Old age, meanwhile, crept gently though inexorably upon the Prophet;
but its stealthy approach seemed only to quicken the strength of
his arm and the matchless fertility of his intellect. His groveling
acolytes, completely bewitched by the magical power of his colossal
personality, had exalted him to such a dazzling deification that,
had Allah Himself chosen to appear in the streets of Medina, He
might easily have passed unnoticed amid the encomiums that were
daily showered upon His Apostle--or, rather, Allah might carelessly
have been classified with the famous Three Pretenders who, by their
conjuring tricks and fake miracles, excited the wrathful amusement
of the Prophet in the last year of his earthly life. In fact, it has
been pointed out as a matter for deep regret that, while the Koran
allows Allah only ninety-nine separate and distinct appellations,
His Prophet, at the zenith of his career, was addressed by no fewer
than two hundred and one individual titles, including a round score
of those that had been applied to Allah Himself.
In the autumn of the year 630, Mohammed conducted his final military
expedition. Setting out at the head of a Moslem army that seems to
have totaled nearly thirty thousand men, he planned to chastise a
Byzantine force that was reputed to have gathered on the Syrian
border near Tebuk; but when that place was reached, it was found
that there was no Byzantine or any other force to be conquered.
Mohammed, thus finding himself in much the same position as the
French King in the doggerel ballad, proceeded to march home again
after exacting pledges of conversion and immense booty from
contingent tribes. His followers, who stated their belief that
the “wars for religion now are ended,” foolishly began to sell
their weapons; but the far-sighted Prophet sternly stopped them
and uttered the fateful remark: “There shall not cease from the
midst of my people a party engaged in fighting for the truth, until
Antichrist appear.” Scarcely had he returned to Medina when his
heart was gladdened by two events: the death of his only important
rival, Abdallah ibn Obei--to whom the Prophet deemed it safe and
expedient to pay tribute by following his bier and praying at his
grave--and the surrender of At-Taif, the single stronghold that had
ever successfully defied his might. He was so exhilarated by the
downfall of this fort, indeed, that he let its defenders off from
the necessity of breaking their own idols, and, in their stead,
elected two Moslems to perform the peculiarly pleasant task.
But perhaps Mohammed most enjoyed the multitudinous activities
inherent in his position as a kind and fatherly counselor of his
people. The matters which he was besought to adjudicate were
extraordinary in their range. One day his prayers would be requested
by some prospective bridegroom, who hoped, by the aid of such divine
sorcery, to win a wife of unusual goodness and humility; next day
he would be begged to specify the precise hour when the world was
destined to end; another day would find him busily laying down
oracles governing the proper boiling of meat. Only two types of
interrogation were taboo: matters that were wholly rational or
wholly metaphysical; and Mohammed probably barred these topics on
the sensible grounds that preceding prophets who had tampered with
either of them had almost uniformly come to grief. Thus it came about
that countless apothegms, whose absolute authenticity can never be
nicely determined, were confidently claimed to be the children of
his brain. Yet, despite the fact that most of these sayings betray a
hard-headed and close-fisted sagacity, he was in debt when he died;
and perhaps, therefore, the stories concerning his senile delight
in the children of his body deserve more credence. Sonless though
he was, he could partially console himself by playing with his
grandsons, Al-Hasan and Al-Hosein, the progeny of Ali and Fatima,
and by reflecting on the transcendent heritage that awaited them
as male descendants of himself. In fact, legends sprang up that
made a Moslem holy family out of Mohammed, the two boys, and their
mother, Fatima, who was further honored by being entitled “The Lady
of Paradise”; but, unfortunately for his beatific visions concerning
Al-Hasan and Al-Hosein--who frequently entertained themselves by
clambering upon their grandfather’s broad back while he was bowed
in prayer--they turned out to be scurvy fellows who excelled only
in incompetence and cowardice.
It may be that Mohammed had a premonition of his imminent death.
He decided, at all events, to make a “Farewell Pilgrimage” to
Mecca in March, 632, so that he might for the last time feast his
eyes on that sacred citadel and undergo the solemn rites of the
Greater Pilgrimage--a thing he had not done since the Hegira. He
first took a careful bath, then mounted Al-Kaswa, and, accompanied
by his entire harem and one hundred votive camels, set forth on
the long journey. Having meticulously and painfully performed the
prescribed gyrations and genuflections, he cast some small stones at
the “Devil’s corner”--a spot near Mecca where Abraham was reputed
to have met and conquered Satan--and concluded his toilsome duties
by delivering a notable speech. After making many additions to,
and revisions upon, the already numberless regulations which he
had been formulating for more than twenty years, he concluded with
these words: “Verily, I have fulfilled my mission. I have left
that amongst you--a plain command, the Book of God, and manifest
Ordinances--which, if ye hold fast, ye shall never go astray.”
Then, turning his eyes heavenward, he exclaimed: “O Lord! I have
delivered my message and discharged my Ministry.” “Yea,” came
the deep-throated voice of the throng that hemmed him in, “yea,
verily thou hast.” “O Lord!” he continued, unmindful of the pious
interruption, “I beseech Thee bear Thou witness unto it.” Returning
straightway to Mecca, he encircled the Kaba seven times; thence he
went to Zemzem and, having drunk part of the contents of a pitcher
filled with its holy water, he rinsed his mouth and asked that the
water still remaining in the vessel should be poured back into the
well. After abiding three more days at Mecca, he departed from it
forever and ambled by easy stages back to Medina.