

²⁵The words of tradition have been almost literally followed. Katib al Wackidi p.41 1/2; Hishami p. 142; Tabari, p. 160.

This success at Medina, though unexpected, was not without perceptible causes. Numerous and powerful Jewish tribes were settled in the city or its immediate vicinity, and (as we have seen in a former chapter) divided their adherence between the two contending factions of the Aws and Khazraj, whose strife frequently stained with blood the city and its environs.²⁶ "When the Jews used thus to fight with the idolaters at Medina,"- relates Ibn Ishac with much simplicity,-" they would say ;- A ,Prophet is about to arise; his time draweth nigh. Him shall we follow; and then we shall slay you with the slaughter of Ad, and Irem. So when Mahomet addressed the pilgrims of Medina at Mina, they spake one with another - Know surety that is the same Prophet whom the Jews are wont to threaten us with. Wherefore let us make haste and be the first to join him."²⁷ There is truth, though exaggerated and distorted, in this statement. In the close and constant intercourse.

Wackidi mentions six as composing the company, and in another place eight. It is impossible satisfactorily to reconcile discrepancy in the names. See Sprenger, p.202. In one tradition it is said that the Prophet first met and spoke with two persons from Medina, not on the occasion of the Iflearly, but of the "Lesser" or Personal pilgrimage (Omra). It seems, however, more likely, from Mahomet's being at Mina when he met the Converts, that it was the Annual pilgrimage, Cnf. Introduction, chap. iii. p. ccv.

²⁶See Introduction, chap. iii. p. ccxxxiv.

²⁷Hishami; p.143; Tabari, p.161.

between the Jews and the Arabs of Medina, the expectation of a Messiah, interwoven throughout the whole life of the former, could not but in some measure be communicated to the latter. Nor could the idolatrous inhabitants live in daily contact with a race professing the pure theism, and practising the stern morality of the Old Testament, without being influenced by the practical protest thus continually made against the errors of Paganism as contrasted with the spiritual worship of the one true God. Moreover, Medina was only half the distance of Mecca from the Christian tribes of southern Syria; the poet Hassan, and men of his stamp from Medina, used to frequent the Christian Court of the Ghassanide king; so that Christianity as well as Judaism wrought probably a more powerful effect upon the social condition of Medina, than elsewhere in Arabia.

The city had been long torn by internal war. The sanguinary conflict of Boath, a few years before, had weakened and humiliated the Bani Khazraj, without materially strengthening the Bani Aws. Assassination had succeeded to open fighting. There was no one bold or commanding enough, to seize the reins of Government; and the citizens, both Arabian and Jewish, lived in uncertainty and suspense. Little apprehension was felt from the advent of a stranger; even although he was likely to usurp, or gain permission to assume, the vacant

authority. Deadly jealousy at home, had extinguished the jealousy of influence from abroad.

Such was the position of Medina. A tribe addicted to the superstition of Mecca, yet well acquainted with a purer faith, was in the best state of preparation to join itself to a reformer of the Kaaba worship. Idolatrous Arabs impressed with the indefinite anticipation of a Messiah, would readily recognize Mahomet as their Prophet. A city weaned with faction and strife, would cheerfully admit him to their hospitality as a refugee, if not welcome him to their counsels as a Chief.

Looking now to their acquaintance with the new faith, it may be remarked that the politics of Mecca, and the history of the Prophet, could not be unknown at Medina. The Syrian caravans of the Coreish not unfrequently halted there. Occasional intermarriages took place between the inhabitants of the two cities. Mahomet himself was descended from a distinguished lady of Khazraj birth, espoused by Hashim; and a favourable interest, among that tribe at least, was thus secured. Abu Cays, a famous poet of Medina, had some time before addressed the Coreish in verses intended to dissuade them from interference with Mahomet and his followers.²⁸ The Jews were already acquainted

²⁸Hishami, p.75; M. C. de Perceval, vol. i. p.368. There is no apparent reason for doubting the authenticity of these verses. The following is one of them:-

with the Prophet as a zealous supporter of their Scriptures. Parties from Medina went up yearly to the solemnities of the Meccan Temple. A few had thus come under the direct influence of his preaching²⁹, and all were familiar with the general nature of his claims. To this was now superadded the advocacy of actual converts.³⁰ One, who is his own master, hath chosen a (new) religion; and there is none other keeper over you than the Lord of the heavens;" (that is, it belongs to God alone to call man to account for his religious opinions).

Abu Cays had a Coreishite wife, and had lived some time at Mecca. When Islam began to spread at Medina, his adverse influence held back his own tribe (the Aws Monat or Aws Allah) from joining it. Hishami p. 147; M.C. de Perceval, vol. iii. p.5. He commanded the Awsites at the battle of Boath. M. C. de Perceval, vol. ii. p. 680.

²⁹The traditions regarding certain Jews coming toMahomet when at Mecca, with questions to prove him, appear to be apocryphal. Yet there can be no doubt, from Mahomet's familiarity with Jewish history as shown in the Coran, that there was a close relation between Mahomet and some professors of the Jewish religion for a considerable time before the Hegira; and the Jews of Medina are the likeliest.

³⁰There are indeed notices of actual conversion to Islam among the citizens of Medina at an earlier period, but they are not well substantiated.

Thus, before the battle of Boath, a deputation from the Bani Aws is said to have visited Mecca, to seek for auxiliaries from among the Coreish in the coming struggle. "And they listened to Mahomet; and Ayas, a youth of their number, declared that this was far better than the errand they had come upon; but Abul Haysar their Chief cast due) upon him, saying, they had another business than to hear these things." Ayas, who was killed shortly after in the intestine struggles at Medina, is said to have died a true Mussulman. Hishami, p. 142; Tabari, p.169.

This was to Mahomet a year of anxiety and expectation. Would the handful of Medina converts remain steady to his cause? Would they be able to extend that cause among their fellow-citizens? If they should prove unfaithful, or fail of success, what resource would then remain? He might be forced to emigrate to Syria or to Abyssinia; and seek refuge with the Ethiopian Najashy, or amongst the Christian tribes of the northern desert.

Similarly, Suweid, son of Samit, an Awsite poet, came and repeated to Mahomet the Persian tale of Locman. Mahomet, eraying that he had something better than that, recited the Coran to him. The poet was delighted with it; "he was not far from Islam, and some said that he died a Moslem." Hashami, p 141; Tabari, p.158.

Anticipations of Islam are supplied by tradition, for Medina as well as for Mecca. Thus; - "The first that believed were Asad ibn Zorkra and Dzakwan, who set out for Mecca to contend in rivalry with Otba son of Rabia. But, on their arrival, Otba said to them ; - That praying fellow who fancieth himself to be the prophet of God, hath occupied us to the exclusion of every other, business. Now Asid and Abul Haytham used to converse at Medina with teach other, about the unity of God. When Dzakwan, therefore, heard this saying of Otba, he exclaimed,- Listen, oh Asad! - this must be thy religion. So they went straight to Mahomet, who expounded to them Islam, and they both believed and returned to Medina. And Asad related to Abul Haytham (a resident of Medina) all that had passed, and he said "I too, am a believer, with thee" Katib al Wackidi, p.41 1/2. Sprenger adopts this version as the true one, since it corresponds with his theory of the existence of Islam before Mahomet.

It is admitted on all hands that Asad and Abul Haytham were forward, and early, in the movement at Medina.

The days of pilgrimage at last again came round, and Mahomet sought the appointed spot in a sheltered glen near Mina. His apprehensions were at once dispelled; for there he found a band of twelve faithful disciples ready to acknowledge him as their prophet. Ten were of the Khazraj, and two of the Aws, tribe.³¹ They plighted their faith to Mahomet thus ; We will not worship any but the One God; we will not steal, neither will we commit adultery, or kill our children; we will not slander in anywise; and we will not disobey the Prophet,³² in anything that is right." This was afterwards called the Pledge of Women,³³ because, as not embracing any stipulation to defend the Prophet, it was the only oath ever required from females. When all had taken this engagement, Mahomet replied ; - If ye fulfil the pledge, paradise shall be your reward. He that shall fail in any part thereof, to God belongeth his concern, either to punish or forgive. This memorable proceeding is known in the annals of Islam as TUE FIRST FLEDGE OF ACABA,³⁴ for that was the name of the little eminence or defile whither they retired from observation.

³¹We approach now to certain ground. There is no doubt or discrepancy whatever regarding the names of these twelve persons. Katib al Wackidi p. 42; Hishami, p. 143.

³²Literally "him."

³³

³⁴

These twelve men were now committed to the cause of Mahomet. They returned to Medina the missionaries of Islam, again to report their success at the following pilgrimage. So prepared was the ground, so zealous the propagation, that the new faith spread rapidly from house to house and from tribe to tribe. The Jews looked on in amazement at the people, whom they had in vain endeavored for generations to convince of the errors of Polytheism and to dissuade from the, abominations of Idolatry, suddenly and of their own accord casting away their idols, and professing belief in the One true God. The secret lay in the adaptation of the instrument. Judaism, foreign in its growth, touched few Arab sympathies; Islam, grafted upon the faith, the superstition, the customs, the nationality of the Peninsula, gained, ready access to every heart.

The leaders in the movement soon found themselves unable to keep pace with its rapid progress. So they wrote to Mahomet for a teacher, well versed in the Coran, who might initiate the enquirers in the rudiments of the new Faith. The youthful and devoted Musab, who had lately returned from exile, in Abyssinia, was deputed for that purpose³⁵. He

³⁵Katib al Wackidi p.42; Hishami, p. 144; Tabari, p. 169. According to Hishami, Mahomet sent Musab back with the twelve, after the first pledge of Acaba The statement of the Katib al Wackidi is clear as in the text, that he was sent upon a written requisition from Medina.

lodged at Medina with Asad ibn Zorara, who used to gather the converts together to him for prayer and the reading of the Coran. The combined devotions of the Aws and Khazraj tribes were first conducted by Musab; for even in such a matter they were impatient of a common leader from amongst themselves.³⁶ Thus speedily, without let or hindrance, did Islam take firm root at Medina, and attain to a full and mature growth.³⁷ Musab will be remembered as the youth, whose pathetic interview with his mother has been described in chap. iv. p.119.

³⁶Hishami ibid. The call to Mahomet for a teacher is stated by the Katib al Wackidi to have been made in common both by the Aws and Khazraj. Hishami mentions a Friday service, the first at Medina, held at the instance of Asad, and attended by forty men; but it looks anticipative and apocryphal.

³⁷The following narrative, though probably fabricated in many of its details, will illustrate at any rate the manner in which Islam was propagated at Medina.

Asad and Musab on a certain day went to the quarters of the Awsites, and entering one of their gardens, sat down by a well, when a company of believers gathered around them. Now Sad ibn Muadz and Oseid ibn Khuzeir were chief men of the Abdal Ashal (a branch of the Awsites); and they were both idolaters following the old religion. So when they heard of the gathering at the well, Sad, who was unwilling himself to interfere (being related to Asad,) bade his comrade go and disperse them. Oseid seized his weapons, and hurrying to the spot, began thus to abuse them What brings you two men here amongst us, to mislead our youths and silly folk? Begone, if ye have any care for your lives. Musab disarmed his wrath by courteously inviting him to sit down and listen to the doctrine. So he stuck his spear into the round and seated himself; and as he listened, he was charmed with the new faith, and purified himself and embraced Islam. And he said

The hopes of Mahomet were now fixed upon Medina. Visions of his journey northwards flitted before his imagination. The musings of the day re-appeared in midnight, slumbers. He dreamed that he was swiftly carried by Gabriel on a winged steed past Medina to the temple at Jerusalem, where he was welcomed by the former Prophets, all assembled for his reception in solemn conclave. His excited spirit conjured up a still more transcendant, scene. From Jerusalem he seemed to mount upwards, and ascend from one Heaven to another; he found himself at last in' the awful presence of his Maker, who dismissed him with the behest that his people were to pray five times "there is another beside me, even Sad ibn Muadz, whom I will send to you: if you can gain him over, there will not be one in his tribe left unconverted," So he departed and sent Sad, and Musab persuaded him in like manner. And Sad returned to his tribe and swore that he would, not speak to man or woman that did not acknowledge Mahomet:-and so great was his influence, that by the evening every one of the tribe was converted."

"Such were the exertions of Asad and Musab that there remained not a house among the Arabs of Medina in which there were not believing men and women, excepting the branches of the Aws Allah who, owing to the influence of Abu Cays the poet, continued unbelievers, till after the siege of Medina" Hishami, p.146; Tabari, p.165.

There is, a story 'of Amr ibn al Jumoh who, like the other chiefs of Medina, had an image in his house. This image the young converts used to, cast every night into a filthy well, and the old man as regularly cleansed it; till, one day, they tied it to a dead dog and cast it into a well. Then the old man abandoned his image and believed. Hishami, p.153.

in the day. As he awoke in the morning in the house of Abu Talib, where he had passed the night, the vision was vividly before his eyes; and he exclaimed to Omm Hani, the daughter of Abu Talib, that during the night he had prayed in the Temple of Jerusalem. While he was going forth to tell the vision to others, she seized him by the mantle, and conjured him not thus to expose himself to the mockery and revilings of the unbelievers. But he persisted. As the story spread abroad, the idolators scoffed, the believers were staggered, and some are said even to have gone back.³⁸ Abu Bakr supported the Prophet, and declared his implicit belief in the Vision.³⁹ In the end the credit of Islam among its adherents suffered no material injury.

The tale is one in which tradition revels with congenial ecstacy. The rein has been given loose to a pious imagination. Both the journey and the ascent to Heaven, are decked out in the most extravagant

³⁸This, though stated both by the Katib al Wackidi and Hishami, appears improbable; and no names are specified. The words in the former are, - "upon this many went back who had prayed and joined Islam," p. 41 ; Hishami, p. 127. But the whole story is one of those marvellous subjects upon which tradition whenever it touches runs wild, and anything is thrown in which adds to the effect.

³⁹He said Sadacta,-" thou hast spoken the truth;" and hence according to some traditions, was called Al Sadick. He appears, however, to have had this name, as Mahomet that of Al Amin, from his probity and truthfulness.

colouring of Romance, and in all the gorgeous drapery that Fancy could conceive.⁴⁰ But

⁴⁰ What is here stated is all that historical criticism warrants us in attributing to Mahomet himself. It is possible that in later life he may have gratified the morbid curiosity of his followers by adding imaginary details to the Vision. Rut even this supposition is limited by the known reserve and taciturnity of the Prophet.

It is said that incredulous idolaters wished to throw him into confusion by asking for a description of the Temple he had thus been to see: and he was in great straits, until Gabriel placed before him a model of the Temple, and he was able then satisfactorily to answer all their questioning. But this is only of a piece with the other childish stories told of the occasion. Thus Mahomet replied to his questioners that, on his way to Jerusalem, he had passed over a caravan from Syria; that the whizzing noise of Borac, the flying steed on which he travelled, had frightened away one of the camels; and that the people of the caravan could not find it till he pointed it out to them. So also, on his way back, he passed another caravan, in the encampment of which was a covered vessel filled with water; as he passed, he drank up the water and restored the cover. And both caravans on arriving at Mecca confirmed this evidence of the reality of the heavenly journey! Hishami p.130.

Sprenger considers Mahomet here to have committed "an unblushing forgery: he sold a description of the Temple of Jerusalem, which he may have obtained from books or oral information, to the best advantage." I would rather look upon the tradition regarding the model and the questions answered from it, in the same light as the two last foolish stories, - equally worthless and fabricated. Sprenger holds by the respectability of the authorities; there is no event of his lire, he says, "on which we have more numerous and genuine traditions than on his nightly journey." But on a supernatural and imaginary subject, numerous traditions forming around some early common type, were to be expected, and their number can add little if anything to the historical value or their contents. See Introduction, chap. i. p. lxvll.

The earliest authorities point only to a vision, not to a real bodily journey. Sprenger seems to be in error when he says that

the only mention in the Coran of this notable vision, is contained in the seventeenth Sura, which opens thus;-

Praise be to Him who carried His servant by night from the Sacred Temple, to the farther Temple^* the environs of which we have blessed, that we might show him some of our signs. Verily He it is that heareth and seeth.⁴¹ "all historical records are for the latter opinion" (i.e. a bodily journey:) "the former" (that it was a mere Vision) "is upheld by some Sceptics only" (p.186). I. In opposition to this, we have the story of Omm Hani, as in the text, given both by the Katib al Wackidi (p.41) and Hishami (p. 129). II. Cutada and Ayesha are quoted as holding that "the Prophet's body did not disappear, but that God carried him away by night in the spirit." Hishami, ibib. III. Hasan applies the verse in the Coran (Sura xvii. v.61) regarding "the Vision" correctly to this heavenly journey, and Muavia farther illustrates it by the Vision in which Abraham appeared to himself to be sacrificing his son. Others make the Vision, in the verse referred to, to mean the model of the Temple held by Gabriel before Mahomet! Katib al Wackidi, p.41. IV. Hishami draws the conclusion that, whichever of the two views be accepted, "the vision at any rate was true and faithful." Tradition cannot therefore be aid to be adverse to the theory that it was a simple Vision.

After his visit to Heaven, Mahomet is said to have consoled his faithful Zeid by telling him how beautiful and happy he saw the little daughter whom he had lately lost, in Paradise. Hishami, p.153.

Most authors agree that the Ascent to Heaven (Miraj) occurred the same night as the journey to Jerusalem (Isra): but the Katib al Wackidi, who is more credulous and less critical than Ibn Ishac and Hishami in this instance, makes the former to have happened on the 17th Ramadhan, a year and a half before Mahomet's flight to Medina; and the latter on the 17th Rabi I, six months later; p.40.

^*

⁴¹A farther allusion to the Journey is supposed to be contained in v.61 of the same Sara. "And (call to mind) when we said

The political events in the North had long engaged the attention of Mahomet. His interest was now quickened by the prospect of approaching himself so much nearer to the scene of action. Almost from the period at which he had assumed the prophetical office, the victorious arms of Chosroes had been turned against the Grecian frontier. The desert tract, with its Arab Christian tribes who used to oscillate between one dominion and the other according to the fortune of war, first fell into the hands of Persia. The enemy then ravaged the whole of Syria; Jerusalem was sacked; Egypt and Asia Minor overrun; an army advanced upon the Thracian Bosphorus, "and a Persian camp was maintained above ten years in the presence of Constantinople."⁴² In 621 A.D. when the fortunes of the Grecian empire were at the lowest ebb, Heraclius was roused from inaction, and after several years of unto Thee, Verily thy Lord hedgeth in mankind; and We made not the Vision which WE showed unto Thee other than a trial unto the people, - and likewise the accursed Tree in the Coran. And we (seek to) strike tenor into them, but it only increaseth in them enormous wickedness."

This is quoted by traditionists as bearing out (but seemingly on insufficient grounds,) the falling away of those believers who were scandalized by the Vision. A pious gloss in Hishami goes still farther, for it says that had the journey been a mere Vision, nobody would have been scandalized; but scandal having been raised, and believers having gone back, therefore the journey was a real and a corporeal one! Hishami p.128.

⁴²Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. xlvi.

arduous conflict rolled back the invasion, and totally discomfited the Persians.

In this struggle, the sympathies and hopes of Mahomet were all enlisted on the side of the Caesar. Christianity was a Divine faith that might coalesce with Islam; but the fire-worship and superstitions of Persia were utterly repugnant to its principles. It was while the career of Persian conquest was yet unchecked, that Mahomet, in the opening of the thirtieth Sura, uttered the following augury of the eventual issue of the contest;-

The GREEKS have been conquered,
In the neighbouring coast; but, after their defeat, they shall again be victorious,
In a few years. To GOD belongeth the matter from before, and after; and, in that day, the Believers shall rejoice
In the aid of GOD. He aideth whom he chooseth; and he is the GLORIOUS, the MERCIFUL.
It is the Promise of GOD. GOD changeth not his promise; but the greater part of Mankind know it not."⁴³

There was now a lull at Mecca. Mahomet despaired, by the simple influence of preaching and persuasion, of effecting farther progress there. His

⁴³ The commentators add a very convenient story in illustration. Abu Bakr, on the passage being revealed, laid a wager of ten camels, with Obba Ibn Khalf, that the Persians would be beaten within three years. Mahomet desired him to extend the period to nine years and to raise the stake. This Aba Bakr did, and in due time won one hundred camels from Obba's heirs.

But the story is apocryphal. It is neither in the Katib al Wackidi nor in Hishami; and bears a most auspicious stamp of being a late fabrication in illustration of the passage in the Coran.

eye was fixed upon Medina, and he waited in quietness and confidence, until succour should come from thence. At home, meanwhile, offensive measures were abandoned. Islam was no longer aggressive. And the Coreish, congratulating themselves that their enemy had tried his worst, and now was harmless, relaxed their vigilance and opposition. For his new course of action, Mahomet, as usual, had divine authority:-

Follow that which hath been revealed unto thee from thy Lord ; - there is no God but He;-and retire from the Idolaters.
If God had so desired, they had not followed Idolatry; and WE have not made thee a Keeper over them, neither art thou unto them a Guardian.
And rattle not those whom they invoke besides God, lest they revile God in enmity from lack of knowledge.
Thus have We rendered attractive unto every People their own doings; then unto the Lord
Shall be their return, and he shall declare unto them that which they have wrought.⁴⁴

But with this cessation of aggressive measures, there was no wavering of principle, nor any distrust of eventual success. A calm and lofty front was maintained of superiority, if not of defiance. Eventual success, in spite of present discouragement,

⁴⁴Sura vi. 106-108. The opposite party begin to be termed "the confederates."- Sura xi. v.18. So, in the same Sura, v.25, "the likeness of the two parties - - is as the Blind and Deaf, compared with him that both Sight and Hearing: - What! are these equal in resemblance? Ah! do ye not comprehend?"

was clear and assured. The Lord had given to all his Apostles of old the victory, and he would give the same to Mahomet ;-

We shall hurl THE TRUTH against that which is False, and it shall shiver it, and lo, that which is False shall vanish; - Wo unto you for that which ye imagine!

Vengeance shall fall suddenly upon thorn. It shall confound them. They shall not be able to oppose the same, neither shall they be respited.
Verily, Apostles before thee hare been mocked; but they that laughed them to scorn were encompassed by the Vengeance which they mocked at.

The unbelieving (Nations) said unto their Apostles ;- We will surely expel you from our Land, or ye shall return to our Religion. Then their Lord spake by revelation unto them, saying ;-Verily We shall destroy the Unjust!
And WE shall cause you to inherit the Land after them ;-this shall be for him that feareth my appearing and feareth My threatening.
So they asked assistance of the Lord, and every Tyrant and rebellious one was destroyed.
Verily, they have devised evil devices; but their devices are in the hand of God, even if their devices could cause the Mountains to pass away.
Wherefore think not thou that God will work at variance with his promise which he made unto his Apostles. Verily the Lord is Mighty, and a God of Vengeance⁴⁵.

A dearth fell upon Mecca ; - it was a punishment from God because the citizens had rejected his

⁴⁵Sura xxi. vv. 18, 41, 42; and xiv. vv. 14, 46, 47. Cnf also Sura xliii. tw. 77-79. The whole tenour of the Coran at this period is indeed that of quiet, but confluent, defiance.

Messenger. Relief was vouchsafed; it was intended to try whether the goodness of God would not lead to repentance. If they still hardened their hearts, a more fearful fate was denounced.⁴⁶

That ten-fold vengeance would overtake the people if they continued to refuse the truth, Mahomet surely believed. He might not live to see it; but the decree of God was, unchangeable:-

⁴⁶There is no satisfactory statement regarding this visitation in any reliable tradition. The commentators have, of course, invented details to illustrate the notices of it which occur in the Coran. Yet ,those notices are so clear and distinct as to allow no doubt that some affliction of the kind did occur, which was attributed by Mahomet to the Divine vengeance:-

And if We have mercy upon them and withdraw the affliction that befall them, they plunge into their wickedness, widely, wandering.
And verily We visited them with Affliction, and they humbled not themselves before their Lord, nor made Supplication;-
Until, when We open unto them a Door or severe Punishment, lo! they are in despair thereat Sura xxiii vv.77-79.

The latter punishment referred to in this passage the commentators will have to be the battle of Badr; but that, of course, is an anachronism. Again;-

And when We made the People to taste Mercy: after the affliction that befel them, lo! they devise deceit against our Signs. SAY, God is more swift than ye in deceit; Verily Oar Messengers write down that which ye devise.
It is He that causeth you to travel by Land and by water, so that when ye are in Ships, and sail in them with a pleasant breeze, they rejoice thereat.
A fierce Storm overtaketh them, and the Waves come upon them from every quarter, and they think that verily they are closed in thereby; then they call upon God, rendering unto Him pure Service, and saying, If thou savest us from this, we shall verily be amongst the Grateful.
But when he hath saved them, behold! they work evil in the Earth unrighteously. Oh ye People. verily your evil working is against your own Souls, &C Sura x. vv. 22-24; Cnf Sura vii. v. 95.

What! Canst thou make the Deaf to hear, or guide the Blind, or him that is wandering widely?
Wherefore, whether We take thee away, verily We who pour our vengeance upon them;
Or, whether We cause thee to see that which We have threatened them with, verily We are all powerful over them.
Therefore hold fast that which bath been revealed unto thee, for thou art in the straight path.⁴⁷

Mahomet, thus holding his people at bay; waiting in the still expectation of victory; to outward appearance defenceless, and with his little band as it were in the lion's mouth; yet, trusting in His almighty power whose Messenger he believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved;-presents a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only, in the Sacred Records, by such scenes as that of the Prophet of Israel when he complained to his Master, "I, even I only, am left." Nay, the spectacle is in one point of view more marvellous; because the Prophets of old were upheld by a divine inspiration, accompanied (as we may conclude) by an unwavering consciousness in its reality, and strengthened by the palpable demonstrations of miraculous power; while with the Arabian Prophet, the memory at least of former doubt, and the confessed inability to work

⁴⁷Sura xliii. vv. 38-41. There are various other passages in the Guru of this period to the same effect. Thus:- "Wherefore persevere patiently, for the promise of God is true, whether WE cause thee to see some part of that wherewith We have threatened them, or cause thee (first) to die; and unto Us shall they return," &C Sura xl. v.78. Compare also Sura xxiii. v.95; x.v.46; xxix. v.53; xxxvii. v.178; xiii. v.42.

any miracle, must at times have caused a gleam. of uncertainty to shoot across the soul. It is this which throws out into if possible still bolder prominence the amazing self-possession, and enduring enthusiasm, which sustained his course. "Say unto the Unbelievers;" -such was the divine message he professed to receive,--" Say, Work ye in your place. wait ye in expectation. We, too, in expectancy, will wait."⁴⁸

His bearing towards his own followers, no less than towards his opponents, exhibits the full assurance of being the Vicegerent of God. Obedience to "God and his Apostle," is now the watchword of Islam;--

Whomsoever disobeyeth GOD AND HIS PROPHET; verily to him shall be the Fire of Hell; they shall be therein alway, -for ever! ⁴⁹

⁴⁸Sura XL v.121, et passim.

⁴⁹Sura lxxii. v.23. The sequel of this passage is singular. God sends a guard to attend his prophet in order that He may see that the message is duly delivered,-as if God had reason to doubt the fidelity of his prophet in this respect:-

When they see that with which they were threatened, then they shall know which side was the weaken in succour, and the fewest in number.¹ SAY I know not whether that which ye are threatened with be near, or whether my lard shall make for it a limit of time.
He knoweth the secret thing, and he unveileth not His Secret unto any;
Excepting unto such of His Apostles as pleaseth Him, and He maketh a Guard to go before and behind him (i.e. His Apostles);
That He may know that they verily deliver the messages of their Lord,
He encompasseth whatever is beside them,
And counteth everything by number.

In further illustration of the text see Sura lxiv. v. 9:-

The confidence in his inspiration is sometimes expressed with imprecations, which one cannot read Without a shudder;-

(I, swear) by that which ye see,
And by that which ye do not see,
That this is verily the speech of an honourable Apostle!
It is not the speech of a Poet; little is it ye believe!
And it is not the speech of a Soothsayer; little is it ye reflect!
It is a Revelation from the Lord of Creation.
And if he (Mahomet) had fabricated concerning us any sayings,
Verily We had caught him by the right hand,
Then had We cut asunder the artery of his neck,
Nor would there have been amongst you any to hinder therefrom.⁵⁰
But verily it is an Admonition to the Pious,
And truly We know that there are amongst you those who belie the same;
But it shall cause Sighing unto the Unbelievers.
And it is the TRUTH ;-the CERTAIN!
Therefore praise the name of thy Lord,- the glorious!⁵¹ Means of support deficient It would seem as if the difficulties of the prophet were at this period increased by straitened means. Though supported probably by help' from his relatives

Wherefore believe in GOD AND HIS APOSTLE, and the Light which WE have sent down, &C.
And obey God and obey the Apostle; but if ye turn back, verily our Apostle hath only to deliver his message. v.13.

Thenceforward the expression becomes common.

⁵⁰The commentators observe that the allusion is to the Oriental mode of execution. The executioner seizes the condemned culprit by the right hand, while with a sharp sword or axe he aims a blow at the back of the neck, and the head is detached at the first stroke. This mode of execution is still, or was till lately, practised in Mahometan States in India.

⁵¹Sura lxix. vv. 38-52.

and followers, there was yet ground for care and anxiety. The Divine promise re-assures him in such terms as these;--

And stretch not forth thine eyes to the Provision We have made for divers among them,-the show of this present life, -that We may prove them thereby; and the Provision of the Lord is better and more lasting.
And command thy Family to observe prayer, and to persevere therein: We ask thee not (to labour) for a, Provision; We shall provide for thee, and a successful Issue shall be to Piety.⁵²

Thus another year passed away in comparative tranquillity, and the month of Pilgrimage, when the Medina converts were again to rally around the prophet, came round. Written accounts, as well as messages, of the amazing success of Islam had no doubt reached Mahomet;⁵³ yet he was hardly prepared for the large and enthusiastic band ready to crowd to his standard, and swear allegiance to him as their prophet and their master. But it was necessary to proceed with caution. The Coreish, if aware of this extensive and hostile confederacy,-- hostile because pledged to support (though only as yet defensively) a faction in their community,-- would have good ground for umbrage; the sword

⁵⁰Sura xx. vv. 130, 131.

⁵¹The converts at Medina had, as we have seen, smitten to Mahomet early in the year for a tenchen Both they and the, teacher (Musab,) would no doubt communicate to the Prophet, by letter as well as by verbal mesenge, the wonderful success they had met with.

might prematurely be unsheathed, and the cause of Islam seriously endangered. The movements were, therefore, conducted with the utmost secrecy. Even the other pilgrims from Medina, in whose company the converts travelled, were unaware of their object.⁵⁴

Musab, the teacher, who also joined the pilgrimage to Mecca, immediately on his arrival repaired to Mahomet, and related all that had happened during his absence at Medina. The prophet rejoiced greatly when he heard of the numbers of the converts, and their eagerness in the service of Islam.⁵⁵

To elude the scrutiny of the Meccans, the meeting between Mahomet and his Medina followers was to be by night; and that the strangers might, in case suspicions were aroused, be for as short a time as possible within reach of their enemies, it was deferred to the very close of the pilgrimage when, the ceremonies and sacrifices being finished, the multitude would on the following day disperse to their homes⁵⁶.

⁵⁴Hishami, p. 148; Tabari, p.169. Sprenger gives the total number of pilgrims from Medina that year (both heathen and Mussulman) at upwards of 570; of whom seventy only were of the Aws tribe, and the remainder Khazrajites.

⁵⁵Katib al Wackidi, p.201 ½. It was immediately after this That Mustib went to visit his mother. Chap. iv. p. 120.

⁵⁶This appears to be the likeliest date, as the events following seem to prove that the next day the multitudes broke up, and the Medina party proceeded homewards. The date would thus be the night succeeding the 11th Dzul Hijj, or that intervening between the 31st March and the 1st April, A.D. 622.

The expression in all our three authorities is

The spot was to be the secluded glen, where the men of Medina had before met Mahomet, close by the road as the traveller quits the valley of Mina, and beneath the well-known eminence Acaba.⁵⁷ They were to move cautiously thither, when all had retired to rest;-"waking not the sleeper, nor tarrying for the absent."⁵⁸ "in the days of the Tashrick," i.e. the three, days intervening between the loth and the 13th of Dzul Hijj. A tradition in Hishami adds that it was after the pilgrimage was ended:- p.147. The Secretary of Wackidi relates as follows;- , "Then Mahomet arranged that they should meet him at Mina, in the days of the Tashrick, on the (night preceding) the first day of departure, when men had fallen asleep," p.424. The "first day of departure," al Nafr, is the 12th of Dzul Hijj. See Taj ul Lughat, Lucknow, in loco. Some pilgrims stay at Mina till the 13th, which may perhaps account for the the expression "first day of departure." For the ceremonies here alluded to, see Burton, vol, iii. p.241, and chap. xxxii. At p.286 he refers to an intermediate Nafr, or return to Mecca on the 10th, on which occasion the pilgrim repairs to the Kaaba, but again revisits fihut before his final departure. It is possible that this ceremony may be alluded to in the expression above quoted. See also above, Introduction, chap. iii. p. ccvi.

⁵⁷It is called "the right hand glen (Sheb,) as you descend from Mina, below the height (Acaba,) where the mosque now stands." Katib al Wackidi; p. 42 ½.

As the valley of Mina descends towards Mecca, the "right hand" means probably that of a person proceeding to Mecca, and therefore points to the north side of the valley. See Burkhardt, pp.59-277.

⁵⁸Katib al Wackidi, ibid.

One or two hours before midnight, Mahomet repaired to the rendezvous, the first of the party.⁵⁹ He was attended only by his uncle Abbas. To secure the greater secrecy, the assembly was perhaps kept private even from the Moslems of Mecca.⁶⁰ Abbas was the wealthiest of the sons of Abd al Muttalib, but he was weak in character, and ordinarily sailed with the tide. He was not a convert; but close relationship, and the long community of interest excited by the three years confinement in the Sheb of Abu Talib, rendered him sufficiently trustworthy on the present occasion.⁶¹

⁵⁹Katib al Wackidi, p. 42 ½.

⁶⁰Or if they were in the secret, they were instructed not to be present, the less to excite suspicion. We may suppose that Mahomet's more intimate friends, Abu Bakr, Zeid, Omar, Hamza, were aware of big intentions. It is remarkable that not even Musab appears to have come to the rendezvous with his Medina converts; for it is distinctly said by Wackidi that "there was no one with Mahomet besides Abbas."

Hishami makes the Medina converts to have assembled first, and to have waited for Mahomet, who arrived later, (p. 148). Tabari, p.170.

⁶¹For more particulars of Abbas, see chapter 1, p.31. Some hold Abbas to have been a secret believer long before the conquest of Mecca: but this is evidently an Abbasside fiction. His faith was that of expediency. He held with the Meccans until Mahomet became too powerful to admit of doubt as to his eventual success; and then he colluded with him, shortly before the attack on Mecca.

The presence of Abbas at this meeting is supported by traditions in each of our early authorities. Tabari has one to the effect that the Medina converts recognized him, because he used frequently to pass through their city on his mercantile expeditions to Syria.

Mahomet had not long to wait. Soon the Medina converts, singly, and by twos and threes, were descried through the moonlight moving stealthily along the stony valley and among the barren rocks towards the spot⁶³. They amounted to seventy-three men and two women. All the early converts who had before met the prophet on the two preceding pilgrimages were there⁶³. When they were seated, Abbas, in a low voice, broke the silence by a speech something to the following effect:-

"Ye company of the KRAZRAJ! ⁶⁴ This my kinsman dwelleth amongst us in honour and safety. His clan will defend him,--both those that are converts, and those who still adhere to their ancestral faith. But he preferreth to seek protection from you⁶⁵. Wherefore, consider well the matter; and

⁶²As the Meccan month commenced with the new moon, it would, on the 12th or Dzul Hijj, be within two or three days of full moon.

⁶³There were only eleven of the Aws tribe; the remaining sixty-two being Khazrajites. The two women were Nuseiba, daughter of Kab (several traditions from whom regarding the assembly have been preserved); and Asma daughter of Amr, whose husband (Hishami adds,) two sons, and sister, were present with her. This would seem to imply that there were three women there. Hishami; p. 157.

⁶⁴Hishami states that the people of Medina, both of the Aws and Khazraj tribes, used to be addressed collectively by the Arabs as Khazrajites.

⁶⁵The speech of Abbas is given in all three of our authorities, but with great variation. Indeed it could not be expected that its purport should have been exactly preserved. It seems certain,

count the cost. If ye be resolved, and able, to defend him,-well. But if ye doubt your ability, at once abandon the design."

Then spoke Abu Bara, an aged Chief: - "We have listened to thy words. Our resolution is unshaken. Our lives are at his service. It is now for him to speak."

Mahomet began, as was his wont, by reciting appropriate passages from, the Coran; then he invited all present to the service of God, dwelt upon the claims and blessings of Islam, and concluded by saying that he would be content if the strangers pledged themselves to defend him as they did their own wives and children⁶⁶. He had no sooner

however, that it was he who opened the proceedings. The sentiments are those which would naturally be attributed to him; and are appropriate enough, excepting that, both here and in the other addresses, there is too distinct an anticipation of the future armed struggle with Arabia and the whole world. Thus Abbas speaks of the people of Medina incurring by their league with Mahomet the enmity of "all the Arabs, who would discharge themselves against Medina, like arrows from one bow." And Abbas ibn Obada, one of the Medina converts, tells his brethren that they have "now pledged themselves to fight all mankind," (lit. the red and the white amongst men). The last tradition is not in the Katib al Wackidi, and possesses little weight.

⁶⁶Hishami says that Abul Haytham interrupted Bara in his address, saying that by their present act they were cutting their bonds with their allies the Jews, and asking Mahomet whether, if God gave him the victory, he would not desert them and return to Mecca. Whereupon Mahomet smiled graciously, and said Nay! your blood is mine; your destruction would be that of my very self. - I am yours, ye are mine. I shall fight with whom ye fight

ended than, from: every quarter, there arose a confused and tumultuous noise; it was the eager voices of the Seventy⁶⁷ testifying their readiness to take the pledge, and protesting that they would receive the prophet even if it cost the loss of property, and the slaughter of their chiefs. Then Abbas, who stood by holding his nephew's hand, called aloud; -" Hush! ⁶⁸ There are spies about. Let your men of years stand forth, and let them speak on your behalf. Of a verity, we are fearful for your safety if our people should discover us. Then when ye have plighted your faith depart to your encampments." So their chief men stood forth. Then said Bara ;-" Stretch out thy hand, Oh Mahomet!" And he stretched it out; and Bara clapped his hand thereon, as the manner was in taking an oath of fealty⁶⁹. Then the seventy came forward one by

and make peace with whom ye make peace. But the sentiment is altogether an after-thought. There was not at that time the slightest suspicion that Mahomet would break with the Jews. One of the first things he did on going to Medina, was to make a close and firm treaty with them.

The fact is that, by their present act in joining Mahomet, the Medina converts were to outward appearance drawing nearer to the Jews, rather than "cutting their bonds with them."

⁶⁷Though there were seventy-three men, yet by tradition they are ordinarily called "the Seventy."

⁶⁸Literally: "Hush your bells."

⁶⁹As usual in such meritorious actions, other claimants of the honour are brought forward. The Bani Najjar say that Asad was the first that struck the hand of Mahomet; and the Bani Abd al Ashal, that it was Abul Haytham. Hishami; p.161; Katib al Wackidi, p. 42 1/2; Tabari, p.172.

one, and did 'the same'⁷⁰. And Mahomet named twelve of the chief men and said ;-- Moses chose from amongst his people twelve Leaders. Ye shall be the sureties for the rest, even as were the Apostles of Jesus; and I am the surety for my people. And all answered; "Be it so⁷¹". At this moment the

Abu Bara, who bore so conspicuous a part throughout this transaction, died the next month (Safar, i.e. May 622 A.D.) before Mahomet reached Medina. He is said to have been the first over whose grave Mahomet preyed in the formula that became usual afterwards - Oh Lord pardon him! Be merciful unto him! Be reconciled unto him! And verily thou art reconciled. He is said to have left a third of his property to Mahomet to dispose of as he chose: and to have desired that he should he buried with his face towards the Meccan Kibla. The latter point has reference to a curious fiction that Bana anticipated the divine command (declared a year and a half later,) that Mussulmans were to turn in prayer to the Kaaba, and not as hitherto to the Temple at Jerusalem. Katib al Wackidi, p.299.

⁷⁰The women, it is said, only repeated the words of the pledge taken by the twelve at the first Acaba. Mahomet never took a woman by the hand on such an occasion; but they used to step forward and recite the prescribed words; and then Mahomet would say,-" Go: for you have pledged yourselves." Hashami, p. 157.

⁷¹Nackib, or "Leader," is the term, which was ever after honourably retained by the twelve. Four of them, Abul Haytham, Asad, Rafi ibn Malik, and Obuda ibn Samit, were also of the number who met Mahomet here on the two previous pilgrimages. Only three were of the Aws tribes, the rest Khazrajites. Several of them, as well as many amongst the seventy, are mentioned as able to write Arabic; and as being Kamil, i.e. expert in writing, in archery, and in swimming. Katib al Wackidi, p.285 ½.

Accordinig to Hishami, Mahomet desired the seventy themselves to choose their Leader. The Katib al Wackidi, on the contrary,

voice of one calling aloud, probably a straggler seeking for his company, was heard near at hand. The excited fancy or apprehensions of the party conjured up a Meccan, if not an infernal, spy. Mahomet gave the command, and all hurried back to their halting places⁷². Thus passed the memorable night of the SECOND PLEDGE OF ACABA.

not only says that Mahomet chose them, but that he added, "Let no one among you be vexed because another than he is chosen; for it is Gabriel that chooseth," p.424. - Hishami quotes poetry by Kab (who was himself present on the occasion,) in which the names of the twelve are enumerated; and it is probably genuine.

⁷²Both the Kitab al Wackidi and Hishami make the voice to have been that of a Devil or Demon.

"And when the ceremony was ended, the Devil called out with a loud voice - Ye people of Mecca! Have ye no concern for Mahomet and his renegades? They have counselled war against you." Katib al Wackidi, p.42 1/2. So Hishami:-When we had pledged our- selves to the Prophet, Satan called out with such a piercing cry as I never heard before,---- Oh ye that are encamped round about! Have ye no care for MUDZAMMAM (the "blamed," a soubriquet for Mahomet,) and the renegades that are with him? They have resolved upon war with you. Then said Mahomet ;-" This is the demon of Acaba; this is the Son of the Devil. Hearest thou, enemy of God? Verily I will ease myself of thee!" p.151. The word used is Azabb.

So at the battle of Ohad, he that cried "Mahomet is fallen," is called "the Demon of Acaba, that is to say the Devil;" Azabb al Acaba yani al Sheitan Hishami p.258. We shall meet the Devil (who is easily conjured up by tradition) again, at the council of the Coreish to put Mahomet to death; and it will be remembered that he appeared in order to oppose Mahomet at the placing of the corner stone when the Kaaba was rebuilt. Chapter II. p.89, note.

Weil has mistaken the word for Izb or Azab, "a Dwarf." Mohammad, p.75.

So large a gathering could not be held close by Mina, without rumours reaching the Coreish enough to rouse their suspicion. It was notorious that great numbers at Medina had embraced the doctrines of Mahomet. The clandestine meeting must have been on his behalf; and, therefore, an unwarrantable interference with the domestic affairs of Mecca. It was virtually a hostile movement. Accordingly, next morning their chief men repaired to the encampment of the Medina pilgrims,⁷³ stated their suspicions, and complained of such conduct at the hand of a tribe with whom, of all the tribes throughout Arabia, they declared, it would grieve them most to be at war. The converts glanced Both the Katib al Wackidi and Hishami add that Abbfls son of Obada said to Mahomet: "If thou wishest it, we shall now fall upon the people assembled here at Mina with the sword." And no one had a sword that day but he. Mahomet replied, "I have not received any command to do thus: depart to your homes." But the circumstance is most improbable.

Some authorities affirm that the "command to fight" was received and promulgated by Mahomet at this time. But there is no reason for believing that any such commsnd was given, till long after the emigration to Mecca. Sprenger (p. 207) appears to be at fault here. Hishami (p.167) and Tabari (p.181) speak of the command to fight; but the Secretary of Wickidi has nothing of it; ana Tabari elsewhere (p.190) says that the emigration to Medina preceeded the command to fight Indeed armed opposition was not practicable till long after. Mahomet and his followers were too glad to escape peaceably.

⁷³Literally the "Sheb," glen, or defile, in which they were encamped.

at each other, and held their peace⁷⁴. The rest, ignorant of their comrades' proceedings, protested that the Coreish had been misinformed, and that the report was utterly without foundation. Their chief Abdallah ibn Obey, assured them that none of his people would venture on such a step without consulting him. The Coreish were satisfied, and took their leave.

During that day, the vast concourse at Mina broke up. The numerous caravans again prepared for caravan, their journey, and took each its homeward course. The Medina party had already set out, when the Coreish having strictly enquired into the midnight assembly, (which Mahomet hardly cared now to keep a secret,) found to their confusion, that not only had it really taken place, but that far larger numbers than they suspected had pledged them-selves to the defence of Mahomet. Foiled and

⁷³Hishami relates a story told by Kab, one of the Covenanters, that while this inquisition was going on, in order to divert attention, he pointed to a new pair of shoes which one of the Meccan Chiefs had on, and said to Abu Jabir, one of his own party:- "Why could'st thou not, our Chief, wear a pair of new shoes like this Coreishite Chief?" The latter taking off the shoes, threw them at Kab, saying, "put them on thyself." Abu Jabir said, "Quiet! give back the shoes." Kab refused, and the Meccan Chief said he would snatch them from him. A commotion ensued, which was just what Kab desired, as it covered the awkwardness of the converts. Hishami p. 151.

Such tales, containing supposed proofs of service rendered to the cause of Islam, were plentifully fabricated, even in the earliest times, and deserve little credit.

exasperated, they pursued the Medina caravan in the hope that they might lay hands on some of the delinquents; but, though they scoured the roads leading to Medina, they fel1 in with only two. Of these one escaped. The other, Sad ibn Obada, they seized and, tying his hands behind his back, dragged him by his long hair to Mecca. There he would no doubt have suffered farther maltreatment, had he not been able to claim protection from certain of the Coreish to whom he had rendered service at Medina. He was released, and rejoined the caravan just as his friends were about to return in search of him.

It soon became evident to all the Meccans that, in consequence of the covenant entered into at Acaba, both Mahomet aud his followers contemplated an early emigration to Medina. The prospect of such a movement, which would remove their opponents entirely out of reach, and plant them in an asylum where they might securely work out their machinations and, when opportunity offered, take an ample revenge,- at first irritated the Coreish. They renewed, after a long cessation, the persecution of the believers; and, wherever they had the power, sought either to make them recant, or by confinement to prevent their escape⁷⁵.

⁷⁵Katib al Wackidi, p. 43. The support of the Medina adherents, and the suspicion of an intended emigration, irritated the

Such seventies, or the dread of them, (for the Moslems were conscious that they had now seriously compromised their allegiance as citizens of Mecca,) hastened the crisis. And, indeed, when Mahomet had once resolved upon a general emigration, no advantage was to be gained by protracting their residence amongst enemies.

It was but a few days after the "second pledge of Acaba," that Mahomet gave command to his followers, saying ;- Depart unto Medina; for the Lord hath verily given you brethren in that city, and a home in which ye may find refuge⁷⁶. So they made

Coreish to severity; and this severity forced the Moslems to petition Mahomet for leave to emigrate. The two causes might co-exist and re-act on one another ;-the persecution would hasten the departure or the converts, while each fresh departure would irritate the Coreish to greater cruelty.

Tabari says :-" There were two occasions on which persecution raged the hottest; viz. first, the period preceding the emigration to Abyssinia; second, that following the second covenant at Acaba," (p.178).

But there is good reason to suspect that stronger epithets have been used in" tradition regarding this persecution than are warranted by facts. Hand it been as bad as is spoken of; we should have had plenty of instances. Yet, excepting the imprisonment or surveillance of a few waverers, we have not a single detail of any injuries or sufferings inflicted on this occasion by the Coreish. There was, no doubt, abundant apprehension, and good ground for it.

⁷⁶The Katib al Wackidi makes Mahomet first to see the place of emigration in a dream,-" a saline soil, with palm trees, between two hills." After that, he waited some days, and then went forth joyously to his followers, saying:-" Now have I been made acquainted with the place appointed for your emigration. It is Yathreb. Whoso desireth to emigrate, let him emigrate

preparation, chose companions for the journey, and set out in parties secretly. Such as had the means rode two and two upon camels, and the rest walked.⁷⁷

Persecution and artifice caused a few to fall away from the faith. One example will suffice. Omar had arranged a rendezvous with Ayash and Hisham at a spot in the environs of Mecca, whence they were to set out for Medina. Hisham was held back by his family, and relapsed for a time into idolatry. "Thus I, and Ayash; relates, Omar, "went forward alone, and journeyed to Cuha⁷⁸ in the outskirts of Medina, where we alighted, and were hospitably received at the house of Rifaa. But Abu Jahl, and another brother of Ayash,⁷⁹ followed him to Medina, and told him that his mother had vowed she would retire beneath no shade, nor should a comb or any oil touch her hair, until she saw his face again. Then I cautioned him (continues Omar,) saying;- "By the Lord! they only desire to tempt thee from

thither", p.43. If this incident be real, the first vision may have been a sort of feeler to try what his people thought of going to Medina; for, long before this time, he must have fully made up his own mind when he was going. But the story is most probably a fiction, growing out of the idea that Mahomet must have had a divine and special command for so important a step as that of emigration to Medina.

⁷⁷Katib al Wackidi, pp. 43, 242.

⁷⁸A suburb of Medina, about three quarters of an hour's walk on the road to Mecca. Burkhardt, p.828; Burton, vol.ii. chap. xix.

⁷⁹A uterine brother; they were all three sons of Asma, a lady of the Tamim tribe, but by different fathers.

thy religion⁸⁰. Beware, Ayash! of denying thy faith." But he replied ;----" Nay, I will not recant. But I have property at Mecca. I will go and fetch it, and it will strengthen me. And I will also release my mother from her vow." Seeing that he was not to be diverted from his purpose, I gave him a swift camel and bade him, if he suspected treachery, to save himself thereon. So when they alighted to halt at Dhajnan, they seized him suddenly, and bound him with cords; and, as they carried him into Mecca, they exclaimed ;- Even thus, ye Meccans; should ye treat your foolish ones! Then they kept him in durance⁸¹.

It was about the beginning of the month Muharram

⁸⁰In Hishami it is added; "And the heat and lice will soon enough force thy mother to break her vow," p.160.

⁸¹Katib al Wackidi, p.282 1/2; Hishami, p. 160. Both Ayash and Hisham afterwards rejoined Mahomet. From one account it would appear that Ayash as well as Hisham, relapsed into idolatry. Omar stated that until Sara xxxix v.58, was revealed, it was thought that no apostate could be saved. When that passage appeared, he wrote it out for Ayash, and sent it to him at Mecca; which when Ayash had read, he took courage, and forthwith quitted Mecca on his camel for Medina. Hishami, p.161.

There is another tradition, at variance with the above. Mahomet when at Medina, said one day, "Who will bring me Ayah and Hisham from Mecca?" And forthwith Walid, son of Mughira, set out; and he traced them to their place of confinement, and assisted them with a stone and his sword to break off their fetters, and, having released them carried them off to Mahomet. Ibid. But, notwithstanding the details in this version, it is evidently a fiction to justify Ayash and Hisham from the charge of apostacy, by making it appear that they were imprisoned at Mecca.

that the emigration commenced⁸². Medina lies some 250 miles to the north or Mecca. The journey is accomplished by the pilgrim caravans "in eleven days, and if pressed for time, in ten⁸³."

Within two months, nearly all the followers of Mahomet, excepting the few detained in confinement, or unable to escape from slavery, had migrated with their families to their new abode. They numbered

⁸²Abu Salma was the first that set out. He reached Medina on the 10th Muharram (end or April). Katib al Wackidi; p.225 1/2. his wife Omm Salma (afterwards married by Mahomet) tells a piteous story, that they started for Medina a year before the second covenant of Acaba., Being attacked on the way, her husband escaped to Medina, but she and her infant Salma were kept in durance by her family, the Bani Mughira. Her infant was taken from her, and she "wept for a year" after which they were all happily re-united at Medina. She ends by saying;- "there was no family that endured such hardships in the cause of Islam, as that of Abu Salma:" Hishami, p. 159. We see here, 1st, the desire of magnifying suffering for Islam: and 2ndly, the vainglorious wish of appearing to be the earliest emigrants. For we know from Wackidi, that Abu Salma did not emigrate till two months before Mahomet, and several days after the second covenant of Acaba.

The next that emigrated was Amir ibn Rabia with his wife Laila. Katib al Wackidi; p. 43 1/2; Hishami, p. 159. Then Abdallah iba Jahsh, and his wife, a daughter of Abu Sofian.

⁸³Burkhardt, p. 816. See also Burton, vol. ii. pp.329, 331. The Tayyara or "Flying Caravan" goes in less time. "The Rakb" is a dromedary caravan, in which each person carries only his saddle bags. It usually descends (from Medina) by the road called El Khabt, and makes Mecca on the fifth day.

In vol. iii. p.147, the stages by the Najd, or eastern route, travelled by Burton, are given as eleven, and the distance estimated at 248 miles.

between one and two hundred souls⁸⁴. They were received with cordial and eager hospitality by their brethren at Medina, who vied with one another for the honour of having them quartered in their houses, and supplying them with such things as they had need of⁸⁵.

The Coreish were paralysed by a movement so suddenly planned, and put into such early and this sudden extensive execution. They looked on in amazement, as families silently disappeared, and house after house was abandoned. One or two quarters of the city were entirely deserted, and the doors of the dwelling houses left deliberately locked⁸⁶.

⁸⁴We have no exact enumeration of the numbers that emigrated at first with Mahomet. At the battle of Badr, nineteen months after the emigration, there were present 814 men, of whom eighty- three were emigrants from Mecca. A few of these may have joined Mahomet after he reached Medina; and we shall probably not err far in making the whole number that emigrated at first, including women and children, about 150. At Badr almost every one of the emigrants, who could, was present. For the numbers see Katib al Wakidi p.259 ½.

⁸⁵Ibid. p.43 1/2; Hishami, p.163.

⁸⁶"The Bani Ghanam ibn Dudan," says the Katib al Wackidi, "emigrated entirely to Medina, men and women, and left their houses locked: not a soul was to be seen in the quarters of the Bani Ghanam, Abul Bokeir, and Matzun," pp.196 and 256 1/2. Hishami, p.160.

"Otba, Abbas, and Abu Jahl passed by die dwelling-place of the Bani Jahsh, and the door was locked, and the house deserted. And Otba sighed heavily, and said, 'Every house, even if its peace be lengthened, at the last a bitter word will reach it. The quarter of the Bani Jahsh is left without an inhabitant! Then

There was here a determination and sacrifice hardly calculated upon. But even if the Coreish had foreseen, and resolved to oppose, the emigration, it is difficult to perceive what preventive measures they could have adopted. The multitude of independent clans and separate branches effectually prevented unity of action. Here and there. a slave or helpless dependent might be intimidated or held back; but in all other cases there was no right to interfere with private judgment or with family counsels; and the least show of violence might rouse a host of champions, who would forget their antipathy to Islam in revenging the insulted honour of their tribe.

At last Mahomet and Abu Bakr, with their families, including Ali, now a youth of above twenty years of age, were the only believers left (excepting those unwillingly detained) at Mecca. Abu Bakr was ambitious of being the companion of the prophet in his flight; and daily urged him to depart. But Mahomet told him that "his time was not yet come -the Lord had not given him the command to emigrate." Perhaps he was deferring his departure until he could receive assurance from Medina, that the arrangements for his reception were secure, and his adherents there

he added; 'This is the work of our good-for-nothing nephew, who hath dispersed our assemblies, ruined our affairs, and made a separation amongst us." Hishami, p. 160.

not only ready, but able in the face of the rest of the people, to execute their engagement for his defence⁸⁷. Or, there may have been the more generous desire to see all his followers safely out of Mecca, before he himself fled for refuge to Medina. Alight we conjecture that he was waiting with the undefined hope that a divine interposition, as with the prophets of old, was about to subdue or overthrow the unbelieving and devoted city, in which peradventure even ten righteous men could not now be found?

Meanwhile Abu Bakr made preparations for the journey. In anticipation of the emergency, he had already purchased, for 800 dirhems, two swift camels, which were now tied up and highly fed in the yard of his house. A guide, accustomed to, the devious tracks. and byways of the Medina route, was hired; and the camels were committed to his custody⁸⁸.

⁸⁷During the two months elapsing between the second covenant at Acaba and Mahomet's emigration, communications, as might have been expected, were kept up between Mecca and Medina. Thus, it is stated by the Katib al Wackidi that, after the foremost emigrants had reached Medina, a part of the Medina converts who had been at the Acaba covenant returned to Mecca, where no doubt farther arrangements were concerted between them, and Mahomet. It is added that these Medina converts had thus the merit of being both Emigrants (Muhajirin,) and Adjutors (Ansar).

⁸⁸The guide was Abdallah ibn Arcad; or as the Katib al Wackidi has it, Abdallah ibn Oreicat lie was of the Bani Duil,

The Coreish were perplexed at the course which Mahomet was taking. They had expected him to emigrate with his people; and perhaps half rejoiced at the prospect of being rid of their enemy. By remaining almost solitary behind, he seemed by his very loneliness to challenge and defy their attack. What might his motive be for this strange procedure? The chief men assembled to discuss their position. Should they imprison him? -his followers would come to his rescue.

Should they forcibly expel him? - he might agitate his cause among the tribes of Arabia, and readily lure adherents by the prospect of supremacy at Mecca. Should they assassinate him? - the Bani Hashim would exact an unrelenting penalty for the blood of their kinsman. But representatives from every tribe, including even that of Hashim, might plunge each his sword into the prophet; would the llftsliimites dare to wage a mortal feud with the whole body of the Coreish thus implicated in the

a tribe descended from Kinina; and thus affiliated with the Coreish. His mother was pure Coreish.

He was still an idolator; and Wackidi, anticipating the era when war was waged against all idolators, adds,-" but Mahomet and Abu Bakr had given him quarter - or pledge of protection;' - if he required any protection then from the fugitives he was guiding! The expression is significant of the way in which subuequent principles and events insensibly threw back their light and colour upon the tissue of tradition. Katib al Wachidi, p. 212; Hishami p.167.

murder ?--Even then there would remain his followers at Medina, whose revenge of their master's blood would surely be ruthless and desperate. Assassination by an unknown hand on the road to Medina, might prove the safest course ;-but there the chances of escape would preponderate. At last they resolved that a deputation should proceed to the house of Mahomet.

What was the decision as to their future course of action, what the object even of the present deputation, it is impossible, amid the hostile and marvellous tales of tradition, to conclude. There is little reason to believe that it was assassination, although the traditionists assert that this was determined upon at the instigation of Abu Jahl, supported by the Devil who, in the person of an old man from Najd shrouded in a mantle, joined the council. Mahomet himself speaking in the Coran of the designs of his enemies, refers to them in these indecisive terms:-- "And call to mind when the unbelievers plotted against thee, that they might detain thee, or slay thee, or expel thee. Yea, they plotted;-- but God plotted likewise. And God is the best of plotters."⁸⁹ Assuredly had assassination been the sentence, and its immediate execution (as pretended by tradition) ordered by the council, Mahomet would have indicated the fact in clearer language than these alternative expressions. A resolution

⁸⁹Sura viii. v.29.

so fatal would unquestionably have been dwelt upon at length both in the Coran and tradition, and produced as a justification (for such indeed it would have been) of all subsequent hostilities⁹⁰.

⁹⁰The following is the general narrative of tradition, given with some variations by the Katib al Wackidi and Hishami ;- Tabari following mainly the latter.

The Coreish, irritated by hearing of the warm reception the converts experienced at Medina, held a council to discuss the matter. The Devil, in the shape of an old man, shrouded in a cloak, stood at the door, saying that he was a Sheikh from Najd, who had heard of their weighty consultation, and had come, if haply he might help them to a right decision. So they inivited him to enter.

One proposed to imprison, another to expel, Mahomet. The old man from Najd warmly opposed both suggestions. Then said Abu Jahl ;-"Let us choose one courageous man from every family of the Coreish, and place in their hands sharp swords, and let the whole slay him with the stroke of one man; so his blood will be divided amongst all our families, and the relatives of Mahomet will not know how to revenge it." The old man of Najd applauded the scheme, saying :- May God reward this man; this is the right advice, and none other." And they separated, having agreed to follow it.

Gabriel forthwith apprised Mahomet of the design, who arose and made Ali to lie down upon his bed. The murderous party came at dusk, and lay in wait about the house. Mahoment went forth, and casting a handful of dust at them, recited from the 1st to the 10th verses of Sura xxxiv, ending with the words; and WE have covered them, so that they shall not see. So he departed without their knowing what had passed; and they continued to watch, some say, til morning, thinking that the figure on the bed was Mahomet. As light dawned, they found out their mistake, and saw that it was Ali. Others say they watched till some one passed and told them that Mahomet had left, when they arose in confusion anid shook from their heads the dust which Mahomet had cast upon them.

had such a resolution ever been formed, it must have reached the ears of Mahomet sooner or later.

Whatever the object of the visit, Mahomet received previous notice of it, and anticipated the danger by

The whole story of the council and the attempt on Mahomet's life is so mingled with what is marvellous and unlikely, as to render it almost impossible to disentangle the truth, or even a consistent and probable story, from the spurious details. Indeed there is some reason for suspecting with Sprenger, "the whole story of the council, and the resolution of assassinating him, to be apocryphal," p.208. Parts of the story are evidently fabricated to illustrate or support the verse of the Coran above quoted, and the other regarding the counter-plot of God, (Sura vii. v. 29) ; - and to cover the opponents of Mahomet with infamy.

The reasons given in the text make it in the last degree improbable that assassination was ever attempted or even resolved upon. The tale of the assassins surrounding the house for so long a period in the face of Mahomet's family and kinsmen, even apart from the miraculous details, is absurd. If intent on murder, they would at once have rushed on Ali, and finding their mistake, have set off for Aba Bakr's house, (vide Sprenger, ibidem). The clear intimation in the Katib al Wackidi that Mahomet left for the house of Abu Bakr in the middle of the day, is also opposed to the whole story.

Mahomet's sudden flight, and long concealment in the cave, were probably supposed by his followers to have been caused by the apprehension of immediate violence. This supposition would require illustrative grounds: and hence the fiction. It seems to me, however, that it was not violence at Mecca, but assassination by the way, which he most feared, and which led to his concealment in the care till the pursuit had ceased, and thus to the securing of a free and safe road.

Upon the whole, the council itself is not unlikely or improbable: and I have therefore given it a place in the text, endeavouring to adapt it as well as possible to the other incidents that are clearly proved.

stealing away at once from his house. There he left Ali; around whom, that the suspicions of his neighbours might not be aroused, he threw his own red Hadhramaut mantle⁹¹, and desired him to occupy his bed. He went straight to the house of Aba Bakr, and after a short consultation matured the plans for an immediate flight. Abu Bakr shed tears of joy; the hour for emigration had at last arrived, and he was to be the companion of the prophet's journey⁹². After a few hasty preparations

⁹¹Katib al Wackidi, p.43 ½. Hishami calls it green, p.165.

⁹²Ayesha, in a somewhat loose tradition quoted by Hishami, relates as follows;----Mahomet regularly visited her father's house either in the morning or the evening; that day, however, he came at mid-day. Being seated on Abu Bakr's carpet, Mahomet desired that he and Abu Bakr might be left alone. The latter replied that the presence of his two daughters did not signify, and besought that he would at once communicate what he had to say. Then follows the conversation in which Mahomet tells him that the time had now come for emigrating, and that Abu Bakr was to be his fellow traveller ;-at which Abu Bakr wept for joy. Ayesha adds;-I never knew before that any body could weep, for joy, till I saw Abu Bakr weeping that day." Hishami,p. 166. There is of course a tendency in all Ayesha's traditions to magnify her father's share in the matter.

Tabari gives a tradition to the effect that Abu Bakr proceeded to the house of Mahomet. Ali, whom he found there alone, told him that Mahomet had gone to the cave in Mount Thaur and that, if he wanted him, he should follow him thither. So he hurried in that direction, and made up on Mahomet by the way. And as he approached, the Prophet hearing the footsteps thought that it was the Coreish in pursuit, and he quickened his pace and ran, and burst the thong of his shoe, and struck his foot against a rock, so that it bled much. Then Abu Bakr called aloud, and

(among which Abu Bakr did not forget to secure his remaining wealth), they both crept in the shade of evening through a back window, escaped unobserved from the southern suburbs of the city, and ascending the lofty mountain Thaur (about an hour and a half's journey to the south,) took refuge in a cave near its summit.⁹³ Here they rested in security, for the attention of their adversaries would in any case be fixed upon the country north of Mecca and the route to Medina, whither they knew that Mahomet would proceed.

Eight or nine years after, Mahomet thus alludes in the Coran