MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 609-632.
The Mission of the Prophet.
Mahomet (the usage of Christendom has fixed this form of the
name Mohammad) was born at Mecca, on or about the 20th day of
August, A. D. 570. He sprang from "the noblest race in Mecca
and in Arabia [the tribe of Koreish and the family of Hashem].
To his family belonged the hereditary guardianship of the
Kaaba and a high place among the aristocracy of his native
city. Personally poor, he was raised to a position of
importance by his marriage with the rich widow Khadijah, whose
mercantile affairs he had previously conducted. In his
fortieth year he began to announce himself as an Apostle of
God, sent to root out idolatry, and to restore the true faith
of the preceding Prophets, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Slowly
and gradually he makes converts in his native city; his good
wife Khadijah, his faithful servant Zeyd, are the first to
recognize his mission; his young cousin, the noble Ali, the
brave and generous and injured model of Arabian chivalry,
declares himself his convert and Vizier; the prudent, moderate
and bountiful Abu-Bekr acknowledges the pretensions of the
daring innovator. Through mockery and persecution the Prophet
keeps unflinchingly in his path; no threats, no injuries,
hinder him from still preaching to his people the unity and
the righteousness of God, and exhorting to a far purer and
better morality than had ever been set before them. He claims
no temporal power, no spiritual domination; he asks but for
simple toleration, for free permission to win men by
persuasion into the way of truth. … As yet at least his
hands were not stained with blood, nor his inner life with
lust."
_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 2._
After ten years of preaching at Mecca, and of a private
circulation and repetition of the successive Suras or chapters
of the Koran, as the prophet delivered them, Mahomet had
gained but a small following, while the opposition to his
doctrines and pretensions had gained strength. But in A. D.
620 (he being then fifty years of age) he gained the ear of a
company of pilgrims from Medina and won them to his faith.
Returning home, they spread the gospel of Islam among their
neighbors, and the disciples at Medina were soon strong enough
in numbers to offer protection to their prophet and to his
persecuted followers in Mecca. As the result of two pledges,
famous in Mahometan history, which were given by the men of
Medina to Mahomet, in secret meetings at the hill of Acaba, a
general emigration of the adherents of the new faith from
Mecca to Medina took place in the spring of the year 622.
Mahomet and his closest friend, Abu Bakr, having remained with
their families until the last, escaped the rage of the
Koreish, or Coreish, only by a secret flight and a concealment
for three days in a cave on Mount Thaur, near Mecca. Their
departure from the cave of Thaur, according to the most
accepted reckoning, was on the 20th of June, A. D. 622. This
is the date of the Hegira, or flight, or emigration of Mahomet
from Mecca to Medina. The Mahometan Era of the Hegira, "though
referring 'par excellence' to the flight of the Prophet, …
is also applicable to all his followers who emigrated to
Medina prior to the capture of Mecca; and they are hence
called Muhâjirîn, i. e., the Emigrants, or Refugees. We have
seen that they commenced to emigrate from the beginning of
Moharram (the first month of the Hegira era) two months
before." The title of the Muhâjirîn, or Refugees, soon became
an illustrious one, as did that of the Ansar, or Allies, of
Medina, who received and protected them. At Medina Mahomet
found himself strongly sustained. Before the year of his
flight ended, he opened hostilities against the city which had
rejected him, by attacking its Syrian caravans. The attacks
were followed up and the traffic of Mecca greatly interfered
with, until January, 624, when the famous battle of Bedr, or
Badr, was fought, and the first great victory of the sword of
Islam achieved.
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The 300 warriors of Bedr formed "the peerage of Islam." From
this time the ascendancy of Mahomet was rapidly gained, and
assumed a political as well as a religious character. His
authority was established at Medina and his influence spread
among the neighboring tribes. Nor was his cause more than
temporarily depressed by a sharp defeat which he sustained,
January, 625, in battle with the Koreish at Ohod. Two years
later Medina was attacked and besieged by a great force of the
Koreish and other tribes of Arabs and Jews, against the latter
of whom Mahomet, after vainly courting their adhesion and
recognition, had turned with relentless hostility. The siege
failed and the retreat of the enemy was hastened by a timely
storm. In the next year Mahomet extorted from the Koreish a
treaty, known as the Truce of Hodeibia, which suspended
hostilities for ten years and permitted the prophet and his
followers to visit Mecca for three days in the following year.
The pilgrimage to Mecca was made in the holy month, February,
629, and in 630 Mahomet found adherents enough within the city
and outside of it to deliver the coveted shrine and capital of
Arabia into his hands. Alleging a breach of the treaty of
peace, he marched against the city with an army of 10,000 men,
and it was surrendered to him by his obstinate opponent, Abu
Sofiân, who acknowledged, at last, the divine commission of
Mahomet and became a disciple. The idols in the Kaaba were
thrown down and the ancient temple dedicated to the worship of
the one God. The conquest of Mecca was followed within no long
time by the submission of the whole Arabic peninsula. The most
obstinate in resisting were the great Bedouin tribe of the
Hawazin, in the hill country, southeast of Mecca, with their
kindred, the Bani Thackif. These were crushed in the important
battle of Honein, and their strong city of Tayif was
afterwards taken. Before Mahomet died, on the 8th June, A. D.
632, he was the prince as well as the prophet of Arabia, and
his armies, passing the Syrian borders, had already
encountered the Romans, though not gloriously, in a battle
fought at Muta, not far from the Dead Sea.
_Sir W. Muir,
Life of Mahomet._
ALSO IN:
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 50._
_J. W. H. Stobart,
Islam and its Founder,
chapters 3-9._
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and his Successors,
chapters 6-39._
_R. D. Osborn,
Islam under the Arabs,
part 1, chapters 1-3._
See, also,
ISLAM, and ERA, MAHOMETAN.
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639.
Abu Bekr.
Omar.
The founding of the Caliphate.
Conquest of Syria.
The death of Mahomet left Islam without a head. The Prophet
had neither named a successor (Khalif or Caliph), nor had he
instituted a mode in which the choice of one should be made.
His nephew and son-in-law—"the Bayard of Islam," the
lion-hearted Ali—seemed the natural heir of that strangely
born sovereignty of the Arab world. But its elders and chiefs
were averse to Ali, and the assembly which they convened
preferred, instead, the Prophet's faithful friend, the
venerable Abu Bekr. This first of the caliphs reigned modestly
but two years, and on his death, July, A. D. 634, the stern
soldier Omar was raised to the more than royal place. By this
time the armies of the crescent were already far advanced
beyond the frontiers of Arabia in their fierce career of
conquest. No sooner had Abu Bekr, in 632, set his heel on some
rebellious movements, which threatened his authority, than he
made haste to open fields in which the military spirit and
ambitions of his unquiet people might find full exercise. With
bold impartiality he challenged, at once, and alike, the two
dominant powers of the eastern world, sending armies to invade
the soil of Persia, on one hand, and the Syrian provinces of
the Roman empire, on the other. The invincible Khaled, or
Caled, led the former, at first, but was soon transferred to
the more critical field, which the latter proved to be. "One
of the fifteen provinces of Syria, the cultivated lands to the
eastward of the Jordan, had been decorated by Roman vanity
with the name of 'Arabia'; and the first arms of the Saracens
were justified by the semblance of a national right." The
strong city of Bosra was taken, partly through the treachery
of its commander, Romanus, who renounced Christianity and
embraced the faith of Islam. From Bosra the Moslems advanced
on Damascus, but suspended the siege of the city until they
had encountered the army which the Emperor Heraclius sent to
its relief. This they did on the field of Aiznadin, in the
south of Palestine, July 30, A. D. 634, when 50,000 of the
Roman-Greeks and Syrians are said to have perished, while but
470 Arabs fell. Damascus was immediately invested and taken
after a protracted siege, which Voltaire has likened to the
siege of Troy, on account of the many combats and
stratagems—the many incidents of tragedy and romance—which
poets and historians have handed down, in some connection with
its progress or its end. The ferocity of Khaled was only half
restrained by his milder colleague in command, Abu Obeidah,
and the wretched inhabitants of Damascus suffered terribly at
his hands. The city, itself, was spared and highly favored,
becoming the Syrian capital of the Arabs. Heliopolis (Baalbec)
was besieged and taken in January, A. D. 636; Emessa
surrendered soon after. In November, 636, a great and decisive
battle was fought with the forces of Heraclius at Yermuk, or
Yermouk, on the borders of Palestine and Arabia. The
Christians fought obstinately and well, but they were
overwhelmed with fearful slaughter. "After the battle of
Yermuk the Roman army no longer appeared in the field; and the
Saracens might securely choose, among the fortified towns of
Syria, the first object of their attack. They consulted the
caliph whether they should march to Cæsarea or Jerusalem; and
the advice of Ali determined the immediate siege of the
latter. … After Mecca and Medina, it was revered and visited
by the devout Moslems as the temple of the Holy Land, which
had been sanctified by the revelation of Moses, of Jesus, and
of Mahomet himself." The defense of Jerusalem, notwithstanding
its great strength, was maintained with less stubbornness than
that of Damascus had been. After a siege of four months, in
the winter of A. D. 637, the Christian patriarch or bishop of
Jerusalem, who seems to have been first in authority, proposed
to give up the Holy City, if Omar, the caliph, would come in
person from Medina to settle and sign the terms of surrender.
Omar deemed the prize worthy of this concession and made the
long journey, travelling as simply as the humblest pilgrim and
entering Jerusalem on foot.
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After this, little remained to make the conquest of all Syria
complete. Aleppo was taken, but not easily, after a siege, and
Antioch, the splendid seat of eastern luxury and wealth, was
abandoned by the emperor and submitted, paying a great ransom
for its escape from spoliation and the sword. The year 639 saw
Syria at the feet of the Arabs whom it had despised six years
before, and the armies of the caliph were ready to advance to
new fields, east, northwards, and west.
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 51._
ALSO IN:
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and His Successors,
volume 2, chapters 3-23._
_S. Ockley,
History of the Saracens: Abubeker._
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapters 2, 11, 19-21._
See, also,
JERUSALEM: A. D. 637;
and TYRE: A. D. 638.
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-651.
Conquest of Persia.
During the invasion of Syria, Abu Bekr, the first of the
Caliphs, sent an expedition towards the Euphrates, under
command of the redoubtable Khaled (633). The first object of
its attack was Hira, a city on the western branch of the
Euphrates, not far from modern Kufa. Hira was the seat of a
small kingdom of Christian Arabs tributary to Persia and under
Persian protection and control. Its domain embraced the
northern part of that fertile tract between the desert and the
Euphrates which the Arab writers call Sawad; the southern part
being a Persian province of which the capital, Obolla, was the
great emporium of the Indian trade. Hira and Obolla were
speedily taken and this whole region subdued. But, Khaled
being then transferred to the army in Syria, the Persians
regained courage, while the energy of the Moslems was relaxed.
In an encounter called the Battle of the Bridge, A. D. 635,
the latter experienced a disastrous check; but the next year
found them more victorious than ever. The great battle of
Cadesia (Kadisiyeh) ended all hope in Persia of doing more
than defend the Euphrates as a western frontier. Within two
years even that hope disappeared. The new Arab general, Sa'ad
Ibn Abi Wakas, having spent the interval in strengthening his
forces, and in founding the city of Busrah, or Bassora, below
the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, as well as that of
Kufa, which became the Moslem capital, advanced into
Mesopotamia, A. D. 637, crossing the river without opposition.
The Persian capital, Ctesiphon, was abandoned to him so
precipitately that most of its vast treasures fell into his
hands. It was not until six months later that the Persians and
Arabs met in battle, at Jalula, and the encounter was fatal to
the former, 100,000 having perished on the field. "By the
close of the year A. D. 637 the banner of the Prophet waved
over the whole tract west of Zagros, from Nineveh almost to
Susa." Then a brief pause ensued. In 641 the Persian king
Isdigerd—last of the Sassanian house—made a great, heroic
effort to recover his lost dominions and save what remained.
He staked all and lost, in the final battle of Nehavend, which
the Arabs called "Fattah-hul-Futtuh," or "Victory of
Victories." "The defeat of Nehavend terminated the Sassanian
power. Isdigerd indeed, escaping from Rei, and flying
continually from place to place, prolonged an inglorious
existence for the space of ten more years—from A. D. 641 to
A. D. 651; but he had no longer a kingdom. Persia fell to
pieces on the occasion of 'the victory of victories,' and made
no other united effort against the Arabs. Province after
province was occupied by the fierce invaders; and, at length,
in A. D. 651, their arms penetrated to Merv, where the last
scion of the house of Babek had for some years found a refuge.
… The order of conquest seems to have been the following:
Media, Northern Persia, Rhagiana, Azerbijan, Gurgan, Tantrist,
and Khorassan in A. D. 642; Southern Persia, Kerman, Seistan,
Mekran, and Kurdistan in A. D. 643; Merv, Balkh, Herat, and
Kharezm in A. D. 650 or 652."
_G. Rawlinson,
Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy,
chapter 26, and foot-notes._
ALSO IN:
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and his Successors,
volume 2, chapters 25-34._
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapters 10-18, 25-26._
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646.
Conquest of Egypt.
"It was in the nineteenth or twentieth year of the Hegira [A.
D. 640 or 641] that Amru, having obtained the hesitating
consent of the Caliph, set out from Palestine for Egypt. His
army, though joined on its march by bands of Bedouins lured by
the hope of plunder, did not at the first exceed 4,000 men.
Soon after he had left, Omar, concerned at the smallness of
his force, would have recalled him; but finding that he had
already gone too far to be stopped, he sent heavy
reinforcements, under Zobeir, one of the chief Companions,
after him. The army of Amru was thus swelled to an imposing
array of from 12,000 to 16,000 men, some of them warriors of
renown. Amru entered Egypt by Arish, and overcoming the
garrison at Faroma [ancient Pelusium], turned to the left and
so passed onward through the desert, reaching thus the
easternmost of the seven estuaries of the Nile. Along this
branch of the river he marched by Bubastis towards Upper
Egypt,"—and, so, to Heliopolis, near to the great ancient
city of Misr, or Memphis. Here, and throughout their conquest
of Egypt, the Moslem invaders appear to have found some
goodwill towards them prevailing among the Christians of the
Jacobite sect, who had never become reconciled to the Orthodox
Greeks. Heliopolis and Memphis were surrendered to their arms
after some hard fighting and a siege of no long duration.
"Amru lost no time in marching upon Alexandria so as to reach
it before the Greek troops, hastily called in from the
outlying garrisons, could rally there for its defence. On the
way he put to flight several columns which sought to hinder
his advance; and at last presented himself before the walls of
the great city, which, offering (as it still does) on the land
side a narrow and well-fortified front, was capable of an
obstinate resistance. Towards the sea also it was open to
succour at the pleasure of the Byzantine Court. But during the
siege Heraclius died, and the opportunity of relief was
supinely allowed to slip away." In the end Alexandria
capitulated and was protected from plunder (see LIBRARIES,
ANCIENT: ALEXANDRIA), paying tribute to the conquerors. "Amru,
it is said, wished to fix his seat of government at
Alexandria, but Omar would not allow him to remain so far away
from his camp, with so many branches of the Nile between. So
he returned to Upper Egypt. A body of the Arabs crossed the
Nile and settled in Ghizeh, on the western bank—a movement
which Omar permitted only on condition that a strong fortress
was constructed there to prevent the possibility of their
being surprised and cut off.
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The headquarters of the army were pitched near Memphis. Around
them grew up a military station, called from its origin
Fostat, or 'the Encampment.' It expanded rapidly into the
capital of Egypt, the modern Cairo. … This name 'Cahira,'
or City of the Victory, is of later date [see below: A. D.
908-1171]. … Zobeir urged Amru to enforce the right of
conquest, and divide the land among his followers. But Amru
refused; and the Caliph, as might have been expected,
confirmed the judgment. 'Leave the land of Egypt,' was his
wise reply, 'in the people's hands to nurse and fructify.' As
elsewhere, Omar would not allow the Arabs to become
proprietors of a single acre. Even Amru was refused ground
whereupon to build a mansion for himself. … So the land of
Egypt, left in the hands of its ancestral occupants, became a
rich granary for the Hejaz, even as in bygone times it had
been the granary of Italy and the Byzantine empire. … Amru,
with the restless spirit of his faith, soon pushed his
conquests westward beyond the limits of Egypt, established
himself in Barca, and reached even to Tripoli. … Early in
the Caliphate of Othman [A. D. 646] a desperate attempt was
made to regain possession of Alexandria. The Moslems, busy
with their conquests elsewhere, had left the city
insufficiently protected. The Greek inhabitants conspired with
the Court; and a fleet of 300 ships was sent under command of
Manuel, who drove out the garrison and took possession of the
city. Amru hastened to its rescue. A great battle was fought
outside the walls: the Greeks were defeated, and the unhappy
town was subjected to the miseries of a second and a longer
siege. It was at last taken by storm and given up to plunder.
… The city, though still maintaining its commercial import,
fell now from its high estate. The pomp and circumstance of
the Moslem Court were transferred to Fostat, and Alexandria
ceased to be the capital of Egypt."
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapter 24, with foot-note._
ALSO IN:
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 51._
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and his Successors,
volume 2, chapters 24 and 35._
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 644.
Assassination of Caliph Omar.
The death of Omar, the second of the Caliphs, was a violent
one. "It occurred in November, A. D. 644. One day a slave who
worked for his master at the carpenter's bench came to see the
Commander of the Faithful, and complained to him of being
overworked, and badly treated by the citizen that owned him.
Omar listened attentively, but arriving at the conclusion that
the charges were false, sternly dismissed the carpenter to his
bench. The man retired, vowing to be revenged. The following
day was Friday, 'the day of the Assembly.' Omar, as usual,
went to lead the prayers of the assembly in the great mosque.
He opened his mouth to speak. He had just said 'Allah,' when
the keen dagger of the offended slave was thrust into his
back, and the Commander of the Faithful fell on the sacred
floor, fatally wounded. The people, in a perfect frenzy of
horror and rage, fell upon the assassin, but with superhuman
strength he threw them off, and rushing about in the madness
of despair he killed some and wounded others, and finally
turning the point of his dagger to his own breast, fell dead.
Omar lingered several days in great agony, but he was brave to
the end. His dying words were, 'Give to my successor this
parting bequest, that he be kind to the men of this city,
Medina, which gave a home to us, and to the Faith. Tell him to
make much of their virtues, and to pass lightly over their
faults. Bid him also treat well the Arab tribes, for verily
they are the backbone of Islam. Moreover, let him faithfully
fulfil the covenants made with the Christians and the Jews! O
Allah! I have finished my course! To him that cometh after me,
I leave the kingdom firmly established and at peace!' Thus
perished one of the greatest Princes the Mohammedans were ever
to know. Omar was truly a great and good man, of whom
any country and any creed might be proud."
_J. J. Pool,
Studies in Mohammedanism,
pages 58-59._
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709.
Conquest of northern Africa.
"While Egypt was won almost without a blow, Latin Africa
[northern Africa beyond Egypt] took sixty years to conquer. It
was first invaded under Othman in 647, but Carthage was not
subdued till 698, nor was the province fully reduced for
eleven years longer. And why? Doubtless because Africa
contained two classes of inhabitants, not over-friendly to
each other, but both of whom had something to lose by a
Saracenic conquest. The citizens of Carthage were Roman in
every sense, their language was Latin, their faith was
orthodox; they had no wrongs beyond those which always afflict
provincials under a despotism; wrongs not likely to be
alleviated by exchanging a Christian despot at Constantinople
for an infidel one at Medina or Damascus. Beyond them, in the
inland provinces, were the native Moors, barbarians, and many
of them pagans; they had fought for their rude liberty against
the Cæsars, and they had no intention of surrendering it to
the Caliphs. Romans and Moors alike long preferred the chances
of the sword to either Koran or tribute; but their ultimate
fate was different. Latin civilization and Latin Christianity
gradually disappeared by the decay and extermination of their
votaries. The Moors, a people not unlike the Arabs in their
unconverted state, were at last content to embrace their
religion, and to share their destinies and their triumphs.
Arabs and Moors intermingled went on to further conquests; and
the name of the barbarian converts was more familiarly used in
Western Europe to denote the united nation than the terrible
name of the original compatriots of the Prophet."
_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._
"In their climate and government, their diet and habitation,
the wandering Moors resembled the Bedoweens of the desert.
With the religion they were proud to adopt the language, name,
and origin of Arabs; the blood of the strangers and natives
was insensibly mingled; and from the Euphrates to the Atlantic
the same nation might seem to be diffused over the sandy
plains of Asia and Africa. Yet I will not deny that 50,000
tents of pure Arabians might be transported over the Nile and
scattered through the Libyan desert; and I am not ignorant
that five of the Moorish tribes still retain their barbarous
idiom, with the appellation and character of 'white'
Africans."
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 51._
"By 647 the Barbary coast was overrun up to the gates of Roman
Carthage; but the wild Berber population was more difficult to
subdue than the luxurious subjects of the Sasanids of Persia
or the Greeks of Syria and Egypt. Kayrawan was founded as the
African capital in 670; Carthage fell in 693, and the Arabs
pushed their arms as far as the Atlantic. From Tangier they
crossed into Spain in 710."
_S. Lane-Poole,
The Mohammadan Dynasties,
page 5._
ALSO IN:
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and his Successors,
volume 2, chapters 35, 44, 54-55._
_R. D. Osborn,
Islam under the Arabs,
part 1, chapters 1-3._
See, also,
CARTHAGE: A. D. 698;
and MOROCCO.
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MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 661.
Accession of the Omeyyads.
Abu Bekr, the immediate successor of Mahomet, reigned but two
years, dying August, A. D. 634. By his nomination, Omar was
raised to the Caliphate and ruled Islam until 644, when he was
murdered by a Persian slave. His successor was Othman, who had
been the secretary of the Prophet. The Caliphate of Othman was
troubled by many plots and increasing disaffection, which
ended in his assassination, A. D. 656. It was not until then
that Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, was permitted
to take the Prophet's seat. But the dissensions in the Moslem
world had grown more bitter as the fields of ambitious rivalry
were widened, and the factions opposed to Ali were implacable,
"Now begins the tragic tale of the wrongs and martyrdoms of
the immediate family of the Prophet. The province of Syria was
now ruled by the crafty Moawiyah, whose father was Abu-Sofian,
so long the bitterest enemy of Mahomet, and at last a tardy
and unwilling proselyte. … Such was the parentage of the man
who was to deprive the descendants of the Apostle of their
heritage. Moawiyah gave himself out as the avenger of Othman;
Ali was represented as his murderer, although his sons, the
grandsons of the Prophet, had fought, and one of them received
a wound, in the defence of that Caliph. … Ayesha, too, the
Mother of the Faithful, Telha and Zobeir, the Prophet's old
companions, revolted on their own account, and the whole of
the brief reign of Ali was one constant succession of civil
war." Syria adhered to Moawiyah. Ayesha, Zobeir and Telha
gained possession of Bussorah and made that city their
headquarters of rebellion. They were defeated there by Ali in
a great battle, A. D. 656, called the Battle of the Camel,
because the litter which bore Ayesha on the back of a camel
became the center of the fight. But he gained little from the
success; nor more from a long, indecisive battle fought with
Moawiyah at Siffin, in July, A. D. 657. Amru, the conqueror of
Egypt, had now joined Moawiyah, and his influence enlisted
that great province in the revolt. At last, in 661, the civil
war was ended by the assassination of Ali. His eldest son,
Hassan, who seems to have been a spiritless youth, bargained
away his claims to Moawiyah, and the latter became undisputed
Caliph, founding a dynasty called that of the Ommiades, or
Omeyyads (from Ommiah, or Omeyya, the great grandfather of
Moawiyah), which occupied the throne for almost a century—not
at Medina, but at Damascus, to which city the Caliphate was
now transferred. "In thus converting the Caliphate into an
hereditary monarchy he utterly changed its character. It soon
assumed the character of a common oriental empire. … The
Ommiads were masters of slaves instead of leaders of freemen;
the public will was no longer consulted, and the public good
as little; the Commander of the Faithful sank into an earthly
despot, ruling by force, like any Assyrian conqueror of old.
The early Caliphs dwelt in the sacred city of Medina, and
directed the counsels of the Empire from beside the tomb of
the Prophet. Moawiyah transferred his throne to the conquered
splendours of Damascus; and Mecca and Medina became tributary
cities to the ruler of Syria. At one time a rival Caliph,
Abdallah, established himself in Arabia; twice were the holy
cities taken by storm, and the Kaaba itself was battered down
by the engines of the invaders. … Such a revolution however
did not effect itself without considerable opposition. The
partizans of the house of Ali continued to form a formidable
sect. In their ideas the Vicarship of the Prophet was not to
be, like an earthly kingdom, the mere prize of craft or of
valour. It was the inalienable heritage of the sacred
descendants of the Prophet himself. … This was the origin of
the Shiah sect, the assertors of the rights of Ali and his
house."
_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._
ALSO IN:
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapters 31-46._
_R. D. Osborn,
Islam Under the Arabs,
part 3._
_S. Lane-Poole,
The Mohammadan Dynasties,
pages 9-11._
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 680.
The Tragedy at Kerbela.
When Ali, or Aly, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, had
been slain, A. D. 661, and the Caliphate had been seized by
Moawiyah, the first of the Ommiades, "the followers of 'Aly
proclaimed his elder son, Hasan, Khalif; but this
poor-spirited youth was contented to sell his pretensions to
the throne. … On his death, his brother Hoseyn became the
lawful Khalif in the eyes of the partisans of the House of
'Aly, who ignored the general admission of the authority of
the 'Ommiades.' … For a time Hoseyn remained quietly at
Medina, leading a life of devotion, and declining to push his
claims. But at length an opportunity for striking a blow at
the rival House presented itself, and Hoseyn did not hesitate
to avail himself of it. He was invited to join an insurrection
which had broken out at Kufa [A. D. 680], the most mutinous
and fickle of all the cities of the empire; and he set out
with his family and friends, to the number of 100 souls, and
an escort of 500 horsemen, to join the insurgents. As he drew
nigh to Kufa, he discovered that the rising had been
suppressed by the 'Ommiade' governor of the city, and that
the country round him was hostile instead of loyal to him. And
now there came out from Kufa an army of 4,000 horse, who
surrounded the little body of travellers [on the plain of
Kerbela], and cut them off alike from the city and the river.
… A series of single combats, in which Hoseyn and his
followers displayed heroic courage, ended in the death of the
Imam and the men who were with him, and the enslaving of the
women and children."
_S. Lane-Poole,
Studies in a Mosque,
chapter 7._
"The scene [of the massacre of Hosein and his band] … is
still fresh as yesterday in the mind of every Believer, and is
commemorated with wild grief and frenzy as often as the fatal
day, the Tenth of the first month of the year [tenth of
Moharram—October 10], comes round. … The tragedy of Kerbala
decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mahometan
kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.
… The tragedy is yearly represented on the stage as a
religious ceremony"—in the "Passion Play" of the Moharram
Festival.
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapter 49, with foot-note._
See, also, ISLAM.
{2072}
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 668-675.
First repulse from Constantinople.
See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 668-675.
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 710.
Subjugation of the Turks.
"After the fall of the Persian kingdom, the river Oxus divided
the territories of the Saracens and of the Turks: This narrow
boundary was soon overleaped by the spirit of the Arabs; the
governors of Chorassan extended their successive inroads; and
one of their triumphs was adorned with the buskin of a Turkish
queen, which she dropped in her precipitate flight beyond the
hills of Bochara. But the final conquest of Transoxana, as
well as of Spain, was reserved for the glorious reign of the
inactive Walid; and the name of Catibah, the camel-driver,
declares the origin and merit of his successful lieutenant.
While one of his colleagues displayed the first Mahometan
banner on the banks of the Indus, the spacious regions between
the Oxus, the Jaxartes, and the Caspian sea were reduced by
the arms of Catibah to the obedience of the prophet and of the
caliph. A tribute of two millions of pieces of gold was
imposed on the infidels; their idols were burned or broken;
the Mussulman chief pronounced a sermon in the new mosch
[mosque] of Carizme; after several battles the Turkish hordes
were driven back to the desert; and the emperors of China
solicited the friendship of the victorious Arabs. To their
industry the prosperity of the province, the Sogdiana of the
ancients, may in a great measure be ascribed; but the
advantages of the soil and climate had been understood and
cultivated since the reign of the Macedonian kings. Before the
invasion of the Saracens, Carizme, Bochara, and Samarcand were
rich and populous under the yoke of the shepherds of the
North."
_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 51._
ALSO IN:
_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._
MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 711-713.
Conquest of Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.
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