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MAHOMET (strictly MUHAMMAD, commonly also MOHAMMED) , founder of the religious See also:system called in See also:Europe after him Mahommedanism, and by himself See also:Islam or Ilanifism. He died, according to the See also:ordinary synchronism, on the 7th of See also:June 632 (12 Rabia, A.H. 11), and his birthday was exactly sixty-three or sixty-five years earlier, the latter number being evidently an See also:interpretation in lunar years of a number thought to refer to See also:solar years. The lunar system was introduced into See also:Arabia by Mahomet himself quite at the See also:close of his career; that which existed before was certainly solar, as it involved a See also:process of intercalation—which, however, seems to have been arbitrarily manipulated by priests, whence certain synchronisms cannot be got for the events in the See also:Prophet's career. The number 63 for the years of his See also:life may See also:rest on tradition, though it is unlikely that such matters were accurately noted; it can also be accountedfor by a priori See also:combination. A Meccan, it is said, became a full See also:citizen at the See also:age of 40; this then would be the age at which the See also:mission might be started. The See also:Medina See also:period (of which See also:count was kept) lasted ten to eleven years; for the Meccan period ten years would seem a likely length. Finally it was known that for some years—about three—the mission had been conducted secretly. The only event in contemporary See also:history to which the See also:Koran alludes in its earlier parts is the See also:Persian See also:conquest of See also:Palestine in 616. Clearly Mahomet had begun to prophesy at that date. Before the rise of Islam, Mahomet's native See also:place, See also:Mecca, appears to figure nowhere in See also:historical records, unless there be a reference to it in the " valley of Baca " (See also:Psalm Ixxxiv. 6).

Its sacred, and therefore archaic, name is Bakkah; hence the See also:

identification of the name with that of the See also:sanctuary Makoraba, known to the See also:Greek geographers, is not philologically tenable; although so eminent a linguist as See also:Dozy evolved a theory of the origin of the See also:city from this name, which appears to be See also:South Arabian for " sanctuary," and has no connexion with See also:Hebrew (as Dozy supposed). In the 3rd See also:century of Islam the See also:mythology of Mecca was collected and published in See also:book See also:form, but we learn little more from it than names of tribes and places; it is clear that there was no See also:record of the mode in which the community inhabiting the place had got there, and that little was remembered with accuracy of the events which preceded the rise of its prophet. The city had a sanctuary, called the See also:Cube (ka'ba), of which the See also:nucleus was the " See also:Black See also:Stone," probably to be identified with See also:Allah, the See also:god of the community; both still exist, or rather their legitimate substitutes, as the Ka'ba has been repeatedly reconstructed, and the See also:original Black Stone was stolen by the See also:Carmathians in the 4th century of Islam; they afterwards returned one, but it may or may not have been the same as that which they removed. At some See also:time in the 6th century—said to have been the See also:birth-See also:year of the Prophet, but really much earlier—an Abyssinian invader raided Mecca with the view of abolishing this sanctuary; but for some See also:reason had to desist. This expedition, known as the "See also:Raid of the See also:Elephant," one of these animals being employed in it, seems to be of See also:great importance for explaining the rise of Islam; for a sanctuary which can repel an invader acquires tremendous reputation. Some verses in the Koran which are perhaps not genuine, record the See also:miracle whereby Allah repelled the " See also:People of the Elephant." The sanctuary was apparently in the See also:possession of the tribe Koreish (Quraish), the origin of whose name is unknown, said to have come originally from Cutha in See also:Mesopotamia. They were known (we are told) as the people of Allah, and, by wearing a badge, were sacrosanct throughout Arabia. If this be true, it was probably a See also:privilege earned by the miraculous See also:defence of the Ka'ba, and is sufficient to See also:account for the rise of Meccan See also:commerce of which we hear much in the See also:biography of the Prophet, and to which some verses of the earliest See also:part of the Koran allude; for merchants who were safe from attacks by bandits would have an enormous See also:advantage. The records seem, however, to be inconsistent with this assertion; and the growth of the Meccan commerce is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that after the Abyssinian invasion See also:pilgrimage to the Ka'ba became the practice of numerous Arab tribes, and for four months in the year (selected by Meccan priests) raiding was forbidden, in See also:order to enable the pilgrimage to be safely made. In addition to this it would seem that all Mecca counted as sanctuary—i.e. no See also:blood might under any circumstances be See also:shed there. The community lived by purveying to pilgrims and the carrying See also:trade; and both these operations led to the See also:immigration of strangers. There seems to be no doubt that Mahomet was himself a member of the tribe Koreish, and indeed too many of his relatives figure in history to permit of his parentage being questioned.

Maiomet's His See also:

cousin `See also:Ali, See also:fourth See also:caliph, was the son of See also:Abu See also:Family. Talib, whose name attests the historical See also:character of the kindred name `Abd al-Mottalib, Mahomet's grandfather: for the fact that this name is in part enigmatical is certainly no See also:argument against its genuineness. In the 3rd century of Islam His See also:Country. a document was shown in which a See also:man of See also:San'a in See also:Yemen acknowledged that he had borrowed from 'Abd al-Mottalib r000 See also:silver dirhems of the Hudaida See also:standard, and Allah with the two " angels " (probably a See also:euphemism for the goddesses Al-See also:lat and al-'Uzza) served as See also:witness; it is difficult to see why such a document should have been forged. The name Hashim (for 'Abd al-Mottalib's See also:father) may or may not be historical; here, as in the ascending See also:line throughout, we have subjects without predicates. The name of 'Abd al-Mottalib's son, who was Mahomet's father, is given as 'Abdallah; the correctness of this has been questioned, because " Servant of Allah " would seem to be too appropriate, and the name was often given by the Prophet to converts as a substitute for some See also:pagan appellation. This, however, is hypercritical, as the name of the father could not easily be altered, when relatives abounded, and it would seem that at one time the Prophet made no theological use of the name Allah, for which he intended to substitute Rahman. The name of his See also:mother is given as Aminah, and with this one of his own titles, Amin, agrees; although the See also:Arabs do not appear to bring the two into connexion. Her father's name is given as Wahb, and she is brought into relation with a Medinese tribe called the Banu 'Ad' b. al-Najjar, to whom she is said to have brought her son in his See also:early See also:infancy. The circumstances may have been suggested by his later connexion with that rplace; yet in what seems a historical narrative her See also:grave is mentioned as known to be at Abwa, midway between the two cities, whence this early See also:bond between the Prophet and his future See also:home may have really existed. His own name is given in the Koran in the forms Ahmad and the See also:familiar Muhammad; in contemporary See also:poetry we also find the form Mahmud. Similar variation between derivatives from the same See also:root is found in proper names which occur in early poetry; the meaning of all would be " the praised," if the root be given its Arabic signification—" the desired " if interpreted front the Hebrew.

The form Muhammad (ordinarily transliterated Mohammed; Mlahomet, Mehmet, &c., represent the See also:

Turkish See also:pronunciation) is found in a pre-Islamic inscription, and appears to have been fairly See also:common in Arabia. In See also:Hag. ii. 7 a derivative of the Hebrew See also:equivalent root occurs in the prophecy " and the desired of all nations shall come," and this passage has suggested the See also:idea that the name may have been taken by the Prophet as the equivalent of " See also:Messiah," while the Moslems themselves find its equivalent in the Paraclete of the Fourth See also:Gospel, though this identification re-quires more ingenuity. His kunyah (i.e. the Arab See also:title of respect, in which a man is called after his son) is Abu'l-Qasim; other names by which he is called are titles of See also:honour, e.g. Mustafa " chosen." (See further the genealogical table, ad fin.) In the Koran, Allah says that He found the Prophet an See also:orphan, poor and astray; it is possible that all these expressions Early Life. should be understood figuratively, like the " poor, naked, See also:blind " of See also:Christian See also:hymns; the Arabs, how- ever, take them literally, and Mahomet is said to have been a See also:posthumous See also:child, whose mother died a few months or years after his birth, and who was brought up first by his grandfather, and then by his See also:uncle Abu Talib, one of the poorer members of the family; in the controversy between the Alid and Abbasid pre- tenders of the 2nd century of Islam the Abbasid Mansur claims that his ancestor fed the ancestor of 'Ali, i.e. Abu Talib, other- See also:wise he would have had to beg. There was evidently an apparent inconsistency between Mahomet's being a poor orphan and the favourite grandchild of the eminent and wealthy 'Abd al-Mottalib; and it was solved in this way. There was a tradition that in his early years he was sent into the See also:desert to acquire the habits and the See also:language of the See also:Bedouins; and this seems to have been attested by the Prophet himself. In a tribal fight he is said to have acted as See also:armour-See also:bearer to one of his uncles, Zubair. There seems no doubt that he often accompanied Meccan caravans to the countries with which the Meccans had trade relations; such especially were See also:Syria and south Arabia, and perhaps See also:Egypt and Mesopotamia. It is conceivable that he may have visited See also:Abyssinia by See also:sea. For though accurate knowledge is nowhere to be found in the Koran, it exhibits a large amount of See also:miscellaneous See also:information, such as a trader might well pick up.

His career as a See also:

caravan-conductor appears to have terminated with his See also:marriage to Khadija, daughter of Khuwailid, represented by the tradition as a wealthy widow, fifteen years his See also:senior and See also:forty years of age at the time of the See also:union. As she became the mother of a numerous family, a See also:special See also:rule was discovered by Moslem physiologists extending the child-bearing period of Korashite See also:women beyond that of others. Since it is claimed for Mahomet that he first gave Arab women the right to inherit See also:property, the difficulty noticed is not the only one connected with this marriage; and See also:Robertson See also:Smith has called See also:attention to some others, unconnected with his theory of " marriage and kinship in early Arabia." After his marriage Mahomet appears to have been partner in a See also:shop in Mecca; where he apparently sold agricultural produce. His See also:style is strongly marked by phrases and metaphors See also:drawn from trade, though as a statesman he never displayed any See also:financial ability. See also:Writing in the monumental script of South Arabia had been known for centuries in the See also:peninsula; and shortly before the rise of Islam a cursive script—the See also:parent of the ordinary See also:Education. Arabic character—had been started in the Christian See also:state of Him, with which the beginnings of See also:modern Arabic literature are connected. A modification of this had been introduced into Mecca, and was probably used for contracts and similar documents. The word ummi, literally " popular " or " plebeian " (according to one See also:etymology), applied to Mahomet in the Koran, is said to mean " one who can neither read nor write," and the most generally accepted view is that he could do neither, a supposition which enters into the See also:doctrine of the miraculous nature of the Koran. According to another interpretation the word means " Meccan," i.e. native of " the Mother of the Villages " (Umm al-Qura); and the most probable theory is that he could do both, but unskilfully. Indeed on one historic occasion he erased certain words in a document; and where in the Koran he rebuts the See also:charge of " taking notes," he does not employ the obvious See also:retort that he could not write, but gives a far less convincing See also:answer. For poetry, which seems to have been cultivated in Arabia See also:long before his time, he possessed no See also:ear; but we have little reason for supposing that either writing or versification had yet entered into Arabian education. The former would be acquired by those who needed it, the latter was regarded as a natural See also:gift.

There is reason for thinking the language of the Koran incorrect and ungrammatical in parts, but as it afterwards became the ultimate standard of classical Arabic, this point is not easy to prove. On the whole then his early life seems to have been such as was normal in the See also:

case of a man belonging to one of the more important families in a community which had not long been started on a career of prosperity. Of the organization of that community we unfortunately know very little, though we hear of a See also:council-chamber, and, as has been seen, of an age-qualification for See also:admission to it. It is, however, certain that the theory of syocstem. decision by See also:majority was absolutely unknown to Mahomet's second successor, whence we learn little from this tradition (even if it be See also:authentic) of the mode whereby the tribes who together formed the Meccan See also:population managed their common concerns, whether commercial or See also:political. The form of See also:government seems to have been a rudimentary See also:oligarchy, directed by some masterful individual; before the See also:Flight we read of various prominent personages, after the Flight and the See also:battle of Badr (A.H. 2) one chieftain, Abu Sofian (see See also:CALIPHATE, ad init.), appears to take the See also:lead whether in See also:war or in policy. It would seem, however, that the right of See also:independent See also:action belonged to the individual tribes, even to the extent of refusing to take part in a See also:campaign. For the See also:settlement of ordinary disputes recourse was had (it appears) rather to soothsayers, near or distant, than to any regularly constituted authority or tribunal. On the other See also:hand we are furnished with a See also:list of officials who were concerned with different parts of the festal performances and the ordinary See also:worship. Of these we may mention the Custodian of the Ka'ba, and th% See also:official whose See also:duty was sigayak (" watering "), said to mean furnishing the pilgrims with See also:water, but more ingeniously interpreted in See also:recent times as " See also:rain-bringing," a See also:function which even in the and century of Islam the See also:governor in some places was supposed to exercise. Of Arabian paganism we possess no trustworthy or See also:complete account; since we hear of no theological literature belonging to it, Beginnings probably no such account could have been given. of the There were doubtless a variety of practices, many of Mission. which have been continued to this See also:day in the ceremonies of the pilgrimage, and offerings of different sorts to various deities, interpreted variously by the worshippers in accordance with their spiritual, intellectual and moral levels; e.g. as actual stones, or as men (or more often women) residing in the stones or otherwise connected with them, or bearing a similar relation to trees, or stars, &c.

In See also:

general every tribe had its See also:patron of the See also:kind, and where there were aggregations of tribes, connexions were established between these deities, and See also:affiliation-theories excogitated; hence the theory attributed in the Koran to the Meccans that the goddesses al-'Uzza, &c. were the daughters of Allah, may well represent the outcome of such See also:speculation. These, however, were known to few, whereas the practices were familiar to all. Some of these were harmless, others barbarous; many offensive, but not very reprehensible, superstitions. Before Mahomet's time Arabian paganism had already been attacked both from the outside and from the inside. On the one hand the See also:northern tribes had gradually been Externs/ Influences. christianized, owing to the See also:influence of the See also:Byzantine See also:empire; on the other hand south Arabia had fallen successively under Jewish, Abyssinian and Persian influence; and the last, though little is known of Persian rule, is unlikely to have favoured pagan cults. See also:Christianity had also some important See also:representation in Najran far south of Mecca, while Jewish settlements were prospering See also:north of Mecca in the Prophet's future home Yathrib and its neighbourhood. See also:Power, See also:civilization and learning were thus associated with monotheism (Judaism), See also:dualism (Mazdaism) and tritheism (as the Arabs interpreted Christianity); paganism was the See also:religion of See also:ignorance (jahiliyyah, interpreted by See also:Goldziher as " barbarism," but the difference is not very considerable). Mecca itself and the neighbouring and allied Taif are said to have produced some monotheists or Christians, who identified the Allah of Mecca with the Allaha or God of the Syrian Christians, called by the Abyssinian Christians " See also:Lord of the Regions," and by the See also:Jews " the Merciful " (Rahmana); one such is said to have been a cousin of Khadija, Mahomet's wife; his name is given as Waraqah, son of Naufal, and he is credited with copying or translating a Gospel. We even hear of flagellant monks and persons vowed to See also:total See also:abstinence among the precursors of Islam. With these persons Mahomet had little in common, since they do not appear to have claimed to enforce their views upon others, or to have interfered with politics. He appears mainly to have been struck by the See also:personality of the founders of the systems dominant in the civilized See also:world, and to have aspired from the first to occupy the place of legislator or See also:mouthpiece of the Deity; and that he was this was and is the See also:main proposition of the See also:Mahommedan creed. The " Prophet " or " Apostle " (at different times he employed both the Jewish and the Christian phrase) was the divinely appointed See also:dictator of his community; if he were not obeyed, divine vengeance would overtake the disobedient.

At this proposition Mahomet arrived by See also:

induction from the re-cords of the Biblical prophets, as well as others who seem to have figured in Arabian mythology, e.g. the destruction of the tribe Thamud (mentioned by See also:Pliny, and therefore historical) for their disobedience to their prophet Salih, and of 'Ad (probably mythical) for their similar treatment of Had. The character of the See also:message did not affect the See also:necessity for obedience; at times it was condemnation of some moral offence, at others a trivial order. Divine vengeance overtook those who disobeyed either. This is the theory of the prophetic See also:office which pervades the Koran, wherein the doctrine is formulated that every nation had its divine06ide and that Mecca before Mahomet's time had none. This,tilace, then, Mahomet See also:felt a divine See also:call to fill. But we are never likely to ascertain what first put the idea into his mind. The fables which his biographers tell on this subject are not See also:worth repeating; his own system, in The which he is brought into See also:direct communication with Prophet's the Deity, though at a later period the See also:angel See also:Gabriel call. appears to have acted as intermediary, naturally leaves no See also:room for such speculations; and since his See also:dispensation was thought to be absolutely new, and to make a tabula rasa of the pagan past, his first followers, having broken with that past, See also:left no intelligible account of the state of affairs which preceded their See also:master's call. Some generations therefore elapsed before that past was studied with. any sort of sympathy, and details could not then be recovered, any more than they can now be supplied by conjecture. So far as Mahomet may be said from the first to have formulated a definite notion of his See also:work, we should probably be right in thinking it to be the restoration of the religion of See also:Abraham, or (as the Koran calls him) See also:Ibrahim. Though we have no reason for supposing the name of Abraham or See also:Ishmael to have been known in Mecca generally before Mahomet's time, the Biblical See also:ethnology was not apparently questioned by those who were told of it, and there are stories, not necessarily apocryphal, of precursors of Mahomet going abroad in See also:search of the " religion of Abraham." One feature of that system, associated in the See also:Bible with the name of Ishmael as well, was See also:circumcision, which was actually observed by the Meccan tribes, though it would appear with technical See also:differences from the Jewish method; the association of monotheism with it would seem reasonable enough, in view of Jewish traditions, such as Mahomet may have heard on his travels; why the doctrine of the future life should be coupled with it is less obvious. That the Meccan See also:temple and its See also:rites had been founded by these two patriarchs appears to have been deduced by Mahomet himself, but perhaps at a later See also:stage of his career. That these rites, so far as they were idolatrous, were in flagrant See also:defiance of the religion of Abraham must have struck any one who accepted the accounts of it which were current among Jews and Christians.

The precursors, however, appear to have felt no call to reform their See also:

fellow-citizens; whereas it is evident that Mahomet regarded himself as charged with a message, which he was See also:bound to deliver, and which his God would in some way render effective. As it was obvious that the claim to be God's mouthpiece was to claim See also:autocracy, Mahomet employed the utmost caution in his mode of asserting this claim; on the question of his sincerity there have been different opinions held, and it is not necessary to take any view on this See also:matter. For three years his followers were a See also:secret society; and this period appears to have been preceded by one of private preparation, the first See also:revelation being received when the Prophet was in religious retirement—a ceremony called tahannuth, of which the meaning is uncertain, but which can have no connexion with the Hebrew tehinneth ("supplications ")—on See also:Mount Mira, near Mecca. If the traditional See also:dates assigned to the suras (chapters) of the Koran (q.v.) are correct, the earliest revelations took the form of pages or rolls which the Prophet was to read by the " See also:grace of God," as See also:Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon community, said of the power given him to read the "See also:Egyptian" The Koran. characters on the See also:gold plates which he had found. The command to read is accompanied by the statement that "his most generous Lord had taught man by the See also:pen (calamus) that which he did not know." Waraqah, to whom the event is said to have been communicated by Khadija, called these communications " the Greater See also:Law (nomos)." The Prophet was directed to communicate his mission at the first only to his nearest relatives. The utterances were from the first in a sort of See also:rhyme, such as is said to have been employed for See also:solemn matter in general, e.g. oracles or prayers. At an early period the See also:production of a written communication was abandoned for oral communications, delivered by the Prophet in See also:trance; their delivery was preceded by copious See also:perspiration, for which the Prophet prepared (in accordance with instructions found in the Koran) by wrapping himself in a blanket. Trusty followers were instructed to take these utterances down, but the phenomena which accompanied their delivery at least in one case suggested imposture to the See also:scribe, who apostatized in consequence. It is extraordinary that there is no reason to suppose that any official record was ever kept of these revelations; the Prophet treated them somewhat as the Sibyl did her leaves. This carelessness is equally astounding whether the Prophet was sincere or insincere. If the matter afterwards collected in the Koran be genuine, the early revelations must have been miscellaneous in content, magical, historical and homiletic. To some See also:strange oaths are prefixed.

Apparently the purpose to be compassed was to convince the See also:

audience of their miraculous origin. The formulation of doctrines belongs to a later period and that of See also:jurisprudence to the latest of all. In that last period also, when Mahomet was See also:despot of Medina, the Koran served as an official See also:chronicle, well compared by See also:Sprenger to the leading articles on current events in a ministerial See also:organ. Where the continuous See also:paragraph is substituted for the ejaculation, the divine author apologizes for the style. Certain doctrines and practices (e.g. washing of the See also:person and the garments) must have been enjoined from the first, but our authorities scarcely give us any clear notion what they were. The doctrines to which the Prophet himself throughout assigned most value seem to have been the unity of God and the future life, or resurrection of the See also:body. The former necessitated the See also:abandonment of the idolatrous worship which formed part of the daily life of Mecca, and in which Mahomet and Khadija had been accustomed to take their part. • Yet it seems to have been due to the initiative of the proselytes themselves rather than to the Prophet's orders that the Meccan worship was actually flouted by them; for the See also:anecdote which represents the Prophet and his See also:young cousin attempting to pull down the images in or about the Ka'ba appears to be apocryphal. The first Moslem ceremony would appear to have been the religious See also:meeting for the purpose of See also:hearing the delivery of revelations, of which after the Prophet's See also:death the See also:sermon (khutbah) took the place. After various provisional meeting-places, the See also:house of one al-Arqam on Mt. Safa was adopted for this purpose; and here proselytes were initiated. The names which the new community received from its founder are both philological puzzles; for the natural sense of Growth of Moslem (Muslim) appear to be " traitors," and to the Early this a contemporary war-See also:song of Mahomet's enemies commnnity.alludes; while Hanif (especially applied in the Koran to Abraham) seems to be the Hebrew word for " hypocrite." The former is explained in the Koran to mean " one who hands over his See also:face or person to God," and is said to have been invented by Abraham; of the latter no explanation is given, but it seems to signify from the context " devotee." Since the divine name Rahman was at one time favoured by Mahomet, and this was connected with one Maslama of the tribe IJanifa, who figures in politics at the end of Mahomet's career but must have been a religious See also:leader far earlier, it has been suggested that the names originally belonged to Maslama's community.

The honour of having been Mahomet's first convert is claimed for three persons: his wife Khadija, his cousin Ali, who must have been a lad at the commencement of the mission, and Abu Bekr, son of Abu Quhafah, afterwards Mahomet's first successor. This last person became Mahomet's alter ego, and is usually known as the Siddiq (Heb. word signifying " the See also:

saint;" but to the Arabs meaning " faithful friend)". His See also:loyalty from first to last was absolutely unswerving; he was selected to accompany Mahomet on the most See also:critical occasion of his life, the Flight from Mecca; Mahomet is said to have declared that had he ever made a confidant of any one, that person would have been Abu Bekr; implying that there were things which were not confided even to him. The success of the Prophet's enterprise seems to have been very largely due to the part played by this adherent, who possessed a variety of attainments which he put at Mahomet's service; who when an intermediary was required was always ready torepresent him, and who placed the See also:commendation of the Prophet above every other See also:consideration, private or public. The two appear to have regularly laid See also:siege to those persons in Mecca whose adherence was desirable; and the ability which many of the earlier converts afterwards displayed, whether as states-men or generals, is a remarkable testimony to their power of gauging men. It seems clear that the growth of See also:wealth in Mecca had led to the accentuation of the difference between persons of different station, and that many were discontented with the oligarchy which governed the city. Converts could, therefore, be won without serious difficulty among the aliens and in general those who suffered under various disqualifications. Some members of the Jewish community seem also to have joined; and some See also:relics of the Abyssinian expedition (i.e. descendants of the invaders). Among the most important converts of the Meccan period were Mahomet's uncle IIamza, afterwards for his valour called " the See also:Lion of God "; `Abd al-Rahman (Abdarrahman) son of `Auf; See also:Othman, son of `See also:Allan, who married two of the Prophet's daughters successively, and was Mahomet's third successor; and, more important than any See also:save Abu Bekr, See also:Omar, son of al-Khattab, a man of extraordinary force of character, to whom siege seems to have been laid with extraordinary skill. At some time he received the See also:honourable title Faruq (" Deliverer ") ; he is represented as regularly favouring force, where Abu Bekr favoured See also:gentle methods; unlike Abu Bekr, his loyalty was not always above suspicion. His adherence is ascribed to the period of publicity. The secrecy which marked its early years was of the greatest value for the eventual success of the mission; for when Mahomet came forward publicly he was already the See also:head of a See also:band of See also:united followers.

His own family appear to have been either See also:

firm adherents, or violent enemies, or lukewarm and temporizing —this is the best which can be said for `Abbas, eponymus of the Abbasid See also:dynasty; or finally espousers of his cause, on family grounds, but not as believers. Rejecting accounts of Mahomet's first See also:appearance as a public preacher, which are evidently comments on a See also:text of the Koran, we have reason for supposing that his hand was forced First by ardent followers, who many times in his career Period or compelled him to advance. The astute rulers of Publicity. the community perceived that the claim made by Mahomet was to be dictator or autocrat; and while this was naturally ridiculed by them, some appear to have been devoted adherents of the gods or goddesses whom he attacked. The See also:absence of dated documents for the period between this open See also:proclamation (which in any case commenced before 616) and the Flight to Medina in 622 renders the course of events somewhat conjectural, though certain details appear to be well established. Apparently there was a war of words, followed by a resort to See also:diplomacy and then to force; and then a period in which Mahomet's attention was directed to See also:foreign conversions, resulting in his being offered and accepting the dictatorship of Yathrib. Of the war of words we have an imperfect record in the Meccan suras of the Koran, which occasionally state the objections urged by the opponents. In the course of the debate the theological position of both parties seems to have shifted, and the knowledge of both was probably increased in various ways. The miracle of the Koran, which at first consisted in its mode of production, was transformed into a marvel connected with its contents; first by Mahomet's claiming to tell historical narratives which had previously been unknown to him; afterwards by the assertion that the united efforts of mankind and See also:Jinn would be unable to match the smallest passage of the Koran in sublimity. Probably the first of these claims could not be long maintained, though A. J. See also:Davis, " the Seer of See also:Poughkeepsie," in our own time brought a similar one in regard to his Principles of Nature. Indeed both parties evidently resorted to See also:external aid.

To those who under-took to name the man who dictated stories of the ancients to Mahomet day and See also:

night, he replied that the individual whom they had in mind was a foreigner, whereas the Koran was in pure Arabic. This was obviously a quibble, for it was scarcely asserted that he delivered the matter dictated to him without alteration. The purity of the Arabic also appears to have been very questionable; for several expressions appear to be Ethiopic rather than Arabic, and the person whom the Meccans had in mind is likely to have been an Abyssinian Christian, since the Christian technicalities of the Koran are mainly derived from the Ethiopic Gospels and Acts. On one occasion when some questions suggested by learned foreigners had been propounded to the Prophet he required a fortnight's delay before the revelation which solved them came; the matter contained in his reply was certainly such as required See also:research. His See also:sources of information seem at all times to have been legendary rather than canonical; and the community which seemed to his opponents to agree best with his views was that of the See also:Sabians or See also:Mandaeans (qq.v.). It has been suggested that Mahomet first threatened the Meccans with temporal See also:punishment, and only when this See also:threat failed to take effect resorted to the terrors of the Day of See also:Judgment and the tortures of See also:Hell; it seems however a See also:mistake to distinguish between the two. These threats provided the Prophet with his most powerful sermons. The boasts of incomparable eloquence which the Koran contains are See also:evidence that his oratorical power was effective with his audiences, since the more successful among the Arabic poets talk of their compositions somewhat in the same way. These discourses certainly led to occasional conversions, perhaps more frequently among women than men. The See also:diplomatic war seems to have been due to the Prophet's increasing success, which led to serious persecution of Mahomet's less influential followers, though, as has been seen, no The Bilks blood could be shed in Mecca. Abu Talib, moreover, prevented him from being exiled, though he probably had to endure many See also:personal insults. Something however had to be done for the persecuted Moslems, and (perhaps at the See also:suggestion of his Abyssinian helper) Mahomet endeavoured to find a See also:refuge for them in the See also:realm of Axum.

Abyssinia was doubtless connected in every Meccan mind with the " Expedition of the Elephant "; and such an See also:

alliance secured by Mahomet was a menace to the existence of the Meccan community. A deputation was therefore sent by the Meccan leaders to demand See also:extradition of the exiles; and as See also:chief of this expedition the future conqueror of Egypt, 'Amr b. al-'Ag (see 'AMR 1BN EL-See also:ASS), first figures in history. To frustrate his efforts Mahomet sent his cousin Ja'far armed with an exposition of the Prophet's beliefs and doctrines afterwards embodied in the Koran as the Sura of See also:Mary (No. XIX .; though with the addition of some See also:anti-Christian matter). The original document contained an account of the Nativity of See also:Christ with various miracles not known to either the canonical or even the apocryphal gospels which have been preserved, but which would be found edifying rather than unorthodox by a See also:church one of whose most popular books is The Miracles of the Virgin Mary. To this there were added certain notices of Old Testament prophets. The Abyssinian See also:king and his ecclesiastical advisers took the See also:side of Mahomet and his followers, whom they appear to have regarded as persecuted Christians; and an See also:attempt made probably by the astute 'Amr to embroil them with the Abyssinians on the difficult question of the Natures of Christ failed completely. There seems reason for thinking that the Abyssinian king contemplated bringing back the exiles by force, but was diverted from this purpose by frontier See also:wars; meanwhile they were safely harboured, though they seem to have suffered from extreme poverty. The want of an Abyssinian chronicle for this period is a serious disadvantage for the study of Islamic origins. The sequel shows that See also:regular See also:correspondence went on between the exiles and those who remained in Mecca, whence the former were retained within the See also:fold of Islam, with occasional though rare apostasies to Christianity. Mahomet's diplomatic victory roused the Meccan leaders to fury, and they decided on the most vigorous See also:measures to which they could rise; Abu Talib, Mahomet's See also:protector, and the See also:clan which acknowledged him as See also:sheikh, including the Prophet and his family, were blockaded in the See also:quarter which they occupied; as in other sanctuaries, though blood might not be shed, a See also:culprit might be starved to death. That this did not occur, though the siege appears to have lasted some months at least, was due to the 403 weak See also:good nature of the Meccans, but doubtless also to the fact that there were enlisted on Mahomet's side many men of great See also:physical strength and courage (as their subsequent careers proved), who could with impunity defy the Meccan See also:embargo.

After a time however the besieged found the situation intolerable, and any assistance which they might have expected from the king of Axum failed to come. The course adopted by Mahomet was retractation of those of his utterances which had most offended the Meccans, involving something like a return to paganism. A revelation came acknowledging the effectiveness of the Meccan goddesses as well as Allah, and the Meccans raised the siege. See also:

News of the reconciliation reached the Abyssinian exiles and they proceeded to return. By the time they reached the Arabian See also:coast the dispute had recommenced. The revelation was discovered to be a fabrication of the See also:Devil, who, it appears, regularly interpolates in prophetic revelations; such at least is the See also:apology preserved in the Koran, whence the fabricated verses have been expunged. Since our knowledge of this See also:episode (regarded as the most disgraceful in the Prophet's career) is fragmentary, we can only guess that the Prophet's hand had once more been forced by the more See also:earnest of his followers, for whom any See also:compromise with paganism was impossible. The exiles went back to Abyssinia; and about this time both Abu Talib and Khadija died, leaving the Prophet unprotected. He fled to the neighbouring See also:oasis of TO, where wealthy Meccans had possessions, and where the goddess al-'Uzza was worshipped with special zeal—where she is said still to exist in the form of a See also:block of stone. He had but little success there in proselytizing, and indeed had to cease See also:preaching; but he opened negotiations with various Meccan magnates for a promise of See also:protection in case of his return. This was at last obtained with difficulty. from one Mot'See also:im b. 'Adi.

It would appear that his efforts were now confined to preaching to the strangers who assembled at or near Mecca for the ceremonies connected with the feasts. He received in consequence some invitations to come and expound his views away from Mecca, but had to wait some time before one came of a sort which he could wisely accept. The situation which led to Mahomet's Flight (hijra, anglicized incorrectly See also:

hejira, q.v.) was singularly favourable to Mahomet's enterprise, and utilized by him with extraordinary The F!!ght caution and skill. At the See also:palm See also:plantation called to Yathrib. Yathrib, afterwards known as al-Medina, Medina, " the City" (i.e. of the Prophet), there were various tribes, the two most important, called Aus and Khazraj, being pagan, and engaged in an internecine See also:feud, while under their protection there were certain Jewish tribes, whose names have come down to us as Qainuga, See also:Nadir and Quraiza—implying that the Israelites, as might be expected, imitated the totem nomenclature of their neighbours. The memory of these Israelites is exclusively preserved by the Moslem records; the main stream of Jewish history flowed elsewhere. In the See also:series of combats between the Aus and Khazraj the former had generally been worsted; the Jews, as usual, had avoided taking any active part in the fray. Finally, owing to an See also:act of See also:gross perfidy, they were compelled to fight in aid of the Aus; and in the so-called battle of Bu'See also:ath the Aus aided by the Jews had won a victory, doubtless attributed to, the God of the Jews. As has been seen, the divine name employed by Mahomet (Rahman) was one familiar to the Jews; and the Yathribites who visited Mecca at feast-time were naturally attracted by a professed representative of al-Rahman. The first Yathribite converts appear to have been Khazrajites, and one As'ad, son of Zurarah, is the most prominent figure. Their idea may have been in the first place to secure the aid of the Israelitish Deity in their next battle with the Aus, and indeed the See also:primary See also:object of their visit to Mecca is said to have been to re-quest assistance for their war. For this the See also:plan was substituted of inviting the Prophet to come to Mecca as dictator, to heal the feud and restore order, a See also:procedure to which Greek antiquity offers See also:parallels.

The new converts were told to carry on secret propaganda in Yathrib with this end in view. At the next feast some of the See also:

rival See also:faction embraced Islam. A trusty follower of Ali. Owing to his efforts the alliance between the Refugees MAHOMET Mahomet, See also:Mus'ab b.'Umair, who resembled Mahomet in personal appearance, was sent to Yathrib to assist in the work. The correspondence between this person and the Prophet would, if we possessed it, be of the greatest value for the study of Islamic antiquity. We first hear at this time of the conditions of Islam, i.e. a series of undertakings into which the convert entered: namely, to abstain from See also:adultery, See also:theft, See also:infanticide and lying, and to obey Mahomet in licitis et honestis. The wholesale See also:conversion of Yathrib was determined by that of two chieftains, Usaid b. Ijuraith and Sa'd b. Mu'adh, both Ausites. The example of these was quickly followed, and iconoclasm became rife in the place. At the next Meccan feast a deputation of seventy Yathribites brought Mahomet a formal invitation, which he accepted, after imposing certain conditions. The interviews between Mahomet and the Yathribites are known as the 'Agabak (probably with reference to a text of the Koran).

The attitude of the Jews towards the project appears to have been favourable. Among the conditions imposed by Mahomet on hisnew adherents appears to have been the protection and harbouring of the older proselytes, wham Mahomet most wisely determined to send before him to Yathrib, where, in the event of the The Yathribite loyalty wavering, they could be counted Refugees. on with certainty. The welcome given these refugees (muhajirun), as they were from this time known in contra-distinction to the helpers (ansar) or See also:

allies from Yathrib, is said to have been of the warmest; a Helper with two wives would hand one over to a wifeless Refugee. A yet more important See also:condition which preceded the Flight was readiness to fight men of all See also:colours in defence of the faith. Although the transactions with the people of Yathrib had been carried on with profound secrecy, the nature of Mahomet's See also:contract with his new adherents was somewhat divulged to the Meccan magnates, and the danger of allowing an implacable enemy to establish himself on the high-road of their north-bound caravans flashed upon them. The rule which forbade bloodshed in the sacred city had at last to be suspended; but elaborate pre-cautions were to be taken whereby every tribe (except Mahomet's own clan) should have their See also:share in the See also:guilt, which would thus be spread over the whole community fairly. When the cornmittee appointed to perpetrate the See also:crime reached Mahomet's house, they found that it was too See also:late; Mahomet had already departed, leaving Ali in his See also:bed. The actual Flight from Mecca to Yathrib has naturally been a favourite subject for See also:romance, and indeed appears to have been executed with the greatest cunning. Accompanted by Abu Bekr only, Mahomet took refuge in a See also:cave of Mt Thaur, in the opposite direction to that which he intended to take finally, and there remained for three days; See also:provision had been made of every requisite, See also:food, powerful camels, a trusty and competent See also:guide. The date at which he reached Kuba, on the outskirts of Yathrib, where there was already some sort of Moslem See also:oratory, is given as 8 Rabia I., of the year A.x. i; the fact that he arrived there on the Jewish Day of See also:Atonement gives us the date See also:September 20, 622. The Meccans, who had employed professional trackers to See also:hunt down the fugitives, proceeded to confiscate the houses and goods of Mahomet and of his followers who had fled.

The safe arrival of Mahomet at his destination marks the turning-point in his career, which now became one of almost Mahomet as unbroken success; his intellectual superiority over Despot of both See also:

friends and enemies enabling him to profit by Vathrib. defeat little less than by victory. His policy appears to have been to bind his followers to himself and them to each other by every possible tie; he instituted brotherhoods between the Refugees and Helpers, which were to count as relationships for legal purposes, and having himself no sons, he contracted numerous marriages partly with the same end in view; e.g. with the See also:infant daughter 6f Abu Bekr, Ayesha ('A'ishah), whose ability he appears to have discerned; and the unamiable IJafsa, daughter of Omar. Of his own daughters three were given to faithful allies, the one by whom his line is supposed to have been continued to our time, Fatima, was reserved for his cousinand Helpers resisted numerous attempts on the part of enemies to break it up, and only towards the end of the Prophet's life, when he appeared to favour Meccans unduly, do we hear of any bitterness between the two communities. The population of Yathrib, or, as it may now be called, Medina, soon divided into three See also:groups: Mahomet's united followers; the Jews; and a party known as the " Hypocrites," i.e. professing Moslems, who were lukewarm, or dis- community. Tmama affected, among whom the most prominent is 'Abdallah b. Ubayy, a Khazzajite chieftain, who is said to have himself aspired to be despot of Yathrib, and who till nearly the end of Mahomet's career figures somewhat as a leader of the opposition; of his importance there is no question, but the reason for it and the mode whereby he made it felt are often obscure. It would seem that the pagans remaining in Yathrib speedily adopted Islam after the Prophet's arrival, whence we hear little of serious opposition on their part. Coming in the capacity of prophet of the Israelitish God, Mahomet at first seems to have courted alliance with the Jews, and to have been ready to adopt their system with very slight modifications—similar to those which, according to his See also:opinion, Jesus had come to introduce. The Jews met these advances by submitting him to examination in the intricacies of the Torah, and, finding him very poorly equipped, proceeded to denounce him as an imposter; one of his examiners is said to have even translated the Torah into Arabic with a view of convicting him of ignorance and imposture. They are further charged with exercising their magical arts on the Prophet and his followers, and to have succeeded thereby in producing barrenness among the Moslem women. Their conduct must not of course be judged by the statement of their enemies; it is however clear that Mahomet soon found that there was no possibility of compromising with them on religious questions, or of obtaining their loyal support; meanwhile he discovered that they were incapable of united and persistent action, and useless as warriors except against each other. He therefore resolved on their extermination.

His ruthlessness in their case compared with his See also:

patience and forbearance in the case of the " Hypocrites" was consistent with his principle (always faith-fully observed) that no inquiry was permissible into the motives of conversion, and with his See also:division of mankind into the two antagonistic factions Believers and Unbelievers. The latter principle, as will be seen, was somewhat modified before the end of his life. Mahomet's failure to effect a compromise with the Jews caused a reaction in his mind towards paganism, and after about a year's See also:residence at Medina the direction of See also:prayer, elo which had till then been towards See also:Jerusalem, was Devoflslumpment . turned southward to the pagan temple at Mecca. With this See also:change we may perhaps couple the See also:adoption of the name Allah for the Diety; in the Moslem See also:formula "in the Name of Allah the Rahman the Merciful," the See also:translation attached to the word Rahman, and the prefixing to it of the name Allah furnish clear evidence of theological transition, though the stages are not recorded; we know, however, that the Meccans approved of the name Allah, but objected to the name Rahman. Prayer (saldt), said to have been prescribed on the occasion of the Prophet's ascent into See also:heaven after a miraculous See also:journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, began to assume a stereotyped form in the place of See also:assembly built by Mahomet immediately after his arrival; the attitudes of prayer in use among many communities (e.g. the Jewish See also:standing, the prostration of some Christian sects) were combined. In general it was Mahomet's principle, while taking over a practice from some other See also:sect, to modify it-so as to render the Moslem method absolutely distinct; thus when a See also:summons to prayer became requisite, a new mode (by the See also:voice of a crier called muaddhin or muezzin) was preferred to the Christian See also:hammer; a new sacred day was adopted, in lieu of the Jewish Saturday and the Christian See also:Sunday, in the weekday on which he had safely reached Kuba, See also:Friday; but the sanctity was reduced to the actual time occupied by public worship. On the subject of food he was satisfied with the regulations of the Council of Jerusalem, recorded in Acts xv.; which were observed by few if any Christian sects. The See also:prohibition of See also:wine, which was enacted in A. H. 3, is said to have been occasioned by the riotous conduct of one of his followers when under the influence of liquor; See also:Palgrave saw in it (perhaps with See also:justice) a deliberate attempt to prevent See also:harmony between Moslems and Christians, in whose most sacred rite wine is used. The Fast of See also:Ramadan, in which food both liquid and solid is forbidden from sunrise to sunset, is said to be a pagan or semi-pagan institution; its importance for military training and discipline is not likely to have been over-looked by the Prophet.

When the direction of prayer was altered, it is probable that Mahomet already intended to intro-duce into his system the whole of the pagan pilgrimage with its See also:

antique ceremonial (with, of course, a new interpretation); before this he is supposed to have aimed at the abolition of the Ka'ba and all that appertained to it. The difference between religious and See also:civil law has never been recognized by Islamic jurists, whose manuals See also:deal equally with the law of contract and the amount of the body to be washed before prayer; the Prophet's ordinances on both subjects were suggested by the occasion in each case, and it would seem that the opinions of trusted advisers were regularly heard before a revelation was issued. Even when this had been done the See also:ordinance might be cancelled by an abrogating revelation; it being " easy for Allah " to substitute for a text already revealed another that was better or at least as good. As Islam began to spread outside the limits of Medina both conversion to Islam and persistence therein were reduced to See also:simple tests; the pronunciation of the See also:double formula of belief in Allah and Mahomet was sufficient to indicate conversion, whilst See also:payment of an income-tax, called by the Jewish names for See also:alms (zakat and sadagah), was evidence of loyalty. This income-tax, of which the definite See also:assessment perhaps belongs to a later period, was for the support of necessitous converts—an See also:element in the community whose presence accounts for the mode in which the development of the Islamic state proceeded. The See also:industries in which the Meccan Refugees had been engaged were not of a sort which they could exercise at Medina, where the First palm took the place of the See also:camel as the basis of See also:Campaigns society. Moreover the Prophet seems to have given of mahomet. some disastrous See also:advice on the subject of palmiculture, and thereby to have accentuated the poverty of the place. He had, therefore, to find some fresh source of See also:revenue in order to deal with this difficulty, and one of the Helpers is said to have suggested the plan which he adopted, viz. of attacking the Meccan caravans. With this view he organized a series of expeditions, taking the lead himself sometimes, while at others he gave it to one of his See also:veteran followers; and at first only Refugees took part in them. The leaders of the caravans, how-ever, were See also:expert in evading attacks of this sort, which were doubtless regularly attempted by the desert tribes; and in the first year of his despotism Mahomet did not See also:score a single success of the kind intended. The attempts were not wholly fruitless; for while on the one hand he accustomed his followers to campaigning, on the other he made a series of agreements with the chieftains of the tribes through whose territory the caravans ordinarily passed. Finding continued failure intolerable, he resolved to take advantage of his power to bind and to loose by sending an expedition of seven men under his cousin `Abdallah b.

Jal}sh to attack a caravan at the beginning of the sacred See also:

month Rajab, when, as raiding during such a See also:season was unknown, success was practically certain. The See also:commander on this, the Nakhlah raid, was given sealed orders, to be opened after two days' See also:march; the men were then to be given the See also:option of retiring, if they disapproved. Of this no one seems definitely to have availed him-self, and the raid ended successfully, for considerable See also:booty was captured, while of the four persons who escorted the caravan two were made prisoners, one escaped, and one, `Amr b. al-Hadrami, was killed; he was the first person slain fighting against an Islamic force. The violation of the sacred month seems to have caused considerable See also:scandal in Arabia, but led to no serious See also:con-sequence; on the other hand the shedding of blood created a feudbetween the people of Mecca and the Refugees, with whom the Meccans long declined to identify the people of Medina. The fact that the man who had been killed was a client, not a citizen, made no difference. The circumstance that booty had been actually acquired appears to have helped the Prophet's cause very considerably. Both these consequences, the Meccan See also:desire to avenge the blood that had been shed and the anxiety of the Medinese to take part in a successful raid, manifested themselves a few Attack months later, when an expedition was organized by on Meccan Mahomet to attack a caravan returning from Syria, Caravan. which had escaped him the previous year. Many desired to take part in the raid, and finally some 300 persons were selected, including a large number of " Helpers." The leader of the caravan learned somehow that an attack was being organized by Mahomet on a large See also:scale, and sent to Mecca for aid, while hurrying home by forced See also:marches. This is the first historical appearance of Abu Sofian (the leader of the caravan), who now for some years played the part of See also:president in the Meccan opposition to Mahomet, and whose son was destined to found the second Mahommedan dynasty (see CALIPHATE, B). The day before the battle to be fought at Badr, near the point where the northern road leaves the coast to turn eastwards to Mecca, the Moslem See also:army learned that the Meccan succour (some r000 strong) was near, but Nat the caravan had escaped. The Meccans, it is asserted, would have returned home now that their object was secured, but the patrons of the man who had been killed in the former raid were compelled to strike for vengeance. The battle (Ramadan 19, A.H.

2, usually made to synchronize with March 17, 624) ended in a complete victory for Mahomet, whose followers killed seventy of the enemy and took seventy prisoners—if we may See also:

trust what seem to be See also:round See also:numbers; it was attributed by him to divine co-operation, taking the form of an illusion wrought on the enemy, and the despatch of a See also:regiment of angels to the assistance of the Believers, while on the other hand the treachery of the Devil did See also:mischief to the Meccans. The popular tradition attributed it to the prowess of some of Mahomet's followers, especially his uncle IJamza and his cousin Ali. In the narratives which have come down and which seem to be authentic the result is amply accounted for by the excellence of the Moslem discipline and the complete absence of any on the Meccan side. Mahomet himself is said to have fainted at the first sight of blood, and to have remained during the battle in a hut built for him to which See also:swift camels were tied, to be used in case of a defeat; yet these accounts make him responsible for the See also:tactics, whilst assigning the See also:credit for the See also:strategy to one $obab b. al-Mondhir. Several of Mahomet's old enemies and friends of Meccan days perished on this occasion; notably one Abu Jahl, his uncle, but represented as an implacable enemy; another hostile uncle, Abu Lahab, who is cursed in the Koran, was not See also:present but died shortly after the battle. The day is called in the Koran by a See also:Syriac expression the " Day of Deliverance," and both for See also:internal and external politics it was of incalculable advantage to Islam. The booty and the ransoms of the prisoners provided the means for dealing with See also:distress; the See also:story of supernatural aid soothed the feelings of the defeated Meccans and had a tendency to disarm resistance else-where; whilst Mahomet in the popularity acquired by his victory was able to strike forcibly at his enemies in Medina. One of the sequels to the victory was a series of assassinations whereby critics of his actions were removed. The defeat at Badr naturally led to efforts on the part of the Meccans to avenge their dead and besides to secure the commerce, by which they lived, from an enemy who was gradu- The Taking ally getting all the seaboard that See also:lay between Jeddah otMecca. and Yanbo within his See also:sphere of influence; and the year after Badr (A.H. 3) Abu See also:Sofia' was able to lead a force said to be three times as great as that which had been defeated, and so numbering some 3000 men, against Medina itself; part of it was under Khalid b. al-Walid, one of the greatest of Arab captains, afterwards conqueror of Syria. It is said that Maho. met's plan was to remain in Medina itself, and leave it to the Meccan commander to discover some way of taking the place; but that his hand was forced by his more ardent followers.

Others, however, assign this advice to Abdallah b. Ubayy, and make the Prophet anxious to fight from the first. A battle was in consequence fought under Mt Ubud (or Ohod), north-See also:

west of Medina, wherein Khalid succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on Mahomet's forces; his uncle Hamza, See also:hero of Badr, was killed on this occasion. Fortunately for the Moslems, the Meccans considered that they had finished their task when they discovered that they had killed a number of the former equal to those who had fallen at Badr on their own side; instead therefore of pursuing their victory they went home. The immediate effect on Arabia appears to have been to dissipate the illusion that the Prophet could count on supernatural assistance in his wars; and we hear of some blows being dealt him from outside. Meanwhile his relations towards the Medinese Jews had grown more and more hostile, and these are credited with doing their best to rouse the Meccans to a sense of the danger which threatened them in the continuance of the Prophet's power, and in general to stir up hostility against him in Arabia. Whether this part was played by them or not, in the fifth year of the Prophet's stay at Medina a fresh invasion of the territory took place by a vast confederate force of Meccans with their allies, the tribes Fazarah, Asad, Murrah, &c., to the number, it is said, of 10,000. This time tie intention of the leaders was undoubtedly to See also:stamp out Islam. For the first time in Arab warfare Mahomet resorted to the expedient of defending his city by a See also:trench, called by a Persian name, and suggested by a Persian convert. But he also employed agents to sow dissension among the confederates, and succeeded with this no less than with the other expedient. After a brief stay, and scarcely striking a See also:blow, the confederacy dispersed, leaving the Jews who still remained in Medina to the See also:summary vengeance of the Prophet. The want of records written from the Meccan standpoint renders the abortiveness of this last attempt at storming the Prophet's stronghold scarcely intelligible.

From this time, however, the road towards the eventual taking of Mecca became easy, and we are told that such'was the importance attached to that city throughout Arabia that its acquisition meant for the Prophet the acquisition of the whole peninsula. The next year (A.H. 6) he deemed it advisable to make a truce with the Meccans (the Truce of Hodaibiyah), whereby he secured for his followers the right of performing the pilgrimage in the following year; on this occasion he even consented to forgo his title " Prophet of Allah," when the Meccans refused to sign a See also:

deed in which it was employed, greatly to the scandal of his more earnest followers, including Omar; they were however too deeply committed to Islam to be able to defy the Prophet. When the pilgrimage was performed (A.H. 7), Mahomet not only won important converts in the persons of Khalid and the no less able 'Amr b. al-'As, but in general impressed the population with the idea that his was the winning side. An excuse was easily found for invading Mecca itself in the following year, when Abu Sofian took the opportunity of embracing Islam before it was too late. Very little resistance was now made by the Meccans, whose chiefs were already in Mahomet's See also:camp, and Mahomet used his victory with great moderation; his proscription list was finally reduced to two. The theory that all offences were cancelled by conversion was loyally observed. Moreover the Prophet incurred the displeasure of his Medinese friends by the anxiety which he displayed to soothe the feelings of his former enemies and antagonists. The Medinese, however, prevailed upon him to maintain their city as his political See also:capital, while making Mecca the religious centre of his system; and this arrangement accounts perhaps more than anything else for the persistence of the system amid so many dynastic changes. In the main he appears to have introduced little alteration into the government of Mecca, and it is said that he even declined to retaliate on those who had confiscated the possessions of the Refugees. Even the Ka'ba was left in the keeping of its former custodian, though of course its interior as well as its precincts were cleansed of all that could offend monotheists.

In thefollowing year the pilgrimage was for the first time conducted by a Moslem official, Abu Bekr. A proclamation was made on that occasion, forbidding idolaters in future to take part in the pilgrimage, and giving all Arabs who were not as yet converted four months' grace before force was to be brought to See also:

bear upon them. In the following year Mahomet conducted the Pilgrimage himself. This solemn occasion (the " Farewell Pilgrimage ") was also employed for the delivery of an important proclamation, wherein the Prophet declared that God had completed their religion. The principle whereon he specially insisted was the brotherhood of Islam; but there is some difficulty in enucleating the original sermon from later additions. It would seem that Mahomet's enterprise originally comprised the conversion of Mecca only, and that he thought of himself as sent to his fellow-citizens only, as had been the Conquest case with earlier prophets, whose message was for of Arabia. their " brethren." His views took a somewhat different direction after his brief See also:exile to Tail, and the conquest of Arabia was in a way forced upon him in the course of his struggle with the Meccans. It is not indeed perfectly clear by what process he arrived at the See also:resolution to exclude paganism from Arabia; at first he appears to have tolerated it at Medina, and in some of his earlier contracts with neighbouring tribes he is represented as allowing it, though some of our texts make him reserve to himself the right of enforcing Islam if he See also:chose; only the Meccans were at first, according to the most authentic documents, excluded from all truce or treaty. At the battle of Badr he appears to have formulated the rule that no one might fight on his side who had not embraced Islam; and when once he had won fame as a successful campaigner, those who wished to share his adventures had to pass the Islamic test. After the battle of Uhud (Ohod) we hear of a tribe demanding missionaries to instruct them in Islamic principles; and though in the case recorded the demand was treacherous, the idea of sending missionaries appears not to have been unfamiliar even then, albeit the number sent (70), if rightly recorded, implies that the Prophet suspected the good faith of the applicants. After the taking of Mecca, whereby the chief sanctuary at any See also:rate of north Arabia had been cleared of all idolatrous associations, and consecrated to monotheism, paganism in general was conscious of being attacked; and the city had scarcely been brought under the new regime before the Prophet had to face a See also:confederation of tribes called Hawazin and That'll. The battle which ensued, known as the Day of Honain, was near ending disastrously for Islam; some of Mahomet's sturdiest followers fled; but the terrible danger of a defeat in the neighbourhood of recently conquered Mecca roused the Prophet and Ali to heroism, and they saved the day. Emissaries were now sent far and wide demanding the destruction of idols, and only Tail appears to have made any considerable resistance; against this place for the first time the Prophet made use of siege See also:artillery, such as was employed by the Byzantines; though compelled by the bravery of the inhabitants to raise the siege, he was afterwards able to take the city by See also:capitulation.

It has been observed that here only cfo we read of much See also:

attachment to the old deities; in most places they were discarded with few regrets when once their See also:impotence had been found out. After the taking of Mecca and the victory of Honain there appears to have been a general desire, extending even to the extreme south of Arabia, to make the best terms with the conqueror so soon as possible; iconoclasm became general. Flatterers of various kinds, including poets, came to seek the favour of the See also:sovereign; and a See also:mock war of words appears to have been substituted by some tribes for more serious fighting, to terminate in surrender. For warfare of his sort Mahomet had a powerful helper in the poet See also:Hassan b. Thabit, for whose effusions a See also:pulpit was erected in the Medina See also:mosque, and whose verses were said to be inspired by the See also:Holy Spirit; though, as has been seen, Mahomet was not himself able to See also:judge of their See also:artistic merit. It was not, however, found easy to enforce the payment of the alms on these new converts; and this See also:taxation caused an almost general revolt so soon as Mahomet's death had been ascertained. Although the central portions of the peninsula in Mahomet's time were practically independent, large portions of the north- Plan of west and south-See also:east were provinces of the Byzantine world- and Persian empires respectively, whence any See also:scheme conquest. for the conquest of Arabia would necessarily involve the conqueror in war with these great See also:powers. The conquest of See also:Persia is said to have been contemplated by the Prophet as early as A.H. 5, when the famous Trench was being dug; but it was not till the year A.H. 7, on the See also:eve of the taking of Mecca, that the Prophet conceived the idea of sending missives to all known sovereigns and potentates, promising them safety if, but only if, they embraced Islam. The text of these letters, which only varied in the name of the person addressed, is preserved (doubt-less faithfully) by the Moslem Oral Tradition; in the See also:middle of the last century a See also:French explorer professed to discover in Egypt the original of one of them—addressed to the mysterious person-age called the Mugaugis(Mukaukis)of Egypt—and this,it appears, is still preserved amid other supposed relics of the Prophet in See also:Constantinople, though there is little reason for believing it to be genuine. The anecdotes dealing with the reception of these letters by their addressees are all fabulous in character.

Two appear to have sent favourable replies: the king of Axum, who now could send the exiles whom he had so long harboured to their successful master; and the Egyptian governor, who sent Mahomet a valuable present, including two Coptic women for his See also:

harem. The See also:emperor See also:Heraclius is claimed as a secret convert to Islam, on whom pressure had to be put by his advisers to conceal his convictions. The Persian king is said to have sent orders to have Mahomet arrested; his messengers arrived in Medina, but were unable to carry out the commands of their master, who died while they were there. Two of the letters are said to have had important results. One was addressed to the Himyarite chiefs (called by the south Arabian appellation See also:Bail) in Yemen, and effected their conversion; another to the governor of Bostra in See also:Roman Arabia, who put the bearer of this insolent message to death; a force was despatched by Mahomet immediately afterwards (beginning of A.H. 8) to avenge this See also:outrage; and though the Moslems were defeated in their first encounter with the Byzantine forces at Mutah, they appear to have given a good account of themselves; it was here that Ja'far, cousin of the Prophet, met his death. In A. H. 9 a successful expedition was led by the Prophet himself northward, in which, though no Byzantine force was encountered, a considerable region was withdrawn from the Byzantine sphere of influence, and made either Islamic or tributary to Islam. At the time of his death (of See also:fever, after a See also:short illness) he was organizing an expedition for the conquest of Syria. The Prophet claimed throughout that his revelation confirmed the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and this claim is on the Jewish and whole reasonable, though his acquaintance with both Christian was in the highest degree vague and inaccurate. common,- Still he reproduced the Old Testament as faithfully ties. as he could, and though he patriotically endeavours to shed some lustre on his supposed ancestor Ishmael, he does not appear to have questioned the Biblical theory according to which the founder of the north Arabian nations was the son of a slave girl. On neither the truth of the Biblical history and miracles nor the validity of the See also:Mosaic legislation does he appear to have See also:cast any doubt.

He even allows that See also:

Israel was the chosen people. The Gospel was known to him chiefly through apocryphal and heretical sources, which cannot certainly be identified; but he accepted the doctrine of the Virgin-birth, the miracles of healing the sick and raising the dead, and the See also:ascension; the crucifixion and resurrection were clearly denied by the sect from whom he had received his information, and rejected by him, though certainly not because of any miracle which the latter involved. His See also:quarrel with the Jews at Medina appears to have been by no means of his own seeking, but to have arisen unavoidably, owing to his particular view of his office being such as they could not accept; and his attempt to discredit, not the Mosaic Law, but the form in which they presented it, was an expedient to which he resorted in self-defence. An attempt was made shortly afterhis arrival at Medina to See also:settle the relations between the two communities by a treaty, according to which, while their equality was guaranteed there should be little interference between the two; this, however, was found unworkable, and each victory of Mahomet over the Meccans was followed by violent measures against the Medinese Israelites. When experience had shown him their military incompetence he appears to have been unable to resist the temptation to appropriate their goods for the benefit of his followers; and his attack on the flourishing Jewish settlement of Khaibar, after the affair of Ilodaibiyah, appears to have been practically unprovoked, and designed to satisfy his discontented adherents by an See also:accession of See also:plunder. Yet the consciousness that this process was economically wasteful suggested to him an idea which Islamic states are only now abandoning, viz. that of a tolerated See also:caste, who should till the See also:soil and provide sustenance for the Believers who were to be the fighting caste. Whereas then his former plan in dealing with Israelites had been to banish or See also:massacre, he now left the former owners of Khaibar (who had survived the See also:capture of the place) in possession of the soil, of whose produce they were to pay a fixed proportion to the Islamic state. The same principle was adopted in the case of later conquests of Jewish settlements. Disputes with Christians occur somewhat later in the Prophet's career than those with Jews, for neither at Mecca nor Medina were the former to be found in any numbers; individuals are likely to have been found in both cities, and we hear of one Medinese "Abu`See also:Amir the See also:Monk," who after Mahomet's arrival at Medina branded him as an impostor, and, going himself into exile, made many an abortive attempt to discredit and injure Mahomet's cause. The notices of him are meagre and obscure. Mahomet's manifesto to the world, about the time of the taking of Khaibar, appears to represent his definite See also:breach with Christianity; and when in the " year of the embassies " the Christians of Najran sent a deputation to him, they found that the breach between the two systems was not to be healed. Of the three alternatives open to them—conversion, internecine war, and See also:tribute, they chose the last.

The Christian tribes of north Arabia showed greater inclination towards the first. The Prophet's policy was to give Christians lighter terms than Jews, and though the Koran reflects the See also:

gradual adoption by the Prophet of an attitude of extreme hostility to both systems, its See also:tone is on the whole far more friendly to the former than to the latter. Some other communities are mentioned in the Koran, but merely in casual allusions: thus we know that Mahomet's sympathy was with the Byzantines in their struggle with Persia, but in his most tolerant utterance the Magians or Mazdians as well as the Sabians (with whom his followers were identified by the Meccans) are mentioned with respect. The financial requirements of Mahomet's state were of the simplest kind, for there is no trace of any form of governmental See also:department having been instituted by him, even Mahomet's when he was master of the peninsula; nor can we Adinmistraname any permanent officials in his employ except tion. his muaddhin Bilal, and perhaps his See also:court-poet Hassan. A See also:staff of See also:scribes was finally required both to take down his revelations and to conduct correspondence; but although he encouraged the acquisition of penmanship (indeed some of the prisoners at Badr are said to have been allowed to See also:ransom themselves by teaching it to the Medinese), we know of no regular secretaries in his employ. As despot of Medina he combined the functions of legislator, See also:administrator, general and judge; his duties in the last three capacities were occasionally delegated to others, as when he appointed a governor of Medina during his absence, or leaders for expeditions, with provision for successors in case of their falling; but we hear of no permanent or regular delegation of them. Till near the end of his career at Medina he maintained the principle that See also:migration to that city was a condition of conversion; but when, owing to the See also:extension of his power, this was no longer practicable, his plan was in the main to leave the newly converted communities to See also:manage their internal affairs as before, only sending occasional envoys to See also:discharge special duties, especially instruction in the Koran and the principles of Islam, and to collect the Alms; quite towards the end of his life he appears to have sent persons to the provinces to act as See also:judges, with instructions to judge according to the Koran, and where that failed, the practice (sunna), i.e. the practice of the community, for which a later See also:generation substituted the practice of the Prophet. There were, therefore, no regular payments to permanent officials; and the taxation called Alms, which See also:developed into an income-tax, but was at first a demand for voluntary contributions, was wholly for the support of the poor Moslems; it might not be used for the See also:maintenance of the state, i.e. Mahomet and this family. For them, and for public business, e.g. the See also:purchase of war material and gratuities to visitors, provisio: was made out of the booty, of which Mahomet claimed one-fifth (the chieftain's share had previously, we are told, been one-fourth), while the See also:remainder—or at least the bulk of it—was distributed among the fighting men; the Prophet appears to have prided himself on the justice of his See also:distribution on these occasions, and doubtless won popularity thereby, though we hear occasionally of grumbling; for difficulties occurred when a defeated tribe embraced Islam, and so could claim equality with their conquerors, or when portions of the spoil were irregularly employed by Mahomet to allay resentment: the persons whose See also:allegiance was thus See also:purchased were euphemistically termed " those whose See also:hearts were united." What after-wards proved the main source of revenue in Islamic states dates from the taking of Khaibar; for the See also:rent paid to the state by tolerated communities for the right to work their See also:land developed long after Mahomet's time into a See also:poll-tax for Unbelievers (see CALIPHATE, e.g. B.

§ 8 and MAHOMMEDAN INSTITUTIONS), and a land-tax for all owners of land. Immediately after the taking of Khaibar certain communities, of which the most notable was Fadak, sent tribute before they had been attacked and reduced; their land was regarded by Mahomet as his private domain, but after his death it was withdrawn from his heirs by his successor Abu Bekr, in virtue of a See also:

maxim that Prophets left no See also:inheritance, which in the opinion of Fatima was contrary to Koranic doctrine, and invented by Ayesha's father expressly for the purpose of excluding her and her See also:husband from their rights; and this is likely to have been the case. As a military organizer Mahomet, as has been seen, was anxious to adopt the most advanced of contemporary methods, and more than once is said to have scandalized the Arabs by foreign innovations, as at a later time the Moslem chiefs who first used See also:gunpowder scandalized their co-religionists. The unit in his armies seems to have been, as of old, the tribe, under its natural leader; that he introduced no more scientific division, and nothing like a See also:hierarchy of See also:officers was perhaps due to the difficulty of reconciling such a system with the equality of all Moslems. As has been seen, the Koran only assumed the character of a civil See also:code as the need for one arose; and for some time after Mahomet's arrival at Medina old-fashioned methods of settling disputes continued in use, and doubtless in accordance with precedent where such was known. For difficult cases, even in Arab opinion, divine See also:inspiration was required; and since Mahomet naturally claimed to be in See also:sole enjoyment of this, his utterances soon became the unique source of law, though he did not at first think of organizing a code. Such a plan is said to have occurred to him, and he even wished to dictate a code upon his death-bed; but his friends supposed or professed to suppose him to be delirious. A table regulating the " Alms " was left by him, it is said, in the possession of Abu Bekr; but other traditions assign another origin to this document. Just as there were no regular officials for the arrangement of business, so there were none for its See also:execution; when punishment was to be administered, any follower of Mahomet might be called upon to administer it. In the case of the massacre of the Banu Quraizah care was taken to see that some of the heads were struck off by their former allies, in order that the latter might be unable at any time to bring a demand for vengeance. The Prophet hoped by the See also:mere terror of his name to make complete See also:security reign throughout Arabia, and there is noevidence that any system of policing either it or even Medina occurred to him. Until the death of Khadija the Prophet's private life seems to have been normal and happy, for though the loss of his sons in infancy is said to have earned him a contemptuous epithet, he was fortunate in his adoption of Zaid b.

Harithah, apparently Domestic a prisoner ransomed by Khadija or one of her relatives, Life. who appears as dutiful almost to excess and competent in affairs. The marriages of his daughters seem all to have been happy, with, curiously, the exception of that between Fatima and Ali. His domestic troubles, to which an unreasonable amount of space seems to be devoted, even in the Koran, began after the Migration, when, probably in the main for political reasons, he instituted a royal harem. One of these political motives was the principle which long survived, that the conquest of a state was consummated by possession of the former monarch's wife, or daughter; another, as has been seen, the desire to obtain the securest possible hold on his ministers. In his marriage with the daughter of his See also:

arch-enemy Abu Sofian, before the latter's conversion, we can see a combination of the two. Few, therefore, of these marriages occasioned scandal; yet public morality seemed to be violated when the Prophet took to himself the wife of his adopted son Zaid, whose name has in consequence the honour of mention in the Koran in the revelation which was delivered in defence of this act. Its purpose was, according to this, to establish the difference between adoptive and real filiation. Serious trouble was occasioned by a charge of adultery brought against the youthful favourite Ayesha, and this had to be refuted by a special revelation; the charge, which was backed up apparently by All, seems to have been connected with some deeper scheme for causing dissension between the Prophet and his friends. Yet an-other revelation is concerned with a See also:mutiny in the harem organized by Omar's daughter Hafsa, owing to undue favour shown to a Coptic concubine (Mary, mother of a son called Ibrahim, who died in infancy; his death was marked by an See also:eclipse, See also:January 27, 632); and various details of factions within the harem are told us by Mahomet's biographers. Of the members of this harem the only prominent one is Ayesha, married to the Prophet shortly after the Flight,when she had scarcely passed the period of infancy, but who appears to have been gifted with astuteness and ambition that were quite beyond her years, and who maintained her ascendancy over the Prophet in spite of the fact that many carping criticisms of his revelations are attributed to her. Some of this may have been due to the obligations (including pecuniary obligations) under which her father had laid Mahomet; but her reputation seems to have been greatly enhanced by the sending down of a revelation to exonerate her (A.H. 6), for which she thanked God and not the Prophet.

Each accession to the harem rendered the See also:

building of a house or room necessary for the newcomer's See also:accommodation; a fact in which Robertson Smith perhaps rightly saw a relic of the older system whereby the See also:tent was the property of women. The trouble noticed above seems to have arisen from the want of a similar arrangement in the case of slave girls, with whom Mahomet's system permits cohabitation. When Mahomet, whether in consequence of the fatigue incurred by the " Farewell Pilgrimage," or, as others thought, by the working of some See also:poison put into his food some years before by a Jewess of Khaibar, was attacked by the illness which proved fatal, it was to the house of Ayesha that he was transferred (from that of another wife) to be nursed; and he apparently died in the arms of the favourite, on whose statements we have to rely for what we know of his last See also:hours. The traditional description of Mahomet is " of middle height, greyish, with See also:hair that was neither straight nor See also:curly; with a large head, large eyes, heavy eyelashes, reddish tint in the Genera, eyes, thick-bearded, broad-shouldered, with thick hands Charactero and feet "; he was in the See also:habit of giving violent expres- ,sties. See also:sion to the emotions of anger and mirth. The supposi- tion that he at any time suffered from physical weakness seems absolutely refuted by his career as a leader of difficult, dangerous and wearisome expeditions, from his migration to Medina until his death; indeed, during his last years he exhibited a capacity for both physical and intellectual activity which implies a high degree of both See also:health and strength; and without these the previous struggle at Mecca could scarcely have been carried on. The supposition that he was liable to fits (epileptic or cataleptic) was intended to account for certain of the phenomena supposed to accompany the delivery of revelations; some of these however rest on very questionable authority: and the greater number of the revelations give evidence of careful preparation rather than spontaneity. The See also:literary matter ascribed to the Prophet consists of (I) the Koran (q.v.) ; (2) certain contracts, letters and rescripts preserved by his biographers; (3) a number of sayings on a vast variety of topics, collected by traditionalists. The references in the Koran to a form of literature called " See also:Wisdom " (hikmah) suggest that even in the Prophet's time some attempts had been made to collect or at least preserve some of the last; the general uncertainty of oral tradition and the length of time which elapsed before any critical treatment of it was attempted, and the variety of causes, creditable and discreditable, which led to the wilful fabrication of prophetic utterances, render the use to which No. 3 can be put very limited. Thus the lengthy description of the journey to heaven which Sprenger was inclined to accept as genuine is regarded by most critics as a later fabrication. It is very much to be regretted that the number of pieces justificatives (No. 2) quoted by the biographers is so small, and that for these oral tradition was preferred to a search for the actual documents, some of which may well have been in existence when the earliest See also:biographies were written.

Their style appears to have been See also:

plain and straightforward, though the allusions which they contain are not always intelligible. In his personal relations with men Mahomet appears to have been able to See also:charm and impress in an extraordinary degree, whence we find him able to See also:control persons like Omar and Khalid, who appear to have been self-willed and masterful, and a single interview seems to have been sufficient to turn many an enemy into a devoted adherent. Cases (perhaps legendary) are quoted of his being able by a look or a word to disarm intending assassins. Although the titles which he took were religious in character, and his office might not be described as See also:sovereignty, his interests appear to have lain far more in the building up and maintenance of empire than in ecclesiastical matters. Thus only can we account for the violent and sudden changes which he introduced into his system, for his temporary See also:lapse into paganism, and for his ultimate adoption of the cult of the Black Stone, which, it is said, gave offence to some of his sincere adherents (e.g. Omar), and seems hard to reconcile with his tirades against fetish-worship. The same is indicated by his remarkable doctrine that the utterance of the creed constituted a Moslem and not its cordial See also:acceptance, and his practice of at times buying See also:adhesion. Even an historian so favourable to the Prophet as See also:Prince Caetani recognizes that ultimately what he regarded as most important was that his subjects should pay their taxes. And in general his system was not favourable to fanaticism (al-ghulu fi'l-din) ; he repeatedly gave permission for concealment of faith when the profession of it was dangerous; he took care to avoid institutions which, like the Jewish See also:Sabbath, interfered seriously with military expeditions and the conduct of business, and permitted considerable irregularity in the matters of prayer and See also:fasting when circumstances rendered it desirable. In his theory that Koranic texts could be abrogated he made wise provision against the danger of hasty legislation, though some of its usefulness was frustrated by his failure to provide for such See also:abrogation after his death. As has been seen, Mahomet claimed to introduce a wholly new dispensation, and a maxim of his law is that Islam cancels all that preceded it, except, indeed, pecuniary debts; it is o S Reforms. . not certain that even this exception always held good.

Re Hence his system swept away a number of practices (chiefly connected with the camel) that were associated with pagan superstitions. The most celebrated of these is the arrow-See also:

game, a form of gambling for shares in slaughtered camels, to which poetic allusions are very frequent. More important than this was his attitude towards the blood-feud, or system of tribal responsibility for See also:homicide (whether intentional or accidental), whereby one death regularly led to protracted wars, it being considered dishonourable to take blood-See also:money (usually in the form of camels) or to be satisfied with one death in See also:exchange. This system he endeavoured to break down, chiefly by sinking all earlier tribal distinctions in the new brotherhood of Islam; but also by limiting the vengeance to be demanded to such as was no more than the equivalent of the offence committed, and by urging the acceptance of money-See also:compensation instead, or complete forgiveness of the offence. The remembrance of pre-Islamic quarrels was visited by him with condign punishment on those who had embraced Islam; and though it was long before the tribal system quite See also:broke down, even in the great cities which See also:rose in the new provinces, and the old state of things seems to have quickly been resumed in the desert, his legislation on this subject rendered orderly government among Arabs possible. Next in importance to this is the abolition of infanticide, which is condemned even in early Suras of the Koran. The scanty notices which we have of the practice are not altogether consistent; at times we are told that it was confined to certain tribes, and consisted in the burying alive of infant daughters; at other times it is extended to a wider See also:area, and said to have been carried out on See also:males as well as See also:females. After the taking of Mecca this prohibition was included among the conditions of Islam. In the See also:laws See also:relating to women it seems likely that he regulated current practice rather than introduced much that was actually new, though, as has been seen, he is credited with giving them the right to inherit property; the most precise legislation in the Koran deals with this subject, of which the main principle is that the409 share of the male equals that of two females. Our ignorance of the precise nature of the marriage customs prevalent in Arabia at the rise of Islam renders it difficult to estimate the extent to which his laws on this subject were an improvement on what had been before. The pre-Islamic family, unless our records are wholly misleading, did not differ materially from the Islamic; in both See also:polygamy and See also:concubinage were recognized and normal; and it is uncertain that the text which is supposed to limit the number of wives to four was intended to have that meaning. The " condition of Islam " whereby adultery was forbidden is said to have been ridiculed at the time, on the ground that this practice had never been approved.

Yet it would seem that certain forms of promiscuity had been tolerated, though the subject is obscure. Against these services we must set the abrogation of some valuable practices. His unfortunate See also:

essay in See also:astronomy, whereby a See also:calendar of twelve lunar months, bearing no relation to the seasons, was introduced, was in any case a See also:retrograde step; but it appears to have been connected with the abrogation of the sanctity of the four months during which raiding had been forbidden in Arabia, which, as has been seen, he was the first to violate. He also, as has been noticed, permitted himself a slight amount of bloodshed in Mecca itself, and that city perhaps never quite recovered its sacrosanct character. Of more serious consequences for the development of the community was his encouragement of the shedding of kindred blood in the cause of Islam; the consequences of the abrogation of this See also:taboo seem to have been felt for a great length of time. His assassinations of enemies were afterwards quoted as precedents in books of Tradition. No less unfortunate was the recognition of the principle whereby atonement could be made for oaths. On the question how far the seclusion of women was enjoined or countenanced by him different views have been held. Besides the contemporary documents enumerated above (Koranic texts, rescripts and authentic traditions) many of the events were celebrated by poets, whose verses were ostensibly in- Sources. corporated in the standard biography of See also:Ibn Ishaq;in the abridgment of that biography which we possess many of these are obelized as See also:spurious, and, indeed, what we know of the procedure of those who professed to collect early poetry gives us little confidence in the genuineness of such odes. A few, however, seem to stand See also:criticism, and the See also:divan (or collection of poems) attributed to Hassan b. Thabit is ordinarily regarded as his. Though they rarely give detailed descriptions of events, their See also:attestation is at times of value, e. g. for the story that the bodies of the slain at Badr were cast by the Prophet into a See also:pit.

Besides this, the narratives of eyewitnesses of important events, or of those who had actually taken part in them, were eagerly sought by the second generation, and some of these were committed to writing well before the end of the 1st century. The practice instituted by the second Caliph, of assigning See also:

pensions proportioned to the length of time in which the recipient had been a member of the Islamic community, led to the compilation of certain rolls, and to the accurate preservation of the main sequence of events from the commencement of the mission, and for the detailed sequence after the Flight, which presently became an era (beginning with the first month of the year in which the Flight took place). The procedure whereby the original dates of the events (so far as they were remembered) were translated into the Moslem calendar—for some-thing of this sort must have been done—is unknown, and is unlikely to have been scientific. Mahomet's conduct being made the standard of right and wrong, there was little temptation to " whitewash " him, although the original biography by Ibn Ishaq appears to have contained details which the author of the abridgment omitted as scandalous. The preservation of so much that was historical left little room for the introduction of miraculous narrations; these therefore either belong to the obscure period of his life or can be easily eliminated; thus the narratives of the Meccan council at which the assassination of Mahomet was decided, of the battles of Badr, Ubud and Honain, and the death of Sa'd b. Mu 'adh, would lose nothing by the omission of the angels and the devil, though a certain part is assigned the one or the other on all these occasions. We should have expected biographies which were published when the 'See also:Abbasids were reigning to have falsified history for the purpose of glorifying 'Abbas, their progenitor; the very small extent to which this expectation is justified is a remarkable testimony to their general trustworthiness.

End of Article: MAHOMET (strictly MUHAMMAD, commonly also MOHAMMED)

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This article has been written when People in Europe were not very familiarised with ISLAM.The Ignorance of the person writing this article can be seen by writing MUSLIMS followers of ISLAM as Mohammadens which is considered blasphemous by MUSLIMS.The Impartial attitude has not been maintained while writing this article as it is more look alike CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE point of view rather than information article.
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