FOOTNOTE:

[1] The name is strictly Mahmud.

MAHOBA, an ancient town in India, in Hamirpur district of the United

Provinces. Pop. (1901), 10,074. As the capital of the Chandel dynasty,

who ruled over Bundelkhand from the 9th to the 13th century, the

neighbourhood is covered with architectural antiquities, prominent among

which are artificial lakes, formed by banking up valleys with masonry

dams. The largest of these is more than 4 m. in circuit.

MAHOGANY, a dark-coloured wood largely used for household furniture, the

product of a large tree indigenous to Central America and the West

Indies. It was originally received from Jamaica; 521,300 ft. were

exported from that island in 1753. It is known botanically as _Swietenia

Mahogani_, and is a member of the order _Meliaceae_. It bears compound

leaves, resembling those of the ash, and clusters of small flowers, with

five sepals and petals and ten stamens which are united into a tube. The

fruit is a pear-shaped woody capsule, and contains many winged seeds.

The dark-coloured bark has been considered a febrifuge, and the seeds

were used by the ancient Aztecs with oil for a cosmetic, but the most

valuable product is the timber, first noticed by the carpenter on board

Sir Walter Raleigh's ship in 1595 for its great beauty, hardness and

durability. Dr Gibbons brought it into notice as well adapted for

furniture in the early part of the 18th century, and its use as a

cabinet wood was first practically established by a cabinet-maker named

Wollaston, who was employed by Gibbons to work up some mahogany brought

to England by his brother. It was introduced into India in 1795, and is

now cultivated in Bengal and as far north as Saharunpur.

The timber of species of _Cedrela_ and _Melia_, other members of the

order _Meliaceae_, are used as Mahogany, and the product of the West

African _Khaya senegalensis_ is known as African mahogany. There is

some confusion between the product of these various trees. Herbert

Stone (_The Timbers of Commerce_, 1904) says: "The various species of

mahogany and cedar are so confusing that it is difficult to make

precise statements as to their structure or origin. I know of no

convincing proof that any of the American kinds met with on the

English market are the wood of _Swietenia Mahogani_, nor that those

shipped from Africa are the wood of _Khaya senegalensis_. These two

genera are very nearly allied to _Cedrela_ and _Melia_, and it is

difficult to separate any of the four from the rest by the characters

of the wood. After giving the most careful attention to every detail,

I lean to the view that most if not all of the mahoganies commonly met

with are Cedrelas."

_Kiggelaria Dregeana_ (natural order _Bixineae_), a native of South

Africa, is known as Natal mahogany.

MAHOMET (strictly MUHAMMAD, commonly also MOHAMMED), founder of the

religious system called in Europe after him Mahommedanism, and by

himself Islam or Hanifism. He died, according to the ordinary

synchronism, on the 7th of June 632 (12 Rabia, A.H. 11), and his

birthday was exactly sixty-three or sixty-five years earlier, the latter

number being evidently an interpretation in lunar years of a number

thought to refer to solar years. The lunar system was introduced into

Arabia by Mahomet himself quite at the close of his career; that which

existed before was certainly solar, as it involved a process of

intercalation--which, however, seems to have been arbitrarily

manipulated by priests, whence certain synchronisms cannot be got for

the events in the Prophet's career. The number 63 for the years of his

life may rest on tradition, though it is unlikely that such matters were

accurately noted; it can also be accounted for by a priori combination.

A Meccan, it is said, became a full citizen at the age of 40; this then

would be the age at which the mission might be started. The Medina

period (of which count was kept) lasted ten to eleven years; for the

Meccan period ten years would seem a likely length. Finally it was known

that for some years--about three--the mission had been conducted

secretly. The only event in contemporary history to which the Koran

alludes in its earlier parts is the Persian conquest of Palestine in

616. Clearly Mahomet had begun to prophesy at that date.

His Country.

Before the rise of Islam, Mahomet's native place, Mecca, appears to

figure nowhere in historical records, unless there be a reference to it

in the "valley of Baca" (Psalm lxxxiv. 6). Its sacred, and therefore

archaic, name is _Bakkah_; hence the identification of the name with

that of the sanctuary Makoraba, known to the Greek geographers, is not

philologically tenable; although so eminent a linguist as Dozy evolved a

theory of the origin of the city from this name, which appears to be

South Arabian for "sanctuary," and has no connexion with Hebrew (as Dozy

supposed). In the 3rd century of Islam the mythology of Mecca was

collected and published in book form, but we learn little more from it

than names of tribes and places; it is clear that there was no record of

the mode in which the community inhabiting the place had got there, and

that little was remembered with accuracy of the events which preceded

the rise of its prophet. The city had a sanctuary, called the _Cube_

(_ka'ba_), of which the nucleus was the "Black Stone," probably to be

identified with Allah, the god of the community; both still exist, or

rather their legitimate substitutes, as the Ka`ba has been repeatedly

reconstructed, and the original Black Stone was stolen by the

Carmathians in the 4th century of Islam; they afterwards returned one,

but it may or may not have been the same as that which they removed. At

some time in the 6th century--said to have been the birth-year of the

Prophet, but really much earlier--an Abyssinian invader raided Mecca

with the view of abolishing this sanctuary; but for some reason had to

desist. This expedition, known as the "Raid of the Elephant," one of

these animals being employed in it, seems to be of great importance for

explaining the rise of Islam; for a sanctuary which can repel an invader

acquires tremendous reputation. Some verses in the Koran which are

perhaps not genuine, record the miracle whereby Allah repelled the

"People of the Elephant." The sanctuary was apparently in the possession

of the tribe Koreish (Quraish), the origin of whose name is unknown,

said to have come originally from Cutha in Mesopotamia. They were known

(we are told) as the people of Allah, and, by wearing a badge, were

sacrosanct throughout Arabia. If this be true, it was probably a

privilege earned by the miraculous defence of the Ka`ba, and is

sufficient to account for the rise of Meccan commerce of which we hear

much in the biography of the Prophet, and to which some verses of the

earliest part of the Koran allude; for merchants who were safe from

attacks by bandits would have an enormous advantage. The records seem,

however, to be inconsistent with this assertion; and the growth of the

Meccan commerce is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that after the

Abyssinian invasion pilgrimage to the Ka`ba became the practice of

numerous Arab tribes, and for four months in the year (selected by

Meccan priests) raiding was forbidden, in order to enable the pilgrimage

to be safely made. In addition to this it would seem that all Mecca

counted as sanctuary--i.e. no blood might under any circumstances be

shed there. The community lived by purveying to pilgrims and the

carrying trade; and both these operations led to the immigration of

strangers.

Mahomet's Family.

There seems to be no doubt that Mahomet was himself a member of the

tribe Koreish, and indeed too many of his relatives figure in history to

permit of his parentage being questioned. His cousin 'Ali, fourth

caliph, was the son of Abu Talib, whose name attests the historical

character of the kindred name `Abd al-Mottalib, Mahomet's grandfather:

for the fact that this name is in part enigmatical is certainly no

argument against its genuineness. In the 3rd century of Islam a document

was shown in which a man of San'a in Yemen acknowledged that he had

borrowed from `Abd al-Mottalib 1000 silver dirhems of the Hudaida

standard, and Allah with the two "angels" (probably a euphemism for the

goddesses Al-lat and al-`Uzza) served as witness; it is difficult to see

why such a document should have been forged. The name Hashim (for `Abd

al-Mottalib's father) may or may not be historical; here, as in the

ascending line throughout, we have subjects without predicates. The name

of `Abd al-Mottalib's son, who was Mahomet's father, is given as

`Abdallah; the correctness of this has been questioned, because "Servant

of Allah" would seem to be too appropriate, and the name was often given

by the Prophet to converts as a substitute for some pagan appellation.

This, however, is hypercritical, as the name of the father could not

easily be altered, when relatives abounded, and it would seem that at

one time the Prophet made no theological use of the name Allah, for

which he intended to substitute Rahman. The name of his mother is given

as Aminah, and with this one of his own titles, Amin, agrees; although

the Arabs do not appear to bring the two into connexion. Her father's

name is given as Wahb, and she is brought into relation with a Medinese

tribe called the Banu `Adi b. al-Najjar, to whom she is said to have

brought her son in his early infancy. The circumstances may have been

suggested by his later connexion with that place; yet in what seems a

historical narrative her grave is mentioned as known to be at Abwa,

midway between the two cities, whence this early bond between the

Prophet and his future home may have really existed.

His own name is given in the Koran in the forms Ahmad and the familiar

Muhammad; in contemporary poetry we also find the form Mahmud. Similar

variation between derivatives from the same root is found in proper

names which occur in early poetry; the meaning of all would be "the

praised," if the root be given its Arabic signification--"the desired"

if interpreted from the Hebrew.

The form Muhammad (ordinarily transliterated Mohammed; Mahomet,

Mehmet, &c., represent the Turkish pronunciation) is found in a

pre-Islamic inscription, and appears to have been fairly common in

Arabia. In Hag. ii. 7 a derivative of the Hebrew equivalent root

occurs in the prophecy "and the desired of all nations shall come,"

and this passage has suggested the idea that the name may have been

taken by the Prophet as the equivalent of "Messiah," while the Moslems

themselves find its equivalent in the _Paraclete_ of the Fourth

Gospel, though this identification requires more ingenuity. His

_kunyah_ (i.e. the Arab title of respect, in which a man is called

after his son) is Abu'l-Qasim; other names by which he is called are

titles of honour, e.g. Mustafa "chosen." (See further the genealogical

table, _ad fin._)

Early Life.

In the Koran, Allah says that He found the Prophet an orphan, poor and

astray; it is possible that all these expressions should be understood

figuratively, like the "poor, naked, blind" of Christian hymns; the

Arabs, however, take them literally, and Mahomet is said to have been a

posthumous child, whose mother died a few months or years after his

birth, and who was brought up first by his grandfather, and then by his

uncle Abu Talib, one of the poorer members of the family; in the

controversy between the Alid and Abbasid pretenders of the 2nd century

of Islam the Abbasid Mansur claims that his ancestor fed the ancestor of

`Ali, i.e. Abu Talib, otherwise he would have had to beg. There was

evidently an apparent inconsistency between Mahomet's being a poor

orphan and the favourite grandchild of the eminent and wealthy `Abd

al-Mottalib; and it was solved in this way. There was a tradition that

in his early years he was sent into the desert to acquire the habits and

the language of the Bedouins; and this seems to have been attested by

the Prophet himself. In a tribal fight he is said to have acted as

armour-bearer to one of his uncles, Zubair. There seems no doubt that he

often accompanied Meccan caravans to the countries with which the

Meccans had trade relations; such especially were Syria and south

Arabia, and perhaps Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is conceivable that he may

have visited Abyssinia by sea. For though accurate knowledge is nowhere

to be found in the Koran, it exhibits a large amount of miscellaneous

information, such as a trader might well pick up. His career as a

caravan-conductor appears to have terminated with his marriage to

Khadija, daughter of Khuwailid, represented by the tradition as a

wealthy widow, fifteen years his senior and forty years of age at the

time of the union. As she became the mother of a numerous family, a

special rule was discovered by Moslem physiologists extending the

child-bearing period of Korashite women beyond that of others. Since it

is claimed for Mahomet that he first gave Arab women the right to

inherit property, the difficulty noticed is not the only one connected

with this marriage; and Robertson Smith has called attention to some

others, unconnected with his theory of "marriage and kinship in early

Arabia." After his marriage Mahomet appears to have been partner in a

shop in Mecca; where he apparently sold agricultural produce. His style

is strongly marked by phrases and metaphors drawn from trade, though as

a statesman he never displayed any financial ability.

Education.

Writing in the monumental script of South Arabia had been known for

centuries in the peninsula; and shortly before the rise of Islam a

cursive script--the parent of the ordinary Arabic character--had been

started in the Christian state of Hira, with which the beginnings of

modern Arabic literature are connected. A modification of this had been

introduced into Mecca, and was probably used for contracts and similar

documents. The word _ummi_, literally "popular" or "plebeian" (according

to one etymology), applied to Mahomet in the Koran, is said to mean "one

who can neither read nor write," and the most generally accepted view is

that he could do neither, a supposition which enters into the doctrine

of the miraculous nature of the Koran. According to another

interpretation the word means "Meccan," i.e. native of "the Mother of

the Villages" (_Umm al-Qura_); and the most probable theory is that he

could do both, but unskilfully. Indeed on one historic occasion he

erased certain words in a document; and where in the Koran he rebuts the

charge of "taking notes," he does not employ the obvious retort that he

could not write, but gives a far less convincing answer. For poetry,

which seems to have been cultivated in Arabia long before his time, he

possessed no ear; but we have little reason for supposing that either

writing or versification had yet entered into Arabian education. The

former would be acquired by those who needed it, the latter was regarded

as a natural gift. There is reason for thinking the language of the

Koran incorrect and ungrammatical in parts, but as it afterwards became

the ultimate standard of classical Arabic, this point is not easy to

prove. On the whole then his early life seems to have been such as was

normal in the case of a man belonging to one of the more important

families in a community which had not long been started on a career of

prosperity.

Social System.

Of the organization of that community we unfortunately know very little,

though we hear of a council-chamber, and, as has been seen, of an

age-qualification for admission to it. It is, however, certain that the

theory of decision by majority was absolutely unknown to Mahomet's

second successor, whence we learn little from this tradition (even if it

be authentic) of the mode whereby the tribes who together formed the

Meccan population managed their common concerns, whether commercial or

political. The form of government seems to have been a rudimentary

oligarchy, directed by some masterful individual; before the Flight we

read of various prominent personages, after the Flight and the battle of

Badr (A.H. 2) one chieftain, Abu Sofian (see CALIPHATE, _ad init._),

appears to take the lead whether in war or in policy. It would seem,

however, that the right of independent action belonged to the individual

tribes, even to the extent of refusing to take part in a campaign. For

the settlement of ordinary disputes recourse was had (it appears) rather

to soothsayers, near or distant, than to any regularly constituted

authority or tribunal. On the other hand we are furnished with a list of

officials who were concerned with different parts of the festal

performances and the ordinary worship. Of these we may mention the

Custodian of the Ka`ba, and the official whose duty was _siqayah_

("watering"), said to mean furnishing the pilgrims with water, but more

ingeniously interpreted in recent times as "rain-bringing," a function

which even in the 2nd century of Islam the governor in some places was

supposed to exercise.

Beginnings of the Mission.

Of Arabian paganism we possess no trustworthy or complete account; since

we hear of no theological literature belonging to it, probably no such

account could have been given. There were doubtless a variety of

practices, many of which have been continued to this day in the

ceremonies of the pilgrimage, and offerings of different sorts to

various deities, interpreted variously by the worshippers in accordance

with their spiritual, intellectual and moral levels; e.g. as actual

stones, or as men (or more often women) residing in the stones or

otherwise connected with them, or bearing a similar relation to trees,

or stars, &c. In general every tribe had its patron of the kind, and

where there were aggregations of tribes, connexions were established

between these deities, and affiliation-theories excogitated; hence the

theory attributed in the Koran to the Meccans that the goddesses

al-`Uzza, &c. were the daughters of Allah, may well represent the

outcome of such speculation. These, however, were known to few, whereas

the practices were familiar to all. Some of these were harmless, others

barbarous; many offensive, but not very reprehensible, superstitions.

External Influences.

Before Mahomet's time Arabian paganism had already been attacked both

from the outside and from the inside. On the one hand the northern

tribes had gradually been christianized, owing to the influence of the

Byzantine empire; on the other hand south Arabia had fallen successively

under Jewish, Abyssinian and Persian influence; and the last, though

little is known of Persian rule, is unlikely to have favoured pagan

cults. Christianity had also some important representation in Najran far

south of Mecca, while Jewish settlements were prospering north of Mecca

in the Prophet's future home Yathrib and its neighbourhood. Power,

civilization and learning were thus associated with monotheism

(Judaism), dualism (Mazdaism) and tritheism (as the Arabs interpreted

Christianity); paganism was the religion of ignorance (_jahiliyyah_,

interpreted by Goldziher as "barbarism," but the difference is not very

considerable). Mecca itself and the neighbouring and allied Taif are

said to have produced some monotheists or Christians, who identified the

_Allah_ of Mecca with the _Allaha_ or God of the Syrian Christians,

called by the Abyssinian Christians "Lord of the Regions," and by the

Jews "the Merciful" (_Rahmana_); one such is said to have been a cousin

of Khadija, Mahomet's wife; his name is given as Waraqah, son of Naufal,

and he is credited with copying or translating a Gospel. We even hear of

flagellant monks and persons vowed to total abstinence among the

precursors of Islam.

With these persons Mahomet had little in common, since they do not

appear to have claimed to enforce their views upon others, or to have

interfered with politics. He appears mainly to have been struck by the

personality of the founders of the systems dominant in the civilized

world, and to have aspired from the first to occupy the place of

legislator or mouthpiece of the Deity; and that he was this was and is

the main proposition of the Mahommedan creed. The "Prophet" or "Apostle"

(at different times he employed both the Jewish and the Christian

phrase) was the divinely appointed dictator of his community; if he were

not obeyed, divine vengeance would overtake the disobedient. At this

proposition Mahomet arrived by induction from the records of the

Biblical prophets, as well as others who seem to have figured in Arabian

mythology, e.g. the destruction of the tribe Thamud (mentioned by Pliny,

and therefore historical) for their disobedience to their prophet Salih,

and of `Ad (probably mythical) for their similar treatment of Hud. The

character of the message did not affect the necessity for obedience; at

times it was condemnation of some moral offence, at others a trivial

order. Divine vengeance overtook those who disobeyed either.

The Prophet's Call.

This is the theory of the prophetic office which pervades the Koran,

wherein the doctrine is formulated that every nation had its divine

guide and that Mecca before Mahomet's time had none. This place, then,

Mahomet felt a divine call to fill. But we are never likely to ascertain

what first put the idea into his mind. The fables which his biographers

tell on this subject are not worth repeating; his own system, in which

he is brought into direct communication with the Deity, though at a

later period the angel Gabriel appears to have acted as intermediary,

naturally leaves no room for such speculations; and since his

dispensation was thought to be absolutely new, and to make a _tabula

rasa_ of the pagan past, his first followers, having broken with that

past, left no intelligible account of the state of affairs which

preceded their master's call. Some generations therefore elapsed before

that past was studied with any sort of sympathy, and details could not

then be recovered, any more than they can now be supplied by conjecture.

So far as Mahomet may be said from the first to have formulated a

definite notion of his work, we should probably be right in thinking it

to be the restoration of the religion of Abraham, or (as the Koran calls

him) Ibrahim. Though we have no reason for supposing the name of Abraham

or Ishmael to have been known in Mecca generally before Mahomet's time,

the Biblical ethnology was not apparently questioned by those who were

told of it, and there are stories, not necessarily apocryphal, of

precursors of Mahomet going abroad in search of the "religion of

Abraham." One feature of that system, associated in the Bible with the

name of Ishmael as well, was circumcision, which was actually observed

by the Meccan tribes, though it would appear with technical differences

from the Jewish method; the association of monotheism with it would seem

reasonable enough, in view of Jewish traditions, such as Mahomet may

have heard on his travels; why the doctrine of the future life should be

coupled with it is less obvious. That the Meccan temple and its rites

had been founded by these two patriarchs appears to have been deduced by

Mahomet himself, but perhaps at a later stage of his career. That these

rites, so far as they were idolatrous, were in flagrant defiance of the

religion of Abraham must have struck any one who accepted the accounts

of it which were current among Jews and Christians. The precursors,

however, appear to have felt no call to reform their fellow-citizens;

whereas it is evident that Mahomet regarded himself as charged with a

message, which he was bound to deliver, and which his God would in some

way render effective.

As it was obvious that the claim to be God's mouthpiece was to claim

autocracy, Mahomet employed the utmost caution in his mode of asserting

this claim; on the question of his sincerity there have been different

opinions held, and it is not necessary to take any view on this matter.

For three years his followers were a secret society; and this period

appears to have been preceded by one of private preparation, the first

revelation being received when the Prophet was in religious

retirement--a ceremony called _tahannuth_, of which the meaning is

uncertain, but which can have no connexion with the Hebrew _tehinnoth_

("supplications")--on Mount Hira, near Mecca.

The Koran.

If the traditional dates assigned to the _suras_ (chapters) of the Koran

(q.v.) are correct, the earliest revelations took the form of pages or

rolls which the Prophet was to read by the "grace of God," as Joseph

Smith, the founder of the Mormon community, said of the power given him

to read the "Egyptian" characters on the gold plates which he had found.

The command to read is accompanied by the statement that "his most

generous Lord had taught man by the pen (_calamus_) that which he did

not know." Waraqah, to whom the event is said to have been communicated

by Khadija, called these communications "the Greater Law (_nomos_)." The

Prophet was directed to communicate his mission at the first only to his

nearest relatives. The utterances were from the first in a sort of

rhyme, such as is said to have been employed for solemn matter in

general, e.g. oracles or prayers. At an early period the production of a

written communication was abandoned for oral communications, delivered

by the Prophet in trance; their delivery was preceded by copious

perspiration, for which the Prophet prepared (in accordance with

instructions found in the Koran) by wrapping himself in a blanket.

Trusty followers were instructed to take these utterances down, but the

phenomena which accompanied their delivery at least in one case

suggested imposture to the scribe, who apostatized in consequence. It is

extraordinary that there is no reason to suppose that any official

record was ever kept of these revelations; the Prophet treated them

somewhat as the Sibyl did her leaves. This carelessness is equally

astounding whether the Prophet was sincere or insincere.

If the matter afterwards collected in the Koran be genuine, the early

revelations must have been miscellaneous in content, magical, historical

and homiletic. To some strange oaths are prefixed. Apparently the

purpose to be compassed was to convince the audience of their miraculous

origin. The formulation of doctrines belongs to a later period and that

of jurisprudence to the latest of all. In that last period also, when

Mahomet was despot of Medina, the Koran served as an official chronicle,

well compared by Sprenger to the leading articles on current events in a

ministerial organ. Where the continuous paragraph is substituted for the

ejaculation, the divine author apologizes for the style.

Certain doctrines and practices (e.g. washing of the person and the

garments) must have been enjoined from the first, but our authorities

scarcely give us any clear notion what they were. The doctrines to which

the Prophet himself throughout assigned most value seem to have been the

unity of God and the future life, or resurrection of the body. The

former necessitated the abandonment of the idolatrous worship which

formed part of the daily life of Mecca, and in which Mahomet and Khadija

had been accustomed to take their part. Yet it seems to have been due to

the initiative of the proselytes themselves rather than to the Prophet's

orders that the Meccan worship was actually flouted by them; for the

anecdote which represents the Prophet and his young cousin attempting to

pull down the images in or about the Ka'ba appears to be apocryphal. The

first Moslem ceremony would appear to have been the religious meeting

for the purpose of hearing the delivery of revelations, of which after

the Prophet's death the sermon (_khutbah_) took the place. After various

provisional meeting-places, the house of one al-Arqam on Mt. Safa was

adopted for this purpose; and here proselytes were initiated.

Growth of the Early Community.

The names which the new community received from its founder are both

philological puzzles; for the natural sense of Moslem (_Muslim_) appear

to be "traitors," and to this a contemporary war-song of Mahomet's

enemies alludes; while _Hanif_ (especially applied in the Koran to

Abraham) seems to be the Hebrew word for "hypocrite." The former is

explained in the Koran to mean "one who hands over his face or person to

God," and is said to have been invented by Abraham; of the latter no

explanation is given, but it seems to signify from the context

"devotee." Since the divine name _Rahman_ was at one time favoured by

Mahomet, and this was connected with one Maslama of the tribe Hanifa,

who figures in politics at the end of Mahomet's career but must have

been a religious leader far earlier, it has been suggested that the

names originally belonged to Maslama's community. The honour of having

been Mahomet's first convert is claimed for three persons: his wife

Khadija, his cousin Ali, who must have been a lad at the commencement of

the mission, and Abu Bekr, son of Abu Quhafah, afterwards Mahomet's

first successor. This last person became Mahomet's _alter ego_, and is

usually known as the _Siddiq_ (Heb. word signifying "the saint," but to

the Arabs meaning "faithful friend)". His loyalty from first to last was

absolutely unswerving; he was selected to accompany Mahomet on the most

critical occasion of his life, the Flight from Mecca; Mahomet is said to

have declared that had he ever made a confidant of any one, that person

would have been Abu Bekr; implying that there were things which were not

confided even to him. The success of the Prophet's enterprise seems to

have been very largely due to the part played by this adherent, who

possessed a variety of attainments which he put at Mahomet's service;

who when an intermediary was required was always ready to represent him,

and who placed the commendation of the Prophet above every other

consideration, private or public. The two appear to have regularly laid

siege to those persons in Mecca whose adherence was desirable; and the

ability which many of the earlier converts afterwards displayed, whether

as statesmen or generals, is a remarkable testimony to their power of

gauging men. It seems clear that the growth of wealth in Mecca had led

to the accentuation of the difference between persons of different

station, and that many were discontented with the oligarchy which

governed the city. Converts could, therefore, be won without serious

difficulty among the aliens and in general those who suffered under

various disqualifications. Some members of the Jewish community seem

also to have joined; and some relics of the Abyssinian expedition (i.e.

descendants of the invaders). Among the most important converts of the

Meccan period were Mahomet's uncle Hamza, afterwards for his valour

called "the Lion of God"; 'Abd al-Rahman (Abdar-rahman) son of 'Auf;

Othman, son of 'Affan, who married two of the Prophet's daughters

successively, and was Mahomet's third successor; and, more important

than any save Abu Bekr, Omar, son of al-Khattab, a man of extraordinary

force of character, to whom siege seems to have been laid with

extraordinary skill. At some time he received the honourable title

_Faruq_ ("Deliverer"); he is represented as regularly favouring force,

where Abu Bekr favoured gentle methods; unlike Abu Bekr, his loyalty was

not always above suspicion. His adherence is ascribed to the period of

publicity.

The secrecy which marked its early years was of the greatest value for

the eventual success of the mission; for when Mahomet came forward

publicly he was already the head of a band of united followers. His own

family appear to have been either firm adherents, or violent enemies, or

lukewarm and temporizing--this is the best which can be said for 'Abbas,

eponymus of the Abbasid dynasty; or finally espousers of his cause, on

family grounds, but not as believers.

First Period of Publicity.

Rejecting accounts of Mahomet's first appearance as a public preacher,

which are evidently comments on a text of the Koran, we have reason for

supposing that his hand was forced by ardent followers, who many times

in his career compelled him to advance. The astute rulers of the

community perceived that the claim made by Mahomet was to be dictator or

autocrat; and while this was naturally ridiculed by them, some appear to

have been devoted adherents of the gods or goddesses whom he attacked.

The absence of dated documents for the period between this open

proclamation (which in any case commenced before 616) and the Flight to

Medina in 622 renders the course of events somewhat conjectural, though

certain details appear to be well established. Apparently there was a

war of words, followed by a resort to diplomacy and then to force; and

then a period in which Mahomet's attention was directed to foreign

conversions, resulting in his being offered and accepting the

dictatorship of Yathrib.

Of the war of words we have an imperfect record in the Meccan suras of

the Koran, which occasionally state the objections urged by the

opponents. In the course of the debate the theological position of both

parties seems to have shifted, and the knowledge of both was probably

increased in various ways. The miracle of the Koran, which at first

consisted in its mode of production, was transformed into a marvel

connected with its contents; first by Mahomet's claiming to tell

historical narratives which had previously been unknown to him;

afterwards by the assertion that the united efforts of mankind and Jinn

would be unable to match the smallest passage of the Koran in sublimity.

Probably the first of these claims could not be long maintained, though

A. J. Davis, "the Seer of Poughkeepsie," in our own time brought a

similar one in regard to his _Principles of Nature_. Indeed both parties

evidently resorted to external aid. To those who undertook to name the

man who dictated stories of the ancients to Mahomet day and night, he

replied that the individual whom they had in mind was a foreigner,

whereas the Koran was in pure Arabic. This was obviously a quibble, for

it was scarcely asserted that he delivered the matter dictated to him

without alteration. The purity of the Arabic also appears to have been

very questionable; for several expressions appear to be Ethiopic rather

than Arabic, and the person whom the Meccans had in mind is likely to

have been an Abyssinian Christian, since the Christian technicalities of

the Koran are mainly derived from the Ethiopic Gospels and Acts. On one

occasion when some questions suggested by learned foreigners had been

propounded to the Prophet he required a fortnight's delay before the

revelation which solved them came; the matter contained in his reply was

certainly such as required research. His sources of information seem at

all times to have been legendary rather than canonical; and the

community which seemed to his opponents to agree best with his views was

that of the Sabians or Mandaeans (qq.v.).

It has been suggested that Mahomet first threatened the Meccans with

temporal punishment, and only when this threat failed to take effect

resorted to the terrors of the Day of Judgment and the tortures of Hell;

it seems however a mistake to distinguish between the two. These threats

provided the Prophet with his most powerful sermons. The boasts of

incomparable eloquence which the Koran contains are evidence that his

oratorical power was effective with his audiences, since the more

successful among the Arabic poets talk of their compositions somewhat in

the same way. These discourses certainly led to occasional conversions,

perhaps more frequently among women than men.

The Exiles in Axum.

The diplomatic war seems to have been due to the Prophet's increasing

success, which led to serious persecution of Mahomet's less influential

followers, though, as has been seen, no blood could be shed in Mecca.

Abu Talib, moreover, prevented him from being exiled, though he probably

had to endure many personal insults. Something however had to be done

for the persecuted Moslems, and (perhaps at the suggestion of his

Abyssinian helper) Mahomet endeavoured to find a refuge for them in the

realm of Axum. Abyssinia was doubtless connected in every Meccan mind

with the "Expedition of the Elephant"; and such an alliance secured by

Mahomet was a menace to the existence of the Meccan community. A

deputation was therefore sent by the Meccan leaders to demand

extradition of the exiles; and as chief of this expedition the future

conqueror of Egypt, 'Amr b. al-'As (see 'AMR IBN EL-ASS), first figures

in history. To frustrate his efforts Mahomet sent his cousin Ja'far

armed with an exposition of the Prophet's beliefs and doctrines

afterwards embodied in the Koran as the Sura of Mary (No. XIX.; though

with the addition of some anti-Christian matter). The original document

contained an account of the Nativity of Christ with various miracles not

known to either the canonical or even the apocryphal gospels which have

been preserved, but which would be found edifying rather than unorthodox

by a church one of whose most popular books is _The Miracles of the

Virgin Mary_. To this there were added certain notices of Old Testament

prophets. The Abyssinian king and his ecclesiastical advisers took the

side of Mahomet and his followers, whom they appear to have regarded as

persecuted Christians; and an attempt made probably by the astute 'Amr

to embroil them with the Abyssinians on the difficult question of the

Natures of Christ failed completely. There seems reason for thinking

that the Abyssinian king contemplated bringing back the exiles by force,

but was diverted from this purpose by frontier wars; meanwhile they were

safely harboured, though they seem to have suffered from extreme

poverty. The want of an Abyssinian chronicle for this period is a

serious disadvantage for the study of Islamic origins. The sequel shows

that regular correspondence went on between the exiles and those who

remained in Mecca, whence the former were retained within the fold of

Islam, with occasional though rare apostasies to Christianity.

Mahomet's diplomatic victory roused the Meccan leaders to fury, and they

decided on the most vigorous measures to which they could rise; Abu

Talib, Mahomet's protector, and the clan which acknowledged him as

_sheikh_, including the Prophet and his family, were blockaded in the

quarter which they occupied; as in other sanctuaries, though blood might

not be shed, a culprit might be starved to death. That this did not

occur, though the siege appears to have lasted some months at least, was

due to the weak good nature of the Meccans, but doubtless also to the

fact that there were enlisted on Mahomet's side many men of great

physical strength and courage (as their subsequent careers proved), who

could with impunity defy the Meccan embargo. After a time however the

besieged found the situation intolerable, and any assistance which they

might have expected from the king of Axum failed to come. The course

adopted by Mahomet was retractation of those of his utterances which had

most offended the Meccans, involving something like a return to

paganism. A revelation came acknowledging the effectiveness of the

Meccan goddesses as well as Allah, and the Meccans raised the siege.

News of the reconciliation reached the Abyssinian exiles and they

proceeded to return.

By the time they reached the Arabian coast the dispute had recommenced.

The revelation was discovered to be a fabrication of the Devil, who, it

appears, regularly interpolates in prophetic revelations; such at least

is the apology preserved in the Koran, whence the fabricated verses have

been expunged. Since our knowledge of this episode (regarded as the most

disgraceful in the Prophet's career) is fragmentary, we can only guess

that the Prophet's hand had once more been forced by the more earnest of

his followers, for whom any compromise with paganism was impossible. The

exiles went back to Abyssinia; and about this time both Abu Talib and

Khadija died, leaving the Prophet unprotected.

He fled to the neighbouring oasis of Taif, where wealthy Meccans had

possessions, and where the goddess al-`Uzza was worshipped with special

zeal--where she is said still to exist in the form of a block of stone.

He had but little success there in proselytizing, and indeed had to

cease preaching; but he opened negotiations with various Meccan magnates

for a promise of protection in case of his return. This was at last

obtained with difficulty from one Mot`im b. `Adi. It would appear that

his efforts were now confined to preaching to the strangers who

assembled at or near Mecca for the ceremonies connected with the feasts.

He received in consequence some invitations to come and expound his

views away from Mecca, but had to wait some time before one came of a

sort which he could wisely accept.

The Flight to Yathrib.

The situation which led to Mahomet's Flight (_hijra_, anglicized

incorrectly _hejira_, q.v.) was singularly favourable to Mahomet's

enterprise, and utilized by him with extraordinary caution and skill. At

the palm plantation called Yathrib, afterwards known as _al-Medina_,

Medina, "the City" (i.e. of the Prophet), there were various tribes, the

two most important, called Aus and Khazraj, being pagan, and engaged in

an internecine feud, while under their protection there were certain

Jewish tribes, whose names have come down to us as Qainuqa, Nadir and

Quraiza--implying that the Israelites, as might be expected, imitated

the totem nomenclature of their neighbours. The memory of these

Israelites is exclusively preserved by the Moslem records; the main

stream of Jewish history flowed elsewhere. In the series of combats

between the Aus and Khazraj the former had generally been worsted; the

Jews, as usual, had avoided taking any active part in the fray. Finally,

owing to an act of gross perfidy, they were compelled to fight in aid of

the Aus; and in the so-called battle of Bu`ath the Aus aided by the Jews

had won a victory, doubtless attributed to the God of the Jews. As has

been seen, the divine name employed by Mahomet (_Rahman_) was one

familiar to the Jews; and the Yathribites who visited Mecca at

feast-time were naturally attracted by a professed representative of

al-Rahman. The first Yathribite converts appear to have been

Khazrajites, and one As`ad, son of Zurarah, is the most prominent

figure. Their idea may have been in the first place to secure the aid of

the Israelitish Deity in their next battle with the Aus, and indeed the

primary object of their visit to Mecca is said to have been to request

assistance for their war. For this the plan was substituted of inviting

the Prophet to come to Mecca as dictator, to heal the feud and restore

order, a procedure to which Greek antiquity offers parallels. The new

converts were told to carry on secret propaganda in Yathrib with this

end in view. At the next feast some of the rival faction embraced Islam.

A trusty follower of Mahomet, Mus'ab b.'Umair, who resembled Mahomet in

personal appearance, was sent to Yathrib to assist in the work. The

correspondence between this person and the Prophet would, if we

possessed it, be of the greatest value for the study of Islamic

antiquity. We first hear at this time of _the conditions of Islam_, i.e.

a series of undertakings into which the convert entered: namely, to

abstain from adultery, theft, infanticide and lying, and to obey Mahomet

_in licitis et honestis_. The wholesale conversion of Yathrib was

determined by that of two chieftains, Usaid b. Huraith and Sa'd b.

Mu'adh, both Ausites. The example of these was quickly followed, and

iconoclasm became rife in the place. At the next Meccan feast a

deputation of seventy Yathribites brought Mahomet a formal invitation,

which he accepted, after imposing certain conditions. The interviews

between Mahomet and the Yathribites are known as the _'Aqabah_ (probably

with reference to a text of the Koran). The attitude of the Jews towards

the project appears to have been favourable.

The Refugees.

Among the conditions imposed by Mahomet on his new adherents appears to

have been the protection and harbouring of the older proselytes, whom

Mahomet most wisely determined to send before him to Yathrib, where, in

the event of the Yathribite loyalty wavering, they could be counted on

with certainty. The welcome given these refugees (_muhajirun_), as they

were from this time known in contra-distinction to the helpers (_ansar_)

or allies from Yathrib, is said to have been of the warmest; a Helper

with two wives would hand one over to a wifeless Refugee. A yet more

important condition which preceded the Flight was readiness to fight men

of all colours in defence of the faith.

Although the transactions with the people of Yathrib had been carried on

with profound secrecy, the nature of Mahomet's contract with his new

adherents was somewhat divulged to the Meccan magnates, and the danger

of allowing an implacable enemy to establish himself on the high-road of

their north-bound caravans flashed upon them. The rule which forbade

bloodshed in the sacred city had at last to be suspended; but elaborate

precautions were to be taken whereby every tribe (except Mahomet's own

clan) should have their share in the guilt, which would thus be spread

over the whole community fairly. When the committee appointed to

perpetrate the crime reached Mahomet's house, they found that it was too

late; Mahomet had already departed, leaving Ali in his bed.

The actual Flight from Mecca to Yathrib has naturally been a favourite

subject for romance, and indeed appears to have been executed with the

greatest cunning. Accompanied by Abu Bekr only, Mahomet took refuge in a

cave of Mt Thaur, in the opposite direction to that which he intended to

take finally, and there remained for three days; provision had been made

of every requisite, food, powerful camels, a trusty and competent guide.

The date at which he reached Kuba, on the outskirts of Yathrib, where

there was already some sort of Moslem oratory, is given as 8 Rabia I.,

of the year A.H. 1; the fact that he arrived there on the Jewish Day of

Atonement gives us the date September 20, 622. The Meccans, who had

employed professional trackers to hunt down the fugitives, proceeded to

confiscate the houses and goods of Mahomet and of his followers who had

fled.

Mahomet as Despot of Yathrib.

The safe arrival of Mahomet at his destination marks the turning-point

in his career, which now became one of almost unbroken success; his

intellectual superiority over both friends and enemies enabling him to

profit by defeat little less than by victory. His policy appears to have

been to bind his followers to himself and them to each other by every

possible tie; he instituted brotherhoods between the Refugees and

Helpers, which were to count as relationships for legal purposes, and

having himself no sons, he contracted numerous marriages partly with the

same end in view; e.g. with the infant daughter of Abu Bekr, Ayesha

('A'ishah), whose ability he appears to have discerned; and the

unamiable Hafsa, daughter of Omar. Of his own daughters three were given

to faithful allies, the one by whom his line is supposed to have been

continued to our time, Fatima, was reserved for his cousin Ali. Owing to

his efforts the alliance between the Refugees and Helpers resisted

numerous attempts on the part of enemies to break it up, and only

towards the end of the Prophet's life, when he appeared to favour

Meccans unduly, do we hear of any bitterness between the two

communities.

The Medina Community.

The population of Yathrib, or, as it may now be called, Medina, soon

divided into three groups: Mahomet's united followers; the Jews; and a

party known as the "Hypocrites," i.e. professing Moslems, who were

lukewarm, or disaffected, among whom the most prominent is `Abdallah b.

Ubayy, a Khazrajite chieftain, who is said to have himself aspired to be

despot of Yathrib, and who till nearly the end of Mahomet's career

figures somewhat as a leader of the opposition; of his importance there

is no question, but the reason for it and the mode whereby he made it

felt are often obscure. It would seem that the pagans remaining in

Yathrib speedily adopted Islam after the Prophet's arrival, whence we

hear little of serious opposition on their part. Coming in the capacity

of prophet of the Israelitish God, Mahomet at first seems to have

courted alliance with the Jews, and to have been ready to adopt their

system with very slight modifications--similar to those which, according

to his opinion, Jesus had come to introduce. The Jews met these advances

by submitting him to examination in the intricacies of the _Torah_, and,

finding him very poorly equipped, proceeded to denounce him as an

imposter; one of his examiners is said to have even translated the

_Torah_ into Arabic with a view of convicting him of ignorance and

imposture. They are' further charged with exercising their magical arts

on the Prophet and his followers, and to have succeeded thereby in

producing barrenness among the Moslem women. Their conduct must not of

course be judged by the statement of their enemies; it is however clear

that Mahomet soon found that there was no possibility of compromising

with them on religious questions, or of obtaining their loyal support;

meanwhile he discovered that they were incapable of united and

persistent action, and useless as warriors except against each other. He

therefore resolved on their extermination. His ruthlessness in their

case compared with his patience and forbearance in the case of the

"Hypocrites" was consistent with his principle (always faithfully

observed) that no inquiry was permissible into the motives of

conversion, and with his division of mankind into the two antagonistic

factions Believers and Unbelievers. The latter principle, as will be

seen, was somewhat modified before the end of his life.

Development of Islam.

Mahomet's failure to effect a compromise with the Jews caused a reaction

in his mind towards paganism, and after about a year's residence at

Medina the direction of prayer, which had till then been towards

Jerusalem, was turned southward to the pagan temple at Mecca. With this

change we may perhaps couple the adoption of the name _Allah_ for the

Deity; in the Moslem formula "in the Name of Allah the Rahman the

Merciful," the translation attached to the word _Rahman_, and the

prefixing to it of the name _Allah_ furnish clear evidence of

theological transition, though the stages are not recorded; we know,

however, that the Meccans approved of the name _Allah_, but objected to

the name _Rahman_. Prayer (_salat_), said to have been prescribed on the

occasion of the Prophet's ascent into heaven after a miraculous journey

from Mecca to Jerusalem, began to assume a stereotyped form in the place

of assembly built by Mahomet immediately after his arrival; the

attitudes of prayer in use among many communities (e.g. the Jewish

standing, the prostration of some Christian sects) were combined. In

general it was Mahomet's principle, while taking over a practice from

some other sect, to modify it so as to render the Moslem method

absolutely distinct; thus when a summons to prayer became requisite, a

new mode (by the voice of a crier called _muaddhin_ or _muezzin_) was

preferred to the Christian hammer; a new sacred day was adopted, in lieu

of the Jewish Saturday and the Christian Sunday, in the weekday on which

he had safely reached Kuba, Friday; but the sanctity was reduced to the

actual time occupied by public worship. On the subject of food he was

satisfied with the regulations of the Council of Jerusalem, recorded in

Acts xv.; which were observed by few if any Christian sects. The

prohibition of wine, which was enacted in A.H. 3, is said to have been

occasioned by the riotous conduct of one of his followers when under the

influence of liquor; Palgrave saw in it (perhaps with justice) a

deliberate attempt to prevent harmony between Moslems and Christians, in

whose most sacred rite wine is used. The Fast of Ramadan, in which food

both liquid and solid is forbidden from sunrise to sunset, is said to be

a pagan or semi-pagan institution; its importance for military training

and discipline is not likely to have been overlooked by the Prophet.

When the direction of prayer was altered, it is probable that Mahomet

already intended to introduce into his system the whole of the pagan

pilgrimage with its antique ceremonial (with, of course, a new

interpretation); before this he is supposed to have aimed at the

abolition of the Ka`ba and all that appertained to it.

The difference between religious and civil law has never been recognized

by Islamic jurists, whose manuals deal equally with the law of contract

and the amount of the body to be washed before prayer; the Prophet's

ordinances on both subjects were suggested by the occasion in each case,

and it would seem that the opinions of trusted advisers were regularly

heard before a revelation was issued. Even when this had been done the

ordinance might be cancelled by an abrogating revelation; it being "easy

for Allah" to substitute for a text already revealed another that was

better or at least as good.

As Islam began to spread outside the limits of Medina both conversion to

Islam and persistence therein were reduced to simple tests; the

pronunciation of the double formula of belief in Allah and Mahomet was

sufficient to indicate conversion, whilst payment of an income-tax,

called by the Jewish names for alms (_zakat_ and _sadaqah_), was

evidence of loyalty. This income-tax, of which the definite assessment

perhaps belongs to a later period, was for the support of necessitous

converts--an element in the community whose presence accounts for the

mode in which the development of the Islamic state proceeded.

First Campaigns of Mahomet.

The industries in which the Meccan Refugees had been engaged were not of

a sort which they could exercise at Medina, where the palm took the

place of the camel as the basis of society. Moreover the Prophet seems

to have given some disastrous advice on the subject of palmiculture, and

thereby to have accentuated the poverty of the place. He had, therefore,

to find some fresh source of revenue in order to deal with this

difficulty, and one of the Helpers is said to have suggested the plan

which he adopted, viz. of attacking the Meccan caravans. With this view

he organized a series of expeditions, taking the lead himself sometimes,

while at others he gave it to one of his veteran followers; and at first

only Refugees took part in them. The leaders of the caravans, however,

were expert in evading attacks of this sort, which were doubtless

regularly attempted by the desert tribes; and in the first year of his

despotism Mahomet did not score a single success of the kind intended.

The attempts were not wholly fruitless; for while on the one hand he

accustomed his followers to campaigning, on the other he made a series

of agreements with the chieftains of the tribes through whose territory

the caravans ordinarily passed. Finding continued failure intolerable,

he resolved to take advantage of his power to bind and to loose by

sending an expedition of seven men under his cousin `Abdallah b. Jahsh

to attack a caravan at the beginning of the sacred month Rajab, when, as

raiding during such a season was unknown, success was practically

certain. The commander on this, the Nakhlah raid, was given sealed

orders, to be opened after two days' march; the men were then to be

given the option of retiring, if they disapproved. Of this no one seems

definitely to have availed himself, and the raid ended successfully, for

considerable booty was captured, while of the four persons who escorted

the caravan two were made prisoners, one escaped, and one, `Amr b.

al-Hadrami, was killed; he was the first person slain fighting against

an Islamic force. The violation of the sacred month seems to have caused

considerable scandal in Arabia, but led to no serious consequence; on

the other hand the shedding of blood created a feud between the people

of Mecca and the Refugees, with whom the Meccans long declined to

identify the people of Medina. The fact that the man who had been killed

was a client, not a citizen, made no difference. The circumstance that

booty had been actually acquired appears to have helped the Prophet's

cause very considerably.

Attack on Meccan Caravan.

Both these consequences, the Meccan desire to avenge the blood that had

been shed and the anxiety of the Medinese to take part in a successful

raid, manifested themselves a few months later, when an expedition was

organized by Mahomet to attack a caravan returning from Syria, which had

escaped him the previous year. Many desired to take part in the raid,

and finally some 300 persons were selected, including a large number of

"Helpers." The leader of the caravan learned somehow that an attack was

being organized by Mahomet on a large scale, and sent to Mecca for aid,

while hurrying home by forced marches. This is the first historical

appearance of Abu Sofian (the leader of the caravan), who now for some

years played the part of president in the Meccan opposition to Mahomet,

and whose son was destined to found the second Mahommedan dynasty (see

CALIPHATE, B). The day before the battle to be fought at Badr, near the

point where the northern road leaves the coast to turn eastwards to

Mecca, the Moslem army learned that the Meccan succour (some 1000

strong) was near, but that the caravan had escaped. The Meccans, it is

asserted, would have returned home now that their object was secured,

but the patrons of the man who had been killed in the former raid were

compelled to strike for vengeance.

The battle (Ramadan 19, A.H. 2, usually made to synchronize with March

17, 624) ended in a complete victory for Mahomet, whose followers killed

seventy of the enemy and took seventy prisoners--if we may trust what

seem to be round numbers; it was attributed by him to divine

co-operation, taking the form of an illusion wrought on the enemy, and

the despatch of a regiment of angels to the assistance of the Believers,

while on the other hand the treachery of the Devil did mischief to the

Meccans. The popular tradition attributed it to the prowess of some of

Mahomet's followers, especially his uncle Hamza and his cousin Ali. In

the narratives which have come down and which seem to be authentic the

result is amply accounted for by the excellence of the Moslem discipline

and the complete absence of any on the Meccan side. Mahomet himself is

said to have fainted at the first sight of blood, and to have remained

during the battle in a hut built for him to which swift camels were

tied, to be used in case of a defeat; yet these accounts make him

responsible for the tactics, whilst assigning the credit for the

strategy to one Hobab b. al-Mondhir. Several of Mahomet's old enemies

and friends of Meccan days perished on this occasion; notably one Abu

Jahl, his uncle, but represented as an implacable enemy; another hostile

uncle, Abu Lahab, who is cursed in the Koran, was not present but died

shortly after the battle.

The day is called in the Koran by a Syriac expression the "Day of

Deliverance," and both for internal and external politics it was of

incalculable advantage to Islam. The booty and the ransoms of the

prisoners provided the means for dealing with distress; the story of

supernatural aid soothed the feelings of the defeated Meccans and had a

tendency to disarm resistance elsewhere; whilst Mahomet in the

popularity acquired by his victory was able to strike forcibly at his

enemies in Medina. One of the sequels to the victory was a series of

assassinations whereby critics of his actions were removed.

The Taking of Mecca.

The defeat at Badr naturally led to efforts on the part of the Meccans

to avenge their dead and besides to secure the commerce, by which they

lived, from an enemy who was gradually getting all the seaboard that lay

between Jeddah and Yanbo within his sphere of influence; and the year

after Badr (A.H. 3) Abu Sofian was able to lead a force said to be three

times as great as that which had been defeated, and so numbering some

3000 men, against Medina itself; part of it was under Khalid b.

al-Walid, one of the greatest of Arab captains, afterwards conqueror of

Syria. It is said that Mahomet's plan was to remain in Medina itself,

and leave it to the Meccan commander to discover some way of taking the

place; but that his hand was forced by his more ardent followers.

Others, however, assign this advice to Abdallah b. Ubayy, and make the

Prophet anxious to fight from the first. A battle was in consequence

fought under Mt Uhud (or Ohod), north-west of Medina, wherein Khalid

succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on Mahomet's forces; his uncle

Hamza, hero of Badr, was killed on this occasion. Fortunately for the

Moslems, the Meccans considered that they had finished their task when

they discovered that they had killed a number of the former equal to

those who had fallen at Badr on their own side; instead therefore of

pursuing their victory they went home. The immediate effect on Arabia

appears to have been to dissipate the illusion that the Prophet could

count on supernatural assistance in his wars; and we hear of some blows

being dealt him from outside. Meanwhile his relations towards the

Medinese Jews had grown more and more hostile, and these are credited

with doing their best to rouse the Meccans to a sense of the danger

which threatened them in the continuance of the Prophet's power, and in

general to stir up hostility against him in Arabia. Whether this part

was played by them or not, in the fifth year of the Prophet's stay at

Medina a fresh invasion of the territory took place by a vast

confederate force of Meccans with their allies, the tribes Fazarah,

Asad, Murrah, &c., to the number, it is said, of 10,000. This time the

intention of the leaders was undoubtedly to stamp out Islam. For the

first time in Arab warfare Mahomet resorted to the expedient of

defending his city by a trench, called by a Persian name, and suggested

by a Persian convert. But he also employed agents to sow dissension

among the confederates, and succeeded with this no less than with the

other expedient. After a brief stay, and scarcely striking a blow, the

confederacy dispersed, leaving the Jews who still remained in Medina to

the summary vengeance of the Prophet. The want of records written from

the Meccan standpoint renders the abortiveness of this last attempt at

storming the Prophet's stronghold scarcely intelligible.

From this time, however, the road towards the eventual taking of Mecca

became easy, and we are told that such was the importance attached to

that city throughout Arabia that its acquisition meant for the Prophet

the acquisition of the whole peninsula. The next year (A.H. 6) he deemed

it advisable to make a truce with the Meccans (the Truce of Hodaibiyah),

whereby he secured for his followers the right of performing the

pilgrimage in the following year; on this occasion he even consented to

forgo his title "Prophet of Allah," when the Meccans refused to sign a

deed in which it was employed, greatly to the scandal of his more

earnest followers, including Omar; they were however too deeply

committed to Islam to be able to defy the Prophet. When the pilgrimage

was performed (A.H. 7), Mahomet not only won important converts in the

persons of Khalid and the no less able `Amr b. al-`As, but in general

impressed the population with the idea that his was the winning side. An

excuse was easily found for invading Mecca itself in the following year,

when Abu Sofian took the opportunity of embracing Islam before it was

too late. Very little resistance was now made by the Meccans, whose

chiefs were already in Mahomet's camp, and Mahomet used his victory with

great moderation; his proscription list was finally reduced to two. The

theory that all offences were cancelled by conversion was loyally

observed. Moreover the Prophet incurred the displeasure of his Medinese

friends by the anxiety which he displayed to soothe the feelings of his

former enemies and antagonists. The Medinese, however, prevailed upon

him to maintain their city as his political capital, while making Mecca

the religious centre of his system; and this arrangement accounts

perhaps more than anything else for the persistence of the system amid

so many dynastic changes.

In the main he appears to have introduced little alteration into the

government of Mecca, and it is said that he even declined to retaliate

on those who had confiscated the possessions of the Refugees. Even the

Ka`ba was left in the keeping of its former custodian, though of course

its interior as well as its precincts were cleansed of all that could

offend monotheists. In the following year the pilgrimage was for the

first time conducted by a Moslem official, Abu Bekr. A proclamation was

made on that occasion, forbidding idolaters in future to take part in

the pilgrimage, and giving all Arabs who were not as yet converted four

months' grace before force was to be brought to bear upon them. In the

following year Mahomet conducted the Pilgrimage himself. This solemn

occasion (the "Farewell Pilgrimage") was also employed for the delivery

of an important proclamation, wherein the Prophet declared that God had

completed their religion. The principle whereon he specially insisted

was the brotherhood of Islam; but there is some difficulty in

enucleating the original sermon from later additions.

Conquest of Arabia.

It would seem that Mahomet's enterprise originally comprised the

conversion of Mecca only, and that he thought of himself as sent to his

fellow-citizens only, as had been the case with earlier prophets, whose

message was for their "brethren." His views took a somewhat different

direction after his brief exile to Taif, and the conquest of Arabia was

in a way forced upon him in the course of his struggle with the Meccans.

It is not indeed perfectly clear by what process he arrived at the

resolution to exclude paganism from Arabia; at first he appears to have

tolerated it at Medina, and in some of his earlier contracts with

neighbouring tribes he is represented as allowing it, though some of our

texts make him reserve to himself the right of enforcing Islam if he

chose; only the Meccans were at first, according to the most authentic

documents, excluded from all truce or treaty. At the battle of Badr he

appears to have formulated the rule that no one might fight on his side

who had not embraced Islam; and when once he had won fame as a

successful campaigner, those who wished to share his adventures had to

pass the Islamic test. After the battle of Uhud (Ohod) we hear of a

tribe demanding missionaries to instruct them in Islamic principles; and

though in the case recorded the demand was treacherous, the idea of

sending missionaries appears not to have been unfamiliar even then,

albeit the number sent (70), if rightly recorded, implies that the

Prophet suspected the good faith of the applicants. After the taking of

Mecca, whereby the chief sanctuary at any rate of north Arabia had been

cleared of all idolatrous associations, and consecrated to monotheism,

paganism in general was conscious of being attacked; and the city had

scarcely been brought under the new régime before the Prophet had to

face a confederation of tribes called Hawazin and Thaqif. The battle

which ensued, known as the Day of Honain, was near ending disastrously

for Islam; some of Mahomet's sturdiest followers fled; but the terrible

danger of a defeat in the neighbourhood of recently conquered Mecca

roused the Prophet and Ali to heroism, and they saved the day.

Emissaries were now sent far and wide demanding the destruction of

idols, and only Taif appears to have made any considerable resistance;

against this place for the first time the Prophet made use of siege

artillery, such as was employed by the Byzantines; though compelled by

the bravery of the inhabitants to raise the siege, he was afterwards

able to take the city by capitulation. It has been observed that here

only do we read of much attachment to the old deities; in most places

they were discarded with few regrets when once their impotence had been

found out. After the taking of Mecca and the victory of Honain there

appears to have been a general desire, extending even to the extreme

south of Arabia, to make the best terms with the conqueror so soon as

possible; iconoclasm became general. Flatterers of various kinds,

including poets, came to seek the favour of the sovereign; and a mock

war of words appears to have been substituted by some tribes for more

serious fighting, to terminate in surrender. For warfare of his sort

Mahomet had a powerful helper in the poet Hassan b. Thabit, for whose

effusions a pulpit was erected in the Medina mosque, and whose verses

were said to be inspired by the Holy Spirit; though, as has been seen,

Mahomet was not himself able to judge of their artistic merit. It was

not, however, found easy to enforce the payment of the alms on these new

converts; and this taxation caused an almost general revolt so soon as

Mahomet's death had been ascertained.

Plan of World-conquest.

Although the central portions of the peninsula in Mahomet's time were

practically independent, large portions of the north-west and south-east

were provinces of the Byzantine and Persian empires respectively, whence

any scheme for the conquest of Arabia would necessarily involve the

conqueror in war with these great powers. The conquest of Persia is said

to have been contemplated by the Prophet as early as A.H. 5, when the

famous Trench was being dug; but it was not till the year A.H. 7, on the

eve of the taking of Mecca, that the Prophet conceived the idea of

sending missives to all known sovereigns and potentates, promising them

safety if, but only if, they embraced Islam. The text of these letters,

which only varied in the name of the person addressed, is preserved

(doubtless faithfully) by the Moslem Oral Tradition; in the middle of

the last century a French explorer professed to discover in Egypt the

original of one of them--addressed to the mysterious personage called

the Muqauqis (Mukaukis) of Egypt--and this, it appears, is still

preserved amid other supposed relics of the Prophet in Constantinople,

though there is little reason for believing it to be genuine. The

anecdotes dealing with the reception of these letters by their

addressees are all fabulous in character. Two appear to have sent

favourable replies: the king of Axum, who now could send the exiles whom

he had so long harboured to their successful master; and the Egyptian

governor, who sent Mahomet a valuable present, including two Coptic

women for his harem. The emperor Heraclius is claimed as a secret

convert to Islam, on whom pressure had to be put by his advisers to

conceal his convictions. The Persian king is said to have sent orders to

have Mahomet arrested; his messengers arrived in Medina, but were unable

to carry out the commands of their master, who died while they were

there. Two of the letters are said to have had important results. One

was addressed to the Himyarite chiefs (called by the south Arabian

appellation _qail_) in Yemen, and effected their conversion; another to

the governor of Bostra in Roman Arabia, who put the bearer of this

insolent message to death; a force was despatched by Mahomet immediately

afterwards (beginning of A.H. 8) to avenge this outrage; and though the

Moslems were defeated in their first encounter with the Byzantine forces

at Mutah, they appear to have given a good account of themselves; it was

here that Ja`far, cousin of the Prophet, met his death. In A.H. 9 a

successful expedition was led by the Prophet himself northward, in

which, though no Byzantine force was encountered, a considerable region

was withdrawn from the Byzantine sphere of influence, and made either

Islamic or tributary to Islam. At the time of his death (of fever, after

a short illness) he was organizing an expedition for the conquest of

Syria.

Jewish and Christian Communities.

The Prophet claimed throughout that his revelation confirmed the Jewish

and Christian Scriptures, and this claim is on the whole reasonable,

though his acquaintance with both was in the highest degree vague and

inaccurate. Still he reproduced the Old Testament as faithfully as he

could, and though he patriotically endeavours to shed some lustre on his

supposed ancestor Ishmael, he does not appear to have questioned the

Biblical theory according to which the founder of the north Arabian

nations was the son of a slave girl. On neither the truth of the

Biblical history and miracles nor the validity of the Mosaic legislation

does he appear to have cast any doubt. He even allows that Israel was

the chosen people. The Gospel was known to him chiefly through

apocryphal and heretical sources, which cannot certainly be identified;

but he accepted the doctrine of the Virgin-birth, the miracles of

healing the sick and raising the dead, and the ascension; the

crucifixion and resurrection were clearly denied by the sect from whom

he had received his information, and rejected by him, though certainly

not because of any miracle which the latter involved. His quarrel with

the Jews at Medina appears to have been by no means of his own seeking,

but to have arisen unavoidably, owing to his particular view of his

office being such as they could not accept; and his attempt to

discredit, not the Mosaic Law, but the form in which they presented it,

was an expedient to which he resorted in self-defence. An attempt was

made shortly after his arrival at Medina to settle the relations between

the two communities by a treaty, according to which, while their

equality was guaranteed there should be little interference between the

two; this, however, was found unworkable, and each victory of Mahomet

over the Meccans was followed by violent measures against the Medinese

Israelites. When experience had shown him their military incompetence he

appears to have been unable to resist the temptation to appropriate

their goods for the benefit of his followers; and his attack on the

flourishing Jewish settlement of Khaibar, after the affair of

Hodaibiyah, appears to have been practically unprovoked, and designed to

satisfy his discontented adherents by an accession of plunder. Yet the

consciousness that this process was economically wasteful suggested to

him an idea which Islamic states are only now abandoning, viz. that of a

tolerated caste, who should till the soil and provide sustenance for the

Believers who were to be the fighting caste. Whereas then his former

plan in dealing with Israelites had been to banish or massacre, he now

left the former owners of Khaibar (who had survived the capture of the

place) in possession of the soil, of whose produce they were to pay a

fixed proportion to the Islamic state. The same principle was adopted in

the case of later conquests of Jewish settlements.

Disputes with Christians occur somewhat later in the Prophet's career

than those with Jews, for neither at Mecca nor Medina were the former to

be found in any numbers; individuals are likely to have been found in

both cities, and we hear of one Medinese "Abu'Amir the Monk," who after

Mahomet's arrival at Medina branded him as an impostor, and, going

himself into exile, made many an abortive attempt to discredit and

injure Mahomet's cause. The notices of him are meagre and obscure.

Mahomet's manifesto to the world, about the time of the taking of

Khaibar, appears to represent his definite breach with Christianity; and

when in the "year of the embassies" the Christians of Najran sent a

deputation to him, they found that the breach between the two systems

was not to be healed. Of the three alternatives open to

them--conversion, internecine war, and tribute, they chose the last. The

Christian tribes of north Arabia showed greater inclination towards the

first. The Prophet's policy was to give Christians lighter terms than

Jews, and though the Koran reflects the gradual adoption by the Prophet

of an attitude of extreme hostility to both systems, its tone is on the

whole far more friendly to the former than to the latter. Some other

communities are mentioned in the Koran, but merely in casual allusions:

thus we know that Mahomet's sympathy was with the Byzantines in their

struggle with Persia, but in his most tolerant utterance the Magians or

Mazdians as well as the Sabians (with whom his followers were identified

by the Meccans) are mentioned with respect.

Mahomet's Administration.

The financial requirements of Mahomet's state were of the simplest kind,

for there is no trace of any form of governmental department having been

instituted by him, even when he was master of the peninsula; nor can we

name any permanent officials in his employ except his _muaddhin_ Bilal,

and perhaps his court-poet Hassan. A staff of scribes was finally

required both to take down his revelations and to conduct

correspondence; but although he encouraged the acquisition of penmanship

(indeed some of the prisoners at Badr are said to have been allowed to

ransom themselves by teaching it to the Medinese), we know of no regular

secretaries in his employ. As despot of Medina he combined the functions

of legislator, administrator, general and judge; his duties in the last

three capacities were occasionally delegated to others, as when he

appointed a governor of Medina during his absence, or leaders for

expeditions, with provision for successors in case of their falling, but

we hear of no permanent or regular delegation of them. Till near the end

of his career at Medina he maintained the principle that migration to

that city was a condition of conversion; but when, owing to the

extension of his power, this was no longer practicable, his plan was in

the main to leave the newly converted communities to manage their

internal affairs as before, only sending occasional envoys to discharge

special duties, especially instruction in the Koran and the principles

of Islam, and to collect the Alms; quite towards the end of his life he

appears to have sent persons to the provinces to act as judges, with

instructions to judge according to the Koran, and where that failed,

_the practice_ (_sunna_), i.e. the practice of the community, for which

a later generation substituted the practice of the Prophet. There were,

therefore, no regular payments to permanent officials; and the taxation

called _Alms_, which developed into an income-tax, but was at first a

demand for voluntary contributions, was wholly for the support of the

poor Moslems; it might not be used for the maintenance of the state,

i.e. Mahomet and his family. For them, and for public business, e.g. the

purchase of war material and gratuities to visitors, provision was made

out of the booty, of which Mahomet claimed one-fifth (the chieftain's

share had previously, we are told, been one-fourth), while the

remainder--or at least the bulk of it--was distributed among the

fighting men; the Prophet appears to have prided himself on the justice

of his distribution on these occasions, and doubtless won popularity

thereby, though we hear occasionally of grumbling; for difficulties

occurred when a defeated tribe embraced Islam, and so could claim

equality with their conquerors, or when portions of the spoil were

irregularly employed by Mahomet to allay resentment: the persons whose

allegiance was thus purchased were euphemistically termed "those whose

hearts were united." What afterwards proved the main source of revenue

in Islamic states dates from the taking of Khaibar; for the rent paid to

the state by tolerated communities for the right to work their land

developed long after Mahomet's time into a poll-tax for Unbelievers (see

CALIPHATE, e.g. B. § 8 and MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS), and a land-tax for

all owners of land. Immediately after the taking of Khaibar certain

communities, of which the most notable was Fadak, sent tribute before

they had been attacked and reduced; their land was regarded by Mahomet

as his private domain, but after his death it was withdrawn from his

heirs by his successor Abu Bekr, in virtue of a maxim that Prophets left

no inheritance, which in the opinion of Fatima was contrary to Koranic

doctrine, and invented by Ayesha's father expressly for the purpose of

excluding her and her husband from their rights; and this is likely to

have been the case.

As a military organizer Mahomet, as has been seen, was anxious to adopt

the most advanced of contemporary methods, and more than once is said to

have scandalized the Arabs by foreign innovations, as at a later time

the Moslem chiefs who first used gunpowder scandalized their

co-religionists. The unit in his armies seems to have been, as of old,

the tribe, under its natural leader; that he introduced no more

scientific division, and nothing like a hierarchy of officers was

perhaps due to the difficulty of reconciling such a system with the

equality of all Moslems.

As has been seen, the Koran only assumed the character of a civil code

as the need for one arose; and for some time after Mahomet's arrival at

Medina old-fashioned methods of settling disputes continued in use, and

doubtless in accordance with precedent where such was known. For

difficult cases, even in Arab opinion, divine inspiration was required;

and since Mahomet naturally claimed to be in sole enjoyment of this, his

utterances soon became the unique source of law, though he did not at

first think of organizing a code. Such a plan is said to have occurred

to him, and he even wished to dictate a code upon his deathbed; but his

friends supposed or professed to suppose him to be delirious. A table

regulating the "Alms" was left by him, it is said, in the possession of

Abu Bekr; but other traditions assign another origin to this document.

Just as there were no regular officials for the arrangement of business,

so there were none for its execution; when punishment was to be

administered, any follower of Mahomet might be called upon to administer

it. In the case of the massacre of the Banu Quraizah care was taken to

see that some of the heads were struck off by their former allies, in

order that the latter might be unable at any time to bring a demand for

vengeance. The Prophet hoped by the mere terror of his name to make

complete security reign throughout Arabia, and there is no evidence that

any system of policing either it or even Medina occurred to him.

Domestic Life.

Until the death of Khadija the Prophet's private life seems to have

been normal and happy, for though the loss of his sons in infancy is

said to have earned him a contemptuous epithet, he was fortunate in

his adoption of Zaid b. Harithah, apparently a prisoner ransomed by

Khadija or one of her relatives, who appears as dutiful almost to

excess and competent in affairs. The marriages of his daughters seem

all to have been happy, with, curiously, the exception of that between

Fatima and Ali. His domestic troubles, to which an unreasonable amount

of space seems to be devoted, even in the Koran, began after the

Migration, when, probably in the main for political reasons, he

instituted a royal harem. One of these political motives was the

principle which long survived, that the conquest of a state was

consummated by possession of the former monarch's wife, or daughter;

another, as has been seen, the desire to obtain the securest possible

hold on his ministers. In his marriage with the daughter of his

arch-enemy Abu Sofian, before the latter's conversion, we can see a

combination of the two. Few, therefore, of these marriages occasioned

scandal; yet public morality seemed to be violated when the Prophet

took to himself the wife of his adopted son Zaid, whose name has in

consequence the honour of mention in the Koran in the revelation which

was delivered in defence of this act. Its purpose was, according to

this, to establish the difference between adoptive and real filiation.

Serious trouble was occasioned by a charge of adultery brought against

the youthful favourite Ayesha, and this had to be refuted by a special

revelation; the charge, which was backed up apparently by Ali, seems

to have been connected with some deeper scheme for causing dissension

between the Prophet and his friends. Yet another revelation is

concerned with a mutiny in the harem organized by Omar's daughter

Hafsa, owing to undue favour shown to a Coptic concubine (Mary, mother

of a son called Ibrahim, who died in infancy; his death was marked by

an eclipse, January 27, 632); and various details of factions within

the harem are told us by Mahomet's biographers.

Of the members of this harem the only prominent one is Ayesha, married

to the Prophet shortly after the Flight, when she had scarcely passed

the period of infancy, but who appears to have been gifted with

astuteness and ambition that were quite beyond her years, and who

maintained her ascendancy over the Prophet in spite of the fact that

many carping criticisms of his revelations are attributed to her. Some

of this may have been due to the obligations (including pecuniary

obligations) under which her father had laid Mahomet; but her

reputation seems to have been greatly enhanced by the sending down of

a revelation to exonerate her (A.H. 6), for which she thanked God and

not the Prophet. Each accession to the harem rendered the building of

a house or room necessary for the newcomer's accommodation; a fact in

which Robertson Smith perhaps rightly saw a relic of the older system

whereby the tent was the property of women. The trouble noticed above

seems to have arisen from the want of a similar arrangement in the

case of slave girls, with whom Mahomet's system permits cohabitation.

When Mahomet, whether in consequence of the fatigue incurred by the

"Farewell Pilgrimage," or, as others thought, by the working of some

poison put into his food some years before by a Jewess of Khaibar, was

attacked by the illness which proved fatal, it was to the house of

Ayesha that he was transferred (from that of another wife) to be

nursed; and he apparently died in the arms of the favourite, on whose

statements we have to rely for what we know of his last hours.

General Characteristics.

The traditional description of Mahomet is "of middle height, greyish,

with hair that was neither straight nor curly; with a large head,

large eyes, heavy eyelashes, reddish tint in the eyes, thick-bearded,

broad-shouldered, with thick hands and feet"; he was in the habit of

giving violent expression to the emotions of anger and mirth. The

supposition that he at any time suffered from physical weakness seems

absolutely refuted by his career as a leader of difficult, dangerous

and wearisome expeditions, from his migration to Medina until his

death; indeed, during his last years he exhibited a capacity for both

physical and intellectual activity which implies a high degree of both

health and strength; and without these the previous struggle at Mecca

could scarcely have been carried on. The supposition that he was

liable to fits (epileptic or cataleptic) was intended to account for

certain of the phenomena supposed to accompany the delivery of

revelations; some of these however rest on very questionable

authority: and the greater number of the revelations give evidence of

careful preparation rather than spontaneity.

The literary matter ascribed to the Prophet consists of (1) the Koran

(q.v.); (2) certain contracts, letters and rescripts preserved by his

biographers; (3) a number of sayings on a vast variety of topics,

collected by traditionalists. The references in the Koran to a form of

literature called "Wisdom" (_hikmah_) suggest that even in the

Prophet's time some attempts had been made to collect or at least

preserve some of the last; the general uncertainty of oral tradition

and the length of time which elapsed before any critical treatment of

it was attempted, and the variety of causes, creditable and

discreditable, which led to the wilful fabrication of prophetic

utterances, render the use to which No. 3 can be put very limited.

Thus the lengthy description of the journey to heaven which Sprenger

was inclined to accept as genuine is regarded by most critics as a

later fabrication. It is very much to be regretted that the number of

_pièces justificatives_ (No. 2) quoted by the biographers is so small,

and that for these oral tradition was preferred to a search for the

actual documents, some of which may well have been in existence when

the earliest biographies were written. Their style appears to have

been plain and straightforward, though the allusions which they

contain are not always intelligible.

In his personal relations with men Mahomet appears to have been able

to charm and impress in an extraordinary degree, whence we find him

able to control persons like Omar and Khalid, who appear to have been

self-willed and masterful, and a single interview seems to have been

sufficient to turn many an enemy into a devoted adherent. Cases

(perhaps legendary) are quoted of his being able by a look or a word

to disarm intending assassins.

Although the titles which he took were religious in character, and his

office might not be described as sovereignty, his interests appear to

have lain far more in the building up and maintenance of empire than

in ecclesiastical matters. Thus only can we account for the violent

and sudden changes which he introduced into his system, for his

temporary lapse into paganism, and for his ultimate adoption of the

cult of the Black Stone, which, it is said, gave offence to some of

his sincere adherents (e.g. Omar), and seems hard to reconcile with

his tirades against fetish-worship. The same is indicated by his

remarkable doctrine that the utterance of the creed constituted a

Moslem and not its cordial acceptance, and his practice of at times

buying adhesion. Even an historian so favourable to the Prophet as

Prince Caetani recognizes that ultimately what he regarded as most

important was that his subjects should pay their taxes. And in general

his system was not favourable to fanaticism (_al-ghulu fi`l-din_); he

repeatedly gave permission for concealment of faith when the

profession of it was dangerous; he took care to avoid institutions

which, like the Jewish Sabbath, interfered seriously with military

expeditions and the conduct of business, and permitted considerable

irregularity in the matters of prayer and fasting when circumstances

rendered it desirable. In his theory that Koranic texts could be

abrogated he made wise provision against the danger of hasty

legislation, though some of its usefulness was frustrated by his

failure to provide for such abrogation after his death.

Mahomet's Reforms.

As has been seen, Mahomet claimed to introduce a wholly new

dispensation, and a maxim of his law is that Islam cancels all that

preceded it, except, indeed, pecuniary debts; it is not certain that

even this exception always held good. Hence his system swept away a

number of practices (chiefly connected with the camel) that were

associated with pagan superstitions. The most celebrated of these is the

arrow-game, a form of gambling for shares in slaughtered camels, to

which poetic allusions are very frequent. More important than this was

his attitude towards the blood-feud, or system of tribal responsibility

for homicide (whether intentional or accidental), whereby one death

regularly led to protracted wars, it being considered dishonourable to

take blood-money (usually in the form of camels) or to be satisfied with

one death in exchange. This system he endeavoured to break down, chiefly

by sinking all earlier tribal distinctions in the new brotherhood of

Islam; but also by limiting the vengeance to be demanded to such as was

no more than the equivalent of the offence committed, and by urging the

acceptance of money-compensation instead, or complete forgiveness of the

offence. The remembrance of pre-Islamic quarrels was visited by him with

condign punishment on those who had embraced Islam; and though it was

long before the tribal system quite broke down, even in the great cities

which rose in the new provinces, and the old state of things seems to

have quickly been resumed in the desert, his legislation on this subject

rendered orderly government among Arabs possible.

Next in importance to this is the abolition of infanticide, which is

condemned even in early Suras of the Koran. The scanty notices which we

have of the practice are not altogether consistent; at times we are told

that it was confined to certain tribes, and consisted in the burying

alive of infant daughters; at other times it is extended to a wider

area, and said to have been carried out on males as well as females.

After the taking of Mecca this prohibition was included among the

conditions of Islam.

In the laws relating to women it seems likely that he regulated current

practice rather than introduced much that was actually new, though, as

has been seen, he is credited with giving them the right to inherit

property; the most precise legislation in the Koran deals with this

subject, of which the main principle is that the share of the male

equals that of two females. Our ignorance of the precise nature of the

marriage customs prevalent in Arabia at the rise of Islam renders it

difficult to estimate the extent to which his laws on this subject were

an improvement on what had been before. The pre-Islamic family, unless

our records are wholly misleading, did not differ materially from the

Islamic; in both polygamy and concubinage were recognized and normal;

and it is uncertain that the text which is supposed to limit the number

of wives to four was intended to have that meaning. The "condition of

Islam" whereby adultery was forbidden is said to have been ridiculed at

the time, on the ground that this practice had never been approved. Yet

it would seem that certain forms of promiscuity had been tolerated,

though the subject is obscure. Against these services we must set the

abrogation of some valuable practices. His unfortunate essay in

astronomy, whereby a calendar of twelve lunar months, bearing no

relation to the seasons, was introduced, was in any case a retrograde

step; but it appears to have been connected with the abrogation of the

sanctity of the four months during which raiding had been forbidden in

Arabia, which, as has been seen, he was the first to violate. He also,

as has been noticed, permitted himself a slight amount of bloodshed in

Mecca itself, and that city perhaps never quite recovered its sacrosanct

character. Of more serious consequences for the development of the

community was his encouragement of the shedding of kindred blood in the

cause of Islam; the consequences of the abrogation of this taboo seem to

have been felt for a great length of time. His assassinations of enemies

were afterwards quoted as precedents in books of Tradition. No less

unfortunate was the recognition of the principle whereby atonement could

be made for oaths. On the question how far the seclusion of women was

enjoined or countenanced by him different views have been held.

Sources.

Besides the contemporary documents enumerated above (Koranic texts,

rescripts and authentic traditions) many of the events were celebrated

by poets, whose verses were ostensibly incorporated in the standard

biography of Ibn Ishaq; in the abridgment of that biography which we

possess many of these are obelized as spurious, and, indeed, what we

know of the procedure of those who professed to collect early poetry

gives us little confidence in the genuineness of such odes. A few,

however, seem to stand criticism, and the _diwan_ (or collection of

poems) attributed to Hassan b. Thabit is ordinarily regarded as his.

Though they rarely give detailed descriptions of events, their

attestation is at times of value, e.g. for the story that the bodies

of the slain at Badr were cast by the Prophet into a pit. Besides

this, the narratives of eyewitnesses of important events, or of those

who had actually taken part in them, were eagerly sought by the second

generation, and some of these were committed to writing well before

the end of the 1st century. The practice instituted by the second

Caliph, of assigning pensions proportioned to the length of time in

which the recipient had been a member of the Islamic community, led to

the compilation of certain rolls, and to the accurate preservation of

the main sequence of events from the commencement of the mission, and

for the detailed sequence after the Flight, which presently became an

era (beginning with the first month of the year in which the Flight

took place). The procedure whereby the original dates of the events

(so far as they were remembered) were translated into the Moslem

calendar--for something of this sort must have been done--is unknown,

and is unlikely to have been scientific.

Mahomet's conduct being made the standard of right and wrong, there

was little temptation to "whitewash" him, although the original

biography by Ibn Ishaq appears to have contained details which the

author of the abridgment omitted as scandalous. The preservation of so

much that was historical left little room for the introduction of

miraculous narrations; these therefore either belong to the obscure

period of his life or can be easily eliminated; thus the narratives of

the Meccan council at which the assassination of Mahomet was decided,

of the battles of Badr, Uhud and Honain, and the death of Sad`b. Mu

`adh, would lose nothing by the omission of the angels and the devil,

though a certain part is assigned the one or the other on all these

occasions. We should have expected biographies which were published

when the `Abbasids were reigning to have falsified history for the

purpose of glorifying `Abbas, their progenitor; the very small extent

to which this expectation is justified is a remarkable testimony to

their general trustworthiness.