THE FLIGHT TO MEDINA
"Knowest thou not that the dominion of the Heavens and of the
Earth is God's? and that ye have neither patron nor helper save
God?"--_The Kuran_.
The expectancy which burned like revivifying fire in the hearts of the
Meccan Muslim, kindled and nourished by their leader himself, was to
culminate at the time of the yearly pilgrimage in 622. In that month came
the great concourse of pilgrims from Yathreb to Mecca, among them seventy
of the "Faithful" who had received the faith at Medina, headed by their
teacher Musab and strengthened by the knowledge that they were before
long to stand face to face with their Prophet.
Musab had reported to Mahomet the success of his mission in the city, and
had prepared him for the advent of the little band of followers secured
for Islam. Secrecy was essential, for the Muslim from Medina were in
heart strangers among their own people, in such a precarious situation
that any treachery would have meant their utter annihilation, if not at
the hands of their countrymen, who would doubtless throw in their lot
with the stronger, certainly at the hands of the Kureisch, the implacable
foes of Islam, in whose territory they fearfully were. The rites of
pilgrimage were accordingly performed faithfully, though many breathed
more freely as they departed for the last ceremony at Mina. All was now
completed, and the Medinan party prepared to return, when Mahomet
summoned the Faithful by night to the old meeting-place in the gloomy
valley of Akaba.
About seventy men and two women of both Medinan tribes, the Beni Khazraj
and the Beni Aus, assembled thus in that barren place, under the
brilliant night skies of Arabia, to pledge themselves anew to an unseen,
untried God and to the service of his Prophet, who as yet counted but few
among his followers, and whose word carried no weight with the great ones
of their world.
To this meeting Mahomet brought Abbas, his uncle, younger son of
Abd-al-Muttalib, a weak and insignificant character, who had endeared
himself to Mahomet chiefly because of his doglike devotion. He was not a
convert, but he revered his energetic nephew too highly and was also too
greatly in awe of him to imagine such a thing as treachery. He was in
part a guarantee to the Khazraj of Mahomet's good faith, in part an asset
for him against the Kureisch, for his family were still influential in
Mecca.
The two made their way from the city unaccompanied, by steep and stony
ways, until they came to Akaba, and Mahomet saw awaiting him that
concourse summoned by his persistence and tireless faith--a concourse
part of himself, almost his own child, upon which all his hopes were now
set. Coming thus into that circle of faces, illumined dimly by the
torches, which prudence even now urged them to extinguish, he could not
but feel some foreshadowing of the mighty future that awaited this little
gathering, as yet impotent and tremulous, but bearing within itself the
seeds of that loyalty and courage that were to spread "the Faith" over
half the world.
When the greetings were over, Abbas stepped forward and spoke, while the
lines of dark faces closed around him in earnest scrutiny.
"Ye men of the Beni Khazraj, this my kinsmen dwelleth amongst us in
honour and safety; his clan will defend him, but he preferreth to seek
protection from you. Wherefore, ye Khazraj, consider the matter well and
count the cost."
Then answered Bara, who stood for them in position of Chief:
"We have listened to your words. Our resolution is unshaken. Our lives
are at the Prophet's service. It is now for him to speak."
Mahomet stepped forward into the circle of their glances, and with the
solemnity of the occasion urgent within him recited to them verses of the
Kuran, whose fire and eloquence kindled those passionate souls into an
enthusiasm glowing with a sombre resolve, and prompted them to stake all
upon their enterprise. At the end of those tumultuous words he assured
them that he would be content if they would pledge themselves to defend
him.
"And if we die in thy defence, what reward have we?"
"Paradise!" replied Mahomet, exalted, raising his hand in token of his
belief in Allah and the certitude of his cause.
Then arose a murmur deep and long, the protestation of loyalty that
threatened to rise into triumphant acclamation, but Abbas, the fearful of
the party, stayed them in dread of spies. So the tumult died down, and
Bara, taking upon himself the authority of his fellows, stretched forth
his hand to Mahomet, and with their clasping the Second Pledge of the
Akaba was sealed. They broke up swiftly, dreading to prolong their
meeting, for danger was all around them and the air heavy with suspected
treacheries.
And their apprehension was not groundless, for the Kureisch had heard of
their assembly through some secret messenger, though not until the
Medinan caravan with its concourse of the Faithful and the Unbelievers
was well on its homeward way across the dreary desert paths which lead to
Mecca from Medina. Their wrath was intense, and in fury they pursued it;
but either they were ignorant as to which road the party had taken, or
the Medinans eluded them by greater speed, for they returned disconsolate
from the pursuit, having only succeeded in finding two luckless men, one
of whom escaped, but the other, Sa'd ibn Obada, was dragged back to Mecca
and subjected to much brutality before he ultimately made his escape to
his native city.
The Kureisch were not content with attempting reprisals against Medina,
or possibly they were enraged because they had effected so little, for
they recommenced the persecution of Islam at Mecca with much violence.
From March until April they harassed the Believers in their city,
imposing restrictions upon them, and in many cases inflicting bodily harm
upon Mahomet's unfortunate and now defenceless followers. The renewed
persecution doubtless gave an added impetus to the Prophet's resolve to
quit Mecca.
Indeed, the time was fully ripe, and with the prescience that continually
characterised him in his role of leader of a religious state, he felt
that now the ground was prepared at Medina, emigration of the Muslim from
Mecca could not fail to be advantageous to him.
The command was given in April 622, and found immediate popularity,
except with a few malcontents who had large interests in their native
city. Then began the slow removal of a whole colony. The families of
Abu Talib's quarter of Mecca tranquilly forsook their birthplace in
orderly groups, taking with them their household treasures, until the
neighbourhood showed tenantless houses falling into the swift decay
accompanying neglect in such a climate, barricaded doors and gaping
windows, filled only with an immense feeling of desolation and the
blankness which overtakes a city when its humanity has deputed to another
abiding place. Weeds grew in the deserted streets, and over all lay a
fine film of dust, the almost impalpable effort of the desert to merge
once more into itself the territory wrung from it by human will.
The effect of this emigration upon the Kureisch can hardly be estimated.
They were amazed and helpless before it; for with their wrath hot against
Mahomet, it was as if their antagonist had melted into insubstantial
vapours to leave them enraged and breathless, pursuing a phantom
continually elusive. So silent was the emigration that they were only
made aware of it when the quarter was almost deserted. Scattered
groups of travellers journeying along the desert tracks had evoked no
hostilities, and no treachery broke the loyalty to Islam at Mecca. The
Kureisch were indeed outwitted, and only became conscious of the
subtleties of their antagonist when his plan was accomplished.
But in spite of the seemingly favourable situation, the leader tarried
because "the Lord had not as yet given him command to emigrate." The very
natural hesitation of Mahomet is only characteristic of him. He knew very
well what issues were at stake, and was not anxious to burn his boats
rashly; indeed, he bore upon his shoulders at this time all the
responsibility of the future of his little flock, who so confidently
resigned their fortunes into his hands. If his scheme at Medina should
fail, he knew that nothing would save him from Kureischite fury, and he
also felt great reluctance in leaving Mecca himself, for at that time it
could not but mean the knell of his hopes of gaining his native city to
his creed. He must have foreseen his establishment of power in Medina,
and possibly he had visions of its extension to neighbouring tribes, but
he could not have foreseen the humiliation of his native city at his
feet, glad at last to receive the faith of one whom she now regarded as
the sovereign potentate of Arabian territory.
And with their friend and guide remained Abu Bekr and Ali--Abu Bekr
because he would not leave his companion in prayer and persecution,
and Ali because his valour and enthusiasm made him a protector against
possible attacks. Here was the opportunity for the Kureisch. They knew
the extent of the emigration, and that Abu Bekr and Ali were the only
Muslim of importance left except the Prophet. They determined to make one
last attempt to coerce into submission this fantastic but resolute
leader, who possessed in supreme measure the power of winning the faith
and devotion of men.
Tradition has it that Mahomet's assassination was definitely planned, and
Mahomet assuredly thought so too, when he discovered that a man from each
tribe had been chosen to visit his home at night. The motive can hardly
have been assassination, but doubtless the chiefs were prepared to take
rather strong measures to restrain Mahomet, and this action finally
decided the Prophet that delay was dangerous.
At this crisis in his fortunes he had two staunch helpers, who did not
hesitate to risk their lives in his service, and with them he anticipated
his foes. Ali was chosen to represent his beloved master before the
menaces of the Kureisch. Mahomet put him into his own bed and arrayed
him in his sacred green mantle; then, as legend has it, taking a handful
of dust, he recited the sura "Ya Sin," which he himself reverenced as
"the heart of the Kuran," and scattering the dust abroad, he called down
confusion upon the heads of the Unbelievers. With Abu Bekr he then fled
swiftly and silently from the city and made his way unseen to the cave of
Thaur, a few miles outside its boundaries.
Around the cave of Thaur cluster as many and as beautiful legends as
surround the stable at Bethlehem. The wild pigeons flew out and in
unharmed, screening the Prophet by their untroubled presence from the
searchings of the Kureisch, and a thorn tree spread her branches across
the mouth of the cave supporting a spider's frail and glistening web,
which was renewed whenever a friend visited the two prisoners to bring
food and tidings.
Here Mahomet and Abu Bekr, henceforward known as the "Second of Two,"
remained until the fierceness of the pursuit slackened. Asma, Abu Bekr's
daughter, brought them food at sundown, and what news she could glean
from the rumours that were abroad, and from the lips of Ali. There was
very real danger of their surprise and capture, but once more Mahomet's
magnificent faith in God and his cause never wavered. Abu Bekr was afraid
for his master:
"We are but two, and if the Kureisch find us unarmed, what chance have
we?"
"We are but two," replied Mahomet, "but God is in the midst a third."
He looked unflinchingly to Allah for succour and protection, and his
faith was justified. His thanksgiving is contained in the Kuran: "God
assisted your Prophet formerly, when the Unbelievers drove him forth in
company with a second only; when they two were in the cave; when the
Prophet said to his companion, 'Be not distressed; verily God is with
us.' And God sent down his tranquillity upon him and strengthened him
with hosts ye saw not, and made the word of those who believed not the
abased, and the word of God was the exalted."
At the end of three days the Kureischite search abated, and that night
Mahomet and Abu Bekr decided to leave the cave. Two camels were brought,
and food loaded upon them by Asma and her servants. The fastenings were
not long enough to tie on the food wallet; wherefore Asma tore her girdle
in two and bound them round it, so that she is known to this day among
the Faithful as "She of Two Shreds." After a prayer to Allah in thanks
for their safety, Mahomet and Abu Bekr mounted the camels and sallied
forth to meet what unknown destiny should await them on the road to
Medina. They rapidly gained the sea-coast near Asfan in comparative
safety, secure from the attacks of the Kureisch, who would not pursue
their quarry so far into a strange country.
The Kureisch had indeed considerably abated their anger against Mahomet.
He was now safely out of their midst, and possibly they thought
themselves well rid of a man whose only object, from their point of view,
was to stir up strife, and they felt that any resentment against either
himself or his kin would be unnecessary and not worth their pains. With
remarkable tolerance for so revengeful an age, they left the families of
Mahomet and Abu Bekr quite free from molestation, nor did they offer any
opposition to Ali when they found he had successfully foiled them, and he
made his way out of the city three days after his leader had quitted it.
Mahomet and Abu Bekr journeyed on, two pilgrims making their way,
solitary but unappalled, to a strange city, whose temper and disposition
they but faintly understood. But evidences as to its friendliness were
not wanting, and these were renewed when Abu Bekr's cousin, a previous
emigrant to Medina, met them half-way and declared that the city waited
in joy and expectation for the coming of its Prophet. After some days
they crossed the valley of Akik in extreme heat, and came at last to
Coba, an outlying suburb at Medina, where, weary and apprehensive,
Mahomet rested for a while, prudently desiring that his welcome at Medina
might be assured before he ventured into its confines.
His entry into Coba savoured of a triumphal procession; the people
thronged around his camel shouting, "The Prophet; he is come!" mingling
their cries with homage and wondering awe, that the divine servant of
whom they had heard so much should appear to them in so human a guise, a
man among them, verily one of themselves. Mahomet's camel stopped at the
house of Omm Kolthum, and there he elected to abide during his stay in
Coba, for he possessed throughout his life a reverence for the instinct
in animals that characterises the Eastern races of all time. There,
dismounting, he addressed the people, bidding them be of good cheer, and
giving them thanks for their joyous welcome:
"Ye people, show your joy by giving your neighbours the salvation of
peace; send portions to the poor; bind close the ties of kinship, and
offer up your prayers whilst others sleep. Thus shall ye enter Paradise
in peace."
For four days Mahomet dwelt in Coba, where he had encountered unfailing
support and friendship, and there was joined by Ali. His memories of Coba
were always grateful, for at the outset of his doubtful and even
dangerous enterprise he had received a good augury. Before he set out to
Medina he laid the foundations of the Mosque at Coba, where the Faithful
would be enabled to pray according to their fashion, undisturbed and
beneath the favour of Allah, and decreed that Friday was to be set apart
as a special day of prayer, when addresses were to be given at the Mosque
and the doctrines of Islam expounded.
Even as early as this Mahomet felt the mantle of sovereignty descending
upon him, for we hear now of the first of those ordinances or decrees by
which in later times he rules the lives and actions of his subjects to
the last detail. Clearly he perceived himself a leader among men, who had
it within his power to build up a community following his own dictates,
which might by consolidation even rival those already existent in
Arabia. He was taking command of a weak and factious city, and he
realised that in his hands lay its prosperity or downfall; he was, in
fact, the arbiter of its fate and of the fate of his colleagues who had
dared all with him.
But he could not stay long in Coba, while the final assay upon the
Medinans remained to be undertaken, and so we find him on the fourth day
of his sojourn making preparations for the entry into the city. It was
undertaken with some confidence of success from the messages already sent
to Coba, and proved as triumphal an entry as his former one. The populace
awaited him in expectation and reverence, and hailed him as their
Prophet, the mighty leader who had come to their deliverance. They
surrounded his camel Al-Caswa, and the camels of his followers, and when
Al-Caswa stopped outside the house of Abu Ayub, Mahomet once more
received the beast's augury and sojourned there until the building of the
Mosque. As Al-Caswa entered the paved courtyard, Mahomet dismounted to
receive the allegiance of Abu Ayub and his household; then, turning to
the people, he greeted them with words of good cheer and encouragement,
and they responded with acclamations.
For seven months the Prophet lodged in the house of Abu Ayub, and he
bought the yard where Al-Caswa halted as a token of his first entry into
Medina, and a remembrance in later years of his abiding place during the
difficult time of his inception. The decisive step had been taken. The
die was now cast. It was as if the little fleet of human souls had
finally cast its moorings and ventured into the unpathed waters of
temporal dominion under the command of one whose skill in pilotage was as
yet unknown. Many changes became necessary in the conduct of the
enterprise, of which not the least was the change of attitude between the
leader and his followers. Mahomet, heretofore religious visionary and
teacher, became the temporal head of a community, and in time the leader
of a political State. The changed aspect of his mission can never be
over-emphasised, for it altered the tenor of his thoughts and the
progress of his words. All the poetry and fire informing the early pages
of the Kuran departs with his reception at Medina, except for occasional
flashes that illumine the chronicle of detailed ordinances that the Book
has now become.
This apparent death of poetic energy had crept gradually over the Kuran,
helped on by the controversial character of the last two Meccan periods,
when he attempted the conciliation of the Jewish element within Arabia
with that long-sightedness which already discerned Medina as his possible
refuge. In reality the whole energy of his nature was transmuted from his
words to his actions and therein he found his fitting sphere, for he was
essentially the doer, one whose works are the expression of his secret,
whose personality, in fact, is only gauged by his deeds. As a result of
his political leadership, the despotism of his nature, inherent in his
conception of God, inevitably revealed itself; he had postulated a Being
who held mankind in the hollow of his hand, whose decrees were absolute
among his subjects; now that he was to found an earthly kingdom under the
guidance of Allah, the majesty of divine despotism overshadowed its
Prophet, and enabled him to impose upon a willing people the same
obedience to authority which fostered the military idea.
We must perforce believe in Mahomet's good faith. There is a tendency in
modern times to think of him as a man who knowingly played upon the
credulity of his followers to establish a sovereignty whereof he should
be head. But no student of psychology can support this conception of the
Prophet of Islam. There is a subtle _rapprochement_ between leader
and people in all great movements that divines instinctively any
imposture. Mahomet used and moulded men by reason of his faith in his own
creed. The establishment of the worship of Allah brought in its train the
aggrandisement of his Prophet, but it was not achieved by profanation of
the source whence his greatness came.
Mahomet is the last of those leaders who win both the religious
devotion and the political trust of his followers. He wrought out his
sovereignty perforce and created his own _milieu_; but more than all, he
diffused around him the tradition of loyalty to one God and one state
with sword for artificer, which outlived its creator through centuries of
Arabian prosperity. Stone by slow stone his empire was built up, an
edifice owing its contour to his complete grasp of detail and his
dauntless energy. The last days at Mecca had shown him a careful schemer,
the early days at Medina proved his capacity as leader and his skill in
organisation and government.