L. der*, three stations from Medina, he was inform- c H A P. ed by his scouts of the caravan that approached on one side; of the Koreish, one hundred horse, eight hundred and fifty foot, who advanced on the other. After a short debate, he sacrificed the prospect of wealth to the pursuit of glory and revenge; and a slight intrenchment was formed to cover his troops, and a stream of fresh water that glided through the valley. "O God," he ex- Battle of claimed as the numbers of the Koreish descended Beder. from the hills, O God, if these are destroyed, by whom wilt thou be worshipped on the earth? "-Courage, my children, close your ranks; dis 66 charge your arrows, and the day is your own." At these words he placed himself, with Abubeker, on a throne or pulpit †, and instantly demanded the succour of Gabriel and three thousand angels. His eye battle of Ohud, he enlists a body of thirty, (p. 10.) and of 500 (p. 66.) troopers. Yet the Mussulmans, in the field of Ohud, had no more than two horses, according to the better sense of Abulfeda, (in Vit. Mohamm. part xxxi. p. 65.) In the stony province, the camels were numerous; but the horse appears to have been less common than in the Happy or the Desert Arabia. * Beder Houneene, twenty miles from Medina, and forty from Mecca, is on the high road of the caravan of Egypt; and the pilgrims annually commemorate the prophet's victory by illuminations, rockets, &c. Shaw's Travels, p. 477. The place to which Mahomet retired during the action is stiled by Gagnier, (in Abulfeda, c. 27. p. 58. Vie de Mahomet, tom. ii. p. 30. 33.) Umbraculum, une loge de bois avec une porte. The same Arabic word is rendered by Reiske, (An, nales Moslemici Abulfedæ, p. 23.) by Solium, Suggestus editior; and the difference is of the utmost moment for the honour both of the interpreter and of the hero. I am sorry to observe the pride and acrimony with which the Reiske chastises his fellowlabourer. Sape sic vertit, ut integræ paginæ nequeant nisi unâ liturâ corrigi: Arabice non satis callebat et carebat judicio critico. J. J. Reiske, Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalitæ Tabulas, p. 228. ad calcem Abulfedæ Syriæ Tabulæ; Lipsiæ, 1766, in4to. A. D. 623. L. CHA P. eye was fixed on the field of battle: The Mussulmans fainted and were pressed: In that decisive moment the prophet started from his throne, mounted his horse, and cast a handful of sand into the air; "Let their faces be covered with "confusion." Both armies heard the thunder of his voice; their fancy beheld the angelic warriors *; the Koreish trembled and fled; seventy of the bravest were slain; and seventy captives adorned the first victory of the faithful. The dead bodies of the Koreish were despoiled and insulted; two of the most obnoxious prisoners were punished with death; and the ransom of the others, four thousand drams of silver, compensated in some degree the escape of the caravan. But it was in vain that the camels of Abu Sophian explored a new road through the desert and along the Euphrates: They were overtaken by the diligence of the Mussulmans; and wealthy must have been the prize, if twenty thousand drams could be set apart for the fifth of the apostle. The resentment of the public and private loss stimulated Abu Sophian to collect a body of three thousand men, seven hundred of whom were armed with cuirasses, and two hundred were mounted on horseback; three thousand camels attended his march; and his wife Henda, C. * The loose expressions of the Koran (c. 3. p. 124, 125. 8. p. 9.) allow the commentators to fluctuate between the numbers of 1000, 3000, or 9000 angels; and the smallest of these might suffice for the slaughter of seventy of the Koreish, (Maracci, Alcoran, tom. ii. p. 131.) Yet the same scholiasts confess, that this angelic band was not visible to any mortal eye, (Maracci, p. 297.) They refine on the words (c. 8. 16.) not thou, but God," &c. (d'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orientale, p. 600, 601.) L. of Ohud, Henda, with fifteen matrons of Mecca, incessantly CHA P. sounded their timbrels to animate the troops, and to magnify the greatness of Hobal, the most popular deity of the Caaba. The standard of God A.D. 623. and Mahomet was upheld by nine hundred and fifty believers; the disproportion of numbers was not more alarming than in the field of Beder; and their presumption of victory prevailed against the divine and human sense of the apostle. The second battle was fought on mount Ohud, six miles to the north of Medina *; the Koreish advanced in the form of a crescent; and the right wing of cavalry was led by Caled, the fiercest and most successful of the Arabian warriors. The troops of Mahomet were skilfully posted on the declivity of the hill; and their rear was guarded by a detachment of fifty archers. The weight of their charge impelled and broke the centre of the idolaters; but in the pursuit they lost the advantage of their ground; the archers deserted their station; the Mussulmans were tempted by the spoil, disobeyed their general, and disordered their ranks. The intrepid Caled, wheeling his cavalry on their flank and rear, exclaimed, with a loud voice, that Mahomet was slain. He was indeed wounded in the face with a javelin; two of his teeth were shattered with a stone; yet, in the midst of tumult and dismay, he reproached the infidels with the 'murder of a prophet; and blessed the friendly hand that staunched his blood, and conveyed him to a place of safety. Seventy martyrs died for the sins of the people; they fell, said the apostle, *Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 47. in CHA P. in pairs, each brother embracing his lifeless com L. panion *; their bodies were mangled by the inhuman females of Mecca; and the wife of Abu Sophian tasted the entrails of Hamza, the uncle of Mahomet. They might applaud their superstition and satiate their fury; but the Mussulmans soon rallied in the field, and the Koreish wanted strength or courage to undertake the siege of Medina. It was attacked the ensuing year by an the ditch, army of ten thousand enemies; and this third A. D. 625. expedition is variously named from the nations, The nations, or which marched under the banner of Abu Sophian, from the ditch which was drawn before the city, and a camp of three thousand Mussulmans. The prudence of Mahomet declined a general engagement; the valour of Ali was signalised in single combat; and the war was protracted twenty days, till the final separation of the confederates. A tempest of wind, rain, and hail, overturned their tents; the private quarrels were fomented by an insidious adversary; and the Koreish, deserted by their allies, no longer hoped to subvert the throne, or to check the conquests, of their invincible exilet. The choice of Jerusalem for the first kebla of the Jews prayer discovers the early propensity of Mahomet of Arabia, in favour of the Jews; and happy would it have 623-627. been for their temporal interest, had they recognis Mahomet subdues A. D. ed, * In the third chapter of the Koran, (p. 50-53. with Sale's notes,) the prophet alledges some poor excuses for the defeat of Ohud. † For the detail of the three Koreish wars, of Beder, of Ohud, and of the ditch, peruse Abulfeda, (p. 56-61. 64-69. 73-77) Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 23-45. 70-96. 120-139.) with the proper articles of d'Herbelot, and the abridgments of Elmacin (Hist. Saracen, p. 6, 7.) and Abulpharagius, (Dynast. p. 102.) 66 66 L. ed, in the Arabian prophet, the hope of Israel and CHA P. the promised Messiah. Their obstinacy converted his friendship into implacable hatred, with which he pursued that unfortunate people to the last moment of his life; and in the double character of an apostle and a conqueror, his persecution was extended to both worlds *. The Kainoka dwelt at Medina, under the protection of the city: He seized the occasion of an accidental tumult, and summoned them to embrace his religion, or contend with him in battle. Alas," replied the trembling Jews, "we are ignorant of the use of arms, but we persevere in the faith and worship "of our fathers; why wilt thou reduce us to the "necessity of a just defence?" The unequal conflict was terminated in fifteen days; and it was with extreme reluctance that Mahomet yielded to the importunity of his allies, and consented to spare the lives of the captives. But their riches were confiscated, their arms became more effectual in the hands of the Mussulmans; and a wretched colony of seven hundred exiles was driven with their wives and children to implore a refuge on the confines of Syria. The Nadhirites were more guilty, since they conspired in a friendly interview to assassinate the prophet. He besieged their castle three miles from Medina, but their resolute defence obtained an honourable capitulation; and the garrison, sounding their trumpets and beating their * The wars of Mahomet against the Jewish tribes, of Kainoka, the Nadhirites, Koraidha, and Chaibar, are related by Abulfeda, (p. 61. 71. 77. 87, &c.) and Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 61-65. 107-112. 139-148. 268-294.) |