unbeliever should dare to set his foot on the ter- CHAP. ritory of the holy city *.

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Conquest

The conquest of Mecca determined the faith and obedience of the Arabian tribes +; who, accord- of Arabia,

A. D.

ing to the vicissitudes of fortune, had obeyed or 629-632. disregarded the eloquence or the arms of the prophet. Indifference for rites and opinions still marks the character of the Bedoweens; and they might accept, as loosely as they hold, the doctrine of the Koran. Yet an obstinate remnant still adhered to the religion and liberty of their ancestors, and the war of Honain derived a proper appellation from the idols, whom Mahomet had vowed to destroy, and whom the confederates of Tayef had sworn to defend . Four thousand Pagans advanced with secrecy and speed to surprise the conqueror; they pitied and despised the supine negligence of the Koreish, but they depended on the wishes, and perhaps the aid, of a people who had so lately renounced their gods, and bowed bereath the yoke of their enemy. The banners of Medina

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* In excluding the Christians from the peninsula of Arabia, the province of Hejaz, or the navigation of the Red Sea, Chardin (Voyages en Perses, tom. iv. p. 166.) and Reland (Dissert. Miscell. tom. iii. p. 51.) are more rigid than the Mussulmans themselves. The Christians are received without scruple into the ports of Mocha, and even of Gedda, and it is only the city and precincts of Mecca that are inaccessible to the profane. (Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 308, 309. Voyage en Arabie, tom. i. p. 205. 248, &c.)

† Abulfeda, p. 112-115. Gagnier, tom. iii. p. 67-88. D'Herbelot, MOHAMMED.

The siege of Tayef, division of the spoil, &c. are related by Abulfeda, (p. 117-123.) and Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 88— 111.) It is Al Jannabi who mentions the engines and engineers of the tribe of Daws. The fertile spot of Tayef was supposed to be a piece of the land of Syria detached and dropped in the general deluge.

L.

CHA P. Medina and Mecca were displayed by the prophet; a crowd of Bedoweens increased the strength or numbers of the army, and twelve thousand Mussulmans entertained a rash and sinful presumption of their invincible strength. They descended without precaution into the valley of Honain; the heights had been occupied by the archers and slingers of the confederates; their numbers were oppressed, their discipline was confounded, their courage was appalled, and the Koreish smiled at their impending destruction. The prophet, on his white mule, was encompassed by the enemies; he attempted to rush against their spears in search of a glorious death: Ten of his faithful companions interposed their weapons and their breasts; three of these fell dead at his feet: "O my brethren," he repeatedly cried with sorrow and indignation, " I am "the son of Abdallah, I am the apostle of truth! "O man stand fast in the faith! O God send "down thy succour!" His uncle Abbas, who like the heroes of Homer, excelled in the loudness of his voice, made the valley resound with the recital of the gifts and promises of God; the flying Moslems returned from all sides to the holy standard; and Mahomet observed with pleasure, that the furnace was again rekindled; his conduct and example restored the battle, and he animated his victorious troops to inflict a merciless revenge on the authors of their shame. From the field of Honain, he marched without delay to the siege of Tayef, sixty miles to the south-east of Mecca, a fortress of strength, whose fertile lands produce the fruits of Syria in the midst of the Arabian desert.

A

1

L.

A friendly tribe, instructed (I know not how) in C H A P. the art of sieges, supplied him with a train of battering rams and military engines, with a body of five hundred artificers. But it was in vain that he offered freedom to the slaves of Tayef; that he violated his own laws by the extirpation of the fruittrees; that the ground was opened by the miners; that the breach was assaulted by the troops. After a siege of twenty days, the prophet sounded a retreat, but he retreated with a song of devout triumph, and affected to pray for the repentance and safety of the unbelieving city. The spoil of this fortunate expedition amounted to six thousand captives, twenty-four thousand camels, forty-thousand sheep, and four thousand ounces of silver: a tribe who had fought at Honain, redeemed their prisoners by the sacrifice of their idols; but Mahomet compensated the loss, by resigning to the soldiers his fifth of the plunder, and wished for their sake, that he possessed as many head of cattle as there were trees in the province of Tehama. Instead of chastising the disaffection of the Koreish, he endeavoured to cut out their tongues (his own expression), and to secure their attachment by a superior measure of liberality: Abu Sophian alone was presented with three hundred camels and twenty ounces of silver; and Mecca was sincerely converted to the profitable religion of the Koran.

The fugitives and auxiliaries complained, that they who had borne the burthen were neglected in the season of victory. "Alas," replied their artful leader," suffer me to conciliate these recent enemies,

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CHAP. "enemies, these doubtful proselytes, by the gift of some perishable goods. To your guard I entrust "my life and fortunes. You are the companions "of my exile, of my kingdom, of my paradise." He was followed by the deputies of Tayef, who dreaded the repetition of a siege. “Grant us, O

First war

of the Mahome

tans

against the Roman empire.

apostle of God! a truce of three years, with the “toleration of our ancient worship.' "Not a

፡፡

month, not an hour." "Excuse us at least "from the obligation of prayer." "Without

66

prayer religion is of no avail." They submitted in silence; their temples were demolished, and the same sentence of destruction was executed on all the idols of Arabia. His lieutenants, on the shores of the Red Sea, the Ocean, and the Gulf of Persia, were saluted by the acclamations of a faithful people; and the ambassadors who knelt before the throne of Medina, were as numerous (says the Arabian proverb) as the dates that fall from the maturity of a palm-tree. The nation submitted to the God and the sceptre of Mahomet; the opprobrious name of tribute was abolished; the spontaneous or reluctant oblations of alms and tithes were applied to the service of religion; and one hundred and fourteen thousand Moslems accompanied the last pilgrimage of the apostle *.

When Heraclius returned in triumph from the Persian war, he entertained, at Emesa, one of the ambassadors of Mahomet, who invited the princes

and

* The last conquests and pilgrimage of Mahomet are contain ed in Abulfeda, (p. 121-133.) Gagnier, (tom. iii. p. 119219) Elmacin, (p. 10, 11.) Abulpharagius, (p. 103.) The ixth of the Hegira was stiled the Year of Embassies, (Gagnier, Not. ad Abulfed. p. 121.)

L.

A.D. 629,

and nations of the earth to the profession of Islam. c H A Р. On this foundation the zeal of the Arabians has supposed the secret conversion of the Christian emperor: The vanity of the Greeks has feigned a per- 630. sonal visit to the prince of Medina, who accepted from the royal bounty a rich domain, and a secure retreat in the province of Syria *. But the friendship of Heraclius and Mahomet was of short continuance the new religion had inflamed rather than assuaged the rapacious spirit of the Saracens ; and the murder of an envoy afforded a decent pretence for invading, with three thousand soldiers, the territory of Palestine, that extends to the eastward of the Jordan. The holy banner was entrusted to Zeid; and such was the discipline or enenthusiasm of the rising sect, that the noblest chiefs served without reluctance, under the slave of the prophet. On the event of his decease, Jaafar and Abdallah were successively substituted to the command; and if the three should perish in the war, the troops were authorised to elect their genera.. The three leaders were slain in the battle of Muta †, the first military action which tried the valour of the Moslems against a foreign enemy. Zeid fell, like a soldier, in the foremost ranks : The death of Jaafar was heroic and memorable; he lost his right-hand; he shifted the standard to his

left;

* Compare the bigotted Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. ii. p. 232-255.) with the no less bigotted Greeks, Theophanes, (p. 276-278.) Zonaras, (tom. ii. I. xiv. p. 86.) and Cedrenus, (p. 421.)

For the battle of Muta, and its consequences, see Abulfeda (p. 100-102.) and Gagnier, (tom. ii. p. 327-343.) Kaλedes (says Theophanes) ον λέγεσι μάχαιραν τε Θεδ.