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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

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GREATEST EXTENT
OF THE
SARACEN DOMINIONS

• Shows Boundary of Saracen Dominions^
Eighth Century of the Christian Era.

GIFT OF
fictate of
Ihe Hev. Orville A. Petty

THE STORY OF THE NATIONS

OCTAVO, ILLUSTRATED. PER VOL., $1.50

THE EARLIER VOLUMES WILL BE
THE STORY OF GREECE. By Prof. Jas. A. Harrison
THE STORY OF ROME. By Arthur Gilman
THE STORY OF THE JEWS. By Prof. Jas. K. Hosmei,
THE STORY OF CHALDEA. By Z. A. Ragozin
THE STORY OF NORWAY. By Prof. H. H. Boyesen
THE STORY OF GERMANY. By S. Baring-Gould
THE STORY OF SPAIN. By E. E. and Susan Hale
THE STORY OF HUNGARY. By Prof. A. Vamb£ry
THE STORY OF CARTHAGE. By Prof. Alfred J. Church
THE STORY OF THE SARACENS. By Arthur Gilman
THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. By Z. A. Ragozin
THE STORY OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN . By Stanley Lane-Poole
THE STORY OF THE NORMANS. By Sarah O. Jewett
THE STORY OF PERSIA. By S. G. W. Benjamin
THE STORY OF ALEXANDER'S EM PIRE. By Prof. J. P. Mahaffy
THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT. By Geo. Rawlinson
THE STORY OF THE GOTHS. By Henry Bradley
For prospectus of the series see end of this volume
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON

s • . - ¦ .

|, he Mot]) of ihe jjfalions

THE
STORY of the SARACENS

FROM THE

EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FALL OF BAGDAD

ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A.
AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE," " THE STORY OF ROME "
ETC.
WITH MAPS, MANY ILLUSTRATION1--, Ji CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, AND A LIST OF
BOOKS TREATING THE SUBJECT

" T like the Mussulman ; he is not ashamed of his God ; his life is a fairly
pure one." — General Gordon

NEW YORK AND LONDON
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
Stjjc l£mt\\ttbatfat Jlress
1887

COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
1886

Press of
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York

PREFACE.

When the Greeks and Romans mentioned the
tribes that ranged the deserts west of the Euphrates,
they called them Saracens (SapaxrjvoL — Saraceni),
a name of which no philologist has yet given the
signification. Perhaps it meant " The People of the
Desert," from the Arabic sahra, a desert ; or, " The
People of the East," from sharq, the rising sun.*
After this name had been used in an indefinite
manner for all the unknown tribes of the desert, it
was given to the followers of Mohammed ; and it is
used in that sense in the following pages, thus com
prising many different nations, scattered at times
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
When Pierre Vattier, counsellor and physician to
the Duke of Orleans, ventured, in the year 1657,
to translate into French Elmacin's story of the kalifs,
he thought it necessary to apologize to his polite
readers for introducing to them a host of barbarians,
enemies of the Christian faith. He argued well,
however, that Frenchmen were accustomed to study
* It may be objected that it is improbable that the Arabs should
have originated their own name in that way. It is possible that
they might have called themselves " Sons of the Desert," but, cer
tainly, they were not to themselves " The Eastern People."

iv PKEFA CE.
with interest the history of Rome, which was a coun
try of sworn enemies to the true religion, and that
the kalifs would be found much more Christian, in
their dealings with other nations, than the Roman
emperors were.
One is no longer obliged thus to apologize for con
ducting any historical investigation, and we may
study the career of the Saracens as one of the most
interesting' that the past can spread before us.
Though the present volume is mainly devoted to
the period before the Crusades lent brilliancy to the
subject, and does not include the thrilling narrative
of the Moors in Spain, the greatest embarrassment
of the author has arisen from the amplitude of the
theme. The life of the founder of Islam has alone
given rise to many volumes more extensive than
this one is allowed to be ; and the conquests of the
roving tribes of Asia as they progressed westward,
might well occupy more pages than are now at
command. The author can only hope that he has
not carried the process of condensation to a point
that will deprive his most interesting story of the
value that intrinsically belongs to it.
A. G.
Cambridge, September 6, 1886.

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CONTENTS.
I- PAGE
How the Story Begins .... 1-13
The strange land south of Palestine, 1 — The proud sons of
the sands, 2 — A change coining, 2 — Rome and Persia, 3 —
Constantinople the Roman capital, 4 — The Jews, 6 — Ara
bian commerce, 7 — Region of Petra and Mount Hor, 8 —
The queen of Sheba, 10 — A visit to Solomon, 12 — Solo
mon's wondrous ring, 13. II.
Creatures of Fire, Light, and Clay . 14-21
Guesses at Arabian belief, 14 — Jinns made of fire, 15 — The
Jinns rebel against Allah, 16 — Angels made of pure light,
17 — Eavesdroppers at the gates of heaven, 18 — Doings of
the Jinns, 19 — Late conceptions of paradise, ig — The month
Ramadan, 20. III.
The Times of Ignorance .... 22-33
A pure white stone falls, 22 — The Kaaba, 24 — Traders be
tween Palestine and Arabia, 25 — Rome penetrates the mys
terious land, 26 — The position of Mecca, 28 — Hejaz, the
land of pilgrimage, 28 — Kossai and the Koreish, 30 — Rites
of the pilgrimage, 31 — Strife, 32 — Abdalla born, 32.
IV.
The Year of the Elephant . . . 34-40
Abraha of Abyssinia, 34 — Taif directs him to Mecca, 35 —
Abd al Muttalib, 36 — A miracle, 37 — Abdalla's marriage
with Amina, 38 — Birth of a wonderful boy, 39 — Moham
med, the praised one, 40.

VI CONTENTS. V. PAGE
The Sacrilegious War .... 41-49
Halima, the foster-mother, 41 — Boy-life in the mountain
wilds, 42 — Mohammed an orphan, 43 — Abu Talib interests
his nephew in the worship of the Kaaba, 44 — Mohammed
goes to Syria with a caravan, 44 — A boy without books,
46 — Letters at Okatz, 47 — War in holy time, 48 — A victory
of peace, 49. VI.
The Camel-Driver of the Desert . . 50-58
Signs of good omen, 50 — A group of Hanifs, 51 — Seekers
for good, 52 — Mohammed's solitary days as a shepherd, 54 —
Kadija appears, 55 — Mohammed's appearance, 55 — Court
ship and marriage, 57 — A benediction, 58.
VII.
The Man of Affairs Meditates . . 59-67
Domestic peace, 59— Leisure for thought, 60 — The faith of
the Arabians, 62 — Customs, 63 — Mohammed as an ancho
rite, 63 — Ecstasies and trances, 64 — Powerful cries, 65 —
Mohammed's prestige growing, 66.
VIII.
The Month Ramadan . . . 68-77
A change in the husband of Kadija, 68 — The month of fast
ing and prayer, 70 — The blessed night " al Kadar, " 71 —
Gabriel appears, 72 — " Cry, in the name of Allah ! " 74 —
Thoughts of suicide, 75 — Strong faith, 76 — Abu Talib ad
heres to the faith of his ancestors, 77.
IX.
A Prophet with Little Honor • . . 78-86
The career of the prophet, 78 — Idolatry to be overthrown,
79 — Converts, 80 — Revelations more frequent, 80 — Islam,
the revival of the faith of Abraham, 81 — The Koran, 82 —
The Koreishites invited, 82 — Ali called "kalif,"83 — The
Koreishites threaten, 84 — Abu Talib's emotion, 85 — The
blind man, 86.

CONTENTS. vii
X. PAGE
Fugitives in a Strange Land . . . 87-94
An explanation needed, 87 — Policy of the enemy, 88 —
Fratricidal war imminent, 89 — Yathrib warns against dis
cord, 89 — Hamza, the lion of Allah, 90 — Mohammed tempted,
91 — A rash act, 92 — Emigration to Abyssinia, 93 — Omar
converted, 93 — Mohammed under a ban, 94.
XI.
A Twofold Cord Broken . . 95-101
A sad prophet, 95 — Kadija dies, 96 — Abu Talib dies, 96 —
A mission to Taif, 97 — Discomfiture, 98 — The Jinns listen,
99 — Convert-pilgrims from Yathrib, 100 — The first pledge
of Akaba (pledge of the women), 101.
XII.
To the Seventh Heaven . . . 102-111
Dreams and visions, 102 — Mohammed's vision, 104 — The
Borak, 105 — At the temple in Jerusalem, 106 — In the sev
enth heaven, 10S — The muezzin's call to prayer, no — A
change in Mohammed, in. XIII.
In a Cave . . . . u 2-1 19
Confident but not aggressive, 112 — The second meeting on
the hill Akaba, 113— The second oath of Akaba, 115 —
"Depart to Medina!" 116— Anxious to start, 117 — The
Hejra, 118 — Refuge in a cave, 119.
XIV.
The Year One .... 120-128
Various chronologies, 120 — Beginning of the Arabian era,
121 — The three days in the cave, 122 — Journeying to Ya
thrib, 123 — Hope and fear on the way, 124 — Arrival at Koba,
125 — The triumphal entrance, 127 — Parties at Yathrib, 127 —
Mohammed's difficult task, 128.

viii CONTENTS. XV. PAGE
Islam ... . . 129-137
A grand conception, 129 — The simple doctrines, 130 — The
paradise, 131 — A mixture of good and evil, 132 — Differences
in the length of the suras, 133 — Evolution of Mohammed's
claims, 134 — The wondrous effect of the prophet's preach-
ingi !35 — Good traits of Islam, 136.
XVI.
The Sword is Drawn . . . 138-150
Yathrib called Medina, 138 — The national kibla, 1319 — The
muezzin's call established, 140 — The prophet's simple life,
141 — A brotherhood formed, 142 — The different Semitic
prophets, 143— The Meccan caravans threatened, 144 — Abu
Sofian, 146 — Angry passions rise, 147— Mecca alarmed, 148
— Victory at Bedr, 149 — Sorrow at Mecca, T50.
XVII.
Victory for Mecca .... 151-158
Change in the prophet's trust, 151 — Secret assassination,
152 — Battle of the mealsacks, 153 — Mohammed girds on
his armor, 154 — The jagged flanks of Ohud, 156 — Islam
defeated, 157 — Power of the prophet's eloquence, 158.
XVIII.
The Battle of the Ditch . 159-167
Breaking down the Jewish power, 159 — Mohammed enam
oured of Zeyd's wife, 160 — Fatima marries Ali, 161 — Rules
for wives, 162 — Estrangement from Ayesha, 162 — The new
style of warfare, 164 — Allah said to have interfered, 165 —
Jews slaughtered, 166 — An enchantment, 167.
XIX.
Exiles in an Empty City . . . 16S-177
Mohammed irritated, though strong, 168 — An attempted pil
grimage, 169 — Confronted by an enemy, 170 — The pledge of
the tree, 172 — A disappointing" victory," 173 — A signet ring

CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
engraved, 173 — Jews of Keibar exiled, 175 — The Moslems
perform the pilgrimage, 176 — Kalid and Amr converted,
177- XX.
The Mother of Cities Conquered . 178-185
Mohammed's summons to the nations, 178 — He opposes the
empire, 179 — A repulse, 180 — An attempt upon Mecca,
182 — Abbas joins Islam, 183 — Mohammed enters Mecca,
184 — Mercy of the conqueror, 185.
XXI.
How Taif was Besieged and Taken . 186-197
Taif alarmed, 186 — A battle at Honein, 187 — Taif besieged,
188 — Mohammed mobbed at Medina, 189 — Ibrahim born,
190 — Christians send a deputation to Mohammed, 192 — Taif
still unconquered, 194 — It surrenders, 195 — An expedition
against the Romans, 196 — Is war over ? 197.
XXII.
A Farewell Pilgrimage . . 198-207
Idolaters cowed, 198 — They are to be killed, 199 — The
prophet's power increasing, 200 — He makes a progress to
Mecca, 201 — A sermon in the mosque, 202 — Rivals appear,
203 — Osama, son of Zeyd, sent against the Romans, 204 —
The prophet's end approaching, 205 — Last words, 206 —
Death, 207. XXIII.
The First Successor . . . 208-217
Feelings of the people on the death of Mohammed, 208 —
His form and behavior, 210 — His system, 211 — His reforms,
212 — His idea of God, 213 — He was not an impostor, 214 —
Sadness in Medina, 215 — Abu Bekr chosen kalif, 216 — His
policy foreshadowed, 217.

CONTENTS.

XXIV.

Can Islam be Shaken Off ? . . . 218-225
Who was Abu Bekr ? 218 — Claims of others on the office of
kalif, 219 — Ali's " right," 220 — Nedj wants to pray but not
pay tribute, 221 — The kalif 's reliance upon Kalid, 222 —
The rivals defeated, 223 — The Koran in danger of being
lost, 224 — Islam not to be shaken off, 225.
XXV.
Reaching out to Chaldea and Babylonia, 226-232
The dependence of despots upon war, 226 — Mesopotamia
attracts the Moslems, 227 — Kalid offers the Persians Islam,
or death, 228 — Bloody battles, 229 — Campaigns against the
Romans in Syria, 230 — The struggle at Wacusa, 231 —
Abu Bekr dies, 232. XXVI.
Palestine and Mesopotamia Conquered, 233-241
Great changes coming, 233 — Omar's policy, 234 — -Mesopota
mia conquered, 235 — The strugle at Kadesia, 236 — Kufa
and Bassora hotbeds of faction, 238 — The attempt upon
Damascus, 239 — Its success, 240 — All of Central Syria con
quered, 241. XXVII.
Jerusalem Captured .... 242-250
Courage and ambition increasing, 242 — Aleppo ingloriously
gives up, 243 — Jews expelled, 245 — Campaign of Amr in
Palestine, 246 — Omar goes to Jerusalem, 248 — Terms made
at Jerusalem, 249 — Omar enters the city, 250.
XXVIII.
How Egypt and Persia were Conquered, 251-262
Omar founds a mosque and returns, 251 — The Romans
routed by the Moslems, 252 — The year of plague and
drought, 253 — Amr's campaign in Egypt, 254 — Fostat
founded, 254 — Yezdegird overcome, 256-258 — The era of
the Hejra established, 260 — Omar's assassination, 261.

CONTENTS. xi
XXIX. PAGE
Favoritism and Intrigue . . . 263-271
The golden age passed, 263 — Wrangling between rival fac
tions, 264 — Tabular view of the genealogy of the kalifs,
265 — Character of Othman, 266 — Rebellions in Persia, 267
— Unhappy choice of governors, 268 — The kalifate under
mined by conspirators, 269 — Othman insulted, 270 — Assas
sination of the kalif, 271. XXX.
The Misfortunes of Ali, Father of Hasan, 272-287
A gloomy outlook, 272 — Ali becomes kalif, 273 — Mecca a
centre of intrigue, 274 — Ayesha goes to Bassora, 275 — An
appeal to Kufa, 276 — The day of the camel, 277 — Victory
for Ali, 278 — Moawia enters the struggle, 279 — The battle
at Siffin, 280 — Moawia gains the advantage, 281 — The
Karejites, 282 — Moawia enters Bassora, 284 — Desperate
Karejites conspire, 285 — Character of Ali, 286 — Moawia
kalif, 287.
XXXI.
The Tragedy of Moharrem . . 288-307
Damascus becomes the capital, 288 — Ziyad becomes a sup
porter of Moawia, 2go — Obeidalla, 291 — The first attempt
upon Constantinople, 292 — A treaty, 293 — Advances in
Africa, 294 — Yezid made heir-apparent, 295 — Moawia's
last counsels, 296 — Death and character of Moawia, 297 —
Hosein called to the kalifate, 298 — Yezid opposes him, 301 —
Death of Hosein at Kerbala, 303 — The commemoration of
the event, 304 — Abdalla rises at Medina, 305 — Mecca be
sieged, 306 — An opportunity lost, 307.
XXXII.
The Victories of Abd el Melik . . 308-320
Importance of the death of Hosein, 308 — More trouble with
the Karejites, 310 — Abd el Melik comes to the throne, 311 —
Moktar, 311 — A division of the kalifate, 312 — Musab slain,

xii CONTENTS.
PAGE
313 — Gruesome transactions, 314 — Bloody Hejaj, 315 —
Wasit founded, 316 — Karejites rise again, 317 — The Berbers
overcome, 318 — Letters encouraged, 320.
XXXIII.
The Glory of the Omiades . . . 321-333
Walid kalif, 321— Conquest and luxury, 322 — Musa in Africa,
324 — Roderick, the last of the Goths, 325 — Count Julian's
treachery, 326 — Tarik and Tarif, 328 — Roderick, killed, 329
— Spain conquered, 330 — Musa's magnificent plan, 332 —
The fall of Musa and Tarik, 333.
XXXIV.
The Stroke of the Hammer . . 334-346
The glories of the Omiades passed, 334 — Musa's report,
335 — A defeat at Constantinople, 336 — Another reverse,
337 — Invasion of France, 338 — Fury of the Saracens, 33c; —
Grasping governors, 340 — The battle near Tours, 341 —
Charles Martel victor, 342 — The mysterious Kazars, 345.
XXXV.
The Black Flag of Abbas . . . 347~353
Years of civil war, 347 — Rise of the Abbassides, 348' — A de
ceptive peace, 349 — Conspirators at Merv, 350 — A decisive
battle on the Zab, 351 — Destruction of the Omiades, 352 —
A plan to establish a dynasty, 353.
XXXVI.
By Bagdad's Shrines .... 354-365
A pilgrimage to Mecca, 354 — Muslim at Nisibis, 355 — Rise
of the Rawendites, 356 — Bagdad founded, 357 — The Barme
cides appear, 358 — Hopes of the Alyites cast down, 359 
Death of Mansur, 360 — A luxurious pilgrimage, 36r  The
veiled prophet of Korassan, 362 — Luxury weakens the
kalifate, 363 — Constantinople pays tribute, 364 — Rise of
Freethinkers, 365.

CONTENTS.

XXXVII.

Aaron the Orthodox .... 366-377
A brilliant period, 366— The Bagdad of story, 367 — Art and
letters flourish, 368 — Correspondence with the emperor, 370
— Fall of the Barmecides, 371 — The orthodoxy of Harun,
372 — Revolt in Korassan, 373 — Death of Harun, 374 — Per
sians and Arabs jealous, 375 — A fratricidal strife, 376 — Ma-
mun proclaimed, 377. XXXVIII.
Gold and Dross  378-389
Fadhl the prime-minister, 378 — Anarchy in Bagdad, 379 — A
sop to the Alyites, 380 — Mamun acts vigorously, 381 — Dis
simulation, 382 — Persian influence grows stronger, 383 —
Rationalism, 384 — The nature of the Koran discussed, 385
— A war for a philosopher, 386 — Death of Mamun, 387 —
His encouragement of science and art, 388 — His tolera
tion, 389. XXXIX.
Glimmerings and Decays . . . 390-403
The orthodox persecuted, 390 — Babek and his sect, 391 —
War with the empire, 392 — The Turks advanced in the
kalifate, 394 — Persecutions of Moslems and Christians, 395
— Turks almost masters of the government, 396 — A great
palace at Samarra, 398— Motawakkel assassinated, 399 —
The Turkish body-guard supreme, 400 — Enthusiasm for
war a thing of the past, 401 — Wathek exalts the Koran
again, 402 — Primitive principles, 403.
XL.
The Grip of the Turk Tightens . . 404-422
The Taherites of Korassan, 404 — The Soffarides, 405 — The
Tulunides, 406 — The Alyites, 407 — The Karmathians, 408 —
Rise of the Samanades, 408 — Amr, brother of Yakub, meets
a ludicrous mischance, 409 — End of the Soffarides, 410 — The
Karmathians give trouble in Syria, 411 — A young kalif, 412
— The Fatimites in Africa, 413 — Expectation of a mahdi,

XIV CONTENTS.
PAGE
414 — An embassy from Constantinople, 416 — Oriental mag
nificence, 418 — The Karmathians in Syria, 420 — Terror in
Bagdad, 421 — Moktader murdered, 422.
XLI.
The Fatal Blow .... 423-442
The germs of decay, 423 — Strong helpers become masters,
424 — Kaher deposed, 425 — The Buvides from Persia, 426 —
The fall of Radi, 427— The power of the kalifs lost, 428—
The princes of princes supreme, 42g — The Fatimites once
more, 430 — Letters flourish again, 431 — The Gaznivides
and Seljuks, 432 — The Old Man of the Mountains, 434 —
A glimpse qf Bagdad, 436 — Jengis Kahn, 440 — Hulaku cap
tures Bagdad, 441 — The frightful end, 441.
Noldeke's Order of the Suras of the Koran . 443
A Chronological Table, a.d. 565-1261 . 445
List of Books Used in Preparing The Story
of the Saracens . . . . . 451
Index . . ..... 471

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VIEW OF MECCA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY PAGE
from muller's " islam " . . Frontispiece.
RUINS OF FEIRAN, SHOWING TWO WADIES . . 5
MOUNT HOR, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO PAL
ESTINE . .  9
CAMEL-RIDERS OF THE DESERT . . . .II
MODERN PILGRIMS BATHING IN ZEM-ZEM ... 23
AN ENCAMPMENT OF ARABIAN PILGRIMS ... 26
THE MOSQUE AT MECCA .... 29
VIEW IN PETRA, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO
PALESTINE  45
A DESERT SOLITUDE ...... 53
TOMB OF FATIMA AT DAMASCUS . . . .61
BEDAWIN WOMEN FROM BAALBEK. , . 69
VIEW FROM MOUNT HOR . ..... 73
THE KAABA, SHOWING MODERN PILGRIMS . . 85
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM, I07
THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM . . . 109
ARABIAN WEAPONS OF DIFFERENT PERIODS . I45
HELMET OF AN ARABIAN PRINCE OF EGYPT . . 155
ARABIAN WOMEN, WATER-CARRIERS . . 163
A PILGRIM ENCAMPMENT NEAR MEDINA . . 171
A YOUNG COPTIC WOMAN . . . -191
VIEW IN MEDINA . . ... 193
MOHAMMED . ...... 209

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
SEALS OF THE EARLY KALIFS, ABU BEKR, OMAR, OTH- PAGE
MAN, ALI  237
MAP OF DAMASCUS AND THE REGION AROUND . . 247
VIEW OF A PORTION OF THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM, 248
INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF AMR AT CAIRO . . 255
A MOSQUE AT ISPAHAN  257
RESTORED ELEVATION OF THE MOSQUE AT TABRIZ, .
CAPITAL OF AZERBAIJAN IN NORTHERN PERSIA, 259
GENEALOGICAL LINE OF THE KALIFS, FROM ABU
BEKR TO RADI ....... 265
A YOUNG SYRIAN GIRL  280
INTERIOR OF ,THE MOSQUE AT ISPAHAN, SHOWING
AN ISLAMITE PREACHING PLACE . . . 283
MAUSOLEUM OF TAMERLANE AT SAMARKAND . 289
ANCIENT MOSQUE OF KAIRWAN .... 293
VIEW OF TUNIS ....... 295
VIEW OF THE MOSQUE OF HASAN AT CAIRO . . 299
COIN OF THE OMIADES, ABOUT 725 A.D. . . . 305
COINS OF THE EARLY KALIFS  317
A BERBER VILLAGE . . . . . . -319
ENCLOSURE OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM, 323
AN ALGERIAN BERBER . . . 327
A BERBER WOMAN . . .... 331
PLAIN OF THE TOMBS AND MOSQUE OF MEHEMET ALI
AT CAIRO ...... 343
COURT OF THE GREAT MOSQUE OF DAMASCUS . 349
COIN OF MEHDI  361 369

WATER-MERCHANTS AT CAIRO
COIN OF THE KALIF MAMUN
A VIEW IN CONSTANTINOPLE
A SUBURB OF DAMASCUS .
COIN OF TULUN, A.D. 876
AN ARABIAN ENCAMPMENT
GENERAL VIEW OF CAIRO

379
393397405
4094i5

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xvii PAGE
MAP OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE REGIONS ABOUT, 417
VIEW OF A MOSQUE AT BAGDAD . . 419
COIN OF THE KALIF RADI . . . 427
GOLD COINS OF THE FATIMITE KALIFS, IO50 AND
1072 A.D. ..... . 430
ARABIAN BREAD SELLER AT JERUSALEM . . 435
WALLS OF DAMASCUS ..... 439

THE
STORY OF THE SARACENS

HOW THE STORY BEGINS.
EAST of the Red Sea, and just south of Palestine,
there lies a strange land, belonging, we sometimes
think, neither to Europe, nor to Asia, nor to Africa.
Its rocky borders are washed by water on three sides,
while on the fourth there lies a sandy desert of such
little importance that men hardly care to own it, and
no boundary line is drawn to show where one na
tion's possessions end and the territory of the next
neighbor begins. Sandy and rocky, almost without
rivers or lakes, except in favored regions, with a great
part entirely unknown, save, perhaps, to a few lonely
wanderers or enthusiastic travellers, who have ven
tured to explore its barren wastes, this land was, at
the time of which we write, strange to all the world.
Roman and Macedonian, Jew and Gentile, had wan
dered around it ; but no nation cared to inquire
what secrets lay hidden in its broad and treacherous
deserts. The haughty inhabitants looked back
through many generations and assured each other

2 HOW THE STORY BEGINS.
that they were the ancient ones, — that they had
Adam and Noah and Abraham and Ishmael for their
fathers, and they cared as little for the rest of the
world as the rest of the world cared for them.
For how many generations these peculiar sons of
the sands had lived in their primitive simplicity ; for
how many centuries they had fought the terrible
simoons, and had carried their small merchandise
over the deserts in a venerable commerce ; for what
length of time they had dwelt in tents, feeding their
dusky children with the dates and tamarinds that
clustered on the branches which shaded them from
the tropical sun, we cannot tell. They had no books,
and their traditions were so evidently framed to
bolster up a national pride that we cannot depend
upon them as truth.
At the time at which our story begins a change
was about to come over this strange people ; they
were to be known of all men. They were no longer
to be simply mysterious sons of the desert, but
something more. Mystery was certainly to be
always about them, but they were to have dealings
with men which were destined to carry their name
and their fame to all lands and to the end of time.
It is to this people that the story of the Saracens
calls us. It carries us back to a period several cen
turies before the Norman invasion of England ; to a
time when our ancestors were bowing their heads to
Woden ; but it introduces us to quite a different world
— it shows us a Semitic instead of an Aryan type of
social life. It interests us, people of another race
of humanity, for the reason that it is new.

OPPOSING EMPIRES. 3
Hundreds of years before our story begins Greece
had fallen before Alexander, and Rome had become
master of it and of Macedonia too. Rome had
passed through its age of myth, its heroic and its
golden ages, — had been a kingdom, a republic, and
an empire by turns, and at last, after all its conquests,
had been humbled by the army of barbarians which
poured into it from the land of the Hyperboreans. For
two hundred years, indeed, she had mourned the ruin
wrought by Alaric, Attila, and Genseric ; and now
the very sceptre had been removed from the Tiber
to the Bosphorus. There, on the shores of the
Golden Horn, the emperor of Constantinople stood
over against the king of Persia, dividing, as he
thought, the empire of the earth with him, and ever
and anon making incursion into his territories. Thus
was continued a struggle which lasted seven centuries ;
as Gibbon says, — " from the death of Crassus to the
reign of Heraclius," — the emperor hoping that some
day he might grasp the whole vast realm of Chosroes
and sit monarch in his very palace.
One day, when forced to flee from his own king
dom, a Chosroes found asylum in the dominions of
the Emperor Maurice ; but the kind treatment he
received did not insure peace. When the hospitable
Maurice was killed by a usurper (a. D. 602), the
Persian pretended a desire to avenge the crime, and
the next year entered upon the most deadly war that
was waged between the two peoples. After the
fighting had been going on a few years, Heraclius
overcame the usurper Phocas, put him to death, and
gracefully yielded to the popular entreaties that he

4 HO IV THE STORY BEGINS.
should assume the purple (A. D. 610). He then
took up the war with Chosroes, ventured far into the
Persian country, won a decisive victory at Nineveh
on the river Tigris (a. D. 627), forced the Persian
king to flight, and celebrated triumphs both at Con
stantinople and Jerusalem.*
Before this time Europe had been overrun by the
Huns, who, for a while, fed their flocks on the pas
ture-lands of Southern Russia,- in Poland, and in
Hungary ; the Vandals, the Goths, the Burgundians,
and the Franks had also formed a portion of the
seething mass of fierce humanity which had surged
through the regions watered by the Rhone, the Rhine,
the Seine, the Danube, the Po, and the Dnieper.
The sovereign who held his seat at Constantinople
was not a Greek emperor ; the Roman power had
simply been joined to that of the East at the time
(a. D. 476) when it is customary to say that the
Western empire " fell." Our story will bring us
also into contact with the hordes of shifting tribes
that had been for generations, all unknown to other
peoples, strengthening their sinews and increasing
their numbers on the northern plains of Asia, and
throughout the mountains and valleys of Turkestan,
and the regions beyond.
* It is to be remarked that at the moment when Heraclius was
enjoying these triumphs his troops were cut to pieces at a small town
in Southern Syria by some Saracens (see chap, xx.); and that when,
in 711, the dynasty which he established was extinguished at Con
stantinople, the then insignificant Arabian tribe ruled from Damascus
its most extensive dominions (see chap, xxxiii.). For an interesting
account of the relations between Heraclius and Chosroes II. see
Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter xlvi.

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jiiiP
1111*

F®

_- -K^»j|L^ .,. 
RUINS OF FEIRAN, SHOWING TWO WADIES,

6 HO W THE STORY BEGINS.
In the Bible, we have the history of a nation that
dwelt quite near the people of whom we are writ
ing. The Jews of Palestine were curiously con
nected with the men of the deserts, and yet, in most
respects, they were strangely separate in their busi
ness, their religion, and their lives. Through Ish
mael, the Saracens looked back to the same ances
tors, and many among the inhabitants of the
Arabian deserts worshipped the God of Abraham ;
yet the religious faith and customs of the larger
number of them were very different, though their
habits of life were in many respects the same. In
early times, people of influence from among the
" Scriptural People," the " People of the Book," as
the Jews were called by the Arabians, had left their
homes in Palestine to find new ones in the city of
Yathrib, the Medina of after-times. In the sixth
century of our era, a whole tribe living in the far
south of Arabia had been led to give its allegiance to
the faith of the children of Israel, and, according to
their strange traditions, the people of the deserts be
tween that region and Palestine had seen a sight, a
thousand years before Christ, the story of which im
pressed the People' of the Book very deeply upon
the Arabians all along the shores of the Red Sea.
The land of the Saracens lies four square, and com
prises a territory about eight times as large as the
islands of Great Britain. On its western coast roll
the waters of the Red Sea; to the South is the In
dian Ocean, which sweeps also along the western
coasts of India and distant Australia ; on the east are
the Persian Gulf, the Euphrates, and the Tigris •

THE CAMEL GOES F.ROM WADY TO WADY. 7
while on the north is a broad belt, over which the
wild sands whirl and drive eternally. The outside bor
der of this great territory is the only portion which,
so far as we certainly know, is generally inhabited.
Towards the middle country the land rises, and there
vast table-lands and lofty mountains frown upon all
attempts at colonization.* In a riverless land, water
is scarce, and wherever a spring rises to the surface
to refresh the parched earth the inhabitant rejoices
and pitches his tent with thankfulness. In imitation
of the Greeks, we call such a green spot an oasis, but
it is better named a wady, which is, in the mind of
an Arab, a place watered by a river or a spring that
is likely at any time to sink from sight.
In our day commerce finds that broad continents
are not so favorable for the transportation of mer
chandise as boisterous oceans ; but it was not always
so, and in the early days, when ships were small and
compasses were not known, goods were sent from
country to country across the deserts. In the land
of the Saracens they were carried from wady to
wady, the merchants finding grass for their beasts
and shade for themselves at those green spots that
were watered by springs or brooks. The unwieldy
camel was the beast upon which the burdens were
carried, and it was able to plod over the sands with
its freight at the rate of some sixteen miles a day.
Patiently it bore its rider in the face of the pitiless
* The table-lands lying between Yemen on the south, Hejaz on the
west, and Irak on the northeast, are known as Nejd. According to
Palgrave, the name signifies "highlands." See "A Pilgrimage to
Nejd," by Lady Anne Blunt, pp. xviiil-xxvii. Hejaz is the region
about Mecca and Medina.

8 HOW THE STORY BEGINS.
simoon, and under the heat of the burning sun,
enabling him to traverse vast stretches of territory,
and to exchange the myrrh, frankincense, gold, and
precious stones of Saba and Ophir* for the purple
of Tyre and the sword-blades of Damascus. The
long lines of camels and horses would sometimes
journey from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the
eastward, skirting the Persian Gulf, and would bring
their weary march to an end on the banks of the
Tigris. On other occasions they would start to the
north, and, halting from day to day in a succession of
convenient wadies by the side of the Red Sea, they
would make the acquaintance of a different sort of
Semitic civilization from their own in the borders of
Palestine. By this route they would pass very near
to wondrous Petra, and to Mount Hor, on the top
of which Aaron, brother of Moses, breathed his last.'
Yemen was the name of the southern portion of
Arabia, but the Greeks called it Happy Arabia, on
account of the fertility. Saba was the name of a
city there of great importance in early times. In
that region Joktan, the mythical great-grandson of
Noah's son Shem, became father of a people livin°-
in rich and populous cities of commercial importance.
A thousand years before Christ the rich King Solo
mon was reigning at Jerusalem, and wondrous were
the stories told about him,— stories that travellers
slowly carried along the shores of the Red Sea, so
tradition asserts, until they got quite down to the
Indian Ocean, where they reached the ears of Balkis
* It is not necessary to enter upon the vexed question of the ceo
graphical position of Ophir ; it may have been in Arabia.

r.

MOUNT HOR, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO PALESTINE.

IO HOW THE STORY BEGINS.
the queen in Saba.* Her people were Sabeans ;
they stood on their rich wadies and on their lonely
sands, and gazed up to heaven in wonder, as the
stars, the sun, and the moon shone out upon them,
and they thought that such bright lights must be
gods. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped
the hosts of heaven.
The queen of Saba (we still follow tradition) medi
tated upon the wonders that travellers told of the
great northern king, and in spite of the threescore
and more of stages that the camels would have to
make before reaching that far-off land, she determined
to go herself and see and hear what Solomon could
do and say. It was no small labor to prepare for
such a journey. It would take but a few days to
accomplish the distance in our country, but there
and at that time circumstances were different. The
queen was going to visit a powerful potentate ; the
richest, the wisest of whom she had ever heard ; a
king so great, indeed, that even her wildest Arabian
* The capital of Yemen, the seat of the Himyaritic dynasty to
which the queen of Saba is said to have belonged, was Mareb, two
days' journey northeast of a city called Sana, and great numbers of
finely cut stones, inscriptions, coins, and jewels still give evidence
that a city of importance once stood there. Balkis is represented to
have been descended from one Afrikis, who, according to tradition
gathered the remnants of the Amalekites after Joshua overthrew that
people, and led them to the other side of the Red Sea, where they
multiplied and were known from their barbarous dialect as Berbers
Magreb (western), the country in which legend makes this mixed
people to have settled, may be said to have extended from the Red
Sea to the Atlantic. See Caussin de Perceval, " Essai sur l'Histoire
des Amies," vol. i., pp. 67, 75-77, etc. De Slane's " Histoire des
Berberes" vol. i., pp. 168, 186.

CAMEL RIDERS OF THE DESERT.

12 HOW THE STORY BEGINS.
imagination could not depict his glories. She could
not take a camel and start off alone ; she would be
obliged to take many camels, and scores of men, be
sides numbers of women to attend upon her, and she
was obliged also, according to the customs of her
country, to take rich presents to offer to the great
king. Let us imagine her starting from the city of the
sons of Joktan with her long train of camels and
their drivers ; with their tents for covering by night
as she encamped in the wadies by the way, and with
her precious gifts. Day after day we follow her, and
night after night we see her resting beneath the clear
and cloudless sky of that wondrous land. A week
passes, and she has but begun her tedious journey ;
still the train pushes forwards. Another week passes
and another and another ; seventy days and more
she holds persistently to her purpose. She had
travelled as long as Columbus took to cross the broad
Atlantic. At last the gilded turrets of the temple come in
sight, and in time the curious queen -is in the
presence of the wise king. She connects his name
with a knowledge of the great Jehovah, and she
brings hard questions for him to answer, such, per
haps, we imagine, as those which Job and his friends
discussed in their truly Arabian manner. Probably
she asked him to solve riddles, for her people loved
such sportive queries ; but surely she had besides
more serious matters about which to speak, for she
talked " of all that was in her heart "; and she
listened in admiration to Solomon's words, confessing

MARVELS IN THE LAND OF JOKTAN. 1 3
that in spite of the exaggerations of travellers, the
half of what she saw and heard had not been carried
to her far-away land.*
No wonder that stories of Solomon increased in
number and in marvellousness in the land of Joktan's
sons ; no wonder that he was there said to wear a
ring by means of which he could get any information
that he wanted ; no wonder that it was believed that
his temple was the foundation of all architectural
knowledge, and that he was himself thought to effect
his wonders through the agency of the jinns, or genii,
inhabitants of the mountain of Kaf in Jinnestan or
fairyland, over which he was said to have had com
plete sway. No wonder that the people of Arabia,
from Saba to the northern deserts, naturally looked
upon Palestine as a land of a civilization far beyond
theirs, and willingly received legends and religious
inspiration from its people.
* An account of this legendary visit of the queen of Sheba to Solo
mon is to be found in the Koran, the Arabian Bible (Sura xxvii.).
The word Koran means " reading," and a sura is a chapter, a con
tinuous portion, like a brick in its course in a wall.

II.
CREATURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLAY.
The Arabs were an imaginative people ; they lived
in a wonderful land, and they found something strange
wherever they looked ; were it into the clear blue of
the starlit heaven, or over the desert, often start-
lingly illuminated by the marvellous mirage ; they
saw a fairy, a ghost, a goblin, a spook, a genius of
some sort in the rock and the flower, in the tree and
the stream, — everywhere they felt that supernatural
agents were above and around them. Out of this
nature grew up in process of time a mythology, — out
of the nature of this active, meditative, enthusiastic,
deep-hearted people, these Frenchmen of the East.
At what times it was put into the form in which it
appears to us, and how much of it was known in the
earliest days, we are not able to determine. One of
the most thorough students says,* that we can but
guess at the state of the Arabian belief in those
days, but that " from what broken light is shed by a
few forlorn rays, we may conclude this, that they
worshipped, to use that vague word, the Hosts of
Heaven"; that others seemed to have ascribed
every thing to nature, and that some worshipped
* Emanuel Deutsch, in the London Quarterly Review, Oct., i860
14

FROM KAF TO KAF. I 5
stones and other fetiches ; while the Phantoms of
the Desert, the Fata Morgana, angels and demons
and the rest of embodied ideas or ideals, formed
other objects of pious consideration.
Two thousand years before Adam was created,
according to the stories of the myth-makers of this
people, Allah made a different order of beings from
man. They were known as jinns; and were not
formed of clay, but of pure fire unmixed with smoke.
They moved from place to place without being seen ;
they loved and married ; they had children and they
died, just as the creatures of clay did and still do.
Some of them were good and some bad ; and they
were divided into classes in respect to other traits.
Some of them haunted ruins, and markets and
cross-roads ; some dwelt in rivers and oceans ; and
some were found in baths and wells ; but their
chief resort was a mysterious mountain named
Kaf, which, in the imagination of the Arabs,
was founded upon an immense emerald and en
circled the world, so that indeed the sun rose and
went down behind it. When they wished to speak
of the entire earth, they said " from Kaf to Kaf."
It was this emerald, they thought, which gave
its azure tint to the sun's rays ; it surrounded the
earth as a ring surrounds a finger, and, in. some way
that we do not understand, it was connected with
the earthquakes which, in accordance with the orders
of Allah, shook Arabia.
All the jinns were once good, and had their laws,
prophets, religion, and regular government ; but long
before the time of Adam, they became uneasy under

1 6 CREA TURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLA Y.
a monotonous and regular life, and tried to over
turn the original condition of things. They rebelled
against the prophets, who, we must remember, were
not persons who foretold future events, but, like
those of their neighbors, the Jews, were preachers,
and expounders of the will of heaven. Allah sent
against them legions of creatures who were still more
spiritual than they, angels, who had been created not
from clay, not even from smokeless fire, but from
pure light. Was it not a bright thought of some one
in those early ages, that of peopling space with such
creatures as these, made of fire and light ?
Well, the angels went forth and made consterna
tion among the jinns, scattering them to the islands
and mountains, and to all sorts of out-of-the-way
places, but also capturing many of them. The evil
jinns were known by several names, one of which
was Ifreet or Efreet. Some accounts says that one
of those that the angels frightened became an angel
himself, and was named Azazil, or Iblis; but no one
knows what the original belief was, and it is well
enough for us to think of Iblis as at first an angel who
rebelled against Allah, at the time of the creation of
Adam, and became an evil demon corresponding
with our idea of Satan. Like Satan, he was proud
in his first estate, and was called the Peacock of the
angels. When an Arabian whirlwind was seen carrying
sand and dust over field and desert, it was said that
some evil jinn was riding forth with sinister intent,
and the beholder was wont to cry out : " Iron ! Iron !
thou unlucky! " for the jinns were cowed by the fear

ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS. 1 7
of iron ; or they exclaimed : " Allah is most great ! "
as if thinking that Allah, thus complimented, would
protect them from the threatened harm. So when
they ventured to sea in their little boats, and saw a
waterspout, they thought that a jinn was abroad,
against whom they needed protection.
The angels were deemed quite different from
jinns ; they never disobey Allah, nor are they
troubled by the bad passions that stir jinns, and, it
must be confessed, stir men, also ; some did join in
the rebellion against Allah, but since that time all
find their food in celebrating his glory, their drink
• in proclaiming his holiness, and their pleasure in his
worship. They were supposed to have different
forms ; but as they are made of pure light, it would
of course, take sharper eyes than those of the creat
ures of clay to tell what their beautiful shapes are.
Four are archangels : Gabriel, the faithful spirit, who
reveals the will of Allah ; Michael, guardian of the
Jews ; Azrael, the angel of death ; and Israfil, the
angel of the trumpet, who is at the end of the world
to blow a blast which will kill all creatures, and
another which will raise them all for judgment.
One angel was supposed to stand ever at the right
side of each man to record his good deeds, and an
other at his left to write down his evil acts. At
every man's death Nakir and Munkir, two of the
creatures of light, examine him in his grave concern
ing his faith. If he acknowledge Allah to be the one
God, they permit him to rest in peace, but otherwise
they pound and beat him until he roars so loudly that
he is heard, by all but men and jinns, from Kaf to Kaf !

1 8 CREA TURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLA Y.
Men were thought to be not entirely at the mercy
of the jinns, but were permitted to command their
services, and even to gain from them some informa
tion of future events through the medium of certain
invocations and talismans. One would think that
jinns could not know any more about the future
than ordinary mortals, but we are told that they
were eavesdroppers at the gates of heaven, and thus
gained a great deal of information about the doings
of the angels and the plans of Allah. Up to the time
of the birth of Jesus, so they say, they were allowed
to enter any of the seven heavens, but after that
they were excluded from three of them, and after
the birth of Mohammed they were forbidden the
other four ; still, however, as they go as near the
lowest heaven as possible, they glean a great deal
that men cannot learn. When the Arabians saw
bright shooting-stars in the sky, they were wont to
say that the angels were driving these inquisitive
jinns from their positions near the gates of the low
est heaven.
Solomon's seal-ring by which he was supposed to
control the jinns, was said to have been sent to him
from heaven. It was of iron and brass, and had
engraven on it the name of Allah. When he sent a
command to the good jinns, he stamped the letter
with the brass, and when the order was intended for
the evil ones, it bore the imprint of the iron, for the
reason that has been mentioned. By the power he
possessed over the jinns he forced them to assist in
building the temple at Jerusalem, and in many of the
other great works of his reign. The marvellous ring

CONCEPTIONS OF PARADISE. ig
gave him power also over winds, over birds, and even
over wild beasts. It is mentioned in the "Arabian
Nights," in the tale of the fisherman and the jinn, or
genii. It was truly a wondrous ring. By it the rich
owner converted many evil jinns to the true faith,
and confined others in strong prisons because they
would not yield. It were well if other mortals could
have owned such a ring, for the evil jinns worked a
great many wrongs upon men. They carried off
beautiful women ; they went upon roofs and threw
bricks and stones down upon passers-by, they stole
provisions, they haunted empty houses, some of
them, called ghouls, ate men and made their homes
in graveyards, and they did many other diabolical
acts. Though we cannot tell at what time the different
portions of this weird mythology were taken up, we
know that the belief in jinns was an original portion
of it, though it is equally evident also that the heaven
of the Arabian imagination was a creation of after-
times. Mohammed conceived Paradise to be a place
where all the enjoyments grateful to dwellers in a
hot and barren land, — shade, rest, water, fruit, com
panionship, and service, — were perennially furnished
to the faithful. Allah is the ruler there : he is eter
nal and everlasting, without form or limit, including
every thing and included by nothing ; he is invoked
under ninety-nine attributes which represent him as
merciful and glorious, exalted and righteous ; the
guardian and judge, the creator and the provider.
Heaven was to him in its seven-fold division, the
Garden of Beauty, the Abode of Peace, the Abode

20 CREA TURES OF FIRE, LIGHT, AND CLA Y.
of Rest, the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Resort,
the Garden of Pleasure, the Garden of the Most
High, and the Garden of Paradise* Hell was like
wise divided into seven parts : Gehenna, the Flam
ing Fire, the Raging Fire that splits every thing to
pieces, the Blaze, the Scorching Fire, the Fierce Fire,
and finally the Abyss. In the first hell wicked Islam
ites were confined temporarily; in the second are
the Jews ; in the third the Christians ; in the fourth
the Sabeans ; in the fifth the Magians ; in the sixth the
idol-worshippers ; and in the bottommost, hypocrites
who have falsely professed some religion. This hell
in all its departments was a place which men accus
tomed to the trials of a hot country would consider
an abode of direst misery.
The ninth month of the Arabian year, called
Ramadan, is and was held to be a sort of Lent, during
the entire duration of which it was a sacred duty to
fast from the rising of the sun to the going down of
the same; but when its setting was announced, all
restrictions were off, and the hungry and thirsty
hastened to eat and drink to full content. During
the day they would even hold the hand before the
mouth should they chance to pass in the street a
man smoking, lest a whiff of the forbidden fragrance
should pollute them ; but when it was too dark to
distinguish a white thread from a black, they mi""ht
unrestrictedly enjoy their pipes. Some, of course,
did not observe this month with the religious faith
that others held, and some looked at it in the spirit
* The Jewish rabbis likewise taught that there were seven
heavens.

THE REST OF RAMADAN

21

of the.Magians, with whom it was a spell. There
were not lacking those, however, who sought the
quiet of spots remote from the busy haunts of men,
and communed with their thoughts as they looked
towards the abode of Allah.

III.
THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE.
When Adam fell from Paradise, so the stories of
the East tell us, there fell also a pure white stone,
which, through all the ages, has been kept with re
ligious care, and worshipped as something pure and
holy. As stones do sometimes fall from the heavens,
it may well be that this one so fell in the early days
when men knew nothing about aerolites, and at such
a period they would naturally have given it rever
ence. We can trace this particular stone to a time
long before the birth of Christ ; and Diodorus, the
Sicilian, a writer of the golden age of Rome, who
made it the business of his life to get accurate infor
mation about all nations, said that it existed in his
days, was then most ancient, and was revered ex
ceedingly by the whole Arab race.
We remember that when Jacob dreamed his won
derful dream, he set up a stone in commemoration
of the event, on the top of which he poured oil, and
that he called the placed " Beth-El," or the House of
God. The Arabs also call the place where their pre
cious stone is, the House of Allah, and they seem to
worship the shapeless mass, as Jacob did not. It
was, in fact, not at all uncommon in the early times
22

Si««KiIIii

MODERN PILGRIMS BATHING IN ZEM-ZEM.

24 THE TIMES CF IGNORANCE.
for the Arabs to bow down to misshapen stones ; but
this one became the most noted and at last the only
one remembered. It did not remain white, and is
now of a reddish-brown color, either because it has
wept so much for the sins of the world, as its worship
pers aver, or because it has been handled and kissed
for so many hundred years. It is worn and broken,
and bound together by silver "bands, and is often de
scribed as black, so begrimed has :t become.
The sacred stone is embedded in the walls of a
building, known as the Kaaba, or Cube, around
which a mosque has been built, which includes, be
sides the Kaaba, a well, called from the purling
sound of its gently gurgling waters, Zem-zem. It is
related that when Hagar was sent into the desert by
Father Abraham, she laid little Ishmael down on the
sand (though we think that he was a young man of
some sixteen years), and that, as he threw his limbs
about, he discovered the spring, which afterwards af
forded refeshment to both him and his mother. They
say that Seth, son of Adam, had built the Kaaba
there, but that the deluge had washed it away. When
Ishmael became a man, and had married a princess
of- the land, he undertook the pious work of rebuild
ing the holy house. In this he was assisted by his
father, Abraham, who was directed by the angel Ga
briel, sent from heaven for the express purpose. The
angel discovered the sacred stone, which had been
hidden by the slime left after the flood.
The period to which all these remarkable events
are relegated by the Arabians, they well call the
Times of Ignorance, and utterly improbable as we

COMMERCE IN EARLY DAYS. 25
may think them, they are necessary to be told in
connection with our story. The Bible records
that in the days of Isaac and Jacob there were
traders in Palestine, who came from and returned to
Arabia, exchanging the productions of the two lands.
As we follow the history along, we find that in the
reign of Solomon the "kings of Arabia" and her
merchants traded still with Judea, and that the pro
phet Ezekiel, in his lamentation for the wealthy
city of Tyre, graphically refers to the traffickers from
Dedan and Aden and Saba as bringing to that great
Mediterranean seaport rich spices and precious stones,
bright sword-blades and chests of costly apparel,
gold, and wrappings of blue and embroidered work.*
This was hundreds of years before Christ ; and we
learn from Roman writers that the lucrative com
merce was kept up until a time came at which men
began to carry on their trade over the waters of the
Red Sea. Then the ship of the ocean took the
place of the ship of the desert, and the camels were
no longer needed in vast numbers for transportation,
nor the drivers to direct them. Mercantile stations
and halting-places had been established along the
shores, from the Persian Gulf to the northern ex
tremity of the Gulf of Akaba, which were then de
serted, and many men were obliged to scatter and
seek occupation in other places. The number of
Bedawins, or wanderers over the deserts, was much
increased. During the years of ignorance, the world knew
little of the peninsula of Arabia. In the reign of
* Ezekiel, xxviii., 19-24.

26

THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE.

Augustus, a quarter of a century before Christ, a
Roman army, under command of ^Elius Gallus, pre
fect of Egypt, had crossed the Red Sea at the com
mand of the emperor, with the intention of making
treaties with the people, or of conquering them, if
they should dare to oppose Roman progress. For

AN ENCAMPMENT OK ARABIAN PILGRIMS.
six months the army wandered about in the extreme
south of the country, penetrating as far as Saba,
under the direction of a treacherous guide ; but the
hot sun burned them, and the bad water made them
ill. The force melted away under the disease ; yElius
could not conquer the Arabs, and was obliged to has
ten from the inhospitable region most ingloriously,

THE POSITION OF MECCA. 2J
occupying but sixty days in his rapid retreat. The
poet Horace mentions the proverbial opulence of the
Arabians, which had tempted the emperor to send
out this ill-fated expedition, and we learn from him
with what avidity it was entered upon. Though it
failed in its immediate purpose, it resulted in consid
erable addition to the world's knowledge of the land
of the Saracens, for Gallus had been accompanied by
his intimate friend Strabo, and when that writer
found himself safe in Egypt again, he gave him the
information he had gained, which we may still read
in the sixteenth book of the geographer's great
work. Five hundred years after this (in the sixth century
of our era), when Christianity had been introduced
into the same part of the country, the Romans inter
fered again. From time immemorial the dynasty of
the Himyarites had governed both Yemen and Had-
ramawt, the region to the east ;¦ but at this time a
Jewish usurper had seized the throne, and was trying
by means of frightful persecutions to turn the Chris
tians to his faith. A refugee managed to find his
way across Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor to the
court of Justinian at Constantinople, and there hold
ing up a half-burned gospel, pleaded for retribution.
A prince of Abyssinia undertook the task, and
crossed the Red Sea. Pie grasped the supreme au
thority, and ruled for a while, but finally his govern
ment was thrown off, and Yemen at least became
tributary to Persia.
The position of Mecca, which made the Kaaba a
centre for the faithful to congregate about, is very

28 THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE.
convenient, for it is midway on the road from the
Gulf of Akaba to Saba. It is about fifty miles
from the shores of the Red Sea, and some thirty
from the granite peaks of Jebel Kora. East of
this mountain there lies a smiling country clothed
with verdure and beautified by shady trees, while
apples and figs, pomegranates and peaches, abound
in perfection. The region about Mecca is, however,
a great contrast to this loveliness. There rugged
rocks look sullenly down upon barren valleys, sandy
and stony, and the labors of the farmer are rewarded
by doubtful crops.
The irregular valley in which Mecca lies is about
two miles in length, the Kaaba and the principal
portions of the city being in an amphitheatre about
a half mile in width, surrounded by precipitous rocks
that frown upon it from elevations of two hundred,
three hundred, and even five hundred feet. Such
was the spot in which Hagar and Ishmael were
imagined to have found a haven of refuge ; and
surely it was a fitting place for the cradle of a race
of wild, hardy, active, agile men, whose hands were,
in the language of Scripture, to be against every
man and every man's hand against them ; of men
who were to be strong, and destined to dwell over
against their brethren, ever threatening them.
At some time, probably long before history records
any thing of it, a tide of pilgrimage turned towards
this forbidding valley, and the western-central region
of Arabia came to be called Hejaz, the land of pilgrim
ages. Commerce had to a great extent deserted its
ancient route down the shores of the Red Sea but

THE MOSQUE AT MECCA.

30 THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE.
feticism still poured its thousands of devotees into
this valley. They thronged especially about the
" Mountain of Mercy," Arafat, which is a slight
elevation rising but two hundred feet above the
plain on which it stands, on the sacred summit of
which it was said that Adam had built a house
of worship, and had been taught by the angel Gabriel
how to pray.
These vast numbers brought much money to the
place, and schemers saw that the control of their
supplies would give power and fortune to whoever
should obtain it. The so-called descendants of Ish
mael asserted that it was their privilege, and for
a time they actually held it ; but envious neighbors
deprived them of their birthright, and held it until
one Kossai arose with ambition and force enough to
claim, and at last to concentrate in his person, the
attributes of chief of the city. He was descended
from Fihr, surnamed the Koreish, or trafficker,
whose pedigree has been carefully traced, but of
whom little is known except that he was powerful.
Kossai brought many of his kindred into the valley
about the year 440 A.D.; built a palace, and a house
for the transaction of important business ; directed
the coming and going of the caravans; held the
keys of Kaaba ; monopolized the supplies of bread
for the pilgrims ; and controlled the refreshing
waters of Zem-zem,— in short, he made a city of
Mecca and firmly ruled it.*
* The business of conveying the thousands of pilgrims who still
go to Mecca (from India, at least) has just been placed in the hands
of the tourists, Cook and Sons, who, by contract with the British gov
ernment, carry them in well-appointed steamships.

PERFORMING THE PILGRIMAGE 3 1
Kossai grasped at once all civil, political, and re
ligious authority, gave circumstance to the duties
and ceremonies required of the pilgrim ; and the
willing and superstitious Arabs hesitated not to follow
his commands. When they came in after-times to
perform the pilgrimage, they put on a dress known
as the ihram, dutifully visited the Kaaba, and kissed
the sacred black stone ; they performed the tawaf,
by walking seven times around the building, three
times impetuously and four times at an easy pace ;
seven times they ran up the hills Safa and Marwa
and down again ; of an early morning they rushed
tumultuously to the summit of the mount Arafat,
and hastened back again ; they threw stones at three
pillars, in mystic memory of Abraham, or, perhaps,
of Adam, who met Iblis there, and in like manner
drove him away ; they sacrificed some animal and
then took off the ihram and rested three days, after
which they repeated the seven circuits of the Kaaba,
and were at liberty to turn their faces homewards
and return to the usual duties of life, ever after
wards honored with the title Haj, or pilgrim. The
offerings made by the devotees were in memory of the
sacrifice of Ishmael that Abraham intended to make,
for they put their ancestor in the place of Isaac.
What the duties of pilgrims were at first we cannot
tell, nor do we know the names of the idols that were
worshipped in the Kaaba, though there were in early
times over three hundred and sixty-five of them in
the pantheon.
The honors and privileges of chief at Mecca were
not enjoyed in peace by the descendants of Kossai,

32 THE TIMES OF IGNORANCE:
and many struggles are recorded among them, In
time there arose in the regular line one Abd Menaf,
who was strong enough to obtain and convey to his
son Hashim the hereditary right of entertaining the
pilgrims. Omia, a nephew of Hashim, proved a de
termined opponent, and the enmity was bequeathed
to their sons, so that the struggles between the
Hashimites and the Omiades became historic and
bloody. Once the holy well was, strangely enough,
covered up and forgotten, until Abd al Muttalib, son
of Hashim, miraculously uncovered it, whereupon
he immediately increased in dignity and fame and
continued to be honored until his death.
In an hour of weakness Abd al Muttalib had once
vowed that if he should ever be so greatly blessed as
to have ten sons, one should certainly be devoted to
Allah. In process of time the number was fulfilled,
and the sorrowing father reluctantly gathered his off
spring in the Kaaba and cast lots for the one to be
sacrificed. The lot fell upon Abdalla, the beautiful
son of his old age, and the sacrificial knife was sol
emnly prepared. Then the sisters of Abdalla rose
up and besought their father to cast lots between
their brother and ten camels — in those days consid
ered the proper fine for the blood of a man. Abd
al Muttalib consented, and lo ! the lot a second time
fell upon the beloved son. Again resort was made
to the lot— the number of beasts being doubled ;
but still it fell upon the son. Time after time the
trial was made, at the urgent appeal of the sorrow
ing sisters, until one hundred camels had been prof
fered, when to their joy the lot fell up'on the beasts ¦

ABDALLA' S LIFE SA VED.

33

Abdalla was spared, and the inhabitants of Mecca
feasted upon the carcasses that had been forfeited.*
Before the days of Kossai there had been no real
government in Arabia ; every man did that which
was right in his own eyes, acknowledging but indefi
nite allegiance to his own tribe ; and even now gov
ernment depended upon force, and was liable at any
time to be overthrown. Such was the condition of
affairs as the years of ignorance approached their
end ; at the time when the outer world was destined
to interfere in the affairs of the peninsula and an
Eastern miracle was to be seen.
* The price of the blood of a man after this time was one hundred
camels — a number which the great prophet of the people confirmed.

IV.

THE YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT.

DURING the life of Abd al Muttalib there ruled in
Yemen a powerful viceroy of the Prince of Abys
sinia, whose name was Abraha. He had his capital
at Sana, to which city he had brought the commerce
of Persia and of his own country, and had established
in it a power that has not yet faded away, for Sana
is said to possess even now many attractive build
ings, gardens, fountains, and palaces, and to be still
the centre of a considerable trade. Representing a
Christian prince, Abraha had erected a temple of
some magnificence, which he hoped would draw
worshippers away from the Kaaba, but in this he
was disappointed, and his Christianity did not
prove powerful enough to keep his angry passions
from rising as he contemplated his failure. He de
termined to accomplish by force that which he had
failed to bring to pass by persuasion. In his wrath
he gathered an army with which he purposed to at
tack Mecca, marched towards that place with ban
ners flying, and easily thrust aside the opposition
made to his progress by the unorganized tribes that
he found in the first portion of his route.
As he pushed onward his hot anger boiled in him
34

ABRAHA FORGES ALONG. 35
as the difficulties of the way increased day after day.
Sana is said to be about fifteen days' journey from
Mocha and Aden, and if this be true, it must be not
less than forty days' journey from Mecca.* Three
days' march from the Holy City lies the town of
Taif (pronounced Ta-eef,) now considered almost as
sacred as the Mother of Cities herself. At that time,
for some reason, the men of Taif did not care to
claim any interest in Mecca, and said as much to
Abraha. They even went so far as to offer him a
guide through the desert to the place that he sought
to destroy, — not a very neighborly act. Ages have
passed since that memorable march, but the perfidy
of the traitorous guide is not forgotten. For centu
ries passers-by were accustomed to cast stones upon
his tomb, for he suddenly died by the way, and did
not live long enough after making his offer to com
plete the march of three days. An angry man is not
easily stopped, however, and Abraha forged along,
sending out troops in advance, who were ordered to
take what cattle could be obtained, and probably to
spread among the scattered people whom they met
stories of the prowess of the viceroy. They told of
his strong army, of the riches of the city of Sana, and
above all, we may be sure, they described a huge ele
phant that he had in his train — an animal that was
quite new to the Arabians and very frightful. Two
hundred camels of Abd al Muttalib were swept away
by this raid of Abraha's advance guard.
Before reaching Mecca the viceroy sent messen-
* Abulfeda, an Arabian geographer of the thirteenth century, would
make the distance but thirty days' journey.

36 THE YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT.
gers to the city, who said, in the flowery language of
the East : " Abraha, viceroy of the king of Abys
sinia, desires not to injure you, O ye men of the
Holy City ; he wishes but to destroy the Kaaba,
which in his eyes is a polluted house, the home of
idols, the shrine of a false religion. This done, he
will retire without shedding the blood of any among
you." It may well be imagined that a message like
this did not accomplish its purpose, for there was no
object so much venerated and so carefully guarded
by the inhabitants of Mecca as their sacred building.
They were ready to sacrifice life and every thing
they possessed for its preservation, and though they
had before thought that any effort to oppose so
powerful an enemy would be fruitless, they were
now stimulated to put forth their utmost strength
in its behalf. They conveyed their decision to
Abraha by an embassy, and Abd al Muttalib himself
went to the enemy's camp to emphasize the mes
sage. Abraha endeavored by all means in his power
to induce the guardians of the sacred building to
betray their trust. He returned the stolen camels of
Abd al Muttalib ; he offered him riches ; but all in
vain ; the negotiations were broken off. Abraha
was proudly informed that the Kaaba was under the
care of Allah ; and then the men of Mecca, almost
in despair, returned to their homes, leaving him to
act as he thought best.
The host of the elephant, as it was called, was
deemed invincible, however, and after a while the
Meccans losing hope of being able to resist it, sor
rowfully decided to retreat to the surrounding 'hills.

AN EASTERN MIRACLE. 37
When this determination had been reached, Abd al
Muttalib took hold of the ring of the door of the
sacred house and prayed aloud : " Defend, 0 Allah,
thine own house, for thy servants are too feeble to
oppose violence with force ; suffer not the cross to
triumph over the Kaaba ! " After these words he
retreated with the other citizens to the hills, and
calmly awaited the result. To the surprise of the
whole population they saw the invading army begin
to beat a retreat ! The huge elephant had refused
to advance upon the city; and besides, the invaders
had been suddenly attacked by an irresistible foe.
A pestilence had broken out in their ranks, and in
fear of death, they hastened to get away from a spot
that seemed to them the abode of death. Soon
after they started they were abandoned by their
guides, and many died in the way in the intricacies of
the wadies. Many others were swept away by a flood
that seemed to be sent upon them by the wrath of
Allah, and Abraha himself, stricken by the foul disease,
only reached Sana to find in it a grave. The men of
Mecca gave thanks that they had been delivered, and
still the Moslem mosques reverberate with the sound
of the voice of the Islamite priests, as they cry:
" In the name of Allah the merciful and compas
sionate ! Hast thou not seen what Allah did with
the fellows of the elephant ? Did he not make their
stratagem lead them astray, and send down on them
birds in flocks to cast upon them stones of baked clay,
and make them like munched stalks of grain ? " *
* It is supposed that the disease which attacked the host of Abraha
was the smaU-pox, the hard pustules of which are, by a violent meta-

38 THE YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT.
For twelve hundred years these words have been
constantly repeated, and the faithful thus reminded
of the time when Allah was implored by Abd al
Muttalib to interpose for the preservation of the
Kaaba. The event gave greater stability to the
power of the descendants of Abd Menaf, while it
deepened the strife between the Omiades and the
Hashimites. Another event of the Year of the Elephant marks
it still more strongly, and .but for it the Story of the
Saracens had never been told. The year previous,
the young and beautiful Abdalla, whose name means
" Servant of Allah," had espoused a charming maiden
descended from a brother of the famous Kossai,
Amina by name. So lovely was the son of Abd al
Muttalib, and so beautiful, that the old story-tellers
affirm that when he married Amina two hundred
fair maidens of Mecca died of sorrow that he had
not married them ! He was, it is a pleasure to add,
as good as he was handsome. Not long after his
wedding he was called to go on business to Gaza, in
Southern Syria, the strong city of the Philistines,
from which Samson carried away the gates and tow
ards which the minister of Candace, Queen of
Ethiopia, journeyed after his visit to Jerusalem, as
phor, likened to small stones which birds cast down under direction
of Allah. — The Koran, sura xciv. (In making extracts from the
Koran the author has not confined himself to any single version, but
has endeavored to take that one in each instance which seemed to
give the sense in the most appropriate English. The versions of
Palmer, Rodwell, Kazimirski, Sale, and others have been constantly
consulted, and all the extracts have been carefully compared with the
Arabic.)

A MINA' S FAMOUS BOY. 39
related in the book of Acts. On his way homewards
Abdalla was attacked by disease at Medina (then
called Yathrib), and before fair Amina or any of her
friends could visit him he died. He left but poor
provision for his young wife — only a few inferior
camels, a slave-girl, and a flock of goats.
Tradition, which magnifies every event in this his
tory, relates that a few weeks afterwards, in a day
towards the end of summer,* Amina became the
mother of a boy who, marvellous to tell, exclaimed
as soon as he came into the world :
" Allah is great ! There is no god but Allah, and
I am his prophet ! "
It is said that men in distant places were startled
by wondrous events that same August day ; that a
violent earthquake shook the palace of great Chos
roes in Persia to its very foundations, so that its
tall minarets toppled to the earth ; that a certain
high officer saw in a vision a wild camel overcome
by an Arabian charger ; that the sacred fire which
for a thousand years had burned incessantly on the
altar of Zoroaster, under watch of the Magi, went
out ; that Iblis was cast into the depths of the sea,
and the malignant jinns were thrust out by the
pure angels. The boy's grandfather took him to
* Caussin de Perceval gives this date August 20, 570 A.D. ; and
Professor E. A. Freeman, in the revised edition of his " Lectures on
the Saracens," puts it in 569 ; but Professor E. H. Palmer, the schol
arly translator of the Koran, gives April 20, 571, though he adds
that any date is uncertain. Dr. Emanuel Deutsch gives the same
year. The latest authority, Dr. August Muller, in "Der Islam,"
vol. i., p. 44, says that 570 is correct, and that April 20, 571 is the
"conventional date."

40 THE YEAR OF THE ELEPHANT.
the Kaaba, where, holding him high in his arms, he
solemnly gave thanks to Allah for his birth, and
named him Mohammed, " the Praised One." This
name, we are assured, had never been used before,
and there were great expectations on account of the
boy's birth ; but there are grave doubts in this re
spect, and some writers say that the baby was origi
nally called Kothan, a name which was changed at a
later period, for reasons which will become apparent
in the course of our story.*
Doubtless the miracles are all exaggerated inven
tions of after-times, and it is not necessary to believe
them, marvellous as Mohammed's career proved.
There is no reason to doubt, however, that when he
was seven days old his venerable grandfather gave a
feast to the men of the powerful tribe of the Koreish
ites, and presented the babe as one destined to
bring glory to their race, a destiny of which the
name Mohammed, if given afterwards, was intended
to seem prophetic. * See Emanuel Deutsch's article on " Islam."

V.
THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR.
It was the fashion among the ladies of high birth
at Mecca, in the olden time, to give their children to
nurses, who took them off to the mountains and
cared for them in the fresh air, where they had am
ple opportunity to develop their bodies, and to grow
strong. Amina was of high birth, and surely her
little boy had a pedigree long enough, for it reached
to Adam, and she followed the custom of the time
by entrusting Mohammed to a woman of the tribe
of Beni Sad, whose pedigree also ran back to remote
antiquity. The name of this foster-mother was
Halima. She accepted the care of the fatherless
child rather from compassion than desire, and took
him off to a valley among the mountains that run
southward from Taif. Poor Amina, like many
another person with a long pedigree, had so little of
the goods of this world that there was no great
promise of reward for the nurse's labor. Imagine
this woman of Sad riding away from the young
widow, carrying an only son, to be gone, no one
could tell how long.
At the end of two years both nurse and child re
turned, and Amina was so much pleased by the fresh
41

42 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR.
and ruddy appearance of her son, that she said :
" Take him back to the desert ; let him grow and be
strong." He accordingly returned and remained
three years longer, though, during that period he
was at one time attacked by disease, which aroused
the superstitious fears of Halima and her husband,
and they carried him home to Amina, fearful lest he
might be under the influence of an evil jinn. Halima
loved her little charge, however, and was persuaded
to take him back again, though after that she never
allowed him to wander from her sight. In spite of
her precautions, the jinns managed, as she thought,
to get access to him, and a " seal of prophecy" was
placed upon him between the shoulders, which did
not disappear during all his life. Those who did not
believe that he was a prophet at all saw nothing in
this mark but a mole, nor do they give more faith to
another story, which relates that one day Gabriel
came down with a companion angel, and gently
taking Mohammed's heart out of his body, washed it
from all uncleanness, filled it with faith, knowledge,
purity, and light, and replaced it as painlessly as it
had been taken out.
For whatever reason, Mohammed was returned to
Amina at about the age of five, and did not leave
her again. The following year she took him to the
city of Medina, on a visit to relatives, but on the
return trip she died, and for the remainder of the
journey he was left to the care of a faithful slave-
girl. She conducted him to his aged grand
father, who, for the next two years, cared for him
with fondness. At the end of that brief period, Abd

THE GROWING BOY. 43
al Muttalib died, leaving his grandchild to be pro
vided for by his uncle, Abu Talib, who had inherited
also the care of the Kaaba. Abu Talib was a man
much respected for his noble traits, and he proved a
good friend to his nephew. He placed Mohammed's
bed by the side of his own, gave him a seat at
his table, and allowed him to accompany him wher
ever he went, thus making him familiar to the fullest
extent with the rites and ceremonies of the tradi
tional religion, and perhaps'inspiring him with re
spect for them.
Meantime, the prestige of the family was over
shadowed by the branch of Omia, which held the
leadership in war, for there was no member of the
tribe of Hashim of sufficient strength to retain the
ascendancy. Among the Hashimites, too, the privi
leges held by Abd al Muttalib were divided, for Abu
Talib transferred to his younger brother, Abbas, the
control of the well Zem-zem, and he himself did not
obtain any commanding public position in Mecca.
Let us for a moment look at our growing boy.
He was now twelve ; his earliest years had been
passed among an ancient tribe, the speech of which
was as celebrated as the atmosphere of the mountains
for its purity. He had been practised in all the feats
of an active people which strengthen and give agility
to the bodily frame ; and with the free air of the
region he had drunk in the freest spirit of the freest
tribe of his nation.* Healthy, independent, self-
* "The Arab was free, but his freedom was not like that of the
old Greek, or Ihe modern Englishman or American, a civil freedom
enjoyed in common with his brethren ; it was the mere absence of

44 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR.
reliant, he was well prepared for a life in which all
these traits were destined to be of the greatest use.
The good uncle was not only interested in the
Kaaba and its worship, but he was also one of the
most active among the traders who did so much to
increase the wealth of Mecca. Mohammed doubt
less saw the crowds of camels which at times filled
the streets of his native city, and we can imagine
how his young mind, excited as it already had been
by his musings among" the mountains, and by his
associations with those older than himself, often fol
lowed in thought the long trains as they disappeared
from sight over the roads to the northward and the
southward, as they journeyed to Yemen or to Syria;
and many a time he must have asked what the dis
tant lands were like, and what their people might
be. When, on one occasion, Abu Talib was himself
setting out for Syria, Mohammed clung to him and
pleaded to be permitted to go too, urging his peti
tion by saying, " Who, O my uncle, will care for me
when once thou art gone ? " The request was granted
and the boy of twelve started out on the long
journey. The country through which the train passed was
peopled with all the creatures of the Arabian my
thology ; there the jinns, good and bad, wandered at
their own free will, and engaged in enterprises
adapted to excite the youthful mind; there, in
any legal restraint upon his action. Every man of a free tribe was
himself his own Csesar and Chosroes ; every man asserted the royal
prerogative of avenging his injuries by the sword."— E. A. Freeman,
" The History and Conquests of the Saracens," page 27.

§jj§jff^Av', #f P
VIEW IN PETRA, ON THE ROUTE FROM ARABIA TO PALESTINE.

46 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR.
deserted and silent caves, it was said that the chil
dren of Thamud, often mentioned by Mohammed in
the Koran, dwelt, and there the gigantic she-camel
had issued miraculously from a mountain side ; there
old men had been transformed into swine, and young
men into monkeys, as the wondering boy learned
from the tales- related by his elders under the even
ing stars.
Uncle and nephew visited the old town of Bozra
(Bostra), on the road to Damascus, and they were
hospitably entertained in that busy city of merchant
men, the market-place of Syria, Irak, and the Hejaz.
Long were the opportunities for conversation af
forded, and we may be sure that they were used in
discussing the differences between the religious
faiths professed by the men of the South and the
men of the North. The worship of idols may have
been one of these topics of conversation ; it could
hardly have been otherwise, and perhaps this was
one reason why Mohammed afterwards became such
a devoted preacher against the idolatry of his coun
trymen. He journeyed along the eastern shores of
the Dead Sea, and must have heard the stories of
the destruction of the cities of the plain, stories
which would have made a person, young or old, shud
der, hearing them at that age of the world for the
first time.
We are to think of this boy as without books to
study about times gone by, or to fill the vacancy
of the passing hour; and thus, as obliged to allow
his mind to wander time and again through well-worn
regions of fancy, and over the traditions of his people.

ARABIAN POETRY. 47
It is not easy to put ourselves in the place of such
a person, we who have all our lives read books, and
have lived with the men of every age as though they
were present with us. Did it breed in the young
man a stronger wish to see into the past and to know
what other parts of the world were like ; or, did it
make him taciturn, as we know he was, thoughtful
and wrapped up in himself and in thoughts of some
wonderful mission that he imagined was before "him,
or which he laid out for himself? We cannot tell.
We may only see what his life was, and vaguely
guess. Though the Arabians had at this time no books,
they were interested in letters, and had literary con
tests, in which large numbers of persons joined with
intense spirit. There was about the town of Okatz,
a place a little east of Mecca, a pleasant region where
merchant and traveller comforted themselves after
toilsome journeys, and where at certain times a gen
eral fair. was held. On these occasions, so tradition
asserts, bards recited poems ; each praised the virtues
of his lady-love, dwelt upon the charms of the en
campment she had rested in, mourned over the soli
tude that she had left when she deserted the spot,
or, perchance, they proclaimed their own personal
prowess, the greatness and antiquity of their tribes,
the gentleness and beauty of their favorite camels.
To the most worthy, prizes were awarded, their
poems being written out in elaborate characters.*
* It is said in most books on the subject that the prize poems, thus
brilliantly written out, were hung up in the Kaaba ; but this has been
denied since the days of Pocock, who deemed it entirely improbable

48 THE SACRILEGIOUS WAR.
Great was the competition on such occasions, and at
the period to which we are now giving our attention,
the rivalry resulted in a war bloody and long, called,
from the period of the year in which it began, " sac
rilegious." As it became necessary in Europe during the
Middle Age to have a Truce of God and a Peace of
God, during which men were not to assert the right
of private vengeance, so in Arabia, in early times,
men who might pursue to the death those who had
wronged them, were not allowed to exercise their
bloody prerogative during certain sacred periods of
the year, and it was at one of these that this war
broke out.
One poet, who came up to the fair at Okatz in the
year 580 (when Mohammed was about nine years of
age), from the country between Mecca and Taif,
vaunted the superiority of his tribe so eagerly, that
he incited the mercurial Koreishites to draw their
swords, and thus blood flowed in a contest that
ought to have been a triumph of peace. Passions,
when once excited in this way, often run riot for a
long time, and so it happened on this occasion. It
resulted in the establishment of a rule that every
man coming to the fair should surrender his arms,
but this proved ineffectual; the strife was continued ;
caravans were attacked and pillaged ; lives were lost
(see his " Specimen," p. 159). Deutsch expresses the present opinion
of most scholars when he says that the story is "unfortunately a
myth," the fact being that the poems were simply compared for their
imaginative beauty to " pearls loosely strung together," not hung up.
See also Dr. August Mtiller, " Der Islam," page 42, note, for a dis
cussion of the subject.

A UNION FOR PEACE. 49
in the convoys ; and in time the struggle spread to
the allies of each tribe ; and the boy who was nine
when the first blood was spilled, was nineteen when
peace was established. Mohammed had not himself
been a fighter, but he had attended his uncles at
times, and had sent some arrows towards the enemy
with his boyish bow.
This war had one good result ; it led to the forma
tion of a union between certain tribes for the sup
pression of injustice and violence and the promotion
of peace. When a wrong had been done, and the
separate tribes neglected to punish the offender, this
confederacy was pledged to be the champion of the
injured. An uncle of Mohammed is credited with
the honor of this movement.
The representatives of Hashim, with other de
scendants of Kossai, met at a feast and solemnly
swore by Allah al-Muntakim, the avenging deity,
that they would thus champion the oppressed and
see their claims adjusted so long as a drop of water
remained in the ocean ; or they would satisfy the
just demand from their own wealth. It was the
proud exclamation of Mohammed in after-years that
he would not exchange for the choicest camel in all
Arabia the memory that he had been present when
the oath was taken at the house of Abdalla binding
the confederates to stand by the oppressed !

VI.
THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT.
If we may believe the traditions through which we
are threading our way, there were other signs of good
omen in the Arabian horizon at this time. They
say that on the occasion of the celebration of one of
the most carefully observed idol feasts, four Ara
bians who saw farther than their countrymen- into
the future, met in solemn and secret conclave to
question the truth and reality of their religion.
" We Arabians," they said one to another, " are
walking in a false way ; we have strayed from the re
ligion of Abraham. What, indeed, is this pretended
divinity in honor of whom we sacrifice victims, and
about whom we make our solemn processions ? It
is nothing more than a block of senseless stone, and
it cannot do us good or evil. Come, let us seek
truth ; let us look for the pure religion of our Fath
er Abraham ; and for this holy purpose let us leave
our native land and learn what strangers can tell us."
One of these skeptics (or Hanifs) was Waraka, a
man who had had dealings with both Christians and
Jews, and was better educated than his fellow-citi
zens. It is asserted that he was persuaded that a
messenger from heaven (some Mahdi), was then
about to come into the world. Waraka had learned
50

SKEPTICS SEEKING LIGHT. 5 I
the Hebrew language, and finally after long study he
became a convert to Christianity.* The second of
the group of enquirers was a cousin of Waraka ; he
had fought in the sacrilegious war, and now he started
off to travel into far countries seeking light. At
last he found himself at the court of Rome, where
he became convinced of the truth of Christianity
and was baptized. The third was a grandson of
Abd al Muttalib, who, after much difficulty and
many wanderings, found a home also in the Christian
Church. The fourth was Zeyd, a Koreishite ; he
struggled long with his doubts, going day by day to
the Kaaba, where he piously meditated, leaning
against the wall of the building, and giving voice to
his feelings in these words : " Lord, if I knew in
what manner thou wouldest that I should serve and
adore thee, I would obey thy will ; but I do not
know. O give me light ! " The meditations and
prayers of Zeyd brought him neither to the religion
of the Jews nor to that of the Christians, but to a
faith of his own invention ; he worshipped a god who
was one, and declaimed with energy against the false
divinities and superstitions of his countrymen, warn
ing them of the sinfulness of certain of their abom
inable customs. His preaching was so full of
feeling that it excited lively opposition, and finally
he was himself put into prison. Escaping from con
finement, Zeyd wandered through Mesopotamia
* Sir William Muir considers "such anticipations" "altogether
puerile," though he admits that it is highly probable that a spirit of
religious enquiry, a disposition to reject idolatry, and a perception of
the superiority of Judaism and Christianity, existed in some quarters.

52 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT.
(Irak) and Syria, learning all that he could about the
religions of the peoples he visited, until finally he
encountered a band of Arabs who robbed him of
his goods and put him to death.
Is there truth in these traditions? No one can
tell us ; but even if the details are baseless, there is
still ground for believing that at this time the Ara
bian mind was waking up to a sense of the need of
some better religion than that of the fathers. Sel
dom does any great movement astonish the world by
rising unannounced. Never does a great invention
startle us but we find that many minds have been,
for a long time, perhaps, studying in the line that
was followed by the man who finally succeeded.
There is such a thing as sympathetic groping for
light by persons who have no communication with
each other, and there is such a thing as united search
ing by men who find not what they want until they
learn that another Galahad has actually seen the
holy Grail. So it must have been at this time (as
it ever has been) ; perhaps there were more men
than these four asking themselves at the same mo
ment : " What am I ? What is life ? What is death ?
What am I to believe? What am I to do? What is
this unfathomable thing I live in which men call
the universe?"* Perhaps Waraka and his fellows
were but a few among many " Hanifs," as these
seekers after light were called, and doubtless they
influenced Arabian opinion generally.f
* See Carlyle's essay, " The Hero as a Prophet."
\ " These Hanifs form a very curious and most important phase of
Arabian faith before Mohammed— a phase of Jewish Christianity, or

« s: il

-^i^#It

.>,-a^fe^^^

A DESERT SOLITUDE.

54 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT.
Meantime young Mohammed was watching his
sheep on the hills and in the valleys about his native
city, for as he himself said long afterwards, there
never was a prophet who was not once a shepherd,
and we shall find that he was to be a prophet. Not
many of us know what it is to be alone. Perhaps
we do not stop to think how few moments of our
lives are spent in solitude. We may think we find
it if we walk forth by night or wander through
the most sparsely inhabited regions that we can find
in our civilized lands ; but such journeys give us no
adequate idea of the solitude that the lonely shep
herd of Arabia knew hundreds of years ago. Noth-
' ing human detracted from his thoughts if he wished
to reflect upon any of the great problems that seem
to us now to have been then attracting attention
from all who reflected at all. We cannot think of
Mohammed as other than thoughtful. He must
have looked to the sky and the wide-spreading world
for some replies to the questions the Hanifs asked.
He was not, however, so given to reflection as to
Christian Judaism. They loved to call themselves also ' Abrahamitic
Sabians,' and Mohammed, at the outset, called himself one of them.
They were to all intents and purposes ' heretics.' They believed in
one God. They had the Law and the Gospel, and further, certain
Rolls of Abraham and Moses, called Ashmaat, to which Mohammed
at first appeals."— "Islam," by Emanuel Deutsch. " The worship
of one supreme Allah seems to have always been the basis of Arabian
religion. The Semitic race has never conceived of any other gov
ernment of the universe except an absolute monarchy." — Renan
" Etudes d' Histoire religieuse," p. 273.
" Since the time of Abraham," says Barthelemy St. Hilaire, " wor
shippers of one God had always been numbered among the Arabians."
— " Mahomet et le Coran," p. 67.

MOHAMMED— HIS APPEARANCE. 55
be entirely impractical, and we find him going to
Syria and to Yemen as agent of caravans. His uncle
said to him : " I am, as thou knowest, a man of
small substance ; and verily the times go hard with
me ; now lo, a caravan of the tribe of thy fathers is
preparing to go to Syria with merchandise. Kadija,
the widow, asketh for sons of Koreish to go, and
she is ready to accept thy services."
" Be it as thou hast said," replied the young
man. A bargain was made with Kadija, that for four
camels Mohammed should conduct a caravan over
the same route that he had taken when he went to
Bozra ; and the old associations must have come
back to him with great force as he looked upon the
scenes after an interval of thirteen years, which com
prised all of his youth. Every thing added to his
knowledge of men and of life, and prepared him for
success. He disposed to advantage of the merchan
dise that Kadija had committed to his care, and ob
tained other products to be sold at Mecca. Thus
his title " The Trusty " was more than ever fixed in
the estimation of his fellow-citizens.
Mohammed was a man of little over the medium
stature, with a commanding presence ; his wide chest
and broad shoulders were surmounted by a long and
finely moulded neck, and a massive head, from which
looked out a frank, oval face marked by a prominent
aquiline nose ; large, restless, and piercing black
eyes, over which long, heavy lashes drooped ; and a
bushy beard fell upon his breast. He was continu
ally meditating; never speaking except from neces-

56 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT.
sity, and then uttering but few and those pregnant
words. His organization was exceedingly sensitive,
and he had strong passions, which were, however,
controlled by reason. His habits were extremely
simple, and his acts merited the reputation for mod
esty that he was accorded by all who knew him.
Kind and thoughtful towards his friends, he was
almost unrelenting towards enemies. Such was the
camel-driver whom Kadija obtained through the
intervention of Abu Talib.
Kadija, whose lineage was the same as that of
Mohammed, was a widow who had been twice mar
ried. Her husbands had left her with a considerable
fortune, to which she had added by her good judg
ment, and by the skill of the agents she had em
ployed. Though forty years of age, she was of
fairer countenance than many who were younger,
and her personal and other charms had led some of
the chief men among the Koreishites to endeavor to
tempt her to renounce the dignified and indepen
dent widowhood that she seemed to enjoy. She
failed to have affection for any of them aroused in
her heart.
What changed her feelings now, we do not know,
but the success of her new agent, and his personal
character attracted her to him, and when he returned
from Syria, she seems to have been on the look-out
for his arrival ; like some Jewish watchman on the
tower over the gate, she gazed into the distance,
and lo, as Mohammed approached the end of his
long journey, her ardent imagination pictured to her
two angels shading him with their wings from the

THE GOOD KADIJA. 57
intense heat of the Arabian sun ! The " faithful one"
was to her mind under the immediate watch of
Allah, and her sentiments, already warm, became
deeper, — she wished for him as husband.
Mohammed soon received a visit from a sister of
Kadija, who said to him : " Why, 0 Mohammed,
is it that at your mature age, you do not marry?"
The question would have been a strange one to
come from .a young woman to a young man of twen
ty-five in our day, but as it was not usual for an
Arabian to remain single after reaching adult age, it
was not so remarkable then. Mohammed replied
that he had no fortune to offer to a bride ; and this
made it easy for the question : " Perchance that diffi
culty may be removed ; a lady of sufficient wealth
might offer to share it with thee; then what wouldst
thou say ? "
" Is there such a lady ; and who is she? " asked
the young man.
"Kadija!"
" Is it possible for me to ingratiate myself with
her?" "Leave that to me."
It appears that the father of the widow was still
living, and refused to give his consent to his daugh
ter's plan. Though there seemed to be danger that
blood would be shed, in an angry discussion that
followed, all obstacles to the union were at last re
moved, and Mohammed, who was then twenty-five,
became husband of Kadija, aged forty. The mar
riage proved admirable in all respects ; the wife ap
preciated the character and capacity of the husband,

58 THE CAMEL-DRIVER OF THE DESERT.
and he loved her with an affection so sincere that
nothing could rob him of it, and the influence of the
good Kadija remained with him throughout his life.
It was characteristic of Mohammed not to forget his
friends, and on this occasion he remembered Halima
who had watched over his tottering first steps. She
was called from the pastures of Beni Sad to rejoice
at the wedding, and when she returned to continue
her life of simple content, she took with her a flock
of forty sheep, a present from her foster-son.
Well did Abu Talib, in view of this marriage, lift
up his voice in these words : " Praises be unto Allah,
who has given us birth in the line of Ishmael !
Praised be Allah, that Mohammed, not blessed with
the good gifts of fortune, has asked and received the
hand of Kadija. He has no equal. This marriage
will be blessed of the Lord of Majesty and Liberal
ity ; a future full of glory is open to Mohammed
the son of Abdalla ! "

VII.
THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES.
Years of domestic happiness followed, and it was
the joy of Mohammed and Kadija to become, in
process of time, parents of a son. An event of this
kind causes so much rejoicing in an Arabian house
hold, that the fathers call themselves after the sons,
and thus the " Son of Abdalla " became the " Father
of Kasim." Another son and four daughters fol
lowed, but none of them all has much interest for us,
except Fatima, one of the youngest of the daughters,
upon whom much of our future history will be found
to depend. The sons died very young.
During these peaceful years Mohammed busied
himself as a man of affairs in the management of
Kadija's caravans, going to distant places, as he had
before, but he did not prove so capable as a husband
as he had when simple agent, and the wealth of his
wife rather diminished than increased. Kadija's
fortune had, however, raised Mohammed to a high
social position in his native city, a rank to which,
it is true, his birth in the tribe of Koreishites had
already entitled him.
The wealth acquired by marriage seems to have
exerted another noteworthy influence ; it gave Mo-
59

60 THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITA TES.
hammed more leisure to indulge his habitual habit of
meditation, and for study in the religions of his fathers,
as well as in those of the Jews and Christians. It is
probably true that he could neither read nor write,
but in this he was not behind his contemporaries in
Arabia; letters, as we have observed, were but little
cultivated before his day, and there is no probability
that there existed a single volume of prose, the prod
uct of the Arabian mind, which he could have read
had he been better instructed. There were a few
poems, such as had gained prizes at the fairs, but
that was all, and he who wished to cultivate his
mind was forced to look to Jewish or Christian
sources. In these directions Mohammed did not
learn from books, but from oral tradition, and what he
took into his mind was distorted, disconnected, and
fragmentary; but, though it was a mixture, there
ran through it all certain general principles which
took root and bore fruit.
During this period the Arabians were becoming
better acquainted with their neighbors to the east
ward. A commercial expedition had visited the city
of Hira, capital of Irak, a city situated in the valley
of the Euphrates, not far south of the site of Baby
lon. The men who had accompanied this caravan
returned with rich profits, and adorned the city of
Taif with new buildings, erected by laborers sent by
the Persian ruler specially to make a memorial of
his good-will towards them ; for he had been very
favorably impressed by their sagacity and spirit. At
this time the empires of Rome and Persia were, as
we have seen, the two prominent powers of the

¦ra

TOMB OF FATIMA AT DAMASCUS.

62 THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES.
world, dividing between them the fairest and most
famous regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The
Eastern empire, with its capital at Constantinople,
still extended over nearly all the countries around
the Mediterranean, and the commands of Csesar
were obeyed from the Atlantic to the Euphrates.
The illustrious dynasty of the Sassanidae now ruled
Persia, and its greatness is one of the most remark
able phenomena in the history of the world. Rome,
or the Eastern empire, represented Christianity, and
Persia the Zoroastrian fire-worship.*
Under the influence of his new wealth, we find
Mohammed gradually withdrawing from commerce
and devoting his time to reflection upon the con
dition of his country, and the possibilities of improv
ing it. We must remember that while the Bedawins
roamed the interior desert free from all dictation by
outside rulers, the Arabs of Yemen and of some
other sections were under Persian influence ; those of
Syria were governed' from Constantinople ; while
those of Irak or Mesopotamia vacillated between
allegiance to the one great power and the other.
Judaism and Christianity existed alongside of feti
chism and paganism; but the largest portion of the
people worshipped the numberless divinities of the
Kaaba, though admitting that there was an Allah,
supreme above all others. The belief in jinns and
angels, which has been outlined, was not systemati
cally expressed at any time, though it had long ex
isted as a vague and poetic superstition. There was
* " The History and Conquests of the Saracens," by E. A. Free
man, pp. 10, 17.

WARAKA THE LEARNED HANIF. 63
also an uncertain faith in the resurrection to another
life, after the separation of the soul and the body.
The people were grossly addicted to gaming, and to
the abuse of wine ; and every man married as many
wives as he could support, some of these relations
being of the most odious character. The ferocious
custom of burying female offspring alive as soon
as born was followed, either as considering women
not worth bringing up, or from an exaggerate sense
of honor, as though fearing that the helpless ones
might some day be carried off by an enemy !
The most learned man of his time was that War
aka who chivalrously entered upon the search for
a better religion than that of his fathers, and of his
society and wisdom Mohammed enjoyed the advan
tage. Like him, Mohammed was cast down by re
flections upon the condition of his people ; and like
him also, he had dim impressions that there might
be something elevating for them in the scriptures of
other lands.
On the side of the mountain Hera, two or three
miles to the north from Mecca, there was a small
cavern in the red-granite rock, in which Mohammed
found a quiet place for nursing his thoughts, and
there he was sometimes accompanied by his faithful
Kadija. Like a Christian anchorite, he secluded
himself for days at a time, brooding with ever deep
ening anxiety upon the weighty problems that had
presented themselves to his soul. Here he was
accustomed to pass the Arabian Lent, the month
Ramadan, in fasting, meditation, and prayer, looking
from his lofty vantage-ground upon a natural scene

64 THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES.
quite in consonance with the upheavals of his soul.
Not a green object did his weary eye rest upon ; all
was barren and black ; save when the white sand of
the valley fell within his view.
Under such an unnatural strain Mohammed's
mind became the sport of dreams by day and of
dreams by night ; ecstacies and trances came upon
him, and oftentimes, losing all consciousness of sur
rounding objects, he lay upon the ground as dead.*
Good Kadija sometimes witnessed these accesses of
enthusiasm, and vainly enquired their cause. Her
husband made mysterious responses ; at times he
gave utterance to almost frenzied language, some of
which has been preserved. One of his rhapsodies,
though not the earliest, is repeated as a sort
of Pater No'ster in the public and private worship of
Arabia still :
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of creation,
The All-merciful, the All-compassionate !
Ruler of the day of reckoning !
* We need not trouble ourselves to enquire into the nature of these
trances upon which so much discussion has been based. Syed
Ahmed, in his "Essays," says "Mohammed was vigorous and
healthy, both in his infancy and his youth. . . . Through the
whole of his life he was exposed to great perils and hardships, all
of which he bore with unflinching patience and courage." Sprenger
believes that they were epileptic fits ; but Lake (" Islam : its Origin,
Genius, and Mission," pp. 37, 41) says : " This state of mind is not
peculiar to any religion. It is found among all religious enthusiasts,
not excepting the idolaters of India, Greece, and Rome, and amongst
Christians of most shades of opinion, — in convents, in nunneries, and
with hermits in the wilderness. . . It was the paroxysm of a
soul struggling from darkness into light, although the light was only
that of natural religion."

ENTHUSIASTIC RHAPSODIES. 65
Thee we worship and thee we invoke for aid.
Lead us in the right path ;
The path of those to whom thou art gracious,
Not of those thou art wroth with, nor of those who err. — Sura i.
Perhaps, overcome by a sense of the ungratefulness
of man, when forgetting that he was supported by
Allah most gracious, he exclaimed :
' ' By the snorting chargers !
And those who strike fire with the hoof !
And those that make unexpected raids,
And darken with the dust of the desert,
And dash through a host therein !
Verily man is to his Lord ungrateful,
And is himself a witness thereof ;
Verily he is keen in loving this world's goods.
Ah, knoweth he not when the graves shall be opened
And what is in the graves shall be brought forth ?
Verily on that day Allah shall learn what is in them." — Sura c.
At another time the lost state of human kind forced
itself upon him with vividness, and he cried out :
" By the declining day !
Verily man rushes to destruction,
Save such as believe and do righteousness,
And urge one another to truth and patience." — Sura ciii.
These are not the ravings of an unbalanced mind,
but the powerful cries of one in earnest for the good
of others. They were forced from the prophet by
intense feeling, and are the utterances of one who,
in the words of a master of emphatic expression, had
" found it all out ; was in doubt and darkness no
longer, but saw it all. That all idols and formulas

66 THE MAN OF AFFAIRS MEDITATES.
were nothing, miserable bits of wood ; that there
was one God, in and over all ; and we must leave all
idols and look to Him. That God is great ; and
that there is nothing else great ! He is Reality.
Wooden idols are not real; he is real. He made us
at first, sustains us yet ; we and all things are but a
shadow of Him ; a transitory garment, veiling the
Eternal Splendor. 'Allaku akbar' — Allah is great.
' Islam,' — We must submit to Allah! " *
Meantime, the prestige of Mohammed was grow
ing. On one occasion, when a flood had rushed
down the valley, or when perhaps a fire had de
stroyed a portion of the Kaaba, it was rebuilt up to
the point at which the sacred white stone was to be
put in its former place. Then a strife for the honor
of inserting the precious symbol arose, and hot words
passed between the devout but quick-tempered
builders as to which tribe should furnish the man
to perform the coveted duty. A solemn convoca
tion was called in the sacred enclosure, where, at
the suggestion of the head of the Koreishites, it was
agreed that the person who should, at a specified
time, enter a certain door, should be commissioned
to replace the stone. At the moment, Mohammed,
— "el Amin," the Faithful one, entered, and was in
formed of the agreement. With a sagacity that as
tonished the simple-minded folk, he threw down his
mantle, placed the stone upon it, and asked the four
* Carlyle, " The Hero as a Prophet." The late Emanuel Deutsch
differs from this interpretation, and says that a Moslem means
"one who strives after righteousness with his own strength." Islam
is the religion of a Moslem.

MOHAMMED MAKES AN IMPRESSION. 6j
chief men of the four principal families to grasp each
a corner. Thus they lifted the stone to the proper
height, and then Mohammed gently pushed it into
its place in the wall. So deep an impression did the
circumstance make upon the people of Mecca, that
the names of the four men who held the mantle
have, with religious care, been kept in memory to
the present time. Not only was peace preserved by
this act, but the character of Mohammed for wis
dom and judgment was much raised ; probably,
also, he was himself impressed by a feeling that he
was no ordinary person, a sentiment that seems to
have been strong in his mind throughout life.

VIII.
THE MONTH RAMADAN.
YEARS passed, and Mohammed continued his life
of meditation in desert places. At times he heard
voices calling to him and saying: "Hail! thou
messenger of Allah ! " but when he looked about to
see who spoke to him, lo, only trees and rocks were
about him on all sides. We cannot believe that
Mohammed lived such a life, and kept in his own
heart all the stimulating impulses which he possessed
at these times without betraying the fact to the
people about him. They must have discussed
among themselves the change that had come over
the husband of Kadija, the man whom they had once
so highly esteemed for his practical character.
Doubtless he spoke to them of the religion of the
Jew and the Christian, and in his presence they may
have attended to him, saying: "Truly, Allah does
hold the heavens and the earth, lest they fall ; if he had
given us a prophet as he gave prophets to the other
peoples, we should have been guided by them even
as they were guided." Perhaps, when they went
their way from him, they uttered hard things about
him, and it may well be that it was to such double-
faced persons that he spake when he uttered the
words of the sura of the Slanderer :
68

n

mm

BEDAWIN WOMEN FROM THE ENVIRONS OF BAALBECK. (SYRIA.)

70 THE MONTH RAMADAN.
' ' Woe unto the backbiter and the defamer !
Unto them who lay up wealth and number it,
Who think that riches will make them to stay forever !
Nay ! They shall be hurled into the Fire that Splitteth.
What shall make them understand what the Fire that Splitteth is ?
It is the fire kindled of Allah,
Which flameth above the hearts,
Verily, it shall be as arches above them,
As arches upon lofty columns ! " — Sura civ.
Was it not to such, also, that he exclaimed ? —
" Surely we have created man in trouble ;
Doth he indeed think nought can prevail against him ?
He saith, ' I have wasted much wealth.'
Doth he think that none seeth him ?
Have we not made him two eyes, a tongue, and two lips,
And shown him the two roads ?
Yet he attempteth not the ascent.
What shall make thee know what the proof is?
It is to free the captive,
Giving food in famine
To the orphan near of kin,
Or to the poor lying in the dust ;
It is to join with the believers
To stir one another to patience, and to encourage one another to
compassion.
These shall sit on the right hand ;
They who misbelieve our signs shall be on the left hand,
Above them shall the flames arch ! " — Sura xc.
The name of the month Ramadan, the annual
period of fasting and prayer, signified originally a
time of great heat ; but the Arabian year was divided
into lunar months, and there having been no allow
ance for the fact that twelve of them do not corre-

THE BLESSED NIGHT AL KADAR. 71
spond with a revolution of the sun, they gradually
lost their proper positions in the solar year, and at
the time which we are now considering, Ramadan,
instead of coming at the period of great heat, corre
sponded with portions of December and January.
When it fell on the long summer days, the fast was
excessively severe in such a climate.
Mohammed was now at the mature age of near
forty years. We have come to the month of De
cember in the year 610 of our era. He was wander
ing over the wild but fascinating hills, for it was the
sacred month, though most of it had indeed passed.*
The strain of the long vigil was nearly over, but its
effects were at their highest ; he was ready for im
pressions. It was the "blessed night Al Kadar," of
which the Koran says:
What shall make thee understand how excellent the night
Al Kadar is ?
The night Al Kadar is better than a thousand months !
Therein do the angels descend,
And the spirit also,
By permission of their Lord,
With his decrees concerning all matters,
It bringeth peace until the rosy dawn ! — Sura xcvii.
The name Al Kadar signifies " power," " honor,"
"dignity," and also "the divine decree," for it is on
that night that (according to tradition) the decrees
for the ensuing year are annually settled, or, per-
* This was the year in which Heraclius went from Alexandria to
Constantinople, slew Phocas, the usurper, and placed himself upon
the throne of the Roman empire.

72 THE MONTH RAMADAN.
haps, merely taken from the table before the throne
of Allah, and given to the angels to be executed.
At midnight Mohammed awoke and thought he
heard a voice. Twice was it repeated, and twice
he made efforts to avoid hearing it, but it could not
be ignored ; he felt as if a fearful weight were upon
him, and as though his last moment had arrived.
A third time he heard the sound, and could not stop
his ears against it. Now there came audible words
from the sky, addressed to him by an angel in bright
apparel, whom his imagination showed him.
" O Mohammed, I am Gabriel ! "
Terrified at this apparition, for it was new to him,
though he had often before heard voices, he hastened
to Kadija, his ever constant comforter in trouble,
and exclaimed : " I have ever truly abhorred those
who hold communication with jinns, and, lo, now I
fear that I am to become a soothsayer myself ! " A
great trembling came upon him, and the perspiration
ran down to his feet.
" Never, O father of Kasim ! " she replied, "Allah
will not allow his servant to fall"; and she hastened
to let Waraka know what she had heard.
" Allah be praised ! " cried the old man ; " the son
of Abdalla speaks the truth ; this is the beginning of
prophecy; there shall come unto Mohammed the
great Law, like unto the law of Moses ; charge him to
keep hope in his heart ; I will stand by him ! "
Whether during the first interview or at another
— it is not quite certain — Gabriel said, holding up
a broad piece of silken stuff covered with written
characters :

VIEW FROM MT. HOR.

74 THE MONTH RAMADAN.
' Cry ! in the name of Allah !
In the name of Allah who hath created, —
Who hath created man of thick blood ! " *
" But I cannot read," cried the trembling father of
Kasim," " I am a man untaught."
" Cry ! " repeated the heavenly visitor, —
"Cry, by the most beneficent Allah,
Who taught the pen to write,
Who taught man what he knew not !
Verily, verily, man is rebellious ;
Is insolent, because he groweth in riches.
Truly unto Allah is the return of all !
What of him who holdeth back,
Who forbiddeth a servant when he prayeth?
What of him ? Doth he follow right,
Or command unto piety ?
Dost not see that he rejecteth truth and turneth back ?
¦ Doth he not know that Allah seeth ?
Verily, verily, if he desist not, we will drag him by the
forelock,
The lying, sinful forelock.
Let him call his assembly ;
We will call the guards of the Abyss !
Nay, obey him not, but adore and draw nigh ! "
¦ — Sura xcvi.
Despite the assurances of Waraka, Mohammed
was filled with doubts and perplexities ; he had been
* The principal words bear a striking identity with those in Isaiah,
the fortieth chapter : " The voice of one saying ' Cry ! ' and one said
' What shall I cry ? ' " The word " cry," says Emanuel Deutsch, "is
one of those very few onomatopoetic words still common to both
Semitic and Indo-European." Its significations range from the
vague sound of a bird or a tree to the silent weeping of a. person ;
the crying of " deep unto deep;" the weird " schrei" of the Ger
mans ; the technical " reading of the Scriptures," in Aramaic ; and
even the solemn proclamation of a Greek herald. From it is derived
Koran, the reading.

" ARISE AND PREA CH/ " ? $
spoken to by Gabriel, and felt as though a book had
been written in his heart, but he was not sure that
his mission was to preach ; besides, certain of the
Koreishites reviled him. In* this condition of per
plexity he sought the weird mountain, intent on
self-destruction, but at every attempt he was re
strained, and he sat wrapped in his mantle or rug,
after the Eastern fashion, when the angel again ap
peared. He said :
" O thou that art covered !
Arise and preach,
And magnify Allah !
Purify thy garments,
And shun abominations !
Grant not favors for increase ;
Wait patiently for Allah.
When the trump shall blow shall be distress for misbelievers'!' "
— Sura Ixxiv.
Now, Mohammed had, he thought, been in direct
communication with the messenger of Allah ; he
had distinctly been commissioned to preach ; had
been told what to say, and had been assured that he
was the Prophet of the Most High. There was no
more to be uncertainty nor trembling on his part ;
" Thus saith Allah ! " was henceforth to be his cry.
Did he reflect upon the apparent hopelessness of his
mission ? He was to tell a nation of idolaters, a na
tion that held in honor hundreds of idols, and pre
served their images on their altars, that there was
one God, and only one. If he stopped to think, he
must have deemed it hopelessly impracticable. No
one, surely, would listen, even to "the faithful one,"
bringing such a message. True, there were four

j6 THE MONTH RAMADAN.
seekers, but of them one had been murdered, and
one had found a religion of different character.
They afforded very little ground for hope ; but the
true reformer does not ask much encouragement.
He rose superior to all his trembling forebodings
and exultantly cried :
" By the splendor of midday !
By the stilly night !
The Lord hath not forsaken thee,
Neither doth He hate thee ?
Verily the life to come shall be better than the past !
In the end Allah shalt award thee,
And thou shalt be pleased.
Did He not find thee an orphan, and give thee a home ?
Find thee erring, and guide thee ?
He found thee poor and made thee rich.
Wherefore oppress not the orphan,
Nor repel the beggar,
But declare the great bounty of Allah ! " — Sura xcih,
The new prophet did not seem to have any ulterior
objects in his mind as he entered upon his mission;
fasting and prayer it had begun with ; and faith was
strong in his mind that Allah would in due time give
his blessing. He did not hasten to make converts
from idol worship ; neither did he hesitate to stand
firmly for the principles that he had accepted.
Still he went to the mountains and the dark valleys
to make his prayers and hold his fasts ; and in one
of these lonesome retreats he was one day encoun
tered by his uncle, Abu Talib.
"What calls you here," asked the uncle, "and
what religion do you profess? "
" I profess the religion of Allah, of his angels, of

ABU TALIB' S PROMISE.

77

his prophets," replied the son of Abdalla — " the
¦ religion of Abraham. Allah has commissioned me
to preach this to men, and to urge them to embrace
it. Naught would be more worthy of thee, 0 my
uncle, than to adopt the true faith, and to help me
to spread it."
" Son of my brother," replied Abu Talib, " I can
never abjure the faith of my ancestors ; but if thou
art attacked I will defend thee." Then, turning to
Ali, his son, he added : " Mohammed will never lead
thee into any wrong way ; hesitate not to follow any
advice he giveth."

IX.
A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR.
History is crowded with wrecks of systems of
religion which have been outgrown by mankind.
The career of the prophet is never an easy one ; he
may pipe, but his audience may refuse to keep time
to the march he entunes. It is comparatively easy
to make good and far-reaching plans, but more diffi
cult to carry them out. Least of all is it easy for a
prophet to gain a hearing in his own country and
among his own kin ; among those who have known
him as a child, as a boy, as a growing young man,
and finally as a man, liable to the inconsistencies of
a man, to the irregularities of a man, to the failures
to which humanity is ever exposed. Yet this, all of
this, is what Mohammed, the unlearned Arabian, the
camel-driver of the widow Kadija, attempted. He,
who perhaps could not write his own name, set him
self up not only as a teacher, but as the only teacher
who was to be listened to in the most important mat
ter that concerns humanity, in the regulation of its
loftiest duties — its duties to the Most High God.
Was this not either the sublimest impudence, or the
most wonderful faith?
His effort, if successful, promised to break down

WHAT WOULD RESULT. 79
the commercial importance of his native city, to sap
the fountain from which his own tribe derived its
wealth and importance. He would put a stop to
the worship of the three hundred and sixty-five
deities of the Kaaba ; turn away the thousands of
pilgrims that adored them ; dry up the demand that
for so many years had been supplied by the Koreish
ites to the innumerable caravans which threaded
their devious ways among the wadies and over the
deserts from Hadramawt and Akaba, from Nejd
and Yemen, toward the house of the sacred black
stone that had fallen from heaven in the days of the
fathers. It did not require the wisdom of the seer
to know that every Koreishite must, of necessity be
opposed to such a movement, and opposed to it to
the death ; they would be ready to cry, in the spirit
of the silversmiths of Ephesus, " Great is the Kaaba
of Mecca ! " for it brought no small business unto
them.* The worship of the Kaaba was intrenched
not only behind the religious sentiments of hundreds
of thousands of men on the Arabian peninsula, but
also behind the mercantile interests of the entire
tribe of the Koreishites and of all those who earned
their honest living in Mecca, no less than in the
* Sir William Muir naturally thinks also of the tumult at Ephesus,
and says, in this connection, " There was no antagonism of a privi
leged class or of a priesthood supported by the temple ; no ' crafts
men of Diana ' deriving their livelihood from the shrine ; but there
was the strong hereditary affection for practices associated from
infancy with the daily life of every inhabitant of Mecca, and
patriotic devotion to a system which made his city the foremost in
Arabia. These advantages he would not lightly abandon." "The
Life of Mohammed " (ed. 1876), page 67.

80 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR.
interests of those along the line followed by the
caravans for thousands of miles, who furnished them
supplies and cover.
Kadija was ready to give allegiance to the faith
that her husband preached, as she always was to
afford him her countenance and support. We have
seen that the aged Waraka was likewise prepared to
accept all that Mohammed declared. These two,
therefore, became the nucleus of a new religion that
was afterwards known as Islam, the doctrine of the
just man (Moslem), of the striver after righteousness,
the doctrine of complete submission to the will of
Allah. It was not long after Kadija had communi
cated to her husband the words of Waraka that he
came to the city from his retreat on the mountain-
top, and his first duty was to make the tawaf, or
seven-fold circuit of the Kaaba. In doing this he en
countered Waraka, to whom he gave additional de
tails regarding his vision, and the aged man repeated
to him the assurance that he was to be the prophet
of his nation, warning him at the same time of the
persecutions that he would inevitably be called to
suffer. Waraka died soon afterwards, during a con
versation with Mohammed.
The prophet now received more frequent revela
tions through the angel Gabriel ; his faith in the one
God became firmer, and he boldly determined to en
dure all the troubles and dangers that might be
necessary in announcing the divine will to mankind.
To Kadija he fully repeated all the revelations of
Gabriel, and she began immediately to practise the
rites that were afterwards characteristic of Islam.

THE FIRST CONVERTS. 8 1
Her consolation and advice sustained him when
called to bear the railleries and rebuffs of his country
men. Gradually and in mysterious words he communi
cated to a chosen few the same particulars, Ali, the
little son of Abu Talib, being naturally among the
first so trusted. He was only about eleven years
old, but apparently of maturity beyond his years,
and he became the companion of Mohammed when
he went on his solitary visits to the neighboring hills
and valleys, praying with him and imitating his
actions. After Ali, Zeyd, a freedman whom Mo
hammed had adopted as son, became a member of
the new body, and then there was a still more im
portant conquest. One Abd el Kaba, instructed in
the pedigree of the Koreishites, who exercised a sort
of magistracy among them, and was wise in the in
terpretation of dreams, embraced the faith, and be
gan with fervor the work of making converts. For
a reason which will be mentioned, this important
man is better known as Abu Bekr, a title which has
been interpreted to mean the Father of the Virgin.
These and a few others professed faith in one
God ; in rewards for the good and punishments for
the evil in a future life ; in Mohammed as the prophet
whom they were bound to obey ; they practised
purifications by water, and they prayed after forms
prescribed. They looked upon Islam as not at all a
new religion, but as a revival of the ancient faith of
Abraham, and believed that the knowledge Mo
hammed had about it was derived directly from
Allah. This knowledge, when written down or

82 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR.
committed to memory, as it was proclaimed by the
prophet, was known as Al Koran, the Reading, or
the Recitation.
For some three years the faith was professed in
comparative secrecy, but then Mohammed deter
mined to give to the members of his tribe generally
the good news that he had up to that time commu
nicated to the few. It is sometimes said that this
change of method was in pursuance of a divine mes
sage couched in these words : *
Invoke no other god with Allah,
Lest thou be of the tormented.
Utter warnings to thy near kinsfolk,
And lower thy wing [be meek] to the faithful who follow thee.
If they prove disobedient, say,
" Verily, I am clear of what ye do ! "
Rely thou upon the Mighty, Merciful One,
Who seeth thee when thou risest up,
And when thou fallest among the worshippers,
Verily, he both heareth and knoweth ! — Sura xxvi.
For the purpose of enlarging his influence, Moham
med, according to tradition, now invited the Ko
reishites to a repast, f after which he addressed them,
saying: "Never has an Arab offered to his people
such precious advantages as I now present to you —
happiness in this life and joys forever in the world
to come. Allah has commisioned me to call men to
him ; who among you will join me in the sacred work,
and become my brother, my kalif?"
* The sura of which this is but a small fragment is now, however,
considered a later revelation.
f Muir treats this feast as " apocryphal," but Caussin de Perceval,
following Abulfeda and Desvergers, gives the details substantially
as above, without qualification. — Histoire des Arabes, i., 360-362.

ALI PROMISES SUPPORT. 83
A profound silence fell upon the whole assembly,
until Ali, the youngest of them all, cried out with
zeal : " I, prophet of Allah, I will join you ! "
Mohammed embraced Ali, and said : " Behold my
brother — my kalif; my commissioner. Listen to
him ; obey his commands ! "
A smile ran through the assembly as they wit
nessed the boyish enthusiasm of the young man,
and the kinsfolk withdrew, making light of the
whole transaction. They told Abu Talib that he
would have to obey the orders of his son, — the
height of absurdity. Mohammed was not at all
daunted by his want of success in this semi-public
effort ; he continued to urge his relatives to embrace
Islam, though without mu"ch greater effect. Soon
he became bolder, and began to preach with no un
certain voice the truth that the divinities of the
Kaaba were nothing but senseless wood and
stones, and then stubborn and bitter opposition
took the place of pleasantry. The Meccans came
out with zeal in support of the religion of centuries;
they railed at the innovator and demanded that he
should be silenced. At first they merely pointed at
the would-be prophet the finger of scorn, saying :
" There goeth the son of Abdalla who speaketh
about the heavens!" When converts were made
and they began to follow their leader's habit of
retiring to the wilds for prayer — when it seemed
as though something might possibly come of the
preaching, then the unbelievers followed the faith
ful to these mountain passes and even attacked
them ; and thus it was that a camel-goad in the

84 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR.
hand of a disciple of Mohammed drew the first
blood that was shed in Islam.
Mohammed seemed to be safe under the protec
tion of Abu Talib, and therefore a delegation
of the tribe of Koreish appealed to him, saying:
" The son of thy brother asperses our religion.
He accuses our wise men of folly — our ancestors
of errors and impiety. As thou hast not embraced
his impious faith, permit us, we pray thee, to exter
minate it and punish him for so audaciously attack
ing a religion which is thine as well as ours."
To this demand Abu Talib gave a courteous
but firm refusal, and it was followed by another
appeal. A second time the dignitaries of the tribe
came to the aged man, and said : " We respect,
as in duty bound, thy age, thy personal nobility,
and thy rank; but there is a limit. We have
asked thee to shut the mouth of thy nephew
and thou hast not done it. We can no longer
submit to these outrages upon our fathers, our
wise men, and our gods. Cause Mohammed to
hold his peace or we will take up arms against thee
as well as against him ; and we shall fight until our
party or thine is exterminated ! " So saying, they
withdrew. Abu Talib, now alarmed, sought his nephew, and
said: "Deliver us from the evils that hang over
thee and over our family."
" O my uncle," replied Mohammed, " should the
sun descend upon my right hand and the moon on
my left to fight against me, and should the alterna
tive be presented to me of renouncing my mission or

ABU TALIB' S SECOND PROMISE.

85

of perishing in accomplishing it, I would not waver
from my purpose ! "
So saying, overcome by the thought that he was
to be abandoned by his beloved relative, he turned
away with eyes filled with tears.
" Come back, O my nephew ! " exclaimed the old
man, in turn broken down by emotion ; " preach

PTn'irV ^frA-i: ¦' 0 'p"--T-*'i" Al-':- ..."

THE KAABA, SHOWING MODERN PILGRIMS.
whatever doctrine thou wilt. I swear to thee that
not for a moment will I desert thy side ! "
The opposition did not end here; though, as the
sacred period of the year was apprpaching, hostilities
were postponed for awhile. It was at about this time
that Mohammed first occupied a building facing the
Kaaba belonging to a convert named Arkam, before

86 A PROPHET WITH LITTLE HONOR.
which the pilgrims were obliged to pass in the course
of their orthodox devotions. It became the meet
ing-house — the preaching station. There the doc
trines of the new faith were expounded and many
converts were made, so that the place was called in
after times "The House of Islam."
At this period Mohammed was very desirous of
engaging the influential members of the community
on his side, and it is related that as he was once en
grossed in conversation with one of this class, a
blind man came to him, saying : " O apostle of Allah,
teach me some part of that which Allah hath taught
thee." In the earnestness of his desire to enlist the
rich man, he was disturbed by the importunity of the
poor one, and turned away with a frown. A repri
mand was conveyed to him for his respect of persons
in one of the suras :
[The prophet] frowned and turned his back
Because the blind man importuned :
And what shall tell thee if perchance he may be purified,
Or may be admonished and profited ?
Thou dost attend on the rich,
And carest not for his cleansing ;
But thou turnest from the earnest one
Coming in the fear of Allah.
By no means ! — Sura lxxx.
Mohammed ever after looked upon the blind man
with great respect, and whenever he saw him he was
accustomed to say : " Welcome to him on whose
account Allah reproved me ! "

X.
FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND.
The crowds that regularly came to worship at the
Kaaba were now beginning to gather, and the oppo
nents of Mohammed consulted as to how they should
reply to the enquiries of strangers about the
"prophet" of whom they had heard.
" Let us tell them that he is a seer," said one.
" No," promptly replied another, " he has none of
the abrupt and emphatic tone of the seer, neither
does he utter his sentences in their rhythmical style."
" Shall we prononnce him a fool ? "
" No, his appearance would belie us."
" That he is a poet inspired by an evil jinn ? "
" He ignores the language of poetry."
" Shall we call him a magician ! "
" He does naught supernatural ; he pretends to no
miracle nor magic art."
" Nay, verily, his art is simply the use of able
words and of an insinuating manner."
" But we must give some explanation ; we can
only say that he is a new magician possessed of
unknown charms, by which he brings discord into
the family, separates brother from brother, son from
father, and wife from husband."

88 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND.
This, then, was to be the policy of the opponents
of the rising delusion, as these men desired to consi
der the doctrines held by the little band protected
by Abu Talib. They posted themselves on the
roads converging at Mecca ; engaged in conversation
with the faithful going to the Kaaba ; insinuated
themselves into their confidence, and warned them
to beware of the father of Kasim, whom they de
scribed as a dangerous magician who might do them
the utmost harm. Thus they frightened some, but,
to their discomfiture, excited curiosity in the minds
of a larger number. The result was that when the
devout pilgrims returned to their homes, they carried
to the remotest corner of the peninsula the marvel
lous stories of Mohammed, the rising prophet, the
magician whom no one could understand. The new
movement became the staple of neighborhood gos
sip and of curious enquiry everywhere, and pene
trated regions to which no direct effort of Moham
med could have carried it in many laborious years.
The interestwas still more increased by Abu Talib,
who published in verse his complaints against the
Koreishites who; in their hatred of one of its sons,
had forgotten the rights of the illustrious house of
Hashim. He vaunted the virtues of Mohammed;
painted him as the friend of the widow and the
orphan, and said :
" You lie, if you say that we will let the blood of
Mohammed flow without bringing to the struggle
our bows and our lances ; and I swear it by the holy
Kaaba !
" If you say that we will abandon him without

MEDINA COUNSELS PEACE. 89
strewing the ground with our corpses, yea with the
bodies of our wives and of our children ! "
When the threatening news that fratricidal war
was imminent, reached Medina, then called Yathrib,
wise counsels of peace were sent to Mecca.
" Beware of discord," the writer said, " thrust from
you the vase of which the water is bitter and danger
ous ! Remind yourselves of the horrors of past wars
among us ; he who writes to you knows but too
well the horrors of those sad scenes ; knowledge is
the fruit of experience.
" An honorable man has adopted certain beliefs ;
to Allah only belongs the right to judge the con
science. " Continue to practise the true religion ; our eyes
are fixed upon you.
" Worship Allah and purify yourselves by confi
dence in* the corner-stone upon which the mountains
around you rest.
" Did not Allah give you a token of his great
power in the day when Abraha was driven back
from your very gates without your aid ? "
Such counsel had some effect, but it did not re
strain the envious Koreishites from giving vent to
their feelings as they encountered the prophet in
the streets, and he was often saluted with bitter and
insulting words, besides suffering personal injuries.
These violences and petty exhibitions of spite, led to
a reaction in the case of an adversary as deter
mined as any that Mohammed ever had. On re
turning from the chase one day, Hamza, who was
uncle to the prophet, heard of a new insult, and on

O-O FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND.
the moment he repaired to the Kaaba and to the
astonishment of all, presented himself as the cham
pion of the prophet. Advancing to the midst of an
excited group, he exclaimed, " Hold ! -I am of the new
religion ! Return that, if you dare ! " at the same
time striking one of the company a vigorous blow
with the bow that he had not yet had time to lay
down. The blow was not returned. Hamza, after
wards known as the Lion of Allah, continued one of
the most proud and energetic among the partisans of
Mohammed, and the cowed Koreishites began to
treat the prophet with outward respect.
Temptation was their next resort. Some of the
chiefs came to Mohammed ; one of them took a
seat by his side, and began with the following words
to test the strength of his faith :
" Son of my friend, though thou art a man distin
guished by birth, thou dost stir up the land : thou
makest division in families ; thou castest reproach
upon our gods ; thou hast taxed our ancestors and
our wise men with errors and impiety : but we wish
to treat thee with consideration and moderation.
Listen to the proposals we have to make, and reflect
if it would not be well for thee to accept one of them."
" Speak on," said Mohammed, " I listen."
" Son of my friend," the other began, " be it thy
aim to acquire wealth by this thy strange conduct,
we will assess ourselves to make thee the richest
man of the house of our father Koreish ; if it be
honor that thou desirest we will make thee our lord,
and will plan nothing without thy advice ; if it be an
evil jinn that dominateth thee, we will bring to thee

A DISCOURSE THAT STRIKES HOME. 9 1
the most able physicians, and we will pour out our
gold until they cure thee."
" Is it all? " said the prophet.
" Yes."
" Well, now listen to me : —
" In the name of Allah the merciful and compassionate ! A revel
ation from the Merciful One ; a book whose signs are explained ; an
Arabic Koran for a people who understand ; a herald of glad tidings
and a warning. Most turn aside and listen not, and say, ' Our
hearts are veiled from the doctrine, our ears are dull, there is a cur
tain between thee and us : act thou ; verily we shall act.' Say, ' I
am but a mortal like yourselves, but a mortal to whom it has been
revealed that Allah is one : go make your way straight to him ; im
plore his pardon. Woe to those who follow other gods, who give
not alms, and reject the future life." — Sura xii.
" Thou hast heard," said Mohammed, after having
prostrated himself ; " choose what thou wilt ! "
Turning to his companions, the one who had ven
tured to address the prophet exclaimed, " Never did
man hear a discourse like this! It strikes home ; it
is not poetry, nor the language of the magician. Let
us leave him ; let him work and persuade whom he
can ; peradventure some man of a strange tribe will
take him off for us ; but if he succeed, then his
power and glory will be ours and the Koreishites
will be remembered in the land."
" He has cast his spell upon thee ! " they all cried.
" I tell you frankly my'opinion," the other replied.
Not satisfied with this trial, the men came a second
time to the prophet offering the same temptations,
and again they encountered the same haughty re
fusal. Then they demanded a miracle,— the enlarge
ment of their narrow valley, for example, as an

92 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND.
assurance that indeed Allah spoke through him ; but
Mohammed replied : " Allah has sent me to preach
his law ; I am fulfilling my mission, and I tell you
again it will be for your good in this world and in the
next if ye accept my message. If ye reject my
words, Allah will be your judge."
" At least," they urged, ask that an angel be sent
down to testify to thy veracity, and to command our
faith." " No," persisted Mohammed, " my duty is
simply to preach." Never could they force him to
attempt a miracle, — that favorite resort of so many
false prophets.
" Well, then," they replied, " let your lord make
the sky fall upon us ; he will make it fall upon you,
too, if he wish. All that thou tellest us thou hast
heard from a false prophet of Yemen to whom we
have never given ear. Know that we shall cease not
to repel thy attacks upon our faith until thou or we
perish in the strife."
In pursuance of these threats, all were forbidden
to listen to Mohammed, and when he visited the
Kaaba, the Koreishites took positions at a distance
from him. It was at this time that one Abdalla de
termined to force them to hear the Koran read, and
placing himself among them in full day, he raised
his voice and cried,
" In the name of Allah, the merciful and compassionate .'
The merciful one taught the Koran ;
He created man,
And endowed him with speech,
The sun and the moon have their appointed times ;
Herbs and trees adore him ;
And the heavens, he raised them and set the balance." — Sura lv.

LIGHT FROM A DARK CLOUD. 93
" What is the fellow reciting? " was the cry.
" Passages from the Koran of the proscribed ! "
These words were the signal for an attack upon
Abdalla, but in spite of the blows that rained upon
his face and body, he continued the recital until he
was thrown out of the holy place.
"But I forced them to hear me!" he exultantly
cried to his friends. The act was not, however,
likely to help forward the cause that he had with
so much intrepidity espoused, and the persecutions
of the Koreishites increased, the disciples were cru
elly tortured, and Mohammed, cast down by their
sufferings as well as by his own impotence to protect
them, encouraged them to seek an asylum in Abys
sinia. Accordingly, in the year 615, a number of
them crossed the Red Sea and sought the protec
tion of the Christian king.
The intense hatred of the Koreishites followed
them even to the strange land, and the exiles were
haled before the ruler for examination. The recital
of some verses of the Koran affected this dignitary
to tears, and he refused to send the strangers back
to their tormentors. The Koreishites were downcast
at this failure, and still more did they lose heart when
they found that Omar, a cousin of Mohammed, and
one of the most powerful among the opponents of the
new faith, had come out as its equally ardent cham
pion. It was indeed light from a dark cloud to
Mohammed, when this strong man cried out in his
presence, " Verily, I testify that thou art the prophet
of Allah ! " and well might he exclaim at the sound
of the words, " Allahu Akbar ! " (" Great is Allah ! ")

94 FUGITIVES IN A STRANGE LAND.
Still the Koreishites remained firm in their opposi
tion, and the exiles were not free to return to their
homes. Mohammed was placed under a ban, and,
with his brethren of the children of Hashim, was
shut up in a quarter of the city.* A decree was
written and hung up on the walls of the Kaaba
warning all from having any intercourse, civil or
commercial, with the Hashimites. No marriage
was to be made with them ; no goods were to be
sold to them ; no stuff was to be bought of them.
As the years wore on, the hearts of the idolaters,
against whom the prophet preached, were moved
to pity for the brethren in distress. From time
to time provisions were secretly sent to them, and
at last, after they had suffered three years, the ban
was dissolved. It is said that it was found that the
decree hung up in the Kaaba had been miraculously
destroyed, so that at this time there remained only
the opening words : " In the name of Allah most
merciful! "
* A secluded region, known as the Sheb of Abu Talib. It was
formed by one of the defiles of the mountains, where projecting
rocks pressed upon the eastern outskirts. The entrance from Mec
ca was by a low gateway, through which a camel passed with diffi
culty. Cliffs and buildings separated it from the rest of the town on
all other sides. (See Muir's "Mahomet," p. 99.)

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XI.
A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN.
THE prophet had for nine years been offering
the blessings of Paradise to all who would accept his
doctrines and give up their idols; and, though he
now was freed from the ban under which he had been
oppressed, his condition was very gloomy. He
claimed that his mission was for all the world, and
yet he failed to make progress even at home. There
were the strong Hamza and the valiant Omar — but
what were they and the little band that they led
in comparison with the thousands who stood aloof?
Sad indeed must have been Mohammed's heart as
he walked out into the freedom of his native city
and reflected upon the slight progress that his cause
had made, despite his confidence in the help and
guidance of Allah al Razid, the Rightly Directing.
During all these years of meditation, prayer, fast
ing, and preaching, Kadija had been the good angel
of the prophet. She believed in him and in the
truth of his revelations; she was the first who had
put her trust in the Allah whom he proclaimed ; she
strengthed him in all his purposes ; through her he
believed that Allah sent him comfort ; whenever
she heard aught that was disagreeable or contradic-

96 A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN.
tory, she counselled him to hope.; she roused him in
his state of lethargy and made his burdens light ; she
assured him that all the babble of his opponents
would come to naught. Now the end of all this
had arrived ; Kadija died. (End of the year 619.)
Not only did this affliction deprive Mohammed of
a trusty adviser, but it reduced him to a condition
of comparative poverty. Islam, also, that but for
her might never have received its first inspiring im
pulse, lost in purity, and the revelations that were
to form the growing Koran, lost in dignity. The ties
of affection and interest that for a quarter of a cen
tury had been growing stronger and stronger, were
in an instant forever broken. No wonder that the
prophet, always open to accesses of uncontrollable
emotion, was inconsolable, and mourned as one who
could not be comforted. Though he was to have
many other wives, he was never to forget the mem
ory of good Kadija, nor was he ever to lose the in
spiration of her life ; so little destructible is the influ
ence of a good woman. The lover was never lost in
the husband, and how much dearer the wife was than
the bride, none but those who have felt a stimulus
such as she gave can know.
At about this time the sky was again darkened.
Abu Talib, the uncle, who, through all the years
of obliquy, had stood as a wall between Moham
med and his enemies, was also taken away. Thus,
spiritual counsel and temporal aid alike seemed to
be passing from him at once. The chivalry of Abu
Talib in protecting the prophet when he did not be
lieve in his mission is remarkable, and it is a strong

A MEETING AT TAIF. Q)"J
testimony to the honesty of Mohammed that he
could make such an impression on a man of so
much force of character. The Koreishites, under
the leadership of Abu Sofian, now returned to their
annoying attacks upon Mohammed. They cast dirt
upon his head in the street, and there was none to
take his part. Converts were few, and he saw that
if some positive advance were not promptly made,
idolatry would soon destroy what little there was of
the new faith.
Hopeless as the outlook at Mecca seemed, Mo
hammed thought that perhaps at Taif some one
might be found who would embrace the truth. Ac
cordingly he took the pilgrim-road towards Arafat ;
he passed through the rocky defiles and dismal
wastes to the farther heights ; thence he descended
into the valley of flowers and fruits with reviving
hope — into a region so bright and charming that it
was fabled to have once been a part of Syria that
had floated off during the deluge. Alas, there were
other shrines at Taif, and other gods were firmly
fixed in the regard of the inhabitants ! The chiefs
consented to meet him, but they repelled his argu
ments with the invincible logic of ridicule.
" Allah is one and I am his prophet," said Mo
hammed. " Allah has no other apostle but thee to send to
us ? " asked one.
"I cannot dispute with thee," said another; "if
thou art a prophet, thou art too grand a personage
for me to pretend to meet in discussion ; if thou art
an impostor, I will not deign to talk with thee ! "

98 A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN.
Mohammed left the assembly in chagrin, only to
encounter greater indignities from the people with
out, who, stirred up by the chiefs, followed him
through the streets with cries and insults. Slaves
and young roughs hurried him along as they made
targets for missiles of his legs ; and if he crouched
down for a moment to protect himself from their
bloody weapons, they forced him to rise and drag
his lacerated body rapidly along. Then, when his
spirit was almost gone, a pitying citizen gave him
temporary shelter and a few grapes to strengthen
and rest him ; and the pursuing crowd allowed him
to get out of the city in peace. Scarcely daring to
look behind, he hastened towards Mecca, to which
city his faithful servant, Zeyd, who had accompanied
him to Taif, had gone to seek a place of abode for
them both.
In the interval after these exciting scenes, it was
not strange that the overstrained sensibilities of the
prophet should render him vulnerable to attacks
from visions, and accordingly tradition tells us that
at this time his nervous imagination showed him
certain of the jinns coming to listen to him. He
halted at a place where there were an idol temple, a
garden, and a grove, and, as his custom was, recited
portions of the Koran. Seven, or it may be nine, or
even more of the jinns, overheard his words, and
they cried : " Give ear ! " When the reading was con
cluded, they returned to their haunts, and preached
to their fellows, saying :
" O our people !
Verily we have heard a book sent down since Moses

THE JINNS LISTEN. 99
Attesting Scripture that went before,
Guiding to truth and showing the right way.
O our people I
Obey the preacher of Allah,
And believe in him,
That he may forgive your sins,
And save you from awful woe." — Sura xlvi.
It was a comfort to the prophet in his low estate
to feel that if men would not listen to him, these
beings, made of pure fire, were prepared to give
adherence to his cause ; and thenceforward he was a
preacher sent to jinns as well as to the creatures of
clay. The vision did not make his way towards
Mecca any more hopeful, however, and he was
obliged for a time to loiter in his former mountain
haunts. At last Mutaim, one of those who had pro
cured the removal of the ban, summoned his sons
to his assistance, buckled on his armor, and said to
Mohammed and Zeyd : " Enter ! " while at the same
time he addressed the Koreishites in these brave
words :
" O ye Koreish, verily I have given to Mohammed
the pledge of my protection ; let not any among you
harm him."
At this time of gloom (A.D. 620) Mohammed took
to wife a widow named Sawda, for whom he had, as
it seems, little affection ; and also espoused a daugh
ter of Abd el Kaba, named Ayesha, a mere child of
some seven years, who became his favorite. Her
father now changed his name, as has been already
intimated, and was thereafter known as Abu Bekr,
usually supposed to signify "the Father of the Vir-

IOO A TWOFOLD CORD BROKEN.
gin." * These were the first of a series of polyga
mous marriages which mar the remainder of the
prophet's career. The actual marriage with Ayesha
was postponed for several years, but she was still
sufficiently a child to take her babyish playthings
with her when she left her father's house.
The time of pilgrimage of the year 621 brought to
Mecca strangers of different tribes, and Mohammed
sought to ingratiate himself with them in the hope
of finding some who would listen to his message and
offer the home for his followers, as well as the disci
ples themselves, which Mecca and Taif promised
never to furnish. Among the pilgrims Mohammed
discovered twelve persons who had already given
their adherence to Islam. They came from Medina
and were pleased to have the opportunity of con
versing with one whom they had from a distance
looked upon as the coming Messiah (Mahdi). Mo
hammed sat down with them on the hill Akaba, out
side of Mecca, and there expounded the duties of his
religion ; teaching them that they should adore but
one god; that they should not plunder; that they
should not kill their infants ; nor do any other evil
deeds ; and he assured them that Allah would judge
* Dr. August Muller, in "Der Islam," asserts that this almost
universally received interpretation of the new name is erroneous, and
that it arose from a mistranslation. Abu Bekr, he says (page 57), was
a common name, though he gives no reason for its having been thus
assumed. Fathers were commonly called after their sons, and, so far
as we know, never after their daughters ; but the case of Ayesha was
so separated from that of all other daughters, that it is not unreason
able to believe that her father felt it an honor to have his relation to
her expressed in his name.

ON THE HILL AKABA. IOI
them, giving them paradise if they fulfilled their
vows, and burning them in gehenna if they failed.
They bound themselves by an oath to follow these
simple precepts, though it is to be observed that
there was no obligation to take up arms in defence
of the cause. The twelve men returned to Medina,
but promised to come back again at the sacred
month of the following year, hoping that they
might then report additions to their little number.
In this expectation they were not disappointed ;
there was a sudden renunciation of idols at Medina,
and the Jews even begged Mohammed to send
them a teacher to give them instruction in the new
faith that had worked so remarkable a change in the
community.

XII.
TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.
IN ancient times men held dreams and visions
either in great respect or in terrible dread ; they
supposed that when the body was asleep, and the
imagination active ; when the powers by which we
receive sensations were awake and the reason and
judgment by which those sensations are controlled
were asleep, the gods were wont to send to men in
dications of their will, and revelations of the future
or of the remote. Thus in the old book of Job,
which contains so much to remind us of the Ara
bians, Elihu, the young Buzite, says:
" God speaketh in one way,
Yea, in two, though man regardeth it not.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falleth upon men,
In slumberings upon the bed ;
Then he uncovereth the ears of men,
And sealeth their instruction,
That he may withdraw man from his purpose,
And hide pride from man. . .
If there be with him an angel,
An interpreter, one among a thousand,
To show unto man what is right for him."
Likewise Eliphaz the Temanite, very likely him
self an Arabian, said to Job, in the course of his
1 02

DREAMS ANCIENT AND MODERN. 103
calm and elaborate argument for the righteousness
of God :
" A thing was secretly brought to me,
And mine ear received a whisper thereof.
In thoughts from the visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
Fear came upon me and trembling,
Which made all my bones to shake.
Then a breath passed over my face ;
The hair of my flesh stood up :
A form was before mine eyes ;
It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof ;
Silence, — and I heard a voice, —
' Shall mortal man be more just than God ?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? ' "
Though modern science has carried its researches
into every department of creation, and has attempted
to ravel all the secrets hidden since the foundation
of the world, it cannot yet tell us what a dream is,
nor what it means. Psychology stands by the side
of the dreamer and says in effect that these mys
teries are yet to be explained. It is not a matter of
surprise that when Mohammed found that visions
were held in respect by the " Men of the Book," as
he called the Jews, and considered a means by which
their god revealed and warned his people, he should
adopt the same view ; and accordingly we find him
laying some stress upon dreams. He- did not know
that in the New Testament they are not represented
in the same light as in the Old. He had heard of
Moses, of Jacob, of Joseph, and of the prophets, to
whom so many messages had been sent while their
bodies were asleep, and he was not surprised when
visions came to him. One occurred at this juncture,

104 TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.
Doubtless, it was pregnant with meaning, and he
cried out :
" Praise be unto him, who by night took his servant from the
sacred Kaaba to the farther temple of Jerusalem, the precincts of
which we have blessed, that we might show him of our signs ! Ver
ily Allah heareth and seeth ! " — Sura xvii.
It was a dark night (tradition tells us) ; such a
solemn silence had never been known in Mecca ; no
owl hooted, no cock crowed, not a cur barked in the
streets, nor did a wild beast howl on the surrounding
hills. Even the waters seemed to cease their gentle
murmurs in the purling well Zem-zem ; the wind
went down and the heavy atmosphere was not
stirred by the slightest , zephyr ; all nature was
smitten with a weird, uncanny hush. At the deep
hour of midnight the prophet started at the sound of
a voice :
"Awake, thou that sleepest ! "
One stood before him with a face as white as snow ;
his forehead was serene and unruffled ; hair of radiant
beauty, plaited finely, hung in graceful curls about his
shoulders ; dazzling brightness made the many hues
of his great wings illuminate the precious stones with
which his robes were strewed ; and gracious perfumes
from ten thousand scent-bags filled the air with
fragrance. The wondrous visitor was Gabriel, with whom the
prophet was not entirely unacquainted ; he pro
ceeded to take out Mohammed's heart, which he
washed in a golden vessel filled with the water of
faith. He then brought near a new sort of beast
called the Borak, a name that signifies lightning. It

THE BORAK GENTLY RISES. IOS
had the face of a man, eyes of emeralds as great as
two stars ; pearls and other precious jewels adorned
its wings, which were resplendent with light ; and it
was so endowed that it understood what was spoken
to it, though it could not reply. Mohammed pre
pared to mount the steed at the instigation of the
Angel, but it started back and refused fo permit
him, until Gabriel interceded ; then it gracefully re
lented, and when the prophet was seated, gently rose
into the upper air and with the swiftness of lightning
bore him along towards the north. At Sinai, Gabriel
bade the rapid beast stop in its course, to permit
Mohammed to pray on the spot where God once
communed with Moses ; at Bethlehem, where Jesus
the son of Mary was born, the same duty was re
peated. As they rose into the air after the second
stop, Mohammed heard a voice crying :
" O Mohammed, tarry a moment, I pray, that I
may speak with thee ; thou art he to whom of all
created beings I am most devoted."
Still the Borak pressed forwards, and soon a second
voice was heard crying :
"Stop!"Mohammed tarried not ; and, behold, after a little
a damsel of the most ravishing beauty appeared, and,
with the most alluring smiles, beckoned to the proph
et, uttering the same appealing words ; but not for an
instant did he deviate from the direct line of his
progress. Then Gabriel congratulated him that he
had not halted ; telling him that the first appeal
came from a Jew, and that if he had listened to it, all
his people would have become followers of the re-

106 TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.
ligion of Moses. He said that the second was the
voice of a Christian, who would have brought him to
Christianity ; and the third was the appeal of the
world, to which had he given ear, his fellow-country
men would have sought their blessings in the present
life, would have cast aside the rewards of eternity,
and thus would have been forever lost.
The Borak soon set down her burden at the gate
of the temple at Jerusalem, where she was fastened
to a ring to which, indeed, prophets had fastened her
before, and Mohammed gave himself up to prayer.
A ladder of light soon invited him to rise to the
first heaven, and afforded him the means. He made
the ascent with rapidity by the aid of Gabriel, and
the gate was opened. Pure silver formed the walls,
and stars suspended by chains of gold afforded light.
As the prophet entered, a venerable form approached,
and he did him reverence. It was father Adam, who
embraced Mohammed, calling him greatest among
the sons of men and first among the prophets.
When the wonders of this place had been some
what examined, the angel and his companion pro
ceeded to the second heaven, which was of steel ;
and there Noah hailed Mohammed as the greatest
among prophets. The third heaven, in which Joseph
was discovered, was gorgeous with precious stones
and too brilliant for mortal eyes. In it was the
angel of death, writing in a book the names of all
who were to be born, and blotting out the names of
those who had lived their allotted time. As each
name was blotted, its owner immediately died. In
the fifth heaven Aaron was found, and the angel of

HI *

life! ; ¦ '. j .-¦¦ ¦ .- .

mps

INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR AT JERUSALEM.

108 TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.
vengeance, with eyes flashing lightning, in whose
hand was a lance of flame ; fire blazed on every side
of his throne, and red-hot chains were not far from
him round about.
In the sixth heaven, Mohammed was met by
Moses, who wept at the sight, because he beheld one
who was destined to lead to Paradise more of his
nation than followed the teachings of their prophet
among the chosen children of Israel. The seventh
heaven was found to be formed of divine light, and
tongue cannot describe its glory. Abraham was
honored with a chief place there. It was exactly
over the Kaaba. Gabriel could go no farther ; but
Mohammed was allowed to go on through vast spaces
to the presence of Allah, who, though veiled, spake
to him, giving him many of the doctrines afterwards
incorporated in the Koran, and prescribing that his
followers should utter fifty prayers a day.
When Mohammed returned to Moses, he assured
him that he would find it impossible to lead the
Arabian people to make so many prayers, and urged
him to go back to obtain a diminution of the num
ber. Allah permitted him to reduce the number to
forty ; but Moses insisted that humanity was even
too weak to bear such a burden. Mohammed re
turned several times, gaining repeated reductions of
the number, until it was left at five, beyond which
he refused to ask ; and at this number it has re
mained unto the present day. Daily between dawn
and sunrise the faithful muezzin goes to his tower
wherever the religion of Islam is professed and
cries :

a
O

IIO TO THE SEVENTH HEAVEN.
"Allahu akbar! . . . Prayer is better than sleep! . . .
There is no God but Allah ! ... He giveth life and he dieth
not ! ... O thou bountiful ! . . . Thy mercy ceaseth not !
. . . My sins are great, greater is thy mercy ! . . . I extol
his perfection ! . . . Allahu akbar ! "
At the Other appointed hours he likewise utters
his well-known but peculiar cry, and in whatever
place the Moslem may find himself at the moment
he drops into the attitude prescribed for worship
and repeats the words that his religion directs shall
be said : —
" La illah il' Allah ! The Faithful heed,
With God and the Prophet this hour to plead ;
Whose ear is open to hear their need."
When Mohammed related this vision to his friends,
they advised him to keep it to himself, for, said they,
men will surely call you a madman or a liar ; but he
knew that if he could only find some one to believe in
it, his prestige would be increased, and he accord
ingly determined to publish it and face the ridicule
that would be excited. The result was that while
not a few railed at him and insulted him, his fol
lowers were so firmly bound to him that they never
hesitated thereafter to give credence to any thing
that he said, and he was enabled to establish an oral
as well as a written law, indefinitely drawing upon
that which he declared he had seen written in
heaven. At this time Mohammed seems to have changed
his plans somewhat ; for while he had been, through
out the earlier years of his mission, seeking to estab
lish a religious following only, he now looked for a

CHANGES IN MOHAMMED. 1 1 I
temporal kingdom. Perhaps the case is correctly
stated thus : Beginning his career filled with an en
thusiastic desire to reform his country's religion, he
had grown to have a confidence that his aspirations
and designs were approved of Allah ; then that they
emanated directly from him. After years of hard
labor in this honest direction, supported by the good
Kadija and the strong Abu Talib, he was rejected
by many and believed that he had practically failed ;
then, determined to succeed at whatever sacrifice of
principle or consistency, he turned to the pursuit
of political advantages. Desperate, indeed, must
the outlook have been which caused Mohammed
the Faithful One to look to any other than Allah for
aid!

e_^H

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XIII.

IN A CAVE.

When Mohammed came back from the land of
dreams he must have felt a great shock ; his eyes did
not open upon walls of gold or silver; no, nor even
of steel ; there were none of the blazing inscriptions
to be seen that his fond imagination had pictured, pro
claiming on every wall : " There is no God but Allah ;
Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah ! " No angels
filled his apartment with celestial glory ; no prophets
bowed down to him ; scarcely a man showed him
self interested in the great mission. He had verily
descended from heaven to earth !
He was now confident, but not aggressive ; he still
preached the unity of Allah, but desisted from very
positive onslaughts upon idolatry ; he cried out from
time to time to the opposers :
" Have ye not heard the story of those who were before you?
Apostles came unto them with tokens ; but they thrust their hands
into their mouths in indignation, and said, 'Verily we disbelieve.'
. . . And the misbelievers said tj the Apostles, ' We will drive
you from our land, if ye return not to our faith ! ' Then Allah spake
by revelation to them. ' Verily we shall destroy the wicked ! ' "—
Sura xiv.
" Prophets before thee have been mocked ; but they who laughed
them to scorn were encompassed by the vengeance that they ridi
culed."

ANOTHER MEETING ON AKABA. 1 1 3
" 'Nay,' say they, 'a jumble of dreams; nay! he hath forged
it ; nay ! he is a poet ; but let him bring us a sign.' " — Sura xxi.
" But it shall cause sighing unto the unbelievers,
And it is the TRUTH, the Certain TRUTH ;
Wherefore, praise the name of Allah the glorious ! "
— Sura lxix.
" None wrangle concerning the signs of Allah save the misbe
lievers. . . . In the fire shall they be baked." — Sura xl.
Thus the prophet warned unceasingly ; thus he
threatened unbelievers with punishments that must
have seemed to them of the most frightful severity
and the utmost indignity ; but the Meccans stead
fastly refused to listen. Meantime the year was
wearing away at the end of which the twelve from
Medina were to return with reports of their success
or failure. With them, when they left him, Moham
med had sent Mussab, one of the most able of his
disciples, to preach Islam in his name. So success
ful was the zeal and eloquence of this missionary,
and so ready were the people to hear him, that
before a twelvemonth had passed he was able to
boast of converts in every one of the tribes among
the people of Medina. When the holy month
arrived, he led to Mecca threescore and ten men
who met Mohammed on the hill Akaba, eager to
invite him to turn his back upon Mecca, and make
their city his future dwelling-place.
Had the Koreishites been aware of this meeting
they would have come forth in their strength, and
the small nucleus of a kingdom would have sud
denly been brought to naught. A night was chosen
toward the end of the sacred season, and the con
verts found the place of rendezvous singly, or by

1 14 IN A CA VE.
twos or threes, under cover of the darkness ; they
" waked not the sleeper nor waited for the absent."
The spot where they met was in a secluded glen not
far from the road used by the pilgrims, beneath the
hill, near the valley of Mina ; a place much fre
quented during the holy season. Even the faithful
Moslems of Mecca were not informed of the meeting,
so necessary was it thought to keep it secret.
Midnight arrived, and the dim light of the hour
showed the forms of the seventy slowly finding their
way to the spot. When they were seated, Abbas,
uncle of the prophet, the wealthiest of the sons of
Abd al Muttalib, rose in the gloom and addressed the
spectral assemblage :
" Children of the tribes of Yathrib ! Ye know
the high rank that this my kinsman holdeth
among the sons of Hashim. Though opposed to
his new faith, we have supported him, and we will
support him ; but he hath found favor in the eyes
of your people, and is ready to become one of you.
Wherefore, consider well the matter : if ye are
strong to defend him against all who may rise up
to harm him ; if ye be men of war, willing to sacrifice
your lives and your goods in his cause, well ; if not,
abandon him now, and you will not be tempted to
betray him later ! "
" We are men of war," they promptly replied,
"and we will be faithful to our promises, though it
cost us our lives. Our resolution is taken ; it is now
for thee, O prophet, to speak, and tell us the con
ditions that thou demandest for thyself and for
Allah."

THE SEVENTY RETURN TO MEDINA. I Ig
"Ye will bow to Allah only," began the prophet ;
"ye will be faithful to the precepts of Islam ; ye will
obey me ; ye will receive my fellows and me ; ye will
fight for our defence as for the defence of wives and
children." " Our recompense ? " they asked.
" Paradise ! "
" If we win triumph for Islam, wilt thou not one
day quit us for thy native city ? " one enquired.
" I will live and I will die with ye ! " exclaimed
Mohammed, a smile of pride and satisfaction playing
about his lips.
" Give us thy hand ! " they said, and a confused
noise arose from the seventy throats as they swore
the second oath of Akaba.
" Hush ! " cried Abbas ; " spies are upon us ! "
Suddenly the party separated, after Mohammed
had designated twelve among them as his representa
tives at Medina, and before the sun had risen upon
the valley they Avere again with their caravan. Their
idolatrous companions had not noticed their ab
sence. Soon all were ready for the return to
Medina; the seventy burdened with the solemnity
of a strong oath, and the twelve dignified by the
addition of new responsibilities that perhaps might
cost them their lives. The spy, or the chance passer,
who had so suddenly broken up the conference,
brought his vague information to the Koreishite
chiefs, and they sent to the parting caravan to ask if
any men of Medina had conferred with Mohammed ;
if they had promised to take him away ; if they had
bound themselves to his fortunes, forthe Koreishites

1 16 IN A CAVE.
declared that they deprecated war with their breth
ren of Medina. The idolaters among them of the
caravan, men of position, hastened to give assurance
that they had had no sort of communication with
the prophet ; and one of the chiefs ventured to add
that it was not probable that any among his com
pany had entered into such a bond, for a matter of
so much importance would surely have come to his
notice. Further investigation, after the pilgrims had left,
satisfied the Koreishites, however, that their suspi
cions were correct, and they hurried armed envoys
after the caravans. Two pilgrims were brought
back, and after some maltreatment they were per
mitted to rejoin their friends ; but the gravity of the
situation was apparent to the Meccans, and they en
tered upon a second persecution of the followers of
the prophet, more cruel, if possible, than that which
had led to the emigration to Abyssinia. As in that
instance Mohammed had said to his followers :
" Emigrate," so now he commanded them : " Depart
unto Medina ; Allah hath verily given you brethren
there and a home in which ye shall find refuge."
The faithful were not slow to follow their leader's
advice ; by twos they took their tedious way over
the sands to the northward on camels ; singly they
trudged along the same weary way on foot, if the
price of a camel was beyond their ability ; and the
Koreishites found now a dwelling empty, now a street
deserted, now a quarter of the city that was once
alive with humanity quiet and forlorn. Still Mo
hammed, with Abu Bekr, and Ali and their families

VENGEANCE THREATENED. W]
did not leave, the prophet thinking, probably, that it
was his honorable duty to stand by the last who re
mained. Daily Abu Bekr urged Mohammed to start, but he
replied time and again that Allah had not given him
the command to emigrate. With worldly wisdom
Abu made ready swift camels against the day which
was sure to come, for the anger of the Koreish was
rising. They were, indeed, made more excited by
the dilatoriness of their proposed victim. They
held a council to discuss the state of affairs and to
enquire into the motive for the prophet's strange
action. With one voice they determined that some
aggressive step should be taken against him ; but
what should it be ? Should they chain him in
prison ? His friends might deliver him. It was
plain that his life must be sacrificed for the good and
tranquillity of the city. He could not be exiled, for
then he would run through the tribes and excite them
to rise and unite against Mecca. It was at last de
cided that a man from each principal family should
be chosen, and that at the same moment all should
give a death-blow to the prophet. Thus the children
of Hashim would be unable to take vengeance
upon any particular family, and would be forced to
accept the price of blood, which would freely be
offered. Mohammed, in turn, was informed of the plot (by
the angel Gabriel, as the faithful believe), and made
his arrangements accordingly. Leaving Ali covered
with his own mantle and lying in his bed, Moham
med escaped in the darkness by the back of his

118 IN A CAVE.
house to Abu Bekr, to whom he explained that the
time had come to flee. Abu Bekr had long been
hoping for the privilege of accompanying Moham
med when he should leave Mecca, and now he asked
it. The prophet graciously gave his consent, and
Abu Bekr shed tears of joy at the prospect. There
upon the two stole away to the south.
While the prophet was thus seeking safety, his
enemies went to his house. There they found Ali
and asked him where Mohammed was. He replied
that he had no knowledge of him ; was not his
keeper, and supposed that as he had been ordered
to leave the city, he had gone. In every direction
scouts were sent to search for the fugitives, but no
trace of them could be found.
Mohammed and Abu Bekr had walked quickly to
a mountain distant only an hour and a half from
Mecca, but in the direction away from Medina
towards which it was naturally supposed that they
would go. There, on the rocky summit, approached
by a ragged and difficult path, in the midst of a bar
ren and wild tract, over a portion of which they
were forced to drag their bodies on their hands and
knees, they found a small, low opening barely suffi
cient to admit them singly. Into this Mohammed,
the prophet of Allah, fresh from dreams of the
seventh heaven, and Abu Bekr, the " Second of the
Two," as he was afterwards called as a mark of
special honor, crept stealthily just as day dawned.
Though he had been so exceedingly desirous to have
the honor of accompanying Mohammed, Abu Bekr
now became fearful lest their place of refuge should

FEARFUL ABU BEKR.

119

be discovered, and said to the prophet : " What if
our pursuers should find our cave ? We are but
two. " We are three," said Mohammed ; " Allah is with

us !

XIV.
THE YEAR ONE.
When we say that Queen Victoria ascended her
throne in 1837, we mean, if we stop to think, that
she began to reign 1837 years after the birth of
Christ ; but if we were to count back to the year
one, we should find that at that time Christ was a
little boy about four; which shows that there must
be some error. The truth is that a mistake was
made. It was not until six hundred years after the
birth of Christ that the world began to date its let
ters and documents from that event, and there were
no men of science living who could tell exactly the
year when it occurred.
We find the same difficulty in regard to all dates
and eras. Some nations date from the beginning of
the world, but none of them know when the world
began ; the Jews say that it was 3750 years before
Christ ; the people of Constantinople that it was
5509 years before, and so on. The Romans dated
from the year of the founding of their city, but they
did not even know when that event occurred ; and
now we find the Arabians dating from their year
One, but the world cannot tell exactly when it was.
We know more nearly about this than we do when
120

THE COMMAND TO EMIGRA TE. 121
our own era begins, because the Arabian year One
was so many hundred years after ours. The farther
we go back in our studies of history, the more misty
all matters appear. We are not surprised, therefore
to find in some books the statement that the Arab
ian year One began on the 16th of July in the year
622 after Christ, in another that it was the 22d of
September, and in another still that it was the 20th
of June. It is said to have been the tenth, the
thirteenth, or the fifteenth year after the Angel
Gabriel had so wonderfully commanded Mohammed
to read the marvellous words that he held up before
his eyes. The difficulty arises from the fact that the
Arabians did not call their months by the same
names that we call ours, and did not make them of
the same length ; so that their years were irregular,
and a long calculation is required to establish any
date that is given us by them. Such a calculation
has been made by a noted French scholar learned in
these subjects, and as it seems the best that has yet
been offered, we shall accept it, and assume that it
was on the 19th of April, 622, A.D., that Moham
med said to his disciples, " Emigrate ! " and that it
was on the 20th of June of the same year that he
and Abu Bekr started for their mountain cave. Dr.
August Muller makes it September, however.
The cave, lonely and remote as it was, could not
have been a safe place for the two flying men, for
the search was active ; the scouts actually came
once to its mouth, and the prophet and his compan
ion heard their voices. According to the legend
Allah had commanded a tree marvellously to grow

122 THE YEAR ONE.
up before it, a spider to weave its delicate web over
it, and a wild pigeon to lay eggs in a nest that it
most quickly made in its branches. The searchers
saw the web, and said that of course no one could
be in a hole so small and covered up by a screen that
would have been broken if any person had attempted
to enter. So the danger passed by.
Three days the two remained hidden ; a shepherd
who tended the flocks of Abu Bekr driving a few
goats to the cave every evening, and giving them
milk, and one of his sons bringing them food every
day that his sister had cooked. The son was also
watching the movements at Mecca, and with the
food he brought the news of what was going on. He
finally reported that the city was quiet ; that it was
believed the prophet had gained such a start that it
would not be worth while to follow him. Then the
refugees ventured from their lowly hiding-place, and
two camels that had been provided in advance were
brought to a spot near the summit, as though they
had wandered there ; the faithful daughter supplied
also more food, and after Mohammed and Abu
Bekr had mounted they began the descent of the
mountain. When the valley was reached they dared
not take the usual road, but struck off to the westward
in the direction of the Red Sea, until they found the
track of the caravans going to Syria — a track that
may well have been familiar to Mohammed at least.
By evening they were well started on the journey,
and when they fondly thought that they were be
yond the probability of pursuit, they beheld in the
distance the approaching form of a man who, tempted

THE HEJRA. 1 23
by the sum set upon the head of the prophet, had
not yet given up the search. At the sight, Abu
Bekr cried out, " We are lost ! " Mohammed, on the
contrary, said : " Allah will protect us " ; and lo, as
the grim leader of the troop advanced, his shaggy
locks and Esau-like arms giving him a threatening
appearance, his charger stumbled and threw his rider
into the dust at the prophet's feet ! Mohammed took
advantage of the moment to make an eloquent ap
peal, and the warrior, assured that heaven really had
interfered, cried out :
" Hold ! listen to me ! You have nothing to fear."
"What do you wish?" asked Abu Bekr.
" I wish a writing testifying that Mohammed has
received me into the number of his followers."
On the instant, the words were written by Abu
Bekr on a fragment of bone, and the prophet was
again free to pursue his journey. As he went slowly
along, often not far from the side of the sea, he and
his companion must had many a thought of those
they had left behind them. "What of Ayesha?"
" How was Ali treated by the Koreishites aftey they
found that he had known of the prophet's flight ? "
"How was Fatima, and were the other daughters
safe ? " They could only trust that Allah would in
cline the hearts of the members of their clans to pro
tect the helpless from harm ; there was no possibility
of getting intelligence from them for a long time,
either on the journey or at its end. Passers whom they
encountered carried news of their progress to Mecca,
however, and it was soon certainly known there that
Medina was the place for which the prophet was

124 THE YEAR ONE.
bound. As for Ali, he was not molested, and after
a few days he started himself for the same city.
Neither did the daughters nor the wives of the
prophet suffer any inconvenience from the citizens so
lately enraged against Mohammed.
Men from Medina were met also by the prophet,
and he was encouraged by good news of the faithful,
who were said to be anxiously awaiting his arrival.
In due time, the travellers turned off to the east,
and leaving the vicinity of the sea, took the road
towards the mountains which hid from view the fruit
ful territory about Medina. Only inhospitable granite
frowned upon them ; the road led up-hill ; the sum
mer sun shone out upon them with intensity, and
progress was difficult for both man and beast. One of
the camels, indeed, broke down under the severity
of the journey ; the incident bringing to mind the
words of the poet :
' ' ' Droop not my faithful camel ! Now
The hospitable well is near.
Though sick at heart and worn in brow,
I grieve the most to think that thou
And I may part, kind comrade, here !
O'er the dull waste, a swelling mound,
A verdant paradise I see ;
The princely date-palms there abound,
And springs that make it sacred ground
To pilgrims like to thee and me.'
The patient camel's eye,
All lustreless, is fixed in death.
Beneath the sun of Araby
The desert wanderer ceased to sigh,
Exhausted on its burning path ! "
Medina lies three thousand feet above the sea

IN THE BRIGHT SUBURB KOBA. 125
level, and is a contrast to Mecca ; instead of the
narrow and barren valley, it boasts beautiful gar
dens and rich foliage ; a river flows through its plain,
and all around lie green fields, evidences of the gen
erous returns that nature affords there to the labors
of the husbandman. Of all the bright spots in the
beautiful region, the suburb of Koba, two miles to
the south of the city and connected with it by unin
terrupted gardens, most attracts the eye. Upon this
scene of loveliness Mohammed looked down as he
achieved the difficult ascent of the mountains. Per
haps his appreciation of the view was enhanced by
sweet but dim memories of the day when his mother,
Amina, had taken him to visit his relatives, on which,
alas, she had given up her young life ! Other thoughts
must have been mingled with these sad-sweet remi
niscences, however, for in spite of all the assurances he
had received from friends, Mohammed could but
have doubted what his reception was to be.
He determined not to enter Medina directly, and
turned his camel towards Koba, where he alighted
beneath a tree. As it was not known that he had lost
three days in the cave, his friends had already ex
pected his arrival for some time ; and everyday they
had watched for him on the road a mile or so be
yond the city. This morning they had returned from
their perch, which was on the rocks west of Medina,
but when Mohammed came in sight, g Jew who saw
him from his house-top, cried : " He has come ! He
for whom the Refugees have been looking has at last
come ! " If the calculations are correct, this was
Monday, June 28th. It was not long before the

126 THE YEAR ONE.
streets echoed and re-echoed with the joyful cry :
" He is come ! He is come ! " From every quarter
the excited people flocked to greet the prophet, who
did not fail to bear himself with his usual dignity,
and said, very much as modern rulers say when they
call upon their people to give thanks :
" O people, show your joy by giving to your
neighbors the salutation of peace ; 3end portions to
the poor ; bind close the ties of kinsmen ; pray while
others sleep ; and thus shall ye enter paradise ! "
For several days Mohammed rested at Koba, and
then, fully assured that his entrance into the city
would be welcome, he determined to take up his
abode there on the following Friday. By that time,
Ali had arrived, and accompanied him. In the morn
ing he mounted his favorite camel, with Abu Bekr
behind him. A host of followers surrounded them ;
a powerful chief at the head of seventy horsemen
acted as guard of honor ; disciples took turns in
holding a canopy of palm-leaves over his head ; one
enthusiast unfolded his turban, and, tying it to the
point of his'lance, bore it along as a standard. Be
fore entering the city limits, the prophet halted at a
spot still pointed out as the place of Friday prayer,
and preached a sermon, after performing religious
services. It was the first of a series of Friday
services that has continued to this day.
The inhabitants, clad in holiday garments, streamed
forth to welcome the coming hero, calling upon him :
" Alight here, O prophet ! here is abundance ! here
is room ! here is protection ! " Mohammed replied :
" Let the camel go free ; she will show the place at

PAR TIES A T MEDINA. 1 27
which Allah wills that I shall alight." Slowly the
triumphal procession moved along among the grace
ful palms and green gardens of the southern portion
of the city ; and finally the beast halted and sat down
in the eastern district, in a large court-yard contain
ing a few date-trees. By thus giving a supernatural
character to the selection of the place, Mohammed
wisely avoided all the jealousies that might other
wise have been aroused by his choice of a home.
His first duty was to purchase the ground ; for he
refused to accept it as a gift, though it was urged
upon him.
After the triumph, came sober thoughts of what
was to be done to ensure the success of the mission
to a people who might not all be in sympathy with
the faithful. There were among the inhabitants of
Medina the band of emigrants from Mecca (Muajerin),
and the new converts (Ansars), upon whom reliance
might, of course, be put ; but there were also many
known as the Disaffected, who asked : " For what do
we people of Medina throw ourselves at the feet of
this foreigner ? " " Is it not merely to lose our liber
ties, and bring ourselves and our children into bond
age?" These covered up their animosity for the
present, but it was living hatred, and the prophet
knew that at any moment that they might think
promising, it would break forth into declared and
vigorous opposition.
There were also in Medina Jews, with whom the
prophet's relations were peculiar; for he had bor
rowed many things in his faith and practice from
them, and professed much sympathy with their re-

128 THE YEAR ONE.
ligious views. Some of these were gained over and
became faithful adherents of Islam, but others cast
ridicule upon the prophet. Against these latter he,
in turn, inveighed as rebels, as men judicially blind,
as belonging to the generation of those who had
killed the prophets in other days, and had rejected
the Messiah.
' ' O People of the Book, " he cried, " why do ye disbelieve in the
signs of Allah, the while ye witness them ? Why do ye clothe the
truth with falsehood, and hide the truth that ye know ? " — Sura iii.
In the second sura, which dates from the first year
of the Hejra, the prophet recommended his followers
to avoid the use of wine. Four years later he de
cided that total abstinence was the only safe policy,
and forbade both wine and games of chance.
It was no easy task that Mohammed had before
him ; he knew as well as we do now that a public
triumph is often the forerunner of a fall. Still, he
continued to profess that he looked to Allah only
for support and guidance.

XV.
ISLAM.
LET us stop now at the threshold of the new era
and ask what was the doctrine that Mohammed had
up to this time preached, and what he was expected
to bring to Medina. It was " strikingly new and
original," as Professor Palmer has said ; for the first
time it put before the Arabian the grand conception
of one God, the faith of their father Abraham, which
the ignorant worship of stocks and stones had long
obscured. It was a radical and noble reform that,
when the sons of the wind-swept plains gave up
feticism for the worship of Allah. The nation was
not turned from all evil ; they saw, for instance, that
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob married more wives
than one, and had concubines from among their
slaves ; and they did not feel called to renounce their
like customs ; they looked at Christianity through
the dim light of obscured tradition, and they did not
see its grandeur, nor feel attracted to doctrines in it
which they could not understand ; they scorned the
dogma of the trinity, because it presented to their
imagination Allah, Miriam, and Issa (Jesus), — a
confused mixture of a divinity which they most
fervently worshipped, a prophet whom they never

130 ISLAM.
mentioned without asking blessings upon him, and a
woman whom they confounded both with the sister
of Harun (Aaron) and the virgin-wife of Joseph.
The doctrines of Mohammed before the Hejra, or
emigration to Medina, were simple indeed. They
consisted of these articles : Allah is one ; Mo
hammed is his messenger ; the dead are to be
raised, the good rewarded, and the bad punished ;
prayer must be observed morning, evening, and at
night ; alms must be given the poor ; there must be
honesty in weighing and measuring ; truthfulness in
words, and faithfulness to wives and concubines ;
agreements must be strictly kept. It was a religion
of works, and there was no looking forward to any
other dispensation ; it was represented to be com
plete and unchangeable. There was not, and there
has never been since, any Sabbath in which the
hours are hallowed and the thoughts confined to
holy things.*
There was a paradise parodied from that of the
Rabbis, a heaven brilliant with precious stones,
watered by rivers, and adorned with the most pro
fuse vegetation, the description of which was inter
preted literally by the people, and not in a spiritual
sense. It spoke of "princely bowers," of a " land of
flowers," of " Unfading lilies, bracelets
Of living pearl";
* Mohammed called his followers to the mosques on Fridays to
hear sermons, but they did not intermit their usual occupations the
whole day. They had been accustomed to have gatherings on that
day before the prophet's time.

NO HEA VENL Y HOMESICKNESS. 1 3 I
it looked to a physical realization of such a picture
as that of Damiani :
"Where arise the pearly mansions, shedding silvery light afar ;
Festive seats and golden roofs which glitter like the evening star.
Wholly of fair stones most precious are those radiant structures
made ;
With pure gold like glass transparent are those shining streets inlaid.
Stormy winter, burning summer, rage within those regions never,
But perpetual bloom of roses, and unfading spring forever ;
Lilies gleam, the crocus glows, and dropping balms their scents
deliver."
In it was a golden city " with milk and honey
blest," where was heard the " shout of them that
feast " ; the inhabitants walked over " pathways of
gold," and gazed upon walls decked with jewels rare ;
but the Arabians who sang of such things did not
cry, with the " heavenly homesickness " of a Faber
or a Meyfart —
" Hark ! hark ! my soul ! Angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore ;
How sweet the truth those blessed strains are telling
Of that new life where sin shall be no more ! "
' ' Jerusalem ! high tower thy glorious walls,
Would God I were in thee !
Desire of thee my longing heart enthralls,
Desire at home to be :
Wide from the world outleaping,
O'er hill and vale and plain,
My soul's strong wing is sweeping,
Thy portals to attain ! "
We hear no cry from them like that of George
Eliot :

132 ISLAM.
" Oh may I join the choir invisible
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence ; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
Of miserable aims that end with self,
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,
And with their mild persistence urge men's minds
To vaster issues ! "
On the contrary, the paradise of Islam was a place
of sensual ecstasy, where the pleasures of the present
life were to be intensified a hundred-fold ; where
things spiritual and pure were no more cultivated
than they are in the mortal state of existence. The
conception was a sad mixture of good and evil, and
was even more sensuous than the paradise of the
Rabbis. The four wives permitted to the Moslem
here were multiplied many times in that blissful
abode, and were immensely increased in beauty; in
this respect the materialism of the rabbinic concep
tion was both aggravated and debased. In it were
rivers of water without corruption, and rivers of milk the taste
whereof changes not, and rivers of wine delicious to those who
drink, and rivers of honey clarified ; and there shall they have all
kinds of fruit and forgiveness from Allah. — Sura xlvii.
Faces on that day [the Day of the Overwhelming] shall be
comfortable, content with their past endeavors, in a lofty garden
wherein they shall hear no foolish word ; wherein is a flowing foun
tain ; wherein are couches raised on high, and goblets set down, and
cushions arranged, and carpets spread. — Sura lxxxviii.
It does not appear that Mohammed was a man
given over to sensuous enjoyments ; on the contrary,
his personal habits were very simple, and he de
scribed this heaven of earthly delights during that

DIFFERENCES IN THE SURAS. 1 33
happy period when his love for Kadija was one of
the stays of his life. He must have simply set down
the particulars of the future life as he found them
described by the magi and the Rabbis ; probably
curtailing their excesses, for he never made his
religion an easy one. He permitted indulgences
that would be criminal for us in the present age
of the world ; but he found them unquestioned,
practised from immemorial time in Arabia, and he
certainly restricted them on many sides.
There is a singular difference in the suras, as we
examine them, in regard to their length, a difference
which has a significance. If we divide them into
sections chronologically, we shall notice that the
earlier utterances are exceedingly brief, and the
later sometimes very long.* The first twenty-two,
according to one good arrangement of them, average
but five lines each ; the next score average sixteen
lines ; the fifty following, seventy-seven lines ; and
the last twenty-two average one hundred and ten
lines. The earlier utterances possess the character
istics of rhapsodies, and seem to be the real cries of
a spirit deeply in earnest ; they are impetuous and
wild. The latest are narrative, argumentative, de
scriptive, and denunciative ; they sound like the
words of a man who has a system to support before
an opposing people.
At the beginning of his teaching Mohammed pro
fessed simply to recall the Arabs to the service of the
* Tentative chronological arrangements are given in this volume.
The translation of the Koran by the Rev. J. M. Rod well gives
another.

134 ISLAM.
God of Abraham, with no relation to any previous re
ligion, though he said that there had been Moslems
in the past, meaning, probably that there had been
men fully resigned to the will of Allah. When he
became personally acquainted (though perhaps indi
rectly) with the contents of the sacred books of the
Jews and Christians, he announced his own as a con
firmation of them, saying :
" This is the Book which we have sent down ; follow it then and
fear ; lest haply ye may obtain mercy ! Lest ye say ' The Book was
only sent down to two sects before us ; verily we care not for what
they read.' " — Sura vi.
At a later period, Mohammed rises superior to the
former revelations, and claims that he is the last of
the six prophets, — the others being Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, and Issa, or Jesus, — and that his
coming was foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Those whom we have given the Book know him, as they know
their sons ; and O ye people of the Book ! our apostle has come
to you to explain much of what ye had hidden in the Book, and to
pardon much. — Sura v. Issa, the son of Mary, said: "O chil
dren of Israel ! verily, I am the apostle of God to you, verifying the
law that was before me, and giving you glad tidings of an apostle
who shall come after me, whose name shall be Ahmed ! " — Sura xii.
At first he thought that there were three revelations
of God's will, the Law, the Gospel, and the Koran :
We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to thee, and
to Abraham, and to Ishmael, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and the
tribes ; and what was given to Moses and Issa, and to the prophets
from Allah ; nor make no distinction between them. — Sura iii.
Finally, he makes the Koran rise above the others,
declares that its original was in heaven, and becomes

A WONDROUS CHANGE. 1 35
himself antagonistic to both Jews and Christians, and
appeals to no previous revelation.
The simple duties prescribed by Mohammed at
first were not essentially added to during the period
previous to the emigration to Medina, though the
number of daily prayers was at the time of the vision
of the seventh heaven increased to five ; but the peo
ple of Mecca had been raised from a condition of
spiritual torpor to a state of active discussion of
matters that before had possessed no interest for
them ; their feelings had now indeed become so
lively that the entire community was rent into fac
tions.* Several hundred persons had taken so deep
an interest in the preachings of the new teacher that
they were willing to bear persecution and exile for
the sake of them. But a few years since sunk in
superstition and practising all sorts of vice, they now
prostrated themselves five times a day in prayer to an
invisible Allah, whom they had before known only im
perfectly at best, and were honestly trying to follow
the precepts that they believed had been sent directly
from him to them. The change is comparable to
nothing but to that arousing of men which followed
the first preaching of the Gospel.
The prophet himself draws the picture of his faith
ful people, in these words :
The servants of the Merciful are they who walk upon the earth
softly, and when the ignorant address them, reply, Peace !
Those who pass the night adoring the Lord, prostrate and
standing ;
* Mohammed declared that the large number of sects in Islam was
a proof of its truth.

136 ISLAM.
And who say, " O our Lord, turn from us the torment of hell ;
verily, from the torment thereof there is no release ; verily, it is an
evil abode and place."
Those who invoke not another god with Allah.
They who testify not falsely ; and when they pass by vain words,
pass it by with dignity.
They who when admonished by the signs of the Lord, fall not
down as if deaf and blind ;
Who say, " Grant us wives and children such as shall be a comfort
to us, and make us models unto the pious."
These shall be rewarded with high places in Paradise, for that
they were patient ; and they shall meet therein salutation and peace,
to dwell therein for aye : a fair abode and resting-place ! — Sura
xxv. Seemly unto men are the pleasures of women and children ; fair
are the hoarded treasures of gold and silver ; and of horses well-bred,
and cattle and corn-fields. Such is provision for the life of this world ;
but Allah, goodly is the home with him.
Shall I tell you of better things than these ? For those who fear,
are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow, and in which
they shall abide for aye, with pure wives and grace from Allah, for
Allah regardeth his servants who say, " Lord, we believe, pardon our
sins and keep us from the torment of the fire." They are the pa
tient, the truthful, the devout, they who ask pardon as each day
breaks. " With the exception of Christianity," says Barth6-
lemy St. Hilaire, " founded on the Old Testament
and the Gospels, with all their marvellous conse
quences, the world can boast no religion that may
properly be compared with Islam, or that merits
even a remote comparison with it." Dr. Weil says
that though we cannot regard Mohammed as a true
" prophet," we are not at liberty to deny him the
merit of having presented the most gracious doc
trines of the Old and New Testament to the Arab
ians at a time when they were enlightened by no

GOOD TRAITS OF ISLAM.

137

single ray of faith, and that therefore he must be
considered in some sense commissioned by God.
The Count de Boulainvilliers said a century and a
half ago, that outside of the Christian revelation
there is no doctrinal system so plausible as Islam ;
none so reasonable, so comforting to well-doers, and
so terrible to sinners.

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THE SWORD IS DRAWN.
MEDINA, which had up to this time been known
as Yathrib, now received the name, by which it has
been called ever since, The City. One of the first
duties of Mohammed was to begin the erection of
a place of worship, and his plans for this were of the
simplest nature. Trees were cut down at the place
where his camel first knelt for him to descend ;
walls of earth and brick were built ; and trunks of
palms were used to support a roof, which was
framed of their branches and thatched with their
leaves. In this structure, which was of ample pro
portions to accommodate a good congregation, the
prophet was wont to preach, standing on the ground
and supporting himself against one of the palm-trees,
until, after a time, a pulpit was constructed for his
use. The Jews, when they prayed, were accustomed to
turn their faces toward the temple at Jerusalem, in
accordance with the prayer of Solomen at its dedica
tion. When they could, they entered its sacred
precincts, but if they were at a distance, they fol
lowed the example of the prophet Daniel,— opened
the windows of their houses towards the city of
THE NATIONAL KIBLA. 1 39
David and uttered their petitions. At first, Moham
med established no rule in this regard ; but after the
emigration to Medina, he advised that the example
of the Jews be followed, perhaps as one of his con
ciliatory measures. It was not long before he saw
that he could strengthen his position more by giving
his followers a distinctively national kibla — that is,
"place towards which to look in prayer," (kabala, to
be before), and it is said that he prayed to Gabriel
for direction. The archangel referred him to Allah,
and soon he received the revelation recorded in the
second sura :
We have made you a middle nation to be a. witness against
men. . . . We appointed the kibla to which thou didst turn,
only that we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him
who turneth upon his heels. . . . We have seen thee often turn
thy face about towards heaven with doubt ; but we will surely give
thee a kibla that thou shalt like. . . . Turn, therefore, thy face
toward the sacred temple ; wherever ye be turn your faces towards
it. . From what place soever thou comest forth, turn thy
face toward the holy kaaba ; for this is truth from Allah ; neither is
he regardless of what ye do. . . . Every sect hath a certain
quarter to which they turn themselves, but do ye strive to run after
good things.
In the midst of a public service, Mohammed
raised his face towards Jerusalem, and twice pros
trated his body in that direction, when he abruptly
recited the substance of the above words. He
immediately turned himself towards the south, and
the entire congregation followed his motions. Thus
the link that bound Islam to Judaism was forever.
broken. Never, in all succeeding ages, have Mos
lems turned their faces towards the Jewish capital

140 THE SWORD IS DRAWN.
in worship. So great has been the influence of a
momentary motion of the prophet's body !
It was at this period that the formal call to prayer
was settled as it exists at the present day. Before
this time the muezzin had simply cried, " To public
prayer ! " but this seemed to lack the formality that
was demanded by the increasing importance of wor
ship at Medina, and a discussion arose on the subject.
Some suggested the bells of the Christians ; others,
the trumpet or the timbrel ; and some the lighting
of fires on high places ; but the " true " way was at
last revealed to a citizen in a dream. He met in his
revery a man carrying a bell, and asked him to sell
it for the purpose of calling the Moslems to worship.
The man said, " I will show you a better mode," and
proceeded to repeat the form of words now used.
The citizen went to Mohammed immediately, and
the prophet saw that the vision was " from Allah."
He directed his negro muezzin to carry out the sug
gestion. Accordingly, the servant went to a high
building by the side of the new mosque, and watched
for the break of day. When the first ray of sunlight
greeted his eyes, he raised his voice and roused the
slumberers around by the now familiar words, uttered
at the top of his powerful lungs. Thus another
time-honored custom was begun.*
It was not long after his arrival at Medina that
Mohammed formally married the child Ayesha, to
whom, as we know, he had been espoused while at
Mecca, and she became his favorite. As he added
wife to wife, he built new apartments for each one
* For some of the words of this call, see page no.

HOW MOHAMMED LIVED. I4I
adjoining the mosque. These were of the simplest
description ; plain cabins not more than twelve feet
square, of sun-burnt brick, thatched with palm-
branches, and so low that one might reach the roof
with the hand. The mode of living was as simple
as the apartments. Ayesha said : " For a whole
month together we did not light a fire to dress our
food, which was only dates and water, unless some
one sent us meat. Our people never had wheat
bread two days in succession." Between the door
of Ayesha's cabin and the entrance of the mosque
there was an ante-room, used by the prophet for his
evening devotions ; but save this he had no apart
ment of his own ; his time was divided between his
wives. The plain mattresses were laid upon the
ground, and the mud-daubed walls were hung with
skins used to hold water, milk, or honey. Ayesha's
wedding-feast was provided with dates and olives ;
and her portion comprised but two skirts, one head-
tire, a pillow of leather stuffed with palm-leaves, two
armlets of silver, a drinking cup, a hand-mill, two
water-jars and a pitcher. This simplicity was agree
able to the demands of one who had grown up as a
camel-driver, and who loved to commune with nature
in her wildest aspect on mountain-tops ; of one who
could rest his weary head upon a stone in a rocky
cave ; but it did not suit the taste of the more
wealthy followers of the prophet, whose luxurious
living became more and more a contrast to the habits
of their leader.
In his efforts to strengthen his position at Medina,
Mohammed formed a brotherhood between those

142 THE SWORD IS DRA WN.
emigrants who had come from Mecca (Muajerin) and
the faithful who had always lived in the City of the
Prophet (Ansars). One of the new converts was
linked with one of the old in a bond more close than
that of kindred, for they were to be mutual heirs in
preference to blood-relations ; and thus the strangers
were comforted, and in their days of homesickness
and illness were made calm and resigned. It is to
these times and this brotherhood that reference is
made in the eighth sura.
Remember when ye were few and weak in the land, fearing lest
men should do you harm ; then Allah sheltered you and gave you
victory ; providing you with good things. . . Verily those
who believed and fled and fought for the faith with their bodies and
their goods, and they who have given refuge, they shall be called
next of kin to each other.
This was an expedient that served its purpose un
til the new faith and its followers found themselves
established in the land, when it gradually gave way,
and its rules were abrogated. The prophet had,
however, become convinced that not brotherhood
and love alone were to be successful in establishing
his mission ; that more forceful weapons were re
quired in the battle that was before him.
We have noticed that there was a fundamental
difference between the two covenants of Akaba;
the second requiring of the disciple that he should
support the claims of Islam with the sword, a de
mand that the first did not make. It did not com
mand aggressive warfare. There were not wanting
other warnings that a change had begun in the
prophet's mind. Mohammed declared that the

AN UNCOMPROMISING SPIRIT. 1 43
different prophets, who had been sent by Allah,
illustrated his various attributes : Moses showed his
providence and clemency ; Solomon his wisdom,
majesty, and glory ; and Issa his righteousness,
power, and knowledge ; but that none of these attri
butes had proved sufficient to conquer unbelief;
that even the miracles of Moses and Issa had been
ineffectual. " I, therefore, the last of the prophets,"
he exclaimed, " am sent with the sword ! Let the
champions of the faith of Islam neither argue nor
discuss ; but slay all who refuse to obey the law or
to pay tribute. Whoever fights for Islam, whether
he fall or conquer, will surely receive the reward.
The sword is the key of heaven and hell ! "
If we look into the Koran, we find many tokens
of this uncompromising spirit.
Fight in the cause of Allah ! . . . Kill them wherever you
find them, and drive them out from whence they drive you out ; for
temptation is worse than slaughter ; but fight them not by the
sacred mosque until they fight you there ; then kill them. — Sura ii.
Permission is given to those who fight because they have been
wronged ; and verily Allah has power to help them. — Sura xxii.
When ye meet those who misbelieve, then strike off heads, until
ye have massacred them, and bind fast the bonds. . . . And
those who are slain in the cause of Allah, their work shall not go
wrong. — Sura xlvii.
Ye shall be called out against a people endowed with vehement
valor, and shall fight them, or they shall become Moslems. . . .
Allah promised you many spoils. — Sura xlviii.
The spoils are Allah's and the prophets. — Sura viii.
After Mohammed left Mecca, its trade much in
creased on account of the quiet that the town en
joyed. The prophet watched this extension of traffic
with interest, especially because he had now deter-

144 THE SWORD IS DRAWN.
mined upon conquest. The well-laden caravans that
went thither promised to furnish him objects for
attack and plunder, as well as opportunity to gratify
his revenge against his kinsmen who had thrust him
from them. When we reflect upon the Arab char
acter, and remember that Ishmael and his descend
ants had always been predatory in their habits, we
can understand the reception that these new plans
met. Now, there was some thing in the prophet's
mission that they could understand, some thing that
directly appealed to their national tastes ; there was
a promiseof activity and of the gratification of their
baser appetites, and they flocked to his standard with
enthusiasm.* Laden with precious merchandise, the long lines
of camels carried from Taif and Mecca produce val
ued at hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly, and
when they made their way through narrow ravines,
or passes, among the mountains, they were always
open to attack from predatory bands of small num-
* " Mohammedanism grasped the sword not to destroy all infi
dels and pagans, not to force men to become Moslems at the
sword's point, but only to proclaim that eternal truth, the unity
of the God-head, throughout the whole extent of the then known
globe." — Syed Ahmed Khan Bahador (London, 1870), "Essay"
iv., p. 30.
On the other hand, another Moslem, Seyed Ameer Ali, a descend
ant of the prophet, in his " Critical Examination of the Life and
Teachings of Mohammed," London, 1873, says: "We deny alto
gether that Islam ever grasped the sword for the purpose of prosely
tizing. Islam siezed the sword only in self-defence, and held it in
self-defence. Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any moral
faith, never persecuted, never established an inquisition." Never
theless, the sword was drawn, and the Moslems grasped it with will
ingness.

ARABIAN WEAPONS OF DIFFERENT EPOCHS.

I46 THE SWORD IS DRA WN.
bers, if the assailants were bold and determined.
Sometimes almost every citizen of Mecca would be
financially interested in a single caravan, the rich
investing of their abundance and the poor trusting
their slender savings to the responsible p'erson who
took the direction of the venture. It may very
readily be imagined, therefore, with what interest
the people of the prophet's birthplace now looked
towards Medina, as they sent out their caravans to
Syria, and reflected that their exiled enemy was
watching their movements with a vigilant and de
termined eye.
Before the first year had much more than half
passed by after Mohammed's emigration to Medina,
he sent out one of his uncles to intercept a Meccan
caravan returning from Syria, and an encounter was
only prevented through the intervention of a chief
friendly to both parties. A month afterwards an
other expedition went out, but the Koreish were too
strong for it, and nothing was effected. A few
weeks later, in the autumn of 623 A.D., still a
third party stole from Medina, by night, as, indeed,
the others had, in search of an expected caravan con
ducted by Abu Sofian ; but the Meccans escaped
the trap that was laid for them. To each of the
leaders of these parties the prophet had presented a
white banner, but the emblem of his authority failed
to ensure success ; he therefore determined to take
the lead himself, and actually went forth on several
other expeditions, which proved, however, no more
satisfactory. The first predatory enterprise of much note was

ANGRY PASSIONS RISE. I47
sent out during a sacred month, when all devout
Arabians held that war was forbidden. In spite of
the holiness of the period, Mohammed gave the
leader instruction to go to the valley in which he
had preached to the jinns, there to watch for an ex
pected caravan, of which he might "bring tidings to
him." The caravan was encountered and pillaged at
Nakla, one man being killed in the struggle (Nov.,
623). The scandal that this " sacrilegious " act
aroused, led Mohammed to pretend to be angry with
the leader, and he refused to share the booty ; it led
also to an addition to the Koran, found in the sec
ond sura :
They will ask of the sacred months, and fighting therein. Say,
Fighting therein is grievous, but to obstruct the way of Allah, and to
deny him and hinder men from the Kaaba, and to turn his people
thence, is a. greater sin in the sight of Allah. Tempting is more
grievous than killing.
While the angry passions were rising at Medina,
there seemed to be in contrast quite a Christian
spirit at Mecca ; and we read of no acts of retalia
tion nor bloodshed on the part of the Koreishites.
In the month of January, 624, scouts brought in
formation to Mohammed that the caravan of Abu
Sofian which had eluded the vigilance of his forces
the previous autumn was then on its return from
Syria with the extraordinary train of a thousand
camels bearing rich produce of the north. He de
termined that it should not again escape, and gather
ing a small but sufficient force, comprising seventy
fleet camels, and troops of exiles from Mecca em
bittered by their troubles there, and bodies of Medi-

148 THE SWORD IS DRAWN.
nan converts, each under its own banner, he sallied
forth with his usual confidence. Taking the direc
tion of Mecca for a certain distance he then turned
towards the Red Sea, and encamped in a fertile spot
watered by the brook Bedr, where he waited for the
Meccans. Meantime, the Holy City had been thrown into
the direst confusion by the appearance of a messen
ger from the caravan, who, hurrying at the utmost
speed of his camel, had rent his garments before and
behind to show that he was the bearer of alarming
news. As the citizens crowded about his kneeling
beast, he cried, in tones of the utmost intensity:
" O ye Koreish ! O ye Koreish ! Mohammed pursues
your caravan. Help ! Help ! " Nothing more was
needed to stir the city throughout its length and
breadth ; thousands and thousands of precious gold
were at stake ; the competence of many, the whole
living of more. The sword had been unsheathed
in the valley of the jinns, and blood had been
spilled ; there must now be repression ; there must
be revenge, or this Mohammed would ride over
Mecca to its ruin. Seven hundred camels and a
hundred horse, well equipped, were promptly on
the road to the northward ; but it was soon learned,
to their great thankfulness and surprise, that the
rich caravan had, by the sagacity of Abu Sofian,
been able to escape from its danger. Should the
force go on, and punish the Moslems? Pride and
hate both cried out : " Forward ! " and on the army
rushed. Mohammed, on his part, pressed southward with

THE VICTORY OF BEDR. I49
equal enthusiasm, crying to his men : " Go forward,
with the blessing of Allah ! He hath promised the
army or the caravan. Methinks I see now the bat
tle-field strewn with the dead Koreishites ! " The
careful prophet did not neglect, however, to prepare
a swift camel near his head-quarters with which he
might himself escape to Medina in case of need.
There was no such need ; the forces meeting near
the fountain of Bedr, rushed together with sounds
of trumpets, and the Meccans, though many more in
number than their opponents, were discomfitted.
Mohammed declared that Gabriel with three thou
sand angels had taken part in the conflict, and that
the victory was from Allah, to whom, and to whose
prophet, the spoil belonged. The battle was the
most celebrated of all in the history of Islam, and of
great historical importance. The booty was not
large, because the caravan had .escaped ; but there
were, nevertheless, arms and camels, clothing and
carpets, all of which were collected on the field,
and, after a fifth part had been set aside for the
prophet, the remainder was divided equally among
his followers. Those who had been engaged in the
thickest of the fight felt aggrieved that the others
received as much as they, and a " revelation " was
found necessary to settle the disaffection. The law
of the division of the spoil was accordingly estab
lished as follows: " Know that whatsoever thing ye
plunder, verily one fifth thereof is for Allah and the
prophet, and for the orphan and the poor and the
wayfarer." There was joy in Medina, when the swift drome
dary of Mohammed appeared at the place of prayer,

150 THE SWORD IS DRAWN.
and a messenger announced that the Koreishites had
been overthrown ; small children, we are told, were
excited with the dreadful triumph of the warrior,
and ran about the streets crying out in exultation
over the fallen enemy. In Mecca far different feel
ings were excited ; sullen hate was aroused, and the
natural grief for the lost that rose unbidden was
stifled by the determination to have bloody revenge.
" Weep not for )rour slain," they cried, " bewail not
their loss, neither let the bard mourn for them. Show
yourselves men, — heroes ! Let not wailing and lam
entation diminish your hate for Mohammed and his
fellows. They will scorn us and make us the butt
of their laughter if we expose to them our weak
nesses ! We shall again go forth, and verily, we
shall have revenge ! " Thus, for days, even for
weeks, the spirit of hate sustained the people ; but
the time came when nature could bear the strain no
longer, and all the wild demonstrations that mark
the expression of Oriental sorrow broke forth in
every quarter, for there was hardly a house in which
kindred did not mourn their captives or their dead.
In every quarter except one, — for Hind, the stern
wife of the leader of the caravan, gave no expression
to womanly feeling ; she declared : " Not till ye again
wage war against Mohammed and his fellows, shall
tears flow from my eyes ! If tears would wash away
grief, I would now weep, even as ye ; but it is not so
with me ! " " What though the field be lost ?
All is not lost ; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to submit or yield ! "

XVII.
VICTORY FOR MECCA.
Mohammed would have the Moslems believe that
angels fought for them, and that Satan took the
part of the Koreishites ; but it was not the being of
the " unconquerable will " that Milton painted ; it
was a jinn of the utmost cowardice. " Iblis bc-
praised their works, and said : ' There is no man who
can prevail against you this day, for, verily, I am
your sworn brother ! ' When the two troops came
face to face, he quickly turned his heels and cried :
' Verily, I am quit of you ; verily, I see that which
ye do not see ; verily, I fear Allah, for Allah is keen
to punish ! ' " The arrant coward saw the thousands
of angels, and left his confederates to their fate !
By such a fiction Mohammed impressed his fol
lowers with the belief that Allah and the angels were
on their side, that Iblis and the evil jinns were with
their enemies ; that it was the sword which was to
prove the truth of his mission. Victory in battle
was his only trust henceforth ; his former depend
ence upon measures of peace had left him ; no seer
is needed to tell what the harvest is to be. The
Koreishites had been defeated not because they
were enemies of the people of Medina, but because

152 VICTORY FOR MECCA.
they were opposed to the religion of Allah ; and this
fact which the prophet impressed upon all about him
had its lesson for those who still refused to adopt
Islam, and there were not a few such among the in
fluential citizens besides the Jews. The first among
them to suffer was a woman who composed some
couplets that went from mouth to mouth in Medina
after the battle of Bedr, in which the folly of putting
trust in one who had killed chief men among his own
tribe was denounced. In the dead of night, sur
rounded by her little ones, this woman was stricken
by the dagger of an assassin, who was the next day
applauded by Mohammed in the mosque for his
hideous deed. Some weeks after this another versi
fier met death in the same way, at the direct insti
gation of the prophet, who had been again stung by
readily remembered poetry. This time it was a
pervert to Judaism, and his taking off gave those of
his adopted faith new cause to dread the anger of
Mohammed. The denunciations of the Jews in the
Koran were followed by their persecution, exile, and
slaughter, until they were all removed, and the suras
contain no further notices of them.*
* " There were no police, or law-courts, or even courts-martial at
Medina ; some one of the followers of Mohammed must therefore be
the executer of the sentence of death, and it was better it should be
done quietly, as the executing of a man openly before his clan would
have caused a brawl, and more bloodshed and retaliation, till the
whole city had become mixed up in the quarrel. If ' secret assas
sination ' is the word for such deeds, secret assassination was a neces
sary part of the internal government of Medina. The men must be
killed, and best in that way." — " Studies in a Mosque," by Stanley
Lane-Poole, page 69.

MOHAMMED A TRIUMPHANT CHIEFTAIN. I 53
While these and other petty affairs disturbed the
tranquillity of Medina, the wrath of the Meccans was
only smouldering. The chief, whose caravan had
been saved before the battle of Bedr, had vowed
vengeance. In the spring following that event he
collected a small force and made an ineffectual raid
towards Medina ; was chased by Mohammed, and in-
gloriously hastened homewards despite his terrible
threats. Each of the two hundred fleet horsemen
who accompanied him had carried at his saddle-bow
a sack of meal as his provision for the raid, and when
the leader fled each threw off his sack, from which
circumstance the affair has been called the Battle of
the Mealsacks.
Mohammed was no longer a simple prophet, but
had become a triumphant chieftain, and his utter
ances changed to those of a law-giver and king. His
simple artlessness of living and behavior did not de
sert him, however, in spite of the wishes of some of
his followers that he should assume some thing of the
royal magnificence of the other rulers of the East.
When one spoke to him on the subject, he replied :
"Art thou not content that thou shouldest have the
portion of futurity, and they the portion of the pres
ent life ? " While he spoke thus, he took no delight
in unnecessary asceticism, and taught that Allah was
not a friend of those who wantonly harm their
bodies ; he permitted the weak and sickly to omit
fasts, and to shorten the prescribed prayers ; and
when he wished any necessary thing that money or
power could obtain, he supplied the innocent de
mand. He required the customary reverential salu-

154 VICTORY FOR MECCA.
tations from his subjects, placing in the thirty-third
sura an order j;o that effect.
About a year after the victory of Bedr, the prophet
was in the mosque at Koba, when a breathless mes
senger startled him by suddenly appearing at his
side and placing in his hand a sealed letter from his
double-faced uncle Abbas, who informed him that
the hero of the Battle of the Mealsacks was again
prepared to engage in hostilities. The caravan that
the Meccans had saved had been set aside, and a fund
provided with which a powerful army was equipped
and provisioned ; the Bedawins around had been
called upon to unite in a determined onslaught upon
the threatening Moslems of Medina ; and even then
the northward march had begun. Kindling their
fury by the help of verses chanted to the music of
timbrels by women who had, like Hind, the Tear
less One, so loudly demanded war, they cried out
for vengeance as they marched ; they devastated
fields, and drove the frightened farmers before them
in search of places of refuge. Fugitives brought to
the prophet exaggerated estimates of the vastness
of the horde that was approaching, and Medina was,
indeed, alarmed. Counsel was divided ; the advan
cing army seemed, however, to loiter by the way, and
the time was employed in discussion ; the result was
that Mohammed decided to gird on his armor and
take the field outside the city.
After the Friday prayers had been said in the
afternoon, the people assembled before the mosque
armed for the strife ; and with all the circumstance
he could command, the prophet issued from his

THE HAUGHTY PROPHET ARMED.

155

apartment, his sword hanging from his girdle, a
shield slung over his shoulder, his head covered with
a helmet, and his body with mail armor. Now was
he a warrior indeed ; but his people, who had urged
him to take the step, seem at the last moment to

HELMET OF AN ARABIAN PRINCE OF EGYPT.
have feared lest harm should come to him, and asked
him to listen to the dictates of his own judgment.
Haughtily he replied to their request, that it did not
become a prophet to lay off his helm when once
he had put it on, until Allah had decided between

156 VICTORY FOR MECCA.
him and his foe. " Wait on Allah ! Only be strong
and he will send you the victory ! "
Three miles to the northeast of the city the seared
and jagged flanks of Mount Ohud rise from a bare
and sloping plain like masses of iron ; and on its
western side, the prophet took up his position, after
tracing his path through the fields and gardens that
lay between. It was Saturday morning and as day
light enabled the army to descry the hosts from
Mecca in the distance, the faithful muezzin raised
the usual call to morning prayers, and the prophet
gave his followers the example of prostration in sol
emn worship. When this was over, preparations for
the onset of the enemy were completed, and the
struggle was begun with single combats, Mohammed
starting the cry " Alahu akbar ! Great is Allah ! "
which was repeated throughout the army in one over
whelming shout whenever a Moslem champion gained
advantage. Meantime the frenzied women of Mecca
urged their brethren forward with song and timbrel:
' ' Daughters of the brave are we ;
On carpets step we softly :
Boldly advance, we smile on you !
Turn your backs, we shun you,
Shun you with contempt ! "
The combat became general ; the prophet's men
felt that they had made an impression on the enemy,
and lost some Of their impetuousity ; the enemy
rallied ; the cries arose from the Moslems : " Amit !
Amit!" "Death, death!" "Help is from Allah!
Victory is ours!" the enemy staggered for a mo
ment; then a stone struck out a front tooth of the
prophet ; an arrow wounded his cheek ; Hamza, the

THE DEFEAT AT OHUD. 1 57
Lion, was cut down ; the cry resounded among the
rocks : " The prophet is slain ! Where now is the
promise of Allah ? " The Moslems were flying ; the
Meccans cried : " War hath its revenges ; Ohud suc
ceeds to Bedr ! " " Allah is ours ; he is not yours ! "
The Moslems found out too late that their leader
was not killed ; they rallied ; but the day was lost,
and there was nothing to do but collect the wounded
and bury the slain. The prophet, in his impotent an
ger, cried out : " Let the wrath of Allah burn against
the men who have besprinkled the apostle's face with
his own blood ! " The road to Medina was thronged
with men and women hastening to nurse the wound
ed and search for the dead ; the sister of Hamza
among them, called upon the prophet for her
brother: "He is among the people," he replied.
She found the mutilated corpse ; sat by it and sob
bed; Fatima came and wept also ; and Mohammed
vowed deeper vengence against his enemies. When
prayers were said over the closed graves, the popula
tion, by twos and by threes, sadly and silently found
their way back to the desolate and downcast city.
If the victory at Bedr had been a mark of the ap
proval of Allah, what was the defeat at Ohud ? Here
was a question that demanded answer at the prophet's
mouth. The people murmured at the loss of pres
tige ; the Jews ventured to join in the reproaches ;
the faithful were at their wit's end ; but the assur
ance of the prophet was equal to the emergency.
Be not cast down, neither be ye grieved ; victory will yet come,
if ye are true believers ; if ye are wounded, verily, your enemy is
wounded also ; these battles we make to alternate among men, that

158 VICTORY FOR MECCA.
Allah may know the believers. . . . No soul dieth but by the
permission of Allah, written down for the time appointed.
And truly Allah had already made good unto you his promise, what
time ye cut them to pieces by his will, until ye showed cowardice and
wrangled and rebelled. Amongst you are those who love this world,
and amongst you are those who love the next. . . . Verily those
of you who turned the back on that day when the two armies met, it
was but Iblis who made them slip. . . . But Allah hath for
given them, for Allah is forgiving and compassionate. — Sura iii.
We are to picture to ourselves the venerable
prophet coming before his faithful people as the
spokesman of the great Allah with utterances like
these, which he delivered amid the deep hush that
fell upon them as they dropped their business and
politics and assumed the attitude of worshippers in
the area about the sacred mosque. With the pre
cision of veterans and the solemnity of devotees,
they follow every motion of their leader; kneeling,
prostrating, almost trembling, in unison, as the awful
words purporting to come from the throne of Allah
fall upon their ears. No scoffer scoffs within this
enclosure ; fear dominates every heart ; hell's fires
blaze before timid eyes at the magic words of the
prophet ; Paradise discloses its glories as his voice
conjures up its well-known delights ; life sinks into
insignificance as eternity opens; and the Moslems
walk from the precincts awe-stricken, willing to stand
or fall with the apostle ; to them there is nothing
worth accepting, — joy, wealth, paradise, death, life,
except at his hands, for to them at the moment he is
the vicegerent of the governor of the universe. Thus
the mystery of eloquence and the power of mind en
ables the prophet to give some thing like the effect
of victory to a defeat.

XVIII.
THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
The importance of breaking down the Jewish
power, to which reference has been made, was so
great in the eyes of Mohammed, that he devoted an
entire sura to a single victory which he gained over
the Nadhir, a people whose rich possessions were dis
tant three miles from Medina. Before attacking
them, the prophet sent an expedition against a tribe
that ranged over the great central tract of Arabia
known as Nejd, and silenced them ; he crippled an
other by ordering the assassination of its chief ; and
then felt prepared to turn to the Nadhir, cutting off
their supplies and putting their chief city in a state
of siege (a.D. 625). It was not long before they
were forced to offer to abandon their lands to the
prophet, and when the proposition was accepted,
they gladly emigrated to Syria, carrying with them
their household goods, their doors, their very lintels.
Singing to the music of tabrets, they joyfully took
their pilgrim-way towards Jericho. The prophet
likewise sang :
That which is heaven and that which is in the earth celebrates
the praises of Allah : he is the mighty and the wise. He it is who
drove out the People of the Book, who believed not, to join the for-

160 THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
mer exiles. Ye thought not that they would go forth ; verily, they
thought that the fortresses would defend them against Allah, but
Allah came upon them from a quarter unexpected and covered their
hearts with dread. They ruined their houses with their own hands
and with the hands of the believers ; wherefore, take warning, ye
who can see. . . . They set themselves up against Allah and his
prophet ; and whoso opposeth Allah — verily, Allah is keen to
punish ! — Sura lix.
Not long after the defeat at Ohud, Mohammed
took an additional wife, who was, like most of his
others, a widow. She had a son, to whom the
prophet promised to be a father. Not yet satisfied,
he soon afterwards become enamoured of Zeinab,
the handsome wife of Zeyd, his own adopted son,
and she proved as ambitious to share the prophet's
home as he was to take her to wife. When Zeyd sus
pected that Mohammed wished his wife, he did not
become indignant, but very willingly divorced her,
with the proper dutifulness of a prophet's son, and
an apartment was built for her adjoining those of
Ayesha and the others. The sense of propriety of
the people of Medina was scandalized by this union,
not because they saw the prophet's harem growing
too rapidly, but because of the relationship that ex
isted between Zeinab's first husband and her second.
It was to allay this feeling that Mohammed " re
ceived " the revelation contained in the thirty-third
sura, to the effect that Allah does not consider
adopted sons real children, and that no offence
ought to be taken because Zeyd's wife was joined
to Mohammed after Zeyd had voluntarily divorced
her. This " revelation," which was in reality an act
of legislation, seems to imply an advance or change

ALI AND FATIMA MARRIED. l6l
in the Arabic idea of relationship, from the tube (son
by adoption), to individual (son by blood).
This revelation made the favorite Ayesha not un
naturally solicitous lest Zeinab should pride herself
overmuch on the fact that she was given to the
prophet directly by Allah, while none of the other
wives could boast such an honor. Zeinab, on her
part, was not slow to perceive the advantage that
she had in this respect. It may be noted here, inci
dentally, that Zeyd's is the only name of a follower
or contemporary mentioned in the Koran.
It was two or three years before the time of this
marriage (about 624), that Mohammed gave his
daughter Fatima to Ali to wife, and the marriage is
one to be remembered, because from it sprang a line
of great importance in this history. Ali, of whom
Mohammed was wont to say : " I am the city of wis
dom, but Ali is its door," was son of Abu Talib ; but
had been brought up in the household of the proph
et, and was, as we know, one of his first disciples.
Fatima was daughter of the beloved Kadija, and
was one of the " four perfect women " mentioned by
the prophet.*
The attention of Mohammed being at this time
directed towards the subject of domestic life, he made
many regulations in regard to it. Ashe would not
have fallen in love with Zeinab had he not acciden
tally seen her without her veil, it was now prescribed
that all of his wives should veil themselves from the
* At about this time (625) Mohammed declared wine and games of
chance prohibited {Sura v.). He had, however, soon after coming to
Medina, recommended abstinence from them {Sura ii.).

162 THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
gaze of the world ; that when walking out they
should even conceal their ornaments; that they
should not harbor feelings of jealousy the one for
the others, but should be content with whatever
share of his society the prophet should give them.
The faithful were warned not to enter the apart
ment of Mohammed except by special invitation and
not to indulge in familiar discourse there ; indeed,
they were not to venture into any dwelling without
first asking leave and offering salutations to the
family. These are but a few of many such like " re
velations " as to conduct made in the suras.
The wives of Mohammed were henceforth each to
be honored with the title " Mother of the Faithful,"
and it was declared that it should be unlawful for
him to add to their number, even though their
beauty might please him. The command is still re
peated in the daily service ; but it did not prove
adequate to its avowed purpose at the time it was
promulgated, and has of course, no relevancy what
ever to present affairs.
At about this time, there was a temporary es
trangement from Ayesha, but a suspicion upon
which it was based was removed by a passage in the
twenty-fourth sura, and the persons who had calum
niated the lady were scourged. Ali did not accept
the decree establishing the innocence of Ayesha with
cordial promptness, and thus won her inalienable
enmity which led to important results years after
the prophet's death. The occasion was embraced
to lay down rules regarding the relations between
husbands and wives, which though much needed in

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164 THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
a community where men were permitted more com
panions than one, were, notwithstanding, powerless
to insure agreeable relations between the members of
a household. The mother of Ayesha struck the evil
directly when she tried to comfort her at the time
of her calumniation : " It is not often that a woman,
who is beautiful, married to a man who loves her, is
free from scandals raised by less favored and less
loved wives." Patience is the only resource -of such,
and Ayesha cried out, in the bitterness of her soul :
"Allah is my helper ! "
Military operations against the tribes about
Medina were frequent, and in the spring of 627, the
Meccans, who were always nursing their wrath and
preparing themselves to break forth against their
exiled prophet, gathered a large army, comprising
fifteen hundred camel-riders, and reaching a total of
some ten thousand men, to march towards Medina.
Mohammed saw that he could not successfully go
out against such a force, and that there was no al
ternative but to fortify his position and await the
onset. He erected earthworks and dug a ditch, him
self carrying his share of the earth, and joining in
the song with which the workers endeavored to
cheer themselves. The Arabs had up to this time
been unaccustomed to any style of warfare that al
lowed such a mode of defence as this, and the Mec
cans taunted Mohammed with his pusillanimous re
sort to a foreign artifice unworthy of a free-fighter of
the desert.
Medina was surrounded and put in a state of siege ;
there was great alarm, and much actual suffering for

VENGEANCE ON THE JEWS. 1 65
a brief period during which inconsequent skirmishes
marked the days as they passed, but neither side
gained any positive advantage. The Meccans were
encamped on the heights to the east of the town
and in the lower part of the valley ; and as the Ko
ran expresses it,
The enemy came down upon you from above and from below ;
and the sight of the eyes was obscured ; and your hearts came up
into your throats ; and ye imagined concerning Allah strange imag
inations ; there were the believers tried, and made to quake with
a severe quaking. . . . Remember the favors of Allah towards
you, when hosts came to you, and we sent against them a wind and
angels. — Sura xxxiii.
Strategy was worth more than force at this time,
and Mohammed endeavored with success to create a
sense of mutual distrust among his enemies. The
forage of the Koreishites and their provisions were
falling short, and they became tired of the ineffectual
siege. At this juncture, there arose one night a very
penetrating and chilly wind, which upturned the tents,
extinguished the fires, and made the besiegers only
too happy to hasten away. The prophet was quick
to teach his followers that Allah had interfered, and
the streets of Medina were the next day filled with
rejoicing throngs, uttering the paeans of victory.
Among those who had taken the part of the Kore
ishites, was a tribe of Jews, the Koreitza, and Moham
med now hastened to take vengeance upon them.
The People of the Book, were difficult to suppress,
and after every punishment that they received,
seemed to start up in a new quarter to harass
the Moslems. Siege was laid to the town of these
latest disturbers, and the privations of the inhabitants

1 66 THE BATTLE OF THE DITCH.
soon made them sue for peace and, finally, surrender
themselves. After the travesty of a trial, the men
were executed by the hundred with the most heart
less deliberation, and the women and children sold
into slavery in exchange for horses and harness.
Mohammed seems to have imitated at this time the
directions laid down in the Old Testament, as at
Deuteronomy xx., 18, where the Children of Israel
were instructed not to leave one of their heathen
enemies alive, but to utterly destroy them. In the
thirty-third sura the circumstances of this butchery
are made the subjects of thankfulness, and it is
vaunted as done by the direct decree of Allah.
The Arab at this time was a devoted believer in
spells, enchantments, and the evil eye, and still is,
and Mohammed was as superstitious in this respect
as any of his countrymen. In the chapter entitled
" Of the Daybreak," he exclaims :
I seek refuge in the Lord of the Daybreak from the evil of what
he hath created ; from the evil of darkness when it covereth the
earth ; from the evil of women blowing upon knots ; and from the
harm of the envious when he envieth. — Sura cxiii.
The customs of the people in this respect are illus
trated by the case of a necromancer, who, just before
the land was cleared of the Jews, injured the prophet
as was believed, by mystic enchantments. He took
a small waxen image, wound it about with hairs pro
cured from the prophet's head, pierced it with eleven
needles, tied eleven knots in a bowstring, blew upon
each knot the breath of the mouth, wound the cord
around the effigy, and finally sunk it in the bottom
of a well and placed a stone over the mouth. Mo-

MYSTIC ENCHANTMENTS. 1 67
hammed began immediately to suffer from a lan
guishing illness, against which no remedies were effi
cacious until the incantation was discovered. Day
by day he wasted away, but the ever-ready angel
Gabriel came to his rescue, and revealed the mys
tery. Ali discovered the image in the well ; Mo
hammed repeated over it the eleven verses that
form the last two suras of the Koran, which were
at the moment " revealed " as a charm against simi
lar influences. It is soberly recorded that as each
verse fell from the prophet's lips, a knot loosened
itself from the bowstring, a needle was consequently
released, and strength returned to the victim. As
the last needle fell away, Mohammed rose in health
and vigor, as though he had himself been bound by
the cords and pierced by the needles. These two
chapters have been since that time often used in the
same way ; they are written out and worn as amu
lets, or committed to memory and repeated as
charms. It is said that Mohammed visited the
well in which the effigy had been hidden, and found
in the date-trees about it resemblances to devils'
heads ! He caused the well to be destroyed.
Whether having any foundation in fact or not,
this tale well illustrates the superstition prevalent
in Arabia at the time, a superstition that it does not
become us to be surprised at when we reflect upon
the persecutions of so-called "witches" in England
and America that history records with horror, perse
cutions that took place centuries after the days of
the unlettered prophet of the desert.

XIX.
EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY.
Mohammed's position was now strong ; the
Koreishites of Mecca had been baffled in their
attempts to overthrow his power at Medina under
circumstances which added to the acuteness of their
disappointment ; the Jews had been terribly harried
and finally cast out, and there seemed to be no great
impediment to the extension of Moslem power to
regions beyond. These facts made it all the more
irritating to Mohammed that he should be shut out
of his native city and not permitted even to see the
sacred Kaaba nor to perform there the devotions
which had for so long been the right and the privi
lege of his clan. The six years that had elapsed
since last he had been inside of Mecca had been a
period of mental anxiety and of strife, and now he
longed to show anew his devotion to the ancient
faith, or to punish those against whom he had
launched his unfruitful denunciations in the name
of Allah, for obstructing the approach of the pious
worshippers.* In his visions, which came with some
of the ancient fervor in view of these thoughts, he
actually entered the sacred city, and performed the
* See the second Sura, quoted in part on page 147.

A PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 169
ceremonies of the pilgrim ; when he awoke, he de
termined with the strong will of the first years of his
mission, that he would make the dream a reality.
The sacred month of the year 628 (assigned for
the Lesser Pilgrimage) was approaching ; in it war
was prohibited, and Mohammed determined to make
his attempt then, because he thought there would
be less opposition to his enterprise than at the time
of the Greater Pilgrimage. Every precaution was
taken to ensure the expedition against the opposi
tion of the Koreishites : the number of pilgrims was
made as large as possible by inviting the people
around who had not taken the prophet's part to
join in the ceremonies, in which, though idolators,
they had the same national interest as the Moslems.
Every effort was made to give a peaceful appearance
to the caravan ; while the numbers were sufficient to
enable it to protect itself, if necessary, against any
military demonstration whatever. Seventy camels
were prepared to be taken for sacrifices ; the appro
priate mark was set upon their right sides, their
necks were hu-ng with ornaments, and their heads
were turned toward the holy city. Mohammed pre
pared himself for the occasion by permitting his hair
and nails to grow ; he refrained from all ordinary
luxuries, renounced the perfumes which he so much
enjoyed ; dressed himself in the ihram, and appeared
before his people, when ready for the journey, armed
only with the sheathed sword of the pilgrim.
The Koreishites naturally doubted the peaceful
nature of this unusual demonstration ; but they
feared to oppose it with force, though absolutely

170 EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY.
determined to forbid the entrance of the would-be
pilgrims to their city. Mohammed, on his part, was
not willing to precipitate hostilities, and when one of
his spies reported that the enemy was encamped not
far from him, clothed in panther's skins, emblematic
of their fixed determination to fight to the last like
beasts of prey, he turned from the usual route and
passed with difficulty through an unfrequented
defile over a rough road to the verge of the sacred
territory. All at once the march was arrested by
the refusal of the prophet's camel to proceed farther.
It was the same beast that had carried Mohammed
from Mecca six years before ; it was the same which
had marvellously refused to enter Medina and had
pointed out at Koba the spot for the mosque; and
any intimation from her was certain to be considered
almost equal to a revelation that could not lightly
be ignored, even though, as in the present instance,
it might be the evident result of fatigue.
" The beast is weary and balky," said the Moslems.
" No, she is neither balky nor weary," said Mo
hammed, " but the hand that held back Abraha in
the Year of the Elephant, and kept him from enter
ing Mecca, now restrains her : if the Koreishites
make any demand of me this day, I shall grant it, by
the name of Allah ! Let the caravan halt ! "
" There is no water here, O prophet," they ex
claimed ; " how can we halt ? "
Without a word, Mohammed ordered that an
ancient well, then covered with sand, should be
opened, and to the surprise of all, water bubbled up
so"rapidly that those at the top of the well were able
to draw it with ease.

A PILGRIM ENCAMPMENT NEAR MEDINA.

172 EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY.
It was not long before negotiations were opened
with the Meccans, and Mohammed sent positive
assurances that he had only peaceful intentions.
One of the envoys of the Koreishites reported at
Mecca that he had been at the court of Persia and
had visited the proud emperor at Constantinople,
but that he had never seen such respect for a sover
eign as the Moslems showed towards Mohammed.
Did he wash his hands, the water became in their
eyes holy ; did he pare his nails, the scrap was caught
up as a sacred relic ; did a hair fall by chance from
his locks, a follower was certain to throw himself
upon the ground to secure it ; should a person but
touch his beard, it was accounted an act of sacrilege.
An envoy of the prophet was, during the negotia
tions, detained at Mecca longer than was expected,
and Mohammed, suspecting treachery, gathered his
followers beneath an acacia, and called upon them
one by one to pledge by a solemn oath, confirmed by
striking hands with him, that they would stand by
the absent one, as well as by the cause, to the death.
The Pledge of the Tree, as this is called, is mentioned
in the Koran — "Allah beheld with satisfaction the
believers who gave thee their hand in the oath of
allegiance beneath the tree " (Sura xlviii.), — and all
who took part in the ceremony, which excited both
religious feeling and warlike spirit of the strongest
sort, were proud to refer to it in after days
The trial of this loyalty, so romantically asserted,
was unnecessary, for the envoy soon appeared safe
and sound, and the Koreishites, fearing the result of
a battle, announced their willingness to enter into a

A DISAPPOINTMENT. 1 73
treaty under which future pilgrimages should be per
mitted, though they refused to allow the prophet to
enter their city at that time. Mohammed, equally
apprehensive, willingly refrained from pressing for
ward, and the sura entitled " The Chapter of Vic
tory " was revealed :
Verily, we have given thee a manifest victory ! That Allah may
pardon thee the sin that is past and that .which is to come.
The desert Arabs who were left behind shall cry, ' ' Our wealth and
our people occupied us ; ask pardon then, for us. . . . Let us fol
low you ! "
Allah it was who restrained the hands of the Koreishites from you
and your hands from them, in the mid-valley of Mecca, after he had
given you the victory over them !
It was not this sort of a " victory " that the Mos
lems had looked for, and they were sadly disappointed
when Mohammed returned, after sacrificing the de
voted camels, and performing as many of the duties
of the pilgrim as were practicable at a distance
from Mecca ; though he was right in feeling that he
had achieved an important act. He had been recog
nized by those who had thrust him out, as a power
to be feared and treated with, and this filled his
mind with the audacious ambition, inspired by ig
norance of the greatness of the project and by an
almost insane confidence in his own apostleship, to
summon all the nations of the world to bow to
Islam. In this spirit, Mohammed caused a signet ring to
be engraved with the words " Mohammed, the Apos
tle of Allah," and commissioned messengers to visit
the courts of Chosroes, king of Persia, whose son
Siroes, after murdering his father, was soon to con-

174 EXILES. IN AN EMPTY CITY.
elude a treaty of peace with the Roman Empire ; of
the Roman emperor Heraclius himself, then returning
from his Persian campaign ; of the rulers of Abys
sinia, Syria, and Egypt ; and of the Christian tribes
of Yemen. These sovereigns cared little for such a
message from a son of the desert of whom they
could know little, and they treated it lightly, proba
bly thinking that it did not merit the honor o{
serious discussion.
The Moslems did not recover from their dissatis
faction with the " victory " over the Meccans, and
Mohammed found that he must in some way appease
the longing for plunder that he had roused, but had
not satisfied. He looked earnestly for some act of
aggression on the part of a surrounding tribe which
might give him excuse for a raid, but none occurred,
and at last, after months of waiting, he determined
to make an attack upon the fertile lands of some
Jews at Keibar, living at a distance of three or four
days' march to the northeast of Medina. Fortified
towns dotted their pleasant land, and nature smiled
upon them as they cultivated their farms which they
had occupied from ancient times, though surrounded
by a people to whom permanence of habitation was
almost unknown. They were with good reason im
placable enemies of the Moslems, and they labored
unceasingly to stir up against them the Bedawin
tribes with whom they had an ancient alliance.
Against these people Mohammed set out with a
powerful force. One by one the strongholds fell
before him, until at last he found himself confronted
by a fortress more redoubtable than any that Moslem

BOOTY FROM THE JEWS. 175
arms had ever encountered. It seemed probable that
it could resist all efforts that might be made against
it ; the siege was long, and it was not until the com
mand had been given to Ali, son of Abu Talib, that
success was attained (a.d. 628). The usual shedding
of blood followed, though the carnage was not so
horrible as on. some other occasions, and the rich
booty — rich beyond all former experience— was di
vided among the happy warriors. It included money,
jewels, herds of camels and flocks of sheep ; honey,
oil, dates, grain, and every sort of treasure that the
Arabian valued ; and all the murmurs that the so-
called " victory " over the Meccans had given rise to
were turned into glad acclaim.
Now the Moslems were in a proper state of mind
to enjoy the promised pilgrimage to Mecca ; and as
the time approached elaborate preparations were
again made (a.d. 629). Sixty camels were driven
in advance, the company comprised several hundred
more persons than had formed the caravan of the
previous year, and each was armed as agreed, with a
sword only ; though as a precautionary measure, a
large quantity of armor was carried separately. Mo
hammed well understood the treacherous character
of the Arabians, but the precaution he took was not
necessary at this time, for the Koreishites adhered
faithfully to the terms of the treaty. Instead of in
terfering, the inhabitants with one accord left their
homes, climbed the hillsides, and sheltered them
selves beneath tents and other temporary dwellings,
looking down as opportunity permitted, to see the
strange ceremonial that was performing in the streets

176 EXILES IN AN EMPTY CITY.
they had deserted. When before had there been
such a scene ? When since ? When did a populace
go out of their houses to permit a body of religion
ists to whose observances they were hostile, enter in
and occupy, not their streets and their houses only,
but their very temples and their altars?
The devotees, — let us look at them. There is the
prophet himself, dressed in the ihram, proudly riding
into his native place, still upon the faithful camel
that bore him northward seven years before to the
place of refuge. Can we imagine his thoughts, as he
remembers his flight with Abu Bekr, and the three
days in the mountain cave ? Behind him are the
many followers, shouting the pilgrim-cry of exulta
tion as their long repressed feelings are allowed free
utterance, and hurrying to perform the tawaf, imita
ting the rapid motion of their leader, that the look
ers-on may know that their vigor has not been less
ened by their journey. The prophet touches the
holy black stone gently writh his staff as he passes it,
and the crowd cry aloud,
" There is no god but Allah ! He hath upholden his servant and
exalted his army. He alone hath discomfited the hosts that were con
federate against him ! "
The words echo and re-echo through the little val
ley, and the host is newly stimulated by the sound
of its own voices. The next day the prophet wor
ships in the Kaaba until the hour of the mid-day
prayer, when his muezzin ascends to the place ap
pointed, and vociferates the Moslem call to worship,
and Mohammed conducts the service in the form
familar at Medina.

THE GREAT KALID CONVERTED. \"J"J
For three full days the Meccans adhere to their
promise, but then they warn Mohammed that the
allotted time is over, and that he must return from
his holy mission. The prophet endeavors to concili
ate the chief men towards Islam, but in vain ; they
will have none of it. Still, Mohammed saw enough
to convince him that the Koreishites did not hold
their former power, and he knew that his own pres
tige was much enhanced by this pilgrimage, both in
Mecca and at Medina. When he reached his home,
at the opening of April, 629, he felt stronger and
more confident than ever before.
If the Koreishites as a tribe, held aloof from Mo
hammed he was successful in winning the allegiance
of two important men among them, — Kalid, a war
rior famous for his prowess and strategy at the bat
tle of Ohud, well known as the " Sword of Allah,"
and Amr, who was destined to carry the standard of
the prophet into foreign lands. These men came to
Medina in June to accept the rising faith, and their
acquisition to the cause gave it a new strength at
Mecca also, where it now took a place by the side of
the ancient worship, as something to be mentioned
with respect if not with reverence.

XX.

THE MOTHER OF CITIES CONQUERED.

The letters that Mohammed wrote to foreign po
tentates cannot be said to have accomplished much
in bringing him and his mission before the world,
though the time was rapidly approaching when the
Moslem should be known everywhere. It was very
little like what the world calls war, to fight as the
Bedawins fought, — to meet an enemy on the open
desert where there was no embarrassment from walls
and ditches ; but this was the the sort of warfare that
the Moslems had practiced up to the eighth year from
the Hejra. Little did the prophet know of the tac
tics of the Romans, and of the implements of war
used by those great nations of the earth of which he
had only heard enough to embolden him to summon
them to submit to Islam.
Among the envoys that Mohammed had sent to
call the nations to obedience was one who went to
Bostra, on the road to Damascus, near the eastern
borders of Palestine, familiar to the prophet since
his early experience in the caravan trade. Syria
was at the time under Roman dominion, though
probably law was not very well established any
where in its limits. This envoy had fulfilled his
178

OPPOSING THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1 79
mission, how effectually we are not told, and was re
turning to Medina, when he was arrested and put to
death at Muta, a place three days' journey east of
Jerusalem, by order of a Christian ruler of the tribe
of Ghassan, who represented the emperor Heraclius.
Such an indignity was not to be suffered without re
monstrance, and Mohammed, nothing daunted by
the prestige of Roman power,* hastened to raise an
army of some three thousand men, the command of
which he confided to his beloved Zeyd, supported by
a number of valiant soldiers, among whom were the
two latest converts from Mecca (September, 629).
Gaily and with confidence, the little army set forth
from Medina, the prophet accompanying it a short
distance and expressing his farewell in the words,
" Allah shield you from every harm, and bring you
back in peace, rejoicing, with much spoil ! " The en
terprise was no secret, and word was speedily carried
to the representative of Heraclius in Palestine that
the Moslems were on the march. The former petty
raids of Mohammed had probably served to unite
the inhabitants of the region in some league for
mutual defence, and it was not difficult to collect
an overpowering force to repel the invaders, consist
ing, so some writers assert, of one hundred thousand
men. The Moslem authorities add that Heraclius
himself led the army, but that seems hardly credible.
* The prophet had no doubt been diligently watching the course of
the war [between Rome and Persia] which is once, at least, directly
alluded to in the Koran. [Sura xxx.] He could but see the immense
advantage which, he gained by finding the two greatest powers of the
world utterly exhausted by the tremendous struggle." — E. A. Free
man, " History and Conquests of the Saracens," page 24.

l8o THE MOTHER OF CITIES CONQUERED.
When Zeyd reached the extreme southeast limit of
Palestine, on the borders of the Arabian desert, he
learned of the reception that was prepared for him,
and called a council of war, in which some were
for sending a letter to Mohammed for advice, since
the enemy was so much more formidable than had
been expected ; but a poet among them cried out,
" We fight for the faith ! If we fall the joys of Par
adise are ours. On, to victory or to martyrdom ! "
With the fire of fanaticism and the daring of the
Bedawin, the host marched forward crying, " By Al
lah ! thou speakest truth ! Onward ! " But when the
glittering armor and the vast numbers of the ap
proaching host were revealed to them, they fell back
in dismay, and were pressed down by the solid Ro
man phalanx. Zeyd seized the white flag of the
prophet, and led his men to the struggle, until the
lances of the enemy brought him to the dust ; leader
after leader followed his example, but the Moslems
were forced back and back ; there was no hope.
Then Kalid, the " Sword of Allah," won the right
to his name. The men who but a moment before
had been chanting
" Paradise ! Oh paradise ! how fair a resting-place ! Cold is the
water there and sweet the shade ! Rome ! Rome ! the hour of thy
woe draweth nigh ! When we close with her, we shall hurl her to the
earth ! "
now thought that they were doing well if they fol
lowed the skilful manoeuvres of their new leader in
retreat. None dared to counsel delay, but with one mind
all hurried towards Medina, where they were greeted

A VICTORY INDEED. l8l
with shouts of derision : " Ah, ye runaways ! Do ye
indeed flee before the enemy when fighting for
Allah ? " It was a sad downfall and cut Moham
med to the quick. However, he soon sent Amr into
the field, who restored the lost prestige, and many
Bedawin tribes bowed to Islam (October, 629). As
the number of subjected clans increased so did the
ambitious projects of Mohammed grow.
If it had been a "victory" to gain simple permis
sion to enter Mecca and sojourn three brief days in
the enjoyment of the ancient religious privileges,
what would it be to become master of the Sacred
City and to hold it against the world ? Thoughts
like this played through the prophet's mind as he
contemplated the increasing number of his loyal sub
jects, and he longed for the day when a pretext
should be presented him under which he could at
tack the city of his birth. It came not long after the
retreat from Muta.
The Koreishites became involved in an attack
upon the Kozaites, a tribe that had ranged them
selves among the partisans of Mohammed, and a
deputation from the injured people called upon the
prophet for help. The Koreishites were much
alarmed, and sent their chief, the same who had
before besieged Medina and had scoffed at Moham
med as an impostor, to sue for peace. It was a sore
trial to this proud man thus to plead with his despised
enemy, it was still more mortifying to him to find
that Mohammed was determined to give him no sat
isfaction whatever ; and harder still on his return to
Mecca to be received with insults by his own people
because he had failed at Medina.

1 82 777.5 MOTHER OF CITIES CONQUERED.
Scarcely had this envoy left Medina, when Moham
med began with the utmost secrecy to prepare for an
attack upon Mecca ; he gathered the largest force
that the city had ever put into the field ; and on the
first of January, 630, the march began. The prophet
prayed publicly : " O Allah ! let no spy treacherously
bear tidings to the Koreish ; blind them, that they
see not until I come upon them suddenly and sieze
them unawares ! " The prayer was not impressive
enough to keep one of the most trusted among the
Moslems from sending a letter to Mecca by a woman
named Sara, who for ten pieces of gold, undertook
the venturesome duty. She was overtaken on the
way by Ali ; the letter was found hidden in her hair,
and the writer discovered and summoned before the
prophet. He asserted that he was a true believer,
but that having a wife and children at Mecca, he had
sent the warning in order to ensure protection for
them. Mohammed pardoned him, but the opening
verses of sura sixty were revealed to warn others
against doing likewise :
O, ye faithful ! take not my enemies ,and yours for patrons ; if ye
show mercy to them, they will reject the truth that has been revealed
to you. They will thrust you from them, the apostle and you, because
you have faith in Allah.
When ye go forth from your hearths fighting valiantly for Islam,
will ye show favor to them ? I know what you conceal at the bottom
of your hearts, and what you bring to the light of day. He who in
terests himself in the cause of the infidel, he it is who has wandered
from the strait path.
The worldly-wise idolator Abbas, who had up to
this time refused to bow to Allah, now saw that his
nephew was on the road to power. He came out

A MESSAGE TO MECCA. 1 83
from Mecca, where he had controlled the distribution
of the waters of Zemzen, claiming that he had for a
long time been a true Moslem at heart. Mohammed
received him, saying in gentle irony, " The last of
the prophets greets the latest of the emigrants ! "
When the heights overlooking Mecca had been
reached, Mohammed ordered his ten thousand fol
lowers each to light a watch-fire, and hoped thus to
strike sudden fear into the sleeping inhabitants. It
happened that the chief of the Koreishites, he who
had been repulsed with indignity by the prophet,
walked forth that night to reconnoitre ; in the dark
he was met by Abbas, who, also had gone out to see
if by any chance he might do something to save the
devoted city from slaughter. " Yonder," said Abbas,
as he pointed to the myriad fires, "is Mohammed en
camped with ten thousand followers ; believe, and
cast in thy lot with us, or thy mother and thy clan
shall shed tears for thee ! "
In the morning the captured chieftain, threatened
with immediate death, was brought before the proph
et, after whom he tremblingly repeated the creed of
Islam, and was sent back to his home by Moham
med, who said : " Every Meccan who is found in
thy dwelling, and all who take refuge in the Kaaba ;
and whosoever shutteth the door of his own house
upon his family, shall be safe: haste thee home!"
As he departed, Mohammed gave the signal for his
army to march, but with fearful anticipations. His
constrained convert, had, however, been true : as
soon as he entered the city, he cried : " Mohammed
is upon us, O ye Koreishites ! Whoso entereth my

1 84 THE MOTHER OF CITIES CONQUERED.
house shall be safe this day ; whosoever shutteth his
door upon himself shall not be harmed ; whosoever
entereth the holy Kaaba shall find refuge ! "
When Mohammed, mounted on the same camel
that had so faithfully carried him on other occasions,
rode into the city, his heart rose in thankfulness, for he
saw empty streets again, and knew that his reception
was to be peaceful. It is greatly to his praise that on
this occasion, when his resentment for ill-usage in the
past might naturally have incited him to revenge, he
restrained his army from all shedding of blood, and
showed every sign of humility and thanksgiving to
Allah for his goodness. Kalid, it is true, did meet
force with force at one point, but he was rebuked by
Mohammed. The prophet's first labor was the destruction of
the idol-images in the Kaaba, and after that had
been done he ordered his original muezzin to sound
the call to prayer from the top of the Kaaba, and
sent a crier through the streets to command all per
sons to break in pieces every image that they might
possess. (January, 630.)
Ten or twelve men who had on a former occasion
shown a barbarous spirit, were proscribed, and of
them four were put to death, but this must be con
sidered exceedingly humane, in comparison with the
acts of other conquerors ; in comparison for example,
with the cruelty of the Crusaders, who, in 1099, put
seventy-thousand Moslems, men, women, and help
less children, to death when Jerusalem fell into their
hands ; or with that of the English army, also fight
ing under the cross, which, in the year of grace, 1874,

A MERCIFUL CONQUEROR.

I85

burned an African capital, in its war on the Gold
Coast. Mohammed's victory was in very truth one
of religion and not of politics ; he rejected every
token of personal homage, and declined all regal
authority ; and when the haughty chiefs of the
Koreishites appeared before him he asked :
" What can you expect at my hands ? "
" Mercy, O generous brother."
" Be it so ; ye are free ! " he exclaimed.

XXI.
HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
AMONG the tribes that yet resisted the claims of
Islam, the most important were the Bedawins who
ranged the hill-country to the south and east of
Mecca, brethren of some of the inhabitants of the
strong city of Taif, to which the prophet had gone
to preach when he thought that his mission was to
be rejected by his own kinsfolk. The people of Taif
were devoted to their idols, and as their relations
with Mecca were close, and the distance between the
two cities not great, they feared lest Mohammed, in
spired by his easy conquest, might descend upon
them. Accordingly they determined to check his
arrogance, and assembled for counsel in a mountain-
valley northeast of Taif.
The chiefs said : " The Koreishites are mere traf
fickers, and know not how to make war ; they have
naturally been overcome easily ; proud of his suc
cess, the prophet will now make plans to subjugate
us ; let us forestall his schemes and march upon him
before he has time to make an attack." The advice
found favor, and an army was quickly gathered. Of
these facts Mohammed had prompt knowledge, and
collected the forces that he had brought with him,
186

A VICTOR Y AT HONEIN. 1 87
to which two thousand more were added from the
willing people of the holy city, and four weeks from
his unexpected appearance at Mecca, he began his
march towards the new enemy, his followers exult
ing as they gazed at the array of flaunting banners
and the long lines of troops.
The leader of the Bedawins was a young warrior
who thought to inspire his soldiers with deadly de
termination by causing their wives and children,
their flocks and herds to follow in the rear ; though
one of the aged chiefs when he learned of the plan,
uttered an expression of disgust and exclaimed,
" When fear overtakes a soldier, nothing will stop
his flight ; if we conquer, these women and children
will be only an embarrassment ; if we fail, they will
be prey for the enemy ; alas, we are dishonored,
ruined ! "
The armies met on the first of February, 630, in a
valley called Honein, behind Arafat ; the first onset
threw the Moslems into confusion, and notwithstand
ing the desperate efforts of Mohammed to reassure
them, it seemed as though certain defeat was to be
their fortune, in spite of their overwhelming num
bers ; the band from Medina proved steady, how
ever, and the Moslems rallied before it was too late,
utterly routing the Bedawins and capturing their
women and children. There were taken six thou
sand prisoners, twenty-four thousand camels, forty
thousand sheep and goats, and four thousand ounces
of silver ; and Mohammed resolved to press on to
Taif, confident that his troops, inspired by a victory
so much greater than they had ever before known,

1 88 HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
would feel strong to attack even so well fortified a
place as that. In the ninth sura, he alludes to the
victory at Honein, attributing the first repulse to
over-confidence in numbers, and the final success to
the angelic aid that he was ever ready to promise
and direct his followers to expect :
Verily, Allah hath holpen you in many a battle ; and on the day
of Honein, when ye were so puffed up by the multitude of our host,
though that did not give you strength ; the valley was too strait for
you, though it was truly broad. Ye turned your backs and fled.
Then Allah sent down his grace upon his prophet and upon the
faithful, and hosts that ye saw not, and punished the misbelievers ;
for that is the reward of the unfaithful.
The city of Taif is situated in the midst of a ter
ritory of much fertility ; it is a veritable oasis among
barren mountains, and rejoices in the richness and
abundance of its fruits ; at this time it was surround
ed by high and broad walls, and was supplied with
enough water and provisions to last for many
months. Mohammed's efforts were fruitless against
strong masonry, and after a time he determined to
weaken his enemy by devastating the gardens and
orchards about the city. This work was entered
upon with vigor, but the besieged expostulated, and
the prophet graciously desisted ; though at the same
time he proclaimed that all slaves who might flee
from the city to him should be free. Only twenty-
two embraced the offer, and the people of Taif lost
no courage on account of so small a defection.
Mohammed continued his efforts for twenty days,
but then determined to withdraw, confident that the
city was, as one of his followers expressed it, " like a

A MOB IN MEDINA. 1 89
fox in its hole ; if you remain long enough you will
take it, if you leave it, it cannot harm you." An op
portune dream supported this view of the case, and
saying : " We shall return again, by the will of
Allah," Mohammed retired with his army, making
presents to the Bedawins who professed allegiance
to him, and returning to them their wives and chil
dren which had been captured at Honein.
The prophet's mercy was politic, but it was none
the less mercy ; it gained friendship for Mohammed
at the south, but aroused jealousy and discord among
the Moslems. The prophet was mobbed by those
who thought that they had been deprived of their
just share of the captives. Calling around him the
men of Medina whose friendship he much appre
ciated, he said, " Hearken, O ye men of Medina !
When I came unto you, were ye not wandering, and
did I not bring harmony to you ? Were ye not in
error, and I turned you to the truth ? Were ye not
poor, and I made you rich ? "
" It is even as thou sayest ? " they honestly
replied. " Nay, more, by Allah ! Ye might have answered,
' Thou earnest to us stigmatised as a liar, and yet we
believed thee ; thou earnest a fugitive and we shel
tered thee ; an outcast, and we gave thee a home ;
destitute and we gave thee meat.' Think ye that I
do not feel all this ? Ye complain that I give gifts
to these, and not to you : I give them worldly goods
to win their worldly hearts ; to you, the true, I give
my own heart : they return home with sheep and
camels ; ye go back with the prophet of Allah ; for,

19° HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
by him in whose hand are the souls of us all, though'
the whole world should go one way and ye another,
I would never leave you ! Which have I most
rewarded ? "
" O prophet of Allah ! " they cried through their
rising tears, " we are content ! "
For twelve days Mohammed rested at the place
where the spoil of Honein had been divided, and
then returned to Mecca dressed in the ihram, to per
form the rites of the lesser pilgrimage. This was
early in March, 630. At the end of the same month,
he re-entered Medina. In the course of his journey
the prophet passed the spot where fair Amina, his
mother, had fallen by the way so many years before,'
and filial feeling brought tears to his eyes at the
sight of her tomb. Just then the words were revealed
to him,
' ' Let not the prophet nor other believers ask pardon for idolaters,
though of their own kindred."
He prayed Allah to allow him to offer a prayer for
his mother, but the request was not granted.. He
must have sincerely believed that an intimation of
the heavenly will was sent to him, and he said sadly,
" I asked Allah that I might visit my mother's grave,
and he permitted it. I asked that I might pray for
her, and he denied me."
His long postponed desire for a son was gratified
by the birth of Ibrahim, child of a Coptic maid,
Mary, who had been given to him as a slave by the
governor of Egypt. The wives were very jealous of
Mary, as the mother of the prophet's only son, and
he in turn became much displeased with them. The

A YOUNG COPTIC WOMAN.

192 HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
sixty-sixth sura was " revealed " as a warning to the
refractory spouses, who were therein told of the
two wicked wives of these good men Noah and
Lot, to whom it was said, on their approach to the
other life, " Enter the fire with those who enter!"
The beloved son died at the age of fifteen months,
and the father, who had been devotedly attached to
him, mourned with sincerity, but with resignation.
There was an eclipse of the sun at the time, which
the people thought was occasioned by the sadness of
nature in consequence of the child's death ; but the
prophet nobly said, "The sun and the moon, are
signs appointed by Allah ; but they are not eclipsed on
the death of any mortal : when ye observe an eclipse,
betake yourselves to prayer until it passeth away."
The conquest of Mecca gave Mohammed great
spiritual power, and in its train came absolute secu
lar jurisdiction. The raising of the siege of Taif did
not detract from his prestige ; he was, in fact, so
crowded with embassies from the various tribes
which wished to unite their fortunes with his, that
the ninth year after the Hejra was called, in conse
quence, " The Year of the Deputations."
Among these emissaries were fourteen men be
longing to a Christian tribe, who came to see what
Islam was and to form a judgment of its merits.
They were received by Mohammed in the mosque,
and an opportunity was given them for conference,
which turned entirely upon the second person in the
Trinity, concerning whom the deputies cited pas
sages in the Gospels. To these the prophet opposed
verses from the Koran, such as these :

THE ORDEAL OF THE CURSING.

193

Verily, the likeness of Jesus to Allah is as the likeness of Adam :
he created him from the earth, and said to him, " Be," and he was ; —
truth from Allah, so be thou art not of those who doubt. And
whoso disputeth, after the truth had come to thee, say, " Come, let
us call our sons and your sons, and our wives and your women, and
ourselves and yourselves, and let us call down the curses of Allah
upon those that lie."

VIEW OF MEDINA.

Verily, this is true, there is no god but Allah, and he is the
mighty and the wise ; but if they turn back, — Allah knoweth the
evil doers !
The ordeal of the Cursing, or the Judgment of
Allah, was agreed upon as a means of settling the
discussion, and an open place outside of the city was
chosen for the ceremony. When the morrow ar
rived, Mohammed presented himself, accompanied

194 HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
by P'atima and Ali and their two sons ; but the
Christians were not to be seen ; they had been turned
from their purpose through fear of the terrible
punishment that would fall upon them in case of
failure, at least so the Moslem historians assert. It
is added that the prophet graciously offered to allow
them to return to their homes after they should prom
ise to pay him an annual tribute, or renounce their
religion. They chose the tribute, and it may well
be questioned whether they ever really consented to
the ordeal, which must have certainly appeared to
them an unsatisfactory mode of settling a theologi
cal dispute, though history records many ordeals
quite as absurd, which were familiar to Christian
peoples in Europe centuries after this epoch.
The mosque of the prophet at Medina now be
came the centre of busy life ; embassies were re
ceived there ; there tithes and tribute were paid ;
there disputes were discussed and settled ; and there
honors and powers were conferred upon those who
came to submit to Islam. Mohammed was now well
known in all quarters of his native land, and his fol
lowers began to be counted by thousands.
While the inhabitants of castle after castle and
city after city were thus hastening to win the. favor
of the vicegerent of Allah, the stubborn people of
Taif still bowed their heads only to their idols, and
trusted to their strong walls and mountain heights
to make them secure from the vengeance that the
mild words of the prophet plainly warranted them
to expect, if they did not embrace Islam. As time
wore on, they began to feel that their position was

A COMPLETE SURRENDER. 1 95
no more strong than it was lonely, for they found
themselves surrounded by a constantly narrowing
cordon of believers, and it was at last impossible for
them to venture beyond their walls in safety.
The " fox " had remained long enough in its hole,
and now was to be caught. The people sent embas
sadors to Mohammed to ask conditions of peace.
He declined to listen to any terms but the complete
surrender of their idols, and submission to Islam.
The emissaries were willing to embrace the faith
themselves, they said, but pleaded that a sudden
revolution might shock the people of Taif ; might
they not be allowed to worship the idols three more
years ?
" No ! " replied the prophet.
" May we not have a month's time in which to
prepare the minds of the people ! "
" No ! Allah cannot be served by those who bow
to idols."
" May our people at least be absolved from the
oft-repeated daily prayers ? "
" There is no true religion without prayer," was
the only answer.
Upon this a surrender was made, and a messenger
was sent to destroy the famous idol of stone in the
temple at Taif. It was left in fragments on the
earth, surrounded by weeping women lamenting the
fall of their hopes.
It was during this year (A.D. 630) that word came
to Medina from the north that the Romans and
their allies in Syria were gathering a host to march
upon the Moslems, and Mohammed determined

I96 HOW TAIF WAS BESIEGED AND TAKEN.
upon the most ambitious enterprise that he had yet
engaged in. He made no secret of his real inten
tions, but boldly called upon the faithful to gather
under his banner, and an army of thirty thousand
warriors was formed, which set out under the per
sonal command of the prophet, Ali being left at
Medina to care for his family and exercise the duties
of governor. No such force had probably been seen
in Arabia, and it marched with great difficulty over
burning sands and through regions destitute of
water. Desertions were not infrequent, but they
were not sufficient to reduce the vast numbers ma
terially, and the expedition struck fear into the dwel
lers along its line of march. Many tribes came to
offer their allegiance, and the great army that Rome
was supposed to have prepared was not encoun
tered ; whether its commanders were alarmed by the
rumors of the force sent against it, or whether Mo
hammed sagaciously kept out of its range, cannot be
determined. True it is that the spirits of the Moslem
army were dampened, and when the campaign was
but partially completed, Mohammed called a council
of war, at Tabuk, in the course of which he asked
Omar whether the advance should continue or not.
" If thou hast the command of Allah to go for
ward, advance ! " he replied.
" If I had received the command of Allah, I should
not have asked Omar ! " the prophet responded.
The usual rejoicings were heard in Medina when
the prophet returned from this expedition, though
all the populace could not join in them, because
many had refused the invitation to go to Syria, and
some had even ventured to rail at the prophet for

"SELL NOT THINE ARMS!" 1 97
undertaking it. One had cried out, " Verily the
prophet thinks it a matter of sport to go to fight
the Romans ; but he will find it different from war
ring with the desert tribes. A fine season, this, indeed,
to march over the deserts in defiance of the heat of
the sun and the dryness of the burning sands ! "
Against such, a passage in the ninth sura was revealed :
Those who staid behind, were glad of their holding back from
the prophet of Allah, and refused to fight sharply with their goods
and their strong arms for the cause of Allah, and said, " Go not forth
to war in the heat ! " Say, the fire of Gehenna is a fiercer heat, if ye but
knew ! Verily, they shall laugh little and weep much as their reward !
The sura bristles with sharp utterances aimed at
those who held back from this memorable expedi
tion, which had, however, so effectually established
the prophet's authority to the northward that some
of the Moslems were on the point of selling their
arms, as though all need of them in the propagation
of Islam were at an end. Mohammed saw farther
into the future than his disciples, and said, " Sell not
thine arms ; verily there shall not cease from the
midst of my people a fighting band, no, not till Anti
christ * shall come ! "
* The Moslems say that the Jews give Antichrist the name " Mes
siah ben David," and pretend that in the last days he is to.restore the
kingdom to them. He is to appear somewhere between Irak and
Syria, is to be followed by thousands of Jews, and will lay waste all
places except Mecca and Medina. See Sales Koran, " Preliminary
Discourse," section iv. On the other hand, it was formerly custom
ary for Christians to speak of Mohammed as Antichrist. On this
Professor Freeman says: "Whether Mahomet be personally the
Antichrist of Scripture, I do not profess to determine, but I do know
that his religion, approximating as it does so closely to Christian
ity, without being Christian, has eventually proved, above all others,
emphatically Antichristian." "The History and Conquests of the
Saracens," page 72.

XXII.
A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE.
Idolatry was now reluctant to lift its head
among the tribes of Arabia from distant Hadramawt
to the Gulf of Akaba ; but Islam had not made
great progress in the valley of the Euphrates, in
Mesopotamia, or in Syria, and offensive rites were
still mingled with the observances of the faithful
during the holy months at Mecca. Mohammed
found it repugnant to his feelings to be present on
such occasions, and he therefore sent Abu Bekr at
the time of the greater pilgrimage to sacrifice thirty
camels in his name in the valley of Mina, in the
spring of the year 631. Three hundred pilgrims ac
companied him, and in the midst of the great assem
blage that gathered he preached to the people the
rites and doctrines of Islam.
At the height of the ceremonies Abu Bekr was
surprised to see Ali rise in the assembly, and an
nounce himself a special messenger from the prophet.
Scarcely had the pilgrims left Medina when a " rev
elation " of the utmost gravity was made to Moham
med, and this it was which he had committed to Ali
for publication. Abu Bekr protested in vain that

"KILL THE IDOLATERS !" 1 99
he was in command of the pilgrimage, and Ali pro
ceeded to declare his message :
" A RELEASE by Allah and his prophet from obligations to those
idolaters with whom ye have leagued yourselves.
" Go ye [idolaters] to and fro in the land securely for four months,
but know that ye cannot contravene Allah, and that Allah will verily
bring the misbelievers to naught.
"A PROCLAMATION from Allah and his prophet unto the peo
ple on the day of the greater pilgrimage ; lo, Allah is quit of the
idolaters and his prophet also . . .
' ' When the forbidden months have passed, then kill the idolaters
wheresoever ye find them ; take them captive, besiege them, and lay
wait for them in every place convenient . . . How can there be
to the idolaters a treaty with Allah and with his apostle, save to those
with whom ye have made a league at the sacred Kaaba ? . . .
" Will ye not fight a people who broke their oaths, and intended to
expel the apostle ? They began with you, at first, — are ye afraid of
them ? . . . If ye be believers, kill them ! . . .
" It is not for idolaters to enter the house of Allah. . . He
only shall enter who believes in Allah and in the last day, and is
steadfast in prayer and gives alms. . . . Take not your fathers
nor your brethren for associates if they love misbelief and hate the
true faith. ... If your fathers and your sons and your brethren
and your wives and your clansmen, and the wealth which ye have
gained, and your merchandise which ye fear may be slow of sale, and
the dwellings wherein ye delight, are dearer to you than Allah and
his prophet, than fighting sorely in his way, — then wait, and see the
salvation of Allah, for Allah careth not- for a generation that worketh
abomination. " Verily the misbelievers are unclean ; wherefore, let them not
approach the holy Kaaba after this year ; and if so be ye fear want
from the stoppage of traffic, verily, Allah will make you rich ; for
surely Allah is knowing and reasonable.
" Attack the idolaters in all the months, as they fight you in all ! "
— Sura ix.
When the pilgrims had finished their duties, they
returned to their near and remote homes, and all
Arabia soon learned the lesson that the Moslem

200 A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE.
never forgot : — " Fight ! fight ! fight ! Let no idolater
perform the pilgrimage ! Keep no faith with them !
Kill them by fair means, beguile them by stratagem ;
disregard all ties, blood, friendship, humanity, —
sweep the misbelievers from the face of the earth, —
in the name of Allah and of the prophet ! " The
sword had been unsheathed before ; now there was
to be no quarter, no rites of refuge, no sanctuary in
the sacred months. Verily, the prophet appreciated
the foundation that had been laid for building up his
already strong sovereignty.
Vast is the power of the man who is at once king
and priest, who can speak with the authority of a
prince, and add to his temporal laws the force de
rived from threats of punishment in a future world.
Mohammed at Medina was a king ; at Mecca he was
a priest ; but in both cities he presented himself to
his admiring vassals as powerful in time and in
eternity, as holding authority over both body and
soul. The meditation of his early years, the mild
faith in his mission that dominated his middle age,
both had given way before a fanaticism which over
whelmed him in these his final months.
As his political and priestly power thus increased,
he found that age was slowly making its inevitable
inroads upon his vigor, and he announced his de
termination to perform both the lesser and the
greater pilgrimage in the year 632, hoping to accom
plish some thing more in the way of confirming his
religion by his personal presence than was possible
to effect through any deputy however closely allied
to him.

MOHAMMED A T MECCA. 201
The prophet had not performed the greater pil
grimage, since his emigration to Medina, and the
announcement of his intention created a veritable
sensation throughout all the regions around ; a vast
concourse eagerly craved the privilege of accom
panying him, and five days before the opening of
March (the month of the lesser pilgrimage that
year), he donned the ihram and started for the holy
city, followed, according to the lowest estimate, by
eighty thousand men ; with all of his wives around
him in litters,* and driving before him many camels
adorned with festive garlands, ready for the sacri
fices. As the long cortege passed from one halting-
place to another, Mohammed frequently uttered
prayers, ascribing praises and honor to Allah, and
declaring again and again his unity.
" Behold me, O Allah ! To thee belongeth the all
honors, all praises, all power ! Thou" art ONE ! "
His first visit upon reaching Mecca was made to
the Kaaba, where he devoutly kissed the black stone,
and lifted up his voice in earnest prayer for continual
blessings upon the edifice. He performed the usual
duties of both pilgrimages with the utmost scrupu
lousness, for he wished to leave to the people a pat
tern which they might copy in ages after he was
gone, and he sealed the whole with the words, —
" This day have I perfected your religion unto you,
and fulfilled my mercy upon you, and appointed Is
lam for you to be your religion forever."
* It has not been found necessary for the purposes of this story to
give the names of all of the prophet's wives, in fact the list is not the
same in the various histories, but the number had now probably risen
to fifteen, including those who had been taken away by death.

202 A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE.
On one of the days, he took a prominent position
among the pilgrims and addressed them somewhat as
follows :
" O ye People ! Hearken unto my words ! I
know not that ever I shall speak to you here
again. " Your lives and your goods are sacred among you
until the end of time.
" You must one day appear before Allah to give an
account of your doings.
" Let every man be faithful.
" No more shall vengeance be allowed for blood
shed in the days of your idolatry.
" Ye husbands have rights and ye wives, ye have
rights. Husbands, love your wives, and nourish
them. " I leave you a law that shall always preserve you
from error ; a 'law clear, positive, — a Book dictated
from heaven.
" Listen to my words and fix them in your minds.
" Verily all Moslems are brothers. Take not that
which belongs to thy brother ; beware of injustic.
" O Allah, I have fulfilled my mission ! "
Thousands of voices responded as one,
" Yea, verily thou hast fulfilled it ! "
The prophet added, " O Allah, I beseech thee, bear
thou witness to my message ! "
As the sermon, from which the few sentences
above are taken was delivered, a Koreishite, en
dowed with a resounding voice, repeated each sen
tence to the throngs, thus adding to the deep im-
pressiveness of the unusual scene. The ceremony

RIVALS ARISE. 203
finished, the prophet sacrificed the sixty-three cam
els he had provided, and Ali who had returned from
a mission to Yemen just in time to take part in
all the solemnities of the occasion, added thirty-
seven. The aged Abu Bekr, as he reflected upon
the events of the years since he was with the prophet
in the mountain cave, and looked forward to the
coming dissolution of the earthly bond that held
him to Mohammed, shed sympathetic tears.
The flesh of the sacrificed beasts was distributed
and the prophet took up his journey towards
Medina. The ascendancy Mohammed now enjoyed created
rivals, and three men in different parts of Arabia
arose and attempted to grasp some thing of the
power that he swayed, imitating his assumed in
spiration from heaven, and endeavoring to unite in
their persons his religious and civil authority. They
heard that Mohammed was growing weaker physi
cally, and they knew also that some of the wander
ing Bedawins who had given allegiance to Islam were
becoming discontented with its irksome restraints and
wearisome rites. They deemed the moment propi
tious for the undertakings that they meditated.
The first of these, Tuleya, belonging to a tribe
ranging the deserts of Nejd, and allied to the Kore
ishites, was promptly overcome by Kalid ; the sec
ond, nicknamed Maslama or Muselima, the Little
Moslem, was, as we shall see, not so easily put
down ; the third, Aswad, was a person of some au
thority in Yemen, and succeeded in driving out the
representatives of Mohammed ; but his insurrection

204 A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE.
seems to have been deemed by the prophet of small
importance, and it did not long endure. He was
killed a few days before Mohammed's death. These
" false prophets," as they are called, serve to show
that though the authority of Mohammed was wide
and his power great, his iron rule was galling to
many of his disciples, and that there were not want
ing those who were ready to rebel if opportunity
should but present itself.
With apparent unconsciousness of these facts, the
prophet proposed to organize another expedition
into Roman territory, and appointed as its director
Osama, son of his adopted son Zeyd, who, as we re
member, had perished in the same region at the
battle of Muta. He knew that his restless subjects
required activity of this sort, and he desired also that
his mission should be recognized among the tribes
to the northward. The preparations were, however,
interrupted by an illness.
One night the prophet found himself in so much
pain that he could not sleep ; and calling an atten
dant he passed through the quiet city streets to the
cemetery without the walls, where he saluted the in
habitants of the tombs, called upon them to rest in
peace, waiting for their brethren, and then fell to
praying for the souls of the faithful buried around
him. When he returned to Ayesha's apartment he
was in a high fever, and he said to Abu Bekr that it
was the travail of inspiration which brought it on.
Doubtless the ecstasies into which he had for so
many years been accustomed to fall when overcome
by those reflections which issued in " revelations,"

THE END APPROACHES. 205
were exceedingly weakening ; but it seems that they
would have shown some thing of their effect before
he had arrived at the age of more than three score
years. The same may be said of the epileptic fits or
hysterical attacks to which he is said by some to
have been subject, for they did not interfere with
the sound development of his bodily system, nor
keep him from the exposures and fatigue of active
campaigns. Mohammed now knew that the end of his earthly
pilgrimage was rapidly approaching, and he said :
" Verily Allah hath offered unto one of his servants
the choice between this life and the one that is near
unto him, and he hath chosen that which is nigh
unto Allah." It is said that he often repeated the
one hundred and tenth sura, which is interpreted to
mean that when many should press to Islam, then
the career of the prophet should be near at end :
" When the help of Allah comes, and victory,
And thou shalt see men entering Islam by troops,
Then sing thou the praises of Allah, and ask forgiveness
of him, for verily, he is merciful."
For a while Mohammed, though feeble, continued
to lead the public devotions in the mosque, but at
last he found himself too much weakened to perform
the duty, and even the doors of the building were
closed to keep the hum of busy life away from his
apartment. He then appointed Abu Bekr to take
his place in the mosque, perhaps intimating in this
way that he desired his priestly and political au
thority to fall upon his tried friend when he should
himself be no more.

206 A FAREWELL PILGRIMAGE.
His pains increased, and in his agony he cried
out : " By him in whose hands my life is, there is
not upon earth a believer afflicted with calamity or
disease, but Allah by it causeth his sins to fall from
him, yea, even as leaves shed from the trees in
autumn ! " At another time he called for pen and
paper, saying that he would write a book that would
preserve his followers from error. There seems to
be an indication here that the prophet wished to
revise the Koran to fit it to be a guide for his people
when their numbers should be increased in different
portions of the world. In a former illness he had
prayed for recovery, but now he cried, O my soul,
why seekest thou refuge other than Allah only ? "
Once he rallied and suddenly appeared in the
mosque when the assembly was in the act of prayer,
and as he entered he said in a whisper to an atten
dant, " Verily Allah hath granted me cooling of the
eyes in prayer ! " He then moved to the side of
Abu Bekr and remained there on the ground until
the services were finished. Then he sat a little
while in the courtyard and spoke in faint tones to
the throng, but the exertion weakened him, and he
sought his couch in the apartment of Ayesha.
There he sighed, " O Allah, succour me in the
agonies of death!" "Gabriel, come thou close to
thy servant!" Ayesha prayed the whiles, and the
prophet in his last throes muttered, " O Allah, grant
thy servant pardon, and join him to the companion
ship on high . . . Eternity in paradise . . .
Pardon . . . Yes . . . The companionship
of the blessed on high ! " . . . The head was

THE DEA TH OF THE PROPHE T.

207

heavy on Ayesha's bosom. Peace had come to him
after his stress and storm. It was Monday, June 8,
632 A.D., and in the tenth year after the Hejra.
Thus died the only man mentioned by history,
who was at once legislator and poet, the founder of
a religion and of an empire.

, XXIII.

THE FIRST SUCCESSOR.

Can we put ourselves in the place occupied by
these volatile Arabs as they heard that the prophet
was dead ? Can we tell what they thought of him
and his mission in their inmost hearts ? For ten
years he had gone in and out before the people of
Medina, and they knew the secrets of his unassum
ing life ; his simple dress, his spare table, his lack of
parade, his charity, his sobriety, his abstemiousness,
his fasts, his prayers, his noble counsel and tender
ness, his goodfellowship. They did not forget how
he gave gifts to his old nurse, Halima, when she
visited him in his manhood, nor his tears at the
grave of gentle Amina, when he passed by it on the
way from Mecca ; they remembered with loving
sympathy his tender outburst of sorrow when little
Ibrahim, his hope and his treasure, was torn from
his arms.
Could they forget his public teachings ? How he
counselled children to cultivate love, honor, and
humility towards their mothers,* no less than to
wards their fathers ; how he declared that husband
and wife had equal rights to love and affection from
* He said, beautifully, " The son gains Paradise at the feet of the
mother."

MOHAMMED.

2IO THE FIRST SUCCESSOR.
the other ; how he raised widows to an estate of
honor from their former humiliation ; how he limited
the number of wives that a man might take ; how he
raised the Arabs as a nation from the grade of idola
ters, and pointed them to Allah, who is one, and will
not share his honor with another.
Did they not remember his dignified form as it
had passed up and down their streets, or appeared
regularly in the mosque ? His sympathetic, dark
eye, which won their confidence at the first inter
view, his graceful smile and flowing beard, his
piercing glance, his stern frown, — were they not all
impressed upon their memory ? Did any ask why
he allowed himself fifteen wives, when he limited
them to four? Did they taunt his memory with his
cruelty to enemies? Did any enquire how the
" faithful " young man of Mecca had changed and
become the " crafty " ruler of Medina? Not one;
they were ready to bury his faults in his grave, if,
indeed, they acknowledged that he had any. Even
if they had been disposed to criticism, no Arabian
could accuse Mohammed of craftiness nor cruelty,
nor could he think of him in any other light than
that of a heaven-sent reformer.
His honesty was patent, despite those convenient
" revelations " that had in so suspicious a manner
contributed to further his personal desires.* What
ever faults we may detect in him to-day, and we
may properly be more critical than his followers
* " The old notion that Mohammed was a mere impostor appears
so difficult of belief that no one of any recognized skill in historical
enquiry now upholds it."— W. W. Ireland, " The Blot on the Brain,"
page 23.

TRA I TS OF I SLA M. 211
were able to be, are faults of the Arabian character and
of the seventh century ; and that is not saying that
Mohammed was a perfect man. He had the incon
sistencies of humanity ; he was led into weaknesses
by the very strength of his position, a position that
he had largely made for himself. He had some
light from perverted Judaism, a little also from a
less perfect phase of Christianity ; and of these, in
his ignorance, he took advantage to frame a moral
and social code that he trusted, and trusted to the
last, would be used by Allah for the regeneration of
the whole world. It was marred by polygamy ; it
was blotted by slavery ; but in both of these re
spects, it was an improvement upon what had pre
ceded it. It was bloody, and was made horrid by
hate, but the time did not come for ages after his
day when all Christians even understood the gentle
law of love that their Leader laid down for their
guidance, and for centuries they acted upon the law
which permitted direst hate to exist towards all
beyond the pale of their own faith.
Can we find fault with Mohammed for the presen
tation of Allah, the merciful and compassionate, the
One God as opposed to the hundreds of divinities in
the Arabian pantheon ? Was it not an original idea
in the eyes of his countrymen? Was it not to them
a veritable revelation ? Did it not show the great
ness of Mohammed's mind that from the sources at his
command he was able to evolve an idea so sublime,
and so strange in view of all his early teachings ?
The intensity with which Mohammed appreciated
the evils of idolatry led him to overlook his oppor-

212 THE FIRST SUCCESSOR.
tunity to overturn polygamy and to elevate woman ;
and thus to make Islam a great power for good in
after time. Was not his sincerity proved, too, by the
firmness with which, to his dying moment, he clung
to the one grand thought of all his life? If he had
been more than man, he would have seen the error
of fixing a religion so inelastic, so unprogressive, and
laws so rigid and unadapted for the use of future
ages upon a people whom he thought destined to
bring all nations under their sway and to hold them
for all time.*
'The reforms that he wrought were relative, not
absolute ; they raised the standard in Mecca and in
all Arabia, but they were lower, if he had only
known it, than the perfect law of purity and love
which a greater than he had laid down. It was his
misfortune not to have seen Christianity in its full
brightness, and it has been the misfortune of his fol
lowers ever since.f To him Issa was not the perfect
man that Jesus was, but though he was seen by him
through the veil of the degenerate, the vulgarized
* Dr. August Weil says of the Koran : " Like the Books of Moses,
it contains ordinances that are not useful or even applicable to all
lands and all mankind, nor yet for all time. ... As a reformer,
which Mohammed originally was and desired to be, he is entitled to
our unqualified recognition and admiration. . . . He merits the
name of prophet."
\ ' ' All this was extremely natural on the part of one in Mahomet's
position ; but he was clearly blameworthy in not more fully inform
ing himself on such all-important questions. Consequently his sys
tem became one of mere retrogression and bitter antagonism to the
truth." " A little more enquiry, and Mahomet might have proved a
Christian missionary." — E. A. Freeman, " The History and Con
quests of the Saracens." pp. 53-72.

MOHAMMED'S IDEA OF GOD. 213
tritheistic Christianity of Arabia, he appeared always
to his mind as the true Spirit and Word of Allah, as
one to be respected and honored as an apostle,
though not allowed to be the Son of God. No
more could have been expected of Mohammed short
of the miraculous.
Maurice has shown that the Arabian prophet
adopted the Old-Testament idea of God — of a being,
living, acting, speaking, ruling ; as one who makes
his will known to men by books and apostles ; as
one whom man could not find out, who must reveal
himself ; as one to whom his people may offer their
petitions, with faith that he will hear ; and to this
divinity he bound a scattered nation, who for cen
turies had been without a temple or a capital, scorned
and hated by all people, and bound them so firmly
that they were ready to sacrifice their goods, yea,
their very lives in its support, because they believed
with a mighty conviction that they were verily called
of God to a work, that they were his witnesses and
responsible to him only.*
Mohammed depended not at all upon " miracles,"
as many would-be prophets have ; he declared that
his only miracle was the Koran, and this he truly
believed to be some thing not evolved from himself,
for when its suras were brought to his mind he was
so deeply wrought up by consideration of the par
ticular themes they respectively treated that he verily
believed that they were not of him, but came from
on high.
* See " The Religions of the World," by Frederick Denison
Maurice, chapter I., part 1, and chapter I., part 2.

214 THE FIRST SUCCESSOR.
Many another thinker, without for a moment
claiming that he has been the subject of supernatural
communications, has nevertheless been entirely un
able at times to explain the genesis of his own works,
or perhaps even to feel that they proceeded from his
own mind ; they had been produced after mental
throes, often with physical pains, and when once
brought to the light they seemed to their composer
like some thing entirely outside of his being; they
were as fresh and interesting to him as to any one
else. Such, in a transcendent degree, was the case
with Mohammed ; he seems to have been unaware
of the reaction of his mind upon itself in his early
anxiety for reformation, and after the idea had be
come fixed in his belief that he was in communica
tion with higher powers, he never was able to release
himself from the agreeable and flattering hallucina
tion. It was a true man who talked to Ayesha during
the " night Al Kadar," which is " better than a
thousand months," and expressed his reliance for
salvation on the mercy of Allah.*
" O prophet, do none enter paradise except by the
mercy of Allah ? " she asked.
" No, no, none enter but by the favor of Allah."
" But you, O prophet, will you not enter paradise
except by the compassion of Allah ? "
* " Surely nothing but a consciousness of real righteous intentions
could have carried Mahomet so steadily and consistently, without
ever flinching or wavering, without ever betraying himself to his
most intimate companions, from his first revelation to Khadijah to
his last agony in the arms of Ayesha." — E. A. Freeman, " The His
tory and Conquests of the Saracens," p. 57.

SADNESS IN MEDINA. 21 5
The prophet placed his hand upon his head and
said solemnly thrice: " I shall not enter except Allah
cover me with his mercy ! "
On another occasion he said : " I am no more than
a man ; when I order you any thing respecting re
ligion, receive it ; and when I order you about the
business of this life, then I am nothing more than a
man." There was sadness in Medina when the news came
to the people that the prophet was no more. " How
can we let him die, — he who told us how to act and
warned us of judgment to come ? " " No, no, he is
not dead," cried strong Omar, " he has but gone like
Musa (Moses) to talk to Allah ; we shall see him
among us again." Abu Bekr hastened to the house
of mourning, placed his hand upon the cold cheeks
and the quiet heart, and then appeared before the
throng, saying with Oriental vehemence:
" O Moslems, if ye would adore Mohammed, know
that he is dead ; if ye would adore Allah, know that
he lives, and never dies ! Do ye forget already the
verse of the Koran, that he gave you aforetime ?
' Mohammed is but a man with a mission ; apostles
have passed away in other days ; what if he die or is
killed, will ye then turn upon your heels ? ' (sura iii.).
Do ye forget that other word, ' Verily, O Mohammed,
thou shalt die, and they shall die ' ? " (sura xxxix.).
The words of the old man calmed the multitude and
showed Omar too that he was wrong.
Before the body could be buried, it was necessary
to decide upon the successor (kalif) who should
wield the power that death had wrested from the

2l6 THE FIRST SUCCESSOR.
prophet, and there were several claimants, but Abu
Bekr had, they thought, been too plainly pointed
out as the choice of Mohammed to allow him to be
overlooked, and the authority was laid upon him
after a slight discussion. Omar cried out to him,
" Plold forth thy hand!" and seizing it, declared
in a loud voice that he recognized him as chief, and
swore to him allegiance.
The next morning Abu Bekr appeared as usual in
the mosque, and Omar said to the people: "The
apostle of Allah has been taken from -us, but the
Koran remains ; Allah gave it as a guide to the
prophet, it will continue to keep us in the right way !
To-day Allah has placed at our head the best man
among us, the friend of the prophet, his companion
in the cave. Come, then, take the hand of Abu
Bekr, and solemnly swear obedience and allegiance
to him ! "
The multitude hastened to grasp the hand of the
honored leader, and then Abu Bekr spoke :
" Behold me charged with the cares of governor.
I am not the best among you ; I need all your advice
and all your help ; if I do well, support me ; if I
mistake, counsel me. To tell truth to a person
commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance ; to con
ceal it is treason. In my sight the powerful and the
weak are alike ; to both I wish to render justice. As
I obey Allah and his prophet, obey me : if I cast
behind me the laws of Allah and the prophet, I have
no more right to your obedience."
The successor, or kalif as he was called, thus
peacefully inaugurated, the funeral ceremonies were

ISLAM'S FUTURE POLICY. 217
the next care. They occupied parts of Tuesday and
Wednesday, after which the body, honored in death,
was placed lovingly in a tomb prepared in the house
of Ayesha, the favorite wife. She continued to
occupy a portion of the apartment afterwards, a
division being made between the dwelling of the
living and the dead, and there her father, Abu Bekr,
was also buried when he died.
The first use that the kalif made of his new
authority was prophetic, for it marked out the policy
of Islam for the future. He sent Osama on his ex
pedition of vengeance and conquest, and after twenty
days he returned in triumph, having avenged his
father's death at Muta by fire and blood. He had
burned villages and crops, had slain all who ventured
to oppose his progress, and had enslaved those who
had remained at home, leaving behind him a whirl
wind of fire and smoke. He was met by Abu Bekr
and the citizens outside the town with loud acclama
tions, and together they marched to the mosque, the
white banner of the prophet flying over them, and
there they offered thanksgiving for the bloody

XXIV.
CAN ISLAM BE SHAKEN OFF?
The new ruler, the Successor of the Prophet of
Allah, as he was humbly called, was a man of about
the same age as Mohammed. His principal recom
mendation for the office to which he had so sud
denly been raised, was found in the fact that he had
been with the founder of Islam in the cave, for which
reason he had received the title, " the Other of the
Two," a sobriquet of which he was exceedingly
proud. Mohammed called him Al-Siddik, on ac
count of his truthfulness, and that title also adhered
to him through life, the people as well as their
prophet always placing the utmost confidence in his
integrity. The form of Abu Bekr was spare, and he stooped ;
his face was thin, and his countenance gave the im
pression of a man of resolution and wisdom ; but his
expression was mild, truly representing his dispo
sition, though on account of the firmness of his faith
in the prophet he had become one of his most reso
lute and unyielding disciples. His handsome features
were smooth and fair, and his thin beard and hair,
though naturally white, were, in accordance with an
Oriental custom, dyed red.

CANDIDATES FOR KALIF. 219
Though there were reasons for asserting that Abu
Bekr had been indicated by Mohammed as his suc
cessor, there were not lacking grounds for thinking
that Ali also had a good claim upon the office. Not
only was he son-in-law of the prophet, but it will be
remembered that he was, according to the tradition
ary story, the first one to rush to his support when
the mission was announced, and had at that most
critical moment received the title "kalif," joined
with the promise that his commands should be
obeyed.* There was another strong claimant, the redoubt
able Omar, whose conversion in the early days of the
prophet's mission, had appeared almost miraculous.
Since that moment he had been the right arm of
Islam, and to his martial ability most of its victories
in war were due. He showed a generosity that
could not be forgotten in giving up his claims with
so much cordiality in favor of Abu Bekr.
Othman was another who might well have ex
pected recognition, for he had married two of Mo
hammed's daughters, and had received from him one
of those compliments that he was perhaps too much
inclined to scatter promiscuously among his follow
ers : "Each thing has its mate, and each man his
associate ; my companion in paradise is Othman."
The prophet showed special consideration for this
man at the time of the Oath under the Tree, for
Othman was not present, but Mohammed took the
oath for him, striking one of his own palms upon the
other in token of his allegiance.
* See page 83.

220 CAN ISLAM BE SHAKEN OFF?
Of all these, Ali seems to have had the strongest
right to the place (if " right " there was), and so great
was the feeling of his partisans on his rejection that
a body known by his name still exists, the Islamites
of Persia to-day adhering to the interpretation of the
Koran in accordance with his views, and believing
that Abu Bekr was an usurper. The two great sects
arose in consequence of this rejection of Ali ; they
are those of Persia, just referred to, known as the
Alyites, Fatimites, or Shias, the latter title signify
ing secretaries : and the Sonnites or Traditionists,
the orthodox adherents to the claims of Abu Bekr
and the three kalifs after him who held the office
before Ali. Thus it seemed that Islam was ready to
break up into sects as soon as the bond that held the
prophet and his followers together was broken.
If there was discontent with the restrictions of the
new religion before the prophet's death, when he was
merely beginning to show the infirmities of age, they
were increased many fold when it was known
throughout Arabia that he was actually dead.
Many were ready to say, " If he had really been a
prophet of Allah, he would not have died ; and there
were few like the chief of Taif to rise up and say:
" Children, ye were the latest converts to Islam, will
ye be the first to renounce it?" There were many
ready to exclaim : " We will continue to pray, but
we will no longer bring tribute to Medina." All
who were bound by interest only loosened their al
legiance ; all who had been converted only by the
sword looked to that weapon for help in -breaking
their bonds ; all who were uneasy under the rites and

NO COMPROMISE. 221
ceremonies of the faith thought that the moment for
relief had arrived. From the Persian Gulf to the Red
Sea there was a general cry : " Can Islam be shaken
off?" and the same question was reechoed from the
Indian Ocean to the sands of the Syrian desert.
The first duty of Abu Bekr — -the mild, but the
forcible also — was to quiet these premonitory ebul
litions of rebellion before opposition to Islam should
gain such strength as to be irresistible. He had
cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war with effect
when he commissioned Osama to establish the quiet
of death upon the northern borders, and he deter
mined to use equally strong means in settling the
troubles that now threatened. He divided the en
tire territory of Arabia into districts, and eleven
separate expeditions were prepared, commissioned
to summon every province to allegiance or destruc
tion, in accordance with a proclamation that was now
issued. The spirit that was to control the future move
ments is shown in the case of certain of the inhabi
tants of Nejd, who came offering to keep all their
tribes quiet if they might be permitted to pray but
not pay tribute. A solemn convocation discussed
the question whether this compromise should not
be allowed ; whether it was right, indeed, to wage
war against a people who professed the unity of
Allah and said the prayers prescribed by the
prophet. Abu Bekr settled the question once for
all, by declaring that Islam was one and indivisible ;
that they who refused a part of the demands were
apostates with whom the Koran permitted no cove-

222 CAN ISLAM BE SHAKEN OFF?
nants to be made, and that it made no difference to
him how numerous they might be, he should pro
ceed against them after the manner of Mohammed,
who had never counted the number of any opposing
forces. Even strong Omar was surprised at the
firmness of the kalif. He had at first been will
ing to acquiesce in the compromise, but now he
exclaimed : " Abu Bekr has more faith alone than
all we together ! "
To whom should the new kalif look for support
in the performance of the weighty duties of his po
sition ? Doubtless, one would think, to the warriors
upon whom the prophet had relied ; but, no : he
kept these strong men at home, saying that he
needed them for counsel. They had been his ri
vals in candidacy for the office he held, and per
haps he did not care to place them in command of
great armies and send them out among those from
whom they might recruit partisans to oust him from
his position. Thus, Omar and Othman and Ali were
kept at home, while the greatest reliance was placed
upon that Kalid who had, as we know, before the
death of the prophet, won the sobriquet, "The
Sword of Allah '' ; and it was to his bravery, dar
ing, and dash, to his cool self-possession in the face
of danger, that Islam owed its remarkable progress ;
he it was who was destined to bring to fealty again
the detached tribes all over the peninsula. Kalid
ranged first to the north and east from Medina, car
rying devastation and terror in his train, and proudly
receiving the trembling Bedawins back to their lost
allegiance. Complaint was carried to Abu Bekr that

MANY "READERS" KILLED. 223
Kalid was over cruel, but the kalif pardoned him,
alleging that his orders had been misunderstood, and
adding when Omar demanded his deposition : " I
shall not sheathe a sword that Allah has drawn
against the infidels ! " In the course of his cam
paigns Kalid encountered the last remaining
" false "" prophet, Muselima, the "Little Moslem,"
who ranged the province of Yemana, eastward from
Mecca (a.d. 633.).
By the juggling tricks of the necromancer, this ad
venturer had deceived many of the tribes of that
region, and had, by pretended miracles, led them
to embrace his wretched imitation of Islam. Kalid
met him on the sandy plain of Akraba, and the hosts
fought with the utmost desperation. With the
" false " prophet it was the fury of despair ; with
the host of Kalid the infatuation of fanaticism.
A Moslem lance brought the leader of the Bedaw
ins to the dust and Kalid was victorious. The con
flict was so remarkable among the many bloody fields
of Arabia that the place took the name, " The Gar
den of Death."
The inhabitants of Yemana had been thus con
quered at great cost, for large numbers of the Mos
lems fell before their enemies ; and among those
thus cut off were many who belonged to the im
portant class known as Readers, — men who pre
served the Koran in their memory. So many of
these fell, indeed, that it gave rise to a well-grounded
fear lest the precious book itself might be lost
through the death of all those who knew it. The re
sult was that a plan was formed for collecting the

224 CAN ISLAM BE SHAKEN OFF?
text, for up to this time there had been no complete •
copy of it, the parts that the " Companions of Mo
hammed," and the Readers did not carry in their
memory being written on scattered pieces of skins
and leaves of the palm, on bones and leather. The
sacred duty of collecting these fragments was de
volved upon a commission composed of the most
capable of the two classes just mentioned, and an
official text was prepared. It was deposited for
preservation with Hafsa, one of the widows of the
prophet, daughter of Omar. The collection was
made in a style that we should call haphazard ; and,
as we read it now in the translations of Sale, Lane,
and others, seems disconnected, obscure, and even
incoherent. Of arrangement there seems to be none,
unless the principle of placing the longest suras at
the beginning be considered a plan, and even this is
not systematically adhered to.*
Kalid continued his fierce work of reconstruction
until the interior was quiet ; others carried the con
viction of the sword throughout the region along
the shores of the Persian Gulf, through Oman, to
Mahra, and afterwards Yemen and Hadramawt were
brought to terms, though not without the interposi-
*In " The Speeches of Mohammed," by Stanley Lane-Poole, one
gets a good idea of the best portions of the Koran, without being
obliged to search through many tedious suras. In the translation by
the Rev. John Medows Rodwell, the suras are arranged in a probable
chronological order, and the difference between the poetical passages
and the prose chapters plainly indicated. The paraphrastic version of
Sale is prefaced by a valuable introduction, and the same is true of
the very scholarly and much more sinewy translation by Professor
Palmer.

DEATH OF FATIMA. 225
tion of several " miracles " which greatly helped the
faithful. Thus the first year of the kalifate passed ;
it was successful in bringing back the apostacised, but
at an enormous expense of blood and misery, and no
one could tell how securely the irresponsible wander
ers of the desert were now united to the old faith, un
accustomed as they ever had been to own any allegi
ance besides that acknowledged to their own tribes.
During the year (633) Fatima died, and Ali then
joined the other " Companions of the Prophet," in
attending upon the kalif's court, setting aside the
grievance that he had felt at being passed over in
the election. He probably found that it was better
policy to fall in with the current, at least to appear
ance, than to fight against popular feeling, though
he never forgot that he had been the only person
called kalif by the prophet.
The tribes of the desert and the Arabs of the
towns and cities began to feel, before the first year
closed, that Islam was not to be shaken off.

xxv.
REACHING OUT TO CHALDEA AND BABYLONIA.
DESPOTS have always found unnecessary to employ
their subjects in foreign war from time to time, in or
der to keep them from feeling the galling chains by
which they are bound or to hear their clanking ; and
it came to pass that when the kalif had all the tribes
of Arabia under control, he saw no better way to re
strain them from new revolts than by tempting them
to make inroads upon their neighbors. Nothing could
have been better planned by a ruler acquainted with
the volatile nature of his subjects. There was no
question about the direction that the fighting should
take ; there was no outlook to the southward, nor to
any quarter, in fact, except to the region of the
Tigris and the Euphrates, and to the land of Syria.
Extending from the head of the Persian Gulf to
the Dead Sea, there is a range of desert wilderness
which is shaded off to the north until it is lost in the
fertile plains of Southern Asia Minor. Chaldea and
Babylonia occupied the rich region south of the
river Tigris, watered by the Euphrates, and were
known as Irak of the Arabs, as distinguished from
Irak of the Persians, which corresponded somewhat
nearly to- the modern kingdom of Persia. North-

MESOPOTAMIA. 227
west of Irak was Mesopotamia, literally the land
between the rivers, called also the Island, the rich
land from which Abraham came. Irak of Arabia
was at this time under the jurisdiction of Persia, and
the wandering Arabs who roamed over the broad
desert were tributary to Persia when they pitched
their tents on the eastern side, and to Rome when
sojourning on the side towards Syria ; though they
were at no time trusty allies or subjects. The region
of Irak contains many relics of a former civilization ;
there are the mounds that mark the site of old
Babylon.* " 'T was here, beneath this dark and silent mound,
Where ages heap their nameless wrecks around,
That he, the last great king, before his fall,
Spread his famed feast, and lit his gorgeous hall."
Farther to the south are the ruins known as the
Tower of Babel, and to the north, at the time of
which we are writing, was a city called Medain (the
Twin City) because it occupied the site of two more
ancient towns.
" Two cities moulder here — and can it be,
Selucia ! Ctesphon ! we gaze on ye ?
Boast of the Greek and pride of Parthia's kings,
How has your glory flown on eagle wings ! . . .
And here dwelt Kosroes, Persia's tasteful king,
Lapped in each joy that power and splendor bring ;
Here blazed that throne, all formed of pearls and gold.
Like sunset cloud round Mythra's chariot rolled. . . .
The soul in dreams half thought her in the skies,
Mistaking earth for star-bright paradise ! "
Some distance south of Birs Nimrud, the pile
*For an account of these localities, see " The Story of Chaldea,"
chapter one, and also other portions of that volume.

228 CHALDEA AND BABYLONIA.
wrongly supposed to mark the site of the Tower
of Babel, and but three miles from the site of
the future city of Kufa, was the city of Hira, the
rich capital of the province of the same name. This
was the first point toward which Abu Bekr deter
mined to send his armies. He directed Kalid, fresh
from the victories of which we have just given a
brief account, to advance from the southward, and
ordered another army to approach from the north,
in the spring of the year 633. Kalid was the first to
encounter the enemy, and, in true Arabian fashion,
he sent a haughty letter, saying: "Accept the faith
of Islam and thou art safe ; or else pay tribute, thou
and thy people ; if thou refusest, thou shalt have
thyself to blame ; for a people is upon thee loving
death even as thou lovest life." The Persians
thought that an army of Arabs could be easily dis
persed, and hastened to find the approaching enemy.
They encamped by some water-springs, and when
Kalid came up there was a desperate struggle for
possession of them. It is said that the Persians
were bound together by ropes or chains, determined
to perish if they could not conquer. Kalid fell upon
them with his usual fury, and was victorious after
great carnage. The Battle of the Chains was the
name given to the conflict (spring of 633).
Again and again was Kalid victorious over the
Persians ; and as he advanced he sang to his soldiers :
" Behold the riches of the land ; its paths drop fat
ness ; food is as the stones of Arabia. It were
worth our while to fight here for worldly advantage
only, but in a holy war, — how much more noble !

THE BUTCHERY OF KALID. 2 29
These fair fields and paradise ! " Thus he went on
ward to Hira, sacking towns on his way, and stop
ping once to send some of the rich spoil to the
kalif, to give him a taste of what was to come.
After reaching Hira, it did not take long to bring it
to terms; its commander fled, and the people were
very glad to effect a treaty binding themselves to
pay a yearly tribute to the kalif.
The inhabitants of the region about followed
the example of those of Hira, and thus the career
of conquest was successfully begun. Five times
a day the muezzin climbed to his tower in this
Persian capital, as he did at Mecca and Medina, and
called the faithful to prayer ; and besides, Kalid
celebrated there a special service in honor of his
victory. We can well spare description of many of the
battles that preceded and followed the capture of
Hira ; — the Battle of the River of Blood (May, 633),
and such like, do not offer attractions to us, and we
pass them over ; sufficient that after victories and
repulses many, Kalid fought a notable battle at
Firdah, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, at a
point where Mesopotamia, Irak, and Syria may be
said to touch, if, indeed, any thing so exact may be
predicated of territories so little defined (January 21,
634). It was a long and frightful struggle, and as
many as one hundred thousand are reported, in the
exaggerated rhetoric of the East, to have bitten the
dust. Kalid was restrained from attacking Medain,
though he much wished to ; and as the sacred month
had now returned, he determined to refresh his soul

230 CHALDEA AND BABYLONIA.
by a pilgrimage to Mecca. Unknown and almost
alone, he found his difficult way over the interven
ing desert, and actually returned to camp before his
absence had been noticed. Thus the great general
mixed his bloodshedding with his devotion.
The campaign against the Romans in Syria was
entrusted to a less successful general ; but it com
prised a larger number of veterans of the wars of the
prophet, who were expected to be invincible now as
then ; but it was not so. The expedition was forced
to retreat after its first campaign, and Abu Bekr
sent out reinforcements, which he personally bade
farewell in words intended to stimulate them to the
utmost exertions for the cause, but even this did not
suffice, and Kalid was called from Irak to give his
powerful aid.
Heraclius, on his part, was determined to repel the
invasion at whatever cost ; he bethought him of his
victories over the Persians, and asked himself if he
could allow a band of wandering Arabs to put a
stop to his progress or even interrupt his career for
a day. Abu Bekr massed all his forces on the banks of
the Yermuk River,* east of the sea of Galilee, be-
* Laurence Oliphant, who travelled through this region, gives in
" The Land of Gilead" (p. 94, Am. ed. ; p. 87, Eng. ed.) a sketch
of a gorge of the Yermuk, which shows the appearance of the cele
brated battlefield. He speaks of sitting on a broken column on the
verge of the precipice and looking down at the winding river five
hundred feet below, while "traces of a departed grandeur" lay
strewn in every direction. There are abundant remains of an ancient
city surrounded by walls apparently impregnable, built in three
tiers.

THE STRUGGLE OF WACUSA. 23 1
tween Damascus and Bostra, and there Heraclius
also brought his great army, estimated at ninety
thousand men. Week after week these vast bodies
faced each other, engaging in petty skirmishes from
time to time, but neither accomplishing any thing
decisive. It was when matters were in this condi
tion that Kalid was peremptorily, and against his
will, called to march from distant Irak to the Yer
muk ; but he was undaunted. In a few days he fell
unexpectedly upon Tadmor (Palmyra) and took it.
Some accounts say also that he captured Bostra,
which became the first important city of Syria to
yield to Moslem power.*
The plain of Wacusa, in which the armies lay, is
described as bounded on three sides by sheer preci
pices, with a ravine on the remaining side which left
only space sufficient for the passage of a military
road by which it was commanded. The Romans
occupied the plain, and the Moslems commanded
the entrance to it. The Roman army was increased
by large reinforcements and threatened to annihilate
the Saracens ; but when, in September, 634, the
conflict was finally precipitated, the soldiers of
Kalid fought with their usual desperation, and the
Romans began to fall back, until, finally, vast num
bers of them were driven into the deep chasm, and
thousands perished in this humiliating manner. On
the morrow, Kalid took possession of the tent of
the Roman commander, the great booty was divided,
* Ockley describes the siege of Bostra with romantic detail, and the
accurate Caussin de Perceval (iii., 435) treats it as a fact ; but Sir
Wm. Muir says that he finds no foundation for the narrative.

232 CHALDEA AND BABYLONIA.
and the thousands of dead Moslems were buried on
the field. Syria was conquered ; but the news ar
rived at almost the same time that Abu Bekr was
no more, and the kalif 's death was followed by an
order that Kalid should deliver up his command.
While these stirring events were happening, the
aged Abu Bekr had been truly approaching his end.
During the summer he had failed considerably under
the weight of anxiety caused by the difficult opera
tions in the field that he was obliged to oversee,
though he remained strong enough to the very close
of his life to attend to his official duties. He de
volved upon Omar the duties of public prayer, as
Mohammed had laid them upon him, and finally he
issued a decree appointing him kalif in his stead,
giving him upon his dying bed a caution to temper
his natural severity with moderation. The first act
of the new kalif was to send to Kalid the despatch
depriving him of his command, an act that promised
little for the magnanimity of the coming reign, since
it was the result of a long-treasured desire, formed
at the time when Abu Bekr had refused to depose
Kalid for alleged cruelty.

XXVI.
PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA CONQUERED.
The seeds planted by the prophet were now
springing up and bearing fruit ; and the fruit was
not that to be expected from lives dominated by
fasting, prayer, and dependence upon Allah. The
purest teachings of the Koran were generally
ignored ; and it was the license that it gave which
seemed to have the greatest influence upon the
faithful. When, for example, the prophet wrote the
restrictions of marriage and concubinage, he had in
mind the simple condition of affairs around him at
the time ; he did not look forward to the days
when the Moslems should go forth as conquering
hosts.* Great changes were now coming over his people ;
they were shedding the blood of their fellow crea
tures in torrents. At the Battle of the River of
* " Mahomet, in the act of restricting, necessarily sanctioned this
enormous evil. His limit was then and there a prodigious moral
reform, but it must always stand in the way of any more complete
reform. . . The difference between one wife and two is every
thing. . . . His followers have found it much easier to remem
ber that he allowed four wives than that he allowed only four." — E.
A. Freeman, "The History and Conquests of the Saracens,"
page 69.

234 PALESTINE AND. MES0P07AMIA.
Blood (A.D. 633) seventy thousand men of Irak
were butchered, if the accounts are to be believed, in
order that the Arab might pitch his tents at will
throughout the rich valleys of the Eastern rivers;
and when the Romans were pushed by scores of
thousands into the gulf at Wacusa, it was that the
Moslems might riot in luxury, add to their harems,
and enrich themselves with spoils. Each soldier
received permission to take as slaves all the women
of the conquered territories that he wished, and
thus the basest passions were encouraged in a
manner that the prophet had never imagined pos
sible. When Omar took up the reins of government,
he declared with an oath that he would guide the
Moslems in the way in which they ought to go, and
no one who was acquainted with his character
doubted that he would guide them with a strong
hand. His first act has already been mentioned;
his next was to prepare more soldiers to go to Irak;
and these did not volunteer with much alacrity, for
the Persians were now feared more than they had
been when unknown. Meantime the Moslems were
obliged to retire from Hira, and encountering the
Persians at a place not far from Babylon, where
the Euphrates was spanned by a bridge of boats,
they were routed by a great army reinforced by
elephants, which trampled them under their feet,
and obliged them to flee down the river towards
the site of the Battle of the River of Blood, where
they had surfeited their own sanguinary ambition
but a few months before. Four thousand Mos-

BOWEIB AND KADESIA 235
lems were cut off, and two thousand more rushed
in confusion away from the field, carrying the news
of defeat to Medina (Oct., 634). The haughty Omar
met them with firmness, but did not chide them,
though it must have been a sad reverse, coming, as
it did, but seven weeks after the wonderful victory
of Wacusa.
Recruits were immediately provided, but they
could not be sent to Persia in time to serve the
needs of the army there, and if additions had not
been received from other sources, the Moslems must
have been forced out of their position. As it fell
out, they were able to make advances, to repos
sess themselves of Hira, and finally to make them
selves masters of Mesopotamia, and to ravage the
rich region almost at will, gaining immense stores of
provisions and spoil of all sorts.* This victory
excited the Moslems to greater efforts, but it also
nerved the Persians to put forth their utmost
strength to repel the invaders, who, though they had
been in the land but two years, were making unex
pected progress.
The decisive battle was fought in November, 635,
at Kadesia, a place lying southwest of Hira.f There
* The important battle in this campaign (a.d. 635) was that of
Boweib, near Kufa, at which Motanna, a noble and tried commander,
led the Saracen troops. The struggle was long and severe, but the
Persians were utterly defeated, and great spoil encouraged the Mos
lems. Motanna, who never recovered from the wounds received on
that day, is ranked second only to the great Kalid for coolness,
strategic skill, and desperate courage. See Sir William Muir's "The
Early Kalif ate, " page 139.
f Caussin de Perceval puts this battle down under date February-
March, -636, and Muller gives 637 as the year.

236 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA.
the hosts of the Persians gathered during the sum
mer, until over a hundred thousand troops were mar
shalled against the comparatively small army of
Moslems, and they were supported by many elephants
and large bodies of cavalry. As the day for the
struggle approached the Moslems nerved them
selves for the fight by listening to verses from the
Koran. Stir up the faithful to the fight ! Twenty of you who stand
firm shall vanquish two hundred, and a hundred shall put a thousand
to flight.
Say to the infidels, Ye shall be worsted, and in gehenna shall ye
be gathered together.
Victory is from Allah, he is mighty and wise.
When ye confront a troop, stand firm, and make oft mention of
Allah, that it may fare well with you.
Verily, he that turneth his back shall draw down upon him the
wrath of Allah.
Let the faithful trust in Allah ; he' hath already succored you at
Bedr, when ye were the weaker.
And ye be steadfast, and fear Allah, and the foe come upon you in
haste, Allah will succor you with five thousand angels.
When the day for the battle arrived no Arab stirred
until the hour for mid-day prayer had passed, but
then carnage began in earnest. The Moslems fought
with the conviction that paradise was before them,
hosts of angels around them, and Iblis behind them.
Believing that Allah would bring them the victory,
they slaughtered without mercy, and finally put to
flight the huge elephants that had been roaming
about like great castles on foot, carrying con
sternation with them ; but the victory was not yet
gained. The second day gave the Moslems new
courage and depressed the Persians, for Omar had

THREE DA YS AT KADESIA.

237

managed to get his reinforcements to the field from
Syria, and the elephants were not in a condition to
be placed in the ranks. The Arabs shouted Allahu
Akbar ! and recited their endless genealogies ; they
saw two thousand of their men fall in their tracks,

SEALS OF EARLY KALIFS.

but rejoiced that ten thousand Persians had bitten
the dust. The third day found the elephants aiding
the Persians again, but more Syrians had arrived to
support Islam, and all day long the carnage contin
ued, not even stopping when darkness fell upon the

238 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA.
scene. The Night of Clangor, as it has been called,
is said not to have had its equal for intensity of tur
moil and for tiger-like ferocity ; it ended in the com
plete route of the Persians and decided the fate of
the land. The news was carried to Omar, who had
been intently waiting; — "Allah hath scattered the
Persians ! " He knew at once that he was placed in
the front rank of the world's sovereigns ; but his
pride was not stirred ; he bore himself with the
same calm majesty as before.
The victory of Kadesia was followed by the com
plete subjection of Mesopotamia, and the capture of
the royal city of Medain with rich booty (a.d. 637).
Another result was the foundation of two new
capitals (a.d. 638) : Bassora, in the delta of the
Euphrates, some seventy miles from the Persian
Gulf ; and Kufa, about the same distance south of
the site of Babylon ; both of which were afterwards
very influential in the world of Islam. They were
endowed with confiscated lands, and became hotbeds
of faction and centres of the most characteristic
Oriental luxury. Literature, politics, and theology
were cultivated in them, and their population is said
to have reached nearly two hundred thousand per
sons ; though the unhealthy situation of Bassora
caused it to fall behind. At the present time Kufa
is in ruins, and Bassora is a city with some trade
carried on with little enterprise.
While these important operations had been going
forward in the east, the forces of Omar were by no
means idle in the west, and Palestine was the scene
of movements to which we now turn. It is not easy

A MOVE UPON DAMASCUS. 239
to present to our minds a picture of the civilization
that before this time existed along the route from the
mouths of the Euphrates to Damascus and the Medi
terranean ; nor to remember that there was a com
merce of considerable proportions carried on through
out the vast region. After the slaughter on the
Yermuk, the Moslem army received directions to
move upon the far-famed city of Damascus, though
it was learned that it had been largely reinforced in
view of the dangerous proximity of the Arab hordes.
The famous city, combining reminiscences of Abra
ham and Paul, of David and Ahab and Alexander
the Great, claimed to have been founded by Uz,
grandson of Shem, in remote antiquity. Despite the
changing fortune of many ages, it still continues the
centre of large trade, and comprises an active popu
lation of one hundred and fifty thousand souls ; and
it is now as it was then, a place of the deepest in
terest. The beauty of the surrounding country and
the richness of the outlying pleasure-grounds were a
revelation to the warriors of the desert as they gazed
upon the plain in which the city lies ; and they fondly
imagined that there was nothing more entrancing in
paradise ; they were ready to enter with enthusiasm
upon a campaign for its possession.
Damascus was not greatly alarmed by the approach
of an army of wanderers from the desert, which, it
was believed, would flee before the approaching cold
that might be expected in that latitude, at an eleva-
vation of two thousand feet above the sea. In the
minds of the Saracens, however, there was no thought
of giving up, and month after month passed, while

240 PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA.
they still sat down before the massive walls (a.d.
635). There were episodes of bravery and daring,
which tradition has exaggerated into stirring, though
savage, tales of prowess ; but we must pass them
over. As the Medes and Persians of old had taken
advantage of the occurrence of a festival to capture
ancient Babylon unawares, so now the Moslems,
learning that the Roman governor was celebrating a
feast in honor of a son's birthday, ordered a general
assault upon Damascus. Surprising the unwatchful
guardians of the walls, they entered, crying " Allahu
Akbar!" and penetrated to the very heart of the
city, when they learned to their disgust that the
Roman governor, promptly making up his mind that
resistance would be hopeless, had hastened to sur
render. By the terms of the capitulation, the Mos
lems were to receive one half of all the buildings,
public and private, of the gold and silver and lands ;
the entire imperial domain and all the property of
such citizens as had fled during the siege. Besides
this, an annual tribute was to be paid to the kalif.
After so great a success, the Arabs wished to ad
vance upon Homs, ancient Emesa, situated on the
eastern bank of the Orontes, some ninety miles
farther to the north ; but there was an army in the
rear at about the same distance, at Fihl, ancient
Pella, a few miles below the outlet of the Sea of
Galilee, and against that it was thought necessary to
make the next movement. The army accordingly
marched back upon the pilgrim-road towards Me
dina, until a point was reached at which the turn is
made towards the Jordan ; the Yermuk was re-

THE FALL OF FIHL. 24 1
crossed, and an encampment was effected before the
doomed town. After a time, in the summer of 635,
the Romans in Fihl found their resources failing, and
determined to make an attack upon the Moslems,
but they encountered a fierce repulse ; their leader
was killed, their army routed, and the whole of the
region of the Jordan, as well as all of Central Syria
as far east as Tadmor in the Wilderness, fell under
the sway of the impetuous Moslems. The court of
Byzantium was listless, and the patriotism of the
Syrians was never strong ; the Bedawins of the
country welcomed the change of rulers.
After the fall of Fihl, a portion of the army was
sent to co-operate in Irak, and gained the success
that we have already noticed.

XXVII.
JERUSALEM CAPTURED.
Every new victory gave the Arabs increased
courage and ambition ; and well might they be ex
cited as they thought of the wonderful progress that
they had already made in their encroachments upon
the domains of those two vast empires which, had pre
viously hemmed them in,— those two empires that
had so lately divided the civilized world between
them. It verily looked as though the prophet had
reason, when he commanded his followers to go
forth and bring the nations to allegiance to Allah,
for surely they could not have been more completely
successful in their sanguinary work.
There was no reason now for not advancing upon
Homs, and consequently, leaving a governor to rule
Damascus and an army to continue the work of con
quest in Palestine, the main force took the route to
the northward, crossing the Yermuk again, passing
by the ruins of the splendid city of Gadara, beyond
Jordan, (where the miracle of healing the demoniac
was performed, where the tombs, cut in the rocky
hillsides, its most interesting remains, are still in
habited by dangerous troglodytes,) and leaving Baal-
beck and Mount Lebanon on their left hand, they

A MOVE UPON ANTIOCH. 243
invested the city. The Romans thought to make a
dash upon Damascus, but their intention became
known and was thwarted. Heraclius, who was him
self present, retired to the ancient city of Edessa, in
the northern borders of Mesopotamia, evidently ex
pecting to rouse the Bedawins in his behalf, but he
was not successful, and the town surrendered, leaving
the Moslems free to carry their devastation north
ward. (Spring of 636 A.D.)
As they progressed, one city after another gave up
without resistance * (excepting that Laodicea was
taken by assault), and they appeared before Aleppo,
fortified with the strongest castle in all Syria. There
was a division of counsel among the inhabitants of
this wealthy city of trade, and though there was
some hard fighting, the timidity of capital forced
the people to give way, and they offered a ransom
for the place. The bargain was fairly made, but the
more soldierly inhabitants would not permit it to be
carried out, and the siege was prolonged. At last
the Saracens feigned to retire, and sent a secret band
to storm the castle, which was then taken with great
bloodshed. The next move was upon the capital of the Ro
man government in the East, the luxurious and
beautiful city of Antioch, lying directly west from
Aleppo. It was strongly fortified, but the courage
of the warrior had not been cultivated by the in
habitants. A single sharp encounter outside of the
walls served to dishearten them, and the city was in-
* Baalbeck (ancient Heliopolis) and Kinnisrin (ancient Chalcis) ob
tained a truce on payment of a considerable tribute.

244 JERUSALEM CAPTURED.
gloriously given up. The emperor, when he saw the
result that was sure to come, called a meeting of
bishops and wept over the fate of Syria ; he even
gave his consent to an attempt to assassinate the
kalif, and a messenger was sent to Medina to ac
complish the deed ; but finally, despairing of his
cause, he secretly hurried from the city, and reaching
the sea, took ship for Constantinople. The Saracens
had now made their most direct thrust at the religion
of the People with the Book, for no city that they
had yet taken was nearly so closely connected with
the early history of the Christian church as this.
There the followers of Jesus had received their
name ; there St. Paul had first exercised his minis
terial office ; thence he went out on his first, second,
and third missionary journeys ; there Ignatius had
been condemned by Trajan to be torn by wild
beasts ; and there the golden-mouthed Chrysostom
had first displayed his remarkable gifts as a preacher.
Its walls were lofty and thick, and extended for
miles over ravines, and even mountain summits ; so
beautiful was it, indeed, that it was called the Queen
of the Orient. It had been captured by the Great
Pompey, almost destroyed by an earthquake the
following century, had been the seat of the Mace
donian rulers of Syria, and the Roman governors,
and it was destined to have still more noteworthy
vicissitudes in after centuries.
While the armies of Islam were thus pushing their
faith at the point of the lance, the kalif at Medina
was not forgetful of his mission as a soldier of the
creed of the prophet who had left it as his dying

A DIWAN ESTABLISHED. 245
order that in Arabia there should be but one re
ligion. There were Jews and Christians in the land
still, and some of them had accumulated much
wealth ; they were not accused of being traitors to
the government, but they were aliens to the faith,
and as such were not to be suffered to contaminate
the peninsula. They were peremptorily directed to
give up the graves of their forefathers and the homes
of their childhood. Other abiding-places were, it is
true, offered them, and they were not ousted with
sudden haste, but it was none the less a grievance
hard to be borne ; and, though history gives little
account of the circumstances of their expatriation,
we may imagine without difficulty the heartrendings
with which it was accompanied.
The increase of national revenue from conquest
called at this time for orderly arrangements for the
distribution of spoil, and Omar organized a Diwan,
or Department of the Exchequer (named from the
Persian word for the register in which its records
were kept), under the rules of which the booty was
assigned to the different classes authorized to receive
it, in accordance to their rank, from the " Mothers
of the Faithful " down to the ordinary women, who
each received one tenth of a man's share ; and even
lower, for the slaves were not forgotten. This scale
afforded the basis upon which the aristocracy of the
nation was founded. It perpetuated the military
spirit, by making this income dependent upon suc
cessful war ; and it firmly united the whole popula
tion by interesting all in national aggrandizement.
Large numbers of citizens emigrated at this time to

246 JERUSALEM CAPTURED.
Kufa and Bassora, and still held their rights as
recorded in the registers of the Diwan.
At the same time that Abu Bekr had sent out his
armies into Northern Palestine, he had commissioned
that Amr, who had been converted to Islam when
the great Kalid had given it his allegiance, to
advance upon Palestine, or Filistin, by which name
he signified the region south and west of a line
drawn from Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean to
the northern end of the Dead Sea. The province of
Jordan, called Ordonna by the Arabs, had fallen into
their hands after their victories in the north, but
the Romans in Filistin felt more secure, since they
had the seaport of Caesarea open on one hand for
reinforcements, while Egypt was on the other, and
because its strong places were well garrisoned.
In the spring of 636 Amr prepared to begin
active operation in his department, and first attacked
the Romans at Ajnadein, a place west of Jerusalem.
We have no details of the struggle, but are simply
told that the battle was as fierce and bloody as that
in the gorge of the Yermuk, which is as emphatic
an expression as the historian thought he could pos
sibly use. The Romans fell back upon Jerusalem,
and Amr quickly took possession of Joppa, Gaza,
and all the other strongholds that might interfere
with his proposed attempt upon the Holy City. The
Roman general in command lost courage before Amr
actually arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, and
hastily retreated in the direction of Egypt, leaving
the patriarch to act as he thought best. He asked
terms of peace, only stipulating that Omar should

DAMASCUS AND THE REGION AROUND.

248

JERUSALEM CAPTURED.

come in person to receive the capitulation, because,
as tradition asserts, there was a prophecy in the
books of the Jews that the city should one day be
captured by a king having but three letters in his
name, and that of Omar comprised no more in the
Arabic tongue. It is said that this tradition, and
the military successes, of Amr, caused the Roman
general to lose heart, and the explanation redeems
his courage at the expense of his superstition, which
we must confess, however, was only that of his age.

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The sight of a man travelling over the deserts
from Medina to Syria is no new one to us ; but on
an occasion so exceptional as this, we might well
expect to see some circumstances differing from the
ordinary. No successor of the prophet had before
this journeyed beyond the limits of Arabia ; the
kalif was now more powerful than the king of Persia
or the emperor of the Romans ; would he not make
through the dominions that he governed so auto
cratically a progress that would strike admiration
and awe into his subjects? No ; clad in the plainest
OMAR'S JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM. 249
of clothes, he rode a sorrel camel, over the back of
which rough saddlebags were thrown containing
parched grain in one pouch, and dates and dried
fruit in the other ; before him hung a sack for water,
and behind, a platter of wood out of which he and his
companions ate together, as they had at his invitation
when he took his meals on the steps of the mosque
at Medina. At night he laid himself down beneath
a tree or under a tent ; in the morning he bowed
toward Mecca and offered his devotions before pro
ceeding on his way, and he stopped as occasion
demanded to dispense the primitive justice that his
subjects called for. Sometimes he varied the mon
otony of the tedious journey by dismounting and
walking while a slave took his seat upon the beast.
When Omar arrived within a day's journey of Je
rusalem he was surprised to see his representatives
approaching to welcome him ; their beasts and them
selves caparisoned in the rich stuffs of Damascus ;
and he cried out in disgust : " Is it thus that ye come
out to meet me ? Have two years effected such a
change?" at the same time casting a handful of
gravel in the faces of the astonished generals. They
threw aside their gay robes and displayed their
armor, at which the kalif cried : " Enough ! Go for
ward! " Upon Omar's arrival at Jerusalem, an inter
view was arranged with the patriarch, and terms
settled for the surrender.
The Christians were bound to build no new
churches, and the Moslems were always to be ad
mitted to those then standing ; the doors of their
homes were ever to be open to all strangers and

250 JERUSALEM CAPTURED.
travellers ; Moslems journeying were to be enter
tained free of expense for three days at a time; Jews
should not interfere with the conversion of any to
Islam ; should rise and stand before Moslems as sign
of respect ; they should adopt different dress from
the Moslems, have different names, a different style of
parting the hair, and different modes of talking ; they
could not use the Arabic tongue, sell wine, ride upon
saddles, bear arms, ring the bells of their churches,
set up crosses, nor take any servant that had be
longed to a Moslem ; they could not fiave windows
overlooking Moslems in their houses, and were al
ways to wear the same style of dress, and have gir
dles about the waist.
These terms agreed upon, Omar entered the city
on foot, accompanied by the patriarch, with whom
he conversed about the antiquities that met his eye ;
the patriarch the while, according to Christian tradi
tion, loathing from his very heart the filthy son of
the desert as he looked at his coarse garments of
wool, patched as they were with sheepskin and soiled
by the long journey. When, at last, he saw the
kalif seated in the Church of the Resurrection, he
exclaimed : " Verily, this is the ' abomination of
desolation ' predicted by Daniel the prophet, stand
ing in the holy place ! "

XXVIII.
HOW EGYPT AND PERSIA WERE CONQUERED.
OMAR did not care to remain long at Jerusalem.
He had left Ali in charge of affairs in Medina, and
felt no uneasiness on that account ; but it was some
thing new for the kalif to be absent from the City
of the Prophet at all. During his stay he selected as
a site on which to build a mosque, the place from
which tradition affirmed that Mohammed had taken
his departure to heaven on the occasion of his re
markable ' visit ' to paradise, — a spot marked, too, by
the stone on which Jacob had rested his head, where
the faithful were long permitted to lay their hands
in the indentation left by the prophet's foot! He
made arrangements for governing Syria in two di
visions, and prepared for an invasion of Egypt, then
weak and ready to fall into the hands of any master
strong enough to make an attempt to win the prize.
The kalif accomplished the return to Medina in the
same lowly manner that he had journeyed thence ;
and he was welcomed with great joy, for the people
had somewhat feared lest the city at which they ex
pected all mankind would be assembled at the resur
rection might have so much charmed him as to
tempt him to make it his permanent abode.
251

252 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
It seems evident that Omar now began to feel se
cure of the conquests his army had made, for at
about this time he renewed his alienation from Kalid,
who had been so valiant in the support of Islam. Af
ter his return from Jerusalem, he gave him a brief
command at Kinnesrin (Chalcis), a city not far from
Aleppo, which, as we have noted, Kalid had himself
captured ; but in 638, he brought him to trial at
Homs for alleged misappropriation of funds, and
condemned him to be deposed and fined. Upon
this, the broken-down general died in neglect at
Homs, in the year 642. The kalif was mortal, and
if he had supposed there was to be need of the ser
vices of this valiant man, doubtless he would have
found some means to keep him in authority.
During the year 638, the Romans made a last
effort to drive the Arabs from Syria ; and it failed,
though the danger was at one juncture so threaten
ing that the kalif left Medina the second time with
the intention of giving his personal assistance to his
followers. There was no need, however, for the
Bedawin allies of the invaders became alarmed by
movements in Mesopotamia, and deserted, after
which the Romans were routed by the Moslems. It
was in the same year that Caesarea, the last city in
Palestine to succumb, surrendered to Amr, who had
long besieged it.
The conquest of Syria was followed in Arabia by
months of famine, called the Year of Ashes, because
the dry dust of the desert, scattered by the winds,
rendered the atmosphere hazy (639). There was also
a devastating plague in Syria the same year, which

THE YEAR OF ASHES. 253
spread to the valley of Mesopotamia, and down the
rivers as far as the new metropolis of Bassora.
Though Omar generously set out for Syria to see in
what manner he might alleviate the condition of his
suffering subjects, he was obliged to yield to the en
treaties of his counsellors and return again, after
ordering the Arab population to be removed from
the infected regions to more salubrious and elevated
lands. He said, as he returned to his capital : " I flee
from the decree of Allah unto the decree of Allah."
The large number of deaths that occurred in Syria
during the plague occasioned great confusion in
settling estates. Omar was after all obliged to visit
the region, and he went from one end to the other,
bringing order out of the confusion. The governor
ship was left in the hands of Moawia, son of Abu
Sofian, a man who, as we shall soon learn, was pos
sessed of great ability and wisdom, and controlled by
overweening ambition. On his departure for Medina,
Bilal, the aged muezzin who had proclaimed the
hour of prayer during the life of the prophet and
had resigned the office at his death, once more
performed his duties. As the well-remembered cry
arose, the strong warriors to whom it had been
familiar aforetime were affected to tears, and the air
was filled with their sobs. Two years afterward the
aged servitor died at Damascus.
Amr was eager to carry out the commission that
he had received to make war upon Egypt, and set
out in 640 with an army of some four thousand men,
which was, however, augmented materially before he
reached his destination, when it numbered perhaps

254 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
four times as many. The luxurious capital, Alex
andria, was the point at which Amr aimed ; it was
the second city in the Byzantine empire, and through
its vast commerce at this time sent provisions of
grain to Constantinople, as it formerly had supplied
Rome. Commerce is naturally unwarlike and timid,
as we have had occasion already to notice ; and
Egypt was rich as well as weak. Amr lost no time
in beginning a siege of Alexandria, and the Byzan
tines, who might have sent the city succor by sea,
allowed the opportunity to pass, owing to their own
slackness, and the death of Heraclius which occurred
during the progress of the siege (March 1 1, 641). At
last the general in command, and the citizens, lost
hope of being able to protect themselves, and sur
rendered on condition that the place should not
be sacked ; agreeing to pay the tribute that the
Moslems were accustomed to demand, Omar say
ing : " Tribute is better than spoil, for it continueth ! "
(a.D. 641) Amr established his head-quarters near
Memphis, where, on the site of Babylon, which he
destroyed, a station grew up, known as Fostat, " the
Encampment " (the present Cairo), and there he laid
the foundation of a mosque, which still bears his
name. He left the land in the hands of the Egyp
tians, having established communication by sea with
the port of Medina, through which means grain was
carried from the country of the pyramids to Arabia.*
* Many writers, following Abulfaraj, affirm that after the capitu
lation of Alexandria the vast library was destroyed, and its books used
in the four thousand baths of the city for fuel, six months being
almost too short a time to exhaust the supply. In spite of Dean
Milman's assertion, the story is now discredited.

A SAGACIOUS OBJECT-LESSON.

255

It is related that Amr was not satisfied with the
haughty bearing of the natives towards his country
men, and in order to raise their respect for their
conquerors, adopted a singular expedient. He pre
pared a feast of camels for his army, after their native
fashion, and then called the Egyptians to come and
see the repast. The next day he prepared a sump-

INTERIOR OF MOSQUE OF AMR AT CAIRO.
(From a drawing by Coste.)
tuous banquet, with all the delicacies of the Nile
region, and showed that his warriors feasted with the
same good appetites as they had on the previous
occasion. Another day he brought his troops out
for parade, and when the Egyptians thronged to see
the sight, he said to them : " I have shown you the
simple mode of life of my people at home ; I have

256 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
shown you that they relish the dainties of other
lands also ; and I show you now that they are strong
in arms notwithstanding. " As the natives went away
from the scene, they said one to another: "The
Arabs have but to raise the heel upon us and it
suffices ! " The kalif was naturally much pleased
at the success of his general's expedient.
Omar was cautious and did not seem to be in as
much haste to advance towards Persia, as he had tow
ards Egypt ; but the time was coming for the sub
jugation of that great and powerful land. Hostili
ties opened in 637, and continued with varying
fortunes, until Yezdegird, its king, overpowered, de
prived of his kingdom and his fortunes, and deserted
by his followers, finally died (651 A.D.), a refugee,
in a miserable hut, beyond the distant Oxus, whither
he had fled, taking his way through Ispahan and
Merv* In the campaigns that thus closed, armies had
been sent from Kufa and Bassora ; they had besieged
and taken Sus, the royal Shushan of ancient Persian
memories, making by the way permanent provision
for the preservation of the tomb of Daniel the
prophet ; they had marched east as far as Persepolis,
and they had gone northward to Nevahend. At the
last place, under the shadow of the lofty peaks of
Elwand, they had fought a fierce battle which
* Merv (sometimes written Merou), was one of the capitals of Kor
assan in the reign of the next kalif. The rule of the Saracens there
ended in 874. Like Samarkand and Bokkara, it was the seat of a
school of science and letters. Mamun was brought up there. The
Seljuks took possession of it in 1037, and there Alp Arslan was
buried; In 1221, Merv suffered from Mongol butchery.

A MOSQUE OF ISPAHAN.
(From a drawing by Coste.)

258 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
brought the inhabitants of Western Persia to terms
(642 A.D.). Vast sums had been sent to the treas
ury at Medina after these successes, but the strong
will of the Persian king was not yet broken, and he
gathered forces that prolonged the struggle until at
last both armies met at Rei (643 A.D.), five or six
miles south of Teheran. There Yezdegird was
forced upon his fatal flight. Teheran and in fact all
Persia was at the mercy of the generals of Omar,
whose exploits rivalled those of the great Alexander
in the same regions.*
The kalif was now nearing the close of his career;
he had been unflinchingly just in his government at
home, and inexorable in his severity towards the
foes of Islam abroad, and many enemies had been
raised up who were ready at any opportune moment
to put an end to his life. A mythical story relates
that one of those who had smarted under his im
partial justice determined to have him assassinated,
and sent a man to perform the deed, who climbed
into a tree overlooking a place that Omar fre
quented. When the moment for the murderous
act arrived, the man prepared to descend, but, lo, a
guardian lion walked about the kalif, ever and anon
kissing his feet ; and the assassin was led through
surprise and fear, not only to desist from his wicked
enterprise, but to become a devout Moslem.
Omar was accustomed to visit Mecca annually at
the time of the pilgrimage, and on one of these oc
casions he enlarged the precincts of the Kaaba, and
laid out the grand square around it. He found his
* See " The Story of Alexander's Kingdom," by J. P. Mahaffy.

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260 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
colonies at Kufa and Bassora troublesome to man
age ; discontent and turbulence disquieted those
cities, in which intrigues were destined to grow
rankly in the future.
In the seventeenth year after the emigration of
Mohammed from Mecca, Omar took pains to estab
lish the era for his people, and made the first new
moon in the month Moharrem, of the year of the
Hejra, the point for the purpose. Historians have
generally made this the 16th of July, 622, though
Caussin de Perceval, a most careful investigator of
the subject, calculates that it was really the 19th of
April. Among the slaves that had been marched to
Medina from the battle-field of Nevahend, was one
familiarily known as Abu Lulu, "who wrought at the
carpenter's bench, making windmills and giving his
gains to his Moslem master. One day in the autumn
of the year 644, he appeared before Omar asking that
he might be relieved from somewhat of his master's
oppression. The kalif heard "him patiently, but re
fused to interfere, and Abu Lulu was deeply irri
tated. The following morning he might have been
seen among the worshippers in the mosque, occupy
ing the foremost place. The kalif entered and
opened his mouth with the words " Allahu akbar ! "
when the keen dagger of Abu Lulu was thrust into
his back, and he fell to the ground. The Moslems
threw themselves upon the assassin, but he killed
3 See Caussin de Perceval," Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes," vol.
iii., p. 20, and Muir's " Life of Mahomet," p. 486, and " The Early
Califate," pp. 145, 271. See also, p. 121.

DEATH OF OMAR. 26l
some and wounded others, running about in a wild-
ness of irrational despair, and finally stabbed himself
to death.
The Commander of the Faithful, as Omar was
then called, lingered several days, during which he
appointed a commission of five, of the chiefest
among those who had been companions of the
prophet, to nominate his successor, uttering as his
last words the following advice to him who should
be chosen :
" Give it as my dying bequest, that he be kind to
the men of this city, which gave a home to us and
to the faith ; that he make much of their virtues and
pass lightly over their faults. Bid him treat well
the Arab tribes, for, verily, they are the backbone
of Islam ; the tithe that he taketh from them, let
him give it back unto them for the nourishment of
their poor. Let him faithfully fulfil the covenant of
the prophet to the Jews and Christians. Oh ! Allah,
I have finished my course ; to him that cometh
after me I leave the kingdom firmly established and
at peace ! "
Thus ended the eventful life of the second kalif.
He had entered upon office ruler of Arabia only ;
he closed his career master also of Egypt, Palestine,
Irak, Mesopotamia, and Persia. In the exaggerated
language of his people, he had taken from the infi
dels " thirty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed
four thousand temples or churches, and founded or
endowed fourteen hundred mosques " ; but there is
no need to magnify his achievements ; they are suffi
ciently remarkable if recounted in simple truth.

262 EGYPT AND PERSIA CONQUERED.
Humble as the most lowly, he was accustomed to
sit on the steps of the mosque at Medina eating his
barley-bread and dates, and he often slept on its
porch or in a tree, while wielding a sceptre that the
most powerful nations of his time felt and feared.
Omar breathed his last, on a Friday in November,
644, and was buried the following day by the side of
Abu Bekr and the prophet.

XXIX.
FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE.
THE golden age of the Saracens was now behind
them ; they were never again to enjoy a period of un
interrupted internal harmony and of external con
quest ; they were now to be plunged into strife,
sedition, jealous intrigues, and fratricidal bloodshed-
ding, but none the less were they to go on conquer
ing ; in spite of every drawback, their religion and
the kingdoms that it dominated were to continue,
and to remain the same. As there was but one
Allah so there could properly be but one prophet,
who was not only the mouthpiece of Allah, but also
the temporal autocrat whose government was indi
visible ; so that the success of Islam, if complete,
would have placed all the kingdoms of the earth
under the kalif of Medina.
When death interrupted the career of Mohammed,
it forced him to leave undone some things that he
intended to have finished ; and the chief of these,
we may suppose, was the revision of the Koran.
We can never know what difference this would
have wrought in Islam ; but it is fair to believe
that it would have made clear the method by which
Moslem rulers were to be chosen, and thus have
263

264 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE.
relieved the people of the fear of anarchy that came
to them when he died, when Abu Bekr died, and, in
still larger measure, when the dagger of Abu Lulu
took off the great Omar. The commission that
Omar had appointed sat for three days in tumultu
ous conference while the kalif still wrestled with
death, and then adjourned to await the result.
When the members again met, they wasted still
more time in wrangling, — for they represented
pretty fairly the rival familes of Islam, — the Hashi-
mites, descended from Abd Menaf, and the Omiades,
children of Omia son of Abd Shems, who also was a
son of Abd Menaf. The kalifate was offered to Ali
on condition that he would agree to govern in ac
cordance with the precedents established by Abu
Bekr and Omar ; but he declined, saying that he
should follow, first, the Koran, secondly, the posi
tive laws of Mohammed, and, where these failed,
his own judgment. Both of the former kalifs had
been directed by Ali's exposition of the law and
interpretation of the traditions. The strife resulted
accordingly in the election of Othman, himself one
of the commission, who readily agreed to govern in
accordance with the Koran and the example of the
kalifs who had gone before.
As differing from him in fundamental views, and
as a great-grandson of Omia, Othman was highly
displeasing to Ali, who belonged, as we know, to
the Hashimites ; and the dissensions engendered at
the moment still endure, though they have lost
some of their bitterness. Islam is to-day divided
into two principal sects : the Sonnites or Tradi-

I
Abd Shems
Omia I

KOSSAI, Chief of the Tribe.
| Sixth generation from Fihr,
Abd Menaf surnamed Koreish, a.d. 400.
I 

I
Hashim
Abd al MuttalibI

I
Abu 1' As

I
Hakam
Merwan I., 683

Affan
Othman, 644

I
Harb I
Abu Sofian
Moawia I ,
| 661
Yezid I.,
| 680
Moawia II., 683

I I
Abdalla Abu Talib

Abu Bekr
I 632
Ayesha — MOHAMMED
Fatima-

I

-Au, 656

Hasan, 661

Hosein
the lL Martyr''

Abbas
Abdalla Ail I
Mohammed

Zobier 1
Abdalla, Set up
as Kalif
at Mecca

Abd el Melik, Abd el Aziz Mohammed
7°5 I I
Omar II., Merwan II.,
' 7'7  744

THE KOREISHITES
{Traffickers, see Sura cvi.)

Abul Abbas, 750

Mansur, I 754
Mehdi, I 77S

HlSHAM, I 724

Walid I.,
I 705

SOLIMAN, 7'S

i

Moawia Yezid III.,
I 744
Abd er Rahman, Kalifate of Cordova

Ibrahim, 744

Yezid II.,
j 720
Walid II., 743

Hedi, 78S

Ibrahim, 817

Harun al Rashid,
I 786

I
Am in.

Mamun, Motasim,
813 I 834

Wathek, Motamed
I 842

MOTAWAKKEL, I 847

Mohammed

MOTADI, MONTASER

Motaz, Motamed, Mowafek Mostain,
: 866 870 | 862
Motaded,

I I I
Moktader, Moktafi, Kaher,
I 907 902 932
Radi, 03*1-94°

3 o
2 sI3

¦v,
t/>

ON

266 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE.
tionists, who acknowledge the first four kalifs to
have been legitimate successors of Mohammed ; and
the Shias, or Followers (sometimes called Sectaries,
who deem Ali the first rightful Imam, for they pre
fer this title (found in sura ii., verse 118) to that of
kalif. The Shias count twelve Imams, the last of
whom, Mohammed al Mehdi (a.D. 873), they sup
pose to be still living in retirement, ready to appear
as the Mahdi prophesied to reunite Islam in the last
days. In general terms, the Persians are Shias and
the Turks Sonnites.
Othman differed in character from his prede
cessors ; he was fond of wealth, though he had used
his riches at a time of dearth in distributing pro
visions among the people, and had thereby won
their affection ; he was narrow and weak ; he prac
tised nepotism, though the kinsmen whom he ad
vanced had been inveterate opponents of Islam ; and
he lacked the important faculty of conciliating his
subjects and of encouraging unity among them. It
was unfortunate for him that besides the jealousy,
which was now intensified between the rival families,
there was also a growing antagonism between the
nation at large and the Koreishites. This spirit
found a congenial soil at Bassora and Kufa, where
the inhabitants were rapidly realizing that they had
power and influence which they might use for their
own purposes against the kalif even, if he should
oppose himself to their desires. Omar had kept
down dissensions at home by waging wars abroad,
and Othman did the same.
One of the early mistakes of Othman lost Alex-

REBELLIONS IN PERSIA. 267
andria to the kalifate. He gave the prefecture of
Egypt to a near relative, and the emperor of Con
stantinople sent a fleet against Alexandria, which
wrested it from him (a.D. 646). Amr was reinstated
in authority, and, after a long siege, he took the city
by storm, gave it up to plunder, razed its walls, and
deprived it of all its former importance. Fostat
gained what Alexandria lost.
The Persians, who had been scattered by the
armies of Omar, did not remain quiet, and risings
and rebellions were frequent throughout Irak Ajemi,
many expeditions being sent to quell them ; and to
these Kufa and Bassora contributed largely. These
were not always successful, but they carried the fame
and the name of the Saracens throughout the vast
regions watered by the Indus and the Oxus, made
them familiar in Korassan, Kabul, and Turkestan, and
on the borders of the Caspian Sea. On the western
shore of the Caspian there was trouble (653 A.D.)
with the Turks, in which the Arabians were beaten,
and Othman sent reinforcements from Syria to assist
an army from Kufa, but the Syrians objected to
serving under the Kufan captain, and the breach
was begun which led to long-continued strife in the
future. Before this an army had been sent into Asia Minor
which penetrated Armenia, ventured nearly to the
Caspian from the southwest, and then marched as
far north as the Black Sea. The Moslems were
meantime confirming their position in Egypt, and
pushing their conquests along the Mediterranean
coast almost to Carthage. Though Omar had op-

268 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE.
posed operations at sea, Othman permitted them,
and, in 649, a naval force made a successful attack
upon Cyprus, which became tributary, and a large
number of captives were carried from the island.
Three years after this a fleet of several hundred
Byzantine vessels defied the Arabs off Alexandria ;
the opposing ships grappled, but after a desperate
hand-to-hand struggle the Romans sailed away to
Syracuse, beaten by the Saracens, with great slaugh
ter. It was " a splendid victory," but, either because
it was not followed up, or for some other reason, it
resulted in dissatisfaction with the kalif and in open
threats against him.
Othman was unhappy in his choice of governors
at Kufa and Bassora, among whom were some of his
own relatives, and the disaffection towards him con
stantly increased ; large numbers of the Koreishites
emigrated thither also, and certain concessions made
to them, added to their own pretentions, tended to
increase the jealousy and unfriendliness. Othman
was no less unfortunate in Arabia ; he enlarged and
beautified the grand square of Kaaba, but even in
this pious work managed to give offence ; he re
buked a growing fondness for gambling and other
forbidden pastimes, and made still more enemies ;
he prescribed changes in the ceremonial connected
with the pilgrimage and created scandal, for he thus
overturned some of the precedents that had been
established by the prophet. He had this faculty
for making enemies, but not for winning friends;
and to all his real and imagined offences he added
one against the superstitious feelings of the people.

MOHAMMED'S SIGNET LOST. 269
He was one day superintending the deepening of a
well, distant some two miles from Medina, when he
had occasion to point towards the workmen, and the
ring of Mohammed, which, following the example
of Abu Bekr and Omar, he wore, fell from his finger
and disappeared. In vain were large sums offered
for the recovery of the sacred relic ; in vain was the
water drawn out ; in vain were the mud and sand
searched ; the ring was gone beyond recovery. The
kalif was saddened, for he believed that the circum
stance was portentous of evil, and probably he had
reason. Not only was Othman lacking in discernment in
making choice of governors for the colonies on the
Euphrates, but his representatives there seemed to
share his faculty for unpopularity, or to have special
fondness for stirring up ill feeling among the sub
jects. When factious spirit showed itself in actual
rebellion, he failed to act with decision and
force, and thus wounds were left that rankled long
after they should have healed. Ali remonstrated
with him for dealing softly with offenders because
they were his kinsmen, and probably he was right ;
but the kalif appealed to the people, and in doing
it only roused their ill feelings more.
The entire kalifate was soon undermined with secret
conspiracy ; and Othman, in his helplessness, sent
men to Egypt, to Kufa, to Bassora, and to Damas
cus to find out and report to him the state of affairs.
He learned nothing satisfactory from these, of course,
and he then issued an edict to the provinces calling
the governors together at the time of pilgrimage in

270 FAVORITISM AND INTRIGUE.
the year 655. These officials came to Medina, but
they could give no information, for the plotters were
everywhere working in the dark. Othman was more
bewildered than before. There was treason in the
air, and the hand of the law could not be placed
upon it.
In the spring and summer of 656, the scheme of
the conspirators was brought to a climax ; they had
determined to come in force from Egypt and Meso
potamia in the guise of pilgrims ; to present long
lists of grievances ; to demand redress ; and if the
objectionable governors could not be removed, to
call for the abdication of Othman himself, enforcing
it if necessary at the point of the sword. When
they reached Medina they were disconcerted to find
that the citizens would not unite with them, and as
the kalif consented to make some changes, they re
tired towards their homes, in pretended satisfaction,
and peace settled down upon Medina.
Three days later, Othman was disturbed while
leading prayers, by the startling news that the three
factious bands were again at the gates. Ali went
forth to ask the reason of their return, and they
exhibited an order from the kalif, confirmed by
his seal, directing that they should be punished
with vigor. Othman disclaimed all knowledge of
the document, and it is still disputed whether it was
a forgery or not ; but it gave the conspirators an op
portunity to demand the kalifs abdication, and also
enabled them to remain in the city. They insulted
Othman in his pulpit ; they drove the men of Medina
from the mosque and kept them out ; they shut the

MURDER OF OTHMAN.

271

kalif up in his palace, and caused him great distress ;
finally, fearing that he might obtain relief from the
colonies, on the 17th of June they stormed the pal
ace, seized him by his beard as he sat in the
apartment of the women, with the Koran open on
his knees, and smote him with their swords. Deeply
wounded, he fell, pressing the leaves of the sacred
book to his bosom and staining them with his ebb
ing life-blood. After a scene of frightful riot, the
insurgents suddenly rushed from the palace, crying :
" To the Treasury ! " The palace gates were barred ;
the mutilated body of the kalif was buried at dusk ;
the rebels pelting the bier the while with stones :
and anarchy reigned at Medina.

«^ " ® fl}.S5r^Tv tt^M/^^s __^~?__

xxx.
THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI, FATHER OF HASAN.
THE outlook for the kalifate was now far from
promising. We remember that at the death of the
prophet there had been the anxious inquiry, on the
part of many of the allied tribes, " Can the yoke be
thrown off?" Abu Bekr had died in his bed, but
Omar and Othman had lost their lives by the assas
sin's knife ; and now no one was found willing to
accept the once coveted office. The conspirators
who had come from Egypt, from Kufa, and from
Bassora, indicated the feeling of dissatisfaction in
those distant portions of the kalifate, and each
of them now brought forward a different candidate
for the chief office.
The Egyptians favored Ali, who represented the
direct line of descent, for his offspring were grand
children of the prophet ; Kufa presented the name
of Zobeir, a convert of Abu Bekr in the day of small
things, who had been of the Abyssinian emigrants,
had fought under the prophet, had been one of the
electoral commission appointed by Omar, and had
married one of his widows ; and Bassora nominated
Talha, likewise a convert of Abu Bekr, who had
been trusted by Mohammed, and appointed by Omar

ALI BECOMES KALIF. 273
(who was his brother-in-law) one of the electoral
council. Immediately upon the death of Othman, the
Egyptians and the men of Medina offered to swear
allegiance to Ali, but he was not willing to risk the
anger of the partisans of the other candidates.
He urged them to wait until there had been time for
deliberation, and said that though he had once
desired the office, he now thought that the most
comfortable position in life was that farthest removed
from power, and that he was ready to submit to
whoever might be lawfully proclaimed. The same
advances were made to both Zobeir and Talha, with
similar results. The men of Medina urged Ali again
and again, but to no purpose ; the crowd called now
upon one and now upon another ; they bewailed the
want of a chief; they prophesied civil war if the
strangers then at Medina should return to their
provinces and announce that no kalif had been
proclaimed. At last Ali was moved by the pathetic demands
of .the people and consented to go to the mosque
and receive their allegiance. There Talha and Zobeir
offered him their hands in token of approbation, and
there the Companions of the prophet and the other
chiefs did the same. This appearance of peace was
deceptive ; and it soon became evident that Ali was
expected to reward with offices those who supported
him, or else become the target for their vengeance.
Some asked that the murderers of Othman should
be punished, but Ali thought best to postpone such
an attempt, inasmuch as considerable numbers would

274 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.
be involved, and he did not feel strong enough to cope
with such a party.
Among the claimants for office the loudest were
Talha and Zobeir, who demanded to be made gov
ernors of Kufa and Bassora, respectively ; but though
Ali had resolved to remove all the governors ap
pointed by his predecessor, he declined their demand
saying that they were his wisest counsellors and he
needed them near him at Medina. Ayesha, who was
equally opposed to Ali and to Othman, united with
Talha and Zobeir to breed dissatisfaction with all his
acts, and each of the intriguing trio made use of the
friends of the late kalif To stir up malice against his
successor. The blood-stained garment of Othman
was carried to Syria and there ostentatiously dis
played by Moawia to create enmity against Ali, and
clamorous cries were made for vengeance upon the
murderers, all' of which were hypocritically re-echoed
by Ayesha, Talha, and Zobeir, the real instigators
of his murder. The condition of affairs was indeed
involved and desperate, and Ali was not the man for
the moment.
Thus for a time Mecca became the centre of the
intrigue. There Talha, Zobeir, and Ayesha formed
a faction determined upon war, calling to it all mal
contents, especially the members of the family of
Omia, to which Othman had belonged. A proc
lamation was issued, declaring that the Mother
of the Faithful was about to go to Bassora with
Talha and Zobeir, and calling upon all who desired
to strengthen Islam, were ready to fight, and wished
to revenge the death of Othman, to join the standard

ALT PURSUES AYESHA. ZJ%
of revolt. Under the lead of Ayesha, a force of a
thousand mounted on camels started out, and the
number was soon swelled to three times that num
ber.* When Bassora was reached the governor was
called upon to surrender, and after but slight resist
ance he was overpowered, his beard and eyebrows
were torn out by the roots, and he was dismissed.
The news of this reverse was carried to Medina,
where Ali, entering the mosque with hearty thanks
to Allah, announced that war was upon the nation
and called for volunteers. The parties were pretty
evenly balanced in the city, and there was no alacrity
in coming forward to the help of the kalif, despite
the fact that he was beloved and was believed to
have been fairly elected, and though his eloquence
was the greatest of all the sons of Arabia. The tide
turned, however, and Ali unexpectedly found himself
at the head of a thousand earnest men, who marched
out of the city with hopes of overtaking Ayesha and
her company. This was soon proved impossible, and
a halt was made for consultation. It was decided to
send an appeal to Kufa — not for aid in war, but for
mediation between Ali and the separatists, for Ali
was convinced by assurances that had been sent to
* Efforts were made to induce Omm Selma, another widow of the
prophet, to join this revolt, but she would not, and endeavored to
restrain the conspirators from precipitating civil war. Ayesha was
troubled by superstitious qualms on the journey, but they were over
come by deceit, and the first falsehood recorded in the annals of
Islam was invented to urge her forward to ruin. The women
of Mecca accompanied Ayesha a short distance, and as they separated
from her, wept over the fortunes of the faith. " The Day of Tears "
is remarkable for weeping such as never had been known before nor
has been since, according to the Moslem writers.

276 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.
him that many of the citizens of Kufa were ready
to take his part
Ali wrote letters also to Medina and received gen
erous contributions of horses, arms, and necessaries
of life. He sent likewise to Egypt and elsewhere
for assistance. When his letter reached Kufa it did
not meet the reception he hoped for ; there was
reluctance to take the part of the kalif against the
rebels ; but it was finally overcome by the skill of
Hasan, his son, and at last a body of nine thou
sand men marched out to meet the kalifs ap
proaching troops. When this accession was received,
Ali felt comfortable, and advancing toward them,
said, " O men of Kufa ! may ye become the kibla
of Islam and the centre of the true faith! From
the times of Omar ye have fought manfully to carry
the religion of the Moslem farther into the Orient ;
now I appeal to you for help against opposing
brethren whom I wish to lead back to their allegiance.
If they listen to me, I will receive them, and pardon
the past ; if they refuse, we shall wait ; if they attack
us, we shall pray Allah to deliver them into our
hands. We seek peace by every means." Ali had
before this assured the Kufans that he preferred
them to all others and intended to make his home
among them.
We now approach one more scene of carnage nota
ble even among those that mark the track of Islam
with a gory trail. The several combatants entered
upon the struggle with quite different motives and
feelings ; Zobeir, having brought to his mind the
early affection that he had enjoyed in the lifetime

THE DAY OF THE CAMEL. 2J7
of the prophet, wished to make peace ; and Talha
acknowledged the wrongfulness of their cause, but
Ayesha, remembering how Ali had made reflections
upon her at the time she was under suspicion by the
prophet, — and the remembrance was at the bottom
of all her enmity to him, — was determined not to
allow moderation or- patriotism to restrain in any
degree her vindictive spirit. War there must be.
The armies lay opposite to each other at a place
called Kariba, not far from Bassora, neither willing
to join battle ; Ali because he was ever averse to
shedding Moslem blood, and the separatists because
though their forces numbered more than those of
the kalif, they were not inspired with the same im
petuous enthusiasm nor controlled by the same mili
tary skill, and because, besides, there was division
among the leaders.
When the sun rose on the winter morning (it was
in November or December, 656,), the battle began,
though no one knew exactly how ; and Ayesha was
seen going up and down the field on a camel pro
tected by an iron cage, while the contest ever raged
fiercest about her. Talha soon received his mortal
wound, and died vainly endeavoring to undo his
mistake by renewing allegiance to Ali ; later, Zobeir
was decapitated while in the act of enforced prayer ;
and the widow of the prophet found her litter stuck
so full of arrows and javelins that it looked like a
porcupine, and her camel itself was wounded so that
it could no longer carry her. This was called the
Day of the Camel.
Victory complete perched upon the kalifs ban-

278 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.
ners, and his prestige and power were immensely in
creased. He treated Ayesha with courtesy, sending
her under escort of a retinue of women to Medina,
where she was forbidden to leave her house or to in
termeddle more, in the affairs of state. Leaving a
governor at Bassora, Ali established the seat of his
kalifate at Kufa, and governed Persia, Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Arabia, and Korassan, — all that rightfully be
longed to his dominions except Syria, about which,
however, he had but little solicitude when he contem
plated his present success.
In his complacency Ali was fatally mistaken, for
the governor of Syria was a man in the prime of
active manhood, possessing, as some one has said,
the courage, eloquence, and affability of Julius Cae
sar, the ambition, facility, and tardy clemency of
Augustus, and the policy, dissimulation, and cruelty
of Tiberius. Descended from Omia, son of the
archenemy of Mohammed, Abu Sofian ; born the
year that the prophet sought refuge in the Cave,
Moawia, had long before become a convert to Islam,
and had fought valiantly in its wars. In 65 1, he had
been governor of Cyprus, which he had lost and re
gained ; the same year he had taken Rhodes, destroy
ing the celebrated Colossus, as doubtful tradition
asserts, and selling its brass to a Jew ; he had swept
the eastern Mediterranean, overthrowing the navy of
Rome and making the name of the Arabian feared
everywhere on the sea. Appointed governor of
Syria, by Omar, and continued in authority by Oth
man, he had laid the foundation for vast personal
power throughout that region. To increase this he

THE STRUGGLE AT SIFFIN. 279
had stirred up a terrible hate at the time of the mur
der of Othman, by setting up on the pulpit at Da
mascus as a standard the bloody garment of the
murdered Commander of the Faithful, and calling
upon his subjects to rally to extirpate all the men
who had been engaged in the detestable deed. It
was said that fifty thousand men* whose cheeks and
beards were never dry from tears, and whose eyes had
never ceased weeping blood, had drawn their swords
with a solemn oath to give themselves no rest, and
to bequeath their determination to their children's
children, until the blood of the kalif should be avenged.
Such was the man and such were the soldiers that
Ali was now destined to confront in desperate war
fare ; but, with all his advantages, Moawia was not
willing to enter upon the struggle without the as
sistance which he hoped to obtain from that Amr
who in the days of Omar had so valiantly fought in
Egypt. It happened that this hero, who had been
removed from office by Othman, was at the time
living quietly in Palestine, and he now readily ac
knowledged Moawia to be the rightful kalif and
agreed to take part with him, provided he might
himself have the rule of Egypt again in case of their
success. By such means, an army of some eighty
thousand men was gathered to menace Ali, who,
however, brought against it, from Kufa, ninety
thousand, and marching toward the confines of
Syria, came in sight of his opponents at a place
called Siffin, on the Euphrates, north of Palmyra,
not far from the northern limits of Mesopotamia.
*Tabari makes thenumber 30,000. — "Chronicles, "pt. iv., ch. xcviii.

28o

THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.

The two armies met in the summer of 657 A.D.
A month was occupied in consequent efforts at con
ciliation, and then for three months and more there
were equally indecisive skirmishes, in which thou
sands perished on both sides, each of the combatants
professing a wish to avoid the shedding of Moslem
blood. The deadly struggle was inevitable, how-

A YOUNG SYRIAN GIRL.
ever, and when the bravest of both armies were
biting the dust, and heads of the warriors were roll
ing about the field like tennis balls, as the chronicles
say, when streams of blood polluted the earth in
every direction, and the Syrians were falling before
their opponents, Amr sent for Moawia in great haste,
and ordered him to cause his men to thrust the

THE KAREJITES OPPOSE ALI. 28 1
Koran at their enemies on the points of their lances,
crying : " This is the book of Allah ; this it is that
should decide differences between Moslems ; if the
inhabitants of Syria and Irak are exterminated, who
then will profess Islam ? " The ruse had the desired
effect ; the followers of Ali replied that they will
ingly acknowledged the Koran ; and in spite of the
efforts of the kalif to continue the struggle, which he
saw was destined to end in his favor, the glorious
victory was snatched from him, and it was agreed to
submit the claims of the rivals to the arbitration of
two chosen men. Moawia then retired to Damascus
and the kalif to Kufa.
It happened that the representative of Ali in this
arbitration was a well-meaning but simple-minded
person, while that of Moawia was no less than the
strong and ready Amr, everywhere acknowledged to
be the most quickwitted man of the age. The two
met at Kufa eight months later, and by another, but
rather transparent ruse, Amr managed to throw the
decision in favor of Moawia. The arbitration deter
mined nothing, and the parties became more and
more intense in their animosity, excommunicating
each other with great freedom and constancy. Mean
time, an insurrection was stirred up against Ali by
certain Karejites,* who denounced him for submitting
to the arbitration of men a matter which Allah only
* Karejite meant "one who goes forth," a radical reformer, a
' ' come-outer, " as Theodore Parker used that expressive word. The
Karejites sought to establish a theocracy, and declared that a just and
pious man, of whatever tribe or nation, might be called to the kalif
ate, though they did think a kalif at all essential to the state. They
numbered twelve thousand at this time.

282 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALL
should have decided. The insurgents collected at a
place called Nehrwan, not far from the site of the
future city of Bagdad, east of the Tigris, and there
Ali met and overcame them with an army that he
had prepared to march against Moawia in Syria (a.D.
658). The victory won, Ali called upon his army to
follow him to Syria, but they refused, and he was
obliged to allow them to return to Kufa. The
remnants of the Karejites were scattered through
out the Moslem world. They were called also
Motazilites, * and as such still exist, a vigorous off
shoot of the Shias. The germs of the sect are
traced to the time of Mohammed, but the real
founder was Wasil ben Ata, who, in the reign of
Hashim, protested against the current teachings on
the subject of free-will and predestination. He
urged his views impulsively and with success upon
the advanced thinkers of Bassora, whence they were
carried in time to all parts of the Moslem world.
Syria was still the only region not under the sway
of Ali, though trouble was rising in Egypt, for
Moawia managed to compromise Ali's governor
there and he was recalled, Mohammed, son of Abu
Bekr, being placed in his stead. Moawia stirred up
further dissensions ; made use of that characteristic
Eastern weapon, poison ; broke up Ali's plans gen
erally, and made the way clear for Amr to take pos
session of the government, which he did with all
speed. He captured Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr,
and burned him alive in the skin of an ass ; an act
* See " The Personal Law of the Mohammedans," by Seyed
Ameer Ali (a Motazilite himself). Introduction, pp. 6, 9, 10, 11, etc.

INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE AT ISPAHAN, SHOWING AN ISLAMITE PREACHING-PLACE.

284 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.
which aroused the wrath of his sister Ayesha, who
impotently invoked upon both Amr and Moawia the
direst curses of Allah. Moawia meantime, ceased
not to make incursions into the domains of the
kalif, though a growing opposition to continuing the
struggle was making itself felt both at Damascus and
at Kufa. In 659, Moawia captured Bassora, which
had been temporarily left with a weak garrison, but
Ali overcame his forces in turn, and the city resumed
its allegiance to him.
The misfortunes of Ali were increasing constantly.
The year after the capture of Bassora was fatal for
him. He became despondent as he contemplated
the distracted state of his dominions, and still more
so when in the year 660, Moawia, who had been
secretly corresponding with partisans in Mecca and
Medina, sent forces against those cities, which after
shedding some Moslem blood, forced them to surren
der and swear allegiance to him. Ali at Kufa, and
Moawia at Damascus, were now both striving for
the mastery of Yemen. Moawia was successful, and
several thousands of the citizens of that " happy "
region were put Jto the sword. Ali in desperation
decided upon one more effort against his powerful
antagonist, the enemy of the true faith, as he thought
him. All the time the kalif at Kufa was daily offer
ing prayers in the mosque for Moawia, and Moawia,
at Damascus, was careful never to omit the names of
Ali and his sons, Hasan and Hosein, when he led
the devotions of the faithful in the mosque in distant
Damascus. In the year 660, forty years after the emigration

A DESPERATE CONSPIRACY. 285
of the prophet from Mecca, three desperate zealots
from among the Karejites met to discuss the dis
tracted condition of Islam. They looked to Egypt,
and there was Amr, ambitious and determined ;
they turned their eyes to Damascus, and behold
the son of Abu Sofian, burning with ambition and
panting for vengeance upon the kalif whom they
themselves, as they smarted under their defeat at
Nehrwan, looked upon as ambitious and dangerous.
They were three narrow-minded and impracticable
zealots ; they did not have the power of building up,
but only of breaking down, and though they knew
not what plan to lay out for the future, and, per
haps, cared not for any, felt sure that for the mo
ment it was desirable that three such factors in the
public distraction should be out of the way. As
sassination was their only resort ; they knew no legal
method of gaining relief (probably there was none) ;
and upon assassination they cheerfully decided. One
agreed to rid the state of Ali ; a second eagerly
offered to be responsible for Moawia's death ; and
the third offered to journey to Egypt to make way
with Amr. The seventeenth of the holy month
Ramadan was chosen for the work, and it happened
to fall on Friday, the day for sacred meeting in the
mosques. When the day and the moment arrived, not one,
but three poisoned daggers cut their way to Ali's
heart ; another inflicted a severe though not a mor
tal wound upon Moawia ; but the one intended for
Amr missed him, because his place in the mosque
was that day taken by another. Amr ordered his

286 THE MISFORTUNES OF ALI.
would-be murderer to immediate death ; Moawia's
assailant was condemned to such mutilation that he
did not survive ; Ali the compassionate, ordered that
his assassin should not be tortured, but kept with
care until the result of his wound was known. Ac
counts vary in regard to his ultimate punishment,
hut he was probably executed, for in three days Ali
died. As we are brought to the sad end of the husband
of Fatima, we cannot resist the impulse to stop a
moment to look back upon his career, since that day,
long before, when, in the exuberance of youth, he
eagerly asserted his wish to be a follower of Moham
med ; and to reflect upon the pertinacity with which
he held to the purpose that seemed at the time but
the inspiration of the moment. We remember the
assistance he rendered Mohammed at the time of the
Hejra ; his valiant deeds in the battles that followed ;
his allegiance to Abu Bekr; his reluctance to assume
the kalifate himself, though well knowing that the
honor of the position was his by right, as the person
indicated by Mohammed ; and we feel that his life
was one of sadness and discomfiture. He was a man
of mild and forbearing character, cultivating luxury
and pleasure, and preferring compromise and pro
crastination to energy and promptness. His wisdom
in counsel, and his reputed sagacity in framing sen
tentious proverbs, were great, though he was not
wise enough to escape the doom that was the cer
tain result of a policy so little characterized by
strength as was that which he followed.
Ali never bound the faithful to him, and though

HASAN MADE KALIF. 287
at a later period he was glorified with almost divine
honors, and a magnificent tomb was erected for his
remains, his grave was at first neglected, and the in
difference in which he was held during life followed
him long after death. He is to be honored as the
first kalif who cultivated letters, and a body of wise
sentences bears his name, which had they really
emanated from him, would have been truly credit
able to his mind and his heart. Many ingenious and
entertaining anecdotes are on record regarding him,
in which he is made to appear in a most favorable
light ; but in spite of all, he must remain for us an
unfortunate and uncommendable man.
Ali refused to name his successor ; but the choice
of his followers fell naturally upon his son Hasan,
and he immediately took up the duties of the office.
Even less inclined to a military career than his father
had been, he entered upon the still impending con
flict with Moawia with an irresolution and lack of
ability that made him an easy victim of his oppo
nent's superior shrewdness. In less than half a year
he had resigned all claim upon the kalifate, and Moa
wia became Commander of all the Faithful. Eight
years later, Hasan died of poison, in the year 669,
and the line of "orthodox, or "rightly-directed" ka
lifs, elected by the suffrages of the Moslems, ended.

XXXI.
THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
Mohammed had moved from the Holy City to
Medina ; Ali had taken the head-quarters of the
kalifate from Medina to Kufa ; and now a third re
moval was about to be made. When Moawia had
established himself upon the throne he chose Damas
cus as his capital, and founded there the kalifate of
the Omiades, a dynasty that was to continue in
power for almost a century. Another important
change was made at the same time ; the kalif him
self was no longer the choice of the body of the
Faithful, but the sceptre was to be transmitted in an
hereditary line.
Thus, during this dynasty, the relative importance
of Arabia, and especially of the two capitals of
Hejaz, which, up to the time of Ali, had been chief
among cities, rapidly declined, owing both to the
increase of the empire of the Saracens and to the re
moval of the capital beyond its limits. The duty of
pilgrimage was indeed observed, and is still observed
in our own day ; but even in the performance of
those sacred rites the rulers visited the land of the
desert at rare intervals only. The empire of the
kalifs was destined to increase still more ; but its

MAUSOLEUM OF TAMERLANE AT SAMARKAND.

290 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
different parts were to have less and less a united
history, and finally the interest that attaches to
them was to become wellnigh distinct from that
with which we look upon the cradle of the great
social and religious revolution from which it derived
all its life and consequence.
Though Moawia had overcome most of his op
ponents, there still remained one of the most power
ful of them, an illegitimate son of the famous Abu
Sofian, and consequently the kalifs own half-
brother, a warrior named Ziyad, a man of reputa
tion, of resources, and of some following. He was
at this time fortified in a stronghold, and Moawia
knew that it was his desire to see a member of the
prophet's family placed upon his throne. Since the
Karejites were opposed to him, it was of the utmost
moment that Ziyad should be brought to his sup
port, and accordingly, he resorted to the remarkable
expedient of owning him as brother, in order to en
sure his allegiance. This plan was successful ; Ziyad
was secured as an ally ; by his assistance the Kare
jites were put down ; and Ziyad was in turn raised
high in the kalifs esteem. He was made succes
sively governor of Bassora, Kufa, Korassan, India,
and other parts : all of which he ruled with such
force and equity that good order was established ;
and then, in his restlessness, he longed for other
arenas in which to display his ability. Moawia, ever
happy to favor his supporter, gladly offered him the
governorship of Arabia Petrsea ; but as Ziyad was
about to set out for that region he was attacked by
gangrene in the hand, and the imperfect medical

ATTEMPT ON CONSTANTINOPLE. 29 1
skill of the age was unable to afford him relief.
He died at the age of fifty-four, in the year 674 A.D.
Moawia hastened to show his appreciation of
Ziyad by appointing his son, Obeidalla, then twenty-
five years of age, governor of Kufa, Bassora, and
Korassan, and the young man soon proved that he
had inherited the spirit and some of the ability of
his father. He invaded Bokhara and conquered it,
bringing to Bassora many prisoners and much booty;
he pushed the Turks out of Korassan, forcing them
to flee to Samarkand, that venerable centre of
Asiatic commerce and learning, famous now for the
tomb of the great Tamerlane, conqueror of Persia,
and Korassan, Of Delhi, Damascus, and Bagdad.
The reign of Moawia was remarkable for two great
enterprises : the first attempt of the Saracens to
capture Constantinople, and the extension of the
dominion of the kalif in Northern Africa. His de
sire to found an hereditary monarchy led to the
former expedition, for he wished to bring his son
Yezid forward as a leader among men, a character
that the youth's love of luxury and pleasure entirely
unfitted him to sustain. The design of Moawia thus
to make Yezid his successor was in contravention of
an arrangement made when he became kalif, to the
effect that upon his own death the office should re
turn to Hasan. The partiality of the father did not
permit him to gauge correctly the weakness of the
son, and accordingly a vast army was collected and
sent towards the Byzantine capital. Like the Cru
sades, destined in a future age to be waged against the
Moslems themselves, this was considered a " holy "

292 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
war, and it had the prestige of being a fulfilment of
the desire of the prophet himself, who had hoped that
at some day the banner of Islam would wave over
the capital of the Caesars. It was at about the year
670 or 672 that the expedition started for its distant
destination : battered soldiers of the prophet's wars;
the flower of Moslem chivalry ; the young Hosein,
son of Ali ; and the aged Sofian ; Abu Ayub, who
had been at Bedr and at Ohud ; — all rekindled the
fires of martial enthusiasm and girded on the sword
to win victory over the infidel, or paradise, the cer
tain reward of death in such an effort.
It is to be regretted that no details of this great
effort have been preserved ; the historian Tabari
passes over it without mention ; and we only know
that the siege was long and the bloodshedding fright
ful.. Tradition asserted that Mohammed had prom
ised plenary indulgence to all who should be
counted in the first army to take the capital of the
Eastern Empire, and under such an incentive every
Moslem dared to do his utmost. The fleet reached
a point seven miles distant from Constantinople
without difficulty, but so great had been the prep
arations to resist the invaders, that all their efforts
against it were vain and their only satisfaction was
found in ravaging the neighboring coasts. Greek
fire, a buring composition discharged from tubes in
some manner not now understood, was at this time
used with success against the Moslem fleet.
The ineffectual contest continued year after year,
the attacking forces slowly melting away the mean
time, and when six or seven years had been thus

REACHING INTO AFRICA.

293

wasted, it was decided to retreat, one portion of the
forces being sent by sea and the other by land.
Each was alike unfortunate ; wind and waves dis
persed and broke to pieces the fleet, and the gen
erals of the emperor pursued and cut up the demoral
ized land army. Wearied and feeling the approach

ANCIENT MOSQUE OF KAIRWAN.
of age, Moawia concluded a treaty in 678, by which
peace was assured for a generation by the annual
payment of a large sum of gold and many slaves, be
sides fifty horses of the purest Arabian blood.
Against this ill success, we may offset the exten
sion of Moslem power in Africa, the result of an ex
pedition undertaken, as some assert, at the request

294 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
of Roman inhabitants of that region. The army of
the kalif, commanded by his bravest warriors, made
its way with all celerity from Syria to Alexandria,
increasing in numbers as it advanced, and thence it
progressed into the deserts to the west of Egypt.
This extensive region was at the time in a con
dition of anarchy. Its conquest was committed to
Okba, a general of daring bravery, who advanced
towards the present limits of Tunis. At a spot some
one hundred miles south of ancient Carthage, this
conquerer cleared away the woods and founded a city
often referred to in the history of the times, known
as Kairwan, intended as a place of refuge. The
date at which this city was begun is variously given,
and it may be set down as about 6yj A.D. From
Kairwan the victorious Okba marched as far as the
shores of the Atlantic Ocean, beyond Ceuta and
Tangier (passing through the regions now known as
Algiers and Morocco), and -when he reached that
then impassable barrier to his progress, he plunged
his steed into its waters, and raising his glittering
scimetar aloft, cried out in the name of Allah, that
if the deep waters had not hindered him, he should
have carried the knowledge of the law and a rever
ence for the true faith to still more distant realms,
slaying all who bowed to other gods, after the fash
ion of Julkarnein.* While he was uttering these
proud words, the conquered peoples, Berbers f and
'•' The reference is to an obscure passage in sura xviii. Julkar-
niin, the " two-horned," is interpreted to mean Alexander the Great,
king of the East and the West, or some other powerful conqueror.
See Trice's " History of Arabia," chapter two.
f The Berbers were an African people of unknown antiquity, who
appear in history as Libyans, Numidians, and Moors.

THE DEFEA TAT TEH UDA.

295

others, were rising in the rear of the conqueror, and
he found it necessary to hasten towards his Eastern
home ; but it was too late ; the enemy surrounded
his army in a pass called Tehuda, and after a terrible
struggle the Saracens were defeated, and almost an
nihilated. The increasing infirmities of Moawia caused him

VIEW OF TUNIS.

to be more and more desirous that Yezid might be
assured of the succession during his lifetime, and in
the year 678 he called the inhabitants of Damascus
together to take the oath of allegiance to his son.
He had asked Ziyad some years before to give him
advice on the subject, and he had said that a young
man so completely given over to pleasures was not
fit to be Commander of the Faithful. In conse
quence of this advice, the father had waited until

296 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
three years after the death of Ziyad before taking
the step he desired, and in the meantime Yezid
had, to some extent, reformed his habits. At
least four persons refused to take the oath of
allegiance to the young prince : Hosein, son of
Ali ; Sons of Abbas, of Omar and of Zobeir. To
these a son of Abu Bekr ought perhaps to be
added. So important were these men that Moawia
determined to make a personal effort to induce them
to change their determination. They all lived at
Medina, excepting the son of Abu Bekr, a blind man
who lived at Mecca. To Medina accordingly Moawia
took his journey, under pretence of visiting the holy
places. Arrived at his destination, he called upon
Hosein to take the oath, and he declined unless the
others would do the same. Moawia then summoned
the others to him separately, and each made the
same reply, for not one was ready to take the lead.
Disappointed in his mission, Moawia proceeded to
perform the pilgrimage, and then returned to his
capital. He scandalized the faithful by making an
effort to remove the prophet's walking-stick and
pulpit to Damascus, but was obliged to give up that
plan also, for the citizens opposed it, and an eclipse
of the sun which occurred at the time was taken as
an indication of Allah's displeasure.
The end of the kalif was now rapidly approach
ing, and he called his son to him to give him last
counsels regarding the conduct of government. He
told him to trust the Arabs as the foundation of his
power, to prize the Syrians, and to endeavor to keep
the turbulent people of Irak quiet by gratifying their

CHANGES IN THE KALIFATE. 297
demands ; and he solemnly warned him to beware of
those men at Medina who had refused to swear
allegiance to him. Moawia died in the spring of
680, and was buried in the capital, which he had
made a place of great luxury. Under him the
kalifate had entirely lost the simplicity of the early
days, and the change of scene from Mecca and Me
dina to the wealthy city of the north was followed
by a complete alteration in the character of the
kalifs themselves.
The greatness of Moawia had been established
before he became kalif, and nothing that he accom
plished after his accession would have been sufficient
to give him the reputation that the chroniclers award
him. The fundamental change in the kalifate that he
effected, was not for good ; he added to the extent of
the kingdom, but the increase was not greatly to its
advantage ; he left it under tribute to the Byzantine
empire, which must have been intensely offensive to
every member of the proud tribe of Koreish to which
he belonged.
Moawia was the first kalif who sat when he spoke
to the people in the mosque ; he was munificent in
his presents to his favorites, and made large gifts
to Ayesha and Hasan ; he encouraged letters and
put post-horses upon some roads.
The change in affairs is still more emphasized in
the reign of Yezid than it had been in that of his
father. He was not present when Moawia died, but
messengers were sent to recall him from a small
town in the territory of Homs or Emesa, whither
he had gone. A follower of the kalif ascended the

298 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
pulpit in the mosque, bearing Moawia's winding-
sheet in his hand, pronounced an eulogium upon him,
and said the burial prayers over the body before it
was committed to the tomb. Yezid entered upon office
quietly and without the formality of an election, but
he did not enjoy the throne in peace. Hosein, son of
Ali, was living, though Hasan was dead, and he
laid claim to the office of kalif with some right ;
Abdalla, son of Zobeir, who had retired to Medina
after the battle of the Camel, also raised the stand
ard of revolt, and thus the scene of action during
the brief reign of Yezid was for a portion of the
time transferred again to Medina and Mecca.
Upon the change of sovereigns, the people of
Kufa turned their eyes to Hosein, then living at
Mecca, and sent a secret messenger to him to say :
" We are thy followers, as we were thy father's; we
are enemies of all the Omiades, and as we fought
for thy father against Talha and Zobeir, and against
the Syrians at Siffin, so now we are ready to take up
arms for thee. Come to us at once ; we will put the
governor out of the way ; we will deliver the city to
thy hands, and we will swear allegiance to thee.
There are more than a hundred thousand men who
are ready to give up their lives in thy cause, and to
fight against Yezid as they have fought against Moa
wia." One messenger did not lead Hosein to move ;
he suspected the Kufans, whose fickleness was pro
verbial ; but another and another came to him, and
at last a poll of a hundred and forty thousand names
was sent across the desert. Then he determined to
go. More than one hundred and fifty letters also are

VIEW OF THE MOSQUE OF HASAN AT CAIRO,

300 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
said to have been sent over the desert to Hosein
before he yielded.* In one of these, recited in the
annual celebration of the event, the invitation is
couched in the following glowing Oriental phrases:
O solar orb of the sphere of faith, although the country of Kufa
is a tulip-field, yet without the rose of thy face all are but thorns in
my eyes. The blow of thy separation has rendered me disabled, and
the fire of thine absence has set my weary soul in flames. Come
quickly to Kufa, for all the people of the country earnestly desire to
see thee, O most excellent Imam ! Have the condescension, O
Sphere of Generosity ! to move hitherward as soon as possible, that
thou mayest afford direction in the paths of virtue to a people who
are cheerfully expecting thy arrival !
The extravagant partisans represented that the
land of Kerbala, from end to end a beautiful rose-
garden carpeted with tulips and lilies, was anxious
for his coming ; that the very Euphrates, restless as
quicksilver, was longing for him, and that the entire
region had worn out its eyes looking for him.f It
looked like rashness to his friends at Mecca, but he
listened not to their counsel ; he bundled up his let
ters and the list of his supposed supporters, and set
out accompanied by his wives, his brothers, and his
children, besides forty horsemen and a hundred foot-
soldiers. Meantime Noman, governor of Kufa, was not igno
rant that a movement was on foot in favor of the
son of Ali. He called the people together and ex
horted them to hold to their allegiance, assuring
them that if they supported Hosein, he would surely
fight against them to the last. The news was car-
* See Muir's " Early Caliphate," p. 435.
f See Felly's " Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain," vol. i., p. 216.

HOSEIN' S INFATUATION. 301
ried to Yezid, of course, and he took means to pre
pare for the coming of the new claimant. He sent
messages to him, warning him not to approach Kufa.
One met him near the site of the battle of Kadesia,
but it did not cause him to stop, though he was told
plainly by friends that, even if the hearts of Kufa
were with him, their swords were against him.
It was the beginning of the month Moharrem,
when Hosein arrived at Kerbala, some twenty-five
miles north of Kufa on the west branch of the
Euphrates, where his little band was confronted by
an army of four thousand men. Retreat was im
possible, and there was no alternative but death in
battle. He had already fortified himself by the
Moslem fatalism, and had said, when he left Mecca,
in response to the entreaties of his friends, " It must
be as Allah wills ! "
A friend urgently begged permission to lead him
to a place of safety, but he refused the offer; and
when desired to accept an escort to Kufa that had
been sent by order of Yezid, he also declined that ;
neither would he agree to acknowledge Yezid as
kalif. He offered to return to Arabia ; to go to
Damascus and negotiate directly with Yezid, or even
to go to the frontiers of Korassan and there fight for
the nation. Neither of these alternatives were
granted, and at last, as delay followed delay, Yezid
became impatient, and wrote to his governor: "If
Hosein and his followers submit, and take the oath
of allegiance, treat them kindly ; if they refuse, slay
them, ride over them, trample them under the feet
of thy horses ! " The messenger who bore the let-

302 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
ter was ordered to strike off the governor's head if
he should neglect to carry out its instructions with
promptness. Before this Hosein had been troubled by presenti
ments and now heavy fancies again overcame him ;
but still his solicitude was rather for his companions
than for himself, and he said to them : " These
troops seek no life but mine ; hasten ye to a place
of safety and leave me to my fate ! " Not one would
stir from his side". Taking a camel, he rode before
the reluctant soldiers of Kufa, reminding them, as a
body and individually, of the invitations that had
been sent him, and of the promises that they had
made ; but it was to no purpose ; hope vanished.
Then, with tears streaming from his eyes, he em.
braced each member of the " Family of the Tent,"
as his devoted followers have been called, saying :
" May Allah recompense you ! " They responded :
" May peace rest upon thee, thou son of the apostle
of Allah ! "
The morning of the tenth of Moharrem dawned ;
it was the day upon which it was supposed that
Allah created Adam and Eve ; the battle was joined,
but it was a slaughter rather. Thirty of the troops
of Yezid could not resist the appeal of Hosein, and
deserted to his forlorn hope ; but nevertheless the
devoted band fell, one by one, before the heartless
host that remained. The night before, Hosein had
formed a frail rampart around his little group by
throwing together all the tents, and he had caused a
ditch to be dug, which was filled with logs and
brushwood, but it did not resist the onslaught of the

DEATH OF HOSEIN. 303
enemy. At last but five remained besides Hosein,
and they were tormented by thirst and overpowered
by the heat ; all at once these threw themselves
upon the assailants and were cut down. Still the
kalifs host seemed restrained from striking the son
of Ali. On the march from Mecca a child of but a
single year had been of the party ; and now its cries
of distress at the hour of prayer attracted Hosein ;
he caught it to his arms, and at the moment its ear
was pierced by an arrow ; it fell lifeless to the
ground. Hosein laid it down with a pious ejacula
tion and started to the water to drink, when he was
himself struck upon the lips by a random shot ; his
enemies surrounded him ; a lance was thrust through
his back and he fell over, a corpse. The spot has
been marked by tradition, and a sepulchre, called
Meshed Hosein (the Sepulchre of Hosein), was in
after times erected there.
The ages that have passed since that Moharrem
day have magnified every incident of the struggle,
and Hosein is looked upon as a martyr, sacrificed to
the hate of the Omiades, — as one who gave himself
for his people. The Persian loves to think that his
dying in this way had been prophesied by Moham
med; Hosein is even represented as standing at
the grave of the prophet before starting for Irak,
and there saying : " How can I forget my people,
since I am about to offer myself for their sake ? "
The whole story of the " Family of the Tent " has
been idealized and dramatized ; regularly, as the first
month comes around, Persia gives itself up for ten
days to a grand festival of mourning, in which the

304 THE TEA GED Y OF MOHARREM.
entire story is re-enacted with a realism so terrible
that on some occasions the actors are really sacri
ficed, as their prototypes are represented to have
been. Nowhere else on earth can we see " such passion
of grief, such grandeur of selfless sympathy as here,
where the people forget the passing of time and the
changing of place, and taking the rude platform for
the real scene of the martyrdom, and the actors for
those they represent, furiously stone the soldiers of
Yezid and drive them from the stage ; and the
murderer-actor so loses himself in his part that he
thinks he sees the real Hosein in the man before
him, and actually beheads him before all eyes ! " *
"It is a long way from Kerbala to Calvary," says
Matthew Arnold, " but the sufferers of Kerbala hold
aloft to the eyes of millions of our race the lesson so
loved by the Sufferer of Calvary, for he said : ' Learn
of me, for I am mild and lowly of heart, and ye shall
find rest unto your souls.' " f
During the opening days of the month Moharrem
the entire populace of Mohammedan India is wrought
up to this intense excitement, especially on the
tenth day, which is honored by the Sonnis as well as
by the Shias, and it is not strange that the period is
considered critical by the government.
The slaughter of Hosein and his followers did not
* "Studies in a Mosque," by Stanley Lane-Poole, chapter vii.,
_" The Persian Miracle Play," page 211.
f "Essays in Criticism," "A Persian Passion Play," page 264.
The whole essay is worthy of reading in this connection, though,
perhaps, the character of Hosein has been too much idealized and
purified by the poet-essayist.

HOSEIN CALLED A MARTYR.

305

give Yezid peace, for among the other pretenders to
the throne, Abdalla, that son of Zobeir, still remained
at Medina ; and though he had been an aspirant to
the same power that Hosein had grasped at, and was
therefore during his lifetime one of his rivals, he now
dared to call loudly upon the faithful to revenge his
death ! He depicted in glowing words the marvel
lous character of the son of Ali, set him up as a
martyr, called to mind his particular virtues, his
watchings, his prayers, his fastings, his lofty heroism,
all the frightful circumstances of his taking off ;
and denounced in unmeasured terms the perfidy of

COIN OF THE OMIADES. (ABOUT 725 A.D.)
the people of -Irak, especially of the Kufans, the
blackest villains, as he assumed to think them, on the
face of the earth. " Never," he exclaimed, " did
this holy martyr prefer the sound of music to the
reading of the Koran ; effeminate songs to the com
punctions produced by the fear of Allah ; bacchana
lian orgies to abstemiousness ; the pleasures of the
chase to pious conversation " ; and as he uttered the
words doubtless his hearers made mental compari--
sons quite to the disadvantage of Yezid*
*See " Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne," par R. P. A. Dozy,
torn, i., p. 80.

306 THE TRAGEDY OF MOHARREM.
Abdalla entered into this labor with all the spirit
of one relieved of a rival, of one who had sought an
opportunity to excite popular feeling against a ruler
who had abandoned the sacred cities of olden time
to make a luxurious capital at distant Damascus.
Abdalla was of attractive manners and adroit policy,
a sort of Marc Antony among the Arabians, and he
so skilfully worked upon the feelings of the Hashi-
mites that they incontinently proclaimed him kalif
and gave him their willing allegiance.
Vain were the efforts of Yezid to put down the re
bellion ; Abdalla met his orders with insult, and the
people cast off their allegiance boldly with suggestive
gestures, throwing in piles their shoes and their tur
bans and crying : " I cast off Yezid as I cast away
this shoe ! " "I cast off Yezid as I cast off this
turban ! " the growing heaps showing the unanimity
of their feelings.
The Omiades were chased from the city, and
closely besieged ; but they managed to convey to
the kalif a petition for help, and he sent twelve
thousand cavalry and five thousand foot-soldiers to
them, under command of Meslim, son of that Akba
who had founded Kairwan. These troops found
Medina protected by a deep ditch ; but after four
days they successfully stormed the city, and a scene
of slaughter and rapine ensued which was too
dreadful for description (a.D. 683). The army
marched on to Mecca, where Abdalla was himself
besieged for three-score days, though Meslim died
before he reached the holy city. Showers of stones,
darts, and burning naphtha were the meantime

DEATH OF YEZID. 307
poured down upon it, and upon the scarred Kaaba,
by order of the Hasan, the new commander. Still
the town held bravely out ; the holy house was
burned and became a heap of ruins, but even that
disaster did not bring the sturdy Meccans to terms.
In the midst of the city's great distress a swift
Arab of the desert brought to Abdalla the welcome
intelligence that Yezid was no more. He had
breathed his last at Hawarin, in Syria, at; the early
age of thirty-nine, after a reign of less than four
years (a.D. 683). This event was, as usual, a signal
for new commotions. The critical moment for Ab
dalla had arrived, and he knew it not. Hasan raised
the siege immediately, and offered to support the
claims of Abdalla, provided he would go with him to
Damascus, for he said that Moawia, who he heard
had been proclaimed kalif there, was entirely unwor
thy of the office. Abdalla feared to trust him, and
the opportunity passed away.

XXXII.
THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
The death of Hosein proved to be the most im
portant event in the history of the Saracens, except
ing the mission of the prophet. It marks an outbreak
of the long-threatened schism in Islam which con
tinues to divide it to this day : the Persians whose
watchword is "the murdered Hosein," being Shias
(Sectaries), and the Turks, who hold to the rightful
ness of the kalifs before Ali, being known as Son-
nites (Traditionists)
The time had indeed changed since the days when
the prophet lived with his faithful Kadija upon dates
and water ; since Omar satisfied himself with the
same simple diet ; since the times of simplicity when
the humble and strong kalifs were patterns of
abstemiousness and frugality in diet and dress.
Moawia had lived in pomp at Damascus, and Yezid
dressed in silks, surrounded himself with dogs and
dancing women, neglected the sacred hours of wor
ship, drank the forbidden wines, and emulated all
the vices and the display of the other sovereigns
whom he had seen or heard of. He was not the man
to build up a religion or a kingdom, nor was his
feeble and incompetent son better adapted to these
ends. He ascended the throne as Moawia II. , upon
308

ABDALLA THE ONLY KALIF. 309
his father's death, but at the end of six months
renounced the power which he honestly but weakly
confessed that his grandfather had wrested from a
better man ; which his father had not merited nor
used as a great trust for the good of the people ; and
of which he was himself equally unworthy. He
called to him the chief men of his court and said,
with a singular plainness of speech : " I have decided
to abdicate the throne, but less happy than Abu
Bekr, I find no Omar whom I can name as my
successor; less fortunate than Omar, even, I find
about me no body of men upon whom I dare impose
the task of choosing a ruler for the empire ; I there
fore call upon you to seek the proper person, and give
him the crown-!" Upon this Moawia II. returned
to his palace and remained in his chamber until death
took him from the gloomy existence (a.D. 684).
Now Abdalla, son of Zobeir, at Mecca, was the
only kalif, but the men of Damascus had not ac
knowledged him, and they determined to remain true
to the family of Abu Sofian, the family of the Omi
ades. Looking for a candidate, they found none so
promising as Merwan, son of Hakim, then at Me
dina, who though past the vigor of manhood was
still strong and able. He had made his mark as
secretary of Othman, and was well versed in the
duties and traditions of the office, to which, indeed,
he eagerly aspired. Meantime the governor of Bas
sora, he who had caused the massacre of Hosein,
managed to have himself declared kalif for the in
terim ; but his authority was not destined to endure.
The Kufans opposed him and excited the people of

3IO THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
Bassora to rise against him. He fled in disgrace
dressed in the clothes of a woman, and for a while
Bassora united with all Arabia, with Korassan, Irak,
and Egypt in supporting Abdalla. Merwan did not
live a year, and in that brief time was not permitted
to enjoy the dignity of his office in peace. He died
in the month Ramadan, 684.
The same Puritans, known as Karejites, who had,
on the field of Siffin, demanded the establishment of
a theocracy, now burst from the fastnesses in which
they had hidden themselves, and rushed through
Irak carrying devastation and slaughter everywhere.
At the same time there arose on the part of certain
persons at Kufa who repented of their actions
at the battle of Kerbala, a violent desire to revenge
the slaughter of Hosein, and placing at their head
one Soliman, they assembled outside the walls and
sent men through the streets crying : " Vengeance
for Hosein! Vengeance for Hosein!" They visited
the scene of the carnage at Kerbala, and there at the
tomb of the martyr, prayed for forgiveness ; then
thousands of them plunged into the rugged ravine
that lay towards Damascus. They hastened for
wards, only to meet a large army which the kalif
had sent against them, and to be cut to pieces by the
overpowering numbers, despite the prodigies of valor
that they wrought in their desperation. Vengeance
for Hosein was as far away as ever; but another
champion came immediately to the front, called by
that feeling inherent in humanity which often urges
men to undertake projects in which there is neither
prospect of success nor of reward.

TROUBLE FROM SOLIMAN AND MOKTAR. 3 1 1
When Moawia II. died, his son, Abd el Melik,
then not quite forty years of age, was inaugurated
kalif, notwithstanding the fact that his father had
agreed that a son of Yezid should then enjoy the
throne. Abd el Melik found himself involved in war
with the followers of Soliman, then directed by a
daring leader named Moktar, who claimed to be lieu
tenant of the Mahdi promised by the prophet, and
supported the claims of a Mohammed, then living in
retirement at Mecca, a son of Ali by another wife
than Fatima. Moktar was accustomed to harangue
the soldiers in verse. He claimed that the Angel
Gabriel appeared to him in the form of a dove. He
had fought Hosein on the plain of Kerbala.
This bloody general is said to have executed fifty
thousand men besides those he had killed in battle.
In the struggle which ensued, quarter was neither
given nor expected, and warriors who were them
selves on the point of death, jauntily ordered their
enemies cut down by the hundred. Moktar made
himself master of Kufa, and ruled it with an iron
hand, persecuting all who did not do honor to the
memory of Hosein. Abdalla sent his brother Musab
to govern Bassora, and Moktar advanced against him
with an army of twenty thousand men. A battle
was fought not far from Kufa, and Moktar was
obliged to retreat within the walls. With six thou
sand men he shut himself up in his palace, but was
closely besieged, and at last, having no provisions,
he proposed to sally out to cut the way through the
enemy. Only nineteen men consented to take part
in the forlorn hope, and they, wrapping winding-

312 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
sheets about them, rushed forth and met instant
death.* Musab entered, and binding the hands of
the remainder of the garrison behind them, led them
out to the market-place and butchered them every
one (a.d. 687).
This pious man (after the Moslem style of piety),
now that the enemy was overcome, turned his
thoughts towards religion, and crossed the desert to
Mecca as pilgrim. As recompense for his success,
Abdalla gave him the government of Irak, and he
established his capital at Bassora. Abd el Melik, all
the time irritated at the division of the kalifate, was
planning how he might circumvent Abdalla and
Musab, who not only possessed Mecca, but also that
rich country watered by the Euphrates and the
Tigris, which he felt was rightfully his, as it was, if
he was rightfully kalif. His Syrian subjects could
not perform the pilgrimage to the Kaaba without
hearing imprecations pronounced by those whom
they would naturally respect, upon the ruler to
whom they had given their allegiance, and their
loyalty was consequently endangered. For these
reasons, Abd el Melik bethought himself of a
radical move ; he established at Jerusalem altars to
which the faithful at Damascus might resort as pil
grims ; but none the less did he feel the necessity
of pushing both Abdalla and Musab from their posi
tions. * We shall see (in chap, xxxv.) how the expectation of a coming
Mahdi continued to be encouraged among the Alyites, until it re
sulted in the establishment of a dynasty of Fatimites in Egypt, which
wrenched from the kalif that extensive province, and kept it for
nearly three centuries.

MUSAB IS SLAIN. 313
In the year 690 he set out for Irak, leaving the
government of the capital in the hands of a cousin
named Amr. This man had, it seems, long cherished
ill feelings against Abd el Melik, and took the op
portunity to arrogate the supreme authority, which
he thought he had some right to enjoy, as he was the
head of the family of the Omiades. Information of
this was promptly sent to Abd el Melik, and he re
turned and laid siege to his own capital. The gar
rison then refused to obey the usurper, and as the
result of a bloody battle fought in the streets of the
city, Amr fell' into the hands of the kalif. After a pre
tended reconciliation, Abd el Melik treacherously
executed his cousin, put his supporters to death, and
banished his family. This accomplished, he took
up his march for Irak again, accompanied by all
the troops that he was able to gather. He sent
letters in advance intended to lead prominent men
to desert the standard of Musab, and they appear
to have had considerable effect. Musab endeavored
to anticipate his enemy, and advanced to a place
called Maskam, said to have been on the borders of
the desert near Palmyra, where the usual miracles of
valor and horrors of butchery were performed, and
at last Musab was slain. After the battle, Abd el
Melik proceeded to Kufa, entered it in triumph,
ordered large sums of gold to be distributed among
the people, and taking a position in the palace, gave
audience to the citizens and received their informal
allegiance. While thus sojourning in the palace, the head of
Musab was brought to him, and as he noticed one of

314 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
the bystanders shudder at the not uncommon sight,
he asked the reason. " In this place," the other re
plied, " I saw the head of Hosein placed before the
governor of Kufa ; I saw the governor's head in like
manner placed before Moktar ; I saw the head of
Moktar placed before Musab ; and now I see the
head of Musab placed before thee ! " Horror seized
the kalif at the ominous recital, and he gave orders
that the hall which had witnessed the gruesome
transactions should be destroyed, in order that his
own head might not at some future time be there
presented to some other conqueror: Forty days
more Abd el Melik remained at Kufa in order to
carry out the engagements that he had made with
the inhabitants, and to appoint officers to govern
for him.
The success of Abd el Melik in the East made him
confident, and upon his return to Damascus he deter
mined to proceed against Abdalla. It was the year
691. While the kalif was meditating upon the ex
pedition, there appeared to him a man born at the
time that the Kufans had refused to give their aid to
Ali. He had, so the story goes, rejected all nourish
ment in his infancy, until his life was despaired of,
when Iblis appeared and advised that he should be
offered the blood of a kid, of a goat, of an adder, and
in this way his appetite had been first satisfied. In
youth he found himself unable to refrain from shed
ding blood, and as he grew up his chief delight was
in carnage. His name was Hejaj. He now said to
the kalif : " I have had a vision, and in my dream, 1
have slain Abdalla, the usurper of Mecca; wherefore

THE BLOODY SUCCESS OF HEJAJ. 31 5
send me against him, and I will surely deliver him
into thy hands ! "
To this unnatural man the kalif accordingly com
mitted the command of the expedition, giving him a
sufficient army. Hejaj hastened to accomplish his
mission ; he appeared before Abdalla, having passed
Medina without molesting it, and after resting a
while at Taif, gained a victory at the first onset.
He then sent for more men, and sat down before the
city to reduce it by a regular siege. Day by day and
month by month the supporters of Abdalla gave
way before the silent potency of famine and the
force of the well-directed lances of the besiegers, un
til even the relentless Hejaj wrote to Abdalla urging
him to capitulate, and relieve the Holy City of its
horrors. With true Arabian infatuation Abdalla re
fused, in spite of the fact that the citizens were
deserting his banners, and his sons were calling upon
him to have pity upon the people.
At last the end came; in imitation of the examples
of Hosein and of Musab, Abdalla, with a handful of
companions, thrust himself into a breach that the
enemy had made, astonished even his opponents by
his reckless acts, and fell, struck upon the head by
one of the invaders. The cry " Great is Allah ! "
which arose from the army of Hejaj, announced that
Abd el Melik was undisputed kalif of Islam ; and
that the cities of Mecca and Medina had lost all
their pristine importance. Hejaj was left in com
mand of the forces at Mecca, and, in fact, of all
Arabia. He pulled down the Kaaba (which had
been partially burned, and afterwards repaired, in

316 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
the time of Abdalla) and put it in order ; he ruled
the poor Meccans with a rod of iron, and tormented
them apparently for no other purpose than to see
their pain.
In the year 695, a rebellion in distant Korassan
caused Abd el Melik to need the help of a strong
man to the eastward. Hejaj was made governor of
Irak, and he repaired to Kufa, which he entered
in extremely impressive style, riding into the city at
the head of a large military force. He went directly
to the mosque, where he ascended the pulpit, and
announced to the trembling people that he had
" come to make the wicked man bear his own
burdens and wear his own shoe " ; that he saw be
fore him " heads ripe for the mowing, and turbans
and beards sprinkled with blood." " Servants of
rebellion and perfidy ; I am not a weak one ; I will
strip you as the bark is stripped from the tree; I
will scourge you as the camel is scourged which
strays from the herd ; I will break you in pieces as
the stones are broken on the highway. I am He
jaj, son of Yusuf ! If I shave, I raze the skin ! "
At Bassora he made like speeches, which naturally
stirred up much opposition against him ; but he
kept the turbulent people quiet, and that was the
duty which his master required of him. He likewise
defeated the rebellious governor of Korassan and
brought that region under the kalifs sway. It was
at this period that Hejaj founded Wasit, a city half
way between Bassora and Kufa, in order that he
might from it more easily control the region (A.D.
702, about)

SHEBIB LEADS THE KAREJITES.

317

All this time the fanatical Karejites were stirring
up the whole eastern portion of the kalifate, and
by their desperate infatuation they gave constant
solicitude to Abd el Melik and his governors. They
proved the fiercest and most incorrigible enemies
that Hejaj had to meet ; but in time, even they
were conquered-, their last commander, Shebib, who

COINS OF THE EARLY KALIFS.

overcame Hejaj in several battles, was drowned
when retreating, after an encounter in which his
army had been worsted. When Shebib died, Abd el
Melik found himself at peace with all parts of his do
minions. From that time (a.D. 696), there was quiet
for five years.
The reign of Abd el Melik is notable as being the

318 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
period when first the Saracens coined money for
themselves. The time for the payment of tribute
to Constantinople had almost come to an end, and
this kalif refused to pay it longer in the coin of the
empire. Arabia and Syria and Irak had all depended
upon Persia and the Roman empire for their currency,
and when Abd el Melik now began to pay the em
peror of Constantinople in Arabian coin, that mon
arch refused to accept it ; upon which the kalif de
clined to pay the tribute longer in any form, and
being one of the most powerful rulers of the world
he was able to persist in his refusal, and thus to add
to his independence.
During the time that the wars had been going on
between the kalifs of Damascus and Mecca, the Afri
cans who had formerly acknowledged allegiance to
the Saracens, renounced it, and as soon as Abd el
Melik found himself in a condition to make an effort
to bring them back to their loyalty, he sent an army
in that direction under Hasan (a.D. 692). It ad
vanced along the northern coast to Kairwan, and
thence to Carthage, which was reduced after a long
siege, its inhabitants being scattered to Andalusia
and Sicily. The Berbers of the region were not so
easily overcome ; but even they finally gave way, and
the whole land came under the sway of the kalif.
The Saracens were afterwards led by their guides
to a mountain to the southwest pf Carthage, where
the Berbers made a stand under the command of
their queen, Kahina (a.D. 698). The struggle was
severe, and for a while doubtful, but at last the
queen was captured and beheaded in the presence

THE THIRD CONQUEST OF AFRICA.

319

of the Saracenic commander. This was not accom
plished, however, until the Africans had themselves
laid their territory waste from Tripoli to the Straits
of Gibraltar. Twelve thousand Berber warriors were
incorporated in the Saracenic army, and immense
accumulations of spoil were taken from the con
quered cities to Damascus. This was the third time

A BERBER VILLAGE.

that the Saracens had conquered Africa, but their
supremacy was shortly overthrown again, and the
Roman and Greek inhabitants were fain to call the
Arabs back to relieve them from the Barbarian rul
ers, whose government they soon found unbearable.
The reign of this powerful kalif came to a close
in 705, and he was succeeded by his eldest son, Wa-

320 THE VICTORIES OF ABD EL MELIK.
lid, with whom the glory of the dynasty culminated.
Abd el Melik was a man of more than ordinary mili
tary ability, as the extension of his kingdom and the
subjection of his rivals amply prove ; but he was
also addicted to letters, and encouraged literary
men, giving them extravagant presents from his
royal fortune. During his reign the three great
poets of the early kalifate, Aktal, Farazdak, and
Jerir flourished, and they were overwhelmed with
honors and riches by the kalif. Aktal was the
chief favorite and his good fortune proved too
much for him ; he dressed in superb garments of
silk, ornamented his person with golden chains, and
indulged in unbecoming familiarity with his patron.

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XXXIII.
THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
WHEN Walid assumed the reins of government
that had fallen from the hands of his father, he
naturally sought to continue some of the lines of
public policy that he knew had been successful. He
was a man of luxurious habits and elegant tastes, as
tastes went at that period ; he delighted in piling up
grand edifices, in adorning them with all the gor-
geousness for which Oriental architecture is famed,
and he evidently wished to leave monuments of this
kind which should keep him forever in memory. In
this he was successful. He erected a grand mosque
at Cairo on the site of one that then stood there,
and adorned its pillars with gilded capitals ; he
beautified and enlarged the mosque at Jerusalem
that his father had built, and encouraged pilgrimages
in that direction ; he sent architects from the capital
to tear down and build up those structures at Mecca
which the faithful so greatly venerated, and he
scandalized the feelings of the men of the olden
time by thus continuing the departure from the
simplicity that they remembered from their youth.
His efforts were not all made at a distance from
home, for he dispossessed the Christians of Damas-
321
322 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
cus of their ancient church of St. John the Baptist,
on which Roman emperors had long lavished their
gold, and in which they had accumulated many
relics of martyrs and saints, and on its site he em
ployed workmen by the thousand in erecting a
mosque in which, by uniting the architecture of
Greece and Persia, he laid the foundation of the
Saracenic style, from which some of the graces and
ornamentations of the Gothic were to be borrowed
in another age.
While Walid was living in luxury at Damascus
and gratifying his artistic tastes, his generals were
fighting for his empire in Asia Minor, in Korassan,
in Africa, and making his authority everywhere felt.
They ravaged Cappadocia, Armenia, Pontus, and
Galatia, and brought to Damascus the usual crowds
of captives bearing rich spoils. They crossed the
Oxus, drove before them the hordes of Turkestan,
and captured the city of Bokhara ; they went again
to Samarkand and, after a siege, obliged it to pay a
great tribute annually in gold and to contribute
three thousand human beings every year to the slave-
marts of Damascus ; * and they undermined the re
ligion of the Magians ; they overran Scinde, and
penetrated in that direction as far as the great river
of India (a.D. 708).
On the water, their fleets ravaged Sicily and Sar
dinia, sacking cities and carrying off booty, prisoners,
* ' ' There is no place in Central Asia which has so impressed the
imagination of Europe as Samarkand," Schuyler's " Turkistan," vol.
i., p. 236. In 1497 the city was described as one of the most de
lightful for situation in the habitable world, and being of "wonderful
elegance."

ENCLOSURE OF THE MOSQUE OF OMAR, AT JERUSALEM.

324 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
and many beautiful maidens for the slave-market
and the imperial harem. Everywhere the dread of
the Saracens was becoming a new terror, for these
were the times when international law was unknown
and rulers did not expect to govern except by
irresponsible despotism. So extensive was the sway
of the kalif, indeed, that there seemed to be little
left for his arms to conquer. They found their limit
at the Pillars of Hercules.
We have seen a general rushing into the waves
of the Atlantic, and complaining, like a lesser
Alexander, that he had no world to conquer ; now
another Saracen, pursuing his career of conquest to
the same limit, finds a means of carrying his standard
farther. Success is not always good fortune in the
struggle of life, and in earlier ages, when law was
weaker and rulers arbitrary, a general was never sure
of winning lasting favor by advancing the projects
of his king.
At the beginning of his kalifate, Walid had sent
one Musa into Africa to reconquer and quiet that
revolutionary land. This general advanced to the
spot where the continents of Africa and Europe
approach within fifteen miles of one another, and at
the town of Ceuta, situated on a rocky promontory
facing the great rock of Gibraltar, met his first
effectual repulse. It proved but the forerunner of
victory and conquest more notable than any he had
before accomplished. Through the Pillars of Her
cules he was destined to carry Moslem supremacy
into a continent on which it had before been all but
unknown.

RODERICK THE LAST OF THE GOTHS. 325
Three centuries before this time the furious West
Goths had entered the peninsula of Spain and had
overcome the Roman power ; but now they were
themselves weakened and rent by internal dissen
sions and ready to fall before a determined antago
nist. More than a century had passed since the
Goths had embraced Christianity, and they therefore
now represented the same enemy that the Moslem
had encountered on the banks of the Bosphorus.
" Famine and pestilence had wasted them ;
And treason, like an old and eating sore,
Consumed the bones and sinews of their strength."
The ruler of the Goths in Spain at the time was
Roderick, whose name was destined to become the
favorite of poets and ballad-writers, and to be sur
rounded with a halo of romance such as has fallen
to the lot of few heroes of his class. Romance has,
indeed, almost obliterated the true' story of this ill-
fated monarch. He was son of a duke of Cordova,
and under King Witica had risen to a great renown,
of which he had taken advantage to seize the throne
and to banish the king (a.D. 708). Witica's sons,
unable to make head against him, had passed over
to Africa, where Count Julian, then commanding
Ceuta, had received them, taken their part, and
offered to re-establish them upon the throne of their
fathers. At this juncture the feelings of Julian towards
Musa changed completely, and instead of wishing to
have him as an enemy, he looked upon him as a
most d&sirable ally. He therefore surprised his

326 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
Moslem opponent by offering (either directly, or
through Tarik ben Zeyad) not only to give up the
stronghold of Ceuta, but to lead him to further and
much richer scenes of conquest. Musa was not pre
pared for so sudden a change, and naturally doubted
the sincerity of his whilom enemy, but he prepared
to seize upon the chance it offered. He sent to the
kalif, at Damascus, for permission to accept the
proposition, telling him that the territory he wished
to enter enjoyed a climate milder than that of Syria ;
that its fields were more fertile than those of Ye
men ; its vegetation more fragrant that that of
India ; its mines richer in precious metals than those
of Kathay ; and its shores embroidered with flowers
of brighter colors and sweeter perfumes than those
of Eden itself. Such a seductive picture was too
much for a kalif given over to pleasures of sense,
and he sent his permission to Musa with as much
eagerness as it had been asked, though he warned
his viceroy not to venture until he had assured him
self that the count's sudden change was not simu
lated. Musa accordingly sent over the strait a force of
four hundred foot-soldiers and a hundred cavalry
men, under command of one Tarif, who debarked at
a place that still bears his name, and reminds us in
our word "tarif" of a "duty" which was forcibly
levied upon vessels afterwards passing through those
waters. This expedition realized the general's fond
est hopes, and he returned in October, bearing to
Musa rich booty and many captives. A second and
more formidable expedition was made ready as soon

AN ALGERIAN BERBER.

328 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
as possible, and sent to the fated country of the
Goths. Tarik,* who commanded it, landed on a rock
known to the ancients as Calpe, now called Gibraltar
(Jebel Tarik: the Mount of Tarik).
' ' A countless multitude they came ;
Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade,
Persian and Copt and Tartar, in one bond
Of erring faith conjoined, — strong in youth
And heat of zeal.
Thou, Calpe, sawest their coming ; ancient Rock
Renowned, no longer now shalt thou be called
From gods and heroes of the years of yore,
* The name Tarik suggests some of the perplexities encountered in
this investigation. The difference between "Tarif "and "Tarik "in
Arabic is but a single dot, and this seems in the passage of centuries
to have become so confused that historians are not able to distinguish
the two persons, if, indeed, there were two. Makkari, Weil, and
Dozy assert that it was " Tarif abu Zora " who passed from Africa
to Spain "in 710." Woodward, (Ency. Chron.) and Miniana tell
us that " Tarif ibn Malik," went over " in 711 "; and Miniana omits
to give the name of the leader in 710. Rosseeuw St. Hilaire,
Irving, Conde, Woodward, Sedillot, En-Nowari the Egyptian, and
Lopez de Ayala assert that it was " Tarik ben Zeyad " who crossed
in 710; though Woodward thus contradicts his previous statement
about " Tarif." Most good authorities are agreed that it was Tarik
ben Zeyad who led the expedition of 711. Alcantara, Bleda, La-
rousse, and the editor of "La Nouvelle Biographie Gene'rale " say
that it was the same person who led both incursions, though the last
mentioned gives his name as " Tarik," and Larousse as " Tarif or
Tarik ;" and, finally Ibn-abd-el-Hakem, Ibn-Khaldun, and Sedillot,
know no "Tarif," though Hakem knows two " Tariks," neither of
whom is mentioned by the other writers. ' ' Tarif " was unknown be
fore this time, and does not appear in history afterwards. " See Baron
de Slane's " Histoire de Berberes," vol. i., pp. 215, 346 ; Makkari's
" Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain" (Gayangos), vol. i., pp. 265, 516 ;
Weil, "Geschichte der Chalifen," vol. i., pp. 517, 518. Rosseeuw
St, Hilaire, "Histoire d'Espagne," vol. i., pp. 381, 382.

DEA TH OF RODERICK. 329
" Kronos or hundred-handed Briareus,
Bacchus, or Hercules ; but doomed to bear
The name of thy new conqueror, and thenceforth
To stand his everlasting monument.
Thou sawest the dark-blue waters flash before
Their ominous way, and whiten round their keel,
Their swarthy myriads darkening o'er thy sands.
" There on the beach the Misbelievers spread
Their banners, flaunting to the sun and breeze :
Fair shone the sun upon their proud array, — ¦
White turbans, glittering armor, shields engrailed
With gold, and cimeters of Syrian steel ;
And gently did the breezes, as in sport,
Curl their long flags outrolling. "
The invaders encountered the Goths soon after
their arrival, and a decisive battle was fought (July,
711) a few miles northeast of Cadiz, known gen
erally as the Battle of Jeres, or Xeres, in which
Roderick was killed and his army put to flight. When
the news of this victory reached Musa, a mean-
spirited fear entered his mind lest his general might
gain too much glory, and crossing the strait him
self with a body of ten thousand warriors, he sent
orders to Tarik not to pursue the enemy. Indig
nant at receiving such a command, Tarik called a
council of war, at which Julian, inspired with the
courage of an implacable hatred, spoke plainly for
continuing the struggle. " Shall we," he cried,
"leave the flying Christians time to rally and to call
back their broken courage? No! let us unsheathe
our swords and pursue them without stopping for
breath ! Let us take their cities ! Our task will not
be accomplished until we can lay ourselves down
quietly within the walls of Toledo."

33° THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
The words aroused the military enthusiasm of
all, and Tarik eagerly embraced the moment to
divide his army into three portions, and to order an
immediate campaign against Elvira, Cordova, and
Toledo. The corps sent against Elvira, captured
that city, and also Malaga and Ecija ; the second,
took possession of Cordova ; the third body, com
manded by Tarik himself, so much alarmed the peo
ple of Toledo that they fled in large numbers to the
valleys of the Pyrenees, and those who could not fly
surrendered, with the promise to pay tribute to the
Moslems. At Toledo Tarik captured a costly table
of pure gold, adorned with precious stones, said to
have been made by Solomon, son of David, and
took off one of its valuable emerald legs. Musa
afterward claimed the trophy and caused a new leg
of gold to be made for it ; but when he presented it
to the kalif at Damascus, Tarik, by producing the
missing leg, proved that he, and not Musa, had the
first right to it.
After this victory, Tarik ventured to go still far
ther to the north, and only turned upon his track
when he had reached Gigon on the Bay of Biscay
and was obliged to stop. Then he returned to Toledo
to give an account of himself, — to tell his superior
officer why he had not stopped in the midst of his
career of conquest. He was thrust into prison for
his success ; but he was afterwards set at liberty and
replaced in command, by order of Walid, and then he
joined Musa in a plan to subdue the remainder of
Spain. One warrior went to the westward and the
other to the north, and after various successes which

A BERBER WOMAN.

332 THE GLORY OF THE OMIADES.
belong rather to the Story of the Moors in Spain *
than to our subject, they met again before Saragossa,
which city they captured, for " Allah filled the hearts
of the infidels with terror," as a Moslem chronicler
avers. Inflated by his wondrous successes, Musa planned
a magnificent campaign, which, had he carried it out,
would have given quite a different phase to subse
quent European history ; he determined to make his
way back to Damascus by the way of Constantinople,
thus possessing himself of Europe from the West to
the East, surrounding the Mediterranean with a con
nected series of Moslem allies and ranging the entire
ancient world under the standard of the prophet. f
Just as this grand idea had been conceived, Walid
sent an order calling both Tarik and Musa to the
capital. He had begun to fear lest the rivalry be
tween them (they being of Berber and Arabic blood
respectively) might cause some great catastrophe,
and endanger the success that had been won. Tarik
travelled by rapid stages and reached Damascus be
fore Musa, who took in his train thirty thousand
captives and immense quantities of booty. Tarik
arrived in the presence of the kalif just as that mon
arch was about to breathe his last ; he recounted to
* See "The Story of the Moors in Spain," by Stanley Lane-Poole,
New York and London, 1886.
f " The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," by Edward Gib
bon, chap. li. Gibbon compares this design with that of Mithridates
to march from the Crimea to Rome, or with that of Caesar to conquer
the East and return home by the North. All of these magnificent
schemes he thinks were surpassed by the successful enterprise of
Hannibal.

DEATH OF WALID.

333

him the achievements which had resulted in the com
plete conquest of Spain, (then called Andalusia after
the Vandals), and received from his master, many
thanks for his services. Further reward was doubt
less to come, but meantime the kalif died. Musa
had scarcely finished his laborious journey to the
capital. Having reigned ten years, Walid thus died at the
age of forty-two, in the year 715, after a life of per
sonal ease, during which his generals had filled all
the surrounding nations with the fear of the Moslem
arms, and had carried his renown from one end of
the ancient world to the other. They had pene
trated the region beyond the Oxus, bearing their
victorious arms almost to the borders of China (710
A.D.), and promising to extend the domains of the
kalif through that country to the Pacific Ocean, as
they already touched the Atlantic. The greatest
glory of the Omiades had been gained.

XXXIV.
THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
THOUGH Tarik and Musa brought the greatest
glory to the Omiades, the fate of one of them, who
received simple thanks, shows again the impotence
of success to secure good fortune ; but the sadder
treatment that Musa suffered emphasizes it still
more. When that general reached the capital, bring
ing after him long trains to enrich his sovereign, he
found that his actions were to be judged by a new
kalif. Soliman, brother of Walid, assumed the reins of
government without objection by any one, for he
was reputed to be endowed with ripe judgment, with
a good heart, and a character unstained ; besides
possessing that gift of eloquence so highly es
teemed by the Saracens. We may suppose that all
the facts in the case of Musa have not been pre
served, for this clement and judicial ruler with unex
plained haste called him immediately to the bar to
answer to certain accusations that had been made
against him. One of them was based upon his false
claim to have discovered the table of Solomon.
" Hast thou found," asked the kalif, "any people
of valor on the peninsula? "
334

MUSA'S REPORT. 335
" Yes, my lord, more valiant than I can tell thee,"
replied Musa.
"And what hast thou to say about the Chris
tians? "
" They are lions in their castles, eagles on horse
back, women on shipboard, and veritable goats for
flight to their mountains when they are vanquished."
" And the Berbers ? "
" They resemble the Arabs very much in their im
petuous mode of attack, and in holding out ; like
our nation, they are patient, sober, and hospitable ;
but they are the most faithless people in the world ;
neither word nor oath is sacred among them."
" What about the Franks ? "
" They cannot be counted for multitude ; they are
prompt to attack, and brave in a fight ; but timid
and easily discouraged in retreat."
"And have you defeated these, or have they de
feated you ? "
" Never, by Allah, has one of my banners fled be
fore them ; my soldiers have never hesitated to
attack them, were the enemy eighty to their forty! "
Thus the aged Musa reported,* and yet in spite of
all, the kalif ignominiously doomed him to stripes,
stood him bare beneath the scorching sun of a Da
mascus day, and laid upon him a fine which reduced
him to poverty. The savage punishment was meted
also upon his family, and they were all executed,
fined, or otherwise made to feel the displeasure of the
kalif. * Gayangos gives the report more fully in his translation of Mak-
kari, vol. i., page 297, and appendix E, page lxxxviii.

336 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
The new government in Spain proved more moder
ate and liberal than the old, and the people rejoiced
in the enjoyment of their own religion, manners, and
habits ; and the privilege of being governed accord
ing to the laws to which they had been accustomed.
The old treaties between the Christians and their
Saracenic conquerors inform us that " the Christ
ians are not to be molested, their churches are
to be respected, and their persons preserved invio
lable, on the sole condition that they remain faith
ful to the government, and pay the tribute agreed
upon." The new kalif now seemed to wish to concentrate
all his efforts against Constantinople, and made ex
traordinary preparations to conquer it. He de
spoiled the mountains of Lebanon to obtain cedar
trees to construct at Alexandria a fleet destined to
blockade the port, while at the same time a land
army was sent thither through Asia Minor. In the
summer of 716, the capital of the empire found itself
invested by a host of the most implacable warriors,
— a host more prodigious than it had ever been at
tacked by. The Greek fire with which the same
Saracenic hordes had been dispersed in the days of
Moawia I., was now used against the invading ves
sels, with success. " This defeat of the Saracens by
Leo is really one of the greatest events in the world's
history," says Mr. Freeman, " for if Constantinople
had been taken by the Mahometans before the na
tions of Western Europe had at all grown up, it
would seem as if the Christian religion and European
civilization must have been swept away from the

OPERATIONS AGAINST CONSTANTINOPLE. 337
earth." * Soliman determined that his personal
presence'would give life to the troops and set out
for the scene of action, when he was attacked by an
indigestion produced by intemperance in eating, and
suddenly died, leaving his throne to a cousin, who
assumed authority as Omar II.
It was in October, 717, that the new kalif began
his reign, too late in the season to permit him to
send reinforcements to Constantinople that year ;
but in the ensuing spring a fleet was despatched
from Egypt, though its commanders were too much
afraid of the terrible Greek fire to venture near the
city, and anchored off the coast of Bithynia. The
seamen were largely men who had once been under
the Roman government, and they now determined
to desert the Moslem cause. They stole some boats
and rowed up to the capital of the empire, crying,
" Long live the Emperor of the Romans ! " but
their reception was a surprise : the Constantino-
politans either suspected them as spies or despised
them as traitors, and launched upon them such vol
leys of their fearful fire that the boats began to burn,
and the deserters jumping into the water were
drowned in large numbers. The Romans pursued
their advantage, and burned the entire fleet, leaving
the remainder of the besiegers to suffer the lingering
pains of famine. Every avenue of escape seemed to
be cut off, and the ignominy of the former attempt
upon the city was. repeated. The kalif was over
whelmed by this failure to overcome a single capital,
* Edward A. Freeman, " Outlines of History," chap. vi. Leo III.
(the Isaurian) came to the throne in March, 717.

33§ THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
when he reflected that his predecessors had van
quished kingdoms, and in the year 720 he died.*
A brother of Soliman now succeeded to the gov
ernment as Yezid II., in accordance of an agreement
made by the two cousins Omar and Soliman. His
immediate solicitude was regarding an insurrection
against the kalifate by the governor of Korassan,
who aspired to independence and had involved in
his scheme many inhabitants of Irak. Yezid sent a
force against the insurgents, and a battle was pre
cipitated near Bassora, in which the pretender was
killed, and the movement thus stopped. A war in
Armenia followed, which was not concluded until
the following reign. These movements are the only
ones to which the historian Tabari gives attention.
Much more interesting to us are the events which
occurred on the peninsula of Spain. There the Sara
cens, not satisfied with their former achievements,
began to look towards the rich plains of France on
the other side of the Pyrenees. It was during the
period of the rois faineants, those pleasure-loving and
do-nothing kings ; and the representative of the
kalif in Spain thought that he might extend still
farther the domains of his master by reaching over
the mountains.
Accordingly, in 721, the armies of the Saracens
precipitated themselves upon the region of Aqui-
* The immediate cause of the death of this intemperate sovereign
was, however, an indigestion. A Syrian Christian made him a pres
ent of two great baskets of eggs and figs, and, in his gluttony, he ate
them both one morning, adding to the mass a large number of grapes
from Taif, a quantity of marrow and sugar, a kid, six fowls, and
seventy pomegranates, — veritably a savage repast !

INCURSIONS INTO FRANCE. 339
tania, then ruled by King Eudes, formerly Duke of
Toulouse, and laid siege fro Narbonne, an ancient
town not far from the sea, which had before been
devastated by the Goths. The Arabian writers say
in their exaggerated language that the Christian
troops were so numerous that the dust raised in
their movements obscured the light of the sun ; but
the Saracen commander called to mind the faith of
the Koran, " If Allah be for us, who can be against
us ? " Terrible was the onslaught when the antag
onists came together ; but in the midst of the strife
the leader of the Arabs was stricken down ; his
forces were thrown into confusion, and the only re
source for them was to retire, leaving the field cov
ered with the bodies of their slain. Abd er Rah
man, the governor of Spain, came to the rescue and
led his defeated troops back beyond the Pyrenees.
In the year 724, Yezid II. died, and his brother
Hisham became kalif. Under him the incursions
into France were renewed, Carcasonne, even now
surrounded by the strong walls that are said to
have resisted the onslaughts of the Goths, was
taken and given over to all the fury of an unrelent
ing soldiery ; Nismes opened its gates to the onrush-
ing hordes, and gave hostages for its loyalty ; gold
beyond estimate was wrung from the conquered
towns, until the death of a leader of the Saracens
caused a slight respite in 725. It was but tempo
rary, however, for a new commander came to the
front, and a wilder fury inspired his soldiery. Then
the Moslems spread themselves everywhere, feeling
confident that " Allah had put terror into the hearts

34-0 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
of all the Christians, so that if one of them showed
himself, it was only to ask mercy." Along the beau
tiful Rhine they rushed ; throughout the valley of
the Rhone ; at Vienne, at Lyons, at Macon, at Cha.
Ions, at Dijon, they left their marks in the shape of
the tottering walls of abbeys and churches ; through
the region watered by the Loire, they ran, appar
ently wandering hither and thither with no plan but
to sack and rob wherever they could find anything
to attract their cupidity. France was in a state of an
archy, but the Saracens were not wise enough to do
more than ravage ; they found themselves unable to
effect durable conquests such as they had made in
other lands. One leader followed another in rapid suc
cession, each anxious first of all to make his private
fortune, after the fashion of the Roman governors,
— the Verreses and the Catilines of ancient times
When was the terrible scourge to end ? History
soon tells us.
In the year 732, that Abd er Rahman who had
led his defeated troops over the Pyrenees eleven
years before, ventured again to launch them forth,
probably to gather up as much spoil as he could
and then retreat to the more congenial South. He
hastened by rapid marches towards the city of Tours,
ravaging the country, placing the towns under heavy
tribute, pillaging the shrines of religion, and loading
himself down with an increasing amount of spoil.
Count Eudes feared to meet the enemy again
alone, and sent for help to Charles, Duke of Austra-
sia, who, as Mayor of the Palace, was then ruling the
land of the feeble Chilperic II. and controlling that

THE BATTLE NEAR TOURS. 341
do-nothing prince himself. He represented the
shame that would come to France if it should al
low its mailed soldiers to be defied by an army of
almost naked Moslems. Charles replied that their
enthusiasm would be less when they had laden them
selves with booty, and when rivalry among their
leaders had divided their counsels.
Nor were the Saracens
" Of victory less assured, by long success
Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength,
Which, surely, they believed, as it had rolled
Thus far unchecked, would roll victorious on,
Till like the Orient, the subjected West
Should bow in reverence at Mohammed's name ;
And pilgrims from remotest Arctic shores
Tread with religious feet the burning sands
Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil."
" Africa had poured
Fresh shoals upon the coast of wretched Spain ;
Lured from their hungry deserts to the scene
Of spoil, like vultures to the battle-field,
Fierce, unrelenting, habited in crime."
Both sides were confident, but it appears that the
Saracens were surprised, when they encountered un
expectedly the forces that Count Eudes and Count
Charles had collected, spread out on a plain between
the towns of Tours and Poitiers. The Frankish army
was fresh from victory over the barbarians in Ger
many, but it beheld before it several thousand Ber
bers and Arabs, accustomed likewise to victory, and
expecting now the bountiful spoils of a rich land.
The Saracen leader, unwilling to meet his enemy on
the plain, retreated to a more commanding position,

342 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
and then for several days the two great masses of
men looked each other in the face. The generals
did not know that upon the result of the combat
depended the fate of the Western World, but they
must have felt that the position was one of greatest
moment, and each wished to make his sola'iers famil
iar with the appearance at least of the enemy they
were to meet.
The impulsive Saracen ventured the first move,
thrusting a squadron of Numidian cavalry upon the
battalion of the Franks bristling with steel. The
brave and agile sons of the forest came with a ter
rible shock against the immovable wall formed by
infantry, and hour after hour through almost all of
the day rank after rank of the Africans fell before
their well-drilled antagonists, until finally they were
forced to quit the field in disorder and hasten to the
protection of their booty. In vain did Abd er Rah
man try to stem the torrent of retreat ; the powerful
army of Duke Charles rained blows like those of a
sledge-hammer upon the unarmed Numidians, and
his soldiers, reminding themselves of their conflicts
with the Northern barbarians, fought with equal des
peration, until finally the Saracen leader himself was
killed, and the day was lost.
The onward march of the Moslems towards the
north was stopped ; and the rising sun the next day
shone upon a deserted camp, which the Franks cau
tiously explored, only to findhere and there a relic
stolen from some chapel or a little spoil from a pri
vate castle. The Saracens were gone ; excepting that,
according to the exaggerations that were long cur-

344 THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.
rent, the dead bodies of more than three hundred
thousand were left on the field. Duke Charles has
ever since that day been known as Charles Martel,
on account of the hammer-like strokes that he poured
upon his enemy. The Christian losses were set down
by the partial monks at fifteen hundred, but that no
such disparity existed, is made evident from the fact
that Charles Martel thought best not to follow up
his success ; but permitted the Saracens to make
good their escape, and allowed his own allies to
return to their native German woods.*
The Saracens themselves were unwilling to make
further efforts to invade the land of the Franks, be
cause news reached them that their conquests in
Africa were threatened, and that there were also
alarming risings among the Eastern peoples, who had
become restive under the tribute to which they were
subjected. The governor of Africa therefore sent a
general to Spain ordered to collect the remnant of
the Saracenic army and bring it across the Straits of
Gibraltar. The Moslems acknowledged themselves
beaten not only in word but in deed, and gave up
further attempts upon Frankish territory. Thus they
left Charles Martel free to consolidate his power, and
to transmit it to his son Pepin, through whom it de
scended to his greater grandson, Charlemagne.
While these momentous operations had progressed
in the west, Hisham had made attempts to advance
* The historian Gibbon gives an account of the decisive battle of
Tours (called by the French the battle of Poitiers) in his fifty-second
chapter. See also " The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World," by
Sir Edward S. Creasy, and " Magna Charta Stories," edited by the
present author. (Boston and London, 1882.)

THE MYSTERIOUS KAZARS. 345
in the direction of Constantinople, but had been
obliged to return in shame to Damascus. A few
years afterwards, he attacked the town of Nicsea, the
metropolis of Bithynia, which was protected by walls
fifteen or twenty feet in thickness and thirty or forty
feet in height. Here, too, he was unsuccessful.
After these struggles, there followed disturbances
in Armenia, where a powerful race from beyond the
Caucasus had fallen upon the possessions of the
Moslems. These barbarians were known as Ka-
zars.* At first they ravaged the border-lands with
success ; then they were repulsed ; again, they gained
a victory over the Saracens ; and thus, like the weav
er's shuttle, victory was thrown from side to side.
The year at which these disturbances began is not
determined, but they were renewed in 728, when the
king of the Kazars advanced to the very gates of
Mosul in Mesopotamia, not far from the ruins of
ancient Nineveh. From this point they were obliged
to retreat, and they crossed the Caucasus in safety.
A permanent colony of .Saracens was established as
a protection against further inroads. The next year
the troops of the kalif penetrated the country of the
* Much controversy has been waged over the origin of the Kazars.
They are supposed to have been Scythians. From remote antiquity
they dwelt in a region north of the Caspian, whence, in the sixth cen
tury, they made terrible incursions into Persia, even after the defiles
of Daghestan had been closed by the wall and the iron gates of Ko-
bad, the father of Chosroes, in 507 a.d. Gibbon describes this wall
as being formed of stones "seven feet thick, twenty-one feet in
length," framed without cement into a Avail running more than
"three hundred miles from the shores of Derbend over the hills
and through the valleys of Daghestan and Georgia." — " Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire," chapter xl., par. vi.

346

THE STROKE OF THE HAMMER.

Kazars without effecting any thing of importance.
In 731, the Kazars made another invasion, but were
speedily forced back again. Thus the battle waged
among the half-conquered subjects to the north, un
til, in 743, the kalif died, and his dominions which
he had not increased, fell to his nephew, Walid 1 1.,
who reigned but fifteen months, and was followed
by Yezid III., who died of the plague after a reign
of five months. Ibrahim followed, but was deposed
at the end of three months.

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XXXV.
THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS.
The conquering career of the Saracens had come
to an end. The kalif whose troops had been over
thrown in their pride by Charles Martel, though he
did not materially decrease the extent of the domin
ions received from his predecessor, handed them
over to his; nephew without addition. Walid II.
was not at all the man to impart new life to the
military movements ; he had none of the qualities of
a successful ruler ; and as he had been away from the
capital, he assumed the supreme authority ignorant
of the duties it involved, and liable to make fatal
mistakes at every step. He was lazy, indisposed to
affairs, and gave himself up to unrestrained indul
gence, carrying his dogs with him to the sacred soil
of Mecca, and even drinking there the forbidden
wines. Thus his actions estranged his people from
him, and when, in 743, his cousin aspired to the office
of kalif, the citizens of Damascus opened their gates
and received him as Yezid III. Walid at last seemed
to obtain the mastery of himself, and fought a battle
in which, though unsuccessful, he won some admira
tion for his valor.
Ten years of civil war followed ; the death of Wa-

34? THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS
lid (in 744) not serving at all to quiet the disturb
ances that his ill conduct had excited. Africa
escaped from the kalifate ; Spain was rent with
discord ; and above all, Korassan was filled with in
sidious emissaries of the faction that bore the name
of Ali, stirring up hatred against all the family of
the Omiades. To these disturbing elements must be
added the most powerful of all, that of the descend
ants of the uncle of Mohammed, Abbas, son of Abd
al Muttalib, known in history as the Abbassides.
Their grounds for claiming the kalifate were not
so strong as those of the Alyites, but they them
selves were more forcible, and they were united in
action, which the Alyites were not.
At the time of the troubles in Africa and Spain, in
the reign of Yezid 1 1., and Hisham, the Alyites and
the Abbassides sent emissaries secretly throughout
Korassan, preaching discontent and mysteriously
bidding the people to expect a new apostle espe
cially sent by Allah, who should be of the blood of
the prophet. Hisham had heard of these mission
aries, and had put the governors of Irak and Koras
san on their guard against them. There was now a
revolt at Homs (Emesa), and Palestine rose on pre
text of revenging the death of Walid II. In this
disturbed condition of the kalifate, Yezid III. died.
His brother, Ibrahim (744), was soon overcome by a
grandson of Merwan I., then governor of Irak, who
ascended the throne as Merwan II. (Nov., 744).
Hardly had Merwan been saluted as kalif in the
mosque at Damascus when a new revolt occurred.
He had retired to Harran; which he made his resi-

A REVOLT AT DAMASCUS.

349

dence, when Homs, just north of that place, though
it had assisted in raising him to the throne, pro
nounced his deposition. Merwan intended to visit
immediate and condign punishment upon the town ;
but he heard that a revolt had broken out almost
under the walls of Damascus ; in fact, he found him
self in the midst of uprisings which demanded the
most active efforts to repress, and he rose so

COURT OF GREAT MOSQUE OF DAMASCUS.
completely to the situation that he was nicknamed
from his agility " the Ass of Irak."
An apparent peace followed, and for two years it
seemed as though the Omiades might hold their
power a little longer ; but the Alyites and the
Abbassides were constant in their secret labors, and
under the lead of masters of intrigue, were making
sure of every step. By the year 745, they began to

35° THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS.
ask whether the time had not arrived for throwing
off the mask. The governor of Korassan wrote to
Merwan : " I see some sparks scintillating under the
ashes, and from them a great fire may be kindled ;
let us hasten to extinguish these sparks, if we wish
to avoid the conflagration : why must I ask if the
children of Omia are awake, or if a leaden sleep
shuts their eyes ? " Merwan sent orders for rigorous
treatment of all persons guilty of sedition ; but it
was too late.
The conspirators now publicly announced at
Merv the beginning of a new dynasty, and no prayers,
promises, or reasonings were sufficient to cause
them to retrace their steps. The kalif trembled
when he heard this news from a province upon
which he had so greatly depended ; whose brave
and strong inhabitants had furnished his armies their
most indomitable soldiers ; and when he reflected
that the battle-cry of this revolt was " the Family of
the Prophet ! " he awakened himself a second time.
Ibrahim, the leader of the movement, was captured
and imprisoned at Harran ; but his lieutenant, Abu
Muslim, the real heart and soul of the insurrection,
pressed on successfully ; captured Merv, and called
to his banner all who were willing to unite in a
strong blow at the kalif in the centre of his power.
Merwan made his captive suffer for his lieutenant's
success, and put him to death, but Ibrahim bequeath
ed his vengeance to his brother, Abu Abbas, called
elSaffah, the Bloody. In the autumn of 749, Abbas
appeared in the capital of Korassan, and was an
nounced as the successor of the prophet ; he then

THE DECISIVE BATTLE OF THE ZAB. 35 I
took possession of the palace, unrolled the black flag
of his family, and called upon all the faithful to join
in reconquering the heritage of Mohammed.
Merwan, with his usual agility, was on the march
for Korassan with an army, at the first news of the
revolt ; the two claimants for the supreme power
over a region extending from the Indus to the
Atlantic, found themselves face to face on the banks
of the river Zab (in January, 750), some thirty miles
southeast of Nineveh and Mosul, not far from
Arbela, celebrated as the scene of the last great
battle between Darius the Mede and Alexander the
Great, B.C. 331.* Battle was joined at mid-day, and
continued until the hour of prayer in the afternoon.
The- enthusiasm of the Saracens seemed to have
deserted the Omiades, and though Merwan per
formed deeds of great valor, his men were simply an
inert mass ; they carried out the orders badly, and
the enemy profited by each evidence of indecision.
The fight was renewed the next day ; but at last the
troops of the Abbassides gained the advantage, and
the soldiers of the kalif sought to recross the river,
flying in disorder. Many were cut down by the
enemy, large numbers were drowned in the Zab, and
the cause of the Omiades was forever lost. Merwan
himself took to flight. At Harran he found his
wives and children, and with them went to Kinnes-
rin, but he did not stop there. He was robbed of
portions of his goods on the way towards Emesa,
from which place he hastened to Damascus ; but
the gates of the capital of his dynasty were closed
* See " The Story of Alexander's Empire," chapter iii.

352 THE BLACK FLAG OF ABBAS.
against him, and he continued on to the southward,
not stopping until he had reached the delta of the
Nile, where he was overtaken and decapitated by
soldiers of Abul Abbas.
The assassination of Merwan was the beginning of
a butchery by Abbas which gave good ground for
his name el Saffah. He had overthrown the family
of the Omiades, and now he determined to cut it out
root and branch. To this end, he ordered the entire
connection executed, in a general proscription — sons,
grandsons, friends, were ordered to indiscriminate
butchery, of which the details are too heart-sickening
for description. Vengeance did not stop with the
living; the funereal marbles that stood over the re
mains of the dead were broken down, ashes and bones
were torn from their resting-places and scattered.
This done, Abbas felt secure of his throne.
In spite of these desperate efforts on the part of
the new kalif to root out of the world every
relict of the former dynasty, there remained one at
least, Abd er Rahman, son of Moawia, who managed to
escape to Egypt. There, avoiding inhabited regions,
he trusted himself to the mercies of the wandering
Berbers of the desert, and gained their respect by his
noble origin, but especially by his princely appear
ance and accomplishments, his courage and manly
virtues. Information regarding him reached Spain,
then rent by discord, and, after several years of vi
cissitude, Abd er Rahman was called to become
kalif at Cordova. Thus Abul Abbas failed to gain
control of the entire dominion that the Omiades had
ruled, and a representative of his mortal enemies gov-

AFTER THE VICTORY. 353
erned a large portion of the now permanently di
vided kalifate. His reign of thirty-two years was a
constant series of struggles, from all of which he
came forth victorious, forcing even his enemies to
admire his success. It was during the period
covered by this long reign that the defeat of Charle
magne occurred at Roncesveaux (a.D. 778), upon
which balladists have built the romantic tales of
Roland and his sword Durando, of Ganelon and his
despicable treason.
The first solicitude of Abbas after he had obliter
ated the family of his opponents was to secure the
kalifate to his own tribe in succession, and in his
efforts to accomplish this he showed considerable
misdirected sagacity. He determined to make
the interest of the family of Abbas one, and to
this end divided the realm into several parts,
giving each one to a different member of the
family. Thus to Mansur, his brother, destined
to be his successor, he confided the government
of Irak or Mesopotamia ; to an uncle he gave Yemen ;
to another (Abdalla ben Ali, ben Abdalla, ben Abbas),
Syria ; to another, Bassora ; to another, Egypt ; and
to Abu Muslim, to whom he owed his authority, he
assigned Korassan. A nephew was stationed at
Kufa, and another relative at Mosul. Africa and
Spain gave him no trouble, for they had been taken
from him. Having made these arrangements for the
permanence of his dynasty, Abul Abbas died at An-
bar, on the Euphrates, in the year 754, at the early
age of thirty-three.

XXXVI.
by Bagdad's shrines.
The dynasty that Abul Abbas had now founded
was destined to continue for five hundred years, and
in glory and riches to surpass by far any thing that
the Omiades had dreamed of. Mansur (" the Victori
ous"), brother of Abbas, who was designated by him
as his successor, had been governor of Irak, but at
the moment of the kalifs death he was engaged in
the performance of the pilgrimage to Mecca in com
pany with that founder of the dynasty, Muslim, who
wished to return thanks to Allah for his goodness in
giving him success. It was his fortune to be the
first to salute Mansur as kalif, and his powerful ex
ample was immediately followed by those pilgrims
who surrounded him.
At the head of the religious troops Mansur then
took up the journey towards Irak, but hardly had
he come to the borders of his own territory when he
was informed that the means which Abbas had
taken to strengthen the family feeling and make the
dynasty stable had resulted in giving him a formidable
rival. His uncle, Abdalla, who had been the first to
adopt the black colors which became those of the
dynasty, and who had been rewarded for his services

MUSLIM AT NISI BIS. 355
against Merwan by the government of Syria,
claimed the supreme authority, and was then on his
way from Damascus towards that portion of Irak
in which the Abbassides had held court.
Muslim was assigned the difficult task of facing the
rebellion, and the two former friends met in deadly
struggle on the banks of Mygdonius, at primeval
Nisibis, that unfortunate city which had been in for
mer ages tossed back and forth between the Romans
and their Eastern enemies. Long was victory doubt
ful, but finally it perched on the banners of Muslim,
and the army of the revolters was utterly scattered.
Abdalla himself found safety for a while in flight.
Again had Muslim accomplished the greatest service
for the Abbassides ; but his success proved his ruin.
The kalif offered him the government of Syria, thus
made vacant ; but he declined to remove from Koras
san, in the strong mountain fastnesses of which he
loved to roam or rest, where all the inhabitants were
united in supporting him. The kalif seemed sus
picious of the successful champion of his cause, and
called him peremptorily to court. After some delay,
Muslim obeyed, only to be met by feigned cordiality,
and to be pierced by the daggers of hired assassins.
In the year 754, the mutilated body of the great
founder of the new dynasty was cast contumeliously
into the Tigris !
Spain and Africa having been lost to the kalifate,
Mansur recurred to that oft-repeated scheme of his
predecessors, and pushed his armies towards the
domains of the Roman emperors, sending his first
troops to capture Melitene (Malatia), in Eastern

356 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES.
Cappadocia, which was at the time a centre of im
portance. Semiramis is said to have laid the founda
tions of the place ; Trajan had made it a great city ;
Justinian had surrounded it with new walls ; and it
was celebrated as the site of victory gained by the
Romans over the Persians in 577. The stronghold
was taken and disarmed, a garrison of four thousand
Saracens was placed in command of it, and the vic
torious forces of the kalif pushed on through Cilicia
to Pamphylia, where a Roman army was met and
cut to pieces on the river Melas. Here the advance
was stopped by the news of a fresh rising in Koras
san, among followers of Abu Muslim who belonged to
the Karejites, but were known as Rawendites from
the fact that they inhabited the city of Rawend.
Their tenets are doubtful.
Mansur made the pilgrimage to Mecca in the year
557, purchased some of the buildings which then
encroached upon the mosque, and enlarged the en
closure. He then returned to Irak by way of Medina,
visiting on the way the tomb of Mohammed and
the city of Jerusalem, and took up his residence at
Hashimeya, not far from Kufa. Here it was that
the Rawendites made their demonstration ; but they
were quickly overcome and their leaders thrown into
prison. This act of repression led to a more for
midable rising ; the prisons were attacked, the cap
tives delivered, and the kalif actually besieged in his
palace. Mansur took the lead in the attempt to
drive the insurgents away, placing himself in great
danger, and they were finally overcome and com
pletely dispersed. This experience disgusted the

THE NEW CAPITAL. 357
kalif with Hashimeya and its inhabitants, and as he
was equally unwilling to trust himself to the Kufans,
in whose city he would otherwise have enjoyed
living, he decided to establish a capital on a new
foundation. The spot which he chose was not far
from that Medain, of which we have read so much
in the earlier portion of our story, but a little north
of it, on the Tigris. Giving it the name Bagdad,
and calling it Dar al Salaam, the City of Peace, he
erected his palace in the centre, building about it
circular walls, in order that it might be approached
from all quarters equally well. The waters of the
Tigris were carried around the ramparts by means
of a ditch, and a hundred and sixty towers served as
further protection. Every art of the architect and
the designer, of the artist in stone, of the painter and
gilder, was made tributary to the grandeur of a city
which was intended to embody something of the
magnificence of a dynasty that counted its wealth by
the hundred million, and hesitated at no outlay that
would make a display. Of the scenes of delight that
Mansur created at Bagdad, it might be said, as the
poet * has written of another Oriental prince's
pavilion :
" A pillared avenue of stately palms
Slept in the sun ; a fountain rose and fell,
Breaking the silver surface at its base ;
Goldfish like sunken ingots lay in heaps
Beneath the fountain's rain ; beside its rim,
Dipping his long bill in a lotus cup,
A black crane stooped ; between the silent palms
A length of silken carpet was unrolled ;
* Richard Henry Stoddard.

358 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES.
A white gazelle dangled a silver chain,
Picking its way through tufts of broidered flowers.
Flowers of all hues and odors strewed the ground ;
Roses, fire-red ; large tulips, cups of flame ;
Banks of snow-lilies, turning dew to pearls,
And rolling rivers of anemones.
Broad meadows stretched afar, wherein, dim-seen
Through winking haze; the still Euphrates lay, —
The great Euphrates, fresh from Babylon."
This overweening desire to aggrandize the new capi
tal led to a memorable dissension, which has left its
mark in literature as well as history.
It is said that during the kalifate of Abbas there
came to his court from Korassan a representative of
a family known since as the Barmecides, named Jaafar,
who offered the kalif a ring containing poison, which
he said might serve him in case of necessity. His
son Kalid became chief vizier under Abbas, and con
tinued to hold the same office under Mansur. The
family was rich beyond computation, and Kalid was
sage, eloquent, frank, and courageous beyond any
other men of his day. So great was the influence of
Kalid, that at this time, when Mansur was at the
height of his interest in the creation of Bagdad, and
proposed to rob the palaces of the Chosroes, at
Medain, of their magnificent columns and other
masonry, he dared to interpose objections to the
plan. With the sagacity of a wary courtier he
asserted that to destroy the evidences of the Persian
grandeur was to obliterate the proofs of the power
of Islam which had overthrown it. The date of the
foundation of Bagdad is placed at the year 762. The
protests of Barmek were efficient, and the palace of
the Persian monarchs was not disturbed.

KUFA AND BASSORA COWED. 359
The great-grandchildren of Ali were at this time
living now at Mecca, now in Irak, now in Korassan,
now in Egypt, ever biding their chance to interpose
and snatch something from the kalif. Mansur tried
in vain to discover their place of retreat, for he knew
that since they had lost the advantage they expected
to gain when they aided Muslim in placing the
Abbassides upon the throne, they had meditated re
venge and would surely take it when their time
arrived. In 762 they thought it had come, and one
of them, Mohammed by name, openly assumed the
title of kalif, at Medina, where he had collected a
considerable number of followers. Mansur sent an
army against him, and he was overthrown and killed ;
but his partisans in Irak thought themselves strong
enough to revenge his death. They set up at Bas
sora his brother, Ibrahim, and he started for Kufa
at the head of an army. He was, however, destined
to no greater success than his brother, and a bow
bent at a venture sent an arrow through his neck.
With him fell the last hopes of the Alyites for the
time. Mansur directed that the cities of Kufa and
Bassora should be surrounded with strong walls,
and he placed behind them garrisons sufficient to
restrain the fickle inhabitants should they be again
tempted to take up the part of any new disturber of
the peace of the kalifate. Troubles arose soon after
this in Africa, and an army was sent thither, which
dr(*v-e the revolting Berbers to the mountains. It
was, however, not long before they returned, and
then the general of the Saracens visited condign
vengeance upon them (A.D. 772). He also repressed

360 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES.
a revolt at Tripoli (a.D. 773), and established peace
in that portion of the kalifate, which, no less than
Korassan, was ever ready for an insurrection.
Mansur had now arrived at an age which admon
ished him that there was but little more left of the
present life, and he wished to make a final pilgrimage
to the holy cities. He had nominated as his suc
cessor Isa, his eldest son ; but before setting out, he
caused him to renounce his claim and relieve the
people of their oath to him. This Isa finally did,
under pressure from Kalid Barmek. He was after
wards referred to as the man who had been " to
morrow," but had become " day after to-morrow " ;
for his younger brother Mehdi was set in his place
and the people were called to swear allegiance to
him. Mansur then set out for Mecca, and died at
a station three miles from that city. He was
interred in the ihram of the pilgrim, his grandson
Harun al Rashid saying the last prayers over his
body (a.D. 775). Mansur is represented to us by
the Arabian historians as a person of uncommon
personal beauty, and of brilliant traits of mind,
which were beclouded only by an inordinate parsi
mony, for which some of those about him were at
times hardy enough to censure him.
The news of the death of the kalif was carried
over the deserts to Bagdad in eleven days, and the
grandees convened at once to promise allegiance to
Mehdi, in accordance with expectations. The new
ruler was of a generous spirit and showed a remark
able willingness to look after the well-being of his
people. He not only surrounded himself with able

A LUXURIOUS PILGRIMAGE.

36l

statesmen, but he gave audience personally to his
subjects, and endeavored to redress their wrongs ;
he allowed many prisoners, whom the severity of
Mansur had deprived of their freedom, to return to
the world ; and he reinstated those governors who
had suffered from the same cause.
Before the first year of his reign had closed, Mehdi
determined to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and
his arrangements for it were of the most luxurious
description. Tents were carried to protect the
prince and his suite from the sun, and many camels
bore freight of snow from Korassan to cool the air
still more; every
means was taken to
guard against all
weariness of the flesh
and to ensure the en
joyment of the long
journey. Arrived at
Mecca, the kalifs
extravagance became still more manifest : mil
lions of gold coins, brought from Yemen and
Egypt, were distributed among the fortunate inhabi
tants ; the rich covers of the Kaaba were taken off
and heavy silken stuffs put in their place ; at Medina,
too, the mosque was enlarged and adorned in a
manner worthy of the great ruler. Even the route
to the holy cities was not forgotten ; milestones
marked the distance from Bagdad to Mecca ; cara
vansaries were erected at convenient points ; wells
and cisterns were dug to quench the thirst of pil
grims; and relays of camels and asses were provided,

COIN OF MEHDI (A.D. 779).

362 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES.
not only to Mecca, but also to Yemen, that the
transmission of royal messages might be rapid and
sure. Such were the extravagant measures by which
Mehdi sought to benefit his country.
Peace did not always perch upon his banners how
ever, and it was in revolutionary Korassan (Province
of the Sun) that opposition to the generous ruler is
first to be remarked.
" In that delightful province of the Sun,
The first of Persian lands he shines upon,
Where all the loveliest children of his beam,
Flow'rets and fruits, blush over every stream,
And fairest of all streams, the Murga roves
Among Merou's [Merv's] bright palaces and groves ; —
There on that throne, to which the blind belief
Of millions raised him, sat the Prophet-chief,
The great Mokanna. Over his features hung
The veil, the silver veil, which he had flung
In mercy there, to hide from mortal sight
His dazzling brow, till man could bear its light.
For, far less luminous, his votaries said,
Were even the gleams, miraculously shed
O'er Moussa's cheek, when down the mount he trod,
All glowing from the presence of his God." *
Thus the poet introduces to his readers Hakim,
called Mokanna, " the Veiled," a prophet who led
an obscure sect in Korassan at this time. This
order was a reminiscence of the days of Muslim,
from whom probably Hakim had learned what he
knew about Islam. He appeared at about the year
670, and pretended that Allah had been incarnate in
Adam, Noah, Muslim, and that at that time he was
incarnate in him. His followers became enemies of
the Moslems, and made successful predatory excur-
* Moore's " Lalla Rookh," " The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan."

THE VEILED PROPHET OF KORASSAN. 363
sions into their territory. Mehdi sent an army
against them, and so great was their number that it
is said that thirty thousand left Hakim's standards
when they saw that the cause was lost (about 779).
When driven into his strong fortress, Hakim poi
soned and burned all his family, after which he threw
himself into the flames and was completely con
sumed, excepting his hair. He left a message that
he was to reappear again in the form of an aged man
riding a gray beast, and for many years his second
coming was looked for.*
The former desire for conquest had now given
place to the love of luxury, and the armies of the
kalifate were hardly sufficient to perform police
duty at home ; but Mehdi was, nevertheless inspired
with the desire which had been so strong in his pre
decessors, of making some reprisals upon the Roman
empire. The first force that he sent in that direction
was obliged to retreat to Syria, after having pene
trated as far as the town of Dorylaeum, in Phrygia,
which it had been unsuccessful in attacking. The
following year, Mehdi recruited a formidable army
among the strong warriors of Korassan, and set out
himself at its head, leaving at Bagdad his eldest son,
Hedi, and taking with him Harun al Rashid, who,
under direction of Kalid Barmek, then received his
first lessons in war.
The year 785 was that in which Irene, widow of
Leo IV., took the government of Constantinople in
the name of her son, Constantine V. Italy had
* An account of Mokanna is given by Professor Vambery, " His
tory of Bokhara," pages 42-52.

364 BY BAGDAD'S SHRINES.
been wrested from the Eastern empire of Charle
magne, and the empress saw that her only hope of
conquest was by making head against the Saracens.
Accordingly she prepared an army of ninety thou
sand men for this purpose. Mehdi collected one
almost as large, and sent it out under command of
Harun to invade the domains of the empress. Vic
tory followed the black flag of the Abbassides, and
Irene at last saw the camp-fires of the Saracens
lighting up the shores of the Bosphorus. A battle
for possession of the city followed, and the Saracens
were victorious ; then Irene in terror asked terms
of peace, and the Saracens ceased their operations,
upon her promising to pay an immense annual
tribute to the kalif ; besides furnishing guides and
provisions for the army on its return, and permitting
the kalif to take back with him thousands of prison
ers and beasts, besides large sums of ready money.
After this success in arms, Mehdi gave attention
to putting down the false religionists who had arisen
among the people, and in cultivating literature and
the arts. In the year 784, he determined, though
he was still a young man himself, to ensure the
crown to his son Harun ; but before this design had
been accomplished, his life came to a sudden end,
either by accident in hunting or by means of a
poisoned draught designed for another (a.D. 785).
He was affectionately remembered by his people as
just and generous, as the beautifier of the mosques
at Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, and as the only
one of his dynasty who did not break the rule of the
prophet forbidding the use of wine. The reign is

SKEPTICISM INCREASING. 365
noted, as Tabari observes, for the increase of heresies,
owing probably to the growth of the Persian influ
ences. There had come to be many who horrified
the orthodox by expressing skepticism about the
Koran and the prophet, immortality and paradise,
and indulging in unseemly pleasantries over the sub
jects of fasts and prayers.
Hedi was promptly proclaimed kalif in the room
of his father in 785 ; and the ever restless Alyites
took immediate steps towards revolution in their
own favor. It happened that they made their de
monstration at Mecca at the time of pilgrimage,
when the city was filled with men from all portions
of the kalifate, and naturally many of the partisans
of the Abbassides were among them. A bloody
struggle between the factions ensued, and the un
fortunate children of Ali were again defeated.
Hedi was destined to enjoy the supreme authority
but a few months, and most of his attention was
given to putting down certain atheists, nihilists, or
materialists, and in making the succession secure to
his eldest son, against the known wishes of his father.
This design was frustrated by Kalid, who felt the
tenderness of a teacher for his pupil, and remembered
also the benefits that he had received from Mehdi.
Hedi did not live in friendly relations with his
mother, who, he thought, exercised too much influ
ence in government. In consequence of this ill-feel
ing, he endeavored to poison her ; but his design
was discovered and he was himself smothered with
pillows in the year 786, after a reign of only fifteen
months, at the age of twenty-six years.

XXXVII.
AARON THE ORTHODOX.
We have now reached that brilliant period in the
history of the world when the heroes of romance
were ruling at once, — imperial Charlemagne in the
West and capricious Plarun al Rashid in the East,
and we can scarcely turn the pages on which the rec
ord of the times are written without expecting to
see a paladin of the one start up before us, or to
have our ears ravished by the seductive voice of
Queen Scheherazade telling her romantic tales.
The familiar picture of the period is crowded with
jinns, efreets, and ghouls; minarets burnished with
gold shine from every quarter ; gayly-lighted pleas
ure barges float on the waters of the Tigris ; deadly
scimetars flash before our startled eyes ; we are in
troduced to caves in which thieves gorged with gold
have hoarded their ill-gotten wealth ; we tread the
streets of Bagdad by night in company with kalifs
true and false ; we hear the sound of a voice calling
upon us to exchange old lamps for new ; we enter
the gorgeous palace of the four-and-twenty windows,
and as we behold the unfinished one, exclaim with
the poet :
' ' Ah, who shall lift that wand of magic power,
And the lost clew regain ?

THE BAGDAD OF STORY. 367
The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower
Unfinished must remain. . . .
" So I wander and wander along,
And forever before me gleams
The shining city of songs
In the beautiful land of dreams."
It is a land of dreams to most of the world, but it
was far otherwise to the citizens of Bagdad then.
To them Harun was a flesh-and-blood monarch ; his
scimetar was no fantasm of a dream ; his caprices
were not the entertaining story of a fascinating Per
sian genius ; the brilliant Oriental imagination had
not yet wrought out its rich pages of adventure and
despotic marvels ; the people of Bagdad did not
smile at the erratic deeds of their chief ruler: to
them he was one whose words made every subject
tremble, lest the fate of the Barmecides, perchance,
might be theirs ; lest the whirling scimetar of the
executioner should cut through their own necks.
The people who in that day were born " adown
the Tigris," " By Bagdad's shrines of fretted gold,
High-walled gardens green and old,"
who rested beneath the citron shadows, who saw
" The costly doors flung open wide,
Cold glittering through the lamplight dim,
And broidered sofas on each side,"
did not enjoy the charms of the scenes they were
surrounded by so much as we may now ; for every
step they took was dogged by fear — fear that was
based upon ghastly experience of the tyranny and

368 AARON THE ORTHODOX.
peremptory savagery of the " good " Harun al
Rashid, of which poetry so gayly speaks to us to
day. The reign of this monarch, who raised the great
ness of the kalifate higher than it has ever before
been carried, was divided into two periods, during
the first of which the sovereign, giving himself up to
the enjoyment of luxurious ease, permitted his min
isters, the sons of Barmek, to send his armies hither
and thither in search of conquests or in efforts to
put down risings against his power. This period
closed in 803, and the affairs of the kalif then fell
into a state of confusion which only grew worse
after his death in 809.
The Barmecides were patrons of art, letters, and
science, and encouraged men of learning to make
their homes at the capital ; Harun sympathized in
this policy, and Bagdad became magnificent almost
beyond the power of words to express to readers ac
customed to the comparative simplicity of nineteenth-
century magnificence. In the progress of Bagdad
the kalifs brother Ibrahim, a man of parts, who af
terwards became a claimant for supreme power, was
a helper not to be left out of the account. The chief
vizier, who bore the burdens of state, as the title sig
nifies, was Yahya, son of Kalid, son of Barmek; and
he it was who encouraged trade, regulated the inter
nal administration of government in every respect,
fortified the frontiers, and made the provinces
prosperous by making them safe. Jaafer, his son,
governed Syria and Egypt, besides having other re
sponsibilities. The family was an ornament to the

WATER MERCHANTS AT CAIRO.

37° AARON THE ORTHODOX.
forehead and a crown on the head of the kalif, as
the chroniclers relate ; they were brilliant stars, vast
oceans, impetuous torrents, beneficent rains, the
refuge of the afflicted, the comfort of the dis
tressed, and so generous are they represented that
the story of their beneficence reads like a veritable
page from the Thousand and One Nights.
The Alyites rose in Africa in 792, and the Barme
cides put them down ; dissensions broke out at Da
mascus, at Mosul, in Egypt, among the Karejites,
but they were restrained by the strong ministers,
and all the while the kalif pursued his career as pa
tron of arts and letters ; wits and musicians thronged
about him ; grammarians and poets, jurists and di
vines, alike were encouraged in their chosen pursuits.
In 802, a new emperor came to the throne at Con
stantinople; Nicephorus usurped the place of Irene.
He courted Charlemagne on the west, and insulted
Harun on the east. He sent a letter to the kalif,
saying :
" From Nicephorus, King of the Greeks, to Harun,
King of the Arabs.
" The queen considered you as a rook and herself
as a pawn * ; she submitted to pay tribute to you,
though she ought to have exacted twice as much
from you. A man speaks to you now ; therefore
send back the tribute you have received, otherwise
the sword shall be umpire between me and thee ! "
To this haughty note Harun replied :
* The rook or castle in the game of chess is permitted to make long
moves across the boards in lines parallel with its sides, while the pawn
may move diagonally but one square at a time.

END OF THE BARMECIDES. l^l
" In the name of Allah most merciful !
" Harun al Rashid, Commander of the Faithful, to
Nicephorus, the Roman dog.
" I have read thy letter, 0 thou son of an unbeliev
ing mother ! Thou shalt not hear but behold my
reply ! "
The kalif set forth that very day ; he plundered,
burned, and completely conquered the region about
Heraclea, in Bithynia. Nicephorus sued for peace,
which was granted him on condition that the usual
tribute should now be paid twice a year. Scarcely
had the kalif reached his palace, when the treacher
ous emperor broke the treaty, and Harun advanced
upon him over the Taurus mountains in spite of the
inclement winter weather, with an army of one hun
dred and twenty-five thousand men. Heraclea and
other fortresses were again taken, and this time dis
mantled, and peace was once more agreed upon.
At about this period, Harun became jealous of his
great ministers, the Barmecides, one of whom had
secretly married his sister, and decreed their ruin.
With the usual Oriental treachery, the different
members of the family were taken and imprisoned
for life or slaughtered, to the last man. In this case,
as in many others in the Saracen history, no senti
ment of gratitude for all that had been accomplished
by the faithful servants was taken into account ;
though Harun is said to have shed tears over the
fate of the two children of his sister and Yahya, he
did not allow such sentimental weakness to interfere
with his atrocious purpose. There had been enemies
of the Barmecides at court, some of whom had lost

372 AARON THE ORTHODOX.
their offices on the advent of the favorites, and these
had endeavored to prejudice the mind of the kalif
against them. As Persians they were naturally hated,
and these enemies accused them of disloyal ambition.
When they found themselves unable to carry their
point in this way, they accused the Barmecides, with
more grounds, of infidelity, and doubtless they were
thought nihilists by many, for they had little sym
pathy with Islam. Harun was himself exceedingly
orthodox, and very scrupulous in obeying such of
the laws of his religion as he did not care to break,*
and though at time he paid little attention to this
accusation, he found it convenient to remember,
when he had determined to overthow his favorites.
" Fallen was the house of Jaafar ; and its name,
The high romantic name of Barmecide,
A sound forbidden on its own bright shores,
By the swift Tigris' wave. Stern Harun's wrath,
Sweeping the mighty with their fame away,
Had so passed sentence : but man's chainless heart
Hides that within its depths which never yet
The oppressor's thought could reach."
An Arabian poet thus deplored the fall of the
Barmecides :
" No, Barmek ! time hath never shown
So sad a change of wayward fate ;
Nor sorrowing mortals ever known
A grief so true, a loss so great.
" Spouse of the world ! thy soothing breast
Did balm to every woe afford ;
And now, no more by thee carccsed,
The widowed world bewails her lord."
* Though no kalif had ever performed the pilgrimage with more
care than Harun, he utterly ignored the canon against the use of
wine, which was recklessly drunk at his feasts.

TROUBLE IN KORASSAN. 373
The friends of the Barmecides at Bagdad now
proved so many that Harun found it a less comforta
ble place of abode than it had been, and accordingly
he took up his permanent residence at Rakka, on the
Euphrates, where he had, indeed, been living for a
while before this time.
The truce with Nicephorus did not stand, but it
was four years more before the ravages of the Sara
cens, which extended from the shores of Bithynia to
those of Cilicia and included the island of Cyprus,
had made sufficient impression to force the emperor
again to sue for peace, and had punished him enough
to make him keep his agreement (about 804). Prob
ably Constantinople was now saved from capture,
and the whole Western world from being overrun by
the Saracens, by the fact that a new revolt in Koras
san called the attention of the kalif in that direction.
At the same time he was disturbed regarding the suc
cession. The rising in Korassan was quickly settled
without bloodshed, and the kalif returned home ;
but his rest was brief. The following year (807) new
troubles called Harun to Korassan. Leaving his son
Kasim at Rakka, and Amin, whom he designed as
his successor, at Bagdad, he took with him another
son, Mamun, and hastened to the seat of the revolu
tion. From the outset of this journey, he felt that
his life was nearing its end, but he lived long enough
to calm the province. He suffered all the time from
a malady, but more from not entirely baseless sus
picions that his sons desired his death and were
using means to compass it.
When Harun was assured that his last moment had

374 AARON THE ORTHODOX.
almost arrived, he chose his shroud, ordered his grave
prepared, and then superintended the savage butch
ery of one of the captured revolters, causing his
body to be cut to pieces limb by limb in his pres
ence.* Two days after this ghastly performance, he
died, breathing his last at the capital of Korassan
(a.D. 809). In accordance with an agreement to
which he had caused his sons Amin and Mamun to
swear within the sacred enclosures of the Kaaba,
on the occasion of the last of his many pilgrimages,
Harun was succeeded by his eldest son Amin.
An Arabian poet addressed the following quite
outspoken lines to Harun on the occasion of one
of his pilgrimages :
" Religion's gems can ne'er adorn
The flimsy robe by pleasure worn ;
Its feeble texture soon would tear,
And give those jewels to the air.
" Thrice happy those who seek the abode
Of peace and pleasure in their God ;
Who spurn the world, its joys despise,
And grasp at bliss beyond the skies."
By the terms of the will of Harun, Mamun was
still to be governor of Korassan ; but as soon as the
kalif was dead, the vizier marched a large portion
of the troops belonging to that province to Bagdad,
in order to support the assumptions of Amin, though
this was directly in opposition to the expressed
wishes of Harun, and left Mamun comparatively
helpless. Harun knew that there was a feeling of
* See "The Caliph Haroun Alraschid and Saracen Civilization,"
by E. H. Palmer, page 124.

JEALOUSY OF ARAB AND PERSIAN. 375
jealousy among his Arabian subjects against the
Persian influence, and feared that it would break out
in a more intense form after his death. He knew
that the ascendency of the Barmecides had strength
ened the Persian party, and that the extinction of
that family had made the Arab faction think them
selves of greater comparative importance in state
politics. Still, the balance was not complete, and he
made a plan which he thought would give the gov
ernment stability in the face of such sectional jeal
ousies. He ordered ' that Amin should hold his
court at Bagdad, and Mamun rule from Merv ; but
that upon the death of either brother, the power
should be reunited in the hands of the survivor.
The plan was the surest to promote the dissension
that it was intended to avoid. Amin, not satisfied
with taking from his brother the troops that were
his, set aside the succession in favor of his own son.
He then ordered the sworn agreement, that had
been, hung up in the Kaaba, to be destroyed ; he
omitted Mamun's name in the public prayer, and
substituted that of his son ; and at last, he de
manded of Mamun the surrender of certain of his
provinces. Meantime Mamun had not been idle ; foreseeing the
events that actually occurred, he had made every
effort to bind his subjects to him ; he had remitted
their taxes ; negotiated peace with some distant
rebels who might give him trouble, and had held
frequent durbars (receptions), at which he dispensed
justice personally. He remembered how faithful
the people of that province had been to Muslim, and

376 . AARON THE ORTHODOX.
he patiently awaited the action of Amin. The two
brothers represented, indeed, the different peoples
that composed the kalifate, for Amin was son of a
woman of Arabia, and Mamun of a Persian mother.
They were directed by two men named Fadhl : one,
the son of Rabia, leader of the Arab faction, and
the other, son of Sahl, descended from the old
Persian kings.
Mamun naturally refused to give up his provinces,
and war was precipitated ; armies were raised by
both brothers, and the first conflict occurred at the
town of Rei (Rhe), where the forces of Amin were
routed. Another army and another were sent
towards Korassan with no better results, and Bagdad
was paralyzed with terror. Kufa and Bassora came
to the rescue, however, but their troops were not
able to keep peace among themselves. Syria was
another source of hope ; but Syria was looking out
for its own independence, and proclaimed a rival
kalif at Damascus, who declared that he united the
rights of Ali and Moawia. All the while the army
from Korassan was coming down upon the capital,
under command of Tahir, a Persian general of high
repute. At last the gates were reached; in the year 812,
the Tigris saw the two armies lying one on each
bank ; and the rich city was in a state of siege ; the
gates were barricaded, — those gates for which the
capitals of the past had been robbed ; and the kalif
was shut up in his palace. Week by week the
circling army of Persians came closer, and the dis
tress within the walls grew more intense. Fourteen

MAMUN BECOMES KALIF. 177
months passed, and Amin gave up ; surrendering
himself in expectation of saving his life ; but he was
ingloriously assassinated in spite of all.
In reference to the facts that Tahir, the general
who captured Bagdad, was ambidextrous and blind
of one eye, a poet addressed to him the following
epigram :
" A pair of right hands and a single dim eye
Must form not a man, but a monster, they cry :
Change a hand to an eye, good Tahir, if you can,
And a monster, perhaps, may be changed to a man."
Prematurely old, Amin, unworthy of the office he
had so short a time occupied, thus died at the age of
less than thirty years, and Mamun, his brother, was
the next day proclaimed, in the streets of Bagdad,
kalif and Commander of the Faithful. Civil war
was over for the time.

XXXVIII.
GOLD AND DROSS.
THE new k alif did not come immediately to the ex
ercise of his power, for he found himself ruled by that
minister to whom he owed his elevation. Fadhl had
been educated to the Magian creed, before becoming
a convert to Islam, and had been a trusted courtier
of Harun, who made him tutor and guardian of
Mamun. This familiar relation to the new kalif gave
Fadhl an advantage of which he took all possible ad
vantage, and Mamun readily abandoned to him the
entire control of public affairs, with complete re
liance upon his wisdom. He was known as " Master
of the Pen and the Sword " ; he enjoyed power such
as no minister had ever wielded before. Under him
the Persian influence became immense ; his brother
was made governor of Irak ; Tahir, the conqueror of
Bagdad, was made governor of Syria, and of the
regions north of it, with his capital at Damascus;
and the other provinces were entrusted to men of
the same foreign birth. The result was general dis
satisfaction. In 814, the Alyites, ever ready for a revolt, rose
in great strength, and achieved a victory over the
kalifs troops, near Kufa ; a new army was sent out

ANARCHY AT BAGDAD. 379
and conquered, and the rebels gained possession of
Bassora ; when suddenly their leader died or fell by
poison, and they were forced to surrender. Ten
months after the first rising every city in Irak had
renewed its allegiance to the kalif.
The agent in this conquest, Hartama, a general of
great skill, was rewarded in the usual manner by his
master ; he was thrust into a dungeon from which
he only came out to execution (a.D. 816).
The city of Bagdad fell into a state of complete
anarchy ; the streets were filled with thieves and as-

COIN OF THE KALIF MAMUN.

sassins, who dared to carry off women and children
in full day ; who pillaged the dwellings wherever
they wished ; who even organized themselves into
bands to rob and destroy in the suburbs. A brave
citizen, armed only with the Koran, ventured to op
pose these reckless men, and to call upon them, in
the name of Allah and his prophet, to cease their ill
deeds. The strange effort was successful ; but
scarcely had quiet been restored, when the scourge of
a new Alyite rebellion burst forth apparently at once,
in Irak, in Yemen, in the region about the holy cities.
The dazed kalif looked in vain for some means of
putting an end to these constant uprisings of the

380 GOLD AND DROSS.
descendants of Ali, and in his despair thought to
bring peace by a total surrender. He called to him
at Merv, in 817, one of the great-grandsons of Ali,
Ali ben Musa el Rida, born in the reign of Mehdi,
a man well known for his learning, piety, and good
life, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage;
he then promised him the throne after his death ;
coined money in his name ; exchanged the black
garments of- the tribe of Abbas for the green clothes
which marked the descendants of the prophet ; and
sent out letters commanding that the same change
of colors should be made by all the civil and military
officers of the kingdom.
Much as the Alyites were pleased by this surren
der, it did not bring peace: for the children of Ab
bas, who counted thirty-three thousand men in
Arabia alone, whose chief strength was at Bagdad,
rose in indignation, and, after a week of rioting and
uproar, during which the air was filled with curses of
Mamun, and the popular wrath was excited to its ut
most, they finally deposed the kalif, and chose in his
stead Ibrahim, son of Mehdi the former ruler (a.D.
817). On the summit of such a social volcano Mamun
was lulled to sleep by the intriguing minister, who
at first kept all information of the rising from reach
ing him, and then managed to make him believe
that Ibrahim was not a rival, but simply his lieuten
ant at the old capital. While the kalif slept, the
rioting went on ; property became insecure ; life was
of no value ; the farmers forsook their ancestral
homes ; the uncultivated lands produced no harvests;
and famine followed bloodshed.

VIGORO US A CTIONS OF MAMUN. 38 1
Musa, the innocent cause of the disturbance, now
dared to sacrifice himself ; he craved a private inter
view, and told the kalif that it was not devotion to
the bouse of Ali, but aversion to it, that caused the
trouble : " the men of Bagdad are discontented that
thou hast chosen me as thy successor ; that thou
hast changed the regal color from black to green ;
the usurper there is not thy lieutenant, but acts as
kalif in his own right ; it is thine to support thy
rights ! " The panic-struck Mamun was awake now.
"Art thou the only one who knows this?" he
cried. " Nay ; the whole army knows it ! "
Secretly and instantly the kalif convened his chief
advisers, and asked them for further information. A
profound silence was all the response he obtained.
At last one of them more bold than the others, ven
tured to open his mouth and say that none dared to
speak until guaranteed security against the wrath of
the chief minister. This the kalif gave under his
hand, and thereupon he was told that the murder of
Hartama was the act of Fadhl, for political purposes,
that the accusation of treason was false ; that all the
late changes in government had been made to bol
ster up the cause of the Alyites, and not for the
good of the realm.
Mamun instantly determined to act. He left
Merv, and hastened towards Bagdad ; on the way
thither four ferocious soldiers were summoned be
fore him and given private instructions. Fadhl
entered his bath soon after, the four men rushed
upon him, and he was beyond the power of intrigue.

382 GOLD AND DROSS.
The kalif when informed of the tragedy, hastened to
see his minister ; gazed in apparent horror upon the
corpse, and ordered the murderers slain in his pres
ence, in the sacred month Ramadan ; he condoled
with Fadhl's stricken mother, and sent special mes
sengers to break the sad intelligence to his bereaved
brother. In like manner, Musa, the self-sacrificing
successor-elect, suddenly died ; poisoned, as the
world thought ; and the kalif wept copiously over
the remains, and buried them ostentatiously beside
those of the great Harun al Rashid (a.D. 818).
Then, too, the brother of Fadhl, Hasan, governor of
Persia, Hejaz, and Yemen, went mad, and had to be
put under restraint. Before this, however, the kalif
had asked of him his daughter Buran in marriage,
and had given him his own daughter to wife. Thus,
in true Oriental fashion, the atmosphere was cleared
by means of the assassin's knife and the poisoner's
potion, and the chief actor in all the fiendish work
performed the part of a bereaved and sympathetic
mourner. Like some beneficent genius, the dissimulating
kalif continued his march towards Bagdad, flattering
his blinded subjects the while by gifts and immuni
ties; he resumed the black garments of the Abbas
sides, undermined his rival by cozening the chief
men of the capital ; and finally at Nehrwan he was
met by the dignitaries of the city and the soldiery,
who had come forth to salute him as the kalif. We
have now reached the end of the first period in the
reign of Mamun, that of the Alyite troubles, in
which he was under the control of his minister Fadhl.

FEASTING OVER OPEN GRAVES. 383
The second stage may well be called the " golden "
period, for in it the kalifate increased in riches and
magnificence ; but it was also a time in which some
of the fruits of the seeds just planted came to per
fection, and great evils threatened the kingdom.
Now the kalif changed his conduct ; the Persian
influence was encouraged and made powerful ; Has
an was released from his restraint ; and soon the
marriage with his daughter was consummated as
agreed, but in a style of magnificence that startled
the residents of Wasit, the city of the bride's father,
accustomed though they were to fetes and pageants of
the greatest extravagance. The festivities, which
seem to us to have been celebrated over open graves,
and to have preserved fresh the tragic memory of
tales of poison and murder, dissimulation and in
trigue, were prolonged through nineteen days ; the
mother of the bride showered upon the head of the
illustrious groom a thousand pearls of great cost ;
and furnished him a mat woven with golden threads
upon which to stand while taking the easily broken
vows. Balls of amber or musk, and arrows, were thrown
among the attendant throngs, each giving the one
who received it a title to a fair slave-girl, a pair of
horses, a piece of land, or some other valuable, and
directing him where to go to claim the gifts dis
tributed by the novel lottery. Coins of gold and
silver and eggs of amber were also lavishly cast
about, to be picked up by whoever would. The
bridal chamber was illuminated by a taper of amber
of eighty pounds' weight, supported by a candlestick

384 GOLD AND DROSS.
of the purest gold ; and the sums of money said to
have been lavished were so extravagant that one
hesitates to put on record the estimates of the en
thusiastic chroniclers. The kalif, and all his fol
lowers, his camels and camel-drivers, his boatmen
and his horses, were guests of the restored vizier,
who was either overjoyed at the brilliant match his
daughter had made, or was determined to strengthen
his hold upon the office to which he had been lifted;
for he was seated in the place of the unfortunate
Fadhl. Persians now ruled the provinces, and worse, the
rationalism of the Persians was forced upon the
faithful ; the memory of Moawia was formally cursed
in public (826) ; the following year (827) the pre
eminence of Ali was proclaimed with equal official
solemnity ; and to the horror of all true believers in
the mission of the prophet, it was also declared that
the Koran was no longer to be deemed an eternal
and uncreated book. This last was a stroke at the
foundation of Islam, and was destined to exert a
long and important influence.
It is related that Mamun had received from Kabul
a present of a volume entitled " The Eternal
Reason," which attempted to undermine Islam by
teaching that reason is the only source of religion,
and that revelation cannot be the sure ground upon
which to base a universal cult. To seek and develop
this religion of reason and conscience became there
after his persistent effort. He insinuated doubts at
first by means of meetings for discussion, at which
no one was permitted to appeal to revelation, but

SKEPTICAL CLUBS. 385
only to reason. Thus unconsciously Mamun began
a process by which that implicit faith which had
been at once the foundation and the inspiration of
Islam, which had nerved its warriors in their terrible
warfare, and had brought the nation out of its
former obscurity to the foremost position among the
peoples of the world, was to be taken from them.
It was a strange situation when the Commander
of the Faithful thus strove to overturn the national
faith. The kalif was not satisfied with such mild
proceeding as the establishment of clubs for debate ;
he proceeded, a little later (830?), to threaten all
who opposed the progress of his private opinions.
He convened at Bagdad the most influential jurists,
and caused them to be enquired of concerning their
opinions regarding the Koran * (a.D. 827). Beshr,
the chief judge, was asked first : " Was the Koran
created or not ? "
"Allah created all things," he replied.
"The Koran is a thing?" continued the ques
tioner " Yes."
" Therefore in your opinion the Koran is created ? "
" It is plain that the Koran is not the creator,"
Beshr replied.
" That is not the question ; tell me unequivocally,
is the Koran created or not ? "
Thus pressed, the great judge replied that he had
no better replies to make ; and the others were sub-
* For an extended account of this controversey, see " Histoire des
Philosophes et Theologiens Musulmans," by Gustave Dugat, pages
82-105.

386 GOLD AND DROSS.
jected to the same sort of an inquisition, &&d with
like results. Orders were given that the jurists
should be examined again, and threatened with
bodily torture if they still proved obstinate. Torture
and the dungeon proved arguments too strong for
many of the learned men, and they gave way ; but
Beshr and others stood by their orthodoxy and were
ordered to be sent to Tarsus, where the kalif was
at the moment directing a new war against the
emperor of the Eastern empire.*
The war between the kalif and the emperor just
mentioned had a nobler origin than any other that
we have had to contemplate, for it grew out of the
desire that Mamun was inspired with to advance his
people in science. It happened that a Greek captive
had been brought to his notice on account of his
acquaintance with diverse sciences, and Mamun had
discovered that he had gained his knowledge from
an eminent Byzantine philosopher known to history
as Leo of Thessalonica, who was then living in Con
stantinople in indigence, in spite of his wisdom and
celebrity. Mamun determined to invite the scholar
to Bagdad, and sent him a letter to that effect, which
Leo placed in his emperor's hands, thinking it not
patriotic to hold correspondence with an enemy to
* " Nor was this laxity of mind atoned for by any severity of
morals. . . . The chief kadi was a man notorious through all
Irak for the obscenity of his conversation and the loathsome charac
ter of his vices. . . The favorite court poet was a scoffer at
religion and a man of dissolute life. ' Multiply thy sins to the
utmost,' he had said in one of his poems, ' for thou art to meet an
indulgent lord. ' . . . An extreme license of manners prevailed.
. . . The veiy mosques were ' rat-traps set by Satan." — "Islam
under the Khalifs of Bagdad," p. 253,

FIGHTING FOR A PHILOSOPHER. 387
his country. The emperor forbade Leo to leave his
dominions, and gave him the use of the Church of
the Forty Martyrs as a school, adding a considerable
pension. Mamun still persisted in his efforts to
gain the scholar, and Theophilus increased his
honors and emoluments.* This action on the part of
one who had so entirely ignored the great scholar be
fore, made Mamun indignant, and he determined to
use force in the effort to carry out his design. In 830
he declared war.
Assuming command of his army in person, the
kalif marched through Mosul and Antioch to Tarsus,
whence he made incursions into the emperor's realm,
taking fortresses and capturing prisoners, but return
ing to Damascus for the winter. The following
spring Theophilus made overtures of peace, but in
doing it offended the kalif by a breach of etiquette,
and he undertook a new campaign, this time ventur
ing as far as Heraclea, and, after doing much de
struction, returning a second time to the capital of
Syria for the winter. The war continued during the
year 832, and both the emperor and the kalif were
personally engaged in it, the seat of operations
being in Cilicia. There, in 833, Mamun died sud
denly, after having eaten too freely of fresh dates
brought from the East. His last words were coun
sels of mercy, addressed to his brother Motasim, in
which he urged him to govern for the good of the
* Leo was ordained bishop of Thassalonica, and afterwards be
came the head of a mathematical school at Constantinople. It was
he who invented the system of telegraphic communication used at
this time, which by means of fires, conveyed information of invasion,
battles, and other incidents of war.

388 GOLD AND DROSS.
people, and especially to treat the children of Ali
with the humanity which the descendants of the
prophet deserved.
Such was the career of one of the greatest rulers
that we have to consider in the story of the Sara
cens, a prince celebrated by the chroniclers for his
clemency, the purity of his habits, his justice, and his
liberality. He was not so accomplished a general as
his father ; but he continued and increased, the
enlightened cultivation of letters that Harun had
begun, and his reign has been compared to the times
of the de' Medici in Italy and of Louis XIV. in France.
At its beginning science had not advanced beyond
the first steps, in spite of the efforts of Mansur and
Harun, but his court became its sanctuary and the
hearthstone about which the savants freely made
themselves at home. He is said to have regarded
scientific men as beings chosen by Allah to perfect
human reason ; as the lights of the world, the guides
of humanity, without whom man would return to
primitive barbarism. It is related that when Mamun
was blamed for putting a Christian at the head of a
college at Damascus, he said : " I chose this learned
man not as my guide in religious affairs, but as my
teacher in science."
In the golden middle period of the reign, riches
had brought luxury, and science and letters had dis
persed some of the gross customs and the confused
ideas of former days. Greek treatises in astronomy,
geography, philosophy, medicine, had been trans
lated into the languages of Syria and Arabia, and
public instruction had been organized, in which theory

LUXURY AND LEARNING. 389
and practice went hand in hand ; and the sovereign
was the intelligent director of the whole.
In this reign the philosopher, Al Kindy (Abu Yusuf
ben Isaac) flourished, and also a Christian author like
wise called Al Kindy, whose work, known as " The
Apology of Al Kindy," in which he urges a friend to
embrace Christianity, is still extant. It is one of the
evidences of the toleration enjoyed in Mamun's
court, that such a work should have been published
and the author not executed for his temerity. The
author does not allow the prophetical claim of Mo
hammed, he treats Islam with remarkable freedom,
and assails the Koran in a most vigorous style, all of
which seems to show the influence of the kalifs
decree about the prophet's book. The author, an
Armenian Christian, argues in favor of his own
religious views and the superiority of the Hebrew
and Greek Scriptures with equal force and boldness.*
* See " The Apology of Al Kindy," by Sir William Muir.

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XXXIX.
GLIMMERINGS AND DECAYS.
Mamun had designated as his successor his brother
Motasim, but the army was bitterly opposed to him
and made a powerful effort in behalf of Abbas, son
of the former. Just as an alarming revolt threatened
to burst forth, Abbas, with patriotic devotion, threw
himself at the feet of his uncle and swore fealty to
him. The discord was immediately quieted, but the
seeds of decadence had been sown by Mamun, and
Motasim, by following the precedents he had estab
lished, nourished and increased them. He continued
the persecutions of those who looked on the Koran
in the light that Mohammed had commanded, and so
greatly did this rouse feeling against him that he was
fearful for his personal safety. By surrounding him
self with a body-guard recruited from prisoners cap
tured in Turkestan, he still further favored the foreign
influence which Mamun had encouraged, as opposed
to that of the Arabians. So much was the un
friendly feeling of the citizens of Bagdad deepened
against him, that he determined to remove from the
capital, and it was on this- account that he founded
a new city, at a point some sixty miles to the north
west, which he named Samarra. 39°
THE CAREER OF BABEK. 39 1
Our attention is now called to a sect which had
arisen during a former reign among the mountains of
Armenia, based upon no loftier principle than oppo
sition to every thing in Islam. Did the Koran teach
temperance, these infatuated people practised inso
briety ; did it call for purity, they revelled in animal
ism ; was pillage discouraged, the}- robbed and
deprived others of their rights without scruple.
With their other absurd errors they mingled some of
the tenets of Magianism, a belief in the transmigra
tion of souls, and certain dogmas of the sect known
as Ismalians. The chief of the body was a reckless
adventurer named Babek (and called Koremi, the
sensualist), against whom all opposition had been
vain. For a score of years he carried on his nefarious
operations almost with impunity, and devastated
many fair regions in both Armenia and Irak.
Now he dared to threaten the capital itself. The
emergency was great, and Motasim entrusted the
army that was to act against him to a general of
Turkish birth, who encountered Babek in Azerbai
jan, the most northern portion of Persia, in the region
of Lake Oroomiah, at first put him to flight after a
fierce battle, and then captured him. Babek was
brought to Bagdad, was exhibited in the principal
streets on the back of an elephant, and subjected to
the jibes and insults of the populace, after which he
was Handed over to the executioner (a.d. 837). His
doctrines did not immediately die, but the party of
which he was the soul lost all political importance.
The emperor Theophilus took advantage of this
disturbance to renew the struggle that had suddenly

392 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
been brought to a close by the death of Mamun, and
Cappadocia became the theatre of war. Theophilus
made use of ferocious wild beasts to desolate the
regions about the Oxus ; of stratagem to introduce
spies into the immediate kingdom of the kalif; and
of gold to purchase the friendship of the fickle citi
zens of Bagdad ; thus by one means and another
prolonging the struggle. At last, in 836, he threw
an army of a hundred thousand men upon the bor
ders of Syria, sacking cities, and devastating a region
almost up to the limits of Mesopotamia. Thence he
went to Melitene, in Cappadocia, and finally returned
to Constantinople, the army giving itself over to the
utmost excesses on the way; but he had overreached
himself. The kalif was maddened by the devasta
tion of his dominions. He put himself at the head
of an army said to have counted two hundred
and twenty thousand men, and advanced upon
Amorium, a city reputed to have been the richest
and most populous of all that belonged to the em
peror. On the buckler of every soldier was inscribed
the name of the place, as evidence of the terrible de
termination with which the expedition set out. Ar
rived at Amorium, after months of journeying and
fighting, the Arabs and Turks laid siege to the city,
and succeeded in entering it by the aid of a traitor
who gave information of the weak spot in the forti
fications. The massacre that ensued has few par
allels among those of Saracenic history. The
greater portion of the citizens were put to the
sword. The emperor appealed for aid to the
princes of Europe, among whom Louis the De-

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394 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
bonnaire, of France, seemed disposed to take his
part, but during the negotiations all three rulers
died, — Louis in 840, Motasim in 841, and Theophi
lus in 842.
Motasim had reigned eight years and eight
months ; he left eight sons, eight daughters, and
eight thousand slaves ; eight million dinars ; and
eighty million dirhems ; for which reasons he has
been called the Octave. Under him an element of
weakness, which was to bear terrible fruit in the
future, was considerably increased. In the former
reign the Turks had been made customs-officers,
in place of the Arabians, but Motasim introduced
them to his privy-councils, and thus greatly added
to their political importance.
Wathek, eldest son of Motasim, assumed supreme
authority in 842, and immediately issued a decree
confirming the laws of Mamun regarding the nature
of the Koran, thus continuing the war that had
been begun against his own subjects. The suici
dal effect of this pertinacity of the kalifs is illustrated
in connection with the struggle with the Eastern em
pire that still continued. It happened that after the
Moslem forces had made head against the army of
the Greeks, an exchange of captives was arranged,
but Wathek ordered that all of his soldiers who did
not accept his views regarding the Koran should be
left in the hands of the enemy, thus cutting off a
considerable number from his available forces and
weakening the spirits of those who remained. In
consequence of such actions as this, the Saracens did
not gain upon their enemy, and the kalif became so

THE NATURE OF THE KORAN. 395
much discouraged that he died in the year 847. He
had not possessed the elevated personal character of
his father, but he had imitated him in his encourage
ment of letters and liberal arts, and is said to have
surpassed him in the magnificence of his display. He
took Mecca and Medina under his special care, and
the whole kingdom prospered so greatly that beggary
was almost unknown. Wathek followed Mamun in
the favor which he showed to the Alyites. He sub
jected the Christians and Moslems to persecution if
they would not conform to his theological views ;
though towards the close of his reign he was con
vinced that this policy was inexpedient.
It is related that a Syrian prisoner of venerable as
pect was admitted to an interview with him, who de
sired to question in his presence the minister of state
on this subject of toleration. When permission had
been given him, he asked :
" What is this doctrine that you wish to estab
lish?" " That the Koran is a created book."
"This is essential to the true faith, doubtless?"
" Yes, verily."
" Did the apostle oblige the faithful to accept this
or did he leave them free ? "
" He left them free."
" Was the apostle of Allah acquainted with the
dogma?" " He was acquainted with it."
" Tell me, then, why you wish to restrict the faith
ful in regard to a matter in which the apostle per.
mitted freedom."

396 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
To this the minister had no reply ready, and the
old teacher, turning to the kalif, continued,
" In the fifth sura at the fifth verse we read : ' This
day have I perfected religion for you, and have filled
up the measure of my favor upon you ; and it is my
pleasure that Islam shall be your religion!" The
old man then proceeded to show that the imposition
of an article of faith which the prophet did not re
quire was unauthorized, and the kalif was so thor
oughly convinced, that he desisted from his attempts
to base upon the Koran dogmas that had been
learned from Aristotle, and there was freedom in the
matter during the remainder of the reign.*
Wathek had died without naming his successor,
and his foreign courtiers, the Turks (now almost
complete masters of the government), embraced the
opportunity to assert themselves again by placing
upon the throne a brother of the late kalif, Mota-
wakkel, a young man of twenty-six, of light and
trifling character, who found pleasure in cruelty, and
indulged in bestial intoxication. He had the good
sense to know that the Turks who had placed the
crown on his head might at any time lift it off, at
the risk of taking his head too, and therefore he laid
schemes to gain partisans among other classes of his
subjects. He issued a decree re-asserting the uncre
ated nature of the Koran, and denouncing all who
should deny the fact ; he called about him orthodox
theologians, who were encouraged to confound the
free-thinkers, who had in the beginning of the former
* See " The Faith of Islam," by Edward Sell, page 127, for more
details of this interview.

A SUBURB OF DAMASCUS.

398 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
reign been countenanced ; he renounced all sympathy
with the Alyites, cursing their memory and throwing
down the mosque at Kerbala which covered the
tomb of Hosein.* He persecuted the Jews and
Christians, ordering that they should never ride on
horses, but only on asses and mules, and that without
stirrups ; that their dwellings should be marked by
figures of dogs and monkeys, and their persons
always known by yellow dresses ; he refused them
the right to enter the baths frequented by Moslems,
or to occupy any office of public service ; they were
restricted in regard to their schools and places of
worship ; their taxes were doubled ; and the very in
dications of their graves were obliterated.
The reign was disturbed in 852 by a rising in
Armenia, which was not quelled until 856. The
Moslem possessions in Egypt were at the same time
threatened by the Greeks, and Damietta was pillaged
and burned, while struggles in Asia Minor continued
without permanent advantage to either side. Dur
ing these wars the royal residence was removed to
Damascus, probably that the kalif might the better
direct the operations in the field ; but it was finally
again established at Samarra, where a palace, surpass
ing in some respects all its predecessors, was erected,
from which the kalif continued to encourage the
gentler arts of peace to such an extent that his
reign, like those of Harun and Mamun, has been
* " Every one who either in act or word questioned a single syllable
of the Koran was regarded as an infidel, and was in peril of being
torn in pieces by the devout people of Bagdad." — " Islam under the
Kha'ifs of Bagdad," page 273.

MURDER OF MOTAWAKKEL. 399
called a " golden age." All the splendor came to an
end, however, so far as Motawakkel was concerned,
on the night of the twelfth of December, 861, when
the chiefs of the Turkish body-guard who had raised
him to power, under direction of Wassif, one of
!them, assassinated him in his palace in the presence
of his .son, Montaser, with whom they were in
league. Under Motasim the original Turkish body
guard of four thousand increased to seventy thousand.
and their influence was augmented in proportion,
Is was they who by their fiendish cruelty frightened
him from Bagdad ; a step which left them still more
powerful, and the kalif was reduced to the condition
of a puppet in their hands. It was because Mota
wakkel had endeavored to be independent of them,
that he was thus taken off.
The night that Motawakkel was slaughtered, his
son Montaser was proclaimed Kalif by the same
Turks who had performed the like duty for the
murdered ruler, and the first act of the young man
was to endeavor to restrict the terrible power that
he now so well knew. He endeavored also to
counteract the effects of his father's hatred of the
Alyites ; he eagerly entered upon the work of re
building the tombs of Ali and Hosein ; he re
established pilgrimages ; put an end to the persecu
tions of the partisans of the unfortunate descendants
of the prophet ; in all this probably trying to smother
the upbraidings of his conscience, which constantly
reminded him of the part he had taken in the murder
of his father. Still, nothing gave him peace ; he re.
moved from the palace in which his father had lived,

400 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
in which he had been killed, in which, while the
kalifs body remained unburied, he himself had
been proclaimed sovereign ; but a horrid melancholy
dogged him everywhere ; not even the debaucheries
into which he plunged at Samarra could give him a
peaceful stupidity, and after a dreary reign of five
months he died, poisoned, as some assert, not with
out reason.
Montaser had intended to have his son take the
throne after him, but the autocratic Turks did not
agree, with him, and it was given to a son of Motasim,
who became kalif as Mostain in 862. He came to
the throne in pursuance of a bargain with the chief
of the Turks, Wassif, the one who had conspired
with Montaser to murder Motawakkel, by the terms
of which his own brothers were given up to the body
guard. The public had not at the time been
sufficiently familiarized with such odious bargains
not to be scandalized by this one. The reign of the
new kalif was cursed by a succession of bloody
quarrels growing out of the indignation of the people
thus aroused against their ruler. Homs witnessed
the first outburst ; for some days the streets ran
blood, and the strife was not quelled until the repre
sentative of the kalif there had been numbered
among the killed.
War in Asia Minor now caused a brief intermission
in the strife at home. There the Moslem governor
of Melitene had in the previous year made a cam
paign across the country to the very shores of the
Euxine, and had attacked the important town of
Amissus, desolating the region wherever he went ;

REVOLUTIONS. 401
but his march proved too venturesome, and his
army, set upon by the Greeks, was cut to pieces, and
its leader himself killed. The impetuous conquerors
did not rest until they had actually entered the bor
ders of Mesopotamia. Opposing armies from the
kalif were unable to cope with the enemy, and their
commander returned to Constantinople to celebrate
his victory in the circus. There was no enthusiasm
for war left in the Saracens now ; and the Turks,
who alone were competent to meet these new
enemies, were more interested in promoting their
personal advancement than in looking after the
public weal. Just at this juncture they were
struggling to wrest power from some appointees
of the kalif whom they did not approve. Thus the
populace and the army found themselves at swords'
points in the streets of Samarra, in a general
scramble for spoils. Anarchy reigned supreme ;
massacre and pillage were the order of the day:
buildings were given to the flames ; a bridge over
the Tigris was burned ; and the carnage did not
cease until there were no new victims for the sword.
The example of the kalifs capital proved con
tagious ; the Alyites rose in 864, took possession of
Kufa, and proclaimed another kalif : Tabaristan, to
the west of Korassan, in modern times a hunting-
ground of the Persian Shah, rebelled, and was forever
lost to the kalifate ; Homs revolted against its
governor; and, to add to the confusion and the un
utterable strife, the very Turks themselves became
the prey of jealousies, and began to assassinate each
other in the palaces of Bagdad ; Mostain was soon

402 GLIMMERINGS AND DECA YS.
involved, and the insurgents proclaimed his cousin,
Motaz, kalif in his stead ; the capital was besieged
by an army of fifty thousand men ; and after sus
taining the horrors of a siege, capitulated. The
kalif was given an escort to Bassora ; but on the
way was put to death at Wasit (a.d. 866).
The new ruler repeated the experience of the old,
with this exception, that matters grew worse, if pos
sible, from year to year. Determined to free him
self from the slavery to the Turkish body-guard that
former kalifs had suffered, he found himself merely
forced to increase their powers almost without limits ;
and finally the army, when the exhausted treasury
proved too much depleted to meet the demand for
their pay, revolted against its own leaders, gave the
palaces up to pillage, and seized the Commander of
the Faithful himself, tore his robes from him, thrust
him out under a burning sun, forced him to renounce
his authority, and then plunged him into a dungeon,
where he was suffered to die of hunger and thirst
(A.D. 869).
Thus the ground was cleared for the Turks again,
and they promptly came forward with a son of
Wathek, whom they set up as kalif under the title of
Motadi, in 869. He came to the throne with a
character that promised well for the future ; but it
was too late for one man, however influential, to
stand against the terrible tide which was whirling
the nation onwards to its destruction. He forbade
all those infractions of the rules of the Koran that
had been common for many years ; wine was de
nounced ; games of hazard were forbidden ; the

THE TURKISH BODY-GUARD. 403
musicians, dancers, and buffoons who infested the
court were driven out ; the primitive faith was re
established ; justice was awarded by the kalif in per
son ; and the finances of government were systemat
ically ordered. It seemed as though the days of the
early kalifs had returned. Alas, the turbulent king
makers of Turkestan could not be brought to act on
such primitive principles as these ; they knew and
cared nothing for the prophet, and they revolted
against the good rule of Motadi ; Samarra was in
vaded, blood was shed, and the powerless ruler was
called upon to abdicate. He stood up manfully
against riot and misrule, but it availed nothing ; he
was ignominiously insulted and tortured. At last a
poignard was driven to his heart, on the twenty-
first of June, 870.

XL.
THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
DISTANT Korassan now calls again for notice.
We remember that during the reign of Mamun,
Taher, the most popular as well as the most able of
his generals, had established himself firmly in the
affections of the people of that important region.
His descendants had profited by his labors, and
though they had nominally always been under the
sway of the kalifs, they had really been carrying on
a government of their own, their dynasty being
known as that of the Taherites, or Taherians.
During the reign of Motawakkel there had arisen
a family known as the Soffarides, Kettle-makers, or
Braziers (soffar, a brazier), from the fact that it was
founded by a man whose father had followed that
useful trade, and who himself began life in that occu
pation. His name was Yakub, and he was noble,
generous, and courageous. Quitting the trade of
making and patching kettles, Yakub put himself at
the head of a body of reckless men and determined
to make his way in life by force of arms. Fighting
was the noble occupation in those days, as it re
mained for ages after. Yakub managed (in 849) to
take a portion of their dominions away from the
404

YAKUB THE SOFFAR. 405
Taherites, was applauded for his skill by the people
whom he conquered, and after a while was made
their ruler. Thus the dynasty of Soffarides began.
When the kalifs were in trouble, in the reign of
Motaz, Yakub embraced the opportunity to wrench
more of Korassan from the Taherites in 867, and then
his sovereignty was acknowledged beyond the limits
of his own stolen possessions. In 873 he snatched
the remainder of the land from the Taherites, and
thus put an end to that dynasty, which had been in
existence for about fifty years.
It was while these events were occurring that the
kalif Motadi was taken
off by the assassin. Mo
tamed was a ruler to whom

the king-making Turks
could have no objections ;
for he was a complete C0IN 0F TULUN ^v' 87o)'
nullity, so far as exerting any considerable influence
upon public affairs was concerned. He is repre
sented as an amiable person, who enjoyed games
and feasts, cultivated society, encouraged letters and
literary men, and was instrumental in bringing to
notice many essays upon the light topics enjoyed by
fashionable society at his court. He allowed Yakub
to wrench Korassan from the kalifate, never to be
regained ; but he sent a force against him when he
found that he was threatening Bagdad. The armies
met at a spot not far from Wasit, and Yakub was
defeated. He died soon after ; but his brother, Amr,
became his successor, and he effected a treaty with
Motamed by which he was acknowledged sovereign

406 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
of the provinces that Yakub had conquered.* Thus
the kalif lost, and the Soffarides gained Seistan,
Faristan, Korassan, and other provinces. Greater
losses were to come.
We have to trace another disaster to the days of
Mamun, those golden days when it seemed to the
polite world as though the bright festivities of the
sovereign's marriage were but a prophecy of more
extravagant glories in the future, instead of the fate
ful forbodingof an oncoming doom. An enfranchised
slave named Tulun, had in that reign received some
honorable commissions from the sovereign, which
succeeding kalifs had continued, and when his son
Ahmed, who was born in 835, came to a sufficient
age, he was made governor of Egypt. He saw that
the kalif was weak, and, like Yakub, thought that by
a little warlike enterprise he might win power for
himself and his descendants ; and most men in those
days were as desirous to make a good position for
their children as they were to ensure their own for
tune. From 873, when he took his government, he
laid the plans for his undertaking, and in about three
years he was prepared for the onset, for he had then
made himself master of Egypt. He invaded Syria,
took Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Kinnesrin, Antioch,
and was not stopped until he reached Tarsus ; and
then only because treason had been excited in his
* It happened that Amr was able also to relieve Motamed from the
attacks of a rival kalif, Mohammed, son of Zeid, who had asserted
his claims as a descendant of Ali. Mohammed was defeated, and fell
into Amr's hands, and was sent to Motamed, either as an evidence of
friendship, or as a threat that the kalif himself was not too strong to
fear the Soffarides.

THE TULUNIDES PAY TRIBUTE. 407
camp by the commander of the kalifs forces, his own
brother, Mowafek, whom he designed to be his suc
cessor. Some of the cities he had conquered were
taken back by Ahmed, but before he had accom
plished his complete intentions death overtook him
(about 883). The dismemberment of the kalifate
did not stop, however, nor was the dynasty of the
Tulunides broken off, for it held the captured terri
tories a score of years more.*
Motamed died at Bagdad in the year 892, and his
brother Mowafek just before him, so that the succes
sion did not fall to him as Motamed had desired, but
to Motaded, a son of Mowafek. This prince smiled
upon the Alyites, and on that account has received
slight justice from the historians of his country, be
cause at that time, as well as at the present moment,
the Alyites or Shias form but a small fraction of the
followers of the prophet.-}- It was one of the prin
ciples of the prophet, as we know, to demand that
all people should either acknowledge the faith he
taught, or pay tribute to the treasury of the Saracens.
Acting upon this custom, Motaded acknowledged
the independence of the Tulunides, but only after he
had secured a considerable tribute from them.
* All this time Kairwan, which had been founded about 670, was
governed by a dynasty known as Aglabites, from Ibrahim, the son of
Aglab, who had been appointed by Harun al, Rashid about the year
800. Between the reigns of Wathek and Motamed, the Aglabites
had attacked Italy (842), ravaged Rome (846), had lost most of what
they had grasped in Italy (871), and had taken Syracuse (87S).
The dynasty was overthrown by Obeid Allah el Mehdi, a.d. 909.
\ There are, it is computed, at present about one hundred and
eighty million Moslems, and among them but ten millions are counted
among the Alyites or Shias.

408 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
The constantly recurring outbursts of religious
sectaries gave Motaded trouble, but he proved equal
to them. A fanatic named Hamdan and surnamed
Karmath had arisen, who had allied himself with the
Ismalians (who under Babek made so much disturb
ance during the reigns of Mamun and Motasim), and-
had obtained a considerable following in the region
about Kufa. He taught his disciples that they
should practise entire community of goods, have no
respect for revelation (excepting, probably, his own),
and that they might consider themselves free from
the duties of prayer and alms, as well as from all
the ordinary considerations of humanity towards
their enemies. These Karmathians, as they were
called, had for many years desolated large tracts of
country in Syria, Arabia, and even in Egypt, but
Motaded arrested their destructive progress, and in
895 repaired some injuries that they had made in the
mosque at Mecca, considerably improving it and en
larging its walls and enclosures.
Motaded found time also to look to the Soffarides,
and remembering how they had conquered the rival
kalif in Korassan, felt that they might some day try
forces with him. He therefore entered into an
alliance with Ismail Samana, a rising warrior who
had begun to establish a monarchy in Transoxania,
the region beyond the Oxus, with his capital at
Bokhara. Ismail was exceedingly pleased to have
such an opportunity for war with his rising neighbor
and started very promptly towards Korassan with a
sufficient army. Amr was sagacious enough not to
wait for his coming, but crossed the border-line and

A LUDICROUS MISCHANCE.

409

gave battle. Just at the critical moment, the steed
on which Amr rode becoming excited, took the bit
in his mouth and rushed into the enemy's lines, car
rying his startled master with him. An accident so
unexpected and ludicrous enabled the forces of
Ismail to gain a speedy but rather inglorious victory
(A.D. 898).

AN ARABIAN ENCAMPMENT.
The day of this victory, as Amr was sitting in his
tent carefully guarded, it is said that he ordered one
of his attendants to prepare some food. The only
cooking utensil to be found was a bucket in which
grain and water were given to the horses, and that
was soon placed over a fire upon a crooked stick. It

4IO THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
had not been in position long when a hungry cur
passed by, and eagerly thrust his head into the
bucket to seize the meat that he saw, but drew it
back again the moment he felt the heat. Alas, the
sudden movement loosened the bucket from its
wooden support, and the beast found it hanging to
his head by its handle. As he ran away in fright,
the general laughed so violently that his attendants
were brought to his side in alarm. Amr said that it
had just occurred to him that his commissary had
in the morning thought* a hundred camels hardly
sufficient to convey the kitchen implements of the
chief of the Soffarides ; but that in the afternoon a
single cur was able to carry away the only utensil
that he could command.* The dynasty was ex
tinguished at the death of Amr (a.d. 901), though
he nominally left the government to his grandson,
Taher ben Mohammed III.
The death of Amr, and the extinction of the
Soffarides, did not bring peace ; for Ismail, who had
aided the kalif, saw the weakness of the Moslems,
and determined to set himself up in opposition
to them, as we shall soon see. Meantime, however,
Motaded died, and left his throne to Moktafi, his
son, in the year 902. Moktafi was a sovereign who,
under different circumstances, might have added to
the glories of the kalifate, but at this time every
thing seemed to work against it. The kalif was
obliged not only to keep his sword drawn against
outside enemies, but his own dominions swarmed
with parties of various minds, who were all desirous
* See Vambery's " History of B.okhara," page 63.

THE KARMA THIANS IN SYRIA. 4 1 1
to pull down the supreme authority in the state in
the wicked hope of dragging themselves up. Among
the most determined intriguers were the Turkish
body-guards, who were gaining greater and greater
strength, and at last were to strangle the head of the
state himself.
When Moktafi came into power he found that the
domains of Ismail extended beyond the Gihon orthe
Oxus over Turkestan, and from the borders of Koras
san to those of Kathay or China. When the Soffar
ides were put out of the way, he added Korassan to
these vast regions, and grasped a considerable portion
of Persia, and thus he established a new dynasty of
opposing rulers known as the Samanades, who now
took the place of the Soffarides as thorns in the
kalifs side.* The Karmathians, too, were still able
to do great damage to the kalifate, and it very soon
became necessary to send forces to Syria to repress
their bloody outbursts of murder and brigandage.
The general who undertook this enterprise was at
first beaten, but his organized troops afterwards
overcame the fanatics ; though he punished them so
severely that their rage was kindled again, and burned
more hotly than before. This time they directed
their force against the Meccan caravans, and it is said
* Professor Vambery says that after the national existence of Irak
"had been apparently blotted out by the unfortunate battle of
Kadesia, and Persia had been overrun and devastated by the naked
barbarians of the Arabian desert, some sparks of Persian civilization
still smouldered beneath the desecrated altars," especially in Tran-
soxania, in spite of the fact that Mohammedan-Persian habits
of thoughts had held sway for two centuries and a half. — " History
of Bokhara," page 67.

412 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
that twenty thousand pilgrims were massacred in the
desert as they pursued their peaceable way towards
the shrine of the prophet. In all of these attacks
and reprisals the kalif could not claim that he was
aggrieved, for the Karmathians did but little worse
than the prophet himself had done, in sending expedi
tions against similar caravans, when the sword was first
unsheathed. The attack of the Karmathians upon
the caravans excited all Arabia, however,- and by the
power of a general outburst they were overwhelmed,
and for a little time the distracted Moktafi had rest.
It did not occur to the kalif that peace was the
natural condition of a kingdom, and as soon as he
found himself relieved from the fanatics of the des
ert, he began a campaign against those Tulunides
who had snatched his Egyptian possessions from
him. In this effort he was successful, and the dy
nasty of the Tulunides was overthrown, all its princes
were put to the sword, and the Egyptian provinces
restored to the kalifate (about 907). At this happy
juncture Moktafi died and the sceptre passed to his
brother, Moktader, a boy of but thirteen years of
age, in the year 908.
It was something new in the world of Islam to
have a sovereign of such tender years on the throne,
and the opportunity for a revolution was too tempt
ing to be permitted to pass by without improvement.
A strong party was very soon organized against the
young prince, and its members took the oath of al
legiance to Abdalla, son of Motaz. Abdalla sent an
insulting order to Moktader to keep within the walls
of his palace "with his mother and her maidens,"

THE RISE OF FATIMITES. ' 413
and at the same time gave commands to the captain
of his guards to seize the palace, not counting upon
opposition ; but he was mistaken. The attendants
of the kalif prepared to resist any onslaught, and
when the captain of Abdalla's guards came to en
force his orders, he was met with flights of arrows ;
a sharp skirmish followed ; Abdalla took to his heels,
but was overtaken and slain and his partisans dis
banded. Probably Abdalla was the better qualified of the
two claimants to be ruler ; he was of mature years,
an author of repute, and a man of considerable wis
dom and judgment. Moktader, on the other hand,
was governed by his eunuchs and his wives, and
gazed at the agony of his land as its calamities mul
tiplied without the slightest sympathy or emotion.
He was incapable of maintaining order in his king
dom, or even of controlling his own palace, and
though he remained long on the throne, the record
of his reign is crowded with accounts of the falling
away from loyalty of cities and provinces, and the
revolts of bold chiefs who made him tremble, in mo
ments when he thought at all on the affairs of state.
His use of public money was scandalous, even in
those degenerate times ; and it is said that he wasted
a larger sum than the great Harun had been able to
amass in his whole life !
During this reign (a.D. 909) there arose in Africa a
family known in history as the Fatimites, who pre
tended to be descendants of Ali ; though Moez, one
of the kalifs of the line, when asked to what branch
he belonged, once said, placing his hand upon his

414 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
drawn scimetar : " Here is the founder of my dynas
ty ! " and throwing a handful of gold coins among
his soldiers, exclaimed : " Here is my genealogical
line ! " *
It seems pretty certain that Mohammed declared
to Ali, though it is not recorded in the Koran, that
at some time in the future there was to rise a
Mahdi, one directed by Allah, who should be in
his line, destined to bring justice into the world, —
a sort of savior. The name Mahdi came into his
tory at about the year 685, in the reign of Abd el
Melik, when Moktar made his desperate onslaught
upon the kalif and met his overwhelming defeat.
From that time, however, the idea of a coming
Mahdi spread until it was well established in Per
sia, Africa, Turkey, Egypt, and in our own time in
the Soudan, where it brought to the death Gordon,
" that last hero of Puritan Christianity, that man
who seems to have stepped from the pages of Mil
ton into the jumble of the nineteenth century," —
that Gordon who appeared to his Berber murderers
to be the Antichrist destined to be conquered by the
promised Mahdi. f It was as a protest against the
expectations of the Alyites that Mansur gave to his
son the name Mehdi.
Obeidalla was the member of this family who
gave a new impulse to its fanatic determination to
* This anecdote about Moez, and much more about the Fatimites,
may be found in the Abbe Marigny's " Histoire des Revolutions de
l'Empire des Arabes," vol. i., page 85.
f See, in connection with the whole subject of the Mahdi, that
admirable monograph, " Le Mahdi depuis les origines de l'lslam
jusqu'a nos jours," par James Darmsteter, Paris, 1885.

) m

w
2;wo

416 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
win its rights as its members understood them. He
announced again the prophecy that Mohammed was
to be represented by a descendant who should arise
within three centuries after his own death ; and,
assuming the title Mahdi, subdued the Aglabites
and the other tribes which had revolted from the
kalif, and soon became master of Africa from Egypt
to the Atlantic. He founded a capital, Mahadi, on the
site of a Roman town on the coast a hundred miles
south of Tunis, not very far from Kairwan, which
had then been held by the Aglabites for more than
a century. Obeidalla ravaged the shores of Italy
and Sicily with impunity, but in his attempts to in
vade Egypt, he did not succeed.
Constantine VII. (Porphyrogenitus, born in the
purple), a young prince of six years, ascended the
throne at Constantinople in the year 911, and his
mother, Zoe, who was then living, exerted con
siderable influence over him. The armies of the
empire were sent into Asia Minor, and there made
many reprisals from the kalifate ; at a later period,
they ventured as far as Mesopotamia, and carried in
safety a large number of captives to Constantinople.
An invasion from Bulgaria gave Zoe so much solici
tude, however, that she sent two ambassadors to
the court of Moktader to negotiate for an exchange
of prisoners.
The visitors from Constantinople brought many
costly presents from their mistress, and the kalif
determined to dazzle them by an exhibition of mag
nificence which he hoped would excel any thing they
had ever seen. They were not permitted to visit

COKSTANTINOPLE AND REGIONS ABOUT.

418 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
him directly, but were received by his vizier, who
gave them audience in a garden-palace. The ave
nues and courts were, we are told, thronged by pages
and soldiers ; the apartments were hung with tapes
try of untold cost ; and hosts of high officers sur
rounded the vizier, and stood at the right, at the
left, and behind his seat, as the strangers approached
and Lesought an interview with his master.
On the day appointed for the more important
audience, the courts, passages, and avenues of the
palace were filled with men in full armor ; all the
apartments were furnished with the most gorgeous
art of the Oriental upholsterers ; the approach to the
palace was guarded by one hundred and sixty thou
sand soldiers standing in formal ranks ; next to them
were ranged seven thousand pages of the closets and
chief eunuchs, four thousand being whites and three
thousand blacks, arrayed in silk, their belts re
splendent with jewels ; seven hundred chamberlains
were also displayed ; and boats of many shapes and
of the most gorgeous colors floated upon the waters
of the Tigris hard by.
The two ambassadors were admitted first to the
palace of the chief chamberlain, and, astonished at
the magnificence that they saw, supposed that they
were approaching the august presence of the Com
mander of the Faithful. When the royal palace was
finally reached, the ambassadors beheld thirty-eight
thousand pieces of silk brocade embroidered with
gold, and twenty-two thousand magnificent carpets,
hanging upon the walls. Two menageries of beasts
wild by nature but tamed by art, wandered about

A GORGEOUS COURT.

419

eating from the hands of their custodians, among
them being a hundred lions, each with its keeper.
From these beasts the ambassadors were led to
the Palace of the Tree, in which was an artificial
tree of eighteen branches, with leaves of varied
colors, and birds of gold and silver of every variety
and size perched upon its limbs, each of them in
geniously constructed to sing by means of machinery

VIEW OF A MOSOUE AT BAGDAD.
in their small bodies. They were next led through
a passage, the walls of which were hung with ten
thousand coats of mail, into a garden furnished with
innumerable articles of great cost and rarity.
After such displays, they were brought into the
presence of Moktader himself, who was discovered
sitting on a couch of ebony inlaid with gold and
silver, to the right of which hung nine necklaces set

420 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
with jewels that outshone the light of day. The
ambassadors and their interpreter were not permit
ted to approach nearer than within nine hundred
cubits of the kalif. When the interview was con
cluded, they were taken through the palaces and
were shown elephants, a giraffe, lynxes, and other
animals richly caparisoned ; after which they were
themselves clad in costly robes of honor, and were
given presents of fifty thousand dirhems each. It
should be said that they were brought- to the
palace at the hour of mid-day worship, through " the
streets of the minarets," and their visit was so timed,
that the muezzins chanted the call to prayer simul
taneously, and with such effect that the earth almost
quaked at the sound, and the strangers were struck
with mortal fear. It is difficult to say how far from
reality this extravagant description is, but that it
gives some idea of the barbaric display of the court
of the kalifs at the time, there can be but little
doubt.* The exhibition brought peace, but scarcely had it
been effected when the terrible Karmathians burst
forth again in Syria, and the faltering kalif proved
utterly incompetent to make head against them.
* This account, which is to be found in a number of books on the
subject, is taken from- the great work of Abulfeda, the most cele
brated Saracenic author, who was a. native of Damascus, where he
was born about 1273. His "Abridgment of the History of Man
kind," covers the history of many Eastern nations, besides that
of the Saracens from the birth of Mohammed to 1328, the date
at which it was prepared, three years before the author's death.
Abulfeda was a prince and warrior as well as an author, and was
present at the siege of St. Jean d'Acre, in 1281. For the period of
the Crusades his history is valuable.

THE KARMA THIANS A TTACK MECCA. 42 I
No person but one of the eunuchs of the court
seemed to have presence of mind at the moment, and
he, though a supporter of the sovereign, deposed
him for his incapacity, and placed his brother Kaher
on the throne at Bagdad. For three days Kaher
enjoyed his exaltation, and then his fickle masters
cast him down because forsooth he did not their de
sire for the bounties customary to be distributed
among the soldiers at the accession of a kalif. The
irons were broken from the limbs of Moktader, and
he was replaced on the throne of Mohammed ! At
this juncture Mosul declared itself independent, and
there was not force enough in the kalifate to restrain
the city from breaking the slight bond that held it
to its allegiance. Then, again, the Karmathians
made a dash upon Mecca, and captured it, mas
sacring many pilgrims as they had during the former
kalifate ; pillaging the Kaaba ; carrying off the black
stone, and leaving the well Zem-zem obstructed by
heaps of dead bodies.
Encouraged by these disorders a soldier of for
tune ventured, a revolution in Persia, and re-estab
lished the worship of the magi in the region that he
conquered. Bagdad was thrown in the utmost con
fusion by this irruption so near home, fearing that
the days of Yacub, the coppersmith, were to be re
peated ; but the usurper took himself off in the
direction of Tabaristan, and the city breathed more
freely. The relief was but temporary, however, for
an intrigue broke out in the palace, which led to the
disgrace of that eunuch who had deposed Moktader,
and he was so irritated that he raised an army and

422 THE GRIP OF THE TURK TIGHTENS.
laid siege to the capital, which at the time was the
capital of only a small territory lying just about it.
At the suggestion of his attendants, Moktader cast
about him the cloak of the prophet and advanced
upon the revolters accompanied by a number of
councillors each carrying a copy of the Koran in his
hand. Instead of respecting the sacred habit and
the once honored volume, the besiegers forced the
kalif and his companions to flight, and when at last
he fell into their hands and demanded that they
should respect the successor of Mohammed, they
exclaimed, as they pierced him with their poignant
swords : " We know thee well ! thou art not the
representative of the prophet, but of the devil ! "
Thus fell the kalif Moktader, and thus did the grip
of the Turks tighten upon the weakening kalifate, in
the year 932.

XLI.
THE FATAL BLOW.
HISTORIANS are agreed that the downfall of the
kalifate was caused by the rivalries of opposing
rulers, the growth of anarchical and destructive
sects, the falling away from their allegiance of remote
provinces, and the increasing power and ambition of
the Turkish mercenaries, all of which are easily
shown to date from the reigns of Mamun and Mo
tasim.* The prophet had given his followers as
their guide a book which contained many valuable
counsels adapted to the conditions in which he
found them ; he had told them to go forth and con
quer the earth to the religion of Islam ; and they
had followed his instructions ; but their kingdom
had grown to an extent of which Mohammed could
scarely have dreamed ; and had thus grown in a
period of time so brief that no opportunity had been
allowed the rulers to learn how to manage regions so
extensive and people so diverse.
The Berbers of Africa ; the barbarians of Turkes
tan ; the lively Saracens of the Arabian deserts ;
the proud Syrians with their Biblical memories ; the
* See Freeman's " Lectures on the Saracens " ; Marigny's " Revo
lutions," vol. i., page xxxix.; and Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire," chapter Iii.

424 THE FATAL BLOW.
rich and powerful Persians ; the dwellers in Armenia
and Mesopotamia ; the Egyptians and the tribes on
the borders of Kathay ; the inhabitants of the pen
insula of Spain; — all these were not to be moulded
into a homogeneous nation under one religious faith
in the short space of a single century.* Nor was it
to be expected that a series of kalifs wielding abso
lute power, and using the sword and the art of the
poisoner to uphold their authority, could endure for
any considerable length of time without giving rise
to jealousies and intrigues, especially in an Oriental
land where cunning and deceit, duplicity and guile,
were the usual principles of action in court circles.
We have seen that the later kalifs were incapable
of performing properly the onerous duties of their
positions, and that they were wont to call upon one
strong neighbor to help them against another. We
have seen a powerful ally become in turn an equally
powerful antagonist, so soon as he had learned that
the kalif depended upon him ; and we know that
faith was never kept with a sovereign when there
seemed to be any thing to be gained by treachery.
We have seen that weak and luxurious kalifs called
to their counsels strong ministers who took ad
vantage of their positions to overthrow the masters
* "The original legislation of Mohammed being made for the
Arabs of the desert, it was necessarily narrow in its scope, and there
is some difficulty in applying it to the wants of more developed and
civilized communities. To accomplish this, it has been necessary to
call in tradition, casuistry, and special pleading ; but there are too
few broad principles and too many practical applications and petty
details in the Mussulman code to make casuistry an easy matter."
Schuyler's "Turkistan, " vol. i., page 171,

THE PROCESS OF DECA Y. 425
who trusted them. We have seen provinces fall
away from their allegiance merely because they were
so remote from the capital that there was no sense
of dependance upon it, and no sympathy with its
ruler. Thus, as the kalifate became rich, it became
also weak ; and as it grew feeble, it began to disin
tegrate. The process was not rapid at first, but
every new symptom of dissolution begot another,
until at last the entire system was honeycombed
with political and religious rivalry and undermined
by intrigues and deceit.
When the life of Moktader had fled from his
pierced body, his fickle murderers turned to that
brother whom they had before placed upon the
throne and thrust from it, and a second time clothed
him with the empty honors of the kalifate. With
the usual cunning of his people, Kaher secretly de
termined to break the bonds that held him, and the
only means that he knew by which he could make
his seat on the throne secure were torture and im
prisonment. He cast one nephew, who threatened
to become a rival, into a dungeon, walled him up
and left him to perish in slow torment. His own
mother was tortured and put to death ; certain of his
generals were murdered merely because they seemed
dangerous ; and at last his soldiers, thinking that
they had found a master instead of a slave, mutinied
against him. They entered his palace at every gate,
and forced him to flight. He was soon found and
deposed (934), and his eyes were put out that he
might not again trouble the masters of the state.
An author says that as he was- in the mosque some

426 .THE FATAL BLOW.
time after this, he was approached by a man dressed
in clothes which spoke of former wealth, who said :
" Good gentleman, pray give me some alms : I was
once your kalif, and now am your beggar ! " Kaher
subsequently died in misery. His reign lasted
eighteen months.
During this brief reign a new dynasty from Persia
began to promise trouble to the kalifate. It origin
ated somewhat as follows : One Kabus, a ruler in the
Caspian province of Gilan, came to the court of the
Samanides, and found that military employment
which was then so often used as a means of over
turning kingdoms. He was entrusted with the gov
ernment of the province of Dilem, in which he
exhibited the qualities of a strong ruler, and estab
lished himself so completely that he was able to
bequeath his throne there to his son Buya, from
whom the dynasty of the Buvides (called also the
Dilemites) is named (a.D. 933).
In the year 934 the princely king-makers of Bag
dad went to the prisons and took out a nephew of the
late kalif to put on the throne from which Kaher
had just been cast down. He is known as Radi.
He proved to be of a docile temperament, and look
ing back at the fate of his predecessors who had
allowed their natural desire to be rulers, in reality as
well as name, to influence them, determined to re
press every rising ambition and manly feeling. To
make his masters well-disposed towards him, he
appointed one of them prince of princes, or autocrat,
giving him such unlimited power as Fadhl had
wielded in the reign -of Mamun, and depriving him-

RADI' S DEBASED EASE. 427
self of the right to influence the administration of
government or to expend any of its treasure in an
independent manner. The office of vizier became
utterly unimportant in the presence of this mighty
officer. This complete resignation accomplished its
purpose, and Radi was
allowed to give himself
up to the enjoyment
of a debased ease, and
to an indulgence in
pleasure which brought
his miserable existence C0IN 0F THE KALIF RADI-
to a close in the year 940. In the midst of his pleas
ure-seeking, Radi found time to cultivate letters, and
the following specimen is a translation by Professor
Carlyle of one of his better poems :
" Mortal joys however pure,
Soon their turbid source betray ;
Mortal bliss, however sure,
Soon must totter and decay.
" Ye who now with footsteps keen,
Range through hope's delusive field,
Tell us what the smiling scene
To your ardent grasp can yield.
" Other youths have oft before
Deemed their joys would never fade,
Till themselves were seen no more —
Swept into oblivion's shade.
" Who, with health and pleasure gay,
E'er his fragile state could know,
Were not age and pain to say —
Man is but the child of woe?"

428 THE FATAL BLOW.
His lighter style is seen in the following, addressed
to a blushing woman :
" Leila, whene'er I gaze on thee
My altered cheek turns pale ;
While upon thine, sweet maid, I see
A deepening blush prevail.
" Leila, shall I the cause impart
Why such a change takes place ? —
The crimson stream deserts my heart
To mantle on thy face."
The Prince of Princes, with all his power, was not
strong enough to hold back the kalifate from its
destruction. The Karmathians raged more effectu
ally than ever, and a shameful treaty was made with
them as the only means of enabling pilgrims to
approach the holy Kaaba ; governors revolted on
the right hand and on the left ; Korassan, the Tran-
soxanian possessions, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt,
Africa, — all were torn away from the feeble kingdom,
and the luxurious kalif was shut up with his haughty
Prince of Princes in the city of Bagdad. The capi
tal itself became the scene of frightful anarchy, and
when its magnificence had been well-nigh destroyed
by the oppression and misrule of the masterful
Turks, the citizens called upon the adventurer then
representing the Buvides to come and rule over
them. He came, and found it not necessary to fight
a battle : the city fell into his hands in the year 945,
and for a century and more it was under the control
of the new dynasty. The kalif had renounced all
temporal power, and remained simply the spiritual
head of the Moslem church.

END OF THE POWER OF THE KALIFS. 429
Meantime the miserable existence of Radi had
come to an end in the year 940, and with him ter
minated the rule of the kalifs ; for though a line was
continued for three centuries longer, it was composed
of rulers still more under the control of the Turkish
guards than he. Radi was the last of the kalifs who
in any measure sustained the ancient character of the
sovereigns of his line. Never after his time did a
kalif write poems that were collected into a volume;
no longer did a kalif publicly harangue the faithful
of a Friday in the mosque ; nor did another hold
train and table after the olden style of magnificence ;
no other one disposed the armies and the finances
after his own will ; nor even held familiar compan
ionship with his friends, for all power was hence
forth lodged in the hands of the Prince of Princes,
and of the ministers who gave that officer his su
premacy. The vizier, like the kalif, was emptied of
political influence, and the Prince of Princes usurped
an authority not unlike that possessed in Rome by
the Praetorian Guards, in France by the Maires du
Palais, and in Constantinople for five hundred years
by the terrible Janizaries.* The foreign masters, as
* The Janizaries, organized first in 1329, were not disbanded until
1826. They passed through the same stages that we have marked in
the history of the Turkish body-guards. At first they numbered but
one thousand ; in 1362 there were ten thousand of them ; in three
centuries they had immensely increased, and in time they became the
real masters of the empire, deposing and executing the sultans at
will. They were the terror of the world. The Praetorians, organ
ized by Scipio Africanus, were also at first few in number ; but
Augustus made them a permanent body of ten thousand (b.c. 27), and
their power increased so much that they put up the imperial crown
at auction, a.d. 193. The body was not disbanded until a.d. 312.

43°

THE FATAL BLOW.

they followed one after another, kept up the form
of supporting a kalif, though they thus forced him
to be a helpless puppet in their hands.
The city of Bagdad was itself overthrown in the
year 1258, but between the death of Radi and that
date, two dynasties had been established upon the
ruins of the kalifate, while a third had temporarily
interjected itself between them. The rule of the
Buvides came to an
end, as we shall see,
in 1050, when the Turk
ish dynasty of the Sel-
juks was established at
Bagdad. The sympathies of
the Buvides were Aly-
ite, the sixteen sover
eigns who composed
the line claiming de
scent from the husband
of Fatima; they ruled
one hundred and twen
ty-seven years, during all but nine of which
they were sovereigns of the kalifs. The Fatim-
ites made themselves masters of Africa and Egypt
(953-972), and built the city of Cairo (970). Dur
ing the same period the Gaznivide dynasty, or
iginating, in 961, in the strongly fortified town of
Gazni, in Afghanistan, on the confines of Korassan,
conquered a region extending from the Ganges to
the Tigris, and from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean.

GOLD COINS OF FATIMITE KALIFS.
(A.D. IO5O AND 1072.)

MAHMUD OF GAZNI. 43 1
It reached its climax in 1032, and ended in 1133. In
the period of its glory, Mahmud, sultan of Gazni
(997-1032), astonished all Asia by his conquests ;
twelve times he invaded India, and every time he
brought away vast amounts of spoils to enrich his
capital. It is related that he took as much pleasure
in propagating Islam as in adding to his military
glory, though it must be confessed that he was a
bloody apostle, following the example of the prophet
after he had drawn the sword, rather than imitating
his peaceful earlier days. He encouraged commerce,
however, and patronized letters, and it was during
his long reign of forty-two years that the greatest
poet of Persia flourished, Abul Casern Mansur, bet
ter known as Ferdusi (the Paradisic), who had been
compared to Homer for his fecundity, genius, and
imagination. It is said by the Abbe de Marigny that when the
courtiers of Mahmud were assured that death was
about to snatch him from his kingdom, they ordered
brought into his presence all the precious stones,
vessels of gold and silver and chests of gold that he
had acquired in his wars, hoping in that way to
amuse his closing moments. For an entire day the
procession of riches was kept passing by the royal
Invalid, and when all was over, he exclaimed : " What
cruel fatigues, what perils, what torments of body and
mind has it not cost me to make these gains ! How
uncertain such riches are ! How much trouble and
fear is endured in keeping them ! Behold the climax
of all these evils is found in the last and greatest of
them — the owner must part with them when he parts

432 THE FATAL BLOW.
with life ! " With such words, Mahmud breathed his
last in a palace adorned with all the magnificence
that Oriental art, aided by unlimited wealth, could
furnish, — amid walls adorned with marble and gold
and precious stones, which he had named with unin
tentional sarcasm, Felicity.*
As the Gaznivide dynasty receded from its great
est power, the teeming north was preparing to send
another horde of strong barbarians down upon the
still weakening Saracens. In Turkestan there lived
and fed their numerous flocks a family of four broth
ers descended from one Seljuk, who again traced his
line far back into the darker ages of his dark land.f
Year by year the flocks of the brothers increased,
and they sought new friends as they added to their
riches, in order to make themselves strong in the
land. After a time pasturage failed for their im
mense herds, and they looked for new forage-ground
in the regions beyond the Oxus and to the south of
their original home.
Not long after the Gaznivides had established their
dynasty, these northerners, who called themselves,
after their father, Seljuks, found themselves in the
region of Bokhara and Samarkand looking over into
the lands of their rising neighbors. They asked and
finally obtained permission to enter Korassan, and
it was not long before the subjects of the Gaznivides
were heard complaining that they were constantly
* Mahmud built at Gazni a grand mosque, a museum of natural
history filled with wonderful specimens, and a library. He is reputed
the first Moslem monarch whc took the title sultan, and he was the
first Moslem emperor of India.
\ See Vambery's " History of Bokhara," chapter \i.

THE SELJUK DYNASTY. 433
vexed by their new neighbors, and they were forced
to send troops against the intruders whom they had
permitted to approach so close to them. The Turks
had learned war from their able father, and though
they were often attacked, they always overcame the
Gaznivides ; as the invaders from the north have
so often defeated the southerners in this history.
This it was that undermined and weakened the pow
erful dynasty, so that after making themselves mas
ters of Korassan (about 1040) and taking Ispahan
from the Buvides in 1051, their leader, Togrul Beg,
entered Bagdad in 1055, delivered the kalif from the
tyranny of the Buvides, and made himself Prince of
Princes. Thus again the kalif exchanged the tyranny
of one foreigner for that of another.
The second ruler of the Seljuk dynasty embraced
Islam, and extended his dominions greatly ; the
third captured Jerusalem, and insulted and op
pressed pilgrims from Christian lands so griev
ously as to give rise to the Crusades. After his
death the power of the dynasty became less, though
it did not finally succumb until 1299, and then the
Turkish empire rose from its ruins. During the
reign of the third Prince, Melek Shah (1073-1093),
the Assassins,* a branch of the Ismailians, came into
* When Benjamin of Tudela, the intelligent Jewish traveller from
Navarre, reached Jebilee in 1163, he wrote : "In this vicinity live
the people called Assassins, who do not believe in the tenets of
Mohammedanism, but in those of one whom they consider like unto
the prophet Karmath. They fulfil whatever he commands them,
whether it be a matter of life or death. He goes by the name of
Sheikh-al-Hashishim, or 'Their Old Man,' by whose command all
the acts of these mountaineers are regulated. His residence is in

434 THE FATAL BLOW.
prominence in the person of their chief, Hasan, a
man of Persian descent, known in history as " The
Old Man of the Mountains." This order became
extensive and powerful, and acting in secret, was
difficult to be met and defeated in its nefarious
schemes. It finally came to an end at the same
time that Bagdad fell (1258). During their career,
the Assassins murdered kalifs and other eminent
men, both Moslems and Christians ; they captured
strong castles, and ravaged extensive regions ; with
out moral restraints, they fortified themselves for
their atrocious work by putting their bodies under
the intoxicating influence of hashish (whence, prob
ably, their name, Hashishim — Assassins) ; they
studied a catechism in which they were taught the
most successful means of worming themselves into
the confidence of their unsuspecting victims, in or
der to thrust their cruel daggers more surely into
their hearts. With fifty thousand men at their com
mand, the Assassins became terrible to the Crusad
ers, as well as to the Persians and the Saracens ; but
their order contained in itself the germs of disinte
gration from the operation of which they would have
fallen had they not been bvercome by the Mongols.
On account of the restlessness of their own rulers,
the Seljuks did not reign free from embarrassment.
Soon after the year 1 100, there was born in Armenia,
or Western Persia, a man known as Ayub, or Job,
the city of Kadmus, the Kedemoth of Scripture, in the land of
Sichon" [Joshua xiii : 18]. Wright, " Early Travels in Palestine "
(Bohn), page 78. Baudier gives a glowing account of the earthly
paradise in which Hashishim was said to live.

ARABIAN BREAD-SELLER AT JERUSALEM.

436 THE FATAL BLOW.
and surnamed " The Star of Religion," who became
the father of a son called in history Saladin, one of
the most interesting heroes of Saracenic annals.
Ayub had been governor under the Seljuks, in his
native town on the Tigris, but entered the service of
a Syrian prince, and from that region his son, who
became the beau-ideal of Saracenic chivalry, went to
Egypt, where in a short time he rose to influence, and
finally established himself as ruler of that country,
as well as of Syria, Assyria, Arabia, and Mesopo
tamia. In 1 193 he died, but he left a record as an
intelligent sovereign, even his enemies attributing to
him the noblest qualities of courage, moderation,
greatness of soul, and justice, while for centuries
evidences of his wise administration remained in
the form of fortresses, roads, dikes, and canals that
he had built.
It was during the kalifate of Mostanjed, in 1164,
that Benjamin of Tudela visited Bagdad. There
were frightful disorders in Persia at the time ; the
governors, unfaithful to their allegiance, were as
suming independence and quarrelling among them
selves for supremacy. The empire of the Seljuks had
been divided into four parts at the death of Melek
Shah, each ruled by a sovereign calling himself sul
tan ; disorders had followed that event ; and the dy
nasty of the Fatimites was about to be brought to
an end in Egypt.*
Benjamin of Tudela gives us a glimpse of the
capital of the kalifate in the days of its decline. He
says that the kalif enjoyed the same supremacy
* The Fatimites were overthrown by Saladin in 1171.

FADING GRANDEUR. 437
over all Mohammedan kings that the Pope then
held over Christian potentates, though this was, of
course, merely a formal supremacy. The palace
of the kalif was three miles in extent (or the
grounds, rather), containing a park filled with all
kinds of trees and all sorts of beasts. A pond
was supplied with water from the Tigris ; and
whenever the kalif wished to sport and carouse,
birds, beasts, and fishes were prepared for him and
for his invited guests. He was very friendly towards
the J-ews, Benjamin is careful to say, understood all
languages, was well-versed in the Hebrew law, and
could read and write the Hebrew tongue. He en
joyed nothing that he did not earn with his own
hands, and therefore made articles that were sold to
his nobles. He is represented as an excellent and
kind-hearted ruler, though invisible to his subjects,
even refusing to be seen by the pilgrims who passed
through Bagdad on their way to Mecca. He was
wont to respond to petitions from the faithful who
wished to see his face, by putting one corner of his
garment out of a window and permitting them to
kiss it, which the pilgrims did with eagerness. The
palace is represented to comprise large buildings
with pillars of gold and silver, and hoards of pre
cious stones.
Once a year, during the month Ramadan, the
kalif was accustomed to leave his palace, and allow
his visitors, as well as his subjects, to behold his
countenance. Then, bestriding the royal mule, and
dressed in his official robes of gold and silver cloth,
his head ornamented with a turban adorned with

438 THE FATAL BLOW.
stones of inestimable value, and covered with a veil,
betokening humility, he went in procession from the
palace to the mosque, accompanied by a retinue of
nobles from Arabia, Media, even from Tibet, likewise
adorned with gorgeous dresses. All who followed
were dressed in silk and purple ; the streets were made
lively by singing and rejoicing ; and the people cried
aloud, " Blessed art thou, our lord and sovereign ! "
This compliment was duly acknowledged, and the
kalif entered the mosque, where he mounted a
wooden pulpit, and expounded the law, after which
he pronounced a blessing and sacrificed a camel,
distributing it to the nobles, all of whom were eager
to taste the meat prepared thus by the hands of their
king. The kalif returned to his palace by a different
way, and the path by which he went was carefully
guarded, so that no one should tread in his footsteps.
He seems to have been particularly careful for the
health of his people, and had provided sixty medical
warehouses, where patients were assisted and fed
until cured of their diseases. Besides this, he had a
large asylum for maniacs, where they were chained
and cared for, examinations at regular periods being
made to determine who, if any, had been restored to
their reason, all of which was done out of pure piety
and love of humanity. Bagdad itself is represented
as surrounded by gardens and orchards, being rich in
palm-trees, and not equalled by any city in Mesopo
tamia. Not only did merchants resort thither from all
countries for purposes of trade, but wise philosophers
were encouraged, and there were many scientific men,
as well as magicians skilled in enchantments.*
* Wright : " Early Travels in Palestine " (Bohn), page 95.

WALLS OF DAMASCUS.

44° THE FATAL BLOW.
At the very time that Benjamin of Tudela was
thus describing the great city of Bagdad, if the
chronology be correct, there was born in distant
Tartary (properly Tatary, for the name has no rela
tion to the Latin Tartarus) a man who was destined
to overthrow kalif and palace, Bagdad and the whole
Saracenic rule. Jengis Khan (his name is spelled in
a score of different ways) was a native of the most
remote of those unknown regions which had re
peatedly poured their fierce hordes down upon the
dominions of the kalifs, and opened his eyes to
the light of day at about the year 1 164, in the rough
region north of the great wall of China, where his
father was a ruler.* Jengis was left an orphan at an
early age, but he assumed the reins of government,-
and by the year 1203 had become the most powerful
of the khans in the region. Then at a general gath
ering of deputies from the different Tartar tribes
that he had subjugated, he was confirmed as " Jen
gis " Khan, or greatest of khans, one of the attend
ant priests declaring that he was destined to become
ruler of the whole earth. A few years after this he
ventured to invade China, scaling that great, wall
which for fourteen hundred years had proved a
sufficient barrier against the northern enemies, and
then Pekin fell into his hands.
Gradually Jengis gained upon the strong Seljuks,
took Bokhara and Samarkand, and extended his do-
* The astrologers of Islam had predicted that a fearful wind
storm should come from the East in n 54, and as no such storm
came it was said that Jengis Kahn was meant. — Vambery's "His
tory of Bokhara," page 119.

THE END OF THE KALIFATE. 44 1
minion from the Sihon to the Persian Gulf (about
1220). In 1227, when preparing for other invasions,
Jengis died, and his bloody sceptre was passed over to
his son. He had, it is said, by his wars and massacres
caused the death of five or six millions of his fellow-
beings, but there has been traced a civilizing ten
dency in his laws and in the administration of his
vast realm. The sons and grandsons of Jengis con
tinued his successful career, • and extended their
dominions from the sea-board of China through
Russia to the borders of Germany and Poland. His
grandson Hulaku, who was the first sultan of
Persia, overthrew the terrible Assassins, and cap
tured Bagdad, putting the kalif Motasim to death,
and with him sacrificing, according to the exagger
ated accounts long believed, sixteen hundred thou
sand citizens of the great capital ! The kalifate thus
ended as a temporal kingdom, though one of the
uncles of Motasim found an asylum in Egypt in
1261, and established a spiritual power that endured
until 1577.
Thus, amid the groans of dying thousands, and the
wild exultations of a horde of victorious Tartars and
Monguls, the kalifate that had created Bagdad, and
for five hundred years had made it a magnificent
centre of art, science, and letters, was forever ex
tinguished ; but Islam did not die.
One hundred and eighty millions of human beings
still profess to follow the teachings of the prophet ;
five times a day they spread their mats and turn
their faces towards the spot made sacred to them by

442

THE FATAL BLOW.

his birth, and utter the prayers he taught ; daily the
voice of the muezzin is heard from thousands of
minarets boldly calling the faithful from contempla
tion of this world to thoughts of the next ; and
yearly, as the month Moharrem goes by, devoted
millions express their sorrow for the pains of the
"martyr" of Kerbala, and work themselves to such
a pitch of enthusiasm that the power of their rulers
trembles before them.

•if , jffift .V"^*^ r ',J|^

v^^T^r^M

^SsPSSPSI

NOLDEKE'S ORDER OF THE SURAS OF
THE KORAN.
Revealed al Mecca. { Years one
to five of Mohammed 's mis
sion.) The Thickened Blood. The
Prophet's First Call to Cry.
The Covered.
Abu Laheb.
The Koreishites.
Al Kawthar.
The Slanderer.
The Succoring Hand.
The Love of Gain.
The Elephant.
The Night.
The Land.
The Expanding.
The Forenoon.
Al Kadar. (The Night of
Power.)
The Nocturnal Star.
The Sun.
He Frowned.
The Pen.
The Most High.
The Fig-Tree.
The Afternoon.
The Celestial Signs.
The Wrapped Up.
The Smiting.
The Earthquake.
The Cleaving Asunder.
The Folding Up.
The Star.
The Rending in Sunder.
The Coursers.
Those Who Tear Forth.
96. 74-
m. 106.103. 104. 107.102.105. 92.90.94- 93- 97- 86.
91. 80.
68. 87.
95-
103. 85-73-
101. 99. 82.81. 53-84.
100 79
Those Who are Sent.
The Important News.
The Overwhelming.
The Daybreak.
The Resurrection.
The Unjust Measure.
The Inevitable Day.
The Dispersing.
The Mountain.
The Judgment.
The Ascent.
The Merciful
The Declaration of the
Unity of Allah.
The Misbelievers.
The Daybreak.
Men.Prayer for Guidance.
Revealed at Mecca. { Years five
and six.)
77-78.
75-
S3-69. 5i- 52.
56. 70. 55-
112. 109.113. 114. 1.
54- 37-7i- 76
44. 50. 20. 26. 15- 19.38. 36.43 72.
67
The Moon.
The Classes.
Noah.
Man.Smoke. K.T. H.
The Poets
Al Hejr.
Mary. S. I. S.
The Ornaments of Gold.
The Jinns.
The Kingdom.
444

ORDER OF THE SURAS.

23. The True Believers.

6.

Cattle.

21. The Prophets.

13-

Thunder.

25. Discrimination. AlForkan.

(The Koran.)

Revealed at Medina.

17. The Night Journey.

2

The Heifer.

27. The Ant.
18. The Cave.

98.64.

The Manifest Sign.
Mutual Deceit.

Revealed at Mecca between the

62.

The Assembly. (Friday.)

seventh Year and the Hejra.

8.
47-

The Spoils.
Mohammed. (The Battle.)

32. Adoration.

3-

The Family of Imram.

41. The Explanation.

61.

Battle Array.

45. The Kneeling.

57-

Iron.

16. The Bee.

4-

Women.

30. The Greeks.

65-

Divorce.

11. Hud.

59-

The Emigration.

14. Abraham.

33-

The Confederates.

12. Joseph.

63-

The Hypocrites.

40. The True Believer.

24-

Light.

28. The Story.

58.

She Who Disputed.

39. The Troops.

22.

The Pilgrimage.

29. The Spider.

48.

The Victory. .

31. Lokman.

66.

Prohibition.

42. The Council.

60.

She Who is Tried.

10. Jonah.

1 10.

Assistance.

34. Saba.

49-

The Sanctuary.

35. The Angels, or the Creator.

9>

The Declaration of Im

7. AlAraf.

munity.
46. AlAhkaf.
5-
The Table.
A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
A.D. 565-1261.

A.H.

A.D. 571572 580
59° 595603

The Times of Ignorance. Abra
ha invades Hejaz.
Mohammed born (April 20th).
3hosroes Parvis wars with jus-
tinus II.
Turks attempt to seize Persia.
Chosroes seeks asylum at Con
stantinople.
Sacrilegious war (580-590).
Mohammed marries Kadija,
Chosroes invades the Roman

A.D.565578 582602

[ustinus II. ascends the throne of
the Eastern Empire.
War with the Persians. Chos
roes defeated at Melitene. ^
Tiberius 11.
Mauricius. Phocas (a centurion) murders
Mauricius and makes himself
emperor.

6x0

Empire. ¦
Mohammed begins his prophetic
career.

610

Heraclius comes from Africa and
seizes the sceptre.

613

Mohammed opposed by the Ko
reishites.

615
The emigration to Abyssinia.
615
Jerusalem pillaged by Chos
roes II.
6l7
Mohammed under the ban-to 620
619
Kadija dies.
Abu Talib dies.
620
Mohammed visits Taif.
I
622
Mohammed leaves Mecca.
622
Chosroes II. defeated among
the Taurus Mountains.
2
623
Abu Sofian defeated at Bedr.
3
624
Battleof Ohud ; Mohammed de
feated.
Marriage of Ali and Fatima.
6
627
Battleof the Ditch.
627 629
Persia overcome by Heraclius.
Battle near Nineveh.
Heraclius at Jerusalem.
Saracens begin warfare with
the empire.
9
63O
Mecca overcome.
Battle of Muta goes against
Islam.
False prophets arise.
Taif beseiged and taken.
446

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

A.D.632

632

633

634
635
636638639 641
642 644647
655

656657658
65866l

670
676 6S0
6S36S4

Mohammed's farewell pilgrim
age.
Mohammed's death (June 8th).
Abu Bekr chosen kalif.
Osama' s expedition to Pales
tine.
Muselima defeated at the bat-
tie of the Garden of Death.
Kalid in Irak. Battle of the
River of Blood.
Battle of Wacusa on the
Yermuk.
Omar I. chosen kalif.
Battle of Boweib.
Battle of Kadesia.
Damascus taken.
Jerusalem captured. Kin-
nesrin taken.
Kufa and Bassora founded.
The Year of Ashes.
Egypt conquered. Fostat
founded.
Battle of Nevahend. Persia
conquered.
Othman. Factions at Kufa and
Bassora. Conquests in Africa.
Conference of governors at
Medina.
Medina attacked.
Ali chosen kalif.
Battle of the camel.
Karejites rebel after the bat
tle of Siffin.
Karejites defeated by Nehr
wan.
Egypt revolts and is lost.
Hasan becomes kalif, after Ali's
assassination.
Moawia I. Omiades at Damas
cus. Siege of Constantinople.
(Peace 678).
Yezid declared heir-appar
ent.
Yezid kalif. Tragedy at Ker
bala.
Moawia II.
Merwan I.
Abdalla, son of Zobeir.
claims the kalifate.
The kaaba rebuilt.
RebeUion of Moktar in Irak,
Abd el Melik kalif.

Hejaj besieges Mecca.
d'a ila killed.
Conquests in Africa.

Ab-

Walid I.
queied.

Transoxania con-

641

663
670

685 695

Heracleonas — exiled.
Constans II.

Constantine III.
Saracens besiege Constantinople,
yearly until 678.

Justinian II, (dethroned later).

L-eontius.Tiberius III. Aspimar.
Justinian II. (restored).

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

447

A.H.

A.D.

A.D.

91

7"

Spain invaded at Gibraltar
by Tarik.

711 713

Philippicus Bardanes.
Anastasius II.

96

7'5

Soliman.

97
716
Second seige of Constanti
nople.
716
Theodosius III. Siege of Constan
tinople by the Saracens.
99
717
Omar II.
718
Leo HI., the Isaurian. (Iconoclas
tic controversy begins.) Image-
worship forbidden. Saracens
IOI
720
Yezid II.
repulsed.
105
724
Hisham.
726
War with the Saracens in Pon-
tus and Cappadocia.
114
732
Battle of Tours. Charles
Martel repels the Saracens.
739740
74T
Saracens invade the empire
with three armies.
Great earthquake devastates
parts of the empire.
Constantine IV. (Copronymus.)
"5
743
Walid 11.
126
744
Yezid III.
126
744
Ibrahim.
127
744
Merwan II. Last of Omiades.
132
75°
Battle of the Zab.
¦32
75°
Abul Abbas. Abbassides at
Bagdad.
752
Pepin in France.
116
754
Mansur.
138
755
Abd er Rahman in Spain.
755
Temporal power of the popes
began.
15S
775
Mehdi.
775
780
Leo IV. The Iconoclast.
Constantine V. and Irene.
(Irene unpopular.)
169
785
Hedi.
170
786
Harun al Rashid.
790
Constantine V. alone.
181
797
The Aglabites in Kairwan,
797
Irene alone, (deposed and slain).
800-909.
800802
Charlemagne emperor. Egbert
in England.
Nicephorus I.
(Slain.)
193
809
Amin.
811 811
Staurachius reigns a few days.
Michael I.
198
813
Mamun.
813
Leo V. (killed in temple).
204
820
The Taherians, 818-902.
820829
Michael II., the Stammerer.
Theophilus, son of Michael.
21S
833
Motasim.
226
841
Rise of the Turkish body
227
842
guard.
Wathek.
842
Michael III., Porphyrogenitus.
232
847
Motawakkel.
247
861
Montaser. Increase of the power of
Turkish body-guards (861-
945)-
248
86z
Mostain.
252
866
Motaz.
1 867
BasiUus I-, the Macedonian.
448

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

A.D. 86987O879

892902908

93493794°944945

967969

Motadi.Motamed. The twelfth Imam (Alyite)
disappears.
The Soffarides, 872-901.
Motaded. The Sama n ides, 001-900.
Moktafi.Moktader. The Fatimites (or Ismailians)
in Africa, 909-1171.

Kaher. The Buvides (or Dilemites),
933-io5<5-
Radi. The Emirs al Omra (Princes
of Princes) founded.
Motaki.
Mostakfi.Moti.

The Fatimites in Egypt.
Fatimites conquer Palestine.

Tai. The Seljuks, 974-1288.
Truce of God originated at
Charroux.
Kader. Christians persecuted at Je
rusalem, 996-1021.
The Gaznevides, 904-1160.

Truce of God adopted by
Council of Orleans.

Kaim. End of the Omiades in
Spain.
Truce of God generally
adopted, 1033.

911912919920928

945959

9^3

9769«7

10171025
1028

Alfred the Great in Britain.

Leo VI., the Philosopher.

Alexander and Constantine VI.
Constantine VI., Porphyrogenitus.
Zoe regent.
Romanus 1.
Christopher.Stephen and Constantine VII.
(Five emperors at once.)
Christopher dies.
[Romanus exiled by his sons,
Constantine and Stephen who
are banished.]

Constantine VII. alone.
Romanus II. (Monster).
(Theophania, his wife.)
Nicephorus II. marries Theopha
nia, who had him assassinated.

John I.

Basil II. and Constantine VIII.
Hugh Capet in France.

Mahmud of Gazni invades
India.

Cnut in Britain.
Constantine VIII. alone.
Romanus III. (Poisoned by Zoe,
his wife.)

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

449

1063

1087

10941095 109911181134!'351 145
1 1 46
11601 1 70
117111781179

1187

12031206

12251226

124012431258

. Togrul Beg at Bagdad.

Alf Arslan, sultan of the Sel
juks.

Moktadi. Seljuks at Rome.
The Almoravides in Spain.

Mostader. First crusade proclaimed at
Council of Clermont.
Jerusalem taken.
Mostarshed. Rashid. Moktafi II.
Second crusade proclaimed
The Almoades in Spain.
Mostanjed.Mostadi Saladin overthrows the Fa
timites.
Hasan, head of the Assassins.
Nasir.

Saladin conquers Palestine.
Rise of the Monguls, 1200
(called Moguls in India)
Constantinople stormed and
pillaged.
Jengis Khan (1206-1227).

Monguls invade Persia.
Zahir. Mostanser. Origin of the kingdom of
Granada.
Rise of the Ottoman Turks
Mostasem. Bagdad falls.

A.D. 1034 Michael IV.
1041 Michael V.
1042 Constantine IX.
1054 Theodora.
1056 Michael VI.
1057 Isaac I. (Comnenus.)
1059 Constantine X.
1066 William the Norman in England.
1067 Eudosia.
1071 Michael VII.
1073 Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) pope.
1078 Nicephorus III.
108 1 Alexius I.
Passion for pilgrimages at ils
height in Europe.

1118 John Comnenus.
1143 Manuel I. (Comnenus).

1180 Alexius II.
1 183 Andronicusl.
1185 Isaac II. (Angelus).

Richard I. in England.
1195 Alexius III.
1203 Isaac II., Latin Emperor.
1204 Baldwin I.
1206 Henry 1.
1216 Peter de Courtenay.
Robert de Courtenay (crowned
1221).

1228 Baldwin II.

Constantinoplerecoveredfrom the Latins by the Greek
emperors.

LIST OF BOOKS
Used in preparing the Story of the Saracens ; together
with the titles of others of value to tlte student of
the subject.
The general outline, by Professor Freeman, the
more special essay of Deutsch (on Islam), the valu
able papers by Wellhausen, Guyard, and Noldeke,
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the chapters of
Gibbon, or the article by Guyard in the " Encyclo
pedic des Sciences Religieuses," will give the reader
a good point of departure, from which he can pro
ceed through the smaller volume of Muir and the
sketch of Bosworth-Smith to the more exhaustive
works of Caussin de Perceval, Sprenger, Weil, Muir,
Muller, and others.*
Opinion on Mohammed and Islam has passed
through marked changes since the present century
opened, and any investigator will find it advisable
to read books presenting directly opposite views;
and probably each student will formulate opinions
differing from all who have gone before him, since
the last word has not yet been said on the subject.
* Of encyclopedias, the reader will find that of Chambers among
the most thorough in its treatment of Islam and the Saracens. Poole's
" Index to Periodical Literature " gives many valuable references
under the titles Arabia, Arabian Language and Literature, Arabs,
Mohammed, Mohammedanism, Moors, Persia, Saracens, Spain, etc.

452 LIST OF BOOKS.
The history of the religion of Islam, which, from
the nature of the case, has been but incidentally dis
cussed in this volume, may be followed in all its in
teresting details in the books mentioned below. The
variety of the list is considerable, both as to literary
and historical merit. This is intentional. Some of
the most valuable works are to be found in the large
libraries only, while others of less merit may be had
more conveniently. A book in hand though known
to be not the best, is more useful than a better one
that cannot be obtained.
The author desires to express his great obligations
to the custodians of the Library of Harvard Uni
versity, of the Boston Public Library, of the Library
of Yale College, and of the Astor Library, New York,
for many favors received in the investigation of au
thorities. The volumes which he has not been able
to consult are indicated by being included between
brackets. The orthography adopted by the authors of the
following works is wonderfully various, owing to
the fact that it is impossible to express the sounds of
the Oriental words in Occidental letters which have
no uniform values. Important information on this
subject is given in an essay in the introduction to
Lippincott's " Pronouncing Biographical Diction
ary," page 17.
For versions of the Koran, see Lane, Lane- Poole, Kazimirski, Muir, Palmer,
Rodwell, and Sale.

Abulfeda. Annales Muslemici, in Arabic and Latin. Translated by Johann
Jakob Reiske, and edited by Jakob Georg Christian Adler. Copen
hagen, 1789-1794. Five volumes, quarto.

LIST OF BOOKS. 453
Abulfeda. Geography. [Translated by Joseph Toussarnt Reinaud. Two
volumes, quarto. Paris, 1848.
[  La vie de Mahomet, with the Arabian text. Translated by Des-
vergers into French. Octavo. 1837.]
Addison, Lancelot. The first state of Mahumedism ; or, An account of the
author and doctrine of that imposture. London, 1679. The father
of the essayist, Joseph Addison, resided for some years at Tangier, and
formed his opinion regarding the prophet there. He speaks of Moham
med as one ¦' with whose cursed doctrine the greatest part of mankind
is at this very day so egregiously befooled." The curious volume is a
good expression of the views of Mohammed current two hundred years
ago, in the reign of Charles II.
Ahmed Khan Bahador, Syed. Essays on the life of Mohammed. London,
prophet, 1870. This author claims to be a direct descendant of the
and his essays are interesting as giving the view of a Moslem. The
author wrote a u Mohammedan commentary on the Holy Bible."
Alcantara, Miguel Lafuente. Condicion y revoluciones de algunas razas
espafiolas y especialmente de Ia Mozarabe, en la edad media. (In the
author's " Historia de Granada." Two volumes. Paris, 1852. Vol. i.)
[Amari, Michele. La storia dei Musulmani d'Affrica. Author of Guerra del
vespro Siciliano. 1842.]
Ameer Ali, Seyed, Moulviy M.A., LL.B. A critical examination of the life
and teachings of Mohammed. London, 1873. This writer, being a
rationalistic (Motazilfte) Moslem, his book has the advantage of present
ing the side of the subject which is not familiar to Western readers. The
book is readable in style, and clear in presentation of the author's views.
 The personal law of the Mahommedans. (According t.o all schools.)
Together with a comparative sketch of the law of inheritance among the
Sunnis and the Shiahs. London, i88oT The author embodies in this
work the substance of a series of discourses delivered by him as Lecturer
on Mohammedan Law at the Presidency College of Calcutta. His Intro
duction of some forty pages gives a survey of the sects of Islam, and
their origin.
Arnold, Edwin. Pearls of the faith ; or, Islam's rosary. Being the ninety-
nine beautiful names of Allah, which comments in verse from various
Oriental sources. Boston, 1883.
Arnold, John Muhleisen. Ishmael : a natural history of Islamism. London,
1859. Arnold was a missionary in Asia and Africa. He says of Moham
med: il No ordinary mortal ever exercised such an immeasurable influ
ence upon the human race, in a religious, moral, and political point of
view, and this during a period of twelve centuries."
Arnold, Matthew. Essay on a Persian miracle-play. London, 1871. Gives an
account of the festival of Moharrem as described by a witness of it. An
other description is given in Lane-Poole's Studies in a Mosque, and still
another (sketchy) in Harper's Magazine for February, 1886. Sir Lewis
Pelley has written " The miracle-play of Hasan and Husain." London
1879.
Ayala, Ignacio Lopez de. Historia de Gibraltar. Madrid, 1782.
Barbier de Meynard, Casimir Adrien. Les prairies d'or, de Masudi. Text and

454 LIST OF BOOKS.
translation. Nine volumes, octavo. Paris, 1861-1877. Masudi was a native of
Bagdad, who died, probably at Cairo, 956 a.d. This work is general history
with details regarding the " Story of the Saracens." The translator was an
Orientalist of superior scholarship. In the Journal A siatique (Paris, Mars-
Avril, 1869) he gives a study of the life of Ibrahim, the accomplished brother
of Harun al Rashid. Pp. 201-342.
Barthdlemy Saint-Hilaire, Jules. Mahomet et le Coran, pr6c6de" d'une introduc
tion sur les devoirs mutuels de la religion et la philosophie. One volume,
octavo. Paris, 1865. A valuable preface of more than one hundred pages is
a discussion of Islam, and the entire work is worthy of careful study. It is
full of references to the best sources of information.
Bassett, James. Persia, the land of the Imams. A narrative of travel and resi
dence, 1871-1885. One volume, octavo. New York, 1886. The author is a
Christian missionary.
Bate, John Drew. The missionary's vade-mecum First series. An examination
of the claims of Ishmael as viewed by Muhammadans. (Being the- first
chapter of section one of Studies in Islam.) One volume, octavo. Benaras,
1884. The author, missionary of the Baptists of London, promises othes
books on kindred subjects.
Baudier, Le Sieur Michel. Histoire g6n6rale de la religion des Turcs. Rouen,
. The style of this author is heavy, rambling, and uncritical, but his
book is not without interest and may be used with profit.
Bayle, Pierre. Dictionnaire historique et critique. Revised. Rotterdam, 1720,
In vol. iii. there is a sketch of Mohammed, with copious notes giving the
authorities on which it is based. (The notes are many times more extensive
than the text.)
Bebel, August. Die Mohammedamsche-Arabische Kulturperiode. Stuttgart,
1844. One volume, duodecimo.
Benjamin of Tudela. (See Wright.)
[Black, C. I. The principles of Ishmael. Being a short historical survey of the
Turanian tribes in their western migrations. London, 1880.]
Bleda, Jayme. Coronica de los Moros de Espafia. One volume, quarto. Valencia,
1618.
Blunt, Lady Anne Isabella King-Noel. A pilgrimage to Nejd, the cradle of the
Arab race. Two volumes. London, 1881. These volumes contain much
information about the interior of Arabia. There are cuts of the city of Me
shed Ali, and other places.
Bosworth Smith, R. Mohammed and Mohammedanism. London and New York,
1873. Lectures, to which are appended an important article of Islam by
Emanuel Deutsch. The polemical lecturer, in his effort to be just, ven
tures too near the line of eulogy. Interesting and stimulating.
Boulainvilliers, Henri, Count de. La vie de Mahomed. Londres, 1730. This is
much more fair to the prophet than was customary at the day, and the
count (who unfortunately died, 1722, before his work was published or even
finished) exhibits a refreshing amount of common-sense. It was his opinion
that the world could afford to be just to a man who, despite his faults, had
published much truth, after he had been dead more than a thousand years.
A translation into English was published 1752.
tBrGguigny, Louis George Oudard Freudrix de (1716-1795). La vie de Mahomet.]

LIST OF BOOKS.

455

Briinnow, Rudolf Ernest. Die Charidschiten unter den ersten Omayyaden. Ein
Beitrag zur Geschichte des ersten islamischen Jahrhunderts. One volume,
octavo. Leiden, 1884.
Burckhardt, John Lewis. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. London, 1831.
The Wahabis were fanatical reformers who arose early in the eighteenth
century and almost succeeded in revolutionizing Islam.
Burton, Richard F. Personal narrative of a pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca.
Three volumes, duodecimo. London, 1855. Republished in New York.
Bush, George. The life of Mohammed. New Y.ork, 1830. Mohammed is here
represented to have appeared in fulfilment of the prophecy in Daniel vii.,
8-26, " confirmed and illustrated " by Revelation ix., i-g ; commentators "at
the present day" being " almost universally agreed in regarding the fifth
trumpet as symbolizing and predicting the appearance of the Arabian impos
tor, his spurious religion, and his Saracen followers."
Cardonne, Denis Dominique. Histoire de l'Afrique et de I'Espagne, sous la domi
nation des Arabes. Three volumes, duodecimo. Paris, 1765. Not of great
value. The author was an Oriental scholar, but inferior to Conde. Fournel
says that the book is below criticism.
Carlyle, Thomas. The hero as a prophet, in the volume entitled " On heroes and
hero-worship." London, 1840. A stimulating and very interesting delinea
tion of the salient traits of Islam and the life of its prophet ; but some of the
lines are emphasized with too much vigor.
Caussin de Perceval, Armand-Pierre. Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes, avant
l'Islamisme. Paris, 1847, 1848. This author (like his father) was a thorough
Oriental scholar, and an original investigator of the first rank. He had
travelled and lived among the Mohammedans, and was familiar with their
customs and history. He was a member of the French Academy. His
work is among the very best sources of information. The three volumes
carry the history to the year 840, when all the tribes of Arabia were con
quered to Islam.
[Caussin de Perceval. Les sept Moallakat. Texte Arabe. Quarto. Paris.]
Ch6nier, Louis Sauveur de. Recherches historiques sur les Maures. Three vol
umes. Paris, 1787. This author resided several years at Constantinople, and
became interested in his subject.
Chesney, Francis Rawdon. The expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates
and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835,
1836, and 1837. Two volumes, and maps separate. London, 1850. Chapters
xiv. to xix. of volume II. comprise many facts connected with u The Story
of the Saracens," though they are not abreast with present scholarship.
Circourt, Anne Marie Joseph Albert, Count de. Histoire des Mores Mudejares,
et des Morisques, ou des Arabes d'Espagne sous la domination des Chreti
ens. Three volumes, octavo. Paris, 1846-1848.
Clark, Edson Lyman. The Arabs and the Turks ; their origin and history, their
religion, their imperial greatness in the past, and their condition at the pres
ent time. A brief resume of the " Story of the Saracens " is given here in
seventy pages. Boston, 1876.
Clarke, James Freeman. Ten great religions. Boston, 1871. Islam receives fair
treatment in the course of Dr. Clarke's investigations.
Clerc, Alfred. See Perron, Dr.

456

LIST OF BOOKS,

Clouston, W. A. Arabian poetry for English readers. Glasgow, 1881. Privately
printed. This volume contains translations by Sir William Jones, Professor
Joseph Dacres Carlyle, J. W. Redhouse, and others, from many Arabian
poets. The first mentioned was the first Orientalist of his time ; Carlyle
was professor at Oxford ; and Redhouse lived twenty years among the Mos
lems.
Conde, Jos6 Antonio. Historia de la dominacion de los Arabes en Espafia.
Three volumes, folio. Madrid, 1820-21. The same in English in Bohn's
Library, 2 vols., London,' 1854. This was long considerably esteemed as an
authentic source of information. It was compiled from Arabic works.
Gayangos said that it contained many blunders and contradictions, and that
though " the foundation of all our knowledge of Mohammedan Spain," it
was " far from fulfilling the expectations of the scholar." Dozy asserts
that Conde forged his dates and invented his facts. It should be said that
the book was printed after the author's death.
Copp6e, Henry. History of the conquest of Spain by the Arab-Moors. Boston,
1881. Two volumes.
Crichion, Andrew. The history of Arabia, ancient and modern. Two volumes,
eighteenmo. London, 1833. New York, 1834. The author made good use
of the authorities at hand half a century ago.
Darmesteter, James. Coup d'oeil sur l'histoire de la Perse. Paris, 1885.
 Le Mahdi depuis les origines de 1' Islam jusqu'H. nos jours. Paris, 1885.
Valuable and succinct.
Daumer, Georg Friedrich. Mahomed und sein Werk ; Eine Sammlung orienta-
lischer Gedichte. One volume, sixteenmo. Hamburg, 3848.
Desvergers, Joseph Marie Adolphe Noel. Arabic In a series of volumes entitled
L'universe. One volume, octavo. Paris, 1847. Thorough for a sketch,
though somewhat heavy.
 Histoire de l'Afrique sous la domination Musulmane (Ibn Kaldoun),
1 841.
[  La vie de Mahomet of Abulfeda.]
Deutsch, Emanuel Oscar Menahem. Literary remains, London and New York,
1874. Besides the essay on Islam, this volume comprises some other chap
ters on kindred topics.
 Islam. London Quarterly Re-view. October, 1869. (Reprinted in Bos-
worth-Srnith's work.) It is a masterly presentation of the subject of the
prophet's teachings.
Diercks, Gustav. Die Araber im Mittelalter, und ihr Einfluss auf die Cultur
Europa's. One volume, octavo. Leipzig, 1882.
Dieterici, Friedrich. Die Lehre von der Weltseele bei den Arabern im X. Jahr
hundert.
 Die Naturanschauung und Naturphilosophie der Araber im Zehnten Jahr
hundert. Posen, 1864. Professor in the University of Berlin, and author of
" Reisebilder aus dem Morgenlande." Berlin, 1853. Two volumes. Egypt,
Palestine and Arabia Petrea.
 Die Philosophie der Amber im X. Jahrhundert. One volume, octavo.
Leipzig, 1876. A sketch of the brothers of purity.
Dods, Marcus. Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ. London, 1877. The first por
tion discusses Islam, with many references to authorities.

LIST OF BOOKS. 457
Dozy, Reinhardt Pieter Anne. Essai sur l'histoire de Tlslamisme. Traduit du
Hollandais par Victor Chauvin. One volume, octavo. Leyden and Paris,
1879. An admirable presentation of the faith of Islam, of its history,
legends, and sects.
 Histoire des Musulmans d'Espagne, jusq'& la conquete de l'Andalousie
par les Almoravides. Four volumes, eighteenmo. Leyden, 1861. This
learned Hollander has published other important volumes on topics con
nected with the Arabs 'and the Berbers, and they are all of the highest value.
He repudiates Conde, declaring his work utterly unworthy of confidence.
 Die Israeliten zu Mekka von David's Zeit bis ins fiinfte Jahrhundert
unserer Zeitrechnung. Leipzig, 1864.
 Recherches sur l'histoire et la litterature de I'Espagne pendant le inoyen
age. Two volumes (third edition), octavo. Leyden, 1881.
Dugat, Gustave. Histoire des philosophes et des th6ologiens Musulmans, de 632
a 1258 de J. C. Paris, 1878. A detailed consideration of the subject, with a
full index.
 Histoire politique et litt6raire des Arabes d'Espagne. This is a transla
tion of Al Makkari. Five volumes, quarto. Paris, 1854-1859,
Dunn, Archibald J. The rise and decay of the rule of Islam. London, 1877.
The first hundred pages of this book treat the subject of the " Story of the
Saracens " in a very brief but somewhat inexact and sketchy manner, being
introductory to the discussion of the u Eastern Question," which occupies
the remaining eighteen chapters. The book does not reflect the latest
scholarship.
Elmacin, George. [Historia Saracenica.] L'histoire MahomGtane, ou les quarante-
neuf chalifes du Macine. Translated by Pierre Vattier. One volume, quarto.
Paris, 1657. This book comprises extracts from the great work of Elmacin.
The names of the Arabians are disfigured almost beyond recognition. The
translator apologizes for introducing his forty-nine heroes (enemies of the
Christian faith) to polite French society. The dedication to Cardinal
Mazarin and the preface are perhaps more interesting than the rest of the
volume. Vattier was an Orientalist of no mean merit, however.
Ferreras, Juan de. Synapsis histtfrica chronoldgica de Espafia. New edition, re
vised. Seventeen volumes, square duodecimo. Madrid, 1 775-1781.
Florian, Jean Pierre Claris de. The Moors in Spain. • (Translation.) New York,
1840.
Fliigel, Gustav Leberecht. Die Geschichte der Araber, bis auf den Sturz des Cha-
lifats von Bagdad. Three volumes. Dresden, 1832. Zittau und Leipzig,
1838. Leipzig, 1840. These, small volumes belong to the " Allgemeine
Historische Taschenbibliothek fiir Jedermann." Fliigel was professor at
Meissen from 1832 to 1850. He published an edition of the Koran, and a
concordance to it.
Fogg, Wm. Perry. Arabistan ; or, The land of the Arabian Nights, being travels
through Egypt, Arabia, and Persia to Bagdad, with an introduction by Bay
ard Taylor. London, 1875. The author, an American, illustrates his book
with many cuts from photographs which well represent the scenes mentioned.
Forster, Charles. The historical geography of Arabia; or, The patnarchal evi
dences of revealed religion. Two volumes. London, 1844.
 Mahometanism unveiled. London, 1829. This author unveiled the animus

458

LIST OF BOOKS.

of his work in his title, in which he stated that it was an enquiry into an
u arch-heresy." Historians no longer attempt to show their orthodoxy by
calling names. Mohammed was to this writer the little horn of the beast
mentioned in the eighth chapter of Daniel.
Fournel, Marie Jerome Henri. Les Berbers. Etude sur la conquete de I1 Afrique
par les Arabes, d'apr&s les textes Arabes imprimis. One volume. Paris,
1875. The author died in 1876, and this volume only was published. In the
preface there is a discriminative dissertation on the former writers upon the
subjects treated.
Fraser, James BailHe. Travels in Koordistan and Mesopotamia. London, 1840.
The same author, who was an extensive traveller, wrote " My journey into
Khorasan," (1821), ** Travels and adventures in the Persian provinces,"
(1826), and an account of a journey from Constantinople to Teheran.
Freeman, Edward Augustus. The history and conquests of the Saracens. Lon
don, 1856. (Third edition, 1877.) An exceedingly profitable sketch by a
master.
Fresnel, Fulgence. Lettres sur l'histoire des Arabes avant 1' Islamisme. One
volume, octavo. Paris, 1836.
Gagnier, Jean. La vie de Mahomet. Amsterdam, 1732. This is one of the first
lives of the prophet written from original sources, and contests with the book
of the Count de Boulainvilliers the honor of being the first to oppose the
prejudices that had inspired all previous writers on the subject of Islam.
It marks a reaction in favor of the historical spirit in such investigations.
Gagnier was professor of Semitic languages at Oxford.
Galland, Antoine. Les mille et une nuits, with a dissertation by Baron Silvestre
de Sacy. Paris, 1840 ; originally published in 1704-17. (Twelve volumes.)
The best edition of this translation, however, is that by Caussin de Perceval,
1806. Galland lived in the East a long time, and was well acquainted with
Eastern manners, customs, and languages.
Garcin de Tassy, Josephe H61iodore Sagesse Vertu. Exposition de la foi Musul-
manc, traduite du Ture de Mohammed-ben-Pir-Ali-el-Berkeri. One volume,
octavo. Paris, 1822. This eminent Orientalist, a native of Marseilles, was
a pupil of Silvestre de Sacy.
Gayangos, Pascual. An historical notice of the kings of Granada from the con
quest of that city by the Arabs to the expulsion of the Moors. One volume,
sixteenmo. " Crystal Palace Library." London, 1854. (Reprinted from the
u Plans, elevations, and sections of the Alhambra." London, 1842.) See also
Makkari.
Geiger, Abraham. Was hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume aufgenommen ?
Bonn, 1833. Geiger, an Orientalist rabbi, published this brief study at the
age of twenty-three, having previously taken a prize at the university of
Bonn for it as an essay on the Hebraic sources of the Koran. Dozy pro
nounces it very instructive, though here and there a little behind the times.
Gibbon, Edward. Chapters 1., li., Hi., of The decline and fall of the Roman em
pire. A wonderfully graphic account of the rise and decline of the Saracens.
The many notes refer to the author's authorities.
Gobineau, Joseph Arthur, Count de. Les religions et les philosophies dans I'Asie
Centrale. (Second edition.) Paris, 1866. Chapter iii. gives an account of
Islam, and of the origin of the Alyite schism, and chapter xiii. describes the
Persian theatre and the celebration of Moharrem.

LIST OF BOOKS. 459
[Goeje, Michael Jan de. Fragmenta historicorum Arabicorum. Lugd. Batavorum,
1869. Two volumes, quarto.]
Goergens, E. P., Professor in the University of Berne. Der Islam und die mod-
erne Kultur. In u Deutsche Zeit- und Streit-Fragen," viii. Berlin, 1879.
Pages 261-308.
Goldziher, Ignaz. Die Zahiriten, ihr Lehrsystem und ihre Geschichte. Beitrag zur
Geschichte der Muhammedanischen Theologie. Leipzig, 1884. One volume,
octavo.
Greene, Samuel. A brief account of the rise and decline of the Mohammedan em
pire. (From Greene's life of Mohammed.) In a translation of Florian's
Moors in Spain. New York, 1840.
Guignes, Joseph de. Histoire g6n6rale des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols, et des
autres Tartares Occidentaux. Four volumes, quarto. Paris, 1835. Origi
nally published in five volumes. Paris, 1756-58. The topics of the " Story
of the Saracens" are treated in books vi., vii., x.-xii., xv.-xviii.
Gu«=ard, Stanislas. La civilisation Musulmane. Paris, 1884. The author of this
able little volume was formerly professor in the College of France, and his
work is of the highest authority. The same writer contributed the article
on " Musulmans " to the *' Encyclopddie des Sciences Religieuses," vol.
ix., pp. 501-511. Paris, Felix Lechtenberger, ed. 1880. Guyard, contributed
also to the u Encyclopedia Britannica " (ninth edition) an article on the East
ern Kalifate, vol. xvi., pp. 561-597.
 ¦ Fragments relatifs & la doctrine des Isma61is. Texte publi6 pour la pre
miere fois, avec une traduction complete et des notes. One volume, quarto,
Paris, 1874.
Hakem, Ibn-abd-el. See Jones, J. H.
Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph, Baron von. Gemaldesaal der Lebenbeschreibungen
grosser moslimischer Herrscher. Six volumes. Leipzig and Darmstadt, 1837-
183'g. These volumes contain sketches of fifty persons, including Moham
med, Abu Bekr, Omar, Othman, Ali, Moawia, Yezid, Merwan, Abd el Melik,
Welid, Abul Abbas, Mansur, Harun, Mamun, Motassim, Abd er Rahman of
Spain, Mahmud the Gaznevide, and Togrul the Seljuk.
 Literaturgeschichte der Araber. Seven volumes, octavo. Wien, 1850-1856.
The reputation of this laborious author is not so high as it formerly was.
 Uber die L&nderverwaltung unter dem Chalifate. One volume, octavo
Berlin, 1835.
Herbelot, Barth61emy, d'. Bibliotheque Orientale, ou dictionnaire universel, con-
tenant tout ce qui fait connoitre les peuples de l'Orient. Edited by Antoine
Galand, and published after the author's death. Paris, 1697. This exten
sive volume though uncritical, is a mine of information which the Oriental
student cannot ignore yet.
Higgins, Godfrey. Anacalypsis, an attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic
Isis ; or an inquiry into the origin of languages, nations, and religions. Two
volumes, quarto. London, 1836. Vol. i., pp. 678-688, specially treats Mo
hammed and Islam in a vigorous but erratic style. Higgins published in
1820 a life of Mohammed, which Edward Upham pronounces, in the Gentle
man's Magazine for January, 1830 (p. 10), u full of errors." The author is,
however, cherished with "high esteem and respect" for his learning and
ability and ll correct view" of Islam, by Syed .Ahmed.

460 LIST OF BOOKS.
Howorth, Henry H. History of the Mongols from the ninth to the nineteenth
century. Part I. The Mongols proper and the Kalmuks. London, 1876.
Contains a good chapter on Jingis Khan. Marred by a preface of singular
self-consciousness.
Hughes, Thomas Patrick. A dictionary of Islam, being a cyclopaedia of the doc
trines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theo
logical terms of the Muhammadan religion. London and New York, 1885.
Very valuable and modern. The author (now in America) lived many years
in India.
 Notes on Muhammadanism. (Second edition.) London, 1877.
Ibn-Khaldun. See Desvergers, and Slane.
Ireland, William. The blot upon the brain. Studies in history and psychology.
One volume, octavo. New York, 1886. Paper ii treats " the hallucina
tion of Mohammed."
Irving, Washington. Mahomet and his successors. Two vols. New York, 1849. In
these two volumes this usually fascinating author tells his story in a less en
tertaining style than would be expected, and he does not rank high as a
scientific historical student. He wrote before the late studies on the subject
were made public, and failed in some cases to give his facts in their proper
relation.
 Spanish papers and other miscellanies, hitherto unpublished and uncol
lected. Arranged and edited by Pierre M. Irving. Two volumes. New
York (revised edition), 1850. (Also the first edition published by Bohn in
London ) The first of the volumes, only, refers to the conquest of Spain by
the Moors, and is very interesting in connection with the history of the pe
riod on account of the many romantic episodes that Mr. Irving incorporated
in his narrative. The " Fra Antonio Agapida " of the book is a creature of
the author's imagination.
Jacolliot, Louis. Manou, Molse, Mahomet. Traditions religeusescomparees des lois
de Manou, de la Bible, du Coran. One volume, octavo. Paris, 1876.
TJessup, Henry H, The Mohammedan missionary problem. One vol., i6mo, with
map. Philadelphia, 1879. The author (a missionary in Beirut) presents the
features of Islam favorable and unfavorable to the spread of Christianity.]
Johnson, Samuel. Oriental religions. Persia. Boston, 1884. Islam, pp. 530-
782.
Jomard, Edme-Francois. See Mohammed-Aly.
Jones, John Harris. Ibn abd-el Hakem's history of the conquest of Spain, now
edited for the first time. Translated from the Arabic. Goettingen and Lon
don, 1858. This small volume contains the Arabic text, a translation and
notes, and an historical introduction, in which there are critical references to
authorities.
Kazimirski, Aleksander von Biberstein. Civilisation Musulmane. Observations
historiques et critiques sur le Mahometanisme. From the English of Sale.
In Les livres sacrfis de l'Orient, by Jean Pierre Guillaume Pauthier. Paris,
1840, pp. 463-538. Also the Koran, pp. 539-752. The volume contains also
the Chou-King and the laws of Manou, with descriptive introductions.
 Le Koran. Traduction faite sur le texte Arabe. Paris, 1859. A revised
edition of this version is given in Les livres sacrfis de l'Orient, by r. P. G.
Pauthier, Paris, 1840. Kazimirski was a Polish exile.

LIST OF BOOKS. 461
Keane, J. F. My journey to Medinah. London, 1881. An entertaining volume
of travel.
Khallikan, Ibn. See Slane, Wm. McG.
Kindy, Al, The apology of. Written at the court of Al Mamun, in defence of
Christianity against Islam, with an essay on its age and authorship. By Sir
William Muir. London, 1882.
Krehl, Christoph Ludolf Ehrenfried. Das Leben des Muhammed. Leipzig, 1884.
One small and comprehensive volume which the author intends to follow with
another on the teachings of the prophet. [Krehl wrote also u Ueber die Re
ligion der vorislamischen Araber." One volume, quarto. Leipzig, 1863.]
Kremer, Alfred von. Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen. Two
volumes, octavo. Wien, 1875-1877.
 ¦ Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams. Der Gottesbegriff, die
Prophetie und Staatsidee. Leipzig, 1868.
[La Croix,  . Anecdotes Arabes et Musulmanes. Paris, 1772.]
Lake, John Joseph. Islam: its origin, genius, and mission. London, 1878. A
brief, sympathetic outline, in which the author attempts to prove that " the
Western AVorld is greatly indebted to the Moslems for its present state of
advancement."
Lane, Edward William. An account of the manners and customs of the modern
Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833, 1834, and 1835. Two
volumes, sixteenmo. London, 1836, 1837. This is the most accessible source
of accurate information about Arabian manners.
 Selections from the Kur-kn. New edition, revised and enlarged, with an
introduction, by Stanley Lane-Poole. [Original edition, London, 1843.]
Boston, 1879.
 The thousand and one nights. Edited by his nephew, Edward Stanley-
Poole. London, 1865. The three volumes of this beautiful work are a mine
of information about the habits and customs of the Arabians.
Lane-Poole, Stanley. Le Koran : sa pofisie et ses lois. The materials of this vol
ume appeared in English in the same author's Table-talk of Mohammed.
It treats the Koran under the heads of poetry, rhetoric, argument, harangues,
and laws. Paris, 1882.
 Studies in a mosque. London, 1883. Contains an important chapter on
the festival of Moharrem, an account of the Brotherhood of Purity of
Bassora (a.d. 975), and much other matter of interest.
 The speeches and table-talk of Mohammad, chosen and translated, with
an introduction and notes, by Stanley Lane-Poole. London, 1882. Con
tains in brief compass much information concerning the prophet and his
teachings.
Le Bon, Gustave. La civilisation des Arabes. Paris, 1884. This volume is ele
gantly illustrated, and a number of its graphic pictures have been repro
duced for "" The Story of the Saracens." A valuable " Bibliographie m6tho-
dique " occupies pp. 679-686.
Lee Samuel. See Martyn, Henry. Lee was professor of Arabic at Cambridge.
Died in 1852.
Lembke Friedrich Wilhelm. Geschichte von Spanien. Four volumes. Ham
burg, 1831, 1844. Gotha, 1861, 1881. Vol. i,, pp. 249-308 treats the subject
as far as it falls within the scope of this volume.

462

LIST OF BOOKS.

Loftus, W. K. Travels and researches in Chaldaea and Susiana. London, 1857.
Touches " The Story of the Saracens " at some points. See also La Revue
Archdologiguey for 1885, vol. ii., article by Dieulefoy.
Lopez de Caiiete, Crist6bal. Compendio de los Prondsticos y baticinios antigvos
y modernos, que publican la declinacion general de la secta de Mahoma, y
Hbertad de Hierusalem, y Palestina. One volume small quarto. Granada,
1630; Mr! Ticknor inscribes this volume, " A specimen of the popular no
tions about Mahomet and Islamism in Spain in 1630." Mohammed's birth
is put at 596 a.d.
Macbride, John David. Mohammedanism explained ; with an introductory
sketch of its progress, and suggestions as to its confutation. One volume
octavo. London, 1857. The author was Principal of Magdalen Hall, and
Lord High Almoner's reader in Arabic in the University of Oxford.
Maitland, Edward. England and Islam : or, The counsel of Caiaphas. One vol
ume, duodecimo. London, 1877.
Makkarf, Ahmed ibn Mohammed, al. The history of the Mohammedan dynasties
in Spain. Translated and illustrated with critical notes by Pascual de Gay-
angos. Two volumes, quarto. London, 1840-1843. This is the only Arabian
author who gives an uninterrupted narrative of the conquests, wars, and
settlements of the Moors in Spain from their first invasion to the final ex
pulsion. Makkarf died in (1041 a.h.) 1631 a.d.
Malleson, George Bruce. History of Afghanistan from the earliest period. Lon
don, 1879. (Second edition.) This volume contains a description of Kabul,
p. 6.
Mariana, Juan de. Historia general de Espafia. Seven volumes, duodecimo.
Madrid, 1794. Continuation by Joseph Manuel Miniana. Three volumes,
Madrid, 1795. Mariana's work was originally published in Latin in 1592. A
Spanish translation was published in folio, in three volumes, in Madrid, in
I733-4I-
Marigny, Francois Augier, Abb6 de. Histoire des Arabes sous le gouvernement
des Califes. Four volumes. Paris, 1750.
 , Histoire des revolutions de I'empire des Arabes. Paris, 1750. The first
of the four volumes of this work is the one specially connected with the
present subject. It comprises a geographical table giving some account of
the kingdoms, provinces, and cities of the Kalifate and the surrounding
peoples, and an account of the dynasties of the Taherians, Soffarides,
Samanides, Fatimites (Ismailians), Buvides (Dilemites), Gaznevides, and
S.eljucides, The orthography of names is comparatively simple, and very
much better than that of Vattier. (Same, edited by l'Abbfi Perau, 1752.)
Markham, Clements Robert. A general sketch of the history of Persia. London,
1874. A sketchy account of the Saracens before the fall of Bagdad is to be
found in this volume. Genealogies of the Omiad and Abbasside kalifs are
given.
Martin, Joseph Manuel, Historia verdadera de falso profeta Mahoma, sacada de
San Eulogio, Juan Sangredo, Fr. Jayme Bleda, y otros histor iadores. Val
ladolid. No date. One of a collection made by Mr. Ticknor, of which he
says that it " contains the prose tracts most current among the common
people of Spain between 1840 and 1850 ; or rather a fair and characteristic
selection from them."

LIST OF BOOKS. 463
Martyn, Henry. Controversial tracts on Christianity and Mohammedanism.
Cambridge, 1824. Martyn was aided by some " of the most eminent writers
of Persia." The collection was prepared by the Rev. S. Lee. The Per
sians support Islam and Martyn opposes it. Lee sums up the arguments.
Marvin, Charles. Merv, the queen of the world ; and the scourge of the man-
stealing Turcomans. London, i88r. Vambery is much lauded.
Masdeu, Juan Francisco de. Historia crftica de Espaiia, y de la cultura Espanola.
Twenty volumes, small quarto. Madrid, 1783-1805. This work was first
published in Italy in 1781. Vols, xii.-xiv. treat the Arabian period, the
last-mentioned being occupied with important tables, in which the years of
our era are placed opposite those of the Mohammedan calendar.
Masudi. See Barbier de Meynard.
Maurice, Frederick Denison. The religions of the world and their relations to
Christianity. London (and Boston, 1854). Portions of these important con
tributions to the theme treated relate to the religion of the Moslems.
Mercier, Ernest. Histoire de l'e'tablissement des Arabes dans 1' Afrique Septen-
trionale. [From about 1100 B.C.] Constantine, Alger, and Paris, 1875.
The author has followed Arabian authors, and especially Ibn Khaldun. A
good map shows the positions of Kairwan, Ceuta, Tangier, and the other
places mentioned in u The Story of the Saracens."
Merrick, James Lyman. The life and religion of Mohammed, as contained in the
Sh'eeah traditions of the Hyat-ul-Kuloob. Translated from the Persian.
One volume, duodecimo. Boston, 1850.
Miles, George H. Mohammed, the Arabian prophet. A tragedy, in five acts,
which won a prize of $1,000, offered by Edwin Forrest. Boston, 1850.
Mills, Charles. A history of Muhammedanism. London, 18 18. (Revised edi
tion.) A somewhat calm study of the subject by an English barrister, who
read a large number of Oriental books preparatory to writing.
Milman, Henry Hart. History of Latin Christianity. In six volumes. Second
edition. London, 1857. Book iv., chapters one and two. Mohammed and
successors of Mohammed. Revised after reading Sprenger's Mohammed.
Dr. Weil was among Milman's chief authorities in treating Mohammed's
successors. Milman gives a good table of contemporary chronology (on
pages 444, 445) from a.d. 604-815.
Miniana. See Mariana.
Moallakat. See Caussin de Perceval. [A work by Arnold is, however, later, and
valuable.]
Mohammed Ali. Etudes geographiques et historiques sur 1' Arable, avec des ob
servations sur l'6tat des affaires en Arabie et en Egypte par M. [Edme.
Frangois] Jomard. Paris, 1839. Jomard accompanied the French army
to Egypt in 1798, and remained there four years.
[Mohler, Johann Adam. (1796-1838.) Islam et l'Evangile. Translated by J. P.
Menge, with a preface by John Muir. Calcutta, 1847.]
Morgan, Joseph. Mahometanism fully explained. London, 1723. Antiquated.
Mozley, James Bowling. Eight lectures on miracles. [Bampton lectures of 1865.]
London, 1867. (Second edition.) Lecture vii , page 180, and note, page 354,
refer to Islam. Dr. Mozley asserts that u Mahomet was perfectly ac
quainted with the gospel and with the moral standard of the gospel," which
" he wholly threw aside." This is generally denied, however.

464 LIST OF BOOKS.
Miiller, Friedrich August. Die Beherrscher der Glaubigen. Pamphlet. Pp. 47.
Berlin, 1882.
 Der Islam im Morgen- und Abendland. Mit Abbildungen und Karten.
Erster Band. Berlin, 1885. This volume belongs to a series edited by Dr.
Wilhelm Oncken, Allgemeine Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen. A valuable
book. The latest comprehensive work of its class.
Muir, Sir William. The Coran, its composition and teaching, and the testimony
it bears to the Holy Scripture. London and New York, 1878. This small
volume possesses the traits of Muir's other works on the subject. On pages
43-47 an analytic and chronological order of the suras is given.
 The early Caliphate. London, 1883. In this volume Sir William con
tinues the history begun in his Life of Mahomet, carrying it down to the reign
of Yezid I., though after the death of AH the story is simply epitomised. Its
general traits are the same as those of the former work.
 The life of Mahomet. London, 1876. (Revised edition.) This is the best
work in the English language on the subject. It is thorough, based on origi
nal study, and, but for some of the author's preconceived polemical views,
would be entirely just. Was first published in four volumes. No index.
 Mahomet and Islam. A sketch of the prophet's life from original sources,
and a brief outline of his religion. London [1884]. A valuable outline, bear
ing the good traits of the author's other works.
Murphy, James Cavanah. The Arabian antiquities of Spain. London, 1813.
One volume, large folio. Illustrated with fine engravings on copper. [Mur
phy wrote also the history of the Mahometan empire in Spain, containing
a general history of the Arabs, their institutions, conquests, literature, arts,
sciences, and manners, to the expulsion of the Moors. London, 1816.]
Niebuhr, Karsten. Travels in Arabia and the East. The father of the better-
known historian throws much light on the subject by his record. A life of
the author is found in " Lives of Eminent Persons." London, 1833. It is by
Mrs. Sarah Taylor Austin. In the Library of Useful Knowledge.
[NOldeke, Theodor. Bietrage zur Kenntniss der Poesie der alten Araber. One
volume, octavo. Hannover, 1864.]
 ¦ Das Leben Muhammed's, nach den Quellen popular dargestellt. One
volume, twelvemo. Hannover, 1863.
 Geschichte des Qorans. One volume, octavo. Gottingen, i860. This
work was crowned by the French Academy. Noldeke contributed to the
ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica a. valuable article on the
Koran. Vol. xvi., pp. 598-606.
Ockley, Simon. The history of the Saracens to the death of Abd el Melik. Lon
don, 1708. Late ed. Bohn (1847). This book is a standard, but it has not
the interest nor exactness of some of the later works.
O'Donovan, Edmond. The Merv oasis. London and New York, 1882. Two
volumes of travel.
Oelsner, Conrad Englebert. Des effets de la religion de Mohammed pendant les
trois premiers siecles de safondation sur l'esprit, les mceurs, et le gouverne
ment des peuples chez lcsqucls cette religion s'est fitablie. Paris, 1810.
Crowned by the French Academy, July 7, 1809,
Osborn, Robert Durie. Islam under the Arabs. London, 1876. Islam under the
Khalifs of Bagdad. London, 1878. These two volumes comprise sketches

LIST OF BOOKS. 465
of different phases of Islam, but are not intended to be a connected history.
The author gives many interesting details.
[Osborne, Mrs. Willoughby, A pilgrimage to Mecca by the Nawab Sikander, Be
gum of Bhopal. Translated by Mrs. Osborne. London (i8£o ?). Notable as
the first book written by an Indian lady, and that lady a queen.]
Palmer, Edward H. Haroun Alraschid and Saracen civilization. London and
New York.
 The Qur'an. Oxford, 1880. Two volumes of " The Sacred Books of the
East, translated by various oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Muller."
The first volume (vol. vi. of the series) contains an introduction of 118 pages
giving an abstract of all the suras, and much other valuable information
about Islam. Vol. ii. contains an index.
Pastoret, Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre, Marquis de. Zoroastre, Confucius, et
Mahomet, comparers comme sectaires, legislateurs, et moralistes. Second
edition. One volume, twelvemo. Paris, 1787. Pastoret exposes some of
the calumnies of Prideaux and others (p. 213). His work was crowned by
the Academy.
Pauthier, Jean Pierre Guillaume. See Kazimirski, Aleksander.
Pelly, Colonel Sir Lewis. The miracle play of Hasan and Husain, collected from
oral tradition. Revised by Arthur N. Wollaston. London, 1879.
P6rau, I' Abbe*. Histoire des revolutions de I'empire des Arabes, by Marigny.
Edited by P6rau. Paris, 1752. Four volumes.
Perron, A. Femmes Arabes, avant et depuis l'Islamisme. Paris, 1858. An ex
haustive discussion of the condition of Arabian women in Arabia from the
earliest times to the reign of Mamun.
 ¦ L'Islamisme, son institution, son influence, et son avenir. Ouvrage post-
hume, publi6 et annotfi par son neveu, Alfred Clerc. Paris, 1877. This au
thor was professor of chemistry at Cairo, and a member of the Soci§t6 Asia-
tique about 1866.
Pocock, Edward. Historia compendiosa dynastiarum Orientalium ; from Abulfa-
raj, of Malatia. Oxford, 1663. Dr. Pocock studied Arabic at Aleppo, and
was afterwards professor of the. language at his native place. Gibbon, in a
note to his fifty-first chapter, says : " The English scholar understood more
Arabic than the mufti of Aleppo."
 ;" Specimen historiae Arabum. Extracts from Abulfaraj of Malatia, on the
origin and customs of the Arabs, with notes. Oxford, 1650. The ** extracts "
are comprised in pages 1-31, and the notes (which have a separate title-page
dated 1648) run from page 33 to 390. The extracts are in Arabic and Latin
on opposite pages, and the notes are in Latin. This work is the one so fre
quently mentioned by Gibbon as an authority.
Poole, Stanley Lane. See Lane-Poole, Stanley.
Porter, Josias Leslie. Five years in Damascus. London, 1855. The giant cities
of Bashan. London, 1865.
Price, David. Chronological retrospect ; or, Memoirs of the principal events of
Mohammedan history from the death of the Arabian legislator to the acces
sion of the emperor Akbar. From original Persian authorities. Three vol
umes, quarto. London, 1811.
 Essay towards the history of Arabia antecedent to the birth of Moham
med, arranged from Tarikh Tebry, and other authentic sources. One vol
ume, quarto. London, 1824.

466

LIST OF BOOKS.

Prideaux, Humphrey. La vie de Mahomet oil Ton decouvre amplement la v6rit6
de l'imposture. Amsterdam, 1698. A life of Mahomet. London, 1697. This
work has been entirely superseded by more thorough and less partial investi
gations. It reflects the unreasoning denunciation of the prophet current from
the times of the Crusades, when the very name of the destroyer of idolatry
in Arabia was made a synonyme for an idol. (See " mammet " in Shake
speare, and 'l mawmet" in Wiclif.)
Rabbe, Alphonse. Compendio de la Historia de Espafia. Madrid, 1824. Two
volumes. Among the books used by Prescott in his historical work, but not
of great importance.
Ranke, Leopold von. Weltgeschichte. [Vol. v.] Die Arabische Weltherrschaft
und das Reich Karl des Grossen. Leipzig, 1884.
Rassmussen, Janus Lassen. Additamenta ad historiam Arabum ante Islamismum.
Hafnise (Copenhagen), 1821. One volume, quarto. This is an addition to
the previous quarto by the same writer (1817) on the history of the different
Arabian kingdoms before Islam.
Reinaud, Joseph Toussaint. Extraits des historiens arabes, relatifs aux guerres
des Croisades. (New edition.) Paris, 1829. The same writer has also pub
lished " Invasion des Sarrasins en France." Paris, 1836. See also Abulfeda.
 Notice sur Mahomet. Extrait de la Nouvelle Biographie G6n6rale, public"
par F. Didot, avec quelques additions. One volume, octavo. Pp. 92, Paris, i860
Reiske, Johann Jacob. De Arabum epocha vetustissima. Pp. 36, quarto. Leip
zig, 1748. This is an effort to clear up the earliest Arabian history.
Renan, Joseph Ernest. Etudes d'histoire religieuse. Paris, 1862. Fifth edi
tion, revised and augmented. On pages 217-299 there is a sketch of Islam,
characterized by the author's incisive style. Translated by O. B. Froth-
ingham, and published in New York, in 1864, with a biographical sketch of
Renan by Henri Harrisse.
Rodwell, John Medows. The Koran : translated from the Arabic, the suras
arranged in chronological order ; with notes and index. London, 1871. The
author endorses Noldeke's order of the later suras, but he arranges the earlier
ones differently. He sees " no evidence that Mohammed had access to the
Christian Scriptures," though fragments may have reached him. He thinks
that " vituperative language " ought not to be poured out upon the prophet.
Roebuck, John Arthur. Life of Mahomet. (Lives of eminent persons: Library
of universal knowledge.) London, 1833. Roebuck makes good use of the
works of Sale, Gibbon, Gagnier, Niebuhr, Ockley, Bayle, Prideaux, and
other authorities. He says that Gagnier wrote u precisely as a Mussulman
might have written." Roebuck was an active politician.
Rosseeuw St. -Hilaire, Eug&ne Francois Achille. Histoire d'Espagne depuis les
premiers temps. Paris, 1844-1879. Fourteen volumes. The first volume of
this masterly work is the only one treating the topics of " The Story of the
Saracens."
{Riihle von Lilienstern, Johann Jakob Otto August. Zur Geschichts der Araber
vor Muhamad. Berlin, 1836.]
Ryer, Andr6 du. The life of Mahomet ; together with the Alkoran at large ;
translated out of Arabic into French, and thence into English. London, 1718.
Sale, George. The Koran : commonly called the Alkoran of Mohammed. With
explanatorj' notes and a very valuable preliminary discourse on the entire

LIST OF BOOKS. 467
subject of the Saracenic faith and the religion and government of the people.
Eighth edition. London and Philadelphia. Disraeli calls this (though a
paraphrase) the first genuine version of the Koran, but it is now superseded
by more exact translations. It was published in 1734, and has been often
reprinted. The eighth edition contains many notes and various readings
from the French version by Claude Etienne Savary. (See Wherry, E. M.)
Savary, Claude Etienne. Le Coran (with notes and an abridged life of Moham
med). Paris, 1783, The following year the same author published a col
lection of the best thoughts from the Koran with the title " Morale de
Mahomet."
Schuyler, Eugene. Turkistan. Two volumes. Eighth edition. London and
New.York, 1876. The author is very friendly to Russia.
Sfidillot, Louis Pierre Eug&ne Amfilie. Histoire des Arabes. Paris, 1854. This
is a comprehensive work, closing with the expulsion of the Moors from
Spain (p. 331), and giving a sketch of Saracenic civilization (pp. 332-439).
The remainder of the volume is occupied with a sketch of the present con
dition of the race, and an analytical table of contents (pp. 440-510). There
are three good maps. The book belongs to Victor Duruy's " Histoire Uni-
verselle." The author was professor of history in the Lyc6e St. Louis. He
repeats the error regarding. the " moallakats " or suspended poems (p. 32).
Sell, Edward. The faith of Islam. London and Madras, 1880. The author lived
for fifteen years in India, and his study of the subject is based upon informa
tion gathered there.
Silvestre de Sacy, Antoine Isaac. Memoires sur diverses antiquitfis de la Perse,
et sur l'histoire des Arabes avant Mahomet. Quarto. Paris, 1793.
Slane, William McGuckin, Baron de. Histoire des Berberes et des dynasties
Musulmanes de 1' Afrique Septentrional. From the Arabic of Ibn-
Khaldun. Algiers, 1852-1864. Four volumes, octavo. Extracts are given
from other writers besides Khaldun. A philosophical history.
 Ibn Khallikan's biographical dictionary. Four volumes (in English).
Paris, 1843. Over eight hundred articles. The author was an Arabian,
born at Arbela, in 1211, of the famous family of the Barmecides. His work
is a mine of erudition. Translated by Baron McGuckin de Slane,
[Smith, W. Robertson. Kinship and marriage in early Arabia. Cambridge
[England], 1885. The author of this work is Lord Almoner's Professor of
Arabic in the University of Cambridge.]
Sprenger, Aloys. Das Leben and die Lehre des Mohammad. Berlin, 1851-1861.
This original investigator enjoyed the greatest advantages for his studies.
He lived among the Moslems for years, and wrote other works on related
topics. He was professor at Bonn after 1857. He devotes much space to an
examination of the condition under which Mohammed received his " revela
tions," in connection with an investigation of the " conversation with spirits
and angels" that Swedenborg professed to have had, both of which he
attributes to epilepsy. A book of the first importance.
 The life of Mohammed, from original sources. One volume, octavo.
Allahabad 1851. This volume did not finish the life of the prophet, and no
more seems to have been published.
Stanley Arthur Penrhyn. Lectures on the Eastern Church. London, 1861.
Chapter VII., Mahometanism. This is not up to the times,

468

LIST OF BOOKS.

[Steiner, Heinrich. Die Mu'taziliten, oder die Freidenkerim Islam. Leipzig, 1865.]
Stephens, William Richard Wood. Christianity and Islam: The Bible and the
Koran. London, 1877. The author considers Islam the nearest parallel to
Christianity, and does not think Mohammed " a consciously designing and
artful impostor," but he argues vigorously against some of the positions of
Bosworth-Smith.
Stobart, James William Hampson. Islam. London, 1876. Not an original in
vestigation, but brief and useful.
Swedenborg, Emanuel. The true Christian religion, containing the universal
theology of the new church, foretold by the Lord in Daniel vii. 13, 14, and
in Revelation xxi. 12. Translated by Taylor Gilman Worcester. One vol.,
octavo. Boston, 1833. Treats Mohammed in places, especially on p. 539,
where he and his followers are ranked next to the Christians.
Tabari, Abou-Jafer-Mo'hammed-ben-Djarir-ben-Yezid. Chronicle, translated
by Herman Zotenberg. Nogent-le-Rotrou, 1874. Four volumes, octavo.
Tassy. See Garcin de Tassy.
Tela, Josephus. The philosophical library : being a curious collection of the
most rare and valuable printed books, both ancient and modern, which treat
of moral, metaphysical, theological, historical, and philosophical enquiries
after truth. London, 1818. Vol. iii., pp. 1-92, treats Islam, but not
thoroughly.
Tewfik, Hussein. A lecture giving a few facts on Mohammedanism. Providence,
R. I., 1878. A criticism of the work of Edward A. Freeman, who is chosen
as representative of those who desire *' the extermination of the Turks."
Thomson, William McClure. The land and the book : Southern Palestine and
Jerusalem; Central Palestine; Lebanon, Damascus, and beyond Jordan.
New York, 1886. Three volumes, octavo. A number of passages illustrate
" The Story of the Saracens."
Turpin, Francois Henri. Histoire de la vie de Mahomet. Three volumes.
Paris, 1773. This author did not sympathize with the indiscriminate preju
dices current at his time regarding Mohammed. He was professor at the
University of Caen, where he was born in 1709. He died at Paris in 1799.
Upham, Edward. The history and doctrine of Buddhism, popularly illustrated.
One folio volume. London, 1829. Touches Islam in certain places.
 History of the Ottoman empire, from its establishment to the year
1828. Preceded by the life of Mahomet. London. American edition
(Philadelphia, 1833) contains the life by Roebuck, instead of that of
Upham. There is also additional matter.
V&mbery, Arminius. History of Bokhara from the earliest period down to the
present. London, 1873. Eight chapters of this work treat topics related
to "The Story of the Saracens."
Viardot, Louis. Essai sur l'histoire des Arabes et des Mores d'Espagne. Paris,
1833. One volume, octavo. Viardot borrowed his facts from Conde, but
says that he gave that author's compilation " a sort of control " [which
it very much needed], by comparing it with the works of Ferreras, Mas-
deu, Hurtado de Mendoza, Bleda, and others.
Weber, George. AUgemeine Weltgeschichte. Fifteen volumes, and three
volumes of indexes. Leipzig, 1857-1880. Indexes, 1865-1881. Volume
v., pages 1-206, contains a good outline of u The Story of the Saracens."

LIST OF BOOKS.

469

Weil, Gustave Geschichte der Chalifen, nach handschriftlichen, grOsstentheils
noch unbenutzten Quellen bearbeitet. Three volumes with index'
Mannheim, 1846, 1848, 1851. Two volumes additional, with index'
Stuttgart, i860, 1862. A continuation of the author's " Leben Moham
med's." A work of the highest rank. The author was long resident in
Mohammedan lands.
 Geschichte der islamitischen VSlker, von Mohammed bis zur Zeit des
Sultan Selim. Stuttgart, 1866.
 Historische-kritische Einleitung in den Koran. Bielefeld, 1844.
Das Leben Mohammeds. Two volumes, octavo. Stuttgart, 1864.
 Mohammed der Prophet, sein Leben und seine Lehre. Stuttgart, 1843.
 Die Poetische Literatur der Araber. Stuttgart und Tiibingen,' 1837]
A historical and critical sketch.
Wherry, E. M. A comprehensive commentary on the Quran. Five volumes.
[Four published (1886)] London, 1882- 1886. This contains Sale's para
phrase and copious notes. There is to be an index, which promises to be
valuable. (Also published in Boston.)
White, Joseph. Bampton lecture of 1784, and a sermon on the duty of propa
gating the gospel among the Mahometans. American edition, Boston,
1793. One of the texts is 1 Kings xiii., 18. Gives an idea of the views of
intelligent men regarding Islam at the date.
Whitney, James Lyman. Catalogue of the Spanish library and of the Portu
guese books, bequeathed by George Ticknor to the Boston Public Li
brary. Boston, 1879. The student of the history of the Moors in Spain
will be much aided by the note, on pages 237, 238, in which Mr. Whitney
mentions authorities in detail. Nowhere else is the information given
in so compact a form, if, indeed, it is brought together at all elsewhere.
Wolff, Joseph. Researches and missionary labors among the Jews, Moham
medans, and other sects. Second edition. London, 1835.
Wollaston, Arthur N. Half hours with Mohammed. Being a popular account
of the prophet of Arabia and of his more immediate followers. One vol
ume, octavo. With maps and illustrations. London, 1886.
Wortabet, John. Researches into the religions of Syria. London, i860. Part
II. Mohammedanism. A polemical book by a missionary in Moham
medan lands.
Wright, Thomas. Early travels in Palestine, comprising the narratives of
Benjamin of Tudela (1164), Sir John Mandeville, and others. London,
1848. (Bohn.) The first edition of Benjamin's work was published in
Hebrew, in Constantinople in 1543.
Wiistenfeld, Heinrich Ferdinand. Das Leben Muhammeds. Gottingen,
l857-59- Three volumes.
 Geschichte der Stadt Mekka, und ihres Tempels. Leipzig, 1857-1861.
Fourvolumes. The author was professor in the University of Gottingen.
 Die Geschichtschreiber der Araber und ihre Werke. Quarto. Got
tingen, 1882.
Unknown. The Arabs in Spain. Two volumes. London, 1840.
Unknown. The life of Mahomet ; or, the history of that imposture which was
begun, carried on, and finally established by him in Arabia. Second
American edition. New York, 1813. Stilted in style and partial in spirit.

INDEX.

Abbas, uncle of Mohammed, ob
tains control of Zem-zem, 43 ;
address of, at the hill Akaba,
114 ; gives notice of an attack
from Mecca, 154 ; takes the
part of Mohammed, 182, 183
Abbas (Abul) the Bloody, claims
of, to the kalifate, 348 ; ap
pears in Korassan, 350 ; butch
ery of, 352 ; efforts to found a
dynasty, 353 ; death of, 353
Abbassides (spelled also Abas-
sides and Abbasides), the, Vic
tory of at Constantinople, 364 ;
indignation of,against Mamun,
380
Abd al Kaba (Abu Bekr) ac
cepts Islam, 81
Abdalla, birth and devotion of,
32 ; marriage and death of, 38
Abdalla forces Meccans to hear
the Koran, 93
Abdalla opposes Mansur, 355
Abdalla, son of Motaz, a rival
kalif, 412
Abdalla, son of Zobeir, claims
the kalifate, 293 ; at Medina,
calls Hosein a martyr, 305 ;
loses an opportunity, 307 ; the
sole kalif, 309 ; death of, 315
Abdalla, uncle of Abbas, made
governor of Syria, 354
Abd al Muttalib (properly Abd
al Mutallib), receives the
rights of Hashim, 32 ; loses
camels, 35

Abd el Melik, becomes kalif,
311 ; shut out from the Kaaba,
312 ; supreme, 315 ; refuses
tribute to Constantinople, 318 ;
death of, 319
Abd er Rahman, governor of
Spain, withdraws from France,
339 ; defeated at Tours, 342
Abd er Rahman, first Omiade
kalif at Cordova, 352
Abomination of Desolation, The,
of Daniel, 250
Abraha, viceroy of Abyssinia, 34 ;
discomfited, 37
Abraham assists Ishmael to re
build the Kaaba, 24
Abrahamitic ideas of God, 54
Abstinence from wine first recom
mended, then commanded,
128, 137, 161. (See Wine.)
Abu Bekr, name of, 99, 100 ; ac
cepts Islam, 81 ; escapes from
Mecca with Mohammed, 1 18 ;
conducts pilgrims to Mecca,
198; takes the place of Mo
hammed in the mosque, 205 ;
address of, after the prophet's
death, 215 ; chosen kalif, 216 ;
description of, 218 ; forcible
policy of, 221 ; death of, 232 ;
and Ali, with Mohammed dur
ing the last pilgrimage, 203
Abulfaraj affirms the destruction
of the library at Alexandria,
254
Abulfeda mentioned, 35 ; " His
tory of Mankind," 420
Abu Lulu assassinates Omar, 260

472

INDEX.

Abu Sofian, conducts a caravan,
140, 147, 148 ; at the battle of
Ohud, 154 ; goes against Con
stantinople, 292
Abu Talib (Ubu Taleb), blesses
the marriage of Mohammed,
58 ; supports Mohammed, 76,
77 ; protects Mohammed, 84,
86, 88 ; dies, 96
Abyssinia, summoned- to accept
Islam, 174; the first emigra
tion to, 93
Adam, fall of, 22 ; at Arafat, 30 ;
and Eve, day of the creation of,
302
Adoption, children by, 100
Africa, Saracenic conquests in,
267 ; invasion of, under Mo
awia, 291 ; extension of the
dominion of the kalifs in, 293 ;
revolt of, 318 ; conquered the
third time, 319 ; Moslem con
quests in, threatened, 344 ; es
cape of from the Saracens,
348 ; trouble in from the Ber
bers, 359
Afrikis gathers the Amalekites,
10
Age, The golden, of Harun, 367 ;
of Mamun, 388 ; of Motawak
kel, 399
Aglab, father of Ibrahim, at
Kairwan, 407
Aglabites, The, ravages of, 407
Ahmed, prophecy of, 134
Ahmed, Syed, on the health of
Mohammed, 64 ; on the use of
the sword by Mohammed, 144
Ahmed, son of Tulun, becomes
governor of Egypt, 406
Ajnadein (Aiznaden) attacked by
Amr, 246
Akaba, meeting at the hill,
100 ; first pledge of, 100 ; sec
ond meeting on, 113, 115 ;
difference between the oaths
of, 142
Aktal, Period of, 320
Alcoran, see Koran
Aleppo, conquest of, by the Sara

cens, 243, taken by the Tulu
nides, 406
Alexander, Battle of, with Dari
us, on the Zab, 351
Alexandria, siege of, by Amr,
254 ; fall of, 254; razed, 267 ;
lost by Othman, 267
Ali, (Alee) son of Abu Talib, en
trusted with a knowledge of
the revelations, 81 ; enthusias
tically accepts Islam, and is
called kalif, 83 ; left behind
at Mecca, 117, 118 ; reaches
Yathrib, 1 26 ; marries Fatima,
161 ; suspicious of Ayesha,
162 ; commands against the
Jews of Keibar, 175 ; detects
Sara in sending illicit informa
tion, 182 ; reads a notable
proclamation at Mecca, 199 ;
with Mohammed during his
last pilgrimage, 203 ; claims
of, upon the office of kalif, 219,
220 ; action of, after the death
of Fatima, 225 ; kalifate of
fered to, 264 ; reasons with
rebels, 270 ; made kalif, 273 ;
appeals to Kufa, 276; victorious
over Ayesha, Talha, and Zo
beir, 278 ; weakened at Siffin,
281 ; assassinated, 285 ; career
of, 286
Ali ben Musa, promised the
throne of Mamun, 380 ; sacri
fices himself, 381
AI Kindy, The apology of, 389
Allah, character of, 19 ; the
house of, 22 ; the worship of
one supreme, 54 ; unity of,
201 ; as presented by Mo
hammed, 211
Allies of the kalifs become an
tagonists, 424
Alp Arslan (Seljuk) buried at
Merv, 256
Alyites, the, disturb Korassan,
348; rise at Medina in the
time of Mansur, 359 ; rising
of, in time of Hedi, 365 ; rise
of, in Africa in time of Harun,

INDEX.

473

370 ; rise of, under Mamun,
378, 379. 382 ; favored by
Wathek, 395 ; get no sympathy
from Motawakkel, 398 ; en
couraged by Montaser, 399 ;
rise of, in time of Mostain,
40 1 ; smiled upon by Motaded,
407 ; number of, in Islam, 407
Ameer, Seyed Ali, on the use of
the sword by Mohammed, 144 ;
on Motazilites, 282
Amin, destined by Harun as his
successor, 373 ; surrenders to
Tahir and Mamun, 377
Amina, (pronounced Ah'-mi-na),
mother of Mohammed, left a
widow, 39 ; dies at Medina,
42 ; Mohammed at the tomb
of, 190 ; sorrow of Mohammed
for, 208
Amissus attacked, 400
Amorium sacked by the Sara
cens, 392
Amr and Kalid converted, 177
Amr (Amru ben el Ass) takes the
field against theBedawins,i8i ;
commissioned to conquer Fili
stin, 246 ; takes Csesarea, 252 ;
sets out for the conquest of
Egypt, 253 ; treats the Egyp
tians to an object-lesson, 255 ;
retakes Alexandria, 267 ; takes
the part of Moawia, 279 ;
takes possession of Egypt, 282
Amr, cousin of Abd el Melik,
revolts against him and is
slain, 313
Amr, successor of Yakub, the
Soffaride, acknowledged by
Motamed, 405 ; attacks Is
mail Samana, 408, 409 ; mis
chance of, 409
Anarchy, in Bagdad, time of Ma
mun, 379 ; at Samarra, 401 ; in
Bagdad, in time of Radi, 428
Angels, belief in, 15, 62 ; nature
of, 16, 17 ; aid of, at Honein
188
Ansars, the new converts at
Yathrib, 127 ; brotherhood

formed with the Muajerin,
142
Antichrist, Arabian belief re
garding, 197
Antioch, siege and conquest of,
by the Saracens, 243 ; taken
by the Tulunides, 406
Aquitania, Saracens enter, 338
Arab tongue, The, not to be used
by Christians, 250
Arabia, position of, 1 ; shape of,
6 ; becomes acquainted with
Persia, 60 ; decline of import
ance of, under the Omiades,
288 ; aroused by the acts of
the Karmathians, 412
Arabia Petraaa offered to Ziyad,
290
Arabs, imaginative, 14 ; marvel
lous change in the, 135 ; style
of warfare of, 164
Arafat, the mountain of mercy,
30
Archangels, The four, 17
Architecture, The Saracenic, 322
Aristocracy, The, of Arabia, as
established by Omar, 245
Arkam, The house of, 85
Armenia,- war in, 338 ; disturb
ances in, at the time of Hish
am, 345 ; rising in, in time of
Motawakkel, 398 ; and Irak
desolated by Babek, 391
Arnold, Matthew on the " Per
sian Passion-Play , " 304
Arts and letters cultivated by
Harun, 370. (See Letters.)
Asceticism not delighted in by
Mohammed, 153
Ashes, Year of, 252
Ashmaat, Appeal of Mohammed
to the, 54
Ass of Irak, The, a title of Mer
wan II. , 349
Assassination, Policy of, 152
Assassination of Othman, 271
Assassins, The, described by
Benjamin of Tudela, 433
Astronomy studied in time of
Mamun, 388

474

INDEX.

Aswad, a rival of Mohammed in
Yemen, 203
Asylum for the insane at Bag
dad, 438
Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bekr,
espoused by Mohammed, 99 ;
formal marriage of Mohammed
and, 140 ; home life of, 141 ;
jealous of Zeinab, 161 ; scan
dal about, 162 ; patience
recommeded to, 164 ; talk of
Mohammed with, 214 ; place
of burial of, 217 ; allies herself
with Ali's enemies, 274 ; super
stitions of, overcome by deceit,
275 ; vindictive spirit of , against
Ali, 277 ; curses Amr and Mo
awia, 284
Ayub (Aiyoob, Ayyub), father of
Saladin, 434
Azazil, or Iblis, 16
Azerbaijan (Aderbaijan), battle
with Babek at, 391

B

Baalbek (Heliopolis), conquest
of, 243
Babek, the sect of, 391
Babylon, site of, 227
Bagdad, founding of, 357 ; the,
of romance, 366 ; magnificence
of, under Harun, 368; anarchy
in, in time of Mamun, 379 ; in
confusion in time of Mok
tader, 421 ; description of,
438 ; fall of, 441
Balkis, queen of Sheba, visits
Solomon, 10
Ban, The, placed upon Moham
med, 94
Barmecides, The, come to Bag
dad, 358 ; character of, 368 ;
fall of, 371
Barthelemy St. Hilaire on Islam,
136
Bassora, founded, 238; plague at,
253 ; taken by Ayesha and her
partisans, 275 ; taken by Mo
awia, 284 ; battle near, 338 ;

and Kufa, troubles at, 260,
266, 267, 268
Baudier mentioned, 434
Bedawins {badu, a desert), the
free,62; join forces with Mecca
against Medina, 154 ; stirred
up against the Jews, 174 ; ac
cept Islam, 181 ; conspire
against Mohammed, 186 ; be
come uneasy under Moham
med's rule, 203 ; allegiance of
the, 227
Bedr, victory of Mohammed at,
149
Believers encouraged and un
believers threatened, 113
Benjamin of Tudela gives an ac
count of the Assassins, 433
Berbers, The, 10 ; reduced to
terms, 31S ; incorporated in
the Saracenic army, 319 ; as
described by Musa, 335 ; give
trouble, 359
Beshr questioned about the na
ture of the Koran, 385
Bible, Doctrines of the, present
ed to the Arabians, 136
Bilal, the first muezzin, death of,
253
Blind man, The poor, repulsed
by Mohammed, 86
Blood, price of, 33 ; first drawn
in Islam, 84
Blood-vengeance prohibited, 202
Bokhara, science at, 256 ; con
quered by Obeidolla, 291 ;
conquest of , 322 ; capital of
Ismail Samana at, 408 ; Sel
juks in, 432 ; taken by Jengis
Khan, 440
Books, none in Arabia, 2, 60 ;
effect of the absence of, 46, 47;
did not teach Mohammed, 60
Borak (lightning), the beast that
takes Mohammed to heaven,
104
Bostra, visited by Mohammed,
46 ; envoy of Mohammed sent
to, 178 ; description of, by
Ockley, 231

INDEX.

47 S

Boulainvilliers, Count de, on
Islam, 137
Boweib, battle of, 235
Bozra, see Bostra
Bridge of Boats, Battle of the,
234
Brotherhood, A, established at
Medina, 141, 142
Buran, daughter of Hasan, be
comes wife of Mamun, 383
Burial of Mohammed, 217
Buvides (Dilemites), rise of the,
426 ; supreme at Bagdad, 428 ;
end of the, 430
Byzantium, listlessness of, 241

Cabus, see Kabus.
Csesarea taken by Amr, 252
Cairo (Fostat), foundation of,
254 ; mosque erected at, 321 ;
built by the Fatimites, 430
Caliph, see Kalif.
Camel, Day of the, 277
Capital of Islam, Removal of the,
288
Cappadocia, conquest of, 322 ;
war in, 392
Captives, Dissatisfaction regard
ing, 189
Caravans, The, from Mecca
tempt the prophet, 144
Carcasonne and Nismes taken,
339
Carlyle, Professor J. D., trans
lations by, 427, 428
Carlyle, Thomas, on the Hanifs,
52 ; on the character of Mo
hammed, 65, 66
Carthage reduced by Hasan, 318
Caspian region penetrated by
Othman's troops, 267
Casuistry necessary in Islam, 424
Caussin de Perceval, on the date
of Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on
the offer of Islam to the Ko
reishites, 82 ; on the date of
the Hejra, 121 ; treats the siege
of Bostra as a fact, 231 ; on
the era of the Hejra, 260

Cave, Mohammed in the, 113,
122
Ceuta, Saracens repulsed at, 324;
given up, 326
Chadijah, see Kadija.
Chains, Battle of the, 228
Chaldea and Babylonia, 226
Chance, Games of, forbidden,
128, i6t
Charlemagne, Defeat of, at Ron-
cesveaux, 353
Charles Martel appealed to by
Count Eudes, 340
Charms, the last two suras, 167
Children by adoption, 160
China invaded by Jengis Khan,
440
Chosroes (Khosru, son of Ko-
bad), wars with Maurice, 3 ;
summoned to accept Islam,
173 ; palace of, at Medain,
plan of Mansur to pillage, 358
Christianity, introduction of, 27 ;
represented by the Western
empire, 62 ; and Judaism, 62 ;
Mohammed's views of, 129 ;
and Islam compared, 135, 136 ;
opposition of Mohammed to,
197 ; the tritheistic, of Arabia,
213 ; in Europe threatened by
the Saracens, 336 ; the argu
ment of Al Kindy for, 389
Christians, relation of Moham
med to, 134, 135 ; confer with
Mohammed, 192 ; severe treat
ment of, at Jerusalem, 249 ; of
Spain as described by Musa,
335 ; treatment of, in Spain by
the Saracens, 336 ; and Jews
persecuted by Motawakkel, 398
Chronology of the suras, 133, 443
Civilization, in the Mesopotamian
region, 239 ; in Europe threat
ened by the Saracens, 336
Cloak, The, of Mohammed not
honored, 422
Clubs for debate in time of Ma
mun, 385
Coinage, The first, of the Sara
cens, 318

476

INDEX.

Colossus, of Rhodes, Doubtful
tradition regarding, 278 .
Commerce in early times, 8 ; by
land, decline of, 25, 28
Companions of Mohammed, The
preserve the koran, 224
Constantine VII. invades Asia
Minor, 416
Constantinople, first attempt of
the Saracens upon, 291 ; effort
¦af Soliman against, 336 ; re
treat of Hisham from, 345 ;
campaign of Mehdi against,
363 ; saved from capture, in
time of Harun, 373 ; war of
Mamun with, 3S6 ; sends an
embassy to Moktader, 416
Coptic maid Mary, wife of Mo
hammed, 190
Cordova, and other cities of Spain
ravaged, 330 ; beginning of the
Omiade kalifate at, 352
Creasy, Sir E., describes the bat
tle of Tours, 344
Crusades, Origin of the, 433
" Cry, in the name of Allah," 74
Ctesiphon and Selucia, 227
Cursing, The ordeal of the, 193
Cyprus, attacked and made tribu
tary, 268 ; Moawia, governor
of, 278 D
Damascus, a move upon, 239 ;
taken, 240 ; pomp of Moawia
at, 308 ; Christians at, dispos
sessed of their church, 321 ;
the great mosque at, 322 ; a
revolt in, against Merwan II.,
349 ; rival kalif at, in time of
Mamun, 376 ; becomes capital
of Tahir, 378 ; and other cities
taken by the Tulunides, 406
Damiani's picture of paradise,
131
Damietta pillaged, 398
Daniel, Tomb of, preserved, 256
Darmsteter, James, " Le Mah
di," 414

Day, of Tears, the, 275 ; of the
Camel, the, 277
Dead Sea, Mohammed journeys
by the, 46
Debating clubs in time of Ma
mun, 385
Debaucheries of Montaser, 400
Decrees of Allah, The, 71, 72
Deputations, The year of, 192
Desvergers on the offer of Islam
to the Koreishites, 32
Deutsch, Emanuel, on Arabian
religion, 14 ; on the date of
Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on the
meaning of Islam, 66 ; on the
word "cry," 74; and Muller
on the prize poems of Okatz,
43 ; and Renan on the Hanifs,
52, 54
Dilemites (see Buvides), Rise of
the, 426
Diodorus speaks of the sacred
stone, 22
Disaffected, The, at Yathrib, 127
Discontent in Arabia after the
death of Mohammed, 220
Dissatisfaction in the kalifate,
272
Ditch, Battle of the, 164
Diwan, a, organized by Omar,
245
Domestic life, Regulations re
garding, 161
Dorylaeum, Unsuccessful attack
upon, 363
Dream, An opportune, 189
Dreams and visions in ancient
and modern times, 102
Dugat, Gustave, on Islamite
philosophy, 385
Dwellings, Privacy of, 162

Earnestness of Mohammed, 65
Eclipses ordered by Allah, 192
Efreet, The, 10
Egypt, summoned to accept Is
lam, 174 ; land communication
with, established, 254 ; favors

INDEX.

477

Ali, 272, 273; rising in, against
Ali, 282 ; continuation of the
kalifate in, 441
Elephant, Host of the, 36
Elephants used by the Persians
at Kadesia, 236
Elihu, the Buzite, on dreams, 102
Eliphaz, the Temanite, on
dreams, 102
Emigrations to Abyssinia, The,
93
Enchantments, Faith in, 166
Enquiry, The spirit of religious,
before Mohammed, 50, 51, 63
Enthusiasm, The, of Moham
med, 64
Epilepsy, The, of Mohammed,
205
Era, the Islamite, 120 ; estab
lished by Omar, 121, 260 ; dif
ficulty of establishing an, 120 ;
" Eternal Reason, The," a book
from Kabul, 384
Eudes, Count, meets the Sara
cens, 339, 340
Europe, overnin by hordes from
Asia, 4 ; plan of the Saracens
regarding, 332

Faber, Heavenly homesickness
of, 131
Faction, Growth of, under Oth
man, 269
Fadhl, son of Sahl, minister un
der Mamun, 370, 378 ; politi
cal acts of, exposed to Mamun,
381 ; assassination of, 382
Faith, the, of Mohammed, 76,
78, 80 ; the implicit, of Islam
undermined, 385 ; an unau
thorized article of, 396
Faithful, Picture of the, by Mo
hammed, 135
Fall, The, of the empire, 4
False prophets rise, 203, 204
Families, The rival, in Islam, 264
Family of the Tent, the, 303
Farazdah, Period of, 320

Fatima and Ali married, i6r ;
death of, 225
Fatimites, dynasty of, in Egypt,
312 ; rise in Africa, 413 ; end
of dynasty of, 436
Ferdusi, the poet of Persia, 431
Feticism, of the Arabians, 15,
62 ; and paganism, 62
Fihl, movement against, 240 ;
fall of, 241
Fihr, surnamed Koreish, 30
Filistin, or Palestine, Limits of,
246
Firdah, Battle of, 229
Fire-worship in Persia. 62
Foreigners, Influence of, 390
Forty Martyrs, Church of the,
387
Fostat (Cairo), Foundation of,
254
France, The Saracens enter, 338,
339
Franks, The, as described by
Musa, 335
Freedom, The, of the Arabians,
43
Freeman, E. A., on the date of
Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on
Arabian freedom 44 ; .on the
condition of the East, 62 ; on
the war between Rome and
Persia, 179 ; on the opposition
of Mohammed to Christianity,
197 ; on Mohammed's antago
nism to truth, 212 ; on Mo
hammed's righteous intentions,
214 ; on the repulse of the Sar
acens by Leo III., 336
Freethinkers opposed by Mota
wakkel, 396
Free-will discussed by Wasil,
282 G
Gabriel gives directions about the
Kaaba, 24 ; speaks to Moham
med, 72 ; frequent revelations
from, 80 ; escorts Mohammed
in a dream, 104 ; informs Mo
hammed of a plot of the Ko-

478

INDEX.

reishites, 117 ; gives aid at
Bedr, 149 ; rescues Mohammed
from enchantment, 167
Gadara, City of, 242
Games of chance forbidden, 161
Gaming, • rebuked by Othman,
268 ; denounced by Motadi,
402 ; and wine-drinking, 63
Garden of Death, Battle of, 223
Gayangos, Translation of Mak-
kari by, 335
Gaza visited by Abdalla, 38 ;
Joppa and other cities cap
tured, 246
Gaznivide dynasty. The, 430
Gaznivides, The, overcome by
the Seljuks, 433
George Eliot, Aspirations of,
131, 132
Ghassan, Ruler of the tribe of,
179
Gibbon, Edward, on the strife
between Rome and Persia, 3 ;
on Heraclius and Chosroes, 4 ;
" Decline and Fall of the Ro
man Empire," 332 ; describes
the battle of Tours, 344 ; de
scribes the iron gates of Ko-
bad, .345
Gluttony of Omar II., 338
God, the idea of only one, 75 ;
Mohammed's idea of, 213
Gospel, First preaching of the,
135
Government in Arabia, 33
Governors, The, of Othman, un
popular, 269 ; in France, char
acter of, 340
Goths, The, invade Spain, 325
Greek fire used against the Mos
lems, 292, 336
Greek learning introduced ex
tensively by Mamun, 388
H
Hafsa, widow of Mohammed,
custodian of the koran, 224
Hagar in Arabia, 24, 28
Haj, The title, 31
Halima (pronounced Hah'-lima)

becomes nurse of Mohammed,
41 ; remembered by Moham
med at his marriage, 58
Hamdan, surnamed Karmath,
Sect of, 408
Hanifs, Speculations of the, 50,
52, 63
Hartama overcomes the Alyites,
and is executed by Mamun,
379
Harun al Rashid (Haroun al Ra-
schid), at the grave of Mansur,
360 ; receives his first lesson
in war, 363 ; intended to be
heir-apparent, 364 ; in fiction
and real life, 367 ; sets out for
Constantinople, 371 ; ortho
doxy of, 372 ; sets out for Ko
rassan, 373 ; death of, 373 ',
plan of, to keep the balance be
tween Persian and Arab influ
ence, 375
Hasan (Hassan), son of Ali, leads
the Kufans to take Ali's part,
276 ; kalif, 287
Hasan, a general of Yezid, 308 ;
goes to Africa, 318
Hasan, governor of Persia, and
his daughter Buran, 382, 383
Hashim, the kalif, see Hisham.
Hashim receives the rights of
Kossai from Abd Menaf, 32
Hashimeya, residence of Mansur,
356
Hashimites, The, 264
Hashishim, chief of the Assas
sins, 433
Hate aroused at Mecca, 150
Heart, the, of Mohammed puri
fied by Gabriel, 42
Heaven, seventh, dream of, 104
Hedi, death of, 365
Hejaj offers his services to Abd
el Melik, 314 ; made governor
of Irak, 316
Hejaz, land of pilgrimages, 7,
28 ; becomes the scene of ac
tion, 298 ; decline of import
ance of, under the Omiades,
288

INDEX.

479

Hejra (or Hegira), the, ordered,
116 ; era of, established, 121,
260 ; date of the, 121
Hell, Seven-fold divisions of, 20
Hems, see Homs.
Hera, the mountain near Mecca
63
Heraclea, taken and retaken by
Harun, 371 ; Mamun at, 387
Heraclius, emperor of the East
ern Empire, summoned to ac
cept Islam, 174 ; said to have
led an army against the Mos
lems, 179 ; determines to re
pel the Arabs, 230 ; at Homs,
243 ; flees to Constantinople,
244 ; death of, 254
Hercules, Saracens at the Pillars
of, 324
Heresies from Persia in reign of
Mehdi, 365
Heretics, Troubles of Hedi with,
365
Hesham, see Hisham.
Himyarites (Homerites), the dy
nasty of, 27
Hind, the Tearless One, wife of
Abu Sofian, leads women
against Medina, 154 ; anger
and grief of, 150
Hira (Meshed Ali), capital of
Irak, 60 ; site of, 228 ; taken
by Kalid, 229 ; retaken,. 235 ;
Moslems obliged to retire from,
234
Hisham (Hashim or Hesham)
becomes kalif, 339 ; death of,
346 ; beginning of the Motaz-
ilites in reign of, 282
Hamza converted, 8g, 90
Homogeneity impossible to di
verse Islamites, 424
Homs (Hems), ancient Emesa,
246 ; advance upon, 242 ; re
volt at, 348 ; bloody scenes at,
400 ; taken by Ahmed, 406
Honein, victory at, 187 ; captives
at, released, 189
Honesty, The, of Mohammed,
210

Hosein (Husain), son of Ali, goes
against Constantinople, 292 ;
refuses to take the oath of al
legiance to Yezid, 296 ; claims
the office of kalif, 296 ; at Ker
bala, 301 ; death of, 303 ; im
portance of the death of, 30S ;
tomb of, desecrated by Mota
wakkel, 398 ; tomb of, rebuilt
by Montaser, 399
Hulaku (Hoolakoo), grandson of
Jengis Khan, overthrows the
Assassins and takes Bagdad,
441
Husbands and wives, rules affect
ing, 162 ; mutual duties of,
202

Iblis, rebellion of, 16 ; believed
to have aided the Koreishites
at Bedr, 151
Ibrahim, son of Mohammed,
birth of, 190 ; death of, 192
Ibrahim, Accession and death of,
348.
Ibrahim heads a rising at Merv,
350
Ibrahim, brother of Harun, 368
Ibrahim, son of Mehdi, made ka
lif in the place of Mamun, 380
Ibrahim, son of Aglab, at Kair
wan, 407
Idolaters, not to be prayed for,
190 ; to be killed, 199
Idolatry, to be abolished, 75 ;
boldly opposed by Mohammed,
83 ; stubbornness of, at Taif,
194 ; disappearing, 198
Idols, talk about the worship of,
46 ; destroyed, 184
Ignorance, The times of, 24
Ihram, the pilgrim-dress, 31
Imams, the twelve, 266
India, excitement in, during Mo
harrem, 304
Intrigues of the Abbassides, 349
Irak, expedition to, 60 ; and
Mesopotamia, allegiance of,

480

INDEX.

62 ; of the Arabs and Irak of
the Persians, 226
Ireland on the former notions re
garding Mohammed, 210
Irene becomes ruler at Constan
tinople, 363
Isa, son of Mansur, nickname of,
360
Ishmael rebuilds the Kaaba, 24
Islam, professed in secrecy, 32 ;
the house of, at Mecca, 35 ; in
terpretations of the word, 66,
80 ; not looked upon as a new
religion, 8i ; preached every
where by pilgrims, 88 ; debt of
to Kadija, 96 ; successfully
preached at Yathrib, 113; origi
nality of, 129 ; original doc
trines of, 130 ; duties of, 135 ;
offered to the nations, 173 ;
submission of many tribes to,
194 ; progress of, 198 ; per
fected, 201 ; policy of, after
the death of Mohammed, 217 ;
indivisible, 221 ; not to be
shaken off, 225 ; the great
schism in, 308 ; a stroke at
its foundation by Mamun,
384 ; and its prophet, assailed
by Al Kindy, 389 ; ' ' per
fected " by Mohammed, 396 ;
unexpected growth of, 423
Ismailians, The, under Babek,
39 1, 4°8
Isaphan mentioned, 256
Issa, see Jesus.

Jaafar, the Barmecide, comes to
Mansur's court, 358 ; governs
Syria, 368
Jacob, Dream of, 22
Janizaries, The, similar to the
princes of princes, 429
Jealousy, forbidden to women,
162 ; of . the prophet's wives
for Mary the Copt, igo, 192
Jebilee, Visit of Benjamin to,
433

Jengis Khan, Rise of, in Tartary,
440
Jerir (Djerir or Dzherir), Period
of, 320
Jerusalem Mohammed's dream-
visit to, 106 ; the original
kibla of Mohammed, 13, 139 ;
beseiged, 246 ; capitulates, 248 ;
made a resort for pilgrims, 312;
mosque at, 321 ; visited by
Mansur, 356 ; captured by the
Seljuks, 433
Jesus, as viewed by Mohammed,
193, 212
Jews, connection with Arabia,
6 ; relations of Mohammed
with, at Yathrib, 127 ; relation
of Mohammed with, 134, 135;
refuse Islam, 152 ; importance
of breaking down their power,
159 ; difficult to suppress, 165 ;
enchantments practised by,
166 ; of Keibar attacked, 174 ;
banished from their homes by
Omar, 245; and Christians per
secuted by Motawakkel, 398
Jinns, creation of, 15 ; belief in,
15, 62 ; evil doings of, 19 ;
listen to Mohammed, 98 .
Job, dreams in the book of, 102
Joppa, Gaza, and other places
captured, 246
Jordan (Ordonna), Province of,
246
Judaism, Mohammed's light
from, 211
Julian, Count, commander of
Ceuta, 325 ; urges the Sara
cens to conquest, 329
Julkarnein, the two-horned, 294
Jurists examined regarding the
nature of the Koran, 385
Justinian urged to interfere in
Arabia, 27 K
Kaaba, the, described, 24; threat
ened by Abraha, 36 ; fire in
the, 66 ; the strength of the

INDEX.

481

worship of, 79 ; idols in, de
stroyed, 184 ; enlarged by
Omar, 258 ; enlarged by Oth
man, 268 ; made a heap of
ruins by Yezid's troops, 307 ;
partial destruction of, 315 ;
covering of, enriched by
Mehdi, 361
Kabus (Cabus, Caboos) begins
the line of the Dilemites, 426
Kadija (Chadijah, Khadijah,
Ger. Chadidscha), engages Mo
hammed as director of cara
vans, 55; account of, 56; seeks
Mohammed in marriage, 5 7 ;
enquires the causes of Moham
med's accesses, 64 ; comforts
Mohammed, 72, 95 ; dies, 96 ;
Mohammed's pure love for,
133 ; and Waraka the first
converts, 80
Kadar, Al, the blessed night, 71,
214
Kadesia, Battle of, 235, 236
Kaf, Mountain of, 15
Kaher placed on the throne, de
posed, and replaced, 421, 425
Kahina, queen of the Berbers,
captured and beheaded, 318
Kairwan, Foundation of, 294 ;
Aglabites at, 407
Kalid retreats from Muta, 180 ;
sent out by Abu Bekr, 222 ;
effectual work of, 224 ; meets
the Persians, 228 ; makes a
pilgrimage to Mecca, 230 ; de
prived of command, 232 ;
Omar's alienation from, 252 ;
death of, 252 ; and Amr con
verted, 177
Kalid, the Barmecide, becomes
vizier to Mansur, 358 ; ensures
the succession to Harun, 365
Kalif (Caliph, Calif), the title
given to Ali, 83 ; choice of the
first 215, 216 ; mode of choos
ing, '263, 264; a puppet, 399,
427, 428 ; grandeur of the
state of, in its decline, 437
Kalifate, increase of the, 288 ;

changes in the, 297 ; greatness
of, under Harun, 36S ; causes
of, its downfall, 423 ; dismem
berment of, 407, 428 ; end of
the, 441
Kalifs, incapacity of the later,
424 ; deaths of the early, 272 ;
changes in the character of,
308 ; luxury of the later, 424 ;
in their decline, described,
436
Karejites, traits of, 281 ; put
down by Ziyad, 290 ; zealots
of, discuss the state of affairs,
285 ; devastate Irak, 310 ; stir
up rebellion against Abd el
Melik, 317 ; rise in time of
Harun, 370
Kariba, Battle near, 277
Karmath, deemed similar to the
chief of the Assassins, 433
Karmathians, rise of the, 408 ;
attack the Meccan caravans,
411, 412 ; ravage Syria in time
of Moktader, 420 ; ravages of,
in time of Radi, 428
Kazars, The, come from beyond
the Caucasus, 345 ; second in
vasion of, 346
Keibar, War with the Jews of,
174, 175
Kerbala, representations of the
beauty of, 300 ; arrival of
Hosein at, 301 ; mosque at, de
stroyed by Motawakkel, 398 ;
sorrows of the martyr of, re
membered, 442
Kibla, The national, established,
139
Kindy, Al, The apology of, 389
Kinnesrin (Kinnisrin), conquest
of, 243 ; in charge of Kalid,
252 ; taken by the Tulunides,
406
Koba, the bright suburb of Mec
ca, 125, 126
Kobad, The iron gates of, 345
Koran (Alcoran, pronounced Ko
ran), the Arabian Bible, 13 ;
versions of, 38, 224 ; the re-

482

INDEX.

corded knowledge of the new
religion, 82 ; suras of the, 133 ;
original of the, in paradise,
134 ; uncompromising spirit of
the, 143 ; a possible intention
to revise the, 206 ; ordinances
of a temporary nature in, 212;
the, Mohammed's only mira
cle, 213 ; to be obeyed in all
its parts, 221, 222 ; danger of
loss of the, 224 ; revision of
the, 224, 263 ; purest teachings
of, ignored, 233 ; skepticism
regarding, in time of Mehdi,
365 ; power of the book, 379 ;
not to be considered an uncre
ated book, 384 ; opinions re
garding, 385 ; the, assailed by
Al Kindy, 389 ; nature of, the
law regarding, 394, 395 ; the
uncreated nature of, asserted
by Motawakkel, 396 ; infrac
tions of rules of, denounced,
402 ; the, not honored, 422
Korassan, raids into, 267 ; rebels
against Abd el Melik, 316 ; re
volt in, under Yezid II., 338 ;
disturbances by the Alyites in,
348 ; the veiled prophet of,
362 ; rise of the Taherians in,
404 ; wrenched from the kalif
ate by Yakub, 405 ; conquered
by the Samanades, 411 ; Sel
juks in, 432
Koreishites, the, feasted by Abd
al Muttalib, 40 ; naturally op
posed to Mohammed, 79 ; re
ceive the offer of Islam, 82 ;
doubtful as to how they might
best oppose Islam, 87 ; tempt
Mohammed, go; enquire about
the men of Yathrib, 115 ; de
feated at Bedr, 149, 151 ; aided
by Iblis at Bedr, 151 ; discom
fited at Medina, 165 ; suspi
cious of Mohammed, 169 ;
treaty with, 173; permit the
Moslems to enter Mecca,
175 ; decline of, 177 ; attack
the Kozaites, 181 ; over

come, 183 ; traffickers, 186 ;
growing antagonism to, 266
Koreitza, Jews of, vengeance
upon, 165
Kossai, rise of, 30 ; descendants
find rivals, 32
Kothan, the original name of
the prophet, 40
Kozaites, The, injured by the
Koreishites, 181
Kufa, site of, 228; founded, 238;
appealed to by Ali, 275 ; be
comes the capital of the kalif
ate under Ali, 278 ; calls
Hosein, 298; grasped by Mok
tar, 311 ; strange sights in the
palace at, 314 ; Hejaj at, 316;
victory of the Alyites at, in
time of Mamun, 378 ; and
Bassora, troubles at, 260, 266,
267, 268 L
Lake, on the paroxysms of Mo
hammed, 64
Lane-Poole, Stanley, on secret
assassination, 152; "Speeches
of Mohammed," by, 224; his
" Persian Miracle-Play," 304 ;
"Story of the Moors in
Spain," by, 332
Laodicea taken by assault, 243
Law, Lack of, at Medina, 152
Lent, The Arabian, 20, 63
Leo III. repulses the Saracens.
336
Leo of Thessalonica, War for
possession of, 386
Letters in Arabia, 60 ; first culti
vated by Ali, 287 ; cultivated
under Harun, 368 ; under
Mamun 388 ; under Wathek,
395 ; under Motawakkel, 398;
under Radi, 427
Library, The, of Alexandria, 254
Lie, The first, in Islam, 275
Life of a man, Fine for the, 32,
33
Literature cultivated by Mehdi,
364, (see Letters)

INDEX.

4&3

Literature and theology at Kufa
and Bassora, 238
Love, Law of, not understood by
Christians, 211
Luxury, of the reign of Abd el
Melik, 320 ; in time of
Mamun, 388 M
Magians, The religion of, under
mined, 322
Magreb, the western land,-io
Mahadi, founded by Obeidalla,
south of Tunis, 416
Mahaffy, J. P., " Story of Alex
ander's Kingdom," by, 258
Mahdi, expectations of, by the
Hanifs, 50, 63 ; looked for by
men of Yathrib, 100 ; expected
to return, 266, 311, 312, 414 ;
spread of the belief in a, 414
Mahmud of Ghazni, conquests
of, 431 ; his last hours, 431 ;
builds a mosque and a library,
432
Mamun brought up at Merv, 256;
governor of Korassan, 374 ;
makes to himself friends at
Merv, 375; becomes kalif, 377;
resigns his power to Fadhl,
378 ; surrenders to the Alyite
influence, 380 ; panic-stricken,
381 ; ghastly dissimulation of,
382 ; . death of, in Cilicia,
387 ; career of 388 ; liber
ality of, 388 ; and Amin, war
between, 376 ; and Motasim,
germs of decay planted in
reigns of, 423
Maniacs, Asylum for the, at Bag
dad, 438
Mansur, designated as successor
of Abbas, 354 ; besieged in
his palace, 356 ; death of, 360;
protests against the expectation
of a Mahdi, 414
Marigny, " Histoire des Revolu
tions de I'empire des Arabes, "
414

Marriage of Mamun and Buran,
383
Marriage and concubinage, 233
Mary, the Coptic wife of Mo
hammed, igo
Maslam, Battle at, 313
Maurice (emperor), wars with
Chosroes, 3
Maurice, F. D., on Mohammed's
idea of God, 213
Meal-sacks, Battle of the, 153
Mecca (Mekka, Mekkeh), posi
tion of, 27 ; growth of, under
Kossai, 30 ; threatened by
Abraha, 34 ; trusts in Allah,
36 ; deserted by the Moslems,
116 ; thrives after the hejra,
143 ; does not retaliate on Mo
hammed, 147 ; alarmed at the
aggression of Mohammed, 148;
obstruction of the approach to,
168 ; prepares an expedition
against Medina, 164 ; an at
tack upon, 182 ; intrigues at,
274; stormed by Yezid's troops,
307 ; besieged by Hejaj, 315 ;
pilgrimage to, by Mehdi, 361 ;
and Medina, decline of import
ance of, under the Omiades,
288 ; cared for by Wathek, 395
Meccans forbidden to listen to
Mohammed, 92
Medain, the Twin City, Site of,
227 ; capture of, by the Mos
lems, 238 ; plan of Mansur to
destroy, 358
Medicine studied in time of
Mamun, 388
Medina (see Yathrib), emigra
tion of Islamites to, 116; situ
ation of, 124; receives its name,
138; put in a state of siege,
164; a mob at, 1S9; deputa
tions throng to, 194; sadness
in, at the death of Mohammed,
215; conference of governors
at, 270 ; men of, urge Ali as
candidate for kalif, 273; and
Mecca surrender to Moawia,
284

484

INDEX.

Meditation; The, of Mohammed
in desert places, 68
Mehdi (Mahdee, Mahdy), be
comes kalif, 360; character of,
360, 361 ; death of, 364
Melitene, advance of Mansur
upon, 356; Theophilus at, 392
Mercy of Allah, Dependence of
all upon the, 214
Merv (Merou), vicissitudes of,
256; conspirators at work at,
350
Merwan becomes kalif, 309
Merwan II., accession of, 348 ;
flight of, 351 ; death of, 351
Meslim, son of Akba, at Medina,
306
Mesopotamia, region of, 227 ;
overcome, 235
Meyfart, Heavenly home-sick
ness of, 131
Military spirit, The, perpetuated
by the diwan, 245
Milman, Dean, on the burning of
the library of Alexandria, 254
Mina, Valley of, ig8
Ministers of the kalifs, overthrow
their masters, 424 ; made auto
cratic by Radi, 426
Miracle, A, demanded of Mo
hammed, 92
Miracle-Play, The, of Persia, 304
Miracles not depended upon by
Mohammed, 213
Moawia (spelled also Muavia,
Muaweiah, Moaweeyah, Moa-
wiyah, etc.), made governor of
Syria, 253; stirs up strife in
Syria, 274; character of, 278;
ruse of, at Siffin, 281; declared
kalif by a board of arbitrators,
281 ; wounded by a Karejite,
284 ; becomes kalif on the
resignation of Hasan, 287 ;
visits Medina and Mecca in
behalf of Yezid, 296 ; death
of, 296, 297
Moawia II. ascends the throne,
308; abdicates and dies, 309
Mob, A, at Medina, 189

Moez, the Fatimite, gives his
pedigree, 413, 414
Mohammed (Mahomet, Muham
mad, etc.), opposed by the
Koreishites, 34, 88, 97 ; born,
39 ; infancy of, 41 ; youth of,
43 ! goes to Syria, 44 ; proud
of the union for peace, 49 ;
solitary youth of, 54 ; goes to
Syria with caravans, 55 ; per
sonal appearance of, 55 ; mar.
ried happiness of, 59 ; influence
of wealth upon, 60 ; health of,
64 ; under an unnatural mental
strain, 64 ; in earnest for the
good of others, 65 ; prestige
of, increased, 66 ; hears voices,
63 ; perplexed, 74, 75 i con
templates suicide, 75 ; exult
ant, 76 ; the sublime faith of,
78, 80 ; scorned, 83 ; boldly
opposes idolatry, 83 ; repulses
the blind man, 86 ; insulted,
89 ; tempted by the Koreish
ites, 90, 91 ; refuses to try to
compass a miracle, 92 ; under
the ban, 94 ; and the Hashi-
mites shut up in the sheb of
Abu Talib, 94 ; goes on a mis
sion to Taif, 97 ; preaches to
the jinns, 98 ; looks for dis
ciples at Yathrib, 100 ; lays
stress on dreams, 103 ; seeks a
temporal kingdom, 11 1 ; less
aggressive, 112 ; demands of, at
the second meeting at Akaba,
115 ; persecuted by the Ko
reishites, 116; informed of a
. plot, 117 ; leaves Mecca, 117,
118, 122 ; arrives at Yathrib,
125 ; commands abstinence
from wine, 128 ; view of Al
lah, 129 ; not a sensuous man,
132 ; first effort, 133 ; simple
home life, 141 ; unsheathes the
sword, 142 ; use of the sword
by, 144 ; tempted by the Mec
can caravans, 144 ; attacks
caravans, 146 ; a triumphant
chieftain, 153 ; not an ascetic,

INDEX.

485

153 ; arms himself, 154, 155 ;
reported slain at Ohud, 157 ;
sagacious action of, after
Ohud, 158 ; exults over the
Jews, 159 ; wives of, 160 ;
opinion of Ali, 161 ; apart
ments of, rules in regard to,
162 ; irritated by being shut
out of Mecca, 16S ; fortifies
Medina, 164 ; determines to
make the pilgrimage to Mecca,
169 ; respect paid to, by his
disciples, 172 ; causes a signet
ring to be engraved, 173 ;
sends messages to crowned
heads, 173 ; performs the pil
grimage to Mecca, 175, 176 ;
watches the struggle between
Rome and Persia, 179 ; ar
ranges to attack Mecca, 182 ;
enters Mecca in triumph,
peacefully, 184 ; humanity of,
on capturing Mecca, 184, 185 ;
mobbed at Medina, 189 ;
resignation of, at the time of
Ibrahim's death, 192 ; king
and priest, 200 ; growing old,
200 ; last pilgrimage of, 201 ;
last address of, 202 ; last days
of, 205, 207 ; inconsistencies
of, 211 ; might have been a
Christian missionary, 212 ;
teachings of, 208—213 ; de
clares himself no more than
man,2l5; burial of, 21 7; inten
tion to revise the Koran, 263;
signet of, lost by Othman, 269;
plenary indulgence offered by,
to those who would go against
Constantinople, 292 ; acquaint
ed with the heresies of later
days, 3g5 ; promised a Mahdi,
411; cloak of, not honored, 422
Mohammed al Mehdi, Expected
return of, 266
Mohammed, son of Abu Bekr,
made governor of Egypt, 282 ;
burned alive, 282
Mohammed, son of Zeid, a rival
of Motamed, 406

Moharrem, tenth of, 302 ; sorrow
in, 442
Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of
Korassan, 362, 363
Moktar declares himself the
promised Mahdi, 311
Moktafi becomes kalif, 410
Moktader becomes kalif, 412 ;
character of, 413 ; astonishes
two ambassadors from Zoe,
418, 420 ; deposed, 421 ; re
placed on the throne, 421 ;
assassinated, 422
Moktar, defeat of, 414
Money first coined by the kalifs,
3i8
Montaser becomes kalif, 39g
" Moors in Spain, Story of the,''
332
Morals, Decay of, in the time of
Mamun, 386
Moslem (Muslim), meaning of
the word, 66, 80 ; picture of
the true, 135
Moslems, changes in the, 233 ;
total estimated number of,
407
Mosque, the, erected at Medina,
138 ; busy life in, 194 ; at
Jerusalem, founded by Omar,
251
"Mosque, Studies in a," by
Stanley Lane-Poole, 304
Mosques, gatherings in, on Fri
days, 130
Mostain becomes kalif, 400 ; as
sassinated, 402
Motaded, accession of, 407 ; ar
rests the progress of the Kar
mathians, 408
Motadi set up by the Turks,
402 ; assassinated, 403, 405
Motamed placed on the throne
by the Turks, 405 ; death of,
407
Motanna at Boweib, 235
Motasim, brother of Mamun,
counselled for good, 387 ; be-
comes kalif, 390
Motawakkel (Motawukkel) be-

486

INDEX.

comes kalif, by grace of the
Turks, 396
Motaz proclaimed kalif, 402
Mosul threatened by the Kazars,
345
Motazilites, an offshoot of the
Shias, 282
Mother, Mohammed's direction
regarding, 208
Mother of the faithful, Title of,
162
Muajerin, the emigrants from
Mecca, 127, 142
Muezzin, daily cry of the, no ;
call to prayer, the, 140 ; the,
calls the faithful to prayer at
Mecca, 184
Muir, Sir William, on the expec
tations of the Hanifs. 51 ; on
the opposition of the Koreish
ites, 79 ; on the offer of Islam
to the Koreishites, 82 ; account
of Boweib, 235 ; does not ac
cept the siege of Bostra as a
fact, 231 ; on the Moslem era,
260 ; " Early Kalifate," 300 ;
edition of the ' ' Apology of Al
Kindy," 389
Muller, August, on the date of
Mohammed's birth, 39 ; on
the meaning of Abu Bekr, 100 ;
on the date of the Hejra, 121 ;
and Deutsch on the prize
poems of Okatz, 48
Munkir and Nakir, Offices of, 17
Musa, sent into Africa, 324 ; re
turns to Damascus, 332 ;
makes a magnificent plan re
garding Europe, 332 ; fate
of, 334, 335
Musa, Ali ben, see Ali ben Musa,
38i
Musab, governor of Bassora,
311 ; slain, 313
Muselima, a rival of Mohammed,
203 ; career and death of, 223
Muslim, founder of the Abbasside
dynasty, 350-354 ; assassina
tion of, 355 ; reminiscence of,
362

Mussab, preacher of Islam, at
Yathrib, 113
Muta, messenger of Mohammed
executed at, I7g
Mutaim protects Mohammed, gg
Mystery of Arabia, 2
N
Nadhir, The, subjection of, I5g
Nakir and Munkir, Offices of, 17
Nakla, Pillage at, 147
Name of Mohammed, The, 40
Narbonne, Siege of, 339
Nations, The, summoned to ac
cept Islam, 173
Nehrwan, Karejites overcome by
Ali at, 282
Nejd, Jews in, 159 ; offers
prayers but not tribute, 221
Nevahend, battle of, 256
Nicasa threatened by Hisham,
345
Nicephorus insults Harun, 370 ;
forced to keep peace, 373
Night of clangor at Kadesia,
238
Nights, The Thousand and One,
366, 370
Nisibis, Battle at, between Ab
dalla and Muslim, 355
Noman, governor of Kufa, 300
O
Oath of Akaba, the first, 100 ;
the second, 115
Obeidalla, the Alyite, asserts
himself, 414, 416
Obeidolla, son of Ziyad, brought
forward, 291
Octave, The, a name for Mo
tasim, 394
Offices, trouble about, under Ali,
273
Ohud, three miles from Medina,
battle at, 154-157 ; description
of, 156
Okatz, Fair at, 47
Okba.conquests of, in Africa,2g4

INDEX.

487

Old Man of the Mountains, The,
chief of the Assassins, 433, 434
Oliphant, Laurence, on the Yer
muk gorge, 230
Omar (Umar, Omer, Oomur,
etc.), conversion of, 93 ; re
ceives a sharp word from Mo
hammed, 196 ; will not think
the prophet dead, 215 ; claims
of, upon the kalifate, 219 ;
chosen kalif, 232 ; force of
character of, 234 ; journeys to
Jerusalem, 248 ; habits of,
249 ; mosque of, 251 ; returns
to Medina, 251 ; cautious about
advancing on Persia, 256 ;
adorns Mecca, 258 ; assassina
tion of, 260, 261 ; dying be
quest of, 261 ; simplicity of,
308
Omar II. becomes kalif, 337
Omia (spelled also Umeyyah,
Ommeyyah, etc.) opposes
Hashim, 32
Omiades (spelled also Ommai-
ades, Ommeyyads, etc.), the,
at the death of Omar, 264 ;
dynasty of, begun, 288 ; chased
from Medina, 306 ; Damascus
loyal to the, 309 ; greatest
glory of, 321 ; greatest domin
ions of, 333 ; cause of the,
lost, 351
Omm Selma (widow of Moham
med) invited to oppose Ali,
275
Ordeals, Absurd, in late times,
194
Ordonna, Province of, 246
Orthodoxy encouraged by Mo
tawakkel, 396
Osama sent into Roman terri
tory, 204 ; sent on an expedi-
*¦ tion of vengeance, 217, 221
Osborne, " Islam under the
Khalifs," 398
Othman (Ibn Affan) (Osman,
Ottoman), claims of, upon the
kalifate, 219 ; chosen kalif,
264 ; traits of, 266 ; nepotism

of, 268 ; loses Mohammed's
signet, 269 ; indecision of,
269 ; insulted in the pulpit,
270 ; assassination of, 271 ;
death of, to be revenged, 274
Oxus, the, crossed, 322

Pageant, An Oriental, at time of
Moktader, 418
Palestine, operations in, 238 ;
province of, 246 ; rising in, 348
Palmer, E. H., on the date of Mo
hammed's birth, 39 ; on Islam,
129 ; version of the Koran, 224
Palmyra, see Tadmor
Paradise, ideas of, 19 ; offered to
the faithful, 95 ; Mohammed's
vision of, 105 ; the, of Islam,
130 ; the earthly, in which
Hashishim was supposed to
live, 434
Parties, the, at Yathrib, 127 ; in
Islam, 264
Pater Noster, The Arabian, 64
Peace, union for, 49
Peacock of the angels, The, 16
Pelly's " Miracle-Play," 300
People of the Book, The, at
Yathrib, 128 ; the, driven out,
159
Persecution of Mohammed, 116 ;
of those who adhered to or
thodoxy, 390 ; of Christians
and Moslems by Wathek, 395 ;
of Jews and Christians by
Motawakkel, 39S ; put an end
to by Montaser, 399
Persia, Arabian expedition to,
60 ; Islam in, 220 ; Omar
cautious about advancing on,
256; Western, conquered, 258;
rebellions in, 267 ; heresies
from, 365 ; influence of, in
time of Mamun, 383, 384 ;
disorders in, in time of Mos-
tanjed, 436
Persia and Rome, the two promi
nent powers, strife between,

488

INDEX.

3, 60 ; struggle between,
watched by Mohammed, 179
Persian influence of the Barme
cides, 372
Persian influence, jealousy
against, 375 ; increase of, 378
Persian Passion-Play, The, 304
Persians defeated at Boweib,
235
Philosopher, War for a, 386
Pilgrimage, ceremonies of the,
31 ; changes in the ceremonial
of, under Othman, 268 ; a
luxurious, 361 ; the last, of
Mohammed, 201
Pilgrimages, pecuniary interest
in the, 79 ; re-established by
Montaser, 3gg
Pilgrims at Mecca in early times,
23
Plague in Syria at time of Omar,
252
Pledge of the tree, The, 172
Pocock denies the hanging up of
poems at Okatz, 47
Poems, The prize, of Okatz, 47
PoTtiers, Battle of, 341
Political intrigues at Kufa and
Bassora, 238
Polygamy, the, of the prophet,
100 ; of Islam, 129 ; a blot on
Islam, 211, 212 ; Freeman
upon, 233
Prsetorians, The, in Rome, 42g
Prayer, duty of, 135 ; position
in, 138 ; the call to, estab
lished, 140 ; no true religion
without, 195 ; not accepted
without tribute, 221
Prayers, Number of, prescribed,
108
Price, " History of Arabia," by,
294
Princes of princes made auto
cratic by Radi, 426
Prophecy, The seal of, 42
Prophets before Mohammed,
their fate, 112 ; the six, 134 ;
of Allah, different offices of,
143

R
Rabbis, Paradise of the, 132
Radi (Raddy, Radhi), the last of
the real kalifs, 426 ; poem by,
427
Rakka becomes the seat of
Harun, 373
Ramadan, the month of fasting
and prayer, 20 ; mode in which
Mohammed observed it, 63,
68, 71 ; the time of fasting, 76
Rationalism, The, of Persia, 384
Rawendites, Rise of the, 356
Readers, Loss of many, 223
" Reason, The Eternal," a book
from Kabul, 384
Reform, A radical, in Arabia,
I2g
Reforms, The, of Mohammed,
212 ; of Motadi, 403
Rei (Rai, Rhe, Rye), battle at,
258 ; battle at, between Amin
and Mamun, 376
Relationship, Change in legisla
tion regarding, 160
Release, Proclamation of, 199
Religion, of the early Arabs, 14,
16, 62 ; systems of false, 78
Religionists, False, put down by
Medhi, 364
Resurrection, uncertain faith in,
63 ; doctrine of the, 130
Revelation vs. reason, 384
Revelations, the three, 134 ; the
" convenient," of Mohammed,
210, 214
Revolutions in time of Mostain,
401 ; in time of Moktader,
413
Rhapsodies, The, of Mohammed,
64, 65
Rhodes taken by Moawia, 278
Richness and weakness of the
kalifate, 425
Ring, the, of Mohammed, en
graved, 173 ; lost by Othman,
269
River of- Blood, Battle of the,
229

INDEX.

489

Roderick, the ruler of the Goths,
325 ; death of, 329
Rodwell, Rev. J. M., arrange
ment of the suras by, 133 ;
version of the Koran, 224
Romance, An era of, 366
Romans, said to be about to at
tack the Moslems, 195 ; in
Syria, campaign against, 230 ;
make an effort to drive the
Arabs from Syria, 252 ; beaten
off Alexandria, 268
Rome, changes in, 3 ; sends an
army to Arabia, 26 ; controls
Syria, 178 ; and Persia, the two
prominent powers, 3, 60

Saba, Situation of, to
Sabbath, none in Islam, 130
Sabians, The Abrahamitic, 10, 54
Sacred month, Caravans attacked
in, 147
Sacrilegious act, A, 147
Sacrilegious war, The, 48
Safa and Marwa, The hills, 31
Saladin, son of Ayub, the beau
ideal of Saracenic chivalry,
436
Sale, George, translator of the
Koran, on Antichrist, 197
Samana allies himself with Mo
taded, 408
Samanades, the rise of, 408 ;
victory of, over Amr, 409 ;
great domain of, 411
Samarkand, science and letters
at, 256 ; centre of commerce
and learning, 291 ; siege of,
322 ; elegance of, 322 ; Seljuks
at, 432 ; taken by Jengis
Khan, 440
Samarra, becomes the home of
Motasim, 390 ; scramble for
spoils at, 401
Sara sends information to Mecca,
182
Saracens, the terror of, 324 ;
greatness of domain of, 333 ;

confidence of, in France, 341 ;
defeated at Tours, 342 ; re
treat from Spain, 344 ; end of
their career of conquest, 347 ;
threaten Irene at Constanti
nople, 364 ; lose enthusiasm
for war, 401
Sardinia ravaged, 322
Sassanidae, Dynasty of the, 62
Scheherazade, Tales of, 366
Schism, The, in Islam, 308
Scinde overrun, 322
Scholars, opinion of Mamun re
garding, 388
Schuyler's "Turkistan," 322,
424;
Scriptural people, The, 6
Second of the Two, The, 118
Sectaries, the, 308 ; of Isiam,
264 ; a proof of its truth, 135
Seljuks, take possession of Merv,
256 ; at Bagdad, 430 ; rise of
the, 432 ; division of empire
of, 436
Sell, Edward, " The Faith of
Islam," by, 396
Selucia and Ctesiphon, 227
Semitic idea of the government
of the universe, 54
Sensuality of the paradise of
Islam, 132
Seth builds the Kaaba, 24
Sheb, The, of Abu Talib, 94
Sheba, The queen of, visits Solo
mon, 10
She-camel, The, of the Koran, 46
Shehib leads the Karejites, 317
Shias, the sect of, 266 ; in Per
sia, 220 ; origin of, 308 ; pro
portion of in Islam, 407
Sicily, ravaged, 322 ; ravaged by
the Alyites, 416
Siffin, Battle of, 279, 280
Simplicity, the, of the Moslems,
lost, 297, 308 ; departure from,
by Walid, 321
Sincerity of Mohammed, 212
Skepticism, in time of Mehdi,
365 ; of Mamun, 385
Slanderer, Sura of the, 68, 70

490

INDEX.

Slavery in Islam, 211
Soffarides, The, rise of, 404, 405 ;
acknowledged by Mohammed,
405 ; gains of, 406 ; extinc
tion of, 410
Soliman (Suleiman, Solyman,
Sooleyman), leads the Kare
jites, 310 ; his dealings with
Musa, 334, 335 ; death of,
337
Solitude, The, of Mohammed, 54
Solomon, wondrous tales of, 13 ;
seal-ring of, 18 ; example of,
in prayer, 138 ; table of, 330
Son and mother, Relations of,
208
Sonnites, The, of the present
time, 220 ; the sect of, 264,
266 ; origin of, 308
Spain, attractions of, to the Sara
cens, 326 ; complete conquest
of, 333 ! government of the
Saracens in, 336 ; progress of
the Saracens in, 338 ; discord
in, 348
Spells, Faith in, 166
Spoil, Law regarding the division
of, 149 ; from the Jews, 175 ;
the, at Honein, 190 ; at Da
mascus, 240 ; systematic dis
tribution of, ordered by Omar,
245
Spoils, Scramble for, at Samarra,
401
Sprenger on Mohammed's " epi
leptic fits," 64
Stone, the sacred white, of the
Kaaba, 22 ; replaced in the
Kaaba by Mohammed, 66
.Strabo visits Arabia and brings
information about it, 27
Strategy of Mohammed, 165
Sultan, title first assumed by
Mahmud, 432
Sura, Meaning of, 13
Suras, Differing length of the,
133
Sus (Shushan) taken, 256
Sword, The unsheathed, 142, 199
Syria, government of, 62 ; sum

moned to accept Islam, 174 ;
an expedition to, Ig5, 196 ;
conquered, 232, 241 ; divisions
of, 246 ; total conquest of, 252 ;
lost to Ali, 281, 282 ; deso
lated by Theophilus, 392 ;
invaded by the Tulunides,
406 ; ravaged by the Karma
thians in time of Moktader,

420

T

Tabari, on the number of the
friends of Othman's memory,
279 ; neglects the siege of
Constantinople, 292
Tabaristan lost to the kalifate,
401
Tabuk, Council of war at, 196
Tadmor (Palmyra) taken by
Kalid, 231
Taherians, Rise of, 404
Tahir, the Persian, attacks Bag
dad, 376
Taif, jealous of Mecca, 35 ; new
buildings at, 60 ; Mohammed
goes on a mission to, 97 ; re
jects Mohammed, 98 ; idola
try at, 186 ; siege of, 188, 195 ;
Hejaj rests at, 315 ; and Mecca,
commerce at, 144, 146
Talha, presented as candidate for
kalif, 272 ; and Zobeir swear
allegiance to Ali, 273
Tamerlane, Tomb of, at Samar
kand, 2gi
Tarif, leader of an invasion into
Spain, 326 ; and Tarik, confu
sion of the names, 328
Tarik ben Zeyad receives an offer
from Julian, 326 ; invades
Spain, 328 ; career of in Spain,
330 ; returns to Damascus,
332
Tarsus, Mamun at, 386 ; arrest
of progress of Ahmed at, 406
Tears, The Day of, 275
Teheran conquered, 258
Temperance, see Abstinence.

INDEX.

491

Tent, Family of the, 303
Thamud, Caves of the children
of, 40
Theophilus, emperor, refuses to
resign Leo, 387 ; begins a
war with Motasim, 392
Thinkers and their thoughts, 214
Thought, Genesis of, 214
Togrul Beg enters Bagdad and
makes himself Prince of
Princes, 433
Toleration in time of Mamun,
389 ; discussion of, in time of
Wathek, 395
Tours attacked by Abd er Rah
man, 340 ; battle of, 341
Traders between Arabia and Pal
estine, 25
Traditionists, a name foi the
Sonnites, 308
Traffic increases at Mecca, 143 ;
not to interfere with devotion,
199
Trances, The, of Mohammed, 64
Treason in the days of Othman,
270
Tree, pledge of the, 172 ; the
oath under, 219
Tribute, demanded of Christians,
194 ; must be given, 221; opin
ion of Omar regarding, 254
Trinity, Mohammed's view of,
I2g; discussion regarding, ig2,
193
Truce of God, The, 48
Trusty, The sobriquet of Mo
hammed, 55, 66
Tuleya, a rival of Mohammed in
Nejd, 203
Tulun, founder of the Tulunides,
406
Tulunides, The riseof, 406; over
throw of dynasty of, 412
Turkestan, hordes growing
strong in, 4 ; raids into, 267 ;
rise of the Seljuks in, 432
Turkish body-guard, the, of Mo
tasim, 390 ; the, increasing in
power, 411 ; supremacy of the,
429

Turkish empire, rise of the, 433
Turks, troubles with, at time of
Othman, 267 ; pushed from
Korassan by Obeidolla, 291 ;
influence of, 394 ; almost com
plete masters, 396 ; efforts to
restrict their power, 399 ; jeal
ousy among the, 401 ; powers
of increase, 402 ; tighten their
grip, 422 U
Unbelievers, threatened, 113; to
be swept from the earth, 200
Union for peace, 49
Unity, The, of God, as presented
by Mohammed, 211 ; of the
religion of Islam, 263

Vambery, " History of Bokhara,"
410, 432, 440
Veil, Use of the, 161
Vengeance, Private, not allowed
during the sacred month, 48
Victory, in battle the criterion of
truth, 151 ; a constructive,
173 ; chapter of the, 173
Vision, of the jinns, 99 ; the, of
Mohammed, no
Voices heard by Mohammed, 68,
72 W
Wacusa, Battle of, 231, 234
Wady defined, 7
Walid, grandeur of his reign,
320 ; throws Tarik into prison,
330 ; death of, 333
Walid II. , accession of, 346 ;
character of, 347
Wall, The great, of China, scaled
by Jengis Khan, 440
War, deprecated by the men of
Yathrib, 89 ; in Islam to con
tinue till Antichrist come, 197 ;
as used by despots, 226

492

INDEX.

Waraka, the Hanif, speculations
of, 50, 52, 63 ; the most learn
ed man of his time, 63 ; ap
proves Mohammed, 72, 80 ;
and Kadija, the first converts,
80
Warfare, Aggressive, thought ne
cessary by Mohammed, J42
Wars, Foreign, of Omar and
Othman, 266
Wasil ben Ata founds the order
of Motazilites, 282
Wasit, foundation of, by Hejaj,
316 ; Mostain assassinated at,
402 ; defeat of Yakub near,
405
Wassif, the Turk, assassinates
Motawakkel, 399 ; bargains
with Mostain, 400
Wathek (Vathek) becomes kalif,
394
Weakness, an element of, intro
duced by Motasim, 394 ; of
the kalifate, 425
Wealth, influence of, on Moham
med, 62 ; not to be preferred
to the faith, igg
Wedding, The gorgeous, of Ma
mun, 383
Weil, August, on Islam, 136 ; on
ordinances of the Koran, 212
Widows elevated, 210
Wine, use of, 63 ; abstinence
from, first recommended, then
commanded, 128 ; prohibition
of, 137, 161 ; not to be sold by
Christians at Jerusalem, 250 ;
drunk in opposition to the law
of Mohammed, 308 ; drinking
of, by Walid II., 347 ; by
Harun, 372 ; misuse of, by
Motawakkel, 396 ; denounced
by Motadi, 402
Witches, persecutions of, 167
Witica, king of the Goths, 325
Wives, numbers of, 63 ; Moham
med's treatment of, 130 ; four
allowed by Mohammed, 132 ;
the, of the prophet, 160 ;
apartments of, 141 ; forbidden

to be jealous, 162, 192 ; limit
of the number of, 162 ; the, of
Mohammed, number uncer
tain, 201 ; difference between
one and two, 233 ; and hus
bands, mutual duties of, 202
Woman, Mohammed's treatment
of, 130
Women, kindle fury at Mecca,
154 ; of Mecca at the battle of
Ohud, 156 ; the four perfect,
161 ; and children, delight of,
136
Wright, " Early Travels," 438
X
Xeres, Battle of, 329

Y
Yahya, son of Kalid, encourages
trade, 368
Yakub,. chief of the Soffarides,
404, 405 ; takes Korassan,
405
Yathrib (see Medina), counsels
peace, 89 ; parties at, 127 ;
pilgrims from, look for the
Mahdi, 100
Year of Ashes, The, 252
Year of the Elephant, 38
Yemen, the home of mythical
Joktan, 8; under Persian influ
ence, 62 ; tribes of, summoned
to accept Islam, 174 ; slaugh
ter in, by Moawia, 284 ; access
to, improved by Mehdi, 362
Yermuk, Victory on the, 231, 234
Yezdigerd, Fall of, 256, 258
Yezid (Yazid) destined to become
successor of Moawia, 291, 295 ;
character of, 291, 295 ; makes
changes in the kalifate, 297 ;
prepares to oppose Hosein,
301 ; cast off at Medina, 306 ;
death of, 307 ; luxury of, 308
Yezid II. becomes kalif, 338
Yezid III., Accession of, 347

INDEX.

493

Zab, Decisive battle on the, 351
Zeinab, Mohammed enamoured
of, 160
Zem-Zern, The waters of, 24
Zeyd, the Koreishite, longs for a
pure religion, 51
Zeyd, Mohammed's freedman,
accepts Islam, 81 ; divorces
Zeinab, 160 ; name of, in the

Koran, 161 ; commands an
army against the Romans, 179;
killed at Muta, 180
Ziyad won over by Moawia, 290
Zobeir presented as candidate
for kalif, 272 ; and Talha
claim office under Ali, 274
Zoe influences Constantine VII.
against the Saracens, 416
Zoroastrianism fire-worship in
Persia, 62

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