No More Learning

In the sixth century after Christ most of the inhabitants of Mecca
belonged to a tribe which bore the name of Kuraish. It was well known,
however, that the Kuraish were recent immigrants. Both the town and
the sanctuary had formerly been in the possession of other tribes, but as
to the origin of Mecca no credible tradition survived. The Kuraish
were subdivided into a number of clans, each of which claimed the right
of managing its own affairs. On important occasions the chief men of
the various clans met to deliberate; but there was no central authority.
The sterility of the soil rendered agriculture almost impossible, and the
Meccans had long subsisted by trading with distant countries. Every
year great caravans were despatched to Syria and returned laden with
wares, which the Meccans sold at a large profit to the neighbouring
Bedouins. The mercantile population of the town was naturally far
superior, in general intelligence and knowledge of the outer world, to
the mass of the Arabs. A considerable proportion of the Meccans had
learnt the art of writing, but they used it for practical purposes only.
Book-learning, as we understand it, was quite unknown to them.
At Mecca, about a. d. 570% Mahomet (properly Muhammad) was
born. The clan to which he belonged, the Banu Hashim, is commonly
represented by Muslim writers as one of the most distinguished branches
1 A pilgrimage to Mecca which is not performed in connexion with the yearly
festival is called 'umra, i. e. "visit," sometimes translated by "lesser pilgrimage. "
8 The evidence clearly shews that the early disciples of the Prophet had no
trustworthy information as to the precise year of his birth.


## p. 305 (#337) ############################################

c. 594] Early Life of Mahomet 305
of the Kuraish, but the evidence which we possess tends to prove
that in pre-Muslim times it occupied quite a subordinate place. Of
Mahomet's father, 'Abdallah, son of 'Abd-al-Muttalib, we know
scarcely anything except that he died shortly before the Prophet's birth.
Amina, the mother of Mahomet, died a very few years later, and the
orphan boy afterwards lived for a while in the charge of his grandfather,
'Abd-al-Muttalib, who had a numerous family. On the death of 'Abd-al-
Muttalib, one of his sons, Abu Talib, undertook the care of Mahomet,
who seems to have been treated kindly but to have endured many hard-
ships, since none of his near relatives were wealthy. When he was about
24 years of age he entered the service of an opulent woman, considerably
older than himself, named Khadija. The antecedents and social position
of Khadija are shrouded in some mystery', but it is certain that she had
been twice married and that at the time when she made the acquaintance
of Mahomet she was living at Mecca with several of her children, who
were still quite young. Mahomet appears to have succeeded at once
in gaining her confidence. She entrusted him with the management of
her property, and about the year 594 sent him to Syria on a commercial
expedition, which he directed with conspicuous success. On his return
he became her husband. For a few years he led the life of a prosperous
tradesman; several daughters were born to him and two sons, both of
whom died in infancy.
The process whereby Mahomet was led to occupy himself with
religious questions and finally to believe in his divine mission is altogether
obscure. That the doctrines which he afterwards preached did not arise
spontaneously in his mind but were mainly derived from older religions
seems obvious. It appears certain, however, that he was wholly un-
acquainted with religious literature. Whether he ever learnt the
Arabic alphabet is a question which has been fiercely debated, both
among Muslims and Christians; at all events we know that, in
his later years, whenever he wished to record anything in writing he
employed a secretary. But the question whether he could read is of
little practical importance, since no religious books seem to have existed
in Arabic at that period, and that he could read any foreign language
is utterly incredible. We are therefore obliged to conclude that his
information was derived entirely from oral sources; who his informants
were we can only conjecture. At Mecca itself there was apparently no
permanent colonv of Christians, Jews or Zoroastrians, but isolated
adherents of the principal foreign religions doubtless visited the town
from time to time'. It has often been suggested that Mahomet
1 See Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 2nd ed. 1903,
pp. 289, 290, who supposes that something discreditable has been deliberately con-
cealed.
2 We learn from the Koran (chaps, xvi. 105, xxv. 5) that the heathen Meccans
accused Mahomet of fabricating his revelations out of material supplied by some
foreigner, or foreigners—a charge which the Prophet vehemently denies. It may
C MED. H. VOL. II. CB. X. 20


## p. 306 (#338) ############################################

306 Religious Influences
acquired some knowledge of Christianity during one of his commercial
journeys in Syria. This is possible; but it should be remembered that
an Arab trader, ignorant both of Aramaic and of Greek, would have
great difficulty in obtaining information on religious subjects from
Syrian Christians, since those of them who spoke Arabic usually
belonged to the most illiterate class. Moreover another and a very
important fact has to be taken into consideration. According to
Muslim tradition there were about this time, at Mecca and a few
other places in western Arabia, certain individuals who had become
dissatisfied with the popular paganism, devoted themselves to religious
meditation and professed a monotheistic belief. These persons were
called Hanlfs, a term of which the origin and precise meaning are
obscure. The Hanlfs did not form a sect, for they had no organisation
and, it would seem, little communication with one another. Our
information about them is naturally very meagre, being derived, for the
most part, from scraps of poetry which they are said to have composed;
but the authenticity of these pieces is often doubtful. One of the most
celebrated Hanlfs was the Meccan Zaid ibn 'Amr, who appears to have
died during Mahomet's boyhood. Another was Waraka ibn Naufal, a
cousin of KhadTja. This man died, at a very advanced age, some years
after Mahomet's marriage. The relation in which he stood to the
Prophet renders him an object of peculiar interest: it is therefore all the
more to be regretted that so little can be ascertained concerning him.
According to one tradition, he ended by adopting Christianity, which is
possibly true; he is also said to have translated part of the Christian
Scriptures into Arabic, which is highly improbable. ! But vague as is
our knowledge of the Hanlfs in general and of Waraka iij particular, we
are justified in believing that befor^^Iahomet's birth a,movement in
the direction of spiritual monotheism had already begurt among the
Arabs. jHow far this movement was originally due to Christian and
other foreign influences we can scarcely hope to determine. Our ac-
quaintance with Oriental Christianity in the sixth century is almost
entirely confined to the great official Churches; the smaller Christian
communities, and especially the half-Christian sects, with whom the
Arabs were likely to come in contact, have, with rare exceptions, left no
literary records.
With regard to the beginning of Mahomet's prophetic career, and
the circumstances under which he received his earliest revelations, we
possess many legends but very little genuine tradition. All accounts
be added that Muslim legends about the Prophet's intercourse with Christians
and Jews, during the earlier part of his life, are open to the gravest suspicion, since
nearly all these stories have an apologetic purpose, namely to prove that the Christian
or Jew in question recognised Mahomet as a prophet by means of some sign, in
particular by a mark on the back, which mark is termed "the seal of the prophetic
calling. "


## p. 307 (#339) ############################################

Beginning of the Propaganda 307
agree as to the fact that at this period he spent much time in fastings
and solitary vigils, a practice which was probably suggested to him by
the example of Christian ascetics. He appears to have been naturally
of a nervous temperament, with a tendency to hysteria; whether he
suffered from epilepsy, as several European writers have believed, may
be doubted1. In any case he was subject to paroxysms which presented
the appearance of a violent fever; these seizures were regarded, both by
himself and by his followers, as symptoms of divine inspiration. It is
therefore evident that we are here dealing with a psychological problem
which no information would enable us to solve.
The Koran (chap, lxxxvii. 6,7) admits that Mahomet forgot some of
the communications made to him by God, and it is possible that even the
oldest passages now extant were produced some time after he had become
conscious of his divine vocation. One point seems quite clear, namely
that during the first few years of his mission he did not come forward as
a public preacher but carried on a secret propaganda within the circle
of his more intimate companions. Among the earliest converts were his
wife Khadlja, his cousin Ali (properly iAll), son of Abu Talib, and Abu
Bakr, who did not belong to the Prophet's clan but remained to the last
his most trusted friend. The passages of the Koran which can with any
probability be assigned to this more private period are few in number
and invariably very short. Those which belong to the earlier part of his
public career are much more numerous. They deal mainly with three
subjects, (1) the unity and attributes of God, (2) the moral duties of
mankind, and (3) the coming retribution. Mahomet's monotheism, like
that of the later Hebrew prophets, necessarily involves the condemnation
of idolatry, but it is to be noted that he nowhere describes the religion of
his pagan fellow-countrymen as something wholly false. Though he
identifies the one true God with the God of the Jews* and the Christians,
he at the same time assumes that the heathen have some knowledge of
God8 and even that God is, in some special sense, the God of Mecca.
In a very early passage of the Koran (chap, cvi. ) the Kuraish are
1 The hypothesis of epilepsy is decidedly rejected by De Goeje, "Die Berufung
Mohammed's," in OrientalischeS<udt'en(N61deke-Festschrift),Giessen, 1906, i. pp. 1-6.
2 The term Rahman, "the Merciful," which is often used in the Koran as
synonymous with "God," was unknown to the heathen Meccans and seems to have
been borrowed from the Jews. It may be mentioned, however, that this word appears
as an epithet of the Deity not only in Jewish literature but also in the inscriptions
of the heathen Syrians.
3 The ancient poets of pagan Arabia frequently speak of "God" {Allah) in a
manner which seems to imply that they recognised Him as the supreme Being.
How they conceived the relation between this "God" and the various local deities
it is impossible to say with any precision. According to the Koran (chap. xvi.
59 ff. ) the heathen regarded certain of their goddesses as the "daughters" of
Allah, but it would be unsafe to assume that the heathen themselves used this
phrase in a literal sense, since "daughters of God" may mean (as with the
Gnostics) nothing more than "female divine beings. "
ch. x. 20—2


## p. 308 (#340) ############################################

308 Doctrine of the Koran
exhorted to worship "the Lord of this house," that is, of the Ka'ba.
Hence it is evident that Mahomet considered himself rather as a
reformer than as a preacher of an altogether new religion. Similarly in
dealing with ethical questions he often implies that the pagan notions
of justice, honour and propriety are to some extent valid. Thus, for
instance, his repeated denunciations of avarice are quite in the spirit of
the ancient Arabs, to whom the "miser11 was an object of special
abhorrence.
But in contradistinction to the ethical code of the heathen,
which was mainly based upon tribal patriotism ('asabiiya), Mahomet
emphasises thfijiniversal obligaiions_Qf_morality, and above all the duty
of forgiving injuries instead of avenging them. It is in his doctrine of
the Judgment and the life to come that he departs most widely from
the ordinary beliefs of the time. The heathen Arabs, like other
primitive peoples, were familiar with the notion of a ghost, or wraith,
which haunts, at least for a while, the resting-place of the dead body;
but the idea of a future retribution was quite foreign to their habits of
thought. The doctrine of the Resurrection, as it appears in the Koran,
seems to be mainly derived from Christianity; that some details were
borrowed from Judaism or Zoroastrianism is possible but can scarcely be
proved. Mahomet, as we might have expected, conceives the Resur-
rection after the most crudely materialistic fashion; to him the recon-
struction of the physical organism was an essential postulate of the future
recompense. The descriptions of the Judgment itself and of the torments
of the damned do not differ substantially from those which are found
in popular Christian writings of medieval and modern times. On the
other hand the delights of Paradise are often painted in colours to which
neither Christianity nor Judaism affords any parallel1. But what
especially characterises the older portions of the Koran is the constant
emphasis laid on the nearness of the Resurrection and the Day of
Judgment. Although Mahomet nowhere specifies any definite time,
and when questioned on this point by his opponents always professed
ignorance, it is clear that he lived in daily expectation of the great
events which formed the main subject of his preaching. Nor is this at
all inconsistent with the fact that some passages of the Koran seem to
announce a special calamity which was to befall the Meccans for their
unbelief, rather than a world-wide catastrophe. Similarly, it will be
remembered, among the early Christians the expectation of the judgment
1 It is remarkable that passages of this sort are almost entirely confined to
the earlier chapters, which date from a time when the very notion of rewards
and punishments after death was treated by the Meccans -with derision, as the
Prophet frequently complains. To suppose, with many European writers, that
the early converts to Islam were attracted chiefly by the prospect of a material
Paradise is therefore altogether unreasonable, since only those who had on other
grounds accepted Mahomet as a prophet could believe in any Paradise whatsoever.


## p. 309 (#341) ############################################

Religious Practices 309
of the world and the expectation of the overthrow of Jerusalem
were sometimes so closely connected as to become indistinguishable.
A great part of the Koran consists of narratives, inserted for
purposes of edification. Scarcely any of these can be described as
historical; on the other hand, scarcely any is a pure invention of
Mahomet's. In almost every case he utilises some legend that he had
heard, in order to enforce his doctrines. Thus he repeatedly introduces
persons mentioned in the Old Testament and puts into their mouths
discourses in favour of monotheism, moral precepts, etc. The opposition
which they encountered and the chastisements which overtook their
adversaries are likewise described at great length. The allusions to
Christ and the early Christian Church present some very curious and
hitherto unexplained features. That Christ, or any other being, can be
a "son of God" is emphatically denied; at the same time the belief that
Christ was born of a virgin is fully accepted, and among the prophets of
past ages He occupies a specially prominent place. But of the facts of
Christ's life Mahomet appears to have known next to nothing. In
one of the later chapters of the Koran (iv. 156) the Jews are condemned
for asserting that Christ was put to death and the crucifixion is
represented as a deceptive appearance. The fact that Christians
believed in the Crucifixion is totally ignored, and we may therefore
conclude that on this very important point Mahomet's Christian
informants held opinions resembling those which are ascribed to the
ancient Docetists.
The disciples of the Prophet called themselves Muslims, but were
usually known by the name of "Sabians" (Sabivn)1. Their organisation
and rules of life were at first of a very simple kind. They bound
themselves to abstain from idolatry and from certain immoral practices,
especially fornication and infanticide. The cult consisted mainly of
prayers, according to the formulae prescribed by the Prophet; meetings
for this purpose were held at stated times, but always in strict privacy.
In order to indicate that the God whom he proclaimed was identical
with the God of the Jews, Mahomet commanded his followers to
adopt the Jewish practice of praying towards Jerusalem*. At this time
he appears to have had scarcely any notion of the difference between
Judaism and Christianity; consequently he was able to regard both
Jews and Christians as his brethren in religion.
1 The terms Muslim, "one who surrenders himself," and Mam, "surrender," are
commonly explained as denoting "resignation" to the will of God, but it is more
likely that they refer primarily to the deliberate adoption of a new faith as distin-
guished from blind conformity to a hereditary cult. The Sabians—a name which,
of course, has no connexion with that of the Sabaeans—seem to have been a sect,
or group of sects, of the half-Christian, half-heathen type. Why the Muslims were
called Sabians is uncertain; probably the nickname was due, as usual, to some
accidental point of similarity.
2 See 1 Kings viii. 29 ff. , Dan. vi. 10.
ca. x.


## p. 310 (#342) ############################################

310 Opposition of the Meccans
For several years Mahomet continued to preach with little apparent
success. His converts were, with rare exceptions, persons of a low class
or even foreign slaves, such as Bilal the Abyssinian. Some members of
his own family, in particular his uncle 'Abd-al-'Uzza, nicknamed Abu
Lahab, bitterly opposed him; even his protector Abu Talib remained
to the last an unbeliever. It would be a mistake to suppose that the
enemies of the new faith were actuated by religious fanaticism. They
were, for the most part, simply men of the world who, proud of their
social position, objected to recognising the claims of an upstart and
dreaded any sweeping change as likely to endanger the material
advantages which they derived from the traditional cult. To the
majority of the citizens Mahomet appeared a madman; some called
him a "poet," an accusation which gave him great pain, for, as the
Koran shews, he regarded the poets with peculiar aversion. That he
had to endure many affronts was quite natural, but actual violence could
not have been employed against him without risk of a blood-feud, which
the Meccans were always most anxious to avoid. Those of his disciples,
however, who had no relatives to protect them were occasionally treated
with cruelty. At length the majority of the converts, finding their
position intolerable, fled for refuge to Abyssinia, with the full consent,
if not at the express command, of the Prophet. He himself remained
at Mecca with a mere handful of followers. >C
When it became known that the emigrants had been kindly received
by the Christian king of Abyssinia, considerable alarm prevailed among
the chiefs of the Kuraish, lest the Abyssinians, whose devastating
invasions were still vividly remembered, should be tempted to intervene
on behalf of the persecuted Muslims. Accordingly a deputation was
sent from Mecca for the purpose of persuading the king to hand
over the fugitives as prisoners; the king, however, refused, whereupon
the indignation of Mahomet's enemies was still further excited. The
Prophet, reduced to extremities, fell into the error of attempting to
overcome opposition by means of a compromise. He went so far as to
publish a revelation in which the three principal goddesses of Mecca
were recognised as "highly exalted beings whose intercession may be
hoped for1. " For a while the polytheists appeared to be satisfied, and a
report that the persecution was at an end caused some of the emigrants
to come back from Abyssinia. In the meanwhile the Prophet repented
of the concession he had made, and declared that the verse in question
had been put into his mouth by Satan. The feud thereupon broke out
afresh. To the heathen Meccans Mahomet's conduct on this occasion
naturally seemed to convict him of imposture; since, however, he had
long been accustomed to regard all his impulses as due to some
1 The word ghardnik, here rendered "exalted," is of doubtful meaning: an
early Muslim poet uses it as an epithet of chieftains or warriors (Kitdb-al-Aghdnl,
vii. 75. 27 = viii. 192. 3).


## p. 311 (#343) ############################################

Mahomet reduced to straits 311
supernatural cause, it is by no means certain that he did not sincerely
believe himself to be acting by divine command both when he made the
concession and when he withdrew it1.
It was probably about this time that an important conversion took
place, that of Omar ('Umar) ibn al-Khattab, a young man of no high
social position but endowed with extraordinary ability and perseverance.
He had at first been vehemently opposed to the new religion, so that his
sudden conversion, of which there are several conflicting accounts, attracted
all the more notice and doubtless inspired the Muslims with fresh courage.
It is said that he set the example of praying publicly, in the neighbour-
hood of the Ka'ba; at all events from this time onwards the movement
assumed a more open character. The chiefs of the Kuraish finally
determined to adopt the only method of coercion known to them, short
of positive violence; they offered to Mahomet's kinsmen, the Banu
Hashim, the choice of declaring him an outlaw or of being themselves
excluded from intercourse with the other Meccan clans. Most of the
Banu Hashim were still unbelievers, but such was the sanctity attached
to ties of blood that they all, with one or two exceptions, preferred to
incur the penalty of social excommunication rather than deliver over
Mahomet to his enemies. How long this breach lasted and by what
means it was healed is uncertain; probably the manifold inconveniences
which it caused to all parties soon brought about a change of public
opinion*.
Very soon after intercourse had been re-established between the
Banu Hashim and their fellow-townsmen, two serious calamities befell
Mahomet, the death of his wife Khadlja and that of his protector
Abu Talib. There can be little doubt that this double bereavement
rendered the Prophet's position at Mecca more precarious; henceforth
he began to consider the possibility of finding a home elsewhere. His
first attempt was made at a neighbouring town, called Ta'if, but he
met with so unfavourable a reception that he speedily returned to Mecca,
where he succeeded in obtaining a promise of protection from an
influential heathen, Mut'im ibn 'AdI. For two or three years the
Prophet remained in his native city, making, it would seem, scarcely
any effort to gain fresh converts among the resident population. His
attention was turned chiefly to the pilgrims who visited Mecca or the
immediate neighbourhood on the occasion of the yearly festivals. To
these motley crowds he used to preach his doctrines, generally encountering
* That many Muslim authorities consider this story fabulous is only what we
might have expected. But it is amazing that it should be rejected by so impartial
a historian as Caetani.
• It must be admitted that the story of the excommunication of the Banu
Hashim, as related by the principal authorities, presents some very suspicious
features; but to conclude, with Caetani, that the whole episode is fictitious would
involve still greater difficulties.


## p. 312 (#344) ############################################

312 The Converts from Medina [eis-620
indifference or ridicule. There were, however, some exceptions. In
a. d. 620 he fell in with some pilgrims from Yathrib and, finding them
well-disposed, entered into a series of negotiations which finally brought
about a complete change not only in his own fortunes but in the history
of the world.
Yathrib, known in subsequent times as Medina1, was a scattered
group of villages rather than a city, situated in a fertile plain about
200 miles to the north of Mecca. Unlike the Meccans, who subsisted
by commerce, the people of Medina had, from time immemorial, devoted
themselves to agriculture, in particular to the cultivation of the date-
palm. Long before the birth of Mahomet, Jewish colonists established
themselves at Medina and propagated their religion with such success that
by the beginning of the sixth century most of the inhabitants professed
Judaism and were regaided as Jews, though they must have been mainly of
Arab descent. These Judaised Arabs were divided into several clans, each
occupying its own territory. In civilisation, especially in mechanical
arts such as metal-working, they were greatly superior to their heathen
neighbours, and for a while they dominated the whole district. But in
the course of the sixth century, owing to circumstances with which we
are imperfectly acquainted, the power of the Jews declined. Much
of their territory passed into the hands of two heathen tribes (the
A us and the Khazraj), who in the time of Mahomet formed the bulk
of the population. Between these tribes there raged a long and
bitter feud. About the year 616 the Aus, with, the help of the Jews,
inflicted a severe defeat upon the Khazraj; this battle is known in
Arabian tradition as the Day of Bu'ath. But the Khazraj, though
humbled, were by no means crushed, and during the next few years
every one went about in fear of his life. To the more intelligent of the
people of Medina the situation must have seemed intolerable; peace was
urgently required, yet no authority capable of restoring peace appeared
to exist.
Such was the state of affairs when certain influential citizens of
Medina became acquainted with Mahomet. Some of them, who through
intercourse with Jews had already imbibed monotheistic ideas, were
doubtless attracted by his religious teaching; others perhaps, who
were indifferent to religion, felt that a stranger claiming to speak with
divine authority might be able to effect what they themselves had
attempted in vain. In any case, a period of about two years elapsed
between their first interview with the Prophet and their final decision to
offer him a home in their midst.
Meanwhile he had sent to Medina one
of his Meccan disciples, Mus'ab ibn 'Umair, to act as his representative
and keep him informed of all that passed.
1 In Arabic, ul-Mmfma, "thecity," which is an abbreviation of Madtnat-an-Nabi,
"the city of the Prophet. "


## p. 313 (#345) ############################################

622] The Emigration 313
In the year 622, on the occasion of the annual pilgrimage, about
seventy of the converts from Medina arranged to hold a meeting with
Mahomet at midnight a few miles from Mecca. The Prophet went
thither in the company of his uncle 'Abbas, who was still an unbeliever1,
but from the heathen public in general the matter was carefully concealed.
Mahomet demanded of the Medinese a solemn promise that if he betook
himself to their country they would protect him from attack as they would
protect their own families. This they all swore to do. As soon as he had
secured a place of refuge, the Prophet ordered his Meccan disciples to
emigrate to Medina. Attempts were made by the chiefs of the Kuraish
to prevent the departure of the Muslims, but nearly all succeeded in
escaping and reached Medina a few weeks later in small parties. The
Prophet himself, with Abu Bakr and Ali, remained behind for a short
time, apparently awaiting news as to the manner in which the Emigrants
had been received. It is related, on somewhat doubtful authority, that
his departure was hastened by a plot to assassinate him in his bed. In
any case he left Mecca secretly, accompanied by Abu Bakr, in the
summer or early autumn of 622. For a few days they remained hidden
in a cave* near Mecca, and then proceeded, as rapidly as possible, to
Medina. Thus was accomplished the great event known as the Emigra-
tion Qiijra, distorted by Europeans into Iiegira), which forms the
starting-point of the Muslim era'.
On his arrival at Medina the Prophet was welcomed with enthusiasm
by a large proportion of the natives; but he did not at once claim the
position of a ruler. Those who acknowledged his divine mission could
merely promise personal obedience. The people as a whole had not
submitted to his authority; they were only his "Helpers" (Anfdr),
pledged to defend him, for, according to Arabian notions, a guarantee
of protection given by one member of a clan binds all the rest. It was
by the gradual extension of his personal influence, not in virtue of any
formal agreement, that he succeeded in making himself master of the
place. The Meccan "Emigrants" (Muhajirvn) were, of course, entirely
1 The presence of al-'AbbSs at this meeting seems at first difficult to explain,
since Mahomet was nominally under the protection of Mut'im ibn 'Adf. Pro-
bably the Medinese were afraid that they might afterwards be accused of having
carried off Mahomet by force, and therefore required that some member of his
family should be present to testify that the Prophet's departure was voluntary.
J Koran ix. 40.
3 The Muslim era dates not from the precise moment of the Prophet's
emigration but from the beginning of the Arabian year in which the Emigration
took place, that is to say, from, a point about 6 weeks earlier. Unfortunately, in
consequence of the careless manner in which the heathen Arabs kept their calendar,
it is not certain when the beginning of this year should be placed. According to
the ordinary view, the year began on 16 July a. d. 622, and Mahomet arrived at
Medina in the latter half of September; hut Wellhausen makes the year begin in
April.
CH. X.


## p. 314 (#346) ############################################

314 Mahomet's Position at Medina
devoted to him from the first, and formed, so to speak, his body-guard.
Many of the Medinese, especially those of the younger generation, were
no less zealous in his cause; their principal duty, during the first few-
months after the Emigration, consisted in housing and feeding the
Emigrants. But not a few, even of those who called themselves Muslims,
were either hostile or indifferent; the Koran frequently refers to them
as the " Hypocrites" (Munqfikiin, a term borrowed from the Aethiopic).
The most celebrated of these was a certain 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy, a chief
of the Khazraj, who before the arrival of Mahomet had played a very
prominent part. The opposition of such persons is to be ascribed
mainly to personal jealousy or other worldly motives. More consistent,
and hence more formidable, was the enmity of the Jews. It is clear
that at first Mahomet confidently reckoned on their support, but he
soon discovered his mistake1. With rare exceptions they absolutely
refused to acknowledge him as a prophet, and thus forced him to
become their adversary. Henceforth the antagonism between Islam
and Judaism began to shew itself even in externals. This was seen
most clearly when, in the second year after the Emigration, Mahomet
ordered his disciples to pray towards Mecca instead of praying towards
Jerusalem.
The historian Ibn Ishak has preserved for us the text of an important
document which seems to have been drawn up, under the Prophet's
direction, at about this time. It may be described as an attempt to
settle, at least provisionally, the relations between the various classes
into which the people of Medina were divided'. All the inhabitants,
believers and unbelievers alike, are declared to be a single community
(umma); the clans remain distinct for certain purposes but are debarred
from making war on one another. Should any dispute arise, the matter
is to be brought before " God and Mahomet. 11 All are bound to unite
for the defence of Medina in case it should be attacked. No one is to
conclude an agreement with the Kuraish {i. e. the heathen Meccans) or
with any ally of the Kuraish.
The establishing of public security at Medina was necessarily the first
object which the Prophet had in view; but in addition to this he found
himself compelled to supply his own followers with the rudiments of a
legal code. At Mecca his teaching had been almost entirely confined to
the sphere of faith and personal morality; of external regulations lie
had seldom had occasion to speak. But as soon as Islam became the
1 Muslim authorities are unanimous in asserting that at this time both the
Jews and the Christians were expecting a prophet to appear in Arabia and that
precise descriptions of the coming prophet were contained in the Jewish and
Christian Scriptures. How this belief first arose among Muslims is not clear, but
converts from Judaism and Christianity doubtless did their best to encourage it.
2 See Wellhausen, "Muhammads Gemeindeordnung von Medina," in Skizzen
und Vorarbeiten, iv. pp. 67-83.


## p. 315 (#347) ############################################

Legislation of the Koran 315
religion of a political society, the need of positive enactments made
itself felt. Hence those parts of the Koran which were produced after
the Emigration—amounting to rather more than one-third of the whole
book—consist largely of prescriptions as to the details of practice both
in religious and secular matters. Systematic legislation was, of course,
a thing of which Mahomet could form no idea; he provided for each
case as it occurred, not striving after theoretical consistency but freely
modifying previous commands in order to suit altered circumstances.
That all these contradictory directions were given out as the word of
God caused scarcely any embarrassment at the time, for it was assumed
that the Deity, like any other despot, may revoke His orders whenever
He chooses; but it is needless to say that later generations, who had no
trustworthy information as to the dates of the various passages, some-
times found it hard to decide which commands were revoked and which
were still in force1. In a few cases we are informed by early Muslim
authorities that passages of the Koran were not only "revoked" but
actually suppressed.
The institutions which assumed a definite form during the years
subsequent to the Emigration may be classed under the following
heads:—(1) Religious ceremonial, (2) Fiscal and military regulations,
(3) Civil and criminal laws.
To the first class belong the five obligatory daily prayers, the public
service held every Friday, the duty of fasting from sunrise to sunset
during the month of Ramadan, and the annual Pilgrimage (of which
more will be said later). To these may be added the rules of ceremonial
purity, the distinctions between lawful and unlawful food (which were
largely borrowed from Judaism) and the prohibition of wine-drinking.
The rite of circumcision—performed on boys, not, as among the Jews,
on infants—prevailed everywhere in heathen Arabia and was retained by
the followers of Mahomet; but it is never mentioned in the Koran and
does not properly form part of the religion of Islam.
The second class includes the payment of "alms," that is, a kind of
income-tax levied on all Muslims, originally for the relief of the poor
but in later times for the maintenance of the State. Moreover all
Muslims capable of bearing arms might, under certain circumstances, be
required to serve as soldiers.
The civil and criminal laws laid down in the Koran are partly based
on old Arabian usages and are partly of foreign origin. Slavery and
polygamy having existed in Arabia from time immemorial, we may
assume, as a matter of course, that Mahomet never thought of abolishing
either the one or the other, but he introduced certain restrictions
whereby the condition both of slaves and of women was somewhat
1 Treatises on the "revoking" and the "revoked" passages of the Koran
(fi-n-ndtikh wa-l^matuakh) have been produced by many Muslim theologians.


## p. 316 (#348) ############################################

316 Mahomet's Domestic Life [623
improved1. In particular, he condemned the practice of "inheriting
women against their will*," that is, of treating widows as chattels to be
appropriated by the dead man's heir. He also made every effort to
secure the rights of orphans and in general to protect the weak against
the strong. The ancient rule of blood-revenge he recognised in principle,
but confined it within narrow limits. A startling innovation, from the
point of view of the Arabs, was the punishment of fornication by
scourging*. It may be mentioned that, according to tradition, the
Koran once contained a passage which ordered that fornicators should
be put to death by stoning; and Omar, when he was Caliph, is said to
have maintained that this law was still in force.
In describing the Prophet's sojourn at Medina, it is necessary to say
something of his domestic history, to which several passages of the Koran
explicitly refer. Before he left Mecca, he had already taken to himself
a second wife, named Sauda, and during the years which followed the
number of his wives steadily increased. The most celebrated of them
was 'A'isha (daughter of Abu Bakr), whose marriage to Mahomet took
place a few months after his arrival at Medina; she was then only about
nine years old, but in spite of her tender age she rapidly acquired great
influence. When, some five years later, she was accused of misconduct,
a passage of the Koran was specially revealed for the purpose of clearing
her character. The ascendency which she gained during the Prophet's
lifetime continued long after his death and enabled her to play a
prominent but by no means an honourable part in the politics of
that period. In the books of Muslim tradition 'A'isha is one of the
authorities most frequently cited.
For more than a year after the Emigration Mahomet and his
Meccan disciples were in a condition of great economic distress. The
attempts which they made to relieve their necessities by means of pillage
did not at first prove successful. In these earliest raids the natives of
Medina took no part, for the general principle that it is the duty of
Muslims to engage in aggressive warfare against unbelievers had not yet
been announced. Moreover it is to be noticed that Mahomet did not
at once venture to shock the feelings of his countrymen by violating the
sanctity of the four sacred months during which, according to ancient
custom, no raids were permitted. At length, towards the end of the
year 623, he sanctioned an attack, in the sacred month of Rajab, upon a
caravan belonging to the Kuraish, at Nakhla near Mecca. The caravan
was taken by surprise and the raiders came back with a considerable
amount of booty to Medina. But so strongly was this expedition
1 It has often been asserted that Mahomet forbade his followers to have more
than four wives at the same time, but the passage of the Koran (chap. iv. 3) which
is cited in support of the statement does not necessarily imply any such prohibition
8 Koran iv. 23.
3 Koran xxiv. 2.


## p. 317 (#349) ############################################

624] Battle of Badr 317
condemned by public opinion that the Prophet found it necessary to
give out that his orders had been misunderstood. -<^Y"
Two months later his followers achieved their first great victory. A
large caravan, laden with rich merchandise, was returning from Syria to
Mecca under the leadership of Abu Sufyan, the chief of the Banu
Umayya, one of the proudest families among the Kuraish. Mahomet
determined to waylay it at Badr, a place south-west of Medina, a few
miles from the Red Sea coast, and himself set out thither with rather
more than 300 armed men, of whom about 80 were Emigrants and the
rest Medinese. Abu Sufyan, however, received news of the intended
attack, changed his route and despatched a messenger to Mecca asking
for help. The Kuraish hastily fitted out an expedition consisting of
about 900 men, among whom were most of the Meccan aristocracy.
While they were on their way northward they learnt that the caravan
had succeeded in reaching a point where it was out of danger; some of
them therefore returned to Mecca, but the great majority, confident in
their superior numbers and equipment, determined to advance, rather, it
would seem, with the intention of overawing than of crushing their
adversary. The two armies reached Badr almost at the same moment.
Mahomet, ignorant of what had happened, was still expecting the
caravan; on discovering his mistake he probably saw that a retreat
would be extremely perilous, if not impossible, and accordingly resolved
to fight1. The Meccans, on this occasion, displayed an extraordinary
slackness and absence of forethought. They allowed Mahomet to take
possession of a well situated in their immediate neighbourhood and
thereby to deprive them of their water-supply. Next morning, when
they approached the well they found the bulk of Mahomet's army
drawn up around it. But even then no general attack was made. One
by one, or in small groups, a number of Meccan chieftains came forward
and were killed in hand-to-hand combat by champions of the opposite
side. Among the slain was one of the most formidable of the Prophet's
enemies, Abu-1-Hakam, son of Hisham, usually known by the nickname
Abu Jahl. Mahomet himself did not take part in the fighting but
remained in a small hut which had been erected for him, praying with
passionate fervour and trembling violently. At length, about noon, the
Meccans, realising that nothing was to be gained by further bloodshed,
began to retire. Being much better mounted than their opponents,
they were able to escape with a loss of only 70 slain and 70 captured.
Of the Muslims 14 had fallen.
Insignificant as this battle may appear from a military point of view,
1 According to the ordinary story, the news of the approach of the army from
Mecca had reached Mahomet before he arrived at Badr, but this is expressly
denied by our oldest authority (Tabarl, I. 1286. 2 ff. ). See F. Buhl, "Ein
paar Beitrage zur Kritik der Geschichte Muhammeds" in Orumtalische Studien, i.
pp. 7-22.


## p. 318 (#350) ############################################

318 Battle of Uhud [_m
the importance of its results can scarcely be exaggerated. Hitherto the
enemies of the Prophet had continually taunted him with his inability
to perform miracles; now at length it seemed as if a miracle had been
wrought. The victory gained at Badr over a greatly superior force is
ascribed in the Koran to the intervention of angels, an explanation
which, it is needless to say, was unhesitatingly accepted by all Muslims'.
On his return to Medina, Mahomet ventured on a series of high-handed
measures which struck terror into all his opponents. Several persons
who had offended him were assassinated by his order. At the same time
the Banu Kainuka', one of the Jewish clans resident at Medina, were
banished from the place; their houses and valuables became the property
of the Muslims.
Meanwhile the Meccans, irritated by their defeat and fearing for the
safety of their caravans, on which they were dependent for the means of
subsistence, had determined to make an attack in force. Early in the
year 625 an army of about 3000 men, commanded by Abu Sufyan,
marched from Mecca and encamped near a hill called Uhud, a few miles
to the north of Medina. A considerable proportion of the Medinese, in
particular 'Abdallah ibn Ubayy, wished to remain on the defensive; but
Mahomet, with less than his usual prudence, rejected their advice.
Although the force at his disposal scarcely numbered 1000 men, he
resolved to make a sortie and assail the Meccans in the rear. At first
this bold plan appeared likely to prove successful. He was able to take
up a strong position on the slopes of Uhud, whence the Muslims charged
the enemy and drove them back with some loss. But the Meccan
horsemen, led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, succeeded in outflanking the
Muslims, who were at once thrown into confusion. Some fled to
Medina, while others fought their way back to the hill. Among these
latter was Mahomet himself, who for a while remained hidden in a
ravine. Meanwhile a rumour that he was slain had spread in the ranks
of the Meccans, and for this reason, it would appear, they did not take
advantage of their victory. Supposing that they had sufficiently avenged
the blood shed at Badr, they made no attempt to attack Medina but
prepared to march homewards. Of the Muslims only about 70 men
were left dead on the battle-field; one of these was Hamza, the Prophet's
uncle, a valiant warrior, it is true, but not by any means a model of
piety. Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan and mother of the Caliph
Mu'awiya, had, together with a number of other women, accompanied
the Meccan army; remembering that Hamza had slain some of her
nearest relatives at Badr, she took vengeance on his corpse by tearing
his liver with her teeth. Such barbarity was quite unusual among the
1 The historians, citing the testimony of eye-witnesses, supply us with re-
markably precise information about the angels who fought at Badr; thus, for
instance, they wore white turbans, with the exception of Gabriel, who had a yellow
one (Ibn Hisham, p. 450).


## p. 319 (#351) ############################################

625-627] Punishment of the Banu-n-Nadir 319
Arabs of that period, and it is therefore not to be wondered at that the
act of Hind was long afterwards a topic on which the enemies of her
posterity loved to dwell.
When the Meccans began to retreat, Mahomet, realising that Medina
was no longer in danger, endeavoured to efface the shame of his defeat
by a great show of activity. Although he had himself received some
slight wounds he marched a few miles in the track of his victorious foes,
obvious y not with the intention of attacking them but in order to
reassure his own followers. This plan attained its object, and there is
no reason to suppose that after the battle his influence at Medina was
in any way diminished. t^
A few months later he made a second attack upon the Jews. The
Banu-n-Nadlr, a Jewish clan who owned some of the most valuable
palm-gardens in the neighbourhood of Medina, were suspected, rightly
or wrongly, of plotting to murder him. He accordingly declared war
against them, and after a siege which lasted about three weeks forced
them to emigrate to Khaibar, an oasis inhabited chiefly by Jews, about
100 miles north of Medina. The lands of the Banu-n-Nadir were partly
appropriated by Mahomet and partly divided among the Emigrants, who
thus ceased to depend on the charity of the Helpers.
That Mahomet's conduct should have, been bitterly resented by
the Jewish population of Arabia is quite natural; but on this, as on
other occasions, the Jews shewed themselves wholly incapable of com-
bining in order to resist him by force. The utmost that they attempted
was to stimulate the enmity of the heathen Meccans and of the
neighbouring nomadic tribes. By this time the chiefs of the Kuraish
had perceived the fruitlessness of their victory at Uhud and they there-
fore listened readily to the Jewish emissaries who urged them to make
another and a more serious effort. Accordingly, in the year 627, an
alliance against Mahomet was formed between the Kuraish and a
number of Bedouin tribes, of whom the most important were the Fazara,
the Sulaim and the Asad. The combined forces of the Kuraish and
their allies proceeded to march towards Medina. They are said to have
numbered 10,000 men, which is perhaps an exaggerated estimate, but in
any case it is certain that they formed an army much larger than that
which had fought at Uhud two years earlier. Meanwhile the Khuza'a,
a tribe who dwelt in the immediate neighbourhood of Mecca, had
sent to Mahomet full information a£ to the impending attack; their
conduct was probably due much more to jealousy of the Kuraish than
to any special sympathy with Islam. By the time the assailants reached
Medina the town was well prepared to stand a siege. In most places
nothing more was necessary than to erect a few barricades between the
houses; but on one side there was a large open space, across which
Mahomet caused a trench to be dug. This device, which appears to
us so obvious, struck the Arabs with astonishment; by Mahomet's
CH. X.


## p. 320 (#352) ############################################

320 Siege of Medina [627
enemies it was denounced as a dishonourable stratagem. Hence this
siege is usually called "the Campaign of the Trench. '1 The idea, we
are told, was suggested to the Prophet by an emancipated slave of un-
known origin, who is celebrated in Muslim tradition under the name of
Salman the Persian; at all events the word applied to the trench
(khandak) is derived from the Persian language. In digging the trench
Mahomet himself took an active part. The implements required for
the purpose were mostly supplied by the Kuraiza, the only Jewish clan
who still remained at Medina. It is difficult to believe that the Kuraiza
regarded Mahomet with friendly feelings, but it would appear that,
in spite of the manner in which he had treated their co-religionists, they
still considered themselves as bound by their agreement with him;
moreover they probably realised that if Medina were taken by storm
the hordes of Bedouins would plunder all parties indiscriminately.
During the siege the vigilance and discipline of the Muslims contrasted
strangely with the disorder which prevailed on the opposite side. The
besiegers, in spite of their vastly superior numbers, seem never to have
contemplated a real assault. Small troops of cavalry now and then
endeavoured to cross the trench but were easily repulsed by a shower of
arrows and stones; on the one occasion when some of them succeeded
in forcing an entrance they soon found it necessary to retreat. In
explanation of these facts it must be remembered that an extreme
dread of attacking fortifications, however rudely constructed, has been
characteristic of the Arabs, and in particular of the Bedouins, down to
the present day.
Though the loss of life on either side was quite insignificant, both
the besiegers and the besieged were soon reduced to great straits. The
cold and stormy weather severely tried the defenders of the trench, while
the Bedouins without suffered greatly from lack of provisions. Accord-
ingly both parties strove hard to bring the siege to an end by means of
negotiation. Mahomet's principal object was to detach the Bedouins
from their alliance with the Kuraish; the besiegers, on the other hand,
sent secret messages to the Kuraiza urging them to violate their agree-
ment with Mahomet. The chief of this Jewish clan, Ka'b ibn Asad,
at first indignantly refused to listen to these suggestions, but finally he
yielded, and the Kuraiza forthwith assumed so menacing an attitude
that the Muslims became seriously alarmed. The Jews, however, did
not venture to make an attack; they remained, as usual, shut up in
their fortresses, until the Kuraish and their allies, weary of waiting,
suddenly raised the siege, which had lasted only a fortnight, and
returned to their homes. Thus ended the last attempt, on the part of
the Meccan aristocracy, to crush the new religion.
As soon as the besiegers had departed the vengeance of Mahomet
naturally fell on the Kuraiza. He did not content himself with pillaging
them but, having compelled them to surrender after a brief siege,


## p. 321 (#353) ############################################

628] Eacpanshon of Islam 321
offered them the choice of conversion to Islam or death. The heroism
which they displayed on this occasion seems hard to reconcile with
their former timidity; rather than commit apostasy they preferred to
be slain one by one in the market-place of the town. The number of
these martyrs amounted to over six hundred; the women and children
were sold as slaves.
Henceforth the population of Medina was, at least in name, almost
exclusively Muslim; the "Hypocrites" who remained were a small
minority, and though they sometimes angered the Prophet by their
murmurs and intrigues he had no reason to fear them. Accordingly
his policy, which he had at first represented as one of self-defence, now
became avowedly aggressive. Medina was no longer the refuge of a
persecuted sect—it was the seat of a religious despotism which in a few
years subjugated the whole of Arabia. To ordinary Europeans this
development of Islam naturally appears as a mere misuse of religion
for purposes of political aggrandisement; it is, however, necessary to
remember, in judging of Mahomet's conduct, that the communities
which he attacked were not organised States but societies which recog-
nised no permanent bond save that of blood. With the exception of
the Kuraish, who inhabited a sacred territory, almost every Arabian
tribe was engaged in perpetual feuds with its neighbours. In founding
a community united solely by religion Mahomet necessarily placed
himself in a position of antagonism to the tribal system, which required
every man to take the part of his fellow-tribesmen against the members
of all other tribes. But Mahomet was very far from being a cosmo-
polite of the modern type. Though his doctrines logically involved the
equality of all races, it probably never occurred to him that it was his
duty to ignore national and tribal distinctions. The authority of the
tribal chiefs was not to be overthrown but it was to be subordinated to
a higher authority, which could be none other than that of the Prophet
himself. Moreover Mahomet's belief in the peculiar sanctity of Mecca
rather increased than diminished during his long exile. Until the House
of God had been purged of idols the main object of the Prophet's
mission was still unattained. To win over Mecca to the true faith
seemed therefore a matter of supreme importance.
The first expedition made for this purpose took place in the year 628.
Shortly before the time of the annual Pilgrimage Mahomet marched
towards Mecca accompanied by several hundreds of his disciples and
taking with him a large number of camels which were marked with
badges, according to ancient Arabian custom, to denote that they were
victims intended for sacrifice.