I
Another year sped by, until the appointed time came for the Koreish
and the Moslems to clash again at Bedr. A prolonged drought, however,
had impaired the Meccan finances to such an extent that Abu Sufyan
decided it would be advisable to postpone the engagement; so,
summoning strategy to his aid, he caused a rumor to be diffused
through Medina to the effect that the Koreish had equipped a vast
army for the impending conflict. The Moslems, whose spirits had not
yet recovered from the shock of Uhud, were so perturbed at this
report that they were unwilling to venture forth; but Mohammed, whose
espionage system had now penetrated even as far as the confines
of Mecca and who, therefore, was probably aware of Abu Sufyan’s
ruse, swore a great oath that he would march to Bedr even though
he marched alone. Shamed by their leader’s heroism, the Medinese
recovered their courage; and the Prophet, at the head of fifteen
hundred men, set out for Bedr in the spring of 626. The Koreish
also finally scraped up enough tepid enthusiasm to venture forth
with an army of over two thousand men; but they soon turned back,
so they later declared, because of the lack of provisions. Though
the Moslems were by no means sorry to hear of this, they publicly
boasted their contempt for the “water-gruel” force from Mecca; then,
since it was the time of the annual fairs, they remained eight days
at Bedr profiting greatly from the sale of the abundant wares they
had carried in their train.
If, as it now appeared to Mohammed, the Koreish were disposed to
keep the peace, the extended lull in hostilities would furnish an
admirable opportunity to flaunt the banners of Islam over an ever
widening extent of Arabia; for the defeat of Uhud, no less than the
success at Bedr, had profoundly convinced him that the ultimate
victory of Islam depended upon the sword. The Koran of this period
breathes defiance against the enemies of Islam on almost every page;
its profuse maledictions, once confined to the evildoers of Mecca,
now include all unbelievers everywhere. All other things, even the
hitherto unescapable performance of daily prayers, take second place
to the relentless promulgation of the faith by military means.
“When ye march abroad in the earth, it shall be no crime unto you
that ye shorten your prayers, if ye fear that the Unbelievers may
attack you.” Such an inducement was remarkably well calculated to
win over to the army those numerous believers who had discovered
that five highly complicated daily contortions were a little
irksome, and the Moslem force therefore grew by leaps and bounds.
As a result, during the summer of 626 Mohammed was able to conduct
a successful campaign as far north as the border of Syria--an event
of incalculable import. For the first time the tentacles of Islam
had stretched beyond the bounds of Arabia: the curtain had risen on
the first scene of a world-wide drama that still awaits its last
act.
It seems probable that these sweeping expeditions at length aroused
the Arabians to the danger that threatened them all. At all
events, in the early months of 627 it happened that a confederacy
of Koreishite, Bedouin and Jewish tribes put an army numbering
approximately ten thousand men in the field against Medina. The
Prophet well knew that the memories of Uhud, still rankling in the
minds of his compatriots, made it highly inexpedient to desert the
city and meet the oncoming foe in the open field. Yet Medina must
be defended at all costs--everyone, even the most feeble-kneed,
was agreed upon that--and feverish counsels were held to devise a
plan whereby the city might be made impregnable against assault. At
this crucial juncture, a Persian ex-slave suggested that the city
be entrenched in the same way as, in his travels, he had observed
that the Mesopotamian cities were protected. Acting immediately
upon his inspired advice, the Moslems filled in the gaps between
their outer line of stone houses with a stone wall; and, at the
southeastern quarter, which was entirely defenseless, a deep and wide
ditch was dug. After six days of prodigious and incessant labor,
the trench was completed. The Prophet threw himself heartily into
the work, and, dirty and weary as he was, joined his stentorian
voice in unison with the other toilers as they once again intoned
the words:
“O Lord! there is no happiness but that of Futurity.
O Lord! have mercy on the Citizens and the Refugees!”
The result was that, when Abu Sufyan came marching up at the head
of his conglomerate force, all that he could do was to permit his
troops to shoot some harmless showers of arrows, pitch his tents,
sit down, and wait for the Moslems to come forth. Entrenchments as
a military device were entirely unknown in Arabia; so the invaders
logically concluded that Mohammed was not a good sport--as on other
occasions, he had violated the Arabic code of chivalry by proving
that he had brains. “Truly this ditch is the artifice of strangers,”
they yelled, “a shift to which no Arab yet has ever stooped!” But
the Moslems did not take the hint, and so next day the besiegers
made a gallantly unsuccessful attempt to rush the barricade by
sheer weight of numbers. Nevertheless, the assault accomplished
one very irritating thing: for a whole day the devoutest of the
Moslems had been prevented from saying their prayers. Gratifying
amends for this forced neglect of Allah, however, were made when
night fell; at that time an individual service was held for each
omitted supplication, and Mohammed contributed a special comminatory
request: “They have kept us from our daily prayers; God fill their
bellies and their graves with fire!” Indeed, while the siege lasted,
the Prophet spent most of the hours in protracted prayer, though he
managed to find time enough to guard himself against the threatening
activities of the Jews and other disaffected Medinese. Nor did
his devices stop here. He even tried to buy off the Bedouins by
promising them a third of the fruit from Medina’s date-trees; but his
leading allies, the Aus and the Khazraj, opposed his trickiness and
admonished him to “give nothing unto them but the sword.” Mohammed
then played his trump card: if war was but a game of deception, why
should he not skillfully divide the enemy against themselves? He
instructed a trusty go-between to spread dissension among the foe
by persuading the Bedouins and Jews in turn that their interests
were mutually opposed. The scheme worked without a hitch, for the
attacking forces, already discouraged by the cold, the difficulty
of obtaining food, and the protracted delay, were ready to leave
on any excuse. As a result, when a chilling storm of wind and rain
incommoded them on the fifteenth day, they folded their tents and
silently stole away. “Break up the camp and march,” commanded Abu
Sufyan. “As for myself I am gone”--and he suited his action to his
words by clambering hastily upon his camel and trying to urge it
away while its fore leg was still hitched.
Scarcely had the last camel disappeared when the Prophet, after
thanking Allah for his timely assistance in sending the storm, was
visited by Gabriel. “What!” chided the tireless angel, “hast thou
laid aside thine armor, while as yet the angels have not laid theirs
aside! Arise! go up against the Beni Koreiza.” This Jewish tribe,
which inhabited a fortress several miles southeast of Medina, had
been the last to succumb to the blandishments of Abu Sufyan, but
had finally yielded and taken part in the assault on Medina; so
Mohammed made haste to obey the celestial behest, even though he
had previously borrowed from the Beni Koreiza the picks and shovels
with which the trench had been excavated. Heading three thousand
soldiers, he immediately marched to the Jewish stronghold where,
inasmuch as it was marvelously protected by nature rather than
its inhabitants, he found it necessary to keep guard for several
weeks. In the end the Jews agreed to surrender on condition that
the Aus, their supposed allies, should decide their fate. To this
Mohammed agreed, and the Aus, almost with one voice, demanded that
the Beni Koreiza should be treated gently; yet they signified
their willingness to abide by the decision of their chief, a huge,
corpulent fellow named Sa’d.
Now it chanced that Sa’d, suffering from an arrow-wound inflicted
during the late siege, was not in a pleasant frame of mind; and it
has been surmised that Mohammed may have craftily reckoned on this
very fact. “Proceed with thy judgment!” he commanded Sa’d. “Will
ye, then,” inquired Sa’d of his tribesmen, “bind yourselves by the
covenant of God that whatsoever I shall decide, ye will accept?”
After they had murmured their assent, he spoke. “My judgment is
that the men shall be put to death, the women and children sold
into slavery, and the spoil divided amongst the army.” A torrent of
objections was about to be poured forth, when the Prophet savagely
commanded silence. “Truly the judgment of Sa’d is the judgment of
God,” he declared, “pronounced on high from beyond the Seventh
Heaven.” Trenches were dug that night, and next morning some seven
or eight hundred men were marched out, forced to seat themselves
in rows along the top of the trenches, were forthwith beheaded,
and then tumbled into the long, gaping grave; the Prophet meanwhile
looked on until, tiring of the monotonous spectacle, he departed to
amuse himself with a Jewess whose husband had just perished. But poor
Sa’d did not live long to enjoy his revenge; barely had he reached
home when his wounds re-opened and he soon breathed his last. As
he lay dying, the Prophet held him in his arms and prayed thus: “O
Lord! Verily Sa’d hath labored in thy service. He hath believed in
thy Prophet, and hath fulfilled his covenant. Wherefore do thou,
O Lord, receive his spirit with the best reception wherewith thou
receivest a departing soul!” Mohammed also helped to carry the
coffin which, the bearers noted, was remarkably light for so heavy
a man; but the Prophet explained the matter to the satisfaction of
all. “The angels are carrying the bier, therefore it is light in
your hands. Verily the throne on high doth vibrate for Sa’d, and
the portals of heaven are opened, and he is attended by seventy
thousand angels that never trod the earth before.”