Notwithstanding the ubiquitous respect for Abu Talib and the equally
widespread fear of Omar and Hamza, the Koreishite hatred of Mohammed
became steadily more menacing. The lowborn fakir-Prophet might be
a person of despicable origin who mouthed a prodigious amount of
insane drivel, but he had certainly succeeded in kicking up a highly
exasperating rumpus. The devil of it was that the pernicious fellow
so skillfully blended his own revelations with Arabic and Jewish
traditions, whose validity nobody impugned, that the Koreish could
not denounce the one without laying themselves open to the charge
of reviling the other. He appeared to be wholly impervious, not
to say sublimely indifferent, to the appeal of common sense; for
when the Koreish charged that his Suras were either fabricated by
himself or dictated by abler assistants, he would employ the most
underhanded means to disprove the accusation. When they suggested
that, inasmuch as he identified himself with the prophets of old,
he ought to trot out a few miracles, he unwisely obliged them by
declaring that the sky would fall upon their impenitent heads. He
realized his mistake, however, when they promptly demanded that
he should fix a date for the catastrophe; and he then cleverly
extricated himself from his predicament by maintaining that his
presence in the holy city had averted the disaster. But Mohammed had
learnt his lesson, and thereafter he never tampered with miracles--a
fact that, perhaps more than any other, indicates his superiority
over preceding prophets.
The Koreish, however, had not yet finished with him, and, as they
redoubled their assaults, he met them in various ways. When one
of them affirmed that the Prophet was a crazy man--“One taught by
others, a Madman!”--under the influence of the dreadful Jinn, he
retaliated by accusing his accuser of being a bastard who could
not write, who was head over heels in debt, and who furthermore
deserved a thump on the nose. When they worsted him in debate, he
first lost his temper and then announced that he had been divinely
commanded not to argue with unbelievers--for often, as Mohammed
preached to his followers or fulminated against his antagonists,
his cheeks would blaze and his voice would become shrill, and on
one occasion he is said to have thrown dust on the heads of his
opponents. When another Koreishite accepted the Prophet’s rash
challenge to a poetic duel to test the excellence of the Koran,
Mohammed could do nothing but squirm in discomfiture; but he amply
avenged himself, after the battle of Bedr, by ordering the summary
execution of the despicable poet. When they pointed out the many
errors of fact that appeared in the Koran, and sneered at his
assertion that the revelation was “in pure Arabic,” Mohammed at
first replied that Allah must know best--“He hath revealed it who
knoweth that which is hidden in heaven and in earth: He is forgiving
and merciful”--but, when he was informed that his answer, though
doubtless inspired, was hardly to the point, he attempted to dazzle
everybody by producing a new Sura that nobody, not even himself,
could comprehend. For Mohammed invariably trusted in Suras rather
than syllogisms, and wisely quoted no authority save Allah.
If, however, he was safe from direct assault, the more humble of his
auxiliaries--the slaves, strangers and lower classes--who lacked
the protection of family ties, were not so fortunate. They were
apprehended, beaten and jailed, or exposed to the terrific heat
of the sun. Under torments of this sort, some of them naturally
recanted--a contingency that necessitated swift measures on the part
of Allah. Mohammed, sincerely moved by their sufferings, announced
that, even though they dissembled to escape torture, Allah was
nevertheless All-Merciful and Forgiving if their hearts were right;
and a Sura forthwith appeared that poured divine wrath on every
backslider, “excepting him who is forcibly compelled thereto, his
heart remaining steadfast in the faith.” One day the Prophet
met an adherent who was weeping from the anguish of his wounds, and
asked what the trouble was. “Evil, O Prophet! They would not let me
go until I had abused thee, and spoken well of their gods.” “But
how dost thou find thine own heart?” “Secure and steadfast in the
faith.” “Then if they repeat their cruelty, repeat thou also thy
words,” advised Mohammed. Yet, in spite of this heavenly leniency,
incessant persecution continued to diminish his little band, and
he therefore counselled those who were defenseless to take refuge
in Abyssinia. Some of them did so, but still the odious oppression
continued.
The Prophet, in this desperate strait, seems to have resolved upon
a desperate remedy. It is at all events true that, scarcely three
months after the departure of the little company of refugees, he
tried to effect a compromise with his implacable foes. Approaching
a group of the Koreish in Mecca one day, he reeled off a Sura which
contained the flattering information that some of their gods, and
particularly their goddesses, were not so bad after all. Having
enumerated several of them, he intoned this passage:
“These are exalted Females,
Whose intercession verily is to be sought after.”
At the end of this strange encounter, Mohammed and his hearers
promptly prostrated themselves and worshiped their individually
pampered deities in a spirit of beautiful brotherhood.
This event probably marks the decadence of the mystic and the
inception of the statesmanlike elements in Mohammed’s character;
but it was destined to bear bitter fruit. Had his co-workers
possessed his aptitude for mental prestidigitation, all might
have gone well; but, like others of his profession, Mohammed had
stirred up a bigger hornets’ nest than he realized. It appears
that many Moslems, including even those who had been bribed into
accepting Islam, actually believed that the Prophet had meant what
he said about Allah, and himself, and Islam in general. Whatever
it was that had inspired his retrograde action, Mohammed turned
right-about-face in double-quick time; for another Sura followed
posthaste, which declared that the Prophet, being very human, was
sometimes deceived by the poisonous whisperings of the devil.
It was furthermore stated that Allah, the Omnipotent, naturally
possessed the power to erase or substitute sections of the Koran as
he desired: “And when We change one verse in place of another (and
God best knoweth that which He revealeth) they say, ‘Verily thou
plainly art a fabricator.’ Nay! but the most of them understand
not. Say, the Holy Spirit hath brought it down from thy Lord in
truth, to stablish them that believe.” Nevertheless, the clever
device came to naught, for the Prophet’s overplay of his hand led to
two unfortunate results: the Koreish, more assured than ever that
he was a slippery liar, redoubled their assaults on his devotees;
and Mohammed himself was regarded with suspicious doubt by some of
his most whole-hearted adherents.
Events followed thick and fast. The Prophet, disturbed and alarmed,
advised another emigration to Abyssinia--a recommendation that
swelled the rising fury of his enemies. For the Abyssinians, in years
past, had invaded Arabia under Abraha, and what was more likely than
that Mohammed was sending envoys to negotiate a _rapprochement_
with their chiefs--a contingency that might foretell a second
invasion to assist the Prophet and overthrow the Koreish? Impelled
by such vague fears, they instituted a device far more effective
than direct attack. Mohammed’s biographers are not agreed upon the
precise time when these events took place; but it seems probable
that, shortly after the second emigration to Abyssinia (615-616),
the Koreish issued a decree of excommunication against the family
of Hashim--which meant practically all of Islam. Its descendants
were banned from intermarriage or other business engagements with
the Meccans; in brief, the Pagan bull specified that “dealings of
every kind should cease.” The effect was swift and inevitable--the
relatively weak Hashimites were compelled to withdraw their forces
from Mecca and retire to a secluded defile east of the city. And here
for an indeterminate period running from several months to several
years, the outlaws--probably about one hundred in number--lived as
best they could by buying scanty provisions at fabulous prices from
passing caravans. Mohammed’s highly praiseworthy behavior under
these desperate conditions restored, and indeed strengthened, the
faith of the suffering Hashimites; it is even possible that, without
this savage persecution, Islam might soon have died out and been
forgotten in its infancy. For some of the better-class Moslems had
heretofore been showing dangerous tendencies: they refused longer
to kiss the Black Stone; they showed flagrant disrespect toward
their unconverted relatives; they used obscene language; they even
prayed to Allah while they were drunk; and--encouraged, alas! by
the Prophet himself--they coveted the wives and possessions of the
unbelievers. But this frightful ordeal cleansed their hearts of such
wickednesses. The “blood of the martyrs” was, in all probability,
the seed of Islam’s glorious harvest.
And Mohammed himself was stirred to make even greater efforts than
ever. With the cries of starving children ringing in his ears, he
would go forth, during the holy months when amnesty prevailed, to
exhort the tribes that came to the fairs held at Ukaz and other
places. “Ye people!” he would shout, “Say, there is no God but the
Lord. Ye will be benefited thereby. Ye will gain the rule of Arabia
and of foreign lands, and when ye die ye will reign as kings in
Paradise.” While he was thus engaged, his uncle, Abu Lahab (who had
probably avoided the ban by forswearing his kinship to the tribe of
Hashim), would tag after him, crying out, “Believe him not, he is a
lying renegade!” On another occasion Abu Lahab yelled: “Blast the
fellow! Is that all that he hath called us for together?” Mohammed
was moved to such fury by this remark that he devoted one of the
many imprecations of the Koran to his foul-mouthed, profligate
uncle and his equally impenitent spouse.
“Blasted be the hands of Abu Lahab; let himself perish;
His wealth and his gains shall avail him not;
Burned shall he be with the fiery flame,
His wife shall be laden with firewood--
On her neck a rope of palm fibre.”
But Abu Lahab, who by fits and starts relied on the goddess Al-Uzza
for protection, did not cease his mud-slinging; and he was ably
assisted by Pagans from foreign tribes who would taunt Mohammed thus:
“Thine own kindred and people should know thee best; wherefore is
it that they have cast thee off?” Then the Prophet would turn his
face despairingly toward heaven and say, “O Lord, if Thou willedst,
it would not be thus!” But Allah--Who, logically, should be as much
of a nomad as his creatures--seems to have been enjoying a vacation
just then.
In 619 the hostile edict was withdrawn; but the reasons for its
abrogation are obscure. Some believe that the Koreish lifted it
when (it must be repeated that the dates of these events are vague)
Mohammed agreed to a compromise with the Pagan deities of Mecca;
others think that the better nature of the Koreish at last caused
them to pity the famishing exiles. Whatever the facts may be, it was
discovered that the parchment on which the edict was written had
been mostly devoured by some ants that, however, had taken devout
care to leave the inscribed name of God intact. The Koreish were
so confounded by this direct manifestation of Allah’s displeasure
that, when five of their leaders declared they were opposed to the
continued banishment of the Hashimites, opposition collapsed and
the weary outcasts returned to their homes.
Mohammed, overjoyed at this unexpected good fortune and completely
oblivious to the major part played by the insects, rightly gave
thanks to Allah. But new, and even more sinister, events impended.
Within a few months death deprived him of the loyal protection of
Abu Talib and the tender ministrations of Khadija. He comforted
his wife’s dying hours with the assurance that she, together with
three other well-known women--the Virgin Mary, Potiphar’s wife, and
“Kulthum, Moses’ sister”--would occupy his chamber in Paradise; but
all he could conscientiously promise his expiring uncle was that he
would inhabit the coolest, or at any rate the least hot, regions
in Hell. The contingent deaths of these two made the Prophet’s
position very precarious: Khadija had constantly nerved him to face
the severest trials, and Abu Talib had just as constantly kept the
number of those trials down. Abu Talib, in fact, was barely in his
grave when the populace of Mecca cast dust on Mohammed’s head; and
he therefore betook himself to At-Taif, a city some seventy miles
east of Mecca, to test its possibilities as a refuge. Arriving
there early in 620, he was much disconcerted to learn that none
of its inhabitants had even so much as heard of his ten-year-old
mission; and when he attempted to enlighten them, the sheiks and
their groundlings merely sneered in open contempt. He then besought
them not to divulge his religious views--an exhibition of invaliant
diplomacy that caused the people to hoot and hurl stones at him,
until he fled from the city with blood flowing down his legs. Utterly
cast down in spirit, he spent the next two months in seclusion at
Mecca. During the pilgrimage month of Dhul-Hijja, while he was
addressing the crowds of visitors in his usual way, a coincidence
of measureless significance occurred. Mohammed chanced to notice a
little group of men whom he recognized as inhabitants of Medina.
[Illustration: V]