LI.

the Barbarians were impatient of the mildest and most salu- CHAP. tary laws that curbed their passions, or violated their customs. They submitted with reluctance to the religious precepts of the Koran, the abstinence from wine, the fast of the Ramadan, and the daily repetition of five prayers; and the alms and tithes, which were collected for the treasury of Medina, could be distinguished only by a name from the payment of a perpetual and ignominious tribute. The example of Mahomet had' excited a spirit of fanaticism or imposture, and several of his rivals presumed to imitate the conduct and defy the authority of the living prophet. At the head of the fugitives and auxiliaries, the first caliph was reduced to the cities of Mecca, Medina, and Tayef: and perhaps the Koreish would have restored the idols of the Caaba, if their levity had not been checked by a seasonable reproof. “ Ye men of Mecca, will ye be the last to embrace " and the first to abandon the religion of Islam?” After exhorting the Moslems to confide in the aid of God and his apostle, Abubeker resolved by a vigorous attack, to prevent the junction of the rebels. The women and children were safely lodged in the cavities of the mountains: the warriors, marching under eleven banners, diffused the terror of their arms; and the appearance of a military force revived and confirmed the loyalty of the faithful. The inconstant tribes accepted, with humble repentance, the duties of prayer, and sasting, and alms; and, after some examples of success and severity, the most daring apostates fell prostrate before the sword of the Lord and of Caled. In the fertile province of Yemanah,' between the Red Sea and the Gulph of Persia, in a city not inferior to Medina itself, a powerful chief, his name was Moscilama, had assumed the character of a prophet, and the tribe of Hanifa listened to his voice. A female prophetess was attracted by his reputation: the decencies of words and actions were spurned by these favourites of hea. ven;" and they employed several days in mystic and amorous

a

a

CHAP. converse. An obscure sentence of his Koran, or book, is yet LI.

extant;; and, in the pride of his mission, Moseilama condescended to offer a partition of the earth. The proposal was answered by Mahomet with contempt; but the rapid progress of the impostor awakened the fears of his successor: forty thousand Moslems were assembled under the standard of Caled; and the existence of their faith was resigned to the event of a decisive battle. In the first action, they were repulsed with the loss of twelve hundred men; but the skill and perseverance of their general prevailed: their defeat was avenged by the slaughter of ten thousand infidels; and Moseilama himself was pierced by an Ethiopian slave with the same javelin which had mortally wounded the uncle of Mahomet. The various rebels of Arabia, without a chief or a cause, were speedily suppressed by the power and discipline of the rising monarchy; and the whole nation again professed, and more stedfastly held, the religion of the Koran. The ambition of the caliphs provided an immediate exercise for the restless spirit of the Saracens: their valour was united in the prosecution of an holy war; and their enthusiasm was

equally confirmed by opposition and victory. Character From the rapid conquests of the Saracens a presumption of their ca. liphs.

will naturally arise, that the first caliphs commanded in per-
son the armies of the faithful, and sought the crown of mar-
tyrdom in the foremost ranks of the battle. The courage of
Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, had indeed been tried in
the persecution and wars of the prophet; and the personal
assurance of paradise must have taught them to despise the

Surge tandem itaque strenue permolenda ; nam stratus tibi thorus est.
Aut in propatulo tentorio si velis, aut in abditiore cubiculo si malis;
Aut supinam te humi exporreciam fustigabo, si velis, aut si malis manibus

pedibusque nixam.
Aut si velis ejus ( Priapi) gemino triente, aut si malis totus veniam.
Imo, totus venito, o Apostole Dei clamabat fæmina. Id ipsum dicebat.

Moseilama mihi quoque suggessit Deus. The prophetess Segjah, after the fall of her lover, returned to idolatry; but, under the reign of Moawiyah, she became a Musulman, and died at Bassora (Abulfeda, Annal. vers. Reiske, p. 63).

3 See this text, which demonstrates a God from the work of generation, in Abulpharagius (Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 13. and Dynast. p. 103.) and Abulfeda (Annal. p. 63).

4 His reign in Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 251. Elmacin, p. 18. Abulparagius, p. 108. Abulfeda, p. 60. D'Herbelot, p. 58.

5 His reign in Eutychius, p. 264. Eliacin, p. 24. Abulpharagius, p. Abulfeda, p. 66. D'Herbelot, p. 686.

6 His reign in Eutychius, p. 323. Elmacin, p. 36. Abulpharagius, p. 115. Abulfeda, p. 75. D'Herbelot, p. 695.

110.

LI.

pleasures and dangers of the present world. But they ascend- CHAP. ed the throne in a venerable or mature age, and esteemed the domestic cares of religion and justice the most important duties of a sovereign. Except the presence of Omar at the siege of Jerusalem, their longest expeditions were the fre. quent pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca; and they calmly received the tidings of victory as they prayed or preached before the sepulchre of the prophet. The austere and frugal measure of their lives was the effect of virtue or habit, and the pride of their simplicity insulted the vain magnificence of the kings of the earth. When Abubeker assumed the of fice of caliph, he enjoined his daughter Ayesha to take a strict account of his private patrimony, that it might be evident whether he were enriched or impoverished by the service of the state. He thought himself entitled to a stipend of three pieces of gold, with the sufficient maintenance of a single camel and a black slave; but on the Friday of each week, he distributed the residue of his own and the public money, first to the most worthy, and then to the most indi. gent, of the Moslems. The remains of his wealth, a coarse garment, and five pieces of gold, were delivered to his successor, who lamented with a modest sigh his own inability to equal such an admirable model. Yet the abstinence and humility of Omar were not inferior to the virtues of Abubeker; his food consisted of barley-bread or dates; his drink was water; he preached in a gown that was torn or tattered in twelve places; and a Persian satrap who paid his homage to the conqueror, found him asleep among the beggars on the steps of the mosch of Medina. Oeconomy is the source of liberality, and the increase of the revenue enabled Omar to establish a just and perpetual reward for the past and present services of the faithful. Careless of his own emolument, he assigned to Abbas, the uncle of the prophet, the first and most ample allowance of twenty-five thousand dramsorpieces of silver. Five thousand were allotted to each of the aged warriors, the relics of the field of Beder, and the last and meanest of the companions of Mahomet was distinguished by the annual reward of three thousand pieces. One thousand was the stipend of the veterans who had fought in the first battles against the Greeks and Persians, and the decreasing pay, as low as fifty pieces of silver, was adapted to the

VOL. VI.

a

CHAP. respective merit and seniority of the soldiers of Omar. UnLI.

der his reign, and that of his predecessor, the conquerors of the East were the trusty servants of God and the people: the mass of the public treasure was consecrated to the expenses of peace and war; a prudent mixture of justice and bounty, maintained the discipline of the Saracens, and they united, by a rare felicity, the dispatch and execution of despotism, with the equal and frugal maxims of a republican government. The heroic courage of Ali, the consummate prudence of Moawiyah,8 excited the emulation of their subjects; and the talents which had been exercised in the school of civil discord, were more usefully applied to propagate the faith and dominion of the prophet. In the sloth and vanity of the palace of Damascus, the succeeding princes of the house of Ommiyah were alike destitute of the qualifications of statesmen and of saints. Yet the spoils of unknown nations were continually laid at the foot of their throne, and the uniform ascent of the Arabian greatness must be ascribed to the spirit of the nation rather than the abilities of their chiefs. A large deduction must be allowed for the weakness of their enemies. The birth of Mahomet was fortunately placed in the most degenerate and disorderly period of the Persians, the Romans, and the Barbarians of Europe: the empires of Trajan, or even of Constantine or Charlemagne would have repelled the assault of the naked Saracens, and the torrent of fanaticism might have been obscurely lost in

the sands of Arabia. Their con

In the victorious days of the Roman republic, it had been quests.

the aim of the senate to confine their counsels and legions to a single war, and completely to suppress a first enemy before they provoked the hostilities of a second. These timid maxims of policy were disdained by the magnanimity or enthusiasm of the Arabian caliphs. With the same vigour and success they invaded the successors of Augustus, and those of Artaxerxes; and the rival monarchies at the same instant

7 His reign in Eutychius, p. 343. Elmacin, p. 51. Abulpharagius, p. 117. Abulfeda,

p.

83. D’Herbelot, p. 89. 8 His reign in Eutychius, p. 344. Elmacin, p. 54. Abulpharagius, p. 123. Abulfeda, p. 101. D'Herbelot, p. 586.

became the prey of an enemy whom they had been so long CHAP.

LI. accustomed to despise. In the ten years of the administration of Omar, the Saracens reduced to his obedience thir. ty-six thousand cities or castles, destroyed four thousand churches or temples of the unbelievers, and edified fourteen hundred moschs for the exercise of the religion of Mahomet. One hundred years after his flight from Mecca, the arms and the reign of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean, over the various and distant provinces, which may be comprised under the names of, I. Persia ; II. Syria; III. Egypt; IV. Africa; and, V. Spain. Under this general division, I shall proceed to unfold these memorable transactions ; dispatching with brevity the remote and less interesting conquests of the East, and reserving a fuller nar. rative for those domestic countries, which had been included within the pale of the Roman empire. Yet I must excuse my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and insufficiency of my guides. The Greeks, so loquacious in controversy, have not been anxious to celebrate the triumphs of their enemies. After a century of ignorance, the first annals of the Musulmans were collected in a great measure from the voice of tradition." Among the numerous productions of Arabic and Persian literature, our interpreters have

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