ADVENTURE AND SECURITY
"Women are the twin-halves of men."--MAHOMET.
Abu Talib's straitened circumstances never prevented him from treating
his foster-child with all the affection of which his kindly but somewhat
weak character was capable. But the cares of a growing family soon became
too much for his means, and when Mahomet was about twenty-five his uncle
suggested that he should embark upon a mercantile journey for some rich
trader in Mecca. We can imagine Mahomet, immersed in his solitudes,
responding reluctantly to a call that could not be evaded. He was not by
nature a trader, and the proposal was repugnant to him, except for his
desire to help his uncle, and more than this, his curiosity to revisit at
a more assimilative age the lands that he remembered dimly from childhood.
Khadijah, a beautiful widow, daughter of an honoured house and the cousin
of Mahomet, rich and much sought after by the Kureisch, desired someone
to accompany her trading venture to Bostra, and hearing of the wisdom and
faithfulness of Mahomet, sent for him, asking if he would travel for her
into Syria and pursue her bargains in that northern city. She was willing
to reward him far more generously than most merchants. Mahomet, anxious
to requite his uncle in some way, and with his young imagination kindled
at the prospect of new scenes and ideas, prepared eagerly for the
journey. With one other man-servant, Meisara, he set out with the
merchandise to Bostra, traversing as a young man the same desert path he
had journeyed along in boyhood.
He was of an age to appreciate all that this experience could teach, in
the regions both of Nature and religion. The lonely desert only increased
his pervading sense of the mystery lying beyond his immediate knowledge,
and its vastness confirmed his vague belief in some kind of a power who
alone controlled so mighty a creation as the abounding spaces around him,
and the "star-bespangled" heaven above. On this journey, too, he first
saw with conscious eyes the desert storms in all the splendour and terror
of their fury, and caught the significance of those sudden squalls that
urge the waters of the upper Syrian lakes into a tumult of destruction.
Frequent allusions to sea and lake storms are to be found in the earlier
part of the Kuran: "When the seas shall be commingled, when the seas
shall boil, then shall man tremble before his creator." "By the swollen
sea, verily a chastisement from thy Lord is imminent." In every natural
manifestation that struck Mahomet's imagination in these early days, God
appeared to him as the sovereign of power, as terrible and as remote as
He was in the lightnings on Sinai. What wonder, then, that when the call
came to him to take up his mission it became a command to "arise and
warn"?
The chroniclers would have us believe that his contact with Christianity
was more important than his communion with Nature. Most of the legends
surrounding his relations with Christian Syria may be safely accepted as
later additions, but it is certain that he paid some attention to the
religion of those people through whose country he passed. A Syrian monk
is said to have seen Mahomet sitting beneath a tree, and to have hailed
him as a prophet; there is even a traditional account of an interview
with Nestorius, but this must be set aside at once as pure fiction.
The kernel of these legends seems to be the desire to show that Mahomet
had studied Christianity, and was not imposing a new religion without
having considered the potentialities of those already existing. However
that may be, Christianity certainly interested Mahomet, and must have
influenced him towards the monotheistic idea. The Arabians themselves
were not entirely ignorant of it; they witnessed the worship of one God
by the Jews and Christians on the borders of their territory, and
although it is a very debatable point how far the idea of one God had
progressed in Arabia when Mahomet began his mission, it may fairly be
accepted that dissatisfaction with the old tribal gods was not wanting.
Mahomet saw the countries through which he passed in a state of religious
flux, and heard around him diverse creeds, detecting doubtless an
undercurrent of unrest and a desire for some religion of more compelling
power.
With the single slave he reached Bostra in safety with the merchandise,
and having concluded his barter very successfully, and retaining in his
mind many impressions of that crowded city, returned to Mecca by the same
desert route. Meisara, the slave, relates (in what is doubtless a later
addition) of the fierce noonday heat that beset the travellers, and how,
when Mahomet was almost exhausted, two angels sat on his camel and
protected him with their wings. When they reached Mecca, Khadijah sold
the merchandise and found her wealth doubled, so careful had Mahomet been
to ensure the prosperity of his client, and before long love grew up in
her heart for this tall, grave youth, who was faithful in small things as
well as in great.
Khadijah had been much sought after by the men of Mecca, both for her
riches and for her beauty, but she had preferred to remain independent,
and continued her orderly life among her maidens, attending to her
household, and finding enough occupation in the supervision of her many
mercantile ventures. She was about forty, fair of countenance, and gifted
with a rich nature, whose leading qualities were affection and sympathy.
She seems to have been pre-eminently one of those receptive women who are
good to consult for the clarification of ideas. Her intelligence was
quick to grasp another's thought, if she did not originate thought within
herself. She was a woman fitted to be the helper and guide of such a man
as Mahomet, eager, impulsive, prone to swiftly alternating extremes of
depression and elation. A subtle mental attraction drew them together,
and Khadijah divined intuitively the power lying within the mind of this
youth and also his need of her, both mentally and materially, to enable
him to realise his whole self. Therefore as she was the first to awaken
to her desire for him, the first advances come from her.
She sent her sister to Mahomet to induce him to change his mind upon the
subject of marriage, and when he found that the rich and gracious
Khadijah offered him her hand, he could not believe his good fortune, and
assured the sister that he was eager to make her his wife. The alliance,
in spite of its personal suitability, was far from being advantageous to
Khadijah from a worldly point of view, and the traditions of how her
father's consent was obtained have all the savour of contemporary
evidence.
The father was bidden to a feast, and there plied right royally with
wine. When his reason returned he asked the meaning of the great spread
of viands, the canopy, and the chapleted heads of the guests. Thereupon
he was told it was the marriage-feast of Mahomet and Khadijah, and his
wrath and amazement were great, for had he not by his presence given
sanction to the nuptials? The incident throws some light upon the
marriage laws current at the time. Khadijah, though forty and a widow,
was still under the guardianship of her father, having passed to him
after the death of her husband, and his consent was needed before she
married again.
The marriage contracted by mutual desire was followed by a time of leisure
and happiness, which Mahomet remembered all his life. Never did any man
feel his marriage gift (in Mahomet's case twenty young camels) more fitly
given than the youth whom Khudijah rescued from poverty, and to whom she
gave the boon of her companionship and counsel. The marriage was fruitful;
two sons were born, the eldest Kasim, wherefore Mahomet received the title
of Abu-el-Kasim, the father of Kasim, but both these died in infancy.
There were also four daughters born to Mahomet--Zeineb, Rockeya, Umm
Kolthum, and Fatima. These were important later on for the marriages they
contracted with Mahomet's supporters, and indeed his whole position was
considerably solidified by the alliances between his daughters and his
chief adherents.
Ten years passed thus in prosperity and study. Mahomet was no longer
obscure but the chief of a wealthy house, revered for his piety, and
looked upon already as one of those "to whom God whispers in the ear."
His character now exhibited more than ever the marks of the poet and
seer; the time was at hand when all the subdued enthusiasm of his mind
was to break forth in the opening Suras of the Kuran. The inspiration had
not yet descended upon him, but it was imminent, and the shadow of its
stern requirements was about him as he attended to his work of
supervising Khadijah's wealth or took part in the religious life of
Mecca.
In A.D. 605, when Mahomet was thirty-five years old, the chief men of
Mecca decided to rebuild the Kaaba. The story of its rebuilding is
perhaps the most interesting of the many strange, naive tales of this
adventurous city. Valley floods had shattered the house of the gods. It
was roofless, and so insecure that its treasury had already been rifled
by blasphemous men. It stood only as high as the stature of a man, and
was made simply of stones laid one above the other. Rebuilding was
absolutely necessary, but materials were needed before the work could
begin, and this delayed the Kureisch until chance provided them with
means of accomplishing their design. A Grecian ship had been driven in a
Red Sea storm upon the coast near Mecca and was rapidly being broken up.
When the Kureisch heard of it, they set out in a body to the seashore and
took away the wood of the ship to build a roof for the Kaaba. It is a
significant fact that tradition puts a Greek carpenter in Mecca who was
able to advise them as to the construction. The Meccans themselves were
not sufficiently skilled in the art of building.
But now a great difficulty awaited them. Who was to undertake the
responsibility of demolishing so holy a place, even if it were only that
it might be rebuilt more fittingly? Many legends cluster round the
demolition. It would seem that the gods only understood gradually that a
complete destruction of the Kaaba was not intended. Their opposition was
at first implacable. The loosened stones flew back into their places, and
finally none could be induced to make the attempt to pull down the Kaaba.
There was a pause in the work, during which no one dared venture near the
temple, then Al-Welid, being a bold and god-fearing spirit, took an axe,
and crying:
"I will make a beginning, let no evil ensue, O Lord!" he began to
dislodge the stones.
Then the rest of the Kureisch rather cravenly waited until the next day,
but seeing that no calamity had befallen Al-Welid, they were ready to
continue the work. The rebuilding prospered until they came to a point
where the Black Stone must be embedded in the eastern wall.
At this juncture a vehement dispute arose among the Kureisch as to who
was to have the honour of depositing the Black Stone in its place. They
wrangled for days, and finally decided to appeal to Mahomet, who had a
reputation for wisdom and resource. Mahomet, after carefully considering
the question, ordered a large cloth to be brought, and commanded the
representatives of the four chief Meccan houses to hold each a corner.
Then he deposited the Black Stone in the centre of it, and in this
manner, with the help of every party in the quarrel, the sacred object
was raised to the proper height. When this was done Mahomet conducted the
Black Stone to its niche in the wall with his own hand.
The building of the Kaaba was ultimately completed, and a great
festival was held in honour. Many hymns of praise were sung at the
accomplishment of so difficult and important a work. The Kaaba has
remained substantially the same as it was when it was first rebuilt. It
is a small place of no architectural pretensions, merely a square with no
windows, and a tiny door raised from the ground, by which the Faithful,
duly prepared, are allowed to enter upon rare occasions. The sacred Black
Stone lies embedded about three feet from the ground in the eastern wall,
at first a dark greenish stone of volcanic or aerolitic origin, now worn
black and polished by thousands of kisses. There is little in the Kaaba
to account for the reverence bestowed upon it, and its insignificance
bears witness to the Eastern capacity for worshipping the idea for which
its symbols stand. This was the sacred temple of Abraham and Ishmael,
therefore its exterior mattered little.
Mahomet's share in the construction of the Kaaba brought him further
honour among the Kureisch. From this time until the beginning of his
mission he lived a quiet, easeful domestic life, interrupted only by
mental storms and depressions. He found leisure to meditate and observe,
and of this necessarily uneventful time there is little or no mention in
the histories. He certainly gained an opportunity of examining somewhat
closely the tenets of Christianity by the entrance into his household of
Zeid, a Christian slave, cultured and well-informed as to the doctrines
of his religion, and his presence doubtless influenced Mahomet in the
spiritual battles he encountered at a time when as yet he was certain
neither of God nor himself. Besides Zeid another important personage
entered Mahomet's household, Ali, son of Abu Talib, and future convert
and pride of Islam, "the lion of the Faith." The adoption of Ali was
Mahomet's small recompense to Abu Talib for his care of him, and the
advantages there from to Islam were inestimable. Ali was no statesman,
but he was an indomitable fighter, with whose aid Mahomet founded his
religion of the sword.
In such quiet manner Mahomet passed the years immediately preceding the
discovery of his mission, and as religious doubts and fears alternated in
him with fervour and hopefulness, so signs were not wanting of a spirit
of inquiry found abroad in Arabia, discontented with the old religions,
seeking for a clearer enthusiasm and withheld from its goal. Legends
gather round the figures of four inquirers who are reputed to have come
to Mahomet for enlightenment, and the story is but the primitive device
of rendering concrete and material all those vague stirrings of the
communal spirit towards a more convincing conception of the world--
legends that embody ideas in personalities, mainly because their language
has no words for the expression of the abstract, and also that, clothed
in living garments, they may capture the hearts of men. The time for the
coming of a prophet and a teacher could not be long delayed, and a
foreboding of his imperious destiny, dark with war and aflame with God's
judgment, had already begun to steal across Mahomet's hesitant soul.