MAHOMET, VICTOR
"Now hath God helped you in many battlefields and on the day
of Honein, when ye prided yourselves on your numbers but it availed
you nothing ... then ye turned your backs in flight. Then did God
lend down his spirit of repose upon his Apostle and upon the Faithful,
and he sent down the hosts which ye saw not and punished the
Infidels."--_The Kuran._
Mahomet's triumph at Mecca was not left long undisturbed. If the Kureisch
had yielded in the face of his superior armies, the great tribe of the
Hawazin were by no means minded to suffer his lordship, indeed they
determined forthwith vigorously to oppose it. They were devoted to
idol-worship, and leaven of Mahomet's teaching had not effected even
remotely their age-long faith. They now saw themselves face to face not
only with a religious revolution, but also with political absorption in
the victorious sect if they did not make good their opposition to this
overwhelming enemy in their midst.
They assembled at Autas, in the range of mountains north-east of Taif,
and threatened to raid the sacred city itself. Mahomet was obliged to
leave Mecca hurriedly after having only occupied the city for about three
weeks. He left Muadh ibn Jabal to instruct the Meccans and secure their
allegiance, and called off the whole of his army, together with 2000 of
the more warlike spirits of his newly conquered territory. The force drew
near the valley of Honein, where Mahomet fell in with the vanguard of the
Hawazin. There the two armies, the rebels under Malik, the Muslim under
the combined leadership of Khalid and Mahomet, joined battle. Khalid led
the van and charged up the steep and narrow valley, hoping to overwhelm
the Hawazin by his speed, but the enemy fell upon them from an ambuscade
at the top of the hill and swept unexpectedly into the narrow, choked
path. The Muslim, unprepared for the sudden onslaught, turned abruptly
and made for flight. Instantly above the tumult rose the voice of their
leader:
"Whither go ye? The Prophet of the Lord is here, return!"
Abbas lent his encouragement to the wavering files:
"Citizens of Medina! Ye men of the Pledge of the Tree of Fealty, return
to your posts!"
In the narrow defile the battle surged in confluent waves, until Mahomet,
seizing the moment when a little advantage was in his favour, pressed
home the attack and, casting dust in the face of the enemy, cried:
"Ruin seize them! By the Lord of the Kaaba they yield! God hath cast fear
into their hearts!"
The inspired words of their leader, whose vehement power all knew and
reverenced, turned the day for the Muslim hosts. They charged up the
valley and overwhelmed the troops at the rear of the Hawazin. The enemy's
rout was complete. Their camp and families fell into the hands of the
conqueror. Six thousand prisoners were removed to Jeirana, and the
fugitive army pursued to Nakhla. Mahomet's losses were more severe than
any which he had encountered for some time, but, undeterred and exultant,
he marched to Taif, whose idolatrous citadel had become a refuge for the
flying auxiliaries of the Hawazin.
Taif remained hostile and idolatrous. Ever since it had rejected his
message with contumely, in the days when he was but a religious visionary
inspired by a dream, it had refused negotiations and even recognition to
the blasphemous Prophet.
Now Mahomet conceived that his day of vengeance had come. He invested the
city, bringing his army close up to its walls, and hoping to reduce it
speedily. But the walls of Taif were strong, its citadels like towers,
its garrison well provisioned, its inmates determined to resist to the
end. A shower of arrows from the walls wrought such destruction among his
Muslim force that Mahomet was forced to withdraw out of range where the
camp was pitched, two tents of red leather being erected for his
favourite wives, Omm Salma and Zeineb. From the camp frequent assaults
were made upon the town, which were carried out with the help of
testudos, catapults, and the primitive besieging engines of the time.
But Taif remained inviolate, and each attack upon her walls made with
massed troops in the hope of scaling her fortresses was received by
heated balls flung from the battlements which set the scaling ladders on
fire and brought destruction upon the helpless bodies of Mahomet's
soldiery. But if he could not impress the city Mahomet wreaked his full
vengeance upon its neighbourhood. The vineyards were cut down pitilessly,
and the whole land of Taif laid desolate. Liberty was even offered to the
slaves of the city who would desert to the invader. Nothing ruthless or
guileful was spared by the Prophet to gain his ends, but with no avail.
Taif held out until Mahomet grew weary, and finally raised the siege,
which had considerably lessened in political importance, owing to the
overtures of the Hawazin, who now wished to be reconciled with Mahomet,
having perceived that their wisdom lay in peace with so powerful an
adversary. They promised alliance with him and their prisoners were
restored, but the booty taken from them was retained, after the old
imperious custom, which demanded wealth from the conquered.
Mahomet forthwith distributed largesse among the lesser Arabs of the
neighbourhood, an act of policy which called down the resentment of his
adherents and caused the details of the law of almsgiving to be
promulgated in the Kuran. The Muslim point of view was that having fought
for the spoil they were entitled to receive a share of it, but their
leader held that it must first be distributed in part to those needy
Bedouin tribes who had flocked to his banner. The bounty had its desired
effect. Malik, the Hawazin chieftain, moved either by his love of spoil
or genuinely convinced of the truth of Islam, possibly by the influence
of both these considerations, tendered his submission to Mahomet and
became converted. February and March, 630, were occupied in distributing
equitably the wealth that had fallen into his hands.
It was now the time of the Lesser Pilgrimage, and Mahomet returned to
Mecca to perform it. Then, having fulfilled every ceremony and surrounded
by his followers, he returned to Medina, still the capital of his
formless principality and the keystone of his power.
Thereafter Mahomet rested in his own city, where he lived in potential
kingship, receiving and sending out embassies, administering justice,
instructing his adherents, but still keeping his army alert, his leaders
well trained to quell the least disturbance or threatenings of revolt.
The conquest of Mecca and the victory of Honein had rendered him secure
from all except those abortive attacks that were instantly crushed by the
marching of the force that was to subdue them.
The year 680-681 was spent in the receiving and sending out of embassies,
alternating with the organising of small expeditions to chastise
recusants, but to Mahomet himself there came besides the flower of an
idyll, the frost of a grief.
Mary, the Coptic maid, young, lovely, and forlorn, the helpless barter of
an Egyptian king, reached Medina in the first year of embassies and was
reserved for the Prophet because of her beauty and her innocence. She had
become long since a humble inmate of his harem, and would have ended her
days in the same obscurity if potential motherhood had not come to her as
an honour and a crowning. When Mahomet perceived that she was with child
he had her removed from the company of his other wives, and built for her
a "garden-house" in Upper Medina, where she lived until her child was
born. Mahomet, returning from his campaigns, sought her in her retreat
and gave her his companionship and his prayers.
In April of 630 she bore a son to her master, who could hardly believe
that such a gift had been granted him. Never before had his arms held a
man-child of his own begetting, and the honours lavished upon the
slave-mother showed his boundless gratitude to Allah. A son meant much to
him, for by that was ensured his hope for a continuance of power when his
earthly sojourn was over. The child was named Ibrahim, and all the lawful
ceremonies were scrupulously observed by his father. He sacrificed a kid
upon the seventh day, and sought for the best and most fitting nurses for
his new-born son. Mary received in full measure the smiles and favour of
her master, and the Prophet's wives became jealous to fury, so that their
former anger was revived--the anger that also had its roots in jealousy
when Mahomet had first looked upon Mary with desiring eyes. Then they had
gained their lord's displeasure as far as to cause a rebuke against them
to be inscribed in the Kuran, but now their rage, though still
smouldering, was useless against the triumph of that long-looked-for
birth.
But Mahomet's joy was short-lived. Scarcely had three months passed when
Ibrahim sickened even beneath the most devoted care. His father was
inconsolable, and the little garden-house that had been the scene of so
much rejoicing was now filled with sorrow. Ibrahim grew rapidly worse,
until Mahomet perceived that there was no more hope. Then he became
resigned, and having closed the child's eyes gave directions for its
burial with all fitting ceremonial. Thereafter he knew that Allah had not
ordained him an heir, and became reconciled to the vast decrees of fate.
Mary, instrument of his hopes and despairs, passed into the oblivion of
the despised and now useless slave. We never hear any more of her beyond
that the Prophet treated her kindly and would not suffer her to be
ill-used. She was the mere necessary means of the fulfilment of his
intent. Having failed in her task she was no longer important, no longer
even desired.
Meanwhile the tasks of administration had been increasing steadily.
Mahomet was now strong enough to insist that none but Believers were to
be admitted to the Kaaba and its ceremonies, and although all the
idolatrous practices in Mecca were not removed until after Abu Bekr's
pilgrimage, yet the power of polytheism was completely subdued, and
before long was to be extirpated from the holy places.
The next matter to be taken in hand owes its origin to the extent of
Mahomet's domains in the year 630. It was imperative that some sort of
financial system should be adopted, so that the Prophet and the Believers
might possess adequate means for keeping up the efficiency of the army,
giving presents to embassies from foreign lands, rewarding worthy
subjects, and all the numerous demands upon a chieftain's wealth.
Deputies were therefore sent out to the various tribes now under his sway
to gather from every subject tribe the price of their protection and
championship by Mahomet.
In most cases the tax-gatherers were received as the inevitable result of
submission, but there were occasional resistances organised by the bolder
tribes, chief of whom was the Temim, who drove out Mahomet's envoy with
contempt and ill-usage. Reprisals were immediately set on foot, the tribe
was attacked and routed, many of its members being taken prisoner. These
were subsequently liberated upon the tribe's guarantee of good faith. The
Beni Mustalik also drove out the tax-gatherer, but afterwards repented
and sent a deputation to Mahomet to explain the circumstance. They were
pardoned and gave guarantees that they would dwell henceforth at peace
with the Prophet. The summer saw a few minor expeditions to chastise
resisters, chief of which was All's campaign against the Beni Tay. He was
wholly successful, and brought back to Medina prisoners and booty.
The "second year of embassies" proved more gratifying than the first.
Mahomet's power had increased sufficiently to awe the tribes of the
interior into submission and to gain at least a hearing from lands beyond
his immediate vicinity. Slowly and surely he was building up the fabric
of his dominion. With a watchfulness and sense of organisation
irresistible in its efficiency he made his presence known. The sword had
gained him his dominion, the sword should preserve it with the help of
his unfailing vigilance and diplomatic skill. As his power progressed it
drew to itself not only the fighting material but the dreams and poetic
aspirations of the wild, untutored races who found themselves beneath his
yoke. Islam was before all an ideal, a real and material tradition,
giving scope to the manifold qualities of courage, devotion, aspiration,
and endeavour. Every tribe coming fully within its magnetism felt it to
be the sum of his life, a religion which had not only an indivisible
mighty God at its head, but a strong and resolute Prophet as its earthly
leader. Around the central figure each saw the majesty of the Lord and
also the headship of armies, the crown of power, and the sovereignty of
wealth. They invested Mahomet with the royalty of romance, and the
potency of his magnetism is realised in the story of the conversion of
Ka'b the poet. He had for years voiced the feelings of contempt and anger
against the Prophet, and had been the chief vehicle for the launching of
defamatory songs. His conversion to the cause of Islam is momentous,
because it deprived the idolaters of their chief means of vituperation
and ensured the gradual dying down of the fire of abuse. Mahomet received
Ka'b with the utmost honour, and threw over him his own mantle as a sign
of his rejoicing at the acquisition of so potent a man. Ka'b thereupon
composed the "Poem of the Mantle" in praise of his leader and lord, a
poem which has rendered him famous and well-beloved throughout the whole
Muslim world.
Now embassies came to Mahomet from all parts of Arabia. Instead of being
the suppliant he became the dictator, for whose favour princes sued.
Hadramaut and Yemen sent tokens of alliance and promises of conversion,
even the far-off tribes upon the borders of Syria were not all equally
hostile and were content to send deputations.
Nevertheless, it was from the North that his power was threatened. Secure
as was his control over Central and Southern Arabia, the northern
feudatories backed by Heraclius were still obdurate and even openly
hostile. They were the one hope that Arabia possessed of throwing off the
Prophet's yoke, which even now was threatening to press hardly upon their
unrestrained natures. All the malcontents looked towards the North
for deliverance, and made haste to rally, if possible, to the side of the
Syrian border states. Towards the end of the year signs were not wanting
of a concerted effort to overthrow his power on the part of all the
northern tribes, who had as their ally a powerful emperor, and therefore
might with reason expect to triumph over a usurper who had put his yoke
upon their brethren of the southern interior, and was only deterred from
attempting their complete reduction to the status of tributary states by
the distance between his capital and themselves, added to the menace of
the imperial legions.