his wife Khadijah, who had so generously made his fortune. For which reason this year is called the year of mourning.3

On the death of these two persons, the Koreish began to be more troublesome than ever to their prophet, and especially some who had formerly been his intimate friends; insomuch that he found himself obliged to seek for shelter elsewhere, and first pitched upon Tâyef, about sixty miles east from Mecca, for the place of his retreat. Thither, therefore, he went, accompanied by his servant Zeid, and applied himself to two of the chief of the tribe of Thakif, who were the inhabitants of that place, but they received him very coldly. However, he stayed there a month; and some of the more considerate and better sort of men treated him with a little respect; but the slaves and inferior people at length rose against him, and bringing him to the wall of the city, obliged him to depart, and return to Mecca, where he put himself under the protection of al Mortaam Ebn Adi.

This repulse greatly discouraged his followers: however, Mohammed was not wanting to himself, but boldly continued to preach to the public assemblies at the pilgrimage, and gained several proselytes, and among them six of the inhabitants of Yathreb of the Jewish tribe of Khazraj, who, on their return home, failed not to speak much in commendation of their new religion, and exhorted their fellow-citizens to embrace the

same.

In the twelfth year of his mission it was that Mohammed gave out that he had made his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven," so much spoken of by all that write of him. Dr. Prideaux thinks he invented it either to answer the expectations of those who demanded some miracle as a proof of his mission; or else, by pretending to have conversed with God, to establish the authority of whatever he should think fit to leave behind by way of oral tradition, and make his sayings to serve the same purpose as the oral law of the Jews. But I do not find that Mohammed himself ever expected so great a regard should be paid to his sayings as his followers have since done; and seeing he all along disclaimed any power of performing miracles, it seems rather to have been a fetch of policy to raise his reputation, by pretending to have actually conversed with God in heaven, as Moses had heretofore done on the Mount, and to have received several institutions immediately from him, whereas before he contented himself with persuading them that he had all by the ministry of Gabriel.

However, this story seemed so absurd and incredible that several of his followers left him upon it, and it had probably ruined his whole design, had not Abu Beer vouched for its veracity, and declared that if Mohammed affirmed it to be true, he verily believed the whole. Which happy incident not only retrieved the prophet's credit, but increased it to such a degree, that he was secure of being able to make his disciples swallow whatever he pleased to impose on them for the future. And I am apt to think this fiction, notwithstanding its extravagance, was one of the most artful contrivances Mohammed ever put in practice, and what chiefly contributed to the raising of his reputation to that great height to which it afterwards arrived.

In this year, called by Mohammedans the accepted year, twelve men of Fathreb or Medina, of whom ten were of the tribe of Khazraj, and the

'Abulfed. p. 28. Ebn Shonah. Ebn Shonah. chap. of the Koran. • Life of Moham. p. 41, 51, &c.

'See the notes on the 17th

other two of that of Aws, came to Mecca, and took an oath of fidelity to Mohammed at al Akaba, a hill on the north of that city. This oath was called the women's oath; not that any women were present at this time, but because a man was not thereby obliged to take up arms in defence of Mohammed or his religion; it being the same oath that was afterwards exacted of the women, the form of which we have in the Korân," and is to this effect, viz.-"That they should renounce all idolatry'; that they should not steal, nor commit fornication, nor kill their children (as the pagan Arabs used to do when they apprehended they should not be able to maintain them), nor forge calumnies; and that they should obey the prophet in all things that were reasonable." When they had solemnly engaged to do all this, Mohammed sent one of his disciples, named Masáb Ebn Omair, home with them, to instruct them more fully in the grounds and ceremonies of his new religion.

Masáb, being arrived at Lledina, by the assistance of those who had been formerly converted, gained several proselytes, particularly Osaid Ebn Hodeira, a chief man of the city, and Saad Ebn Moâdh, prince of the tribe of Aws; Mohammedism spreading so fast, that there was scarce a house wherein there were not some who had embraced it.

The next year, being the thirteenth of Mohammed's mission, Masáb returned to Mecca, accompanied by seventy-three men and two women of Medina who had professed Islamism, besides some others who were as yet unbelievers. On their arrival, they immediately sent to Mohammed, and offered him their assistance, of which he was now in great need, for his adversaries were by this time grown so powerful in Mecca, that he could not stay there much longer without imminent danger. Wherefore he accepted their proposal, and met hem one night, by appointment, at al Akaba abovementioned, attended by his uncle al Abbas, who, though he was not then a believer, wished his nephew well, and made a speech to those of Medina, wherein he told them, that as Mohammed was obliged to quit his native city, and seek an asylum elsewhere, and they had offered him their protection, they would do well not to deceive him; and that if they were not firmly resolved to defend and not betray him, they had better declare their minds, and let him provide for his safety in some other manner. Upon their protesting their sincerity, Mohammed swore to be faithful to them; on condition that they should protect him against all insults, as heartily as they would their own wives and families. They then asked him what recompense they were to expect if they should happen to be killed in his quarrel; he answered paradise. Whereupon they pledged their faith to him, and so returned home; after Mohammed had chosen twelve out of their number, who were to have the same authority among them as the twelve apostles of Christ had among his disciples.'

Hitherto Mohammed had propagated his religion by fair means, so that the whole success of his enterprise before his flight to Medina must be attributed to persuasion only, and not to compulsion. For before this second oath of fealty or inauguration at al Akaba, he had no permission to use any force at all; and in several places of the Korân, which he pretended were revealed during his stay at Mecca, he declares his business was only to preach and admonish, that he had no authority to compel any person to embrace his religion; and that whether people believed, or not, was none of his concern, but belonged solely unto God. And he was so far from allow. ing his followers to use force, that he exhorted them to bear patiently those

injuries which were offered them on account of their faith; and when persecuted himself, chose rather to quit the place of his birth and retire to Medina, than to make any resistance. But this great passiveness and moderation seems entirely owing to his want of power, and the great supe riority of his opposers for the first twelve years of his mission; for no sooner was he enabled, by the assistance of those of Medina, to make head against his enemies, than he gave out, that God had allowed him and his followers to defend themselves against the infidels; and at length, as his forces increased, he pretended to have the divine leave even to attack them and to destroy idolatry, and set up the true faith by the word; finding, by experience, that his designs would otherwise proceed very slowly, if they were not utterly overthrown; and knowing on the other hand that innovators, when they depend solely on their own strength, and can compel, seldom run any risk; from whence, the politician observes, it follows, that all the armed prophets have succeeded, and the unarmed ones have failed. Moscs, Cyrus, Theseus, and Romulus would not have been able to establish the observance of their institutions for any length of time, had they not been armed. The first passage of the Korân which gave Mohammed the permission of defending himself by arms is said to have been that in the twenty-second chapter; after which a great number to the same purpose were revealed.

That Mohammed had a right to take up arms for his own defence against his unjust persecutors, may perhaps be allowed; but whether he ought afterwards to have made use of that means for the establishing of his religion is a question I will not here determine. How far the secular power may or ought to interpose in affairs of this nature mankind are not agreed. The method of converting by the sword gives no very favourable idea of the faith which is so propagated, and is disallowed by every body in those of another religion, though the same persons are willing to admit of it for the advancement of their own; supposing that though a false religion ought not to be established by authority, yet a true one may; and accordingly force is almost as constantly employed in these cases by those who have the power in their hands, as it is constantly complained of by those who suffer the violence. It is certainly one of the most convincing proofs that Mohammedism was no other than a human invention, that it owed its progress and establishment almost entirely to the sword; and it is one of the strongest demonstrations of the divine original of Christianity, that it prevailed against all the force and powers of the world by the mere dint of its own truth, after having stood the assaults of all manner of persecutions, as well as other oppositions, for three hundred years together, and at length made the Roman emperors themselves submit thereto;3 after which time indeed this proof seems to fail, Christianity being then established and paganism abolished by public authority, which has had great influence in the propagation of the one and destruction of the other ever since. But to

return.

Mohammed having provided for the security of his companions as well as his own, by the league offensive and defensive which he had now concluded with those of Medina, directed them to repair thither, which they accordingly did; but himself with Abu Beer and Ali staid behind, having not yet received the divine permission, as he pretended, to leave Mecca. The Koreich, fearing the consequence of this new alliance, began to think it absolutely necessary to prevent Mohammed's escape to Medina, and having See Prideaux's Letter to the Deists, p. 220. &c..

Machiavelli, Princ. c. vi.

'See Bayle's Dict. Hist. Art. Moham. Rein. O.

held a council thereon, after several milder expedients had been rejected, they came to a resolution that he should be killed; and agreed that a man should be chosen out of every tribe for the execution of this design, and that each man should have a blow at him with his sword, that the guilt of his olood might fall equally on all the tribes, to whose united power the Hashemites were much inferior, and therefore durst not attempt to revenge their kinsman's death.

This conspiracy was scarce formed when by some means or other it came to Mohammed's knowledge, and he gave out that it was revealed to him by the angel Gabriel, who had now ordered him to retire to Medina. Whereupon, to amuse his enemies, he directed Ali to lie down in his place and wrap himself up in his green cloak, which he did, and Mohammed escaped miraculously as they pretend, to Abu Becr's house, unperceived by the conspirators, who had already assembled at the prophet's door. They in the mean time, looking through the crevice and seeing Ali, whom they took to be Mohammed himself, asleep, continued watching there till morning, when Ali arose and they found themselves deceived.

From Abu Becr's house Mohammed and he went to a cave in mount Thûr, to the south-east of Mecca, accompanied only by Arner Ebn Foheirah, Abu Beer's servant, and Abd'allah Ebn Oreikat, an idolater, whom they had hired for a guide. In this cave they lay hid three days to avoid the search of their enemies, which they very narrowly escaped, and not without the assistance of more miracles than one; for some say that the Koreish were struck with blindness, so that they could not find the cave; others, that after Mohammed and his companions were got in, two pigeons aid their eggs at the entrance, and a spider covered the mouth of the cave with her web, which made them look no farther. Abu Becr seeing the prophet in such imminent danger became very sorrowful, whereupon Mohammed comforted him with these words, recorded in the Korân,8"Be not grieved, for God is with us." Their enemies being retired, they left the cave and set out for Medina, by a by-road, and having fortunately, or as the Mohammedans tell us, miraculously escaped some who were sent to pursue them, arrived safely in the city; whither Ali followed them in three days, after he had settled some affairs at Mecca.

The first thing Mohammed did after his arrival at Medina was to build a temple for his religious worship; and a house for himself, which he did on a parcel of ground which had before served to put camels in, or as others tell us, for a burying ground and belonged to Sahal and Soheil the sons of Amru, who were orphans.' This action Dr. Prideaux exclaims against, representing it as a flagrant instance of injustice, for that, says he, he violently dispossessed these poor orphans, the sons of an inferior artificer, (whom the author he quotes call a carpenter) of this ground, and so founded the first fabric of his worship with the like wickedness as he did his religion. But to say nothing of the improbability that Mohammed should act in so impolitic a manner at his first coming, the Mohammedan writers set this affair in a quite different light; one tells us that he treated with the lads about the price of the ground, but they desired he would accept it as

See the notes to chap. 8. and 36.

It is observable that the Jews have a like tradition concerning David, when he fled from Saul into the cave; and the Targumi paraphrases these words of the second verse of Psalm lvii., (which was composed on occasion of that deliverance) "I will pray before the most gh God that performeth all things for me," in this manner; "I will pray before the most high God, who called a spider to weave a web for my sake in the mouth of the cave." Al Beidâwi in Kor. cap. 9. Vide d'Herbel Bibl. Orient. p. 445. Chap. 9. Abulfeda Vit. Moham. p. 50, &c. Ebn Shohnah. Abulfeda, ib. p. 52, 53. 2 Dispu zatio Christiani contra Saracen. cap. iv. Prideaux's Life of Moham. p. 58.

1

a present; however, as historians of good credit assure us, he actually bought it, and the money was paid by Abu Beer. Besides, had Mohamined accepted it as a present, the orphans were in circumstances sufficient to have afforded it; for they were of a very good family, of the tribe Najjâr, one of the most illustrious among the Arabs, and not the sons of a carpenter, as Dr. Prideaux's author writes, who took the word Najjâr, which signifies a carpenter, for an appellative, whereas it is a proper

name.

Mohammed being securely settled at Medina, and able not only to defend himself against the insults of his enemies, but to attack them, began to send out small parties to make reprisals on the Koreish; the first party consisting of no more than nine men, who intercepted and plundered a caravan belonging to that tribe, and in the action took two prisoners. But what established his affairs very much, and was the foundation on which he built all his succeeding greatness, was the gaining of the battle of Bedr, which was fought in the second year of the Hejra, and is so famous in the Mohammedan history. As my design is not to write the life of Mohammed, but only to describe the manner in which he carried on his enterprise, I shall not enter into any detail of his subsequent battles and expeditions, which amounted to a considerable number. Some reckon no less than twenty-seven expeditions wherein Mohammed was personally present, in nine of which he gave battle, besides several other expeditions in which he was not present:' some of them however will be necessarily taken notice of in explaining several passages of the Korân. His forces he maintained partly by the contributions of his followers for this purpose, which he called by the name of zacât or alms, and the paying of which he very artfully made one main article of his religion; and partly by ordering a fifth part of the plunder to be brought into the public treasury for that purpose, in which matter he likewise pretended to act by the divine direction.

In a few years, by the success of his arms (notwithstanding he sometimes came off by the worst), he considerably raised his credit and power. In the sixth year of the Hejra he set out with 1400 men to visit the temple of Mecca, not with any intent of committing hostilities, but in a peaceable manner. However when he came to al Hodeibiya, which is situate partly within and partly without the sacred territory, the Koreish sent to let him know that they would not permit him to enter Mecca, unless he forced his way; whereupon he called his troops about him, and they all took a solemn oath of fealty or homage to him, and he resolved to attack the city; but those of Mecca sending Arwa Ebn Masúd,* prince of the tribe of Thakîf, as their ambassador to desire peace, a truce was concluded between them for ten years, by which any person was allowed to enter into league either with Mohammed or with the Koreish as he thought fit.

It may not be improper, to show the inconceivable veneration and respect the Mohammedans by this time had for their prophet, to mention the account which the above-mentioned ambassador gave the Koreish, at his return, of their behaviour. He said he had been at the courts both of the Roman emperor and of the king of Persia, and never saw any prince so highly respected by his subjects as Mohammed was by his companions.

Not. in Abulfed. de Vit. Mahom. p. 52, 53. • Vide Abulfed. vit. Moh. p. 158.

P. 36.

• Ahmed Ebn Yusef. * Vide Gagnier, See the notes on the Korân, chap. 3.

This is erroneous. The ambassador was Sohail Ebn Amru. See note, chap. 48.