ENROLMENT OF THE BEDOUIN TRIBES FOR WAR BEYOND ARABIA.
[Sidenote: Opposition beaten down in Arabia.]
With the campaign in Hadhramaut, opposition in Arabia was at an end. A
brief review may be of use before we pass on to the wars without.
[Sidenote: Review of the military operations which crushed the
apostasy.]
North, east, south, and west throughout the peninsula, the circle of
victory was now complete. It began, we might say, with the avenging
expedition of Osâma, directed by the Prophet against the Syrian
border. This was followed up, more leisurely, by the arms of Amru, who
restored the prestige of Islam amongst the Codhâa and other tribes on
the Roman frontier. During Osâma’s absence the brave Caliph, with but
a scanty following, beat back the rebel tribes which, hovering around
Medîna, threatened the heart of Islam. Then followed Khâlid’s brilliant
achievements, which, beginning with the Beni Tay on the north-east,
and reclaiming the apostate tribes as he moved south, ended with the
bloody and decisive field of Yemâma in the centre of Arabia. The
flower of the Moslem troops was engaged in this great struggle, which
decided the fate of Islam, then trembling in the balance; and while it
was in progress, operations languished elsewhere. Subsequently, the
campaign throughout the peninsula was carried on vigorously, but in
many quarters with limited resources and varying fortune; till Ikrima,
sweeping down the eastern coast, joined Mohâjir in the south, and
stamped out the last embers of apostasy.
The rebellion was totally suppressed, but the people remained still
backward and sullen. [Sidenote: Arabia sullen, till roused by the
war-cry from without.]The wild and turbulent tribes were brought
back unwillingly. They chafed at the demand of tithe and obedience
to Medîna. It was simply force and fear that as yet attached them to
the Caliph. The question occurs, what would have been the fortune of
Islam had no grand impulse arisen from without? It may be difficult
to say, but the prospect certainly was not encouraging. Convictions
so shallow and aspirations so low as those of the Bedouin would soon
have disappeared; and force and fear could not long have availed to
hold together the repellent atoms which go to form the Arab nation. The
South was jealous of the North; the Bedouins of the desert scorned the
population settled in towns and villages; every tribe had some cause of
rivalry with its neighbour; new feuds were ever arising out of the law
of blood. Even in Medîna, the cradle of the faith, the Beni Aus were
impatient of the Beni Khazraj, and both were jealous of the Refugees
from Mecca. The only authority recognised by a Bedouin is the authority
of his tribal chief, and even that sits lightly. To him freedom is
life; and dependence on a central power most hateful. The yoke of
Islam (had nothing external supervened) would soon have been shaken
off, and Arabia returned again to its former state. But fortunately
for Islam (sadly for the interests of humanity) a new idea electrified
the nation. No sooner was apostasy put down than, first in Chaldæa and
then in Syria, collision with the Christian tribes kindled the fire
of foreign war; and forthwith the Arabs, both town and Bedouin, were
riveted to Islam by a common bond--the love of rapine and the lust of
spoil.
[Sidenote: The Moslems crusade due to circumstances rather than design.]
That the heritage of Islam is the world was an afterthought. The idea
(spite of much proleptic tradition) had presented itself but dimly,
if at all, to Mahomet himself. His world was Arabia; and for it Islam
was sent. From first to last the call was made primarily to Arabs and
to them alone. It is true that, some years before his death, Mahomet
had summoned certain kings and princes to confess the catholic faith
of Abraham; but the step had not in any way been followed up. Nor was
it otherwise with the command to fight against idolators, Jews, and
Christians: that command was announced to the Arab tribes assembled
in pilgrimage at Minâ;[90] it had reference only to them, and had
no immediate bearing whatever on warfare beyond the bounds of the
peninsula. The Prophet’s dying legacy was to the same effect:--‘See,’
said he, ‘that there be but one faith throughout Arabia.’ The seed of
a universal claim, indeed, had been sown; but that it ever germinated
was due to circumstances rather than design. Even Omar, after his
_rôle_ of splendid victories, manifested a continual dread lest
his armies should proceed too far; and, separated by some gulf or
mountain range, should be cut off from succour and exposed to danger.
Therefore he set barriers (as we shall see) to the ambition of his
people, beyond which they should not pass.
[Sidenote: The Arabs issue forth as the conquerors of the world.]
Nevertheless, universal empire was altogether in accord with the
spirit of the faith. ‘When a people leaveth off to fight in the ways
of the Lord,’ said Abu Bekr in his inaugural address (and, in saying
it, struck the key-note of Islam), ‘the Lord casteth off that people.’
And so, when the Rubicon, the border land of Arabia, was once crossed,
the horizon enlarged in ever-widening circles, till it embraced the
world. Now indeed the marauding spirit of the Bedouin was in unison
with the militant spirit of Islam. The cry of plunder and of conquest
reverberated throughout the land, and was answered eagerly. The
movement began naturally with the tribes in the north which had been
first reclaimed from their apostasy, and whose restless spirit led them
over the frontier. Later on, in the second year of the Caliphate, the
exodus spread to the people of the south. At first the Caliph forbade
that help should be taken from such as had backslidden. The privilege
of fighting for the faith was reserved for those who had remained firm
in its profession. But, step by step, as new spheres opened out, and
the cry ran through the land for fresh levies to fill up the ‘martyr’
gaps, the ban was put aside, and all were welcome. Warrior after
warrior, column after column, whole tribes in endless succession, with
their women and children, issued forth to battle. And ever, at the
marvellous tale of cities conquered, of booty rich beyond compute, of
fair captives distributed on the field--‘to every man a damsel or two,’
and, above all, at the sight of the royal Fifth of spoil and slaves
sent to Medîna--fresh tribes arose and went. Onward and still onward,
like swarms from the hive, one after another they poured forth, pressed
first to the north, and spread thence in great masses to the east and
west.
[Sidenote: Discredit still attaching to apostasy.]
It must not, however, be overlooked that though apostasy was thus
condoned, and in the blaze of victory almost forgotten, a certain
discredit still clung to the backslider. His guilt was not like that
of others who had committed sins, however black, ignorantly before
conversion. The apostate, having been once enlightened, cast by his
fall a deliberate slur upon Islam. And therefore no chief who had
joined the great apostasy was ever promoted to a chief command. He
might fight, and was welcome, in the ranks, and was even allowed to
head small parties of fifty or a hundred; but to the last the post of
leader was denied him.
[Sidenote: Slaves of Arab blood set free.]
The Arab race, thus emerging from its desert-home, became the
aristocracy of Islam. Conquered nations, even if they embraced the
faith, fell into a lower class. The Arabs were the dominant caste
wheresoever they might go, and it was only as ‘clients’ of the noble
race that people of other lands could share their privileges--crumbs,
as it were, which fell from off their table. Yet great numbers of
the Arabs themselves were slaves, taken prisoner during the apostasy
or in previous intertribal warfare, and held in captivity by their
fellow-countrymen. Omar felt the inconsistency. It was not fit that
any of the noble race should remain in bondage. When, therefore, he
succeeded to the Caliphate, he decreed their freedom. ‘The Lord,’ he
said, ‘hath given to us of Arab blood the victory, and great conquests
without. It is not meet that any one of us, taken captive in the days
of ignorance,[91] or in the wars against the apostate tribes, should
be holden in slavery.’ All slaves of Arab descent were accordingly
ransomed, excepting only such bondmaids as had borne their masters
children. Men who had lost wives or children now set out in search, if
haply they might find and claim them. Strange tales are told of some of
these disconsolate journeys. Ashâth recovered two of his wives taken
captive in Nojeir. But some of the women who had been carried prisoners
to Medîna preferred remaining with their captors.[92]
[Sidenote: Death of Fâtima, the Prophet’s daughter.]
Before passing on to more stirring scenes, it may be proper here to
notice some domestic events occurring in the first year of Abu Bekr’s
Caliphate. In it Fâtima, the Prophet’s daughter and wife of Aly,
died. She had claimed a share in her father’s property. Repairing,
in company with her husband, to the Caliph, she said: ‘Give me the
inheritance that falleth to me.’ Abu Bekr inquired whether it was her
portion of the household goods that she desired. ‘Fadak and Kheibar,’
she answered, ‘and the tithe lands of Medîna--my portion therein, even
as thy daughters will inherit of thee when thou diest.’ The Caliph
answered: ‘Truly thy father was better than I, and thou art better than
my daughters. But the Prophet hath said, _No one shall be my heir;
that which I leave shall be for alms._ Now, therefore, the family
of Mahomet shall not eat of these lands; for, by the Lord! I will not
alter a tittle of that which he hath ordained. But,’ added he, ‘if thou
art certain that thy father gave thee this property, I will accept thy
word, and fulfil his promise.’ She answered that she had no evidence
excepting that of Omm Ayman, the Prophet’s aged nurse, who had said
that her father had given her Fadak.[93] So Abu Bekr maintained his
decision. Fâtima felt aggrieved, and was much displeased. She survived
but a few months,[94] leaving two sons, Hasan and Hosein, through
whom alone the issue of Mahomet was perpetuated. Aly, who, during her
lifetime, had held aloof, began after her decease, like the rest of the
chief Companions, to frequent the Caliph’s court.
[Sidenote: Death of Abu Bekr’s son.]
In this year Abu Bekr lost his son Abdallah, who died from the effects
of a wound received at the siege of Tâyif.
[Sidenote: Omar Chief Justice.]
As supreme judge in civil causes, the Caliph nominated Omar; but
warlike operations so occupied men’s minds, that for the time the
office was a sinecure.
[Sidenote: The first Pilgrimage under the Caliphate. Dzul Hijj.
A.H. XI. March, A.D. 633.]
The presidency at the annual Pilgrimage is always carefully recorded
by the annalists of Islam. The Caliph was too much engrossed with the
commotion throughout Arabia to proceed himself to Mecca on the first
Pilgrimage of his reign, and he therefore commissioned Attâb, governor
of the holy city, to preside in his stead.[95]
So ended the first year of the Caliphate.