Mohammed
and
His Successors.
Washington Irving
CONTENTS.
PART I. 
Preface
CHAPTER I.
Preliminary notice of Arabia and the Arabs
CHAPTER II.
Birth and parentage of Mohammed.—His infancy and childhood.
CHAPTER III.
Traditions concerning Mecca and the Kaaba.
CHAPTER IV.
First journey of Mohammed with the caravan to Syria.
CHAPTER V.
Commercial occupations of Mohammed.—His marriage with Khadijah.
CHAPTER VI.
Conduct of Mohammed after his marriage.—Becomes anxious for religious reform.—His
habits of solitary abstraction.—The vision of the cave.— His annunciation
as a prophet.
CHAPTER VII.
Mohammed inculcates his doctrines secretly and slowly.—Receives further
revelations and commands.—Announces it to his kindred.—Manner in which
it was received.—Enthusiastic devotion of Ali.—Christian portents.
CHAPTER VIII.
Outlines of the Mohammedan faith.
CHAPTER IX.
Ridicule cast on Mohammed and his doctrines.—Demand for miracles.—Conduct of Abu Taleb.—Violence of the Koreishites.—Mohammed’s daughter Rokaia, with her uncle Othman and a number of disciples, take refuge in Abyssinia.—Mohammed in the house of Orkham.—Hostility of Abu Jahl; his punishment.
CHAPTER X.
Omar Ibn al Kattâb, nephew of Abu JahI, undertakes to revenge his uncle
by slaying Mohammed.—His wonderful conversion to the faith.— Mohammed takes
refuge in a castle of Abu Taleb.—Abu Sofian, at the head of the rival branch
of the Koreishites, persecutes Mohammed and his followers.—Obtains a decree
of non-intercourse with them.—Mohammed leaves his retreat and makes converts
during the month of pilgrimage.—Legend of the conversion of Habib the Wise.
CHAPTER XI.
The ban of non-intercourse mysteriously destroyed.—Mohammed enabled to
return to Mecca.—Death of Abu Taleb; of Khadijah.—Mohammed betroths himself
to Ayesha.—Marries Sawda.—The Koreishites renew their persecution.— Mohammed
seeks an asylum in Tayef.—His expulsion thence.—Visited by genii in the
desert of Naklah.
CHAPTER XII.
Night journey of the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem; and thence to the
seventh heaven.
CHAPTER XIII.
Mohammed makes converts of pilgrims from Medina.—Determines to fly to that
city.—A plot to slay him.—His miraculous escape.—His Hegira, or flight.—
His reception at Medina.
CHAPTER XIV.
Moslems in Medina, Mohadjerins and Ansarians.—The party of Abdallah Ibn Obba and the Hypocrites.—Mohammed builds a mosque; preaches; makes converts among the Christians.—The Jews slow to believe.—Brotherhood established between fugitives and allies.
CHAPTER XV.
Marriage of Mohammed with Ayesha.—Of his daughter Fatima with Ali.—Their
household arrangements.
CHAPTER XVI.
The sword announced as the instrument of faith.—First foray against the Koreishites.—Surprisal of a caravan.
CHAPTER XVII.
The battle of Beder.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Death of the prophet’s daughter Rokaia.—Restoration of his daughter Zeinab.
Effect of the prophet’s malediction on Abu Lahab and his family.—Frantic
rage of Henda, the wife of Abu Sofian.—Mohammed narrowly escapes assassination.—Embassy
of the Koreishites.—The King of Abyssinia.
CHAPTER XIX.
Growing power of Mohammed.—His resentment against the Jews—Insult to an Arab damsel by the Jewish tribe of Kainoka.—A tumult.—The Beni Kainoka takes refuge in their castle.— Subdued amid punished by confiscation and banishment.—Marriage of Othman to the prophet’s daughter Omm Kalthum, and of the prophet to Hafza.
CHAPTER XX.
Henda incites Abu Sofian and the Koreishites to revenge the death of her
relations slain in the battle of Beder.—The Koreishites sally forth, followed
by Henda and her female companions.—Battle of Ohod.—Ferocious triumph of
Henda.—Mohammed consoles himself by marrying Hend, the daughter of Omeya.
CHAPTER XXI.
Treachery of certain Jewish tribes; their punishment.—Devotion of the prophet’s freedman Zeid; divorces his beautiful wife Zeinab, that she may become the wife of the prophet.
CHAPTER XXII.
Expedition of Mohammed against the Beni Mostalek.—He espouses Barra, a
captive.—Treachery of Abdallah Ibn Obba.—Ayesha slandered.—Her vindication.—Her
innocence proved by a revelation.
CHAPTER XXIII.
The battle of the Moat.—Bravery of Saad Ibn Moad.—Defeat of the Koreishites.—Capture of the Jewish castle of Coraida.—Saad decides as to the punishment of the Jews.—Mohammed espouses Rehana, a Jewish captive.—His life endangered by sorcery; saved by a revelation of the angel Gabriel.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Mohammed undertakes a pilgrimage to Mecca.—Evades Khaled and a troop of
horse sent against him.—Encamps near Mecca.—Negotiates with the Koreishites
for permission to enter and complete his pilgrimage.—Treaty for ten years,
by which he is permitted to make a yearly visit of three days.—He returns
to Medina.
CHAPTER XXV.
Expedition against the city of Khaibar; siege.—Exploits of Mohammed’s captains.—Battle of Ali and Marhab.—Storming of the citadel.—Ali makes a buckler of the gate.—Capture of the place.—Mohammed poisoned; he marries Safiya, a captive; also Omm Habiba, a widow.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Missions to various princes; to Heraclius; to Khosru II.; to the Prefect of Egypt.—Their result.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Mohammed’s pilgrimage to Mecca; his marriage with Maimuna.—Khaled Ibn al
Waled and Amru Ibn al Aass become proselytes.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A Moslem envoy slain in Syria.—Expedition to avenge his death.—Battle of
Muta.—Its results.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Designs upon Mecca.—Mission of Abu Sofian.—Its result.
CHAPTER XXX.
Surprise and capture of Mecca.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Hostilities in the mountains.—Enemy’s camp in the valley of Autas.—Battle at the pass of Honein.—Capture of the enemy’s camp.—Interview of Mohammed with the nurse of his childhood.—Division of spoil.—Mohammed at his mother’s grave.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Death of the prophet’s daughter Zeinab.—Birth of his son Ibrahim.—Deputations
from distant tribes.—Poetical contest in presence of the prophet.— His
susceptibility to the charms of poetry.—Reduction of the city of Tayef;
destruction of its idols.—Negotiation with Amir Ibn Tafiel, a proud Bedouin
chief; independent spirit of the latter.—Interview of Adi, another chief,
with Mohammed.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Preparations for an expedition against Syria.—Intrigues of Abdallah Ibn Obba.—Contributions of the faithful.—March of the army.—The accursed region of Hajar.—Encampment at Tabuc.—Subjugation of the neighboring provinces.—Khaled surprises Okaidor and his castle.—Return of the army to Medina.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Triumphal entry into Medina.—Punishment of those who had refused to join the campaign.—Effects of excommunication.—Death of Abdallah Ibu Obba.—Dissensions in the prophet’s harem.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Abu Beker conducts the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.—Mission of Ali to announce
a revelation.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Mohammed sends his captains on distant enterprises.—Appoints lieutenants
to govern in Arabia Felix.—Sends Ali to suppress an insurrection in that
province.—Death of the prophet’s only son Ibrahim.—His conduct at the deathbed
and the grave.—His growing infirmities.—His valedictory pilgrimage to Mecca,
and his conduct and preaching while there.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Of the two false prophets Al Aswad and Moseilma.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
An army prepared to march against Syria.—Command given to Osama.—The prophet’s
farewell address to the troops.—His last illness.—His sermons in the mosque.—His
death and the attending circumstances.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Person and character of Mohammed, and speculations on his prophetic career.
APPENDIX.
Of the Islam Faith.
PART II.
PREFACE.
CHAPTER I.
Election of Abu Beker, first Caliph, Hegira 11th, A.D. 632.
CHAPTER II.
Moderation of Abu Beker.—Traits of his character.—Rebellion of Arab tribes.—Defeat
and death of Malec Ibn Nowirah.—Harsh measures of Khaled condemned by Omar,
but excused by Abu Beker.—Khaled defeats Moseilma the false prophet.—Compilation
of the Koran.
CHAPTER III.
Campaign against Syria.—Army sent under Yezed Ibn Abu Sofian.—Successes.—Another army under Amru Ibn al Aass.—Brilliant achievements of Khaled in lrak.
CHAPTER IV.
Incompetency of Abu Obeidab to the general command in Syria.—Khaled sent
to supersede him.—Peril of the Moslem army before Bosra.—Timely arrival
of Khaled.—His exploits during the siege.—Capture of Bosra.
CHAPTER V.
Khaled lays siege to Damascus.
CHAPTER VI.
Siege of Damascus continued.—Exploits of Derar.—Defeat of the imperial army.
CHAPTER VII.
Siege of Damascus continued.—Sally of the garrison.—Heroism of the Moslem
women.
CHAPTER VIII.
Battle of Aiznadin.
CHAPTER IX.
Occurrences before Damascus.—Exploits of Thomas.—Aban Ibn Zeid and his
Amazonian wife.
CHAPTER X.
Surrender of Damascus.—Disputes of the Saracen generals.—Departure of Thomas and the exile.
CHAPTER XI.
Story of Jonas and Eudocea.—Pursuit of the exiles.—Death of the Caliph Abu Beker.
CHAPTER XII.
Election of Omar, second Caliph.—Khaled superseded in command by Abu Obeidah.—Magnanimous
conduct of those generals.—Expedition to the convent of Abyla.
CHAPTER XIII.
Moderate measures of Abu Obeidah.—Reproved by the Caliph for his slowness.
CHAPTER XIV.
Siege and capture of Baalbec.
CHAPTER XV.
Siege of Emessa.—Stratagems of the Moslems.—Fanatic devotion of Ikremah.—Surrender
of the city.
CHAPTER XVI.
Advance of a powerful Imperial army.—Skirmishes of Khaled.—Capture of Derar.—Interview
of Khaled and Manuel.
CHAPTER XVII.
The battle of Yermouk.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Siege and capture of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER XIX.
Progress of the Moslem arms in Syria.—Siege of Aleppo.—Obstinate defense
by Youkenna.—Exploit of Damas.—Capture of the castle.—Conversion of Youkenna.
CHAPTER XX.
Perfidy of Youkenna to his former friends.—Attempts the castle of Aazaz
by treachery.—Capture of the castle.
CHAPTER XXI.
Intrigues of Youkenna at Antioch.—Siege of that city by the Moslems.—Flight
of the emperor to Constantinople.—Surrender of Antioch.
CHAPTER XXII.
Expedition into the mountains of Syria.—Story of a miraculous cap.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Expedition of Amru Ibn al Aass against Prince Constantine in Syria.—Their conference.—Capture of Tripoli and Tyre.—Flight of Constantine.—Death of Khaled.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Invasion of Egypt by Amru.—Capture of Memphis.—Siege and surrender of Alexandria.—Burning
of the Alexandrian library.
CHAPTER XXV.
Enterprises of the Moslems in Persia.—Defense of the kingdom by Queen Arzemia.—Battle
of the Bridge.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Mosenna Ibn Haris ravages the country along the Euphrates.—Death of Arzemia.—Yezdegird
III. raised to the throne.—Saad Ibn Abu Wakkâs given the general command.—Death
of Mosenna.—Embassy to Yezdegird.—Its reception.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The battle of Kadesia.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Founding of Bassora.—Capture of the Persian capital.—Flight of Yezdegird to Holwân.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Capture of Jâlulâ.—Flight of Yezdegird to Rei.—Founding of Cufa.—Saad receives
a severe rebuke from the Caliph for his magnificence.
CHAPTER XXX.
War with Hormuzân, the Satrap of Ahwâz.—His conquest and conversion.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Saad suspended from the command.—A Persian army assembled at Nehâvend.—Council at the mosque of Medina.—Battle of Nehâvend.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Capture of Hamadân; of Rei.—Subjugation of Tabaristan; of Azerbijân.—Campaign
among the Caucasian mountains.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Caliph Omar assassinated by a fire-worshipper.—His character.—Othman
elected Caliph.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Conclusion of the Persian conquest.—Flight and death of Yezdegird.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Amru displaced from the government of Egypt.—Revolt of the inhabitants.—
Alexandria retaken by the Imperialists.—Amru reinstated in command.—Retakes
Alexandria, and tranquillizes Egypt.—Is again displaced.—Abdallah Ibn Saad
invades the north of Africa.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Moawyah, Emir of Syria.—His naval victories.—Othman loses the prophet’s
ring.—Suppresses erroneous copies of the Koran.—Conspiracies against him.—His
death.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Candidates for the Caliphat.—Inauguration of Ali, fourth Caliph.—He undertakes measures of reform.—Their consequences.—Conspiracy of Ayesha.—She gets possession of Bassora.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Ali defeats the rebels under Ayesha.—His treatment of her.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Battles between Ali and Moawyah.—Their claims to the Caliphat left to arbitration;
the result.—Decline of the power of Ali.—Loss of Egypt.
CHAPTER XL.
Preparations of Ali for the Invasion of Syria.—His assassination.
CHAPTER XLI.
Succession of Hassan, fifth Caliph.—He abdicates in favor of Moawyah.
CHAPTER XLII.
Reign of Moawyah I., sixth Caliph.—Account of his illegitimate brother
Zeyad.—Death of Amru.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Siege of Constantinople.—Truce with the emperor.—Murder of Hassan.—Death
of Ayesha.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Moslem conquests in Northern Africa.—Achievements of Acbah; his death.
CHAPTER XLV.
Moawyah names his successor.—His last acts and death.—Traits of his character.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Succession of Yezid, seventh Caliph.—Final fortunes of Hosein, the son
of Ali.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Insurrection of Abdallah Ibn Zobeir.—Medina taken and sacked.—Mecca besieged.—Death of Yezid.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Inauguration of Moawyah II., eighth Caliph.—His abdication and death. —Merwan
Ibn Hakem and Abdallah Ibn Zobeir, rival Caliphs.—Civil wars in Syria.
CHAPTER XLIX.
State of affairs in Khorassan.—Conspiracy at Cufa.—Faction of the Penitents;
their fortunes.—Death of the Caliph Merwân.
CHAPTER L.
Inauguration of Abd’almâlec, the eleventh Caliph.—Story of Al Moktar, the
Avenger.
CHAPTER LI.
Musab Ibn Zobeir takes possession of Babylonia.—Usurpation of Amru Ibn Saad; his death.—Expedition of Abd’almâlec against Musab.—The result.—Omens; their effect upon Abd’almâlec.—Exploits of Al Mohalleb.
CHAPTER LII.
Abd’almâlec makes war upon his rival Caliph in Mecca.—Siege of the sacred
city.—Death of Abdallah.—Demolition and reconstruction of the Kaaba.
CHAPTER LIII.
Administration of Al Hejagi as emir of Babylonla.
CHAPTER LIV.
Renunciation of tribute to the emperor.—Battles in Northern Africa.—The prophet queen Cahina; her achievements and fate.
CHAPTER LV.
Musa lbn Nosseyr made emir of Northern Africa.—His campaigns against the Berbers.
CHAPTER LVI.
Naval enterprises of Musa.—Cruisings of his son Abdolola.—Death of Abd’almâlec.
CHAPTER LVII.
Inauguration of Waled, twelfth Caliph.—Revival of the arts under his reign.—
His taste for architecture.—Erection of mosques.—Conquests of his generals.
CHAPTER LVIII.
Further triumphs of Musa Ibn Nosseyr.—Naval enterprises.—Descents in Sicily,
Sardinia and Mallorca.—Invasion of Tingitania.—Projects for the invasion
of Spain.—Conclusion.
CHAPTER XIII.
MOHAMMED MAKES CONVERTS OF PILGRIMS FROM MEDINA—DETERMINES TO FLY TO THAT
CITY—A PLOT TO SLAY HIM—HIS MIRACULOUS ESCAPE—HIS HEGIRA, OR FLIGHT—HIS
RECEPTION AT MEDINA.
The fortunes of Mohammed were becoming darker and darker in his native place. Khadijah, his original benefactress, the devoted companion of his solitude and seclusion, the zealous believer in his doctrines, was in her grave; so also was Abu Taleb, once his faithful and efficient protector. Deprived of the sheltering influence of the latter, Mohammed had become, in a manner, an outlaw, in Mecca; obliged to conceal himself, and remain a burden on the hospitality of those whom his own doctrines had involved in persecution. If worldly advantage had been his object, how had it been attained? Upward of ten years had elapsed since first he announced his prophetic mission; ten long years of enmity, trouble, and misfortune. Still he persevered, and now, at a period of life when men seek to enjoy in repose the fruition of the past, rather than risk all in new schemes for the future, we find him, after having sacrificed ease, fortune, and friends, prepared to give up home and country also, rather than his religious creed.
As soon as the privileged time of pilgrimage arrived, he emerged once more
from his concealment, and mingled with the multitude assembled from all
parts of Arabia. His earnest desire was to find some powerful tribe, or
the inhabitants of some important city, capable and willing to receive
him as a guest, and protect him in the enjoyment and propagation of his
faith.
His quest was for a time unsuccessful. Those who had come to worship at
the Kaaba drew back from a man stigmatized as an apostate; and the worldly-minded
were unwilling to befriend one proscribed by the powerful of his native
place.
At length, as he was one day preaching on the hill Al Akaba, a little to
the north of Mecca, he drew the attention of certain pilgrims from the
city of Yathreb. This city, since called Medina, was about two hundred
and seventy miles north of Mecca. Many of its inhabitants were Jews and
heretical Christians. The pilgrims in question were pure Arabs of the ancient
and powerful tribe of Khazradites, and in habits of friendly intercourse
with the Keneedites and Naderites, two Jewish tribes inhabiting Mecca who
claimed to be of the sacerdotal line of Aaron. The pilgrims had often heard
their Jewish friends explain the mysteries of their faith, and talk of
an expected Messiah. They were moved by the eloquence of Mohammed, and
struck with the resemblance of his doctrines to those of the Jewish law;
insomuch that when they heard him proclaim himself a prophet, sent by heaven
to restore the ancient faith, they said, one to another, “Surely this must
be the promised Messiah of which we have been told.” The more they listened,
the stronger became their persuasion of the fact, until in the end they
avowed their conviction, and made a final profession of the faith.
As the Khazradites belonged to one of the most powerful tribes of Yathreb,
Mohammed sought to secure their protection, and proposed to accompany them
on their return; but they informed him that they were at deadly feud with
the Awsites, another powerful tribe of that city, and advised him to defer
his coming until they should be at peace. He consented; but on the return
home of the pilgrims, he sent with them Musab Ibn Omeir, one of the most
learned and able of his disciples, with instructions to strengthen them
in the faith, and to preach it to their townsmen. Thus were the seeds of
Islamism first sown in the city of Medina. For a time they thrived but
slowly. Musab was opposed by the idolaters, and his life threatened; but
he persisted in his exertions, and gradually made converts among the principal
inhabitants. Among these were Saad Ibn Maads, a prince or chief of the
Awsites, and Osaid Ibn Hodheir, a man of great authority in the city. Numbers
of the Moslems of Mecca also, driven away by persecution, took refuge in
Medina, and aided in propagating the new faith among its inhabitants, until
it found its way into almost every household.
Feeling now assured of being able to give Mohammed an asylum in the city,
upward of seventy of the converts of Medina, led by Musab Ibn Omeir, repaired
to Mecca with the pilgrims in the holy month of the thirteenth year of
“the mission,” to invite him to take up his abode in their city. Mohammed
gave them a midnight meeting on the hill Al Akaba. His uncle Al Abbas,
who, like the deceased Abu Taleb, took an affectionate interest in his
welfare, though no convert to his doctrines, accompanied him to this secret
conference, which he feared might lead him into danger. He entreated the
pilgrims from Medina not to entice his nephew to their city until more
able to protect him: warning them that their open adoption of the new faith
would bring all Arabia in arms against them. His warnings and entreaties
were in vain: a solemn compact was made between the parties. Mohammed demanded
that they should abjure idolatry, and worship the one true God openly and
fearlessly. For himself he exacted obedience in weal and woe; and for the
disciples who might accompany him, protection; even such as they would
render to their own wives and children. On these terms he offered to bind
himself to remain among them, to be the friend of their friends, the enemy
of their enemies. “But, should we perish in your cause,” asked they, “what
will be our reward?” “Paradise!” replied the prophet.
The terms were accepted; the emissaries from Medina placed their hands
in the hands of Mohammed, and swore to abide by the compact. The latter
then singled out twelve from among them, whom he designated as his apostles;
in imitation, it is supposed, of the example of our Saviour. Just then
a voice was heard from the summit of the hill, denouncing them as apostates,
and menacing them with punishment. The sound of this voice, heard in the
darkness of the night, inspired temporary dismay. “It is the voice of the
fiend Iblis,” said Mohammed scornfully; “he is the foe of God: fear him
not.” It was probably the voice of some spy or eavesdropper of the Koreishites;
for the very next morning they manifested a knowledge of what had taken
place in the night; and treated the new confederates with great harshness
as they were departing from the city.
It was this early accession to the faith, and this timely aid proffered
and subsequently afforded to Mohammed and his disciples, which procured
for the Moslems of Medina the appellation of Ansarians, or auxiliaries,
by which they were afterward distinguished.
After the departure of the Ansarians, and the expiration of the holy month, the persecutions of the Moslems were resumed with increased virulence, insomuch that Mohammed, seeing a crisis was at hand, and being resolved to leave the city, advised his adherents generally to provide for their safety. For himself, he still lingered in Mecca with a few devoted followers.
Abu Sofian, his implacable foe, was at this time governor of the city. He was both incensed and alarmed at the spreading growth of the new faith, and held a meeting of the chief of the Koreishites to devise some means of effectually putting a stop to it. Some advised that Mohammed should be banished from the city; but it was objected that he might gain other tribes to his interest, or perhaps the people of Medina, and return at their head to take his revenge. Others proposed to wall him up in a dungeon, and supply him with food until he died; but it was surmised that his friends might effect his escape. All these objections were raised by a violent and pragmatical old man, a stranger from the province of Nedja, who, say the Moslem writers, was no other than the devil in disguise, breathing his malignant spirit into those present. At length it was declared by Abu Jahl, that the only effectual check on the growing evil was to put Mohammed to death. To this all agreed, and as a means of sharing the odium of the deed, and withstanding the vengeance it might awaken among the relatives of the victim, it was arranged that a member of each family should plunge his sword into the body of Mohammed.
It is to this conspiracy that allusion is made in the eighth chapter of
the Koran. “And call to mind how the unbelievers plotted against thee,
that they might either detain thee in bonds, or put thee to death, or expel
thee the city; but God laid a plot against them; and God is the best layer
of plots.”
In fact, by the time the murderers arrived before the dwelling of Mohammed,
he was apprised of the impending danger. As usual, the warning is attributed
to the angel Gabriel, but it is probable it was given by some Koreishite,
less bloody-minded than his confederates. It came just in time to save
Mohammed from the hands of his enemies. They paused at his door, but hesitated
to enter. Looking through a crevice they beheld, as they thought, Mohammed
wrapped in his green mantle, and lying asleep on his couch. They waited
for a while, consulting whether to fall on him while sleeping, or wait
until he should go forth. At length they burst open the door and rushed
toward the couch. The sleeper started up: but, instead of Mohammed, Ali
stood before them. Amazed and confounded, they demanded, “Where is Mohammed?”
“I know not,” replied Ali sternly, and walked forth; nor did any one venture
to molest him. Enraged at the escape of their victim, however, the Koreishites
proclaimed a reward of a hundred camels to any one who should bring them
Mohammed alive or dead.
Divers accounts are given of the mode in which Mohammed made his escape from the house after the faithful Ali had wrapped himself in his mantle and taken his place upon the couch. The most miraculous account is, that he opened the door silently, as the Koreishites stood before it, and, scattering a handful of dust in the air, cast such blindness upon them that he walked through the midst of them without being perceived. This, it is added, is confirmed by the verse of the 30th chapter of the Koran: “We have thrown blindness upon them, that they shall not see.”
The most probable account is, that he clambered over the wall in the rear
of the house, by the help of a servant, who bent his back for him to step
upon it.
He repaired immediately to the house of Abu Beker, and they arranged for
instant flight. It was agreed that they should take refuge in a cave in
Mount Thor, about an hour’s distance from Mecca, and wait there until they
could proceed safely to Medina: and in the mean time the children of Abu
Beker should secretly bring them food. They left Mecca while it was yet
dark, making their way on foot by the light of the stars, and the day dawned
as they found themselves at the foot of Mount Thor. Scarce were they within
the cave when they heard the sound of pursuit. Abu Beker, though a brave
man, quaked with fear. “Our pursuers,” said he, “are many, and we are but
two.” “Nay,” replied Mohammed, “there is a third; God is with us!” And
here the Moslem writers relate a miracle, dear to the minds of all true
believers. By the time, say they, that the Koreishites reached the mouth
of the cavern, an acacia-tree had sprung up before it, in the spreading
branches of which a pigeon had made its nest, and laid its eggs, and over
the whole a spider had woven its web. When the Koreishites beheld these
signs of undisturbed quiet, they concluded that no one could recently have
entered the cavern; so they turned away, and pursued their search in another
direction.
Whether protected by miracle or not, the fugitives remained for three days
undiscovered in the cave, and Asama, the daughter of Abu Beker, brought
them food in the dusk of the evenings.
On the fourth day, when they presumed the ardor of pursuit had abated,
the fugitives ventured forth, and set out for Medina, on camels which a
servant of Abu Beker had brought in the night for them. Avoiding the main
road usually taken by the caravans, they bent their course nearer to the
coast of the Red Sea. They had not proceeded far, however, before they
were overtaken by a troop of horse headed by Soraka Ibn Malec. Abu Beker
was again dismayed by the number of their pursuers; but Mohammed repeated
the assurance, “Be not troubled; Allah is with us.” Soraka was a grim warrior,
with shagged iron gray locks and naked sinewy arms rough with hair. As
he overtook Mohammed, his horse reared and fell with him. His superstitious
mind was struck with it as an evil sign. Mohammed perceived the state of
his feelings, and by an eloquent appeal wrought upon him to such a degree
that Soraka, filled with awe, entreated his forgiveness, and turning back
with his troop suffered him to proceed on his way unmolested.
The fugitives continued their journey without further interruption, until
they arrived at Koba, a hill about two miles from Medina. It was a favorite
resort of the inhabitants of the city, and a place to which they sent their
sick and infirm, for the air was pure and salubrious. Hence, too, the city
was supplied with fruit; the hill and its environs being covered with vineyards,
and with groves of the date and lotus; with gardens producing citrons,
oranges, pomegranates, figs, peaches, and apricots; and being irrigated
with limpid streams.
On arriving at this fruitful spot, Al Kaswa, the camel of Mohammed, crouched
on her knees, and would go no further. The prophet interpreted it as a
favorable sign, and determined to remain at Koba, and prepare for entering
the city. The place where his camel knelt is still pointed out by pious
Moslems, a mosque named Al Takwa having been built there to commemorate
the circumstance. Some affirm that it was actually founded by the prophet.
A deep well is also shown in the vicinity, beside which Mohammed reposed
under the shade of the trees, and into which be dropped his seal ring.
It is believed still to remain there, and has given sanctity to the well,
the waters of which are conducted by subterraneous conduits to Medina.
At Koba he remained four days, residing in the house of an Awsite named
Colthum Ibn Hadem. While at this village he was joined by a distinguished
chief, Boreida Ibn Hoseib, with seventy followers, all of the tribe of
Saham. These made profession of faith between the hands of Mohammed.
Another renowned proselyte who repaired to the prophet at this village,
was Salman al Parsi (or the Persian). He is said to have been a native
of a small place near Ispahan, and that, on passing one day by a Christian
church, he was so much struck by the devotion of the people, and the solemnity
of the worship, that he became disgusted with the idolatrous faith in which
he had been brought up. He afterward wandered about the east, from city
to city, and convent to convent, in quest of a religion, until an ancient
monk, full of years and infirmities, told him of a prophet who had arisen
in Arabia to restore the pure faith of Abraham.
This Salman rose to power in after years, and was reputed by the unbelievers of Mecca to have assisted Mohammed in compiling his doctrine. This is alluded to in the sixteenth chapter of the Koran: “Verily, the idolaters say, that a certain man assisted to compose the Koran; but the language of this man is Ajami (or Persian) and the Koran is indited in the pure Arabian tongue.”
The renowned and learned Humphrey Prideaux, Doctor of Divinity and Dean
of Norwich, in his Life of Mohammed, confounds this Salman the Persian
with Abdallah Ibn Salan, a learned Jew; by some called Abdias Ben Salan
in the Hebrew dialect, and by others Abdallah Salen; who is accused by
Christian writers of assisting Mohammed in fabricating his revelations.
The Moslems of Mecca, who had taken refuge some time before in Medina,
hearing that Mohammed was at hand, came forth to meet him at Koba; among
these was the early convert Talha, and Zobeir, the nephew of Khadijah.
These, seeing the travel-stained garments of Mohammed and Abu Beker, gave
them white mantles, with which to make their entrance into Medina. Numbers
of the Ansarians, or auxiliaries, of Medina, who had made their compact
with Mohammed in the preceding year, now hastened to renew their vow of
fidelity.
Learning from them that the number of proselytes in the city was rapidly augmenting, and that there was a general disposition to receive him favorably, he appointed Friday, the Moslem sabbath, the sixteenth day of the month Rabi, for his public entrance.
Accordingly on the morning of that day he assembled all his followers to
prayer; and after a sermon, in which he expounded the main principles of
his faith, he mounted his camel Al Kaswa, and set forth for that city,
which was to become renowned in after ages as his city of refuge.
Boreida Ibn al Hoseib, with his seventy horsemen of the tribe of Saham,
accompanied him as a guard. Some of the disciples took turns to hold a
canopy of palm-leaves over his head, and by his side rode Abu Beker. “Oh
apostle of God!” cried Boreida, “thou shalt not enter Medina without a
standard;” so saying, he unfolded his turban, and tying one end of it to
the point of his lance, bore it aloft before the prophet.
The city of Medina was fair to approach, being extolled for beauty of situation, salubrity of climate, and fertility of soil; for the luxuriance of its palm-trees, and the fragrance of its shrubs and flowers. At a short distance from the city a crowd of new proselytes to the faith came forth in sun and dust to meet the cavalcade. Most of them had never seen Mohammed, and paid reverence to Abu Beker through mistake; but the latter put aside the screen of palm-leaves, and pointed out the real object of homage, who was greeted with loud acclamations.
In this way did Mohammed, so recently a fugitive from his native city,
with a price upon his head, enter Medina, more as a conqueror in triumph,
than an exile seeking an asylum. He alighted at the house of a Khazradite,
named Abu Ayub, a devout Moslem, to whom moreover he was distantly related;
here he was hospitably received, and took up his abode in the basement
story.
Shortly after his arrival he was joined by the faithful Ali, who had fled
from Mecca, and journeyed on foot, hiding himself in the day and travelling
only at night, lest he should fall into the hands of the Koreishites. He
arrived weary and way-worn his feet bleeding with the roughness of the
journey.
Within a few days more came Ayesha, and the rest of Abu Beker’s household,
together with the family of Mohammed, conducted by his faithful freedman
Zeid, and by Abu Beker’s servant Abdallah.
Such is the story of the memorable Hegira, or “Flight of the prophet”—the
era of the Arabian calendar, from which time is calculated by all true
Moslems: it corresponds to the 622d year of the Christian era.
CHAPTER XIV.
MOSLEMS IN MEDINA, MOHADJERINS AND ANSARIANS—THE PARTY OF ABDALLAH IBN
OBBA AND THE HYPOCRITES—MOHAMMED BUILDS A MOSQUE, PREACHES, MAKES CONVERTS
AMONG THE CHRISTIANS—THE JEWS SLOW TO BELIEVE—BROTHERHOOD ESTABLISHED BETWEEN
FUGITIVES AND ALLIES.
Mohammed soon found himself at the head of a numerous and powerful sect in Medina; partly made up of those of his disciples who had fled from Mecca, and were thence called Mohadjerins or Fugitives, and partly of inhabitants of the place, who on joining the faith were called Ansarians or Auxiliaries. Most of these latter were of the powerful tribes of the Awsites and Khazradites, which, though descended from two brothers, Al Aws and Al Khazraj, had for a hundred and twenty years distracted Medina by their inveterate and mortal feuds, but had now become united in the bonds of faith. With such of these tribes as did not immediately adopt his doctrines he made a covenant.
The Khazradites were very much under the sway of a prince or chief, named Abdallah Ibn Obba; who, it is said, was on the point of being made king, when the arrival of Mohammed and the excitement caused by his doctrines gave the popular feeling a new direction. Abdallah was stately in person, of a graceful demeanor, and ready and eloquent tongue; he professed great friendship for Mohammed, and with several companions of his own type and character, used to attend the meetings of the Moslems. Mohammed was captivated at first by their personal appearance, their plausible conversation, and their apparent deference; but he found in the end that Abdallah was jealous of his popularity and cherished secret animosity against him, and that his companions were equally false in their pretended friendship; hence, he stamped them with the name of “The Hypocrites.” Abdallah Ibn Obba long continued his political rival in Medina.
Being now enabled publicly to exercise his faith and preach his doctrines,
Mohammed proceeded to erect a mosque. The place chosen was a grave-yard
or burying-ground, shaded by date-trees. He is said to have been guided
in his choice by what he considered a favorable omen; his camel having
knelt opposite to this place on his public entry into the city. The dead
were removed, and the trees cut down to make way for the intended edifice.
It was simple in form and structure, suited to the unostentatious religion
which he professed, and to the scanty and precarious means of its votaries.
The walls were of earth and brick; the trunks of the palm-trees recently
felled, served as pillars to support the roof, which was framed of their
branches and thatched with their leaves. It was about a hundred ells square,
and had three doors; one to the south, where the Kebla was afterward established,
another called the gate of Gabriel, and the third the gate of Mercy. A
part of the edifice, called Soffat, was assigned as a habitation to such
of the believers as were without a home.
Mohammed assisted with his own hands in the construction of this mosque.
With all his foreknowledge, he little thought that he was building his
own tomb and monument; for in that edifice his remains are deposited. It
has in after times been repeatedly enlarged and beautified, but still bears
the name Mesjed al Nebi (the Mosque of the Prophet), from having been founded
by his hands. He was for some time at a loss in what manner his followers
should be summoned to their devotions; whether with the sound of trumpets
as among the Jews, or by lighting fires on high places, or by the striking
of timbrels. While in this perplexity a form of words to be cried aloud
was suggested by Abdallah, the son of Zeid, who declared that it was revealed
to him in a vision. It was instantly adopted by Mohammed, and such is given
as the origin of the following summons, which is to this day heard from
the lofty minarets throughout the East, calling the Moslems to the place
of worship: “God is great! God is great! There is no God but God. Mohammed
is the apostle of God. Come to prayers! come to prayers! God is great!
God is great! There is no God but God.” To which at dawn of day is added
the exhortation, “Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better than sleep!”
Everything in this humble mosque was at first conducted with great simplicity.
At night it was lighted up by splinters of the date-tree; and it was some
time before lamps and oil were introduced. The prophet stood on the ground
and preached, leaning with his back against the trunk of one of the date-trees,
which served as pillars. He afterward had a pulpit or tribune erected,
to which he ascended by three steps, so as to be elevated above the congregation.
Tradition asserts, that when he first ascended this pulpit, the deserted
date-tree uttered a groan; whereupon, as a consolation, he gave it the
choice either to be transplanted to a garden again to flourish, or to be
transferred to paradise, there to yield fruit, in after life, to true believers.
The date-tree wisely chose the latter, and was subsequently buried beneath
the pulpit, there to await its blissful resurrection.
Mohammed preached and prayed in the pulpit, sometimes sitting, sometimes
standing and leaning on a staff. His precepts as yet were all peaceful
and benignant, inculcating devotion to God and humanity to man. He seems
to have emulated for a time the benignity of the Christian faith. “He who
is not affectionate to God’s creatures, and to his own children,” would
he say, “God will not be affectionate to him. Every Moslem who clothes
the naked of his faith, will be clothed by Allah in the green robes of
paradise.”
In one of his traditional sermons, transmitted by his disciples, is the
following apologue on the subject of charity: “When God created the earth
it shook and trembled, until he put mountains upon it, to make it firm.
Then the angels asked, ‘Oh, God, is there anything of thy creation stronger
than these mountains?’ And God replied, ‘Iron is stronger than the mountains;
for it breaks them.’ ‘And is there anything of thy creation stronger than
iron?’ ‘Yes; fire is stronger than iron, for it melts it.’ ‘Is there anything
of thy creation stronger than fire?’ ‘Yes; water, for it quenches fire.’
‘Oh Lord, is there anything of thy creation stronger than water?’ ‘Yes,
wind; for it overcomes water and puts it in motion.’ ‘Oh, our Sustainer!
is there anything of thy creation stronger than wind?’ ‘Yes, a good man
giving alms; if he give with his right hand and conceal it from his left,
he overcomes all things.’”
His definition of charity embraced the wide circle of kindness. Every good
act, he would say, is charity. Your smiling in your brother’s face is charity;
an exhortation of your fellow-man to virtuous deeds is equal to alms-giving;
your putting a wanderer in the right road is charity; your assisting the
blind is charity; your removing stones and thorns and other obstructions
from the road is charity; your giving water to the thirsty is charity.
“A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good he does in this world to his
fellow-man. When he dies, people will say, What property has he left behind
him? But the angels, who examine him in the grave, will ask, ‘What good
deeds hast thou sent before thee?’”
“Oh prophet!” said one of his disciples, “my mother, Omm-Sad, is dead; what is the best alms I can send for the good of her soul?” “Water!” replied Mohammed, bethinking himself of the panting heats of the desert. “Dig a well for her, and give water to the thirsty.” The man digged a well in his mother’s name, and said, “This well is for my mother, that its rewards may reach her soul.”
Charity of the tongue also, that most important and least cultivated of
charities, was likewise earnestly inculcated by Mohammed. Abu Jaraiya,
an inhabitant of Basrah, coming to Medina, and being persuaded of the apostolical
office of Mohammed, entreated him some great rule of conduct. “Speak evil
of no one,” answered the prophet. “From that time,” says Abu Jaraiya, “I
never did abuse any one, whether freeman or slave.”
The rules of Islamism extended to the courtesies of life. Make a salam
(or salutation) to a house on entering and leaving it. Return the salute
of friends and acquaintances, and wayfarers on the road. He who rides must
be the first to make the salute to him who walks; he who walks to him who
is sitting; a small party to a large party, and the young to the old.
On the arrival of Mohammed at Medina, some of the Christians of the city promptly enrolled themselves among his followers; they were probably of those sectarians who held to the human nature of Christ, and found nothing repugnant in Islamism; which venerated Christ as the greatest among the prophets. The rest of the Christians resident there showed but little hostility to the new faith, considering it far better than the old idolatry. Indeed, the schisms and bitter dissensions among the Christians of the East had impaired their orthodoxy, weakened their zeal, and disposed them easily to be led away by new doctrines.
The Jews, of which there were rich and powerful families in Medina and
its vicinity, showed a less favorable disposition. With some of them Mohammed
made covenants of peace, and trusted to gain them in time to accept him
as their promised Messiah or prophet. Biassed, perhaps unconsciously, by
such views, he had modelled many of his doctrines on the dogmas of their
religion, and observed certain of their fasts and ordinances. He allowed
such as embraced Islamism to continue in the observance of their Sabbath,
and of several of the Mosaic laws and ceremonies. It was the custom of
the different religions of the East, to have each a Kebla or sacred point
toward which they turned their faces in the act of adoration; the Sabeans
toward the north star; the Persian fire-worshippers toward the east, the
place of the rising sun; the Jews toward their holy city of Jerusalem.
Hitherto Mohammed had prescribed nothing of the kind; but now, out of deference
to the Jews, he made Jerusalem the Kebla, toward which all Moslems were
to turn their faces when in prayer.
While new converts were daily made among the inhabitants of Medina, sickness
and discontent began to prevail among the fugitives from Mecca. They were
not accustomed to the climate; many suffered from fevers, and in their
sickness and debility languished after the home whence they were exiled.
To give them a new home, and link them closely with their new friends and
allies, Mohammed established a brotherhood between fifty-four of them and
as many of the inhabitants of Medina. Two persons thus linked together
were pledged to stand by each other in weal and woe; it was a tie, which
knit their interests more closely even than that of kindred, for they were
to be heirs to each other in preference to blood relations.
This institution was one of expediency, and lasted only until the new comers
had taken firm root in Medina; extended merely to those of the people of
Mecca who had fled from persecution; and is alluded to in the following
verse of the eighth chapter of the Koran: “They who have believed and have
fled their country, and employed their substance and their persons in fighting
for the faith, and they who have given the prophet a refuge among them,
and have assisted him, these shall be deemed the one nearest of kin to
the other.”
In this shrewd but simple way were laid the foundations of that power which
was soon to attain stupendous strength, and to shake the mightiest empires
of the world.
CHAPTER XV.
MARRIAGE OF MOHAMMED WITH AYESHA—OF HIS DAUGHTER FATIMA WITH ALI—THEIR
HOUSEHOLD ARRANGEMENTS.
THE family relations of Mohammed had been much broken up by the hostility
brought upon him by his religious zeal. His daughter Rokaia was still an
exile with her husband, Othman Ibn Affan, in Abyssinia; his daughter Zeinab
had remained in Mecca with her husband, Abul Aass, who was a stubborn opposer
of the new faith. The family with Mohammed in Medina consisted of his recently
wedded wife Sawda, and Fatima, and Um Kolthum, daughters of his late wife
Khadijah. He had a heart prone to affection, and subject to female influence,
but he had never entertained much love for Sawda; and though he always
treated her with kindness, he felt the want of some one to supply the place
of his deceased wife Khadijah.
“Oh Omar,” said he one day, “the best of man’s treasures is a virtuous
woman, who acts by God’s orders, and is obedient and pleasing to her husband:
he regards her personal and mental beauties with delight; when he orders
her to do anything she obeys him; and when he is absent she guards his
right in property in honor.”
He now turned his eyes upon his betrothed spouse Ayesha, the beautiful
daughter of Abu Beker. Two years had elapsed since they were betrothed,
and she had now attained her ninth year; an infantine age, it would seem,
though the female form is wonderfully precocious in the quickening climates
of the East. Their nuptials took place a few months after their arrival
in Medina, and were celebrated with great simplicity; the wedding supper
was of milk, and the dowry of the bride was twelve okk of silver.
The betrothing of Fatima, his youngest daughter, with his loyal disciple
Ali, followed shortly after, and their marriage at a somewhat later period.
Fatima was between fifteen and sixteen years of age, of great beauty, and
extolled by Arabian writers as one of the four perfect women with whom
Allah has deigned to bless the earth. The age of Ali was about twenty-two.
Heaven and earth, say the Moslem writers, joined in paying honor to these
happy espousals. Medina resounded with festivity, and blazed with illuminations,
and the atmosphere was laden with aromatic odors. As Mohammed, on the nuptial
night, conducted his daughter to her bridegroom, heaven sent down a celestial
pomp to attend her: on her right hand was the archangel Gabriel, on her
left was Michael, and she was followed by a train of seventy thousand angels,
who all night kept watch round the mansion of the youthful pair.
Such are the vaunting exaggerations with which Moslem writers are prone
to overlay every event in the history of the prophet, and destroy the real
grandeur of his career, which consists in its simplicity. A more reliable
account states that the wedding feast was of dates and olives; that the
nuptial couch was a sheep-skin; that the portion of the bride consisted
of two skirts, one head-tire, two silver armlets, one leathern pillow stuffed
with palm-leaves, one beaker or drinking cup, one hand-mill, two large
jars for water, and one pitcher. All this was in unison with the simplicity
of Arab housekeeping, and with the circumstances of the married couple;
and to raise the dowry required of him, Ali, it is said, had to sell several
camels and some shirts of mail.
The style of living of the prophet himself was not superior to that of
his disciple. Ayesha, speaking of it in after years, observed: “For a whole
month together we did not light a fire to dress victuals; our food was
nothing but dates and water, unless any one sent us meat. The people of
the prophet’s household never got wheat bread two successive days.”
His food, in general, was dates and barley-bread, with milk and honey.
He swept his chamber, lit his fire, mended his clothes, and was, in fact,
his own servant. For each of his two wives he provided a separate house
adjoining the mosque. He resided with them by turns, but Ayesha ever remained
his favorite.
Mohammed has been extolled by Moslem writers for the chastity of his early
life; and it is remarkable that, with all the plurality of wives indulged
in by the Arabs, and which he permitted himself in subsequent years, and
with all that constitutional fondness which he evinced for the sex, he
remained single in his devotion to Khadijah to her dying day, never giving
her a rival in his house nor in his heart. Even the fresh and budding charms
of Ayesha, which soon assumed such empire over him, could not obliterate
the deep and mingled feeling of tenderness and gratitude for his early
benefactress. Ayesha was piqued one day at hearing him indulge in these
fond recollections: “Oh apostle of God,” demanded the youthful beauty,
“was not Khadijah stricken in years? Has not Allah given thee a better
wife in her stead?”
“Never!” exclaimed Mohammed, with an honest burst of feeling—“never did
God give me a better! When I was poor, she enriched me; when I was pronounced
a liar, she believed in me; when I was opposed by all the world, she remained
true to me!”
CHAPTER XVI.
THE SWORD ANNOUNCED AS THE INSTRUMENT OF FAITH—FIRST FORAY AGAINST THE
KOREISHITES—SURPRISAL OF A CARAVAN.
WE come now to an important era in the career of Mohammed. Hitherto he
had relied on argument and persuasion to make proselytes, enjoining the
same on his disciples. His exhortations to them to bear with patience and
long-suffering the violence of their enemies, almost emulated the meek
precept of our Saviour, “if they smite thee on the one cheek, turn to them
the other also.” He now arrived at a point where he completely diverged
from the celestial spirit of the Christian doctrines, and stamped his religion
with the alloy of fallible mortality. His human nature was not capable
of maintaining the sublime forbearance he had hitherto inculcated. Thirteen
years of meek endurance had been rewarded by nothing but aggravated injury
and insult. His greatest persecutors had been those of his own tribe, the
Koreishites, especially those of the rival line of Abd Schems, whose vindictive
chief, Abu Sofian, had now the sway of Mecca. By their virulent hostility
his fortunes had been blasted; his family degraded, impoverished, and dispersed,
and he himself driven into exile. All this he might have continued to bear
with involuntary meekness, had not the means of retaliation unexpectedly
sprung up within his reach. He had come to Medina a fugitive seeking an
asylum, and craving merely a quiet home. In a little while, and probably
to his own surprise, he found an army at his command: for among the many
converts daily made in Medina, the fugitives flocking to him from Mecca,
and proselytes from the tribes of the desert, were men of resolute spirit,
skilled in the use of arms, and fond of partisan warfare. Human passions
and mortal resentments were awakened by this sudden accession of power.
They mingled with that zeal for religious reform, which was still his predominant
motive. In the exaltations of his enthusiastic spirit he endeavored to
persuade himself, and perhaps did so effectually, that the power thus placed
within his reach was intended as a means of effecting his great purpose,
and that he was called upon by divine command to use it. Such at least
is the purport of the memorable manifesto which he issued at this epoch,
and which changed the whole tone and fortunes of his faith.
“Different prophets,” said he, “have been sent by God to illustrate his
different attributes: Moses his clemency and providence; Solomon his wisdom,
majesty, and glory; Jesus Christ his righteousness, omniscience, and power—his
righteousness by purity of conduct; his omniscience by the knowledge he
displayed of the secrets of all hearts; his power by the miracles he wrought.
None of these attributes, however, have been sufficient to enforce conviction,
and even the miracles of Moses and Jesus have been treated with unbelief.
I, therefore, the last of the prophets, am sent with the sword! Let those
who promulgate my faith enter into no argument nor discussion, but slay
all who refuse obedience to the law. Whoever fights for the true faith,
whether he fall or conquer, will assuredly receive a glorious reward.”
“The sword,” added he, “is the key of heaven and hell; all who draw it
in the cause of the faith will be rewarded with temporal advantages; every
drop shed of their blood, every peril and hardship endured by them, will
be registered on high as more meritorious than even fasting or praying.
If they fall in battle their sins will at once be blotted out, and they
will be transported to paradise, there to revel in eternal pleasures in
the arms of black-eyed houris.”
Predestination was brought to aid these belligerent doctrines. Every event,
according to the Koran, was predestined from eternity, and could not be
avoided. No man could die sooner or later than his allotted hour, and when
it arrived it would be the same, whether the angel of death should find
him in the quiet of his bed, or amid the storm of battle.
Such were the doctrines and revelations which converted Islamism of a sudden
from a religion of meekness and philanthropy, to one of violence and the
sword. They were peculiarly acceptable to the Arabs, harmonizing with their
habits, and encouraging their predatory propensities. Virtually pirates
of the desert, it is not to be wondered at that, after this open promulgation
of the Religion of the Sword, they should flock in crowds to the standard
of the prophet. Still no violence was authorized by Mohammed against those
who should persist in unbelief, provided they should readily submit to
his temporal sway, and agree to pay tribute; and here we see the first
indication of worldly ambition and a desire for temporal dominion dawning
upon his mind. Still it will be found that the tribute thus exacted was
subsidiary to his ruling passion, and mainly expended by him in the extension
of the faith.
The first warlike enterprises of Mohammed betray the lurking resentment we have noted. They were directed against the caravans of Mecca, belonging to his implacable enemies the Koreishites. The three first were headed by Mohammed in person, but without any material result. The fourth was confided to a Moslem, named Abdallah Ibn Jasch; who was sent out with eight or ten resolute followers on the road toward South Arabia. As it was now the holy month of Radjab, sacred from violence and rapine, Abdallah had sealed orders, not to be opened until the third day. These orders were vaguely yet significantly worded. Abdallah was to repair to the valley of Naklah, between Mecca and Tayef (the same in which Mohammed had the revelation of the Genii), where he was to watch for an expected caravan of the Koreishites. “Perhaps,” added the letter of instructions, shrewdly—“perhaps thou mayest be able to bring us some tidings of it.”
Abdallah understood the true meaning of the letter, and acted up to it.
Arriving in the valley of Naklah, he descried the caravan, consisting of
several camels laden with merchandise, and conducted by four men. Following
it at a distance, he sent one of his men, disguised as a pilgrim, to overtake
it. From the words of the latter, the Koreishites supposed his companions
to be like himself, pilgrims bound to Mecca. Besides, it was the month
of Radjah, when the desert might be travelled in security. Scarce had they
come to a halt, however, when Abdallah and his comrades fell on them, killed
one, and took two prisoners; the fourth escaped. The victors then returned
to Medina with their prisoners and booty.
All Medina was scandalized at this breach of the holy month. Mohammed,
finding that he had ventured too far, pretended to be angry with Abdallah,
and refused to take the share of the booty offered to him. Confiding in
the vagueness of his instructions, he insisted that he had not commanded
Abdallah to shed blood, or commit any violence during the holy month.
The clamor still continuing, and being echoed by the Koreishites of Mecca,
produced the following passage of the Koran:
“They will ask thee concerning the sacred month, whether they may make
war therein. Answer: To war therein is grievous; but to deny God, to bar
the path of God against his people, to drive true believers from his holy
temple, and to worship idols, are sins far more grievous than to kill in
the holy months.”
Having thus proclaimed divine sanction for the deed, Mohammed no longer
hesitated to take his share of the booty. He delivered one of the prisoners
on ransom; the other embraced Islamism.
The above passage of the Koran, however satisfactory it may have been to
devout Moslems, will scarcely serve to exculpate their prophet in the eyes
of the profane. The expedition of Abdallah Ibn Jasch was a sad practical
illustration of the new religion of the sword. It contemplated not merely
an act of plunder and revenge, a venial act in the eyes of Arabs, and justified
by the new doctrines by being exercised against the enemies of the faith,
but an outrage also on the holy month, that period sacred from time immemorial
against violence and bloodshed, and which Mohammed himself professed to
hold in reverence. The craft and secrecy also with which the whole was
devised and conducted, the sealed letter of instructions to Abdallah, to
be opened only at the end of three days, at the scene of projected outrage,
and couched in language vague, equivocal, yet sufficiently significant
to the agent—all were in direct opposition to the conduct of Mohammed in
the earlier part of his career, when he dared openly to pursue the path
of duty, “though the sun should be arrayed against him on the right hand,
and the moon on the left;” all showed that he was conscious of the turpitude
of the act he was authorizing. His disavowal of the violence committed
by Abdallah, yet his bringing the Koran to his aid to enable him to profit
by it with impunity, give still darker shades to this transaction; which
altogether shows how immediately and widely he went wrong the moment he
departed from the benevolent spirit of Christianity, which he at first
endeavored to emulate. Worldly passions and worldly interests were fast
getting the ascendency over that religious enthusiasm which first inspired
him. As has well been observed, “the first drop of blood shed in his name
in the Holy Week displayed him a man in whom the slime of earth had quenched
the holy flame of prophecy.”
CHAPTER XVII.
THE BATTLE OF BEDER.
IN the second year of the Hegira, Mohammed received intelligence that his arch foe, Abu Sofian, with a troop of thirty horsemen, was conducting back to Mecca a caravan of a thousand camels, laden with the merchandise of Syria. Their route lay through the country of Medina, between the range of mountains and the sea. Mohammed determined to intercept them. About the middle of the month Ramadhan, therefore, he sallied forth with three hundred and fourteen men, of whom eighty-three were Mohadjerins, or exiles from Mecca; sixty-one Awsites, and a hundred and seventy Khazradites. Each troop had its own banner. There were but two horses in this little army,* but there were seventy fleet camels, which the troop mounted by turns, so as to make a rapid march, without much fatigue.
*“The Arabs of the desert,” says Burckhardt, “are not rich in horses. Among the great tribes on the Red Sea, between Akaba and Mecca, and to the south and south-east of Mecca, as far as Yemen, horses are very scarce, especially among those of the mountainous districts The settled inhabitants of Hedjaz and Yemen are not much in the habit of keeping horses. The tribes most rich in horses are those who dwell in the comparatively fertile plains of Mesopotamia, on the banks of the river Euphrates, and on the Syrian plains.”—Burckhardt, ii. 50.
Othman Ibn Affan, the son-in-law of Mohammed, was now returned with his
wife Rokaia from their exile in Abyssinia, and would have joined the enterprise,
but his wife was ill almost unto death, so that he was obliged reluctantly
to remain in Medina.
Mohammed for a while took the main road to Mecca, then leaving it to the
left, turned toward the Red Sea and entered a fertile valley, watered by
the brook Beder. Here he laid in wait near a ford, over which the caravans
were accustomed to pass. He caused his men to dig a deep trench, and to
divert the water therein, so that they might resort thither to slake their
thirst, out of reach of the enemy.
ln the mean time Abu Sofian, having received early intelligence that Mohammed had sallied forth to waylay him with a superior force, dispatched a messenger named Omair, on a fleet dromedary, to summon instant relief from Mecca. The messenger arrived at the Kaaba haggard and breathless. Abu Jahl mounted the roof and sounded the alarm. All Mecca was in confusion and consternation. Henda, the wife of Abu Sofian, a woman of a fierce and intrepid nature, called upon her father Otha, her brother Al Walid, her uncle Shaiba, and all the warriors of her kindred, to arm and hasten to the relief of her husband. The brothers, too, of the Koreishite slain by Abdallah Ibn Jasch, in the valley of Naklah, seized their weapons to avenge his death. Motives of interest were mingled with eagerness for vengeance, for most of the Koreishites had property embarked in the caravan. In a little while a force of one hundred horse and seven hundred camels hurried forward on the road toward Syria. It was led by Abu Jahl, now three-score and ten years of age, a veteran warrior of the desert, who still retained the fire and almost the vigor and activity of youth, combined with the rancor of old age.
While Abu Jahl, with his forces, was hurrying on in one direction, Abu
Sofian was approaching in another. On arriving at the region of danger,
he preceded his caravan a considerable distance, carefully regarding every
track and foot-print. At length he came upon the track of the little army
of Mohammed. He knew it from the size of the kernels of the dates, which
the troops had thrown by the wayside as they marched—those of Medina being
remarkable for their smallness. On such minute signs do the Arabs depend
in tracking their foes through the deserts.
Observing the course Mohammed had taken, Abu Sofian changed his route,
and passed along the coast of the Red Sea until he considered himself out
of danger. He then sent another messenger to meet any Koreishites that
might have sallied forth, and to let them know that the caravan was safe,
and they might return to Mecca.
The messenger met the Koreishites when in full march. On hearing that the caravan was safe, they came to a halt and held council. Some were for pushing forward and inflicting a signal punishment on Mohammed and his followers; others were for turning back. In this dilemma they sent a scout to reconnoiter the enemy. He brought back word that they were about three hundred strong; this increased the desire of those who were for battle. Others remonstrated. “Consider,” said they, “these are men who have nothing to lose; they have nothing but their swords; not one of them will fall without slaying his man. Besides, we have relatives among them; if we conquer, we will not be able to look each other in the face, having slain each other’s relatives.” These words were producing their effect, but the brothers of the Koreishite who had been slain in the valley of Naklah were instigated by Abu Jahl to cry for revenge. That fiery old Arab seconded their appeal. “Forward!” cried he; “let us get water from the brook Beder for the feast with which we shall make merry over the escape of our caravan.” The main body of the troops, therefore, elevated their standards and resumed their march, though a considerable number turned back to Mecca.
The scouts of Mohammed brought him notice of the approach of this force.
The hearts of some of his followers failed them; they had come forth in
the expectation of little fighting and much plunder, and were dismayed
at the thoughts of such an overwhelming host; but Mohammed bade them be
of good cheer, for Allah had promised him an easy victory.
The Moslems posted themselves on a rising ground, with water at the foot of it. A hut, or shelter of the branches of trees, had been hastily erected on the summit for Mohammed, and a dromedary stood before it, on which he might fly to Medina in case of defeat.
The vanguard of the enemy entered the valley panting with thirst, and hastened
to the stream for drink; but Hamza, the uncle of Mohammed, set upon them
with a number of his men, and slew the leader with his own hand. Only one
of the vanguard escaped, who was afterward converted to the faith.
The main body of the enemy now approached with sound of trumpet. Three
Koreishite warriors advancing in front, defied the bravest of the Moslems
to equal combat. Two of these challengers were Otha, the father-in-law
of Abu Sofian, and Al Walid, his brother-in-law. The third challenger was
Shaiba, the brother of Otha. These it will be recollected had been instigated
to sally forth from Mecca, by Henda, the wife of Abu Sofian. They were
all men of rank in their tribe.
Three warriors of Medina stepped forward and accepted their challenge;
but they cried, “No! Let the renegades of our own city of Mecca advance,
if they dare.” Upon this Hamza and Ali, the uncle and cousin of Mohammed,
and Obeidah Ibn al Hareth, undertook the fight. After a fierce and obstinate
contest, Hamza and Ali each slew his antagonist. They then went to the
aid of Obeidah, who was severely wounded and nearly overcome by Otha. They
slew the Koreishite and bore away their associate, but he presently died
of his wounds.
The battle now became general. The Moslems, aware of the inferiority of their number at first merely stood on the defensive, maintaining their position on the rising ground, and galling the enemy with flights of arrows whenever they sought to slake their intolerable thirst at the stream below. Mohammed remained in his hut on the hill, accompanied by Abu Beker, and earnestly engaged in prayer. In the course of the battle he had a paroxysm, or fell into a kind of trance. Coming to himself, he declared that God in a vision had promised him the victory. Rushing out of the hut, he caught up a handful of dust and cast it into the air toward the Koreishites, exclaiming, “May confusion light upon their faces.” Then ordering his followers to charge down upon the enemy: “Fight, and fear not,” cried he; “the gates of paradise are under the shade of swords. He will assuredly find instant admission who falls fighting for the faith.”
In the shock of battle which ensued, Abu Jahl, who was urging his horse
into the thickest of the conflict, received a blow of a scimitar in the
thigh which brought him to the ground. Abdallah Ibn Masoud put his foot
upon his breast, and while the fiery veteran was still uttering imprecations
and curses on Mohammed, severed his head from his body.
The Koreishites now gave way and fled. Seventy remained dead on the field,
and nearly the same number were taken prisoners. Fourteen Moslems were
slain, whose names remain on record as martyrs to the faith.
This signal victory was easily to be accounted for on natural principles;
the Moslems being fresh and unwearied, and having the advantage of a rising
ground, and a supply of water; while the Koreishites were fatigued by a
hasty march, parched with thirst, and diminished in force, by the loss
of numbers who had turned back to Mecca. Moslem writers, however, attribute
this early triumph of the faith to supernatural agency. When Mohammed scattered
dust in the air, say they, three thousand angelic warriors in white and
yellow turbans, and long dazzling robes, and mounted on black and white
steeds, came rushing like a blast, and swept the Koreishites before them.
Nor is this affirmed on Moslem testimony alone, but given on the word of
an idolater, a peasant who was attending sheep on an adjacent hill. “I
was with a companion, a cousin,” said the peasant, “upon the fold of the
mountain, watching the conflict, and waiting to join with the conquerors
and share the spoil. Suddenly we beheld a great cloud sailing toward us,
and within it were the neighing of steeds and braying of trumpets. As it
approached, squadrons of angels sallied forth, and we heard the terrific
voice of the archangel as he urged his mare Haizum, ‘Speed! speed! oh Haizum!’
At which awful sound the heart of my companion burst with terror, and he
died on the spot; and I had well nigh shared his fate.”
This miraculous aid is repeatedly mentioned in the Koran, e.g.:
“God had already given you the victory at Beder, when ye were inferior
in number. When thou saidst unto the faithful, Is it not enough for you
that your Lord should assist you with three thousand angels, sent down
from heaven? Verily, if ye persevere, and fear God, and your enemies come
upon you suddenly, your Lord will assist you with five thousand angels,
distinguished by their horses and attire.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
“O true believers, ye slew not those who were slain at Beder yourselves, but God slew them. Neither didst thou, O Mohammed, cast the gravel into their eyes, when thou didst seem to cast it; but God cast it.”—Sale’s Koran, chap. iii.
When the conflict was over, Abdallah Ibn Masoud brought the head of Abu
Jahl to Mohammed, who eyed the grisly trophy with exultation, exclaiming,
“This man was the Pharaoh of our nation.” The true name of this veteran
warrior was Amru Ibn Hasham. The Koreishites had given him the name of
Abu ’lhoem, or Father of Wisdom, on account of his sagacity. The Moslems
had changed it to Abu Jahl, Father of Folly. The latter appellation has
adhered to him in history, and he is never mentioned by true believers
without the ejaculation, “May he be accursed of God!”
The Moslems who had fallen in battle were honorably interred; as to the
bodies of the Koreishites, they were contemptuously thrown into a pit which
had been digged for them. The question was how to dispose of the prisoners.
Omar was for striking off their heads; but Abu Beker advised that they
should be given up on ransom. Mohammed observed that Omar was like Noah,
who prayed for the destruction of the guilty by the deluge; but Abu Beker
was like Abraham, who interceded for the guilty. He decided on the side
of mercy. But two of the prisoners were put to death; one, named Nadhar,
for having ridiculed the Koran as a collection of Persian tales and fables;
the other, named Okba, for the attempt upon the life of Mohammed when he
first preached in the Kaaba, and when he was rescued by Abu Beker. Several
of the prisoners who were poor were liberated on merely making oath never
again to take up arms against Mohammed or his followers. The rest were
detained until ransoms should be sent by their friends.
Among the most important of the prisoners was Al Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed. He had been captured by Abu Yaser, a man of small stature. As the bystanders scoffed at the disparity of size, Al Abbas pretended that be really had surrendered to a horseman of gigantic size, mounted on a steed the like of which he had never seen before. Abu Yaser would have steadily maintained the truth of his capture, but Mohammed, willing to spare the humiliation of his uncle, intimated that the captor had been aided by the angel Gabriel.
Al Abbas would have excused himself from paying ransom, alleging that he
was a Moslem in heart, and had only taken part in the battle on compulsion;
but his excuse did not avail. It is thought by many that he really had
a secret understanding with his nephew, and was employed by him as a spy
in Mecca, both before and after the battle of Beder.
Another prisoner of great importance to Mohammed was Abul Aass, the husband of his daughter Zeinab. The prophet would fain have drawn his son-in-law to him and enrolled him among his disciples, but Abul Aass remained stubborn in unbelief. Mohammed then offered to set him at liberty on condition of his returning to him his daughter. To this the infidel agreed, and Zeid, the faithful freedman of the prophet, was sent with several companions to Mecca, to bring Zeinab to Medina; in the mean time her husband, Abul Aass, remained a hostage for the fulfillment of the compact.
Before the army returned to Medina there was a division of the spoil; for, though the caravan of Abu Sofian had escaped, yet considerable booty of weapons and camels had been taken in the battle, and a large sum of money would accrue from the ransom of the prisoners. On this occasion Mohammed ordered that the whole should be equally divided among all the Moslems engaged in the enterprise; and though it was a long-established custom among the Arabs to give a fourth part of the booty to the chief, yet he contented himself with the same share as the rest. Among the spoil which fell to his lot was a famous sword of admirable temper, called Dhul Fakar, or the Piercer. He ever afterward bore it when in battle; and his son-in-law, Ali, inherited it at his death.
This equal distribution of the booty caused great murmurs among the troops.
Those who had borne the brunt of the fight, and had been most active in
taking the spoil, complained that they had to share alike with those who
had stood aloof from the affray, and with the old men who had remained
to guard the camp. The dispute, observes Sale, resembles that of the soldiers
of David in relation to spoils taken from the Amalekites; those who had
been in the action insisting that they who tarried by the stuff should
have no share of the spoil. The decision was the same—that they should
share alike (1 Samuel 30:21-25). Mohammed, from his knowledge of Bible
history, may have been guided by this decision. The division of the spoils
was an important point to settle, for a leader about to enter on a career
of predatory warfare. Fortunately, he had a timely revelation shortly after
his return to Mecca, regulating for the future the division of all booty
gained in fighting for the faith.
Such are the particulars of the famous battle of Beder, the first victory
of the Saracens under the standard of Mohammed; inconsiderable, perhaps,
in itself, but stupendous in its results; being the commencement of a career
of victories which changed the destinies of the world.
CHAPTER XVIII.
DEATH OF THE PROPHET’S DAUGHTER ROKAIA—RESTORATION OF HIS DAUGHTER ZEINAB—EFFECT
OF THE PROPHET’S MALEDICTION ON ABU LAHAB AND HIS FAMILY—FRANTIC RAGE OF
HENDA, THE WIFE OF ABU SOFIAN—MOHAMMED NARROWLY ESCAPES ASSASSINATION—EMBASSY
OF THE KOREISHITES—THE KING OF ABYSSINIA.
Mohammed returned in triumph to Medina with the spoils and prisoners taken
in his first battle. His exultation, however, was checked by domestic grief.
Rokaia, his beloved daughter, so recently restored from exile, was no more.
The messenger who preceded Mohammed with tidings of his victory met the
funeral train at the gate of the city, bearing her body to the tomb.
The affliction of the prophet was soothed shortly afterward by the arrival
from Mecca of his daughter Zeinab, conducted by the faithful Zeid. The
mission of Zeid had been attended with difficulties. The people of Mecca
were exasperated by the late defeat, and the necessity of ransoming the
prisoners. Zeid remained, therefore, without the walls, and sent in a message
to Kenanah, the brother of Abul Aass, informing him of the compact, and
appointing a place where Zeinab should be delivered into his hands. Kenanah
set out to conduct her thither in a litter. On the way he was beset by
a throng of Koreishites, determined to prevent the daughter of Mohammed
from being restored to him. In the confusion one Habbar Ibn Aswad made
a thrust at the litter with a lance, which, had not Kenanah parried it
with his bow, might have proved fatal to Zeinab. Abu Sofian was attracted
to the place by the noise and tumult, and rebuked Kenanah for restoring
Mohammed’s daughter thus publicly, as it might be construed into a weak
concession; Zeinab was taken back, therefore, to her home, and Kenanah
delivered her up secretly to Zeid in the course of the following night.
Mohammed was so exasperated at hearing of the attack on his daughter that
he ordered whoever should take Habbar, to burn him alive. When his rage
had subsided, he modified this command. “It is for God alone,” said he,
“to punish man with fire. If taken, let Habbar be put to death with the
sword.”
The recent triumph of the Moslems at Beder struck the Koreishites of Mecca
with astonishment and mortification. The man so recently driven a fugitive
from their walls had suddenly started up a powerful foe. Several of their
bravest and most important men had fallen beneath his sword; others were
his captives, and awaited a humiliating ransom. Abu Lahab, the uncle of
Mohammed, and always his vehement opposer, had been unable, from illness,
to take the field. He died a few days after hearing of the victory, his
death being hastened by the exasperation of his spirits. Pious Moslems,
however, attribute it to the curse pronounced by Mohammed aforetime on
him and his family, when he raised his hand to hurl a stone at the prophet
on the hill of Safa. That curse, say they, fell heavily also on his son
Otho, who had repudiated the prophet’s daughter Rokaia; he was torn to
pieces by a lion, in the presence of a whole caravan, when on a journey
to Syria.
By no one was the recent defeat at Beder felt so severely as by Abu Sofian. He reached Mecca in safety with his caravan, it is true; but it was to hear of the triumph of the man he detested, and to find his home desolate. His wife Henda met him with frantic lamentations for the death of her father, her uncle, and her brother. Rage mingled with her grief, and she cried night and day for vengeance on Hamza and Ali, by whose hands they had fallen.
It is a received law among all the Arabs, that whoever sheds the blood
of a man, owes blood on that account to the family of the slain person.
This ancient law is sanctioned by the Koran. “O true believers, the law
of retaliation is ordained to you for the slain: the free shall die for
the free.” The Blood revenge, or Thar, as it is termed in Arabic, is claimed
by the relatives of all who have been killed in open war, and not merely
of the actual homicide, but of all his relations, For those killed in wars
between two tribes, the price of blood is required from the persons who
were known to have actually killed them.
The Arab regards this blood revenge as one of his most sacred rights, as
well as duties; no earthly consideration could induce him to give it up.
He has a proverbial saying, “Were hell-fire to be my lot, I would not relinquish
the Thar.”—See Burckhardt, v. i. 314, Notes.
Abu Sofian summoned two hundred fleet horsemen, each with a sack of meal
at his saddle-bow, the scanty provisions of an Arab for a foray; as he
sallied forth he vowed neither to anoint his head, perfume his beard, nor
approach a female, until he had met Mohammed face to face. Scouring the
country to within three miles of the gates of Medina, he slew two of the
prophet’s followers, ravaged the fields, and burned the date-trees.
Mohammed sallied forth to meet him at the head of a superior force. Abu Sofian, regardless of his vow, did not await his approach, but turned bridle and fled. His troop clattered after him, throwing off their sacks of meal in the hurry of their flight; whence this scampering affair was derisively called “The war of the meal sacks.”
Moslem writers record an imminent risk of the prophet while yet in the field on this occasion. He was one day sleeping alone at the foot of a tree, at a distance from his camp, when he was awakened by a noise, and beheld Durthur, a hostile warrior, standing over him with a drawn sword. “Oh Mohammed,” cried he, “who is there now to save thee?” “God!” replied the prophet. Struck with conviction, Durthur let fall his sword, which was instantly seized upon by Mohammed. Brandishing the weapon, he exclaimed in turn, “Who is there now to save thee, oh Durthur?” “Alas, no one!” replied the soldier. “Then learn from me to be merciful.” So saying, he returned the sword. The heart of the warrior was overcome; he acknowledged Mohammed as the prophet of God, and embraced the faith.
As if the anecdote were not sufficiently marvellous, other devout Moslems
affirm that the deliverance of Mohammed was through the intervention of
the angel Gabriel, who, at the moment Durthur was about to strike, gave
him a blow on the breast with his invisible hand, which caused him to let
fall his sword.
About this time the Koreishites of Mecca bethought themselves of the relatives and disciples of Mohammed who had taken refuge from their persecutions in Abyssinia, most of whom still remained there under the protection of the Najashee or Abyssinian king. To this potentate the Koreishites sent an embassy to obtain the persons of the fugitives. One of the ambassadors was Abdallah Ibn Rabia; another was Amru Ibn Al Aass, the distinguished poet who had assailed Mohammed at the outset of his mission with lampoons and madrigals. He was now more matured in years, and as remarkable for his acute sagacity as for his poetic talents. He was still a redoubtable opponent of the faith of Islam, of which in after years he was to prove one of the bravest and most distinguished champions.
Amru and Abdallah opened their embassy in the oriental style by the parade
of rich presents, and then requested, in the name of the Koreish authorities
of Mecca, that the fugitives might be delivered up to them. The king was
a just man, and summoned the Moslems before him to explain this new and
dangerous heresy of which they were accused. Among their number was Giafar,
or Jaafar, the son of Abu Taleb, and brother of Ali, consequently the cousin
of Mohammed. He was a man of persuasive eloquence and a most prepossessing
appearance. He stood forth on this occasion, and expounded the doctrines
of Islam with zeal and power. The king, who, as has been observed, was
a Nestorian Christian, found these doctrines so similar in many respects
to those of his sect, and so opposed to the gross idolatry of the Koreishites,
that, so far from giving up the fugitives, he took them more especially
into favor and protection, and returning to Amru and Abdallah the presents
they had brought, dismissed them from his court.
CHAPTER XIX.
GROWING POWER OF MOHAMMED—HIS RESENTMENT AGAINST THE JEWS—INSULT TO AN
ARAB DAMSEL BY THE JEWISH TRIBE OF KAINOKA—A TUMULT—THE BENI KAINOKA TAKE
REFUGE IN THEIR CASTLE—SUBDUED AND PUNISHED BY CONFISCATION AND BANISHMENT—MARRIAGE
OF OTHMAN TO THE PROPHET’S DAUGHTER OMM KOLTHUM AND OF THE PROPHET TO HAFZA.
THE battle of Beder had completely changed the position of Mohammed; he was now a triumphant chief of a growing power. The idolatrous tribes of Arabia were easily converted to a faith which flattered their predatory inclinations with the hope of spoil, and which, after all, professed but to bring them back to the primitive religion of their ancestors; the first cavalcade, therefore, which entered the gates of Medina with the plunder of a camp made converts of almost all its heathen inhabitants, and gave Mohammed the control of the city. His own tone now became altered, and he spoke as a lawgiver and a sovereign. The first evidence of this change of feeling was in his treatment of the Jews, of whom there were three principal and powerful families in Medina.
All the concessions made by him to that stiff-necked race had proved fruitless;
they not only remained stubborn in unbelief, but treated him and his doctrines
with ridicule. Assma, the daughter of Merwan, a Jewish poetess, wrote satires
against him. She was put to death by one of his fanatic disciples. Abu
Afak, an Israelite, one hundred and twenty years of age, was likewise slain
for indulging in satire against the prophet. Kaab Ibn Aschraf, another
Jewish poet, repaired to Mecca, after the battle of Beder, and endeavored
to stir up the Koreishites to vengeance, reciting verses in which he extolled
the virtues and bewailed the death of those of their tribe who had fallen
in the battle. Such was his infatuation that he recited these verses in
public, on his return to Medina, and in the presence of some of the prophet’s
adherents who were related to the slain. Stung by this invidious hostility,
Mohammed one day exclaimed in his anger, “Who will rid me of this son of
Aschraf?” Within a few days afterward Kaab paid for his poetry with his
life, being slain by a zealous Ansarian of the Awsite tribe.
An event at length occurred which caused the anger of Mohammed against the Jews to break out in open hostility. A damsel of one of the pastoral tribes of Arabs who brought milk to the city was one day in the quarter inhabited by the Beni Kainoka, or children of Kainoka, one of the three principal Jewish families. Here she was accosted by a number of young Israelites, who having heard her beauty extolled, besought her to uncover her face. The damsel refused an act contrary to the laws of propriety among her people. A young goldsmith, whose shop was hard by, secretly fastened the end of her veil to the bench on which she was sitting, so that when she rose to depart the garment remained, and her face was exposed to view. Upon this there was laughter and scoffing among the young Israelites, and the damsel stood in the midst confounded and abashed. A Moslem present, resenting the shame put upon her, drew his sword, and thrust it through the body of the goldsmith; he in his turn was instantly slain by the Israelites. The Moslems from a neighboring quarter flew to arms, the Beni Kainoka did the same, but being inferior in numbers, took refuge in a stronghold. Mohammed interfered to quell the tumult; but, being generally exasperated against the Israelites, insisted that the offending tribe should forthwith embrace the faith. They pleaded the treaty which he had made with them on his coming to Medina, by which they were allowed the enjoyment of their religion; but he was not to be moved. For some time the Beni Kainoka refused to yield, and remained obstinately shut up in their stronghold; but famine compelled them to surrender. Abdallah Ibn Obba Solul, the leader of the Khazradites, who was a protector of this Jewish tribe, interfered in their favor, and prevented their being put to the sword; but their wealth and effects were confiscated, and they were banished to Syria, to the number of seven hundred men.
The arms and riches accruing to the prophet and his followers from this
confiscation were of great avail in the ensuing wars of the faith. Among
the weapons which fell to the share of Mohammed are enumerated three swords:
Medham, the Keen; al Batter, the Trenchant, and Hatef, the Deadly. Two
lances, al Monthari, the Disperser, and al Monthawi, the Destroyer. A cuirass
of silver, named al Fadha, and another named al Saadia, said to have been
given by Saul to David, when about to encounter Goliath. There was a bow,
too, called al Catum, or the Strong, but it did not answer to its name,
for in the first battle in which the prophet used it he drew it with such
force that he broke it in pieces. In general he used the Arabian kind of
bow, with appropriate arrows and lances, and forbade his followers to use
those of Persia.
Mohammed now sought no longer to conciliate the Jews; on the contrary, they became objects of his religious hostility. He revoked the regulation by which he had made Jerusalem the Kebla or point of prayer, and established Mecca in its place; toward which, ever since, the Mohammedans turn their faces when performing their devotions.
The death of the prophet’s daughter Rokaia had been properly deplored by her husband Othman. To console the latter for his loss, Omar, his brother in arms, offered him, in the course of the year, his daughter Hafza for wife. She was the widow of Hobash, a Suhamite, eighteen years of age, and of tempting beauty, yet Othman declined the match. Omar was indignant at what he conceived a slight to his daughter and to himself, and complained of it to Mohammed. “Be not grieved, Omar,” replied the prophet, “a better wife is destined for Othman, and a better husband for thy daughter.” He in effect gave his own daughter Omm Kolthum to Othman, and took the fair Hafza to wife himself. By these politic alliances he grappled both Othman and Omar more strongly to his side, while he gratified his own inclinations for female beauty. Hafza, next to Ayesha, was the most favored of his wives; and was entrusted with the coffer containing the chapters and verses of the Koran as they were revealed.
CHAPTER XX.
HENDA INCITES ABU SOFIAN AND THE KOREISHITES TO REVENGE THE DEATH OF HER
RELATIONS SLAIN IN THE BATTLE OF BEDER—THE KOREISHITES SALLY FORTH, FOLLOWED
BY HENDA AND HER FEMALE COMPANIONS—BATTLE OF OHOD —FEROCIOUS TRIUMPH OF
HENDA—MOHAMMED CONSOLES HIMSELF BY MARRYING HEND, THE DAUGHTER OF OMEYA.
As the power of Mohammed increased in Medina, the hostility of the Koreishites in Mecca augmented in virulence. Abu Sofian held command in the sacred city, and was incessantly urged to warfare by his wife Henda, whose fierce spirit could take no rest, until “blood revenge” had been wreaked on those by whom her father and brother had been slain. Akrema, also, a son of Abu Jahl, and who inherited his father’s hatred of the prophet, clamored for vengeance. In the third year of the Hegira, therefore, the year after the battle of Beder, Abu Sofian took the field at the head of three thousand men, most of them Koreishites, though there were also Arabs of the tribes of Kanana and Tehama. Seven hundred were armed with corselets, and two hundred were horsemen. Akrema was one of the captains, as was also Khaled Ibn al Waled, a warrior of indomitable valor, who afterward rose to great renown. The banners were borne in front by the race of Abd al Dar, a branch of the tribe of Koreish, who had a hereditary right to the foremost place in council, the foremost rank in battle, and to bear the standard in the advance of the army.
In the rear of the host followed the vindictive Henda, with fifteen principal
women of Mecca, relatives of those slain in the battle of Beder; sometimes
filling the air with wailings and lamentations for the dead, at other times
animating the troops with the sound of timbrels and warlike chants. As
they passed through the village of Abwa, where Amina the mother of Mohammed
was interred, Henda was with difficulty prevented from tearing the mouldering
bones out of the grave.
Al Abbas, the uncle of Mohammed, who still resided in Mecca, and was considered hostile to the new faith, seeing that destruction threatened his nephew should that army come upon him by surprise, sent secretly a swift messenger to inform him of his danger. Mohammed was at the village of Koba when the message reached him. He immediately hastened back to Medina, and called a council of his principal adherents. Representing the insufficiency of their force to take the field, he gave it as his opinion that they should await an attack in Medina, where the very women and children could aid them by hurling stones from the house-tops. The elder among his followers joined in his opinion; but the young men, of heady valor at all times, and elated by the late victory at Beder, cried out for a fair fight in the open field.
Mohammed yielded to their clamors, but his forces, when mustered, were scarce a thousand men; one hundred only had cuirasses, and but two were horsemen. The hearts of those recently so clamorous to sally forth now misgave them, and they would fain await the encounter within the wails. “No,” replied Mohammed, “it becomes not a prophet when once he has drawn the sword to sheathe it; nor when once he has advanced, to turn back, until God has decided between him and the foe.” So saying, he led forth his army. Part of it was composed of Jews and Khazradites, led by Abdallah Ibn Obba Solul. Mohammed declined the assistance of the Jews, unless they embraced the faith of Islam, and as they refused, he ordered them back to Medina, upon which their protector, Abdallah, turned back also with his Khazradites, thus reducing the army to about seven hundred men.
With this small force Mohammed posted himself upon the hill of Ohod, about
six miles from Medina. His position was partly defended by rocks and the
asperities of the hill, and archers were stationed to protect him in flank
and rear from the attacks of cavalry. He was armed with a helmet and two
shirts of mail. On his sword was engraved, “Fear brings disgrace; forward
lies honor. Cowardice saves no man from his fate.” As he was not prone
to take an active part in battle, he confided his sword to a brave warrior,
Abu Dudjana, who swore to wield it as long as it had edge and temper. For
himself, he, as usual, took a commanding stand whence he might overlook
the field.
The Koreishites, confident in their numbers, came marching to the foot
of the hill with banners flying. Abu Sofian led the center; there were
a hundred horsemen on each wing; the left commanded by Akrema, the son
of Abu Jahl, the right by Khaled Ibn al Waled. As they advanced, Henda
and her companions struck their timbrels and chanted their war song, shrieking
out at intervals the names of those who had been slain in the battle of
Beder. “Courage, Sons of Abd al Dar!” cried they to the standard-bearers.
“Forward to the fight! close with the foe! strike home and spare not. Sharp
be your swords and pitiless your hearts!”
Mohammed restrained the impatience of his troops, ordering them not to
commence the fight, but to stand firm and maintain their advantage of the
rising ground. Above all, the archers were to keep to their post, let the
battle go as it might, lest the cavalry should fall upon his rear.
The horsemen of the left wing, led by Akrema, now attempted to take the
Moslems in flank, but were repulsed by the archers, and retreated in confusion.
Upon this Hamza set up the Moslem war-cry, Amit! amit! (Death! death!)
and rushed down with his forces upon the center. Abu Dudjana was at his
right hand, armed with the sword of Mohammed and having a red band round
his head, on which was written, “Help comes from God! victory is ours!”
The enemy was staggered by the shock. Abu Dudjana dashed into the midst
of them, dealing deadly blows on every side, and exclaiming, “The sword
of God and his prophet!” Seven standard-bearers, of the race of Abd el
Dar, were, one after the other, struck down, and the center began to yield.
The Moslem archers, thinking the victory secure, forgot the commands of
Mohammed, and leaving their post, dispersed in quest of spoil, crying “Booty!
booty!” Upon this Khaled, rallying the horse, got possession of the ground
abandoned by the archers, attacked the Moslems in rear, put some to flight,
and threw the rest in confusion. In the midst of the confusion a horseman,
Obbij Ibn Chalaf by name, pressed through the throng, crying, “Where is
Mohammed? There is no safety while he lives.” But Mohammed, seizing a lance
from an attendant, thrust it through the throat of the idolater, who fell
dead from his horse. “Thus,” says the pious Al Jannabi, “died this enemy
of God, who, some years before, had menaced the prophet, saying, ‘I shall
find a day to slay thee.’ ‘Have a care,’ was the reply; ‘if it please Allah,
thou thyself shall fall beneath my hand.’”
In the midst of the melee a stone from a sling struck Mohammed on the mouth, cutting his lip and knocking out one of his front teeth; he was wounded in the face also by an arrow, the iron head of which remained in the wound. Hamza, too, while slaying a Koreishite, was transfixed by the lance of Waksa, an Ethiopian slave, who had been promised his freedom if he should revenge the death of his master, slain by Hamza in the battle of Beder. Mosaab Ibn Omair, also, who bore the standard of Mohammed, was laid low, but Ali seized the sacred banner, and bore it aloft amid the storm of battle.
As Mosaab resembled the prophet in person, a shout was put up by the enemy
that Mohammed was slain. The Koreishites were inspired with redoubled ardor
at the sound; the Moslems fled in despair, bearing with them Abu Beker
and Omar, who were wounded. Raab, the son of Malek, however, beheld Mohammed
lying among the wounded in a ditch, and knew him by his armor. “Oh believers!”
cried he, “the prophet of God yet lives. To the rescue! to the rescue!”
Mohammed was drawn forth and borne up the hill to the summit of a rock,
where the Moslems prepared for a desperate defense. The Koreishites, however,
thinking Mohammed slain, forbore to pursue them, contenting themselves
with plundering and mutilating the dead. Henda and her female companions
were foremost in the savage work of vengeance; and the ferocious heroine
sought to tear out and devour the heart of Hamza. Abu Sofian bore a part
of the mangled body upon his lance, and descending the hill in triumph,
exclaimed exultingly, “War has its vicissitudes. The battle of Ohod succeeds
to the battle of Beder.”
The Koreishites having withdrawn, Mohammed descended from the rock and
visited the field of battle. At sight of the body of his uncle Hamza, so
brutally mangled and mutilated, he vowed to inflict like outrage on seventy
of the enemy when in his power. His grief, we are told, was soothed by
the angel Gabriel, who assured him that Hamza was enregistered an inhabitant
of the seventh heaven, by the title of “The lion of God and of his prophet.”
The bodies of the slain were interred two and two, and three and three, in the places where they had fallen. Mohammed forbade his followers to mourn for the dead by cutting off their hair, rending their garments, and the other modes of lamentation usual among the Arabs; but he consented that they should weep for the dead, as tears relieve the overladen heart.
The night succeeding the battle was one of great disquietude, lest the
Koreishites should make another attack, or should surprise Medina. On the
following day he marched in the direction of that city, hovering near the
enemy, and on the return of night lighting numerous watch-fires. Abu Sofian,
however, had received intelligence that Mohammed was still alive. He felt
himself too weak to attack the city, therefore, while Mohammed was in the
field, and might come to its assistance, and he feared that the latter
might be reinforced by its inhabitants, and seek him with superior numbers.
Contenting himself, therefore, with the recent victory, he made a truce
with the Moslems for a year, and returned in triumph to Mecca.
Mohammed sought consolation for this mortifying defeat by taking to himself
another wife, Hend, the daughter of Omeya, a man of great influence. She
was a widow, and had, with her husband, been among the number of the fugitives
in Abyssinia. She was now twenty-eight years of age, and had a son named
Salma, whence she was commonly called Omm Salma, or the Mother of Salma.
Being distinguished for grace and beauty, she had been sought by Abu Beker
and Omar, but without success. Even Mohammed at first met with difficulty.
“Alas!” said she, “what happiness can the prophet of God expect with me?
I am no longer young; I have a son, and I am of a jealous disposition.”
“As to thy age,” replied Mohammed, “thou art much younger than I. As to
thy son, I will be a father to him; as to thy jealous disposition, I will
pray Allah to root it from thy heart.”
A separate dwelling was prepared for the bride, adjacent to the mosque.
The household goods, as stated by a Moslem writer, consisted of a sack
of barley, a hand-mill, a pan, and a pot of lard or butter. Such were as
yet the narrow means of the prophet; or rather, such the frugality of his
habits and the simplicity of Arab life.
CHAPTER XXI.
TREACHERY OF CERTAIN JEWISH TRIBES; THEIR PUNISHMENT—DEVOTION OF THE PROPHET’S
FREEDMAN ZEID; DIVORCES HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE ZEINAB, THAT SHE MAY BECOME
THE WIFE OF THE PROPHET.
THE defeat of Mohammed at the battle of Ohod acted for a time unfavorably to his cause among some of the Arab and Jewish tribes, as was evinced by certain acts of perfidy. The inhabitants of two towns, Adhal and Kara, sent a deputation to him, professing an inclination to embrace the faith, and requesting missionaries to teach them its doctrines. He accordingly sent six disciples to accompany the deputation; but on the journey, while reposing by the brook Radje within the boundaries of the Hodseitites, the deputies fell upon the unsuspecting Moslems, slew four of them, and carried the other two to Mecca, where they gave them up to the Koreishites, who put them to death.
A similar act of treachery was practiced by the people of the province
of Nadjed. Pretending to be Moslems, they sought succor from Mohammed against
their enemies. He sent a number of his followers to their aid, who were
attacked by the Beni Suleim or Suleimites, near the brook Manna, about
four days’ journey from Medina, and slain almost to a man. One of the Moslems,
Amru Ibn Omeya, escaped the carnage and made for Medina. On the way he
met two unarmed Jews of the Beni Amir; either mistaking these for enemies,
or provoked to wanton rage by the death of his comrades, he fell upon them
and slew them. The tribe, who were at peace with Mohammed, called upon
him for redress. He referred the matter to the mediation of another Jewish
tribe, the Beni Nadher, who had rich possessions and a castle, called Zohra,
within three miles of Medina. This tribe had engaged by treaty, when he
came a fugitive from Mecca, to maintain a neutrality between him and his
opponents. The chief of this tribe being now applied to as a mediator,
invited Mohammed to an interview. He went, accompanied by Abu Beker, Omar,
Ali, and a few others. A repast was spread in the open air before the mansion
of the chief. Mohammed, however, received private information that he had
been treacherously decoyed hither and was to be slain as he sat at the
repast: it is said that he was to be crushed by a millstone, flung from
the terraced roof of the house. Without intimating his knowledge of the
treason, he left the company abruptly, and hastened back to Medina.
His rage was now kindled against the whole race of Nadher, and he ordered
them to leave the country within ten days on pain of death. They would
have departed, but Abdallah the Khazradite secretly persuaded them to stay
by promising them aid. He failed in his promise. The Beni Nadher, thus
disappointed by the “Chief of the Hypocrites,” shut themselves up in their
castle of Zohra, where they were besieged by Mohammed, who cut down and
burned the date-trees, on which they depended for supplies. At the end
of six days they capitulated, and were permitted to depart, each with a
camel load of effects, arms excepted. Some were banished to Syria, others
to Khaibar, a strong Jewish city and fortress, distant several days’ journey
from Medina. As the tribe was wealthy, there was great spoil, which Mohammed
took entirely to himself. His followers demurred that this was contrary
to the law of partition revealed in the Koran; but he let them know that,
according to another revelation, all booty gained, like the present, without
striking a blow, was not won by man, but was a gift from God, and must
be delivered over to the prophet to be expended by him in good works, and
the relief of orphans, of the poor, and the traveller. Mohammed in effect
did not appropriate it to his own benefit, but shared it among the Mohadjerins,
or exiles from Mecca; two Nadherite Jews who had embraced Islamism, and
two or three Ansarians or Auxiliaries of Medina, who had proved themselves
worthy, and were poor.
We forbear to enter into details of various petty expeditions of Mohammed
about this time, one of which extended to the neighborhood of Tabuk, on
the Syrian frontier, to punish a horde which had plundered the caravans
of Medina. These expeditions were checkered in their results, though mostly
productive of booty, which now began to occupy the minds of the Moslems
almost as much as the propagation of the faith. The spoils thus suddenly
gained may have led to riot and debauchery, as we find a revelation of
the passage of the Koran, forbidding wine and games of hazard, those fruitful
causes of strife and insubordination in predatory camps.
During this period of his career Mohammed in more than one instance narrowly escaped falling by the hand of an assassin. He himself is charged with the use of insidious means to rid himself of an enemy; for it is said that he sent Amru Ibn Omeya on a secret errand to Mecca, to assassinate Abu Sofian, but that the plot was discovered, and the assassin only escaped by rapid flight. The charge, however, is not well substantiated, and is contrary to his general character and conduct.
If Mohammed had relentless enemies, he had devoted friends, an instance
of which we have in the case of his freedman and adopted son Zeid Ibn Horeth.
He had been one of the first converts to the faith, and one of its most
valiant champions. Mohammed consulted him on all occasions, and employed
him in his domestic concerns. One day he entered his house with the freedom
with which a father enters the dwelling of a son. Zeid was absent, but
Zeinab his wife, whom he had recently married, was at home. She was the
daughter of Djasch, of the country of Kaiba, and considered the fairest
of her tribe. In the privacy of home she had laid aside her veil and part
of her attire, so that her beauty stood revealed to the gaze of Mohammed
on his sudden entrance. He could not refrain from expressions of wonder
and admiration, to which she made no reply, but repeated them all to her
husband on his return. Zeid knew the amorous susceptibility of Mohammed,
and saw that he had been captivated by the beauty of Zeinab. Hastening
after him, he offered to repudiate his wife; but the prophet forbade it
as contrary to the law. The zeal of Zeid was not to be checked; he loved
his beautiful wife, but he venerated the prophet, and he divorced himself
without delay. When the requisite term of separation had elapsed, Mohammed
accepted, with gratitude, this pious sacrifice. His nuptials with Zeinab
surpassed in splendor all his other marriages. His doors were thrown open
to all comers; they were feasted with the flesh of sheep and lambs, with
cakes of barley, with honey, and fruits, and favorite beverages; so they
ate and drank their fill and then departed—railing against the divorce
as shameful, and the marriage as incestuous.
At this critical juncture was revealed that part of the thirtythird chapter of the Koran, distinguishing relatives by adoption from relatives by blood, according to which there was no sin in marrying one who had been the wife of an adopted son. This timely revelation pacified the faithful; but, to destroy all shadow of a scruple, Mohammed revoked his adoption, and directed Zeid to resume his original appellation of Ibn Hareth, after his natural father. The beautiful Zeinab, however, boasted thenceforth a superiority over the other wives of the prophet on the score of the revelation, alleging that her marriage was ordained by heaven.
This was Mohammed’s second wife of the name of Zeinab; the first, who had
died some time previous, was the daughter of Chuzelma.
CHAPTER XXII.
EXPEDITION OF MOHAMMED AGAINST THE BENI MOSTALEK— HE ESPOUSES BARRA, A
CAPTIVE—TREACHERY OF ABDALLAH IBN OBBA — AYESHA SLANDERED — HER VINDICATION
— HER INNOCENCE PROVED BY A REVELATION.
AMONG the Arab tribes which ventured to take up arms against Mohammed after
his defeat at Ohod, were the Beni Mostalek, a powerful race of Koreishite
origin. Mohammed received intelligence of their being assembled in warlike
guise under their prince Al Hareth, near the wells of Moraisi, in the territory
of Kedaid, and within five miles of the Red Sea. He immediately took the
field at the head of a chosen band of the faithful, accompanied by numbers
of the Khazradites, led by their chief Abdallah Ibn Obba. By a rapid movement
he surprised the enemy; Al Hareth was killed at the onset by the flight
shot of an arrow; his troops fled in confusion after a brief resistance,
in which a few were slain. Two hundred prisoners, five thousand sheep,
and one thousand camels were the fruits of this easy victory. Among the
captives was Barra, the daughter of Al Hareth, and wife to a young Arab
of her kin. In the division of the spoil she fell to the lot of Thabet
Ibn Reis, who demanded a high ransom. The captive appealed to Mohammed
against this extortion, and prayed that the ransom might be mitigated.
The prophet regarded her with eyes of desire, for she was fair to look
upon. “I can serve thee better,” said he, “than by abating thy ransom:
be my wife.” The beautiful Barra gave ready consent; her ransom was paid
by the prophet to Thabet; her kindred were liberated by the Moslems, to
whose lot they had fallen; most of them embraced the faith, and Barra became
the wife of Mohammed after his return to Medina.
After the battle the troops crowded round the wells of Moraisi to assuage
their thirst. In the press a quarrel rose between some of the Mohadjerins,
or exiles of Mecca, and the Khazradites, in which one of the latter received
a blow. His comrades rushed to revenge the insult, and blood would have
been shed but for the interference of Mohammed. The Khazradites remained
incensed, and other of the people of Medina made common cause with them.
Abdallah Ibn Obba, eager to take advantage of every circumstance adverse
to the rising power of Mohammed, drew his kindred and townsfolk apart.
“Behold;” said he, “the insults you have brought upon yourselves by harboring
these fugitive Koreishites. You have taken them to your houses and given
them your goods, and now they turn upon and maltreat you. They would make
themselves your masters even in your own house; but by Allah, when we return
to Medina, we will see which of us is strongest.”
Secret word was brought to Mohammed of this seditious speech. Omar counselled
him at once to make way with Abdallah; but the prophet feared to excite
the vengeance of the kindred and adherents of the powerful Khazradite.
To leave no time for mutiny, he set off immediately on the homeward march,
although it was in the heat of the day, and continued on throughout the
night, nor halted until the following noon, when the wearied soldiery cared
for nothing but repose.
On arriving at Medina, he called Abdallah to account for his seditious
expressions. He flatly denied them, pronouncing the one who had accused
him a liar. A revelation from heaven, however, established the charge against
him and his adherents. “These are the men,” says the Koran, “who say to
the inhabitants of Medina, do not bestow anything on the refugees who are
with the apostle of God, that they may be compelled to separate from him.
They say, verily, if we return to Medina, the worthier will expel thence
the meaner. God curse them! how are they turned aside from the truth.”
Some of the friends of Abdallah, convinced by this revelation, advised
him to ask pardon of the prophet; but be spurned their counsel. “You have
already,” said he, “persuaded me to give this man my countenance and friendship,
and now you would have me put myself beneath his very feet.”
Nothing could persuade him that Mohammed was not an idolater at heart,
and his revelations all imposture and deceit. He considered him, however,
a formidable rival, and sought in every way to injure and annoy him. To
this implacable hostility is attributed a scandalous story which he propagated
about Ayesha, the favorite wife of the prophet.
It was the custom with Mohammed always to have one of his wives with him,
on his military expeditions, as companion and solace; she was taken by
lot, and on the recent occasion the lot had fallen on Ayesha. She travelled
in a litter, enclosed by curtains, and borne on the back of a camel, which
was led by an attendant. On the return homeward, the army, on one occasion,
coming to a halt, the attendants of Ayesha were astonished to find the
litter empty. Before they had recovered from their surprise, she arrived
on a camel, led by a youthful Arab named Safwan Ibn al Moattel. This circumstance
having come to the knowledge of Abdallah, he proclaimed it to the world
after his return to Medina, affirming that Ayesha had been guilty of wantonness
with the youthful Safwan.
The story was eagerly caught up and circulated by Hamna, the sister of
the beautiful Zeinab, whom Mohammed had recently espoused, and who hoped
to benefit her sister by the downfall of her deadly rival Ayesha; it was
echoed also by Mistah, a kinsman of Abu Beker, and was celebrated in satirical
verses by a poet named Hasan.
It was some time before Ayesha knew of the scandal thus circulating at her expense. Sickness had confined her to the house on her return to Medina, and no one ventured to tell her of what she was accused. She remarked, however, that the prophet was stern and silent, and no longer treated her with his usual tenderness. On her recovery she heard with consternation the crime alleged against her, and protested her innocence. The following is her version of the story.
The army on its homeward march had encamped not far from Medina, when orders
were given in the night to march. The attendants, as usual, brought a camel
before the tent of Ayesha, and placing the litter on the ground, retired
until she could take her seat within it. As she was about to enter she
missed her necklace, and returned into the tent to seek it. In the mean
time the attendants lifted the litter upon the camel and strapped it fast,
not perceiving that it was empty; she being slender and of little weight.
When she returned from seeking the necklace, the camel was gone, and the
army was on the march; whereupon she wrapped herself in her mantle and
sat down, trusting that, when her absence should be discovered, some persons
would be sent back in quest of her.
While thus seated, Safwan Ibn al Moattel. the young Arab, being one of the rear-guard, came up, and, recognizing her, accosted her with the usual Moslem salutation. “To God we belong, and to God we must return! Wife of the prophet. why dost thou remain behind?”
Ayesha made no reply, but drew her veil closer over her face. Safwan then
alighted, aided her to mount the camel, and, taking the bridle, hastened
to rejoin the army. The sun had risen, however, before he overtook it,
just without the walls of Medina.
This account, given by Ayesha, and attested by Safwan Ibn al Moattel, was
satisfactory to her parents and particular friends, but was scoffed at
by Abdallah and his adherents, “the Hypocrites.” Two parties thus arose
on the subject, and great strife ensued. As to Ayesha, she shut herself
up within her dwelling, refusing all food, and weeping day and night in
the bitterness of her soul.
Mohammed was sorely troubled in mind, and asked counsel of Ali in his perplexity.
The latter made light of the affair, observing that his misfortune was
the frequent lot of man. The prophet was but little consoled by this suggestion.
He remained separated from Ayesha for a month; but his heart yearned toward
her; not merely on account of her beauty, but because he loved her society.
In a paroxysm of grief, he fell into one of those trances which unbelievers
have attributed to epilepsy; in the course of which he received a seasonable
revelation, which will be found in a chapter of the Koran. It was to this
effect.
They who accuse a reputable female of adultery, and produce not four witnesses
of the fact, shall be scourged with fourscore stripes, and their testimony
rejected. As to those who have made the charge against Ayesha, have they
produced four witnesses thereof? If they have not, they are liars in the
sight of God. Let them receive, therefore, the punishment of their crime.
The innocence of the beautiful Ayesha being thus miraculously made manifest, the prophet took her to his bosom with augmented affection. Nor was he slow in dealing the prescribed castigation. It is true Abdallah Ibn Obba was too powerful a personage to be subjected to the scourge, but it fell the heavier on the shoulders of his fellow calumniators. The poet Hasan was cured for some time of his propensity to make satirical verses, nor could Hamna, though a female and of great personal charms, escape the infliction of stripes; for Mohammed observed that such beauty should have been accompanied by a gentler nature.
The revelation at once convinced the pious Ali of the purity of Ayesha;
but she never forgot nor forgave that he had doubted; and the hatred thus
implanted in her bosom was manifested to his great detriment in many of
the most important concerns of his after life.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE BATTLE OF THE MOAT—BRAVERY OF SAAD IBN MOAD—DEFEAT OF THE KOREISHITES—CAPTURE
OF THE JEWISH CASTLE OF KORAIDA—SAAD DECIDES AS TO THE PUNISHMENT OF THE
JEWS—MOHAMMED ESPOUSES REHANA, A JEWISH CAPTIVE—HIS LIFE ENDANGERED BY
SORCERY; SAVED BY A REVELATION OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL.
DURING the year of truce which succeeded the battle of Ohod, Abu Sofian,
the restless chief of the Koreishites, formed a confederacy with the Arab
tribe of Ghatafan and other tribes of the desert, as well as with many
of the Jews of the race of Nadher, whom Mohammed had driven from their
homes. The truce being ended, he prepared to march upon Medina, with these
confederates, their combined forces amounting to ten thousand men.
Mohammed had early intelligence of the meditated attack, but his late reverse
at Ohod made him wary of taking the field against such numbers; especially
as he feared the enemy might have secret allies in Medina; where he distrusted
the Jewish inhabitants and the Hypocrites, the partisans of Abdallah Ibn
Obba, who were numerous and powerful.
Great exertions were now made to put the city in a state of defense. Salman the Persian, who had embraced the faith, advised that a deep moat should be digged at some distance beyond the wall, on the side on which the enemy would approach. This mode of defense, hitherto unused in Arabia, was eagerly adopted by Mohammed, who set a great number of men to dig the moat, and even assisted personally in the labor. Many miracles are recorded of him during the progress of this work. At one time, it is said, he fed a great multitude from a single basket of dates, which remained full after all were satisfied. At another time he feasted a thousand men upon a roasted lamb and a loaf of barley bread; yet enough remained for all his fellow-laborers in the moat. Nor must we omit to note the wonderful blows which he gave to a rock with an iron mallet, striking off sparks which in one direction lighted up all Yemen, or Arabia the Happy; in another revealed the imperial palace at Constantinople; and in a third illumined the towers of the royal residence of Persia—all signs and portents of the future conquests of Islam.
Scarcely was the moat completed when the enemy appeared in great force
on the neighboring hills. Leaving Ibn Omm Mactum, a trusty officer, to
command in the city, and keep a vigilant eye on the disaffected, Mohammed
sallied forth with three thousand men, whom he formed in battle array,
having the deep moat in front. Abu Sofian advanced confidently with his
combined force of Koreishites and Ghatafanites, but was unexpectedly checked
by the moat, and by a galling fire from the Moslems drawn up beyond it.
The enemy now encamped; the Koreishites in the lower part of the valley,
and the Ghatafanites in the upper; and for some days the armies remained
on each side of the moat, keeping up a distant combat with slings and stones
and flights of arrows.
In the mean time spies brought word to Mohammed that a Jewish tribe, the Beni Koraida, who had a strong castle near the city, and had made a covenant of peace with him, were in secret league with the enemy. He now saw the difficulty with his scanty forces to man the whole extent of the moat; to guard against a perfidious attack from the Koraidites, and to maintain quiet in the city where the Jews must have secret confederates. Summoning a council of war he consulted with his captains on the policy of bribing the Ghatafanites to a separate peace by offering them a third of the date-harvest of Medina. Upon this, Saad Ibn Moad, a stout leader of the Awsites of Medina, demanded: “Do you propose this by the command of Allah, or is it an idea of your own?” “If it had been a command of Allah,” replied Mohammed, “I should never have asked your advice. I see you pressed by enemies on every side, and I seek to break their confederacy.” “Oh prophet of God!” rejoined Saad, “when we were fellow-idolaters with these people of Ghatafan, they got none of our dates without paying for them; and shall we give them up gratuitously now that we are of the true faith, and led by thee? No, by Allah! if they want our dates they must win them with their swords!”
The stout Saad had his courage soon put to the proof. A prowling party
of Koreishite horsemen, among whom was Akrema, the son of Abu Jahl, and
Amru, uncle of Mohammed’s first wife Khadijah, discovered a place where
the moat was narrow, and putting spurs to their steeds succeeded in leaping
over, followed by some of their comrades. They then challenged the bravest
of the Moslems to equal combat. The challenge was accepted by Saad Ibn
Moad, by Ali, and several of their companions. Ali had a close combat with
Amru; they fought on horseback and on foot, until, grappling with each
other, they rolled in the dust. In the end Ali was victorious, and slew
his foe. The general conflict was maintained with great obstinacy; several
were slain on both sides, and Saad Ibn Moad was severely wounded. At length
the Koreishites gave way, and spurred their horses to recross the moat.
The steed of one of them, Nawfal Ibn Abdallah, leaped short; his rider
was assailed with stones while in the moat, and defied the Moslems to attack
him with nobler weapons. In an instant Ali sprang down into the moat, and
Nawfal soon fell beneath his sword. Ali then joined his companions in pursuit
of the retreating foe, and wounded Akrema with a javelin. This skirmish
was dignified with the name of the battle of the Moat.
Mohammed, still unwilling to venture a pitched battle, sent Rueim, a secretly
converted Arab of the tribe of Ghatafan, to visit the camps of the confederates
and artfully to sow dissensions among them. Rueim first repaired to the
Koraidites, with whom he was in old habits of friendship. “What folly is
this,” said he, “to suffer yourselves to be drawn by the Koreishites of
Mecca into their quarrel. Bethink you how different is your situation from
theirs. If defeated, they have only to retreat to Mecca, and be secure.
Their allies from the desert will also retire to their distant homes, and
you will be left to bear the whole brunt of the vengeance of Mohammed and
the people of Medina. Before you make common cause with them, therefore,
let them pledge themselves and give hostages, never to draw back until
they have broken the power of Mohammed.”
He then went to the Koreishites and the tribe of Ghatafan, and warned them
against confiding in the Jews of Koraida, who intended to get hostages
from them, and deliver them up into the hands of Mohammed.
The distrust thus artfully sown among the confederates soon produced its
effects. Abu Sofian sent word on Friday evening, to the Koraidites, to
be ready to join next morning in a general assault. The Jews replied that
the following day was their Sabbath, on which they could not engage in
battle; at the same time they declined to join in any hostile act, unless
their allies should give hostages to stand by them to the end.
The Koreishites and Ghatafanites were now convinced of the perfidy of the Koraidites, and dared not venture upon the meditated attack, lest these should fall upon them in the rear. While they lay idly in their camp a cold storm came on, with drenching rain and sweeping blasts from the desert. Their tents were blown down; their camp-fires were extinguished; in the midst of the uproar the alarm was given that Mohammed had raised the storm by enchantment, and was coming upon them with his forces. All now was panic and confusion. Abu Sofian, finding all efforts vain to produce order, mounted his camel in despair, and gave the word to retreat. The confederates hurried off from the scene of tumult and terror, the Koreishites toward Mecca, the others to their homes in the desert.
Abu Sofian, in rage and mortification, wrote a letter to Mohammed, upbraiding
him with his cowardice in lurking behind a ditch, a thing unknown in Arabian
warfare; and threatening to take his revenge on some future day, when they
might meet in open fight, as in the field of Ohod. Mohammed hurled back
a defiance, and predicted that the day was approaching when he would break
in pieces the idols of the Koreishites.
The invaders having disappeared, Mohammed turned to take vengeance on the
Beni Koraida, who shut themselves up in their castle, and withstood a siege
of many days. At length, pinched by famine, they implored the intercession
of their ancient friends and protectors, the Awsites. The latter entreated
the prophet to grant these Hebrews the same terms he had formerly granted
to the Beni Kainoka, at the prayer of Abdallah the Khazradite. Mohammed
reflected a moment, and offered to leave their fate to the decision of
Saad Ibn Moad, the Awsite chief. The Koraidites gladly agreed, knowing
him to have been formerly their friend. They accordingly surrendered themselves
to the number of seven hundred and were conducted in chains to Medina.
Unfortunately for them, Saad considered their perfidious league with the
enemy as one cause of the recent hostility. He was still smarting with
the wound received in the battle of the Moat, and in his moments of pain
and anger had repeatedly prayed that his life might be spared to see vengeance
wreaked on the Koraidites. Such was the state of his feelings when summoned
to decide upon their fate.
Being a gross, full-blooded man, he was with difficulty helped upon an
ass, propped up by a leathern cushion, and supported in his seat until
he arrived at the tribunal of justice. Before ascending it, he exacted
an oath from all present to abide by his decision. The Jews readily took
it, anticipating a favorable sentence. No sooner was he helped into the
tribunal, than, extending his hand, he condemned the men to death, the
women and children to slavery, and their effects to be shared among the
victors.
The wretched Jews looked aghast, but there was no appeal. They were conducted
to a public place since called the Market of the Koraidites, where great
graves had been digged. Into these they were compelled to descend, one
by one, their prince Hoya Ibn Ahktab among the number, and were successively
put to death. Thus the prayer of Saad Ibn Moad for vengeance on the Koraidites
was fully gratified, He witnessed the execution of the men he had condemned,
but such was his excitement that his wound broke out afresh, and he died
shortly afterward.
In the Castle of Koraida was found a great quantity of pikes, lances, cuirasses,
and other armor; and its lands were covered with flocks, and herds, and
camels. In dividing the spoil each foot soldier had one lot, each horseman
three; two for his horse and one for himself. A fifth part of the whole
was set apart for the prophet.
The most precious prize in the eyes of Mohammed was Rihana, daughter of
Simeon, a wealthy and powerful Jew, and the most beautiful female of her
tribe. He took her to himself, and, having converted her to the faith,
added her to the number of his wives.
But, though thus susceptible of the charms of the Israelitish women, Mohammed
became more and more vindictive in his hatred of the men; no longer putting
faith in their covenants, and suspecting them of the most insidious attempts
upon his life. Moslem writers attribute to the spells of Jewish sorcerers
a long and languishing illness, with which he was afflicted about this
time, and which seemed to defy all remedy. They describe the very charm
by which it was produced. It was prepared, say they, by a Jewish necromancer
from the mountains, aided by his daughters, who were equally skilled in
the diabolic art. They formed a small waxen effigy of Mohammed; wound round
it some of his hair, and thrust through it eleven needles. They then made
eleven knots in a bow-string, blowing with their breaths on each; and,
winding a string round the effigy, threw the whole into a well.
Under the influence of this potent spell Mohammed wasted away, until his friend, the angel Gabriel, revealed the secret to him in a vision. On awaking he sent Ali to the well, where the image was discovered. When it was brought to Mohammed, continues the legend, he repeated over it the two last chapters of the Koran, which had been communicated to him in the recent vision. They consist of eleven verses, and are to the following purport.
In the name of the all merciful God! I will fly for refuge to the Lord
of the light of day.
That he may deliver me from the danger of beings and things created by
himself.
From the dangers of the darksome night, and of the moon when in eclipse.
From the danger of sorcerers, who tie knots and blow on them with their
breath.
From the danger of the envious, who devise deadly harm.
I will fly for refuge to Allah, the Lord of men.
To Allah, the King of men.
To Allah, the God of men.
That he may deliver me from the evil spirit who flies at the mention of
his holy name.
Who suggests evil thoughts into the hearts of the children of men.
And from the evil Genii and men who deal in magic.
At the repetition of each one of these verses, says the legend, a knot
of the bowstring came loose, a needle fell from the effigy, and Mohammed
gained strength. At the end of the the eleventh verse he rose, renovated
in health and vigor, as one restored to freedom after having been bound
with cords.
The two final chapters of the Koran, which comprise these verses, are entitled
the amulets, and considered by the superstitious Moslems effectual talismans
against sorcery and magic charms.
The conduct of Mohammed in the affair narrated in this chapter has been
censured as weak and vacillating, and deficient in military decision, and
his measures as wanting in true greatness of mind, and the following circumstances
are adduced to support these charges. When threatened with violence from
without, and perfidy from within, he is for bribing a part of his confederate
foes to a separate peace; but suffers himself to be, in a manner, hectored
out of this crafty policy by Saad Ibn Moad; yet, subsequently, he resorts
to a scheme still more subtle and crafty, by which he sows dissension among
his enemies. Above all, his conduct toward the Jews has been strongly reprobated.
His referring the appeal of the Beni Koraida for mercy, to the decision
of one whom he knew to be bent on their destruction, has been stigmatized
as cruel mockery; and the massacre of those unfortunate men in the market-place
of Medina is pronounced one of the darkest pages of his history. In fact,
his conduct toward this race from the time that he had power in his hands
forms an exception to the general tenor of his disposition, which was forgiving
and humane. He may have been especially provoked against them by proofs
of treachery and deadly rancor on their part; but we see in this, as in
other parts of his policy in this part of his career, instances of that
worldly alloy which at times was debasing his spirit, now that he had become
the Apostle of the Sword.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MOHAMMED UNDERTAKES A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA—EVADES KHALED AND A TROOP OF
HORSE SENT AGAINST HIM—ENCAMPS NEAR MECCA—NEGOTIATES WITH THE KOREISHITES
FOR PERMISSION TO ENTER AND COMPLETE HIS PILGRIMAGE—TREATY FOR TEN YEARS,
BY WHICH HE IS PERMITTED TO MAKE A YEARLY VISIT OF THREE DAYS—HE RETURNS
TO MEDINA.
Six years had now elapsed since the flight of Mohammed from Mecca. As that
city was sacred in the eyes of the Arabs and their great point of pilgrimage,
his long exile from it, and his open warfare with the Koreishites, who
had charge of the Kaaba, prejudiced him in the opinion of many of the tribes,
and retarded the spread of his doctrines. His followers, too, who had accompanied
him in his flight, languished once more to see their native home, and there
was danger of their faith becoming enfeebled under a protracted exile.
Mohammed felt more and more the importance of linking the sacred city with
his religion, and maintaining the ancient usages of his race. Besides,
he claimed but to be a reformer, anxious to restore the simplicity and
purity of the patriarchal faith. The month Doul Kaada was at hand, the
month of pilgrimage, when there was a truce to warfare, and enemies might
meet in peace within the holy boundaries. A timely vision assured Mohammed
that he and his followers might safely avail themselves of the protection
of this venerable custom to revisit the ancient shrines of Arabian worship.
The revelation was joyfully received by his followers, and in the holy
month he set forth for Medina on his pilgrimage, at the head of fourteen
hundred men, partly Mohadjerins or Fugitives, and partly Ansarians or Auxiliaries.
They took with them seventy camels to be slain in sacrifice at the Kaaba.
To manifest publicly that they came in peace and not in war, they halted
at Dsu Huleifa, a village about a day’s journey from Medina, where they
laid aside all their weapons, excepting their sheathed swords, and thence
continued on in pilgrim garb.
In the mean time a confused rumor of this movement had reached Mecca. The
Koreishites, suspecting hostilities, sent forth Khaled Ibn Waled with a
powerful troop of horse, to take post in a valley about two days’ journey
from Mecca, and check the advance of the Moslems.
Mohammed, hearing that the main road was thus barred against him, took a rugged and difficult route through the defiles of the mountains, and, avoiding Khaled and his forces, descended into the plain near Mecca, where he encamped at Hodeiba, within the sacred boundaries. Hence he sent assurances to the Koreishites of his peaceable intentions, and claimed the immunities and rights of pilgrimage.
Envoys from the Koreishites visited his camp to make observations. They
were struck with the reverence with which he was regarded by his followers.
The water with which he performed his ablutions became sanctified; a hair
falling from his head, or the paring of a nail, was caught up as a precious
relic. One of the envoys in the course of conversation, unconsciously touched
the flowing beard of the prophet; he was thrust back by the disciples,
and warned of the impiety of the act. In making his report to the Koreishites
on his return, “I have seen the king of Persia and the emperor of Constantinople
surrounded by their courts,” said he, “but never did I behold a sovereign
so revered by his subjects, as is Mohammed by his. followers.”
The Koreishites were the more loath to admit into their city an adversary to their sect, so formidable in his influence over the minds and affections of his fellow-men. Mohammed sent repeated missions to treat for a safe access to the sacred shrines, but in vain. Othman Ibn Affan, his son-in-law, was his last envoy. Several days elapsed without his return, and it was rumored that he was slain. Mohammed determined to revenge his fall. Standing under a tree, and summoning his people around him, he exacted an oath to defend him even to the death, and never to desert the standard of the faith. This ceremony is known among Mohammedans by the name of the Spontaneous Inauguration.
The reappearance of Othman in the camp restored tranquility. He was accompanied
by Solhail, an ambassador from the Koreishites, to arrange a treaty of
peace. They perceived the impolicy of warring with a man whose power was
incessantly increasing, and who was obeyed with such fanatic devotion.
The treaty proposed was for ten years, during which time Mohammed and his
adherents were to have free access to Mecca as pilgrims, there to remain,
three days at a time, in the exercise of their religious rites. The terms
were readily accepted, and Ali was employed to draw up the treaty. Mohammed
dictated the words. “Write,” said he, “these are the conditions of peace
made by Mohammed the apostle of God.” “Hold!” cried Solhail, the ambassador;
“had I believed thee to be the apostle of God, I should never have taken
up arms against thee. Write, therefore, simply thy name, and the name of
thy father.” Mohammed was fain to comply, for he felt he was not sufficiently
in force at this moment to contend about forms; so he merely denominated
himself in the treaty, Mohammed Ibn Abdallah (Mohammed the son of Abdallah),
an abnegation which gave some little scandal to his followers. Their discontent
was increased when he ordered them to shave their heads, and to sacrifice
on the spot the camels brought to be offered up at the Kaaba, as it showed
he had not the intention of entering Mecca, these rites being properly
done at the conclusion of the ceremonials of pilgrimage. They reminded
him of his vision which promised a safe entrance of the sacred city; he
replied, that the present treaty was an earnest of its fulfillment, which
would assuredly take place on the following year. With this explanation
they had to content themselves; and having performed the ceremony, and
made the sacrifice prescribed, the camp was broken up, and the pilgrim
host returned, somewhat disappointed and dejected, to Medina.
CHAPTER XXV.
EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CITY OF KHAIBAR; SIEGE—EXPLOITS OF MOHAMMED’S CAPTAINS—BATTLE
OF ALI AND MARHAB—STORMING OF THE CITADEL—ALI MAKES A BUCKLER OF THE GATE—
CAPTURE OF THE PLACE—MOHAMMED POISONED; HE MARRIES SAFIYA, A CAPTIVE; ALSO
OMM HABIBA, A WIDOW.
To console his followers for the check their religious devotion had experienced
at Mecca, Mohammed now set on foot an expedition calculated to gratify
that love of plunder, which began to rival fanaticism in attaching them
to his standard.
About five days’ journey to the northeast of Medina was situated the city
of Khaibar, and its dependent territory. It was inhabited by Jews, who
had grown wealthy by commerce as as well as agriculture. Their rich domain
was partly cultivated with grain, and planted with groves of palm-trees;
partly devoted to pasturage and covered with flocks and herds; and it was
fortified by several castles. So venerable was its antiquity that Abulfeda,
the Arabian historian, assures us that Moses, after the passage of the
Red Sea, sent an army against the Amalekites, inhabiting Gothreb (Medina),
and the strong city of Khaibar.
This region had become a place of refuge for the hostile Jews, driven by
Mohammed from Medina and its environs, and for all those who had made themselves
obnoxious to his vengeance. These circumstances, together with its teeming
wealth, pointed it out as a fit and ripe object for that warfare which
he had declared against all enemies of the faith.
In the beginning of the seventh year of the Hegira, he departed on an expedition
against Khaibar, at the head of twelve hundred foot and two hundred horse,
accompanied by Abu Beker, by Ali, by Omar, and other of his principal officers.
He had two standards; one represented the sun, the other a black eagle;
which last became famous in after years as the standard of Khaled.
Entering the fertile territory of Khaibar, he began his warfare by assailing the inferior castles with which it was studded. Some of these capitulated without making resistance; in which cases, being considered “gifts from God,” the spoils went to the prophet, to be disposed of by him in the way before mentioned. Others of more strength, and garrisoned by stouter hearts, had to be taken by storm.
After the capture of these minor fortresses, Mohammed advanced against the city of Khaibar. It was strongly defended by outworks, and its citadel, Al Kamus, built on a steep rock, was deemed impregnable, insomuch that Kenana Ibn al Rabi, the chief or king of the nation, had made it the depository of all his treasures.
The siege of this city was the most important enterprise the Moslems had
yet undertaken. When Mohammed first came in sight of its strong and frowning
walls, and its rock-built citadel, he is said to have put up the following
prayer:
“Oh Allah! Lord of the seven heavens, and of all things which they cover!
Lord of the seven earths, and all which they sustain! Lord of the evil
spirits, and of all whom they lead astray! Lord of the winds, and of all
whom they scatter and disperse! We supplicate thee to deliver into our
hands this city, and all that it contains, and the riches of all its lands.
To thee we look for aid against this people, and against all the perils
by which we are environed.”
To give more solemnity to his prayers, he chose as his place of worship
a great rock, in a stony place called Mansela, and, during all the time
that he remained encamped before Khaibar, made daily seven circuits round
it, as are made round the Kaaba. A mosque was erected on this rock in after
times in memorial of this devout ceremonial, and it became an object of
veneration to all pious Moslems.
The siege of the citadel lasted for some time, and tasked the skill and
patience of Mohammed and his troops, as yet but little practiced in the
attack of fortified places. They suffered too from want of provisions,
for the Arabs in their hasty expeditions seldom burden themselves with
supplies, and the Jews on their approach had laid waste the level country,
and destroyed the palm-trees round their capital.
Mohammed directed the attacks in person; the besiegers protected themselves
by trenches, and brought battering-rams to play upon the walls; a breach
was at length effected, but for several days every attempt to enter was
vigorously repelled. Abu Beker at one time led the assault, bearing the
standard of the prophet; but, after fighting with great bravery, was compelled
to retreat. The next attack was headed by Omar Ibn Khattab, who fought
until the close of day with no better success. A third attack was led by
Ali, whom Mohammed armed with his own scimitar, called Dhu’l-Fakâr, or
the Trenchant. On confiding to his hands the sacred banner, he pronounced
him “a man who loved God and his prophet; and whom God and his prophet
loved. A man who knew not fear, nor ever turned his back upon a foe.”
And here it may be well to give a traditional account of the person and
character of Ali. He was of the middle height, but robust and square, and
of prodigious strength. He had a smiling countenance, exceedingly florid,
with a bushy beard. He was distinguished for an amiable disposition, sagacious
intellect, and religious zeal, and, from his undaunted courage, was surnamed
the Lion of God.
Arabian writers dwell with fond exaggeration on the exploits at Khaibar
of this their favorite hero. He was clad, they say, in a scarlet vest,
over which was buckled a cuirass of steel. Scrambling with his followers
up the great heap of stones and rubbish in front of the breach, he planted
his standard on the top, determined never to recede until the citadel was
taken. The Jews sallied forth to drive down the assailants. In the conflict
which ensued, Ali fought hand to hand with the Jewish commander, Al Hareth,
whom he slew. The brother of the slain advanced to revenge his death. He
was of gigantic stature, with a double cuirass, a double turban, wound
round a helmet of proof, in front of which sparkled an immense diamond.
He had a sword girt to each side, and brandished a three-pronged spear,
like a trident. The warriors measured each other with the eye, and accosted
each other in boasting oriental style.
“I” said the Jew, “am Marhab, armed at all points, and terrible in battle.”
“And I am Ali, whom his mother, at his birth, surnamed Al Haidara (the
rugged lion).”
The Moslem writers make short work of the Jewish champion. He made a thrust
at Ali with his three-pronged lance, but it was dexterously parried, and
before he could recover himself, a blow from the scimitar Dhu’l-Fakâr divided
his buckler, passed through the helm of proof, through doubled turban and
stubborn skull, cleaving his head even to his teeth. His gigantic form
fell lifeless to the earth.
The Jews now retreated into the citadel, and a genera assault took place.
In the heat of the action the shield of Ali was severed from his arm, leaving
his body exposed; wrenching a gate, however, from its hinges, he used it
as a buckler through the remainder of the fight. Abu Râfe, a servant of
Mohammed, testifies to the fact. “I afterward,” says he, “examined this
gate in company with seven men, and all eight of us attempted in vain to
wield it.”
This stupendous feat is recorded by the historian Abulfeda, c. 24. “Abu Rafe,” observes Gibbon, “was an eye-witness; but who will be witness for Abu Rafe?” We join with the distinguished historian in his doubt; yet if we scrupulously question the testimony of an eye witness, what will become of history?
The citadel being captured, every vault and dungeon was ransacked for the
wealth said to be deposited there by Kenana, the Jewish prince. None being
discovered, Mohammed demanded of him where he had concealed his treasure.
He declared that it had all been expended in the subsistence of his troops,
and in preparations for defense. One of his faithless subjects, however,
revealed the place where a great amount had been hidden. It did not equal
the expectations of the victors, and Kenana was put to the torture to reveal
the rest of his supposed wealth. He either could not or would not make
further discoveries, so he was delivered up to the vengeance of a Moslem,
whose brother he had crushed to death by a piece of millstone hurled from
the wall, and who struck off his head with a single blow of his saber.
The Jews inhabiting the tract of country called Khaibar are still known in Arabia by the name of Beni Kheibar. They are divided into three tribes, under independent Sheikhs, the Beni Messiad, Beni Schahan, and Beni Anaesse. They are accused of pillaging the caravans.—Niebuhr, v. ii. p. 43.
While in the citadel of Khaibar, Mohammed came near falling a victim to Jewish vengeance. Demanding something to eat, a shoulder of lamb was set before him. At the first mouthful he perceived something unusual in the taste, and spat it forth, but instantly felt acute internal pain. One of his followers, named Baschar, who had eaten more freely, fell down and expired in convulsions. All now was confusion and consternation: on diligent inquiry, it was found that the lamb had been cooked by Zainab, a female captive, niece to Marhab, the gigantic warrior slain by Ali. Being brought before Mohammed, and charged with having infused poison into the viand, she boldly avowed it, vindicating it as a justifiable revenge for the ills he had brought upon her tribe and her family. “I thought,” said she, “if thou wert indeed a prophet, thou wouldst discover thy danger; if but a chieftain, thou wouldst fall, and we should be delivered from a tyrant.”
Arabian writers are divided as to the fate of this heroine. According to some, she was delivered up to the vengeance of the relatives of Baschar, who had died of the poison. According to others, her beauty pleaded in her behalf, and Mohammed restored her unharmed to her family.
The same writers seldom permit any remarkable event of Mohammed’s life
to pass without a miracle. In the present instance, they assure us that
the poisoned shoulder of lamb became miraculously gifted with speech, and
warned Mohammed of his danger. If so, it was rather slow of speech, for
he had imbibed sufficient poison to injure his constitution throughout
the remainder of his life, affecting him often with paroxysms of pain;
and in his last moments he complained that the veins of his heart throbbed
with the poison of Khaibar. He experienced kinder treatment at the hands
of Safiya (or Sophia), another female captive, who had still greater motives
for vengeance than Zainab; for she was the recently espoused wife of Kenana,
who had just been sacrificed for his wealth, and she was the daughter of
Hoya Ibn Akhtab, prince of the Beni Koraida, who, with seven hundred of
his people, had been put to death in the square of Medina, as has been
related.
This Safiya was of great beauty; it is not surprising, therefore, that she should find instant favor in the eyes of Mohammed, and that he should seek, as usual, to add her to his harem; but it may occasion surprise that she should contemplate such a lot with complacency. Moslem writers, however, explain this by assuring us that she was supernaturally prepared for the event.
While Mohammed was yet encamped before the city, and carrying on the siege,
she had a vision of the night, in which the sun descended from the firmament
and nestled in her bosom. On recounting her dream to her husband Kenana
in the morning, he smote her on the face, exclaiming, “Woman, you speak
in parables of this Arab chief who has come against us.”
The vision of Safiya was made true, for having converted her with all decent haste to the faith of Islam, Mohammed took her to wife before he left Khaibar. Their nuptials took place on the homeward march, at Al Sahba, where the army halted for three days. Abu Ayub, one of the prophet’s most ardent disciples and marshal of his household, patrolled around the nuptial tent throughout the night, sword in hand. Safiya was one of the most favored wives of Mohammed, whom she survived for forty years of widowhood.
Besides the marriages of affection which we have recorded, the prophet,
about this time, made another of policy. Shortly after his return to Medina
he was gladdened by the arrival, from Abyssinia, of the residue of the
fugitives. Among these was a comely widow, thirty years of age, whose husband,
Abdallah, had died while in exile. She was generally known by the name
of Omm Habiba, the mother of Habiba, from a daughter to whom she had given
birth. This widow was the daughter of Mohammed’s arch enemy, Abu Sofian;
and the prophet conceived that a marriage with the daughter might soften
the hostility of the father; a politic consideration, which is said to
have been either suggested or sanctioned by a revelation of a chapter of
the Koran.
When Abu Sofian heard of the espousals, “By heaven,” exclaimed he, “this
camel is so rampant that no muzzle can restrain him.”
CHAPTER XXVI.
MISSIONS TO VARIOUS PRINCES; TO HERACLIUS; TO KHOSRU II.; TO THE PREFECT
OF EGYPT—-THEIR RESULT.
DURING the residue of the year Mohammed remained at Medina, sending forth
his trusty disciples, by this time experienced captains, on various military
expeditions; by which refractory tribes were rapidly brought into subjection.
His views as a statesman widened as his territories increased. Though he
professed, in cases of necessity, to propagate his religion by the sword,
he was not neglectful of the peaceful measures of diplomacy, and sent envoys
to various princes and potentates, whose dominions bordered on his political
horizon, urging them to embrace the faith of Islam; which was, in effect,
to acknowledge him, through his apostolic office, their superior.
Two of the most noted of these missions were to Khosru II., king of Persia,
and Heraclius, the Roman emperor, at Constantinople. The wars between the
Romans and the Persians, for the dominion of the East, which had prevailed
from time to time through several centuries, had been revived by these
two potentates with varying fortunes, and for several years past had distracted
the eastern world. Countries had been overrun by either power; states and
kingdoms had changed hands under alternate invasions, and according to
the conquests and defeats of the warring parties. At one time Khosru with
three armies, one vauntingly called the Fifty Thousand Golden Spears, had
wrested Palestine, Cappadocia, Armenia, and several other great and wealthy
provinces from the Roman emperor; had made himself master of Jerusalem,
and carried off the Holy Cross to Persia; had invaded Africa, conquered
Libya and Egypt, and extended his victories even to Carthage.
In the midst of his triumphant career, a Moslem envoy arrived bearing him a letter from Mohammed. Khosru sent for his secretary or interpreter, and ordered him to read it. The letter began as follows:
“In the name of the most merciful God! Mohammed, son of Abdallah, and apostle
of God, to Khosru, king of Persia.”
“What!” cried Khosru, starting up in haughty indignation, “does one who
is my slave dare to put his name first in writing to me?” So saying, he
seized the letter and tore it in pieces without seeking to know its contents.
He then wrote to his viceroy in Yemen, saying, “I am told there is in Medina
a madman, of the tribe of Koreish, who pretends to be a prophet. Restore
him to his senses; or if you cannot, send me his head.”
When Mohammed was told how Khosru had torn his letter, “Even so,” said
he, “shall Allah rend his empire in pieces.”
The letter from the prophet to Heraclius was more favorably received, reaching
him probably during his reverses. It was signed in characters of silver,
Mohammed Azzarel, Mohammed the messenger of God, and invited the emperor
to renounce Christianity, and embrace the faith of Islam. Heraclius, we
are told, deposited the epistle respectfully upon his pillow, treated the
envoy with distinction, and dismissed him with magnificent presents. Engrossed,
however, by his Persian wars, he paid no further attention to this mission,
from one whom he probably considered a mere Arab fanatic; nor attached
sufficient importance to his military operations, which may have appeared
mere predatory forays of the wild tribes of the desert.
Another mission of Mohammed was to the Mukowis, or governor of Egypt, who had originally been sent there by Heraclius to collect tribute; but who, availing himself of the confusion produced by the wars between the Romans and Persians, had assumed sovereign power, and nearly thrown off all allegiance to the emperor. He received the envoy with signal honor, but evaded a direct reply to the invitation to embrace the faith, observing that it was a grave matter requiring much consideration. In the mean time he sent presents to Mohammed of precious jewels; garments of Egyptian linen; exquisite honey and butter; a white she-ass, called Yafur; a white mule, called Daldal, and a fleet horse called Lazlos, or the Prancer. The most acceptable of his presents, however, were two Coptic damsels, sisters, called Mariyah (or Mary), and Shiren.
The beauty of Mariyah caused great perturbation in the mind of the prophet.
He would fain have made her his concubine, but was impeded by his own law
in the seventeenth chapter of the Koran, ordaining that fornication should
be punished with stripes.
He was relieved from his dilemma by another revelation revoking the law
in regard to himself alone, allowing him intercourse with his handmaid.
It remained in full force, however, against all other Moslems. Still, to
avoid scandal, and above all, not to excite the jealousy of his wives,
he carried on his intercourse with the beautiful Mariyah in secret; which
may be one reason why she remained long a favorite.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MOHAMMED’S PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA; HIS MARRIAGE WITH MAIMUNA—KHALED IBN AL
WALED AND AMRU IBN AL AASS BECOME PROSELYTES.
THE time had now arrived when, by treaty with the Koreishites, Mohammed
and his followers were permitted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and pass
three days unmolested at the sacred shrines. He departed accordingly with
a numerous and well-armed host, and seventy camels for sacrifices. His
old adversaries would fain have impeded his progress, but they were overawed,
and on his approach withdrew silently to the neighboring hills. On entering
the bounds of Mecca, the pilgrims, according to compact and usage, laid
aside all their warlike accoutrements excepting their swords, which they
carried sheathed.
Great was their joy on beholding once more the walls and towers of the
sacred city. They entered the gates in pilgrim garb, with devout and thankful
hearts, and Mohammed performed all the ancient and customary rites, with
a zeal and devotion which gratified beholders, and drew to him many converts.
When he had complied with all the ceremonials he threw aside the Iram or
pilgrim’s garb, and withdrew to Sarif, a hamlet two leagues distant, and
without the sacred boundaries. Here he had a ceremonial of a different
kind to perform, but one in which he was prone to act with unfeigned devotion.
It was to complete his marriage with Maimuna, the daughter of Al Hareth,
the Helalite. He had become betrothed to her on his arrival at Mecca, but
had postponed the nuptials until after he had concluded the rites of pilgrimage.
This was doubtless another marriage of policy, for Maimuna was fifty-one
years of age, and a widow, but the connection gained him two powerful proselytes.
One was Khaled Ibn al Waled, a nephew of the widow, an intrepid warrior
who had come near destroying Mohammed at the battle of Ohod. He now became
one of the most victorious champions of Islamism, and by his prowess obtained
the appellation of “The Sword of God.”
The other proselyte was Khaled’s friend Amru Ibn al Aass, the same who
assailed Mohammed with poetry and satire at the commencement of his prophetic
career; who had been an ambassador from the Koreishites to the king of
Abyssinia, to obtain the surrender of the fugitive Moslems, and who was
henceforth destined with his sword to carry victoriously into foreign lands
the faith he had once so strenuously opposed.
NOTE.—Maimuna was the last spouse of the prophet, and, old as she was at
her marriage, survived all his other wives. She died many years after him,
in a pavilion at Serif, under the same tree in the shade of which her nuptial
tent had been pitched, and was there interred. The pious historian, Al
Jannabi, who styles himself “a poor servant of Allah, hoping for the pardon
of his sins through the mercy of God,” visited her tomb on returning from
a pilgrimage to Mecca, in the year of the Hegira 963, A.D. 1555. “I saw
there,” said he, “a dome of black marble erected in memory of Maimuna,
on the very spot on which the apostle of God had reposed with her. God
knows the truth! and also the reason of the black color of the stone. There
is a place of ablution, and an oratory; but the building has fallen to
decay.”
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A MOSLEM ENVOY SLAIN IN SYRIA—EXPEDITION TO AVENGE HIS DEATH—BATTLE OF
MUTA—ITS RESULTS.
AMONG the different missions which had been sent by Mohammed beyond the bounds of Arabia to invite neighboring princes to embrace his religion, was one to the governor of Bosra, the great mart on the confines of Syria, to which he had made his first caravan journey in the days of his youth. Syria had been alternately under Roman and Persian domination, but was at that time subject to the emperor, though probably in a great state of confusion. The envoy of Mohammed was slain at Muta, a town about three days’ journey eastward from Jerusalem. The one who slew him was an Arab of the Christian tribe of Gassan, and son to Shorhail, an emir, who governed Muta in the name of Heraclius.
To revenge the death of his legate, and to insure respect to his envoys
in future, Mohammed prepared to send an army of three thousand men against
the offending city. It was a momentous expedition, as it might, for the
first time, bring the arms of Islam in collision with those of the Roman
Empire; but Mohammed presumed upon his growing power, the energy of his
troops, and the disordered state of Syrian affairs. The command was entrusted
to his freedman Zeid, who had given such signal proof of devotion in surrendering
to him his beautiful wife Zeinab. Several chosen officers were associated
with him. One was Mohammed’s cousin Jaafar, son of Abu Taleb, and brother
of Ali, the same who, by his eloquence, had vindicated the doctrines of
Islam before the king of Abyssinia, and defeated the Koreish embassy. He
was now in the prime of life, and noted for great courage and manly beauty.
Another of the associate officers was Abdallah Ibn Kawaha, the poet, but
who had signalized himself in arms as well as poetry. A third was the new
proselyte Khaled, who joined the expedition as a volunteer, being eager
to prove by his sword the sincerity of his conversion.
The orders to Zeid were to march rapidly, so as to come upon Muta by surprise,
to summon the inhabitants to embrace the faith, and to treat them with
lenity. Women, children, monks, and the blind were to be spared at all
events; nor were any houses to be destroyed, nor trees cut down.
The little army sallied from Medina in the full confidence of coming upon
the enemy unawares. On their march, however, they learned that a greatly
superior force of Romans, or rather Greeks and Arabs, was advancing to
meet them. A council of war was called. Some were for pausing, and awaiting
further orders from Mohammed; but Abdallah, the poet, was for pushing fearlessly
forward without regard to numbers. “We fight for the faith!” cried he;
“if we fall, paradise is our reward. On, then, to victory or martyrdom!”
All caught a spark of the poet’s fire, or rather, fanaticism. They met
the enemy near Muta, and encountered them with fury rather than valor.
In the heat of the conflict Zeid received a mortal wound. The sacred banner
was falling from his grasp, but was seized and borne aloft by Jaafar. The
battle thickened round him, for the banner was the object of fierce contention.
He defended it with desperate valor. The hand by which he held it was struck
off; he grasped it with the other. That, too, was severed; he embraced
it with his bleeding arms. A blow from a scimitar cleft his skull; he sank
dead upon the field, still clinging to the standard of the faith. Abdallah
the poet next reared the banner; but he too fell beneath the sword. Khaled,
the new convert, seeing the three Moslem leaders slain, now grasped the
fatal standard, but in his hand it remained aloft. His voice rallied the
wavering Moslems; his powerful arm cut its way through the thickest of
the enemy. If his own account may be credited, and he was one whose deeds
needed no exaggeration, nine scimitars were broken in his hand by the fury
of the blows given by him in this deadly conflict.
Night separated the combatants. In the morning Khaled, whom the army acknowledged
as their commander, proved himself as wary as he was valiant. By dint of
marches and counter-marches he presented his forces in so many points of
view that the enemy were deceived as to his number, and supposed he had
received a strong reinforcement. At his first charge, therefore, they retreated;
their retreat soon became a flight, in which they were pursued with great
slaughter. Khaled then plundered their camp, in which was found great booty.
Among the slain in the field of battle was found the body of Jaafar, covered
with wounds, but all in front. Out of respect to his valor, and to his
relationship with the prophet, Khaled ordered that his corpse should not
be buried on the spot, but borne back for honorable interment at Medina.
The army, on its return, though laden with spoil, entered the city more
like a funeral train than a triumphant pageant, and was received with mingled
shouts and lamentations. While the people rejoiced in the success of their
arms, they mourned the loss of three of their favorite generals. All bewailed
the fate of Jaafar, brought home a ghastly corpse to that city whence they
had so recently seen him sally forth in all the pride of valiant manhood,
the admiration of every beholder. He had left behind him a beautiful wife
and infant son. The heart of Mohammed was touched by her affliction. He
took the orphan child in his arms and bathed it with his tears. But most
he was affected when he beheld the young daughter of his faithful Zeid
approaching him. He fell on her neck and wept in speechless emotion. A
bystander expressed surprise that he should give way to tears for a death
which, according to Moslem doctrine, was but a passport to paradise. “Alas!”
replied the prophet, “these are the tears of friendship for the loss of
a friend!”
The obsequies of Jaafar were performed on the third day after the arrival of the army. By that time Mohammed had recovered his self-possession, and was again the prophet. He gently rebuked the passionate lamentations of the multitude, taking occasion to inculcate one of the most politic and consolatory doctrines of his creed. “Weep no more,” said he, “over the death of this my brother. In place of the two hands lost in defending the standard of the faith, two wings have been given him to bear him to paradise; there to enjoy the endless delights insured to all believers who fall in battle.”
It was in consequence of the prowess and generalship displayed by Khaled
in this perilous fight that he was honored by Mohammed with the appellation
of “The Sword of God,” by which he was afterward renowned.
CHAPTER XXIX.
DESIGNS UPON MECCA—MISSION OF ABU SOFIAN—ITS RESULT.
Mohammed, by force either of arms or eloquence, had now acquired dominion
over a great number of the Arabian tribes. He had many thousand warriors
under his command; sons of the desert, inured to hunger, thirst, and the
scorching rays of the sun, and to whom war was a sport rather than a toil.
He had corrected their intemperance, disciplined their valor, and subjected
them to rule. Repeated victories had given them confidence in themselves
and in their leader, whose standard they followed with the implicit obedience
of soldiers and the blind fanaticism of disciples.
The views of Mohammed expanded with his means, and a grand enterprise now
opened upon his mind. Mecca, his native city, the abode of his family for
generations, the scene of his happiest years, was still in the hands of
his implacable foes. The Kaaba, the object of devotion and pilgrimage to
all the children of Ishmael, the shrine of his earliest worship, was still
profaned by the emblems and rites of idolatry. To plant the standard of
the faith on the walls of his native city, to rescue the holy house from
profanation, restore it to the spiritual worship of the one true God, and
make it the rallying point of Islamism, formed now the leading object of
his ambition.
The treaty of peace existing with the Koreishites was an impediment to
any military enterprise; but some casual feuds and skirmishings soon gave
a pretext for charging them with having violated the treaty stipulations.
The Koreishites had by this time learned to appreciate and dread the rapidly
increasing power of the Moslems, and were eager to explain away, or atone
for, the quarrels and misdeeds of a few heedless individuals. They even
prevailed on their leader, Abu Sofian, to repair to Medina as ambassador
of peace, trusting that he might have some influence with the prophet through
his daughter Omm Habiba.
It was a sore trial to this haughty chief to come almost a suppliant to
the man whom he had scoffed at as an impostor, and treated with inveterate
hostility; and his proud spirit was doomed to still further mortification,
for Mohammed, judging from his errand of the weakness of his party, and
secretly bent on war, vouchsafed him no reply.
Repressing his rage, Abu Sofian sought the intermediation of Abu Beker, of Omar, and Ali; but they all rebuked and repulsed him; for they knew the secret wishes of Mohammed. He next endeavored to secure the favor of Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed and wife of Ali, by flattering a mother’s pride, entreating her to let her son Hasan, a child but six years old, be his protector; but Fatima answered haughtily, “My son is too young to be a protector; and no protection can avail against the will of the prophet of God.” Even his daughter, Omm Habiba, the wife of Mohammed, on whom Abu Sofian had calculated for influence, added to his mortification, for on his offering to seat himself on a mat in her dwelling, she hastily folded it up, exclaiming, “It is the bed of the prophet of God, and too sacred to be made the resting-place of an idolater.”
The cup of humiliation was full to overflowing, and in the bitterness of
his heart Abu Sofian cursed his daughter. He now turned again to Ali, beseeching
his advice in the desperate state of his embassy.
“I can advise nothing better,” replied Ali, “than for thee to promise,
as the head of the Koreishites, a continuance of thy protection; and then
to return to thy home.”
“But thinkest thou that promise will be of any avail?”
“I think not,” replied Ali dryly; “but I know not to the contrary.”
In pursuance of this advice, Abu Sofian repaired to the mosque, and made
public declaration, in behalf of the Koreishites, that on their part the
treaty of peace should be faithfully maintained; after which he returned
to Mecca, deeply humiliated by the imperfect result of his mission. He
was received with scoffs by the Koreishites, who observed that his declaration
of peace availed nothing without the concurrence of Mohammed.
CHAPTER XXX.
SURPRISE AND CAPTURE OF MECCA.
Mohammed now prepared for a secret expedition to take Mecca by surprise. His allies were summoned from all quarters to Medina; but no intimation was given of the object he had in view. All the roads leading to Mecca were barred to prevent any intelligence of his movements being carried to the Koreishites. With all his precautions the secret came near being discovered. Among his followers, fugitives from Mecca, was one named Hateb, whose family had remained behind, and were without connections or friends to take an interest in their welfare. Hateb now thought to gain favor for them among the Koreishites, by betraying the plans of Mohammed. He accordingly wrote a letter revealing the intended enterprise, and gave it in charge to a singing woman, named Sara, a Haschemite slave, who undertook to carry it to Mecca.
She was already on the road when Mohammed was apprised of the treachery.
Ali and five others, well mounted, were sent in pursuit of the messenger.
They soon overtook her, but searched her person in vain. Most of them would
have given up the search and turned back, but Ali was confident that the
prophet of God could not be mistaken nor misinformed. Drawing his scimitar,
he swore to strike off the head of the messenger, unless the letter were
produced. The threat was effectual. She drew forth the letter from among
her hair.
Hateb, on being taxed with his perfidy, acknowledged it, but pleaded his
anxiety to secure favor for his destitute family, and his certainty that
the letter would be harmless, and of no avail against the purposes of the
apostle of God. Omar spurned at his excuses, and would have struck off
his head; but Mohammed, calling to mind that Hateb had fought bravely in
support of the faith in the battle of the Beder, admitted his excuses and
forgave him.
The prophet departed with ten thousand men on this momentous enterprise.
Omar, who had charge of regulating the march and appointing the encampments,
led the army by lonely passes of the mountains; prohibiting the sound of
attabal or trumpet, or anything else that could betray their movements.
While on the march Mohammed was joined by his uncle Al Abbas, who had come
forth with his family from Mecca, to rally under the standard of the faith.
Mohammed received him graciously, yet with a hint at his tardiness. “Thou
art the last of the emigrants,” said he, “as I am the last of the prophets.”
Al Abbas sent his family forward to Medina, while he turned and accompanied
the expedition. The army reached the valley of Marr Azzahran, near to the
sacred city, without being discovered. It was nightfall when they silently
pitched their tents, and now Omar for the first time permitted them to
light their watchfires.
In the mean time, though Al Abbas had joined the standard of the faith
in all sincerity, yet he was sorely disquieted at seeing his nephew advancing
against Mecca with such a powerful force and such hostile intent, and feared
the entire destruction of the Koreishites, unless they could be persuaded
in time to capitulate. In the dead of the night he mounted Mohammed’s white
mule Fadda, and rode forth to reconnoiter. In skirting the camp he heard
the tramp of men and sound of voices. A scouting party were bringing in
two prisoners captured near the city. Al Abbas approached, and found the
captives to be Abu Sofian and one of his captains. They were conducted
to the watchfire of Omar, who recognized Abu Sofian by the light. “God
be praised,” cried he, “that I have such an enemy in my hands, and without
conditions.” His ready scimitar might have given fatal significance to
his words, had not Al Abbas stepped forward and taken Abu Sofian under
his protection, until the will of the prophet should be known. Omar rushed
forth to ascertain that will, or rather to demand the life of the prisoner;
but Al Abbas, taking the latter up behind him, put spurs to his mule, and
was the first to reach the tent of the prophet, followed hard by Omar,
clamoring for the head of Abu Sofian.
Mohammed thus beheld in his power his inveterate enemy, who had driven him from his home and country, and persecuted his family and friends; but he beheld in him the father of his wife Omm Habiba, and felt inclined to clemency. He postponed all decision in the matter until morning, giving Abu Sofian in charge of Al Abbas.
When the captain was brought before him on the following day, “Well, Abu
Sofian,” cried he, “is it not at length time to know that there is no other
God but God?”
“That I already knew,” replied Abu Sofian.
“Good! and is it not time for thee to acknowledge me as the apostle of
God?”
“Dearer art thou to me than my father and my mother,” replied Abu Sofian,
using an oriental phrase of compliment; “but I am not yet prepared to acknowledge
thee a prophet.”
“Out upon thee!” cried Omar, “testify instantly to the truth, or thy head
shall be severed from thy body.”
To these threats were added the counsels and entreaties of Al Abbas, who
showed himself a real friend in need. The rancor of Abu Sofian had already
been partly subdued by the unexpected mildness of Mohammed; so, making
a merit of necessity, he acknowledged the divinity of his mission; furnishing
an illustration of the Moslem maxim, “To convince stubborn unbelievers
there is no argument like the sword.”
Having now embraced the faith, Abu Sofian obtained favorable terms for
the people of Mecca, in case of their submission. None were to be harmed
who should remain quietly in their houses; or should take refuge in the
houses of Abu Sofian and Hakim; or under the banner of Abu Rawaiha.
That Abu Sofian might take back to the city a proper idea of the force
brought against it, he was stationed with Al Abbas at a narrow defile where
the whole army passed in review. As the various Arab tribes marched by
with their different arms and ensigns, Al Abbas explained the name and
country of each. Abu Sofian was surprised at the number, discipline, and
equipment of the troops; for the Moslems had been rapidly improving in
the means and art of war; but when Mohammed approached, in the midst of
a chosen guard, armed at all points and glittering with steel, his astonishment
passed all bounds. “There is no withstanding this!” cried he to Al Abbas,
with an oath—“truly thy nephew wields a mighty power.”
“Even so,” replied the other; ‘‘return then to thy people; provide for
their safety, and warn them not to oppose the apostle of God.”
Abu Sofian hastened back to Mecca, and assembling the inhabitants, told
them of the mighty host at hand, led on by Mohammed; of the favorable terms
offered in case of their submission, and of the vanity of all resistance.
As Abu Sofian had been the soul of the opposition to Mohammed and his doctrines,
his words had instant effect in producing acquiescence in an event which
seemed to leave no alternative. The greater part of the inhabitants, therefore,
prepared to witness, without resistance, the entry of the prophet.
Mohammed, in the mean time, who knew not what resistance he might meet with, made a careful distribution of his forces as he approached the city. While the main body marched directly forward, strong detachments advanced over the hills on each side. To Ali, who commanded a large body of cavalry, was confided the sacred banner, which he was to plant on Mount Hadjun, and maintain it there until joined by the prophet. Express orders were given to all the generals to practice forbearance, and in no instance to make the first attack; for it was the earnest desire of Mohammed to win Mecca by moderation and clemency, rather than subdue it by violence. It is true, all who offered armed resistance were to be cut down, but none were to be harmed who submitted quietly. Overhearing one of his captains exclaim, in the heat of his zeal, that “no place was sacred on the day of battle,” he instantly appointed a cooler-headed commander in his place.
The main body of the army advanced without molestation. Mohammed brought
up the rear-guard, clad in a scarlet vest, and mounted on his favorite
camel Al Kaswa. He proceeded but slowly, however; his movements being impeded
by the immense multitude which thronged around him. Arrived on Mount Hadjun,
where Ali had planted the standard of the faith, a tent was pitched for
him. Here he alighted, put off his scarlet garment, and assumed the black
turban and the pilgrim garb. Casting a look down into the plain, however,
he beheld, with grief and indignation, the gleam of swords and lances,
and Khaled, who commanded the left wing, in a full career of carnage. His
troops, composed of Arab tribes converted to the faith, had been galled
by a flight of arrows from a body of Koreishites; whereupon the fiery warrior
charged into the thickest of them with sword and lance; his troops pressed
after him; they put the enemy to flight, entered the gates of Mecca pell-mell
with them, and nothing but the swift commands of Mohammed preserved the
city from a general massacre.
The carnage being stopped, and no further opposition manifested, the prophet
descended from the mount and approached the gates, seated on his camel,
accompanied by Abu Beker on his right hand, and followed by Osama, the
son of Zeid. The sun was just rising as he entered the gates of his native
city, with the glory of a conqueror, but the garb and humility of a pilgrim.
He entered, repeating verses of the Koran, which he said had been revealed
to him at Medina, and were prophetic of the event. He triumphed in the
spirit of a religious zealot, not of a warrior. “Unto God,” said he, “belong
the hosts of heaven and earth, and God is mighty and wise. Now hath God
verified unto his apostle the vision, wherein he said, ye shall surely
enter the holy temple of Mecca in full security.”
Without dismounting, Mohammed repaired directly to the Kaaba, the scene
of his early devotions, the sacred shrine of worship since the days of
the patriarchs, and which he regarded as the primitive temple of the one
true God. Here be made the seven circuits round the sacred edifice, a reverential
rite from the days of religious purity; with the same devout feeling he
each time touched the black stone with his staff; regarding it as a holy
relic. He would have entered the Kaaba, but Othman Ibn Talha, the ancient
custodian, locked the door. Ali snatched the keys, but Mohammed caused
them to be returned to the venerable officer, and so won him by his kindness
that he not merely threw open the doors, but subsequently embraced the
faith of Islam; whereupon he was continued in his office.
Mohammed now proceeded to execute the great object of his religious aspirations,
the purifying of the sacred edifice from the symbols of idolatry, with
which it was crowded. All the idols in and about it, to the number of three
hundred and sixty, were thrown down and destroyed. Among these the most
renowned was Hobal, an idol brought from Balka, in Syria, and fabled to
have the power of granting rain. It was, of course, a great object of worship
among the inhabitants of the thirsty desert. There were statues of Abraham
and Ishmael also, represented with divining arrows in their hands; “an
outrage on their memories,” said Mohammed, “being symbols of a diabolical
art which they had never practiced.” In reverence of their memories, therefore,
these statues were demolished. There were paintings, also, depicting angels
in the guise of beautiful women. “The angels,” said Mohammed indignantly,
“are no such beings. There are celestial houris provided in paradise for
the solace of true believers; but angels are ministering spirits of the
Most High, and of too pure a nature to admit of sex.” The paintings were
accordingly obliterated.
Even a dove, curiously carved of wood, he broke with his own hands, and cast upon the ground, as savoring of idolatry.
From the Kaaba he proceeded to the well of Zem Zem. It was sacred in his
eyes, from his belief that it was the identical well revealed by the angel
to Hagar and Ishmael, in their extremity; he considered the rite connected
with it as pure and holy, and continued it in his faith. As he approached
the well, his uncle Al Abbas presented him a cruse of the water, that he
might drink, and make the customary ablution. In commemoration of this
pious act, he appointed his uncle guardian of the cup of the well; an office
of sacred dignity, which his descendants retain to this day.
At noon one of his followers, at his command, summoned the people to prayer
from the top of the Kaaba, a custom continued ever since throughout Mohammedan
countries, from minarets or towers provided in every mosque. He also established
the Kebla, toward which the faithful in every part of the world should
turn their faces in prayer.
He afterward addressed the people in a kind of sermon, setting forth his
principal doctrines, and announcing the triumph of the faith as a fulfillment
of prophetic promise. Shouts burst from the multitude in reply. “Allah
Achbar! God is great!” cried they. “There is no God but God, and Mohammed
is his prophet.”
The religious ceremonials being ended, Mohammed took his station on the
hill Al Safa, and the people of Mecca, male and female, passed before him,
taking the oath of fidelity to him as the prophet of God, and renouncing
idolatry. This was in compliance with a revelation in the Koran: “God hath
sent his apostle with the direction, and the religion of truth that he
may exalt the same over every religion. Verily, they who swear fealty to
him, swear fealty unto God; the hand of God is over their hands.” In the
midst of his triumph, however, he rejected all homage paid exclusively
to himself, and all regal authority. “Why dost thou tremble?” said he,
to a man who approached with timid and faltering steps. “Of what dost thou
stand in awe? I am no king, but the son of a Koreishite woman, who ate
flesh dried in the sun.”
His lenity was equally conspicuous. The once haughty chiefs of the Koreishites
appeared with abject countenances before the man they had persecuted, for
their lives were in his power.
“What can you expect at my hands?” demanded he sternly.
“Mercy, oh generous brother! Mercy, oh son of a generous line!”
“Be it so !“ cried he, with a mixture of scorn and pity. “Away! begone!
ye are free!”
Some of his followers who had shared his persecutions were disappointed in their anticipations of a bloody revenge, and murmured at his clemency; but he persisted in it, and established Mecca as an inviolable sanctuary, or place of refuge, so to continue until the final resurrection. He reserved to himself, however, the right on the present occasion, and during that special day, to punish a few of the people of the city, who had grievously offended, and been expressly proscribed; yet even these, for the most part, were ultimately forgiven.
Among the Koreishite women who advanced to take the oath he descried Henda,
the wife of Abu Sofian; the savage woman who had animated the infidels
at the battle of Ohod, and had gnawed the heart of Hamza, in revenge for
the death of her father. On the present occasion she had disguised herself
to escape detection; but seeing the eyes of the prophet fixed on her, she
threw herself at his feet, exclaiming, “I am Henda: pardon! pardon!” Mohammed
pardoned her—and was requited for his clemency by her making his doctrines
the subject of contemptuous sarcasms.
Among those destined to punishment was Wacksa, the Ethiopian, who had slain Hamza; but he had fled from Mecca on the entrance of the army. At a subsequent period he presented himself before the prophet, and made the profession of faith before he was recognized. He was forgiven, and made to relate the particulars of the death of Hamza; after which Mohammed dismissed him with an injunction never again to come into his presence. He survived until the time of the Caliphat of Omar, during whose reign he was repeatedly scourged for drunkenness.
Another of the proscribed was Abdallah Ibn Saad, a young Koreishite, distinguished for wit and humor as well as for warlike accomplishments. As he held the pen of a ready writer, Mohammed had employed him to reduce the revelations of the Koran to writing. In so doing he had often altered and amended the text; nay, it was discovered that, through carelessness or design, he had occasionally falsified it, and rendered it absurd. He had even made his alterations and amendments matter of scoff and jest among his companions, observing that if the Koran proved Mohammed to be a prophet, he himself must be half a prophet. His interpolations being detected, he had fled from the wrath of the prophet, and returned to Mecca, where he relapsed into idolatry. On the capture of the city his foster-brother concealed him in his house until the tumult had subsided, when he led him into the presence of the prophet, and supplicated for his pardon. This was the severest trial of the lenity of Mohammed. The offender had betrayed his confidence; held him up to ridicule; questioned his apostolic mission, and struck at the very foundation of his faith. For some time he maintained a stern silence, hoping, as he afterward declared, some zealous disciple might strike off the offender’s head. No one, however, stirred; so, yielding to the entreaties of Othman, he granted a pardon. Abdallah instantly renewed his profession of faith, and continued a good Mussulman. His name will be found in the wars of the Caliphs. He was one of the most dexterous horsemen of his tribe, and evinced his ruling passion to the last, for he died repeating the hundredth chapter of the Koran, entitled “The war steeds.” Perhaps it was one which had experienced his interpolations.
Another of the proscribed was Akrema Ibn Abu Jahl, who on many occasions
had manifested a deadly hostility to the prophet, inherited from his father.
On the entrance of Mohammed into Mecca, Akrema threw himself upon a fleet
horse, and escaped by an opposite gate, leaving behind him a beautiful
wife, Omm Hakem, to whom he was recently married. She embraced the faith
of Islam, but soon after learnt that her husband, in attempting to escape
by sea to Yemen, had been driven back to port. Hastening to the presence
of the prophet, she threw herself on her knees before him, loose, dishevelled,
and unveiled, and implored grace for her husband. The prophet, probably
more moved by her beauty than her grief, raised her gently from the earth,
and told her her prayer was granted. Hurrying to the seaport, she arrived
just as the vessel in which her husband had embarked was about to sail.
She returned, mounted behind him, to Mecca, and brought him, a true believer,
into the presence of the prophet. On this occasion, however, she was so
closely veiled that her dark eyes alone were visible. Mohammed received
Akrema’s profession of faith; made him commander of a battalion of Hawazenites,
as the dower of his beautiful and devoted wife, and bestowed liberal donations
on the youthful couple. Like many other converted enemies, Akrema proved
a valiant soldier in the wars of the faith, and after signalizing himself
on various occasions, fell in battle, hacked and pierced by swords and
lances.
The whole conduct of Mohammed, on gaining possession of Mecca, showed that it was a religious more than a military triumph. His heart, too, softened toward his native place, now that it was in his power; his resentments were extinguished by success, and his inclinations were all toward forgiveness.
The Ansarians, or Auxiliaries of Medina, who had aided him in his campaign,
began to fear that its success might prove fatal to their own interests.
They watched him anxiously, as one day, after praying on the hill Al Safa,
he sat gazing down wistfully upon Mecca, the scene of his early struggles
and recent glory: “Verily,” said he, “thou art the best of cities, and
the most beloved of Allah! Had I not been driven out from thee by my own
tribe, never would I have left thee!” On hearing this, the Ansarians said,
one to another, “Behold! Mohammed is conqueror and master of his native
city; he will, doubtless, establish himself here, and forsake Medina!”
Their words reached his ear, and he turned to them with reproachful warmth:
“No!” cried he, “when you plighted to me your allegiance, I swore to live
and die with you. I should not act as the servant of God, nor as his ambassador,
were I to leave you.”
He acted according to his words, and Medina, which had been his city of
refuge, continued to be his residence to his dying day.
Mohammed did not content himself with purifying the Kaaba and abolishing
idolatry from his native city; he sent forth his captains at the head of
armed bands, to cast down the idols of different tribes set up in the neighboring
towns and villages, and to convert their worshippers to his faith.
Of all these military apostles, none was so zealous as Khaled, whose spirit was still fermenting with recent conversion. Arriving at Naklah, the resort of the idolatrous Koreishites, to worship at the shrine of Uzza, he penetrated the sacred grove, laid waste the temple, and cast the idol to the ground. A horrible hag, black and naked, with dishevelled hair, rushed forth, shrieking and wringing her hands; but Khaled severed her through the middle with one blow of his scimitar. He reported the deed to Mohammed, expressing a doubt whether she were priestess or evil spirit. “Of a truth,” replied the prophet, “it was Uzza herself whom thou hast destroyed.”
On a similar errand into the neighboring province of Tehama, Khaled had
with him three hundred and fifty men, some of them of the tribe of Suleim,
and was accompanied by Abda’lrahman, one of the earliest proselytes of
the faith. His instructions from the prophet were to preach peace and goodwill,
to inculcate the faith, and to abstain from violence, unless assailed.
When about two days’ journey on his way to Tehama, he had to pass through
the country of the tribe of Jadsima. Most of the inhabitants had embraced
the faith, but some were still of the Sabean religion. On a former occasion
this tribe had plundered and slain an uncle of Khaled, also the father
of Abda’lrahman, and several Suleimites, as they were returning from Arabia
Felix. Dreading that Khaled and his host might take vengeance for these
misdeeds, they armed themselves on their approach.
Khaled was secretly rejoiced at seeing them ride forth to meet him in this
military array. Hailing them with an imperious tone, he demanded whether
they were Moslems or infidels. They replied in faltering accents, “Moslems.”
“Why, then, come ye forth to meet us with weapons in your hands?” “Because
we have enemies among some of the tribes who may attack us unawares.”
Khaled sternly ordered them to dismount and lay by their weapons. Some
complied, and were instantly seized and bound; the rest fled. Taking their
flight as a confession of guilt, he pursued them with great slaughter,
laid waste the country, and in the effervescence of his zeal even slew
some of the prisoners.
Mohammed, when he heard of this unprovoked outrage, raised his hands to
heaven, and called God to witness that he was innocent of it. Khaled, when
upbraided with it on his return, would fain have shifted the blame on Abda’lrahman,
but Mohammed rejected indignantly an imputation against one of the earliest
and worthiest of his followers. The generous Ali was sent forthwith to
restore to the people of Jadsima what Khaled had wrested from them, and
to make pecuniary compensation to the relatives of the slain. It was a
mission congenial with his nature, and he executed it faithfully. Inquiring
into the losses and sufferings of each individual, he paid him to his full
content. When every loss was made good, and all blood atoned for, he distributed
the remaining money among the people, gladdening every heart by his bounty.
So Ali received the thanks and praises of the prophet, but the vindictive
Khaled was rebuked even by those whom he had thought to please.
“Behold!” said he to Abda’lrahman, “I have avenged the death of thy father.”
“Rather say,” replied the other indignantly, “thou hast avenged the death
of thine uncle. Thou hast disgraced the faith by an act worthy of an idolater.”
