L. CHAP. “he accuses our wise forefathers of ignorance and folly; si “lence him quickly, lest he kindle tumult and discord in the “city. If he persevere, we shall draw our swords against “him and his adherents, and thou wilt be responsible for “ the blood of thy fellow-citizens.” The weight and moderation of Abu Taleb eluded the violence of religious fac r r tion; the most helpless or timid of the disciples retired to Æthiopia, and the prophet withdrew himself to various places of strength in the town and country. As he was still supported by his family, the rest of the tribe of Koreish engaged themselves to renounce all intercourse with the children of Hashem, neither to buy nor sell, neither to marry nor to give in marriage, but to pursue them with implacable enmity, till they should deliver the person of Mahomet to the tice of the gods. The decree was suspended in the Caaba before the eyes of the nation; the messengers of the Koreish pursued the Musulman exiles in the heart of Africa: they besieged the prophet and his most faithful followers, intercepted their water, and inflamed their mutual animosity by the retaliation of injuries and insults. A doubtful truce restored the appearances of concord; till the death of Abu Taleb abandoned Mahomet to the power of his enemies, at the moment when he was deprived of his domestic comforts by the loss of his faithful and generous Cadijah. Abu Sophian, the chief of the branch of Ommiyah, succeeded to the principality of the republic of Mecca. A zealous votary of the idols, a mortal foe of the line of Hashem, he convened an assembly of the Koreishites and their allies, to decide the fate of the apostle. . His imprisonment might provoke the despair of his enthusiasm; and the exile of an eloquent and popular fanatic would diffuse the mischief through the provinces of Arabia. His death was resolved; and they agreed that a sword from each tribe should be buried in his heart, to divide the guilt of his blood and and driven baffle the vengeance of the Hashemites. An angel or a spy revealed their conspiracy; and flight was the only resource Mecca, A. D. 662. of Mahomet.17 At the dead of night, accompanied by his 2 friend Abubeker, he silently escaped from his house: the froin 117 D'Herbelot, Bibliot. Orient. p. 445. He quotes a particular history of the flight of Mahomet. L. assassins watched at the door; but they were deceived by CHAP. the figure of Ali, who reposed on the bed, and was covered with the green vestment of the apostle. The Koreish respected the piety of the heroic youth; but some verses of Ali, which are still extant, exhibit an interesting picture of his anxiety, his tenderness, and his religious confidence. Three days Mahomet and his companion were concealed in the cave of Thor, at the distance of a league from Mecca; and in the close of each evening, they received from the son and daughter of Abubeker, a secret supply of intelligence and food. The diligence of the Koreish explored every haunt in the neighbourhood of the city; they arrived at the entrance of the cavern; but the providential deceit of aspider's web and a pigeon's nest, is supposed to convince them that the place was solitary and inviolate. “We are only "two,” said the trembling Abubeker. “There is a third,” replied the prophet; “it is God himself." No sooner was the pursuit abated, than the two fugitives issued from the rock, and mounted their camels : on the road to Medina, they were overtaken by the emissaries of the Koreish; they redeemed themselves with prayers and promises from their hands. In this eventful moment, the lance of an Arab might have changed the history of the world. The flight of the prophet from Mecca to Medina has fixed the memorable æra of the Hegira, 118 which, at the end of twelve centuries, still discriminates the lunar years of the Mahometan nations.119 The religion of the Koran might have perished in its cra- Received dle, had not Medina embraced with faith and reverence the as prince of 112, holy outcasts of Mecca. Medina, or the city, known un- A ;;? der the name of Yathreb, before it was sanctifi·d by the throne of the prophet, was divided between the tribes of the Charegites and the Awsites, whose hereditary feud was rekindled by the slightest provocations: two colonies of Jews, 118 The Hegira was instituted by Omar, the second cal:;h, in imitasirits of the æra of the inar yrs of the Christians (d'Herbelot, ļ' fii); ard P.;cry commenced sixty.eight days before the flight of Mahorin"; Biedrving M harren, or first day of that Arabian year, which cotains !} Friday J !y 16 h, A. D. 622 (Abulfeda, Vit. Mun. c. 22, 2? F...; and Greaves's edi'ion of Ullig Beir's Epochæ Arabum, &c. c. 1. p.8.1, c. 119 Mahomet's in, from his mission to the llegira, market in Abul. feria (p. 1.1 .45). a' 1 Gagnier (tom. i. p. 134...251. $12...385). 1. gind from p. 137...234, is vouched by Al Jannabi, and disdained by Abeleda. a L. CHAP. who boasted a sacerdotal race, were their humble allies, and without converting the Arabs, they introduced the taste of 120 The triple inauguration of Mahomet is described by Abulfeda (p. 30. 33. 40. 86), and Gagnier (tom. i. p. 342, &c. 349, &c. tom.ii. p. 223, &c.). L. a ; alty and devotion; Mahomet was mounted on a she-camel, CHAP. an umbrella shaded his head, and a turban was unfurled before him to supply the deficiency of a standard. His bravest disciples, who had been scattered by the storm, assembled round his person: and the equal, though various, merit of the Moslems was distinguished by the names of Mohajerians and Ansars, the fugitives of Mecca, and the auxiliaries of Medina. To eradicate the seeds of jealousy, Mahomet judiciously coupled his principal followers with the rights and obligations of brethren, and when Ali found himself without a peer, the prophet tenderly declared, that he would be the companion and brother of the noble youth. The expedient was crowned with success; the holy fraternity was respected in peace and war, and the two parties vied with each other in a generous emulation of courage and fidelity. Once only the concord was slightly ruffled by an accidental quarrel; a patriot of Medina arraigned the insolence of the strangers, but the hint of their expulsion was heard with abhorrence, and his own son most eagerly offered to lay at the apostle's feet the head of his father. From his establishment at Medina, Mahomet assumed His regal the exercise of the regal and sacerdotal office; and it was dignity, impious to appeal from a judge whose decrees were inspired 622...632. by the divine wisdom. A small portion of ground, the patrimony of two orphans, was acquired by gift or purchase;121 on that chosen spot, he built an house and a mosch more venerable in their rude simplicity than the palaces and temples of the Assyrian caliphs. His seal of gold, or silver, was inscribed with the apostolic title; when he prayed and preached in the weekly assembly, he leaned against the trunk of a palm-tree; and it was long before he indulged himself in the use of a chair or pulpit of rough timber.'99 A. D. 121 Prideaux (Life of Mahomet, p. 44), reviles the wickedness of the im. sostor, who despoiied two poor orphans, the sons of a carpenter; a reproach which he drew from the Disputatio contra Saracenos, composed in Arabic before the year 1130 ; but the honest Gagnier (ad Abulfed p. 53.) has shewn that they were deceived by the word Al Nagjar, which signifies, in this place, not an obscire trade, but a noble tribe of Arabs. The desolate state of the ground is described by Abulfeda ; and his worthy interpreter has proved, from Al Bochari, the otter of a price ; from Al Jannabi, the fair purchase ; and from Ahmed Ben Joseph, the payment of the money by the generous Abuweker. On these grounds the prophet must be honourably acquitted. 122 Al Jannabi (apud Gagnier, tom. i. p. 246. 324.) describes the sealand ulpit, as two venerable relics of the apostle of God; and the portrait of his ourt is taken from Abulfeda (c. 44. p. 85). ; L. CHAP. After a reign of six years, fifteen hundred Moslems, in arms and in the field, renewed their oath of allegiance; and vility of courts. force of arms, his person and his possessions; to repel, or even to prevent, the violence of his enemies, and to extend 123 The vijith and ix! chapters of the Koran are the loudest and most vehement; and Maracci (Prodrimus, part iv. p. 59...64.) nas inveished with mure justice tha: discretion agzinst the double dealing of the impostor. |