Part 162

Mahomet (the usage of Christendom has fixed this form of the name Mohammad) was born at Mecca, on or about the 20th day of August, A. D. 570. He sprang from "the noblest race in Mecca and in Arabia [the tribe of Koreish and the family of Hashem]. To his family belonged the hereditary guardianship of the Kaaba and a high place among the aristocracy of his native city. Personally poor, he was raised to a position of importance by his marriage with the rich widow Khadijah, whose mercantile affairs he had previously conducted. In his fortieth year he began to announce himself as an Apostle of God, sent to root out idolatry, and to restore the true faith of the preceding Prophets, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Slowly and gradually he makes converts in his native city; his good wife Khadijah, his faithful servant Zeyd, are the first to recognize his mission; his young cousin, the noble Ali, the brave and generous and injured model of Arabian chivalry, declares himself his convert and Vizier; the prudent, moderate and bountiful Abu-Bekr acknowledges the pretensions of the daring innovator. Through mockery and persecution the Prophet keeps unflinchingly in his path; no threats, no injuries, hinder him from still preaching to his people the unity and the righteousness of God, and exhorting to a far purer and better morality than had ever been set before them. He claims no temporal power, no spiritual domination; he asks but for simple toleration, for free permission to win men by persuasion into the way of truth. … As yet at least his hands were not stained with blood, nor his inner life with lust."

_E. A. Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens, lecture 2._

After ten years of preaching at Mecca, and of a private circulation and repetition of the successive Suras or chapters of the Koran, as the prophet delivered them, Mahomet had gained but a small following, while the opposition to his doctrines and pretensions had gained strength. But in A. D. 620 (he being then fifty years of age) he gained the ear of a company of pilgrims from Medina and won them to his faith. Returning home, they spread the gospel of Islam among their neighbors, and the disciples at Medina were soon strong enough in numbers to offer protection to their prophet and to his persecuted followers in Mecca. As the result of two pledges, famous in Mahometan history, which were given by the men of Medina to Mahomet, in secret meetings at the hill of Acaba, a general emigration of the adherents of the new faith from Mecca to Medina took place in the spring of the year 622. Mahomet and his closest friend, Abu Bakr, having remained with their families until the last, escaped the rage of the Koreish, or Coreish, only by a secret flight and a concealment for three days in a cave on Mount Thaur, near Mecca. Their departure from the cave of Thaur, according to the most accepted reckoning, was on the 20th of June, A. D. 622. This is the date of the Hegira, or flight, or emigration of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina. The Mahometan Era of the Hegira, "though referring 'par excellence' to the flight of the Prophet, … is also applicable to all his followers who emigrated to Medina prior to the capture of Mecca; and they are hence called Muhâjirîn, i. e., the Emigrants, or Refugees. We have seen that they commenced to emigrate from the beginning of Moharram (the first month of the Hegira era) two months before." The title of the Muhâjirîn, or Refugees, soon became an illustrious one, as did that of the Ansar, or Allies, of Medina, who received and protected them. At Medina Mahomet found himself strongly sustained. Before the year of his flight ended, he opened hostilities against the city which had rejected him, by attacking its Syrian caravans. The attacks were followed up and the traffic of Mecca greatly interfered with, until January, 624, when the famous battle of Bedr, or Badr, was fought, and the first great victory of the sword of Islam achieved. {2068} The 300 warriors of Bedr formed "the peerage of Islam." From this time the ascendancy of Mahomet was rapidly gained, and assumed a political as well as a religious character. His authority was established at Medina and his influence spread among the neighboring tribes. Nor was his cause more than temporarily depressed by a sharp defeat which he sustained, January, 625, in battle with the Koreish at Ohod. Two years later Medina was attacked and besieged by a great force of the Koreish and other tribes of Arabs and Jews, against the latter of whom Mahomet, after vainly courting their adhesion and recognition, had turned with relentless hostility. The siege failed and the retreat of the enemy was hastened by a timely storm. In the next year Mahomet extorted from the Koreish a treaty, known as the Truce of Hodeibia, which suspended hostilities for ten years and permitted the prophet and his followers to visit Mecca for three days in the following year. The pilgrimage to Mecca was made in the holy month, February, 629, and in 630 Mahomet found adherents enough within the city and outside of it to deliver the coveted shrine and capital of Arabia into his hands. Alleging a breach of the treaty of peace, he marched against the city with an army of 10,000 men, and it was surrendered to him by his obstinate opponent, Abu Sofiân, who acknowledged, at last, the divine commission of Mahomet and became a disciple. The idols in the Kaaba were thrown down and the ancient temple dedicated to the worship of the one God. The conquest of Mecca was followed within no long time by the submission of the whole Arabic peninsula. The most obstinate in resisting were the great Bedouin tribe of the Hawazin, in the hill country, southeast of Mecca, with their kindred, the Bani Thackif. These were crushed in the important battle of Honein, and their strong city of Tayif was afterwards taken. Before Mahomet died, on the 8th June, A. D. 632, he was the prince as well as the prophet of Arabia, and his armies, passing the Syrian borders, had already encountered the Romans, though not gloriously, in a battle fought at Muta, not far from the Dead Sea.

_Sir W. Muir, Life of Mahomet._

ALSO IN: _E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 50._

_J. W. H. Stobart, Islam and its Founder, chapters 3-9._

_W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, chapters 6-39._

_R. D. Osborn, Islam under the Arabs, part 1, chapters 1-3._

See, also, ISLAM, and ERA, MAHOMETAN.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639. Abu Bekr. Omar. The founding of the Caliphate. Conquest of Syria.

The death of Mahomet left Islam without a head. The Prophet had neither named a successor (Khalif or Caliph), nor had he instituted a mode in which the choice of one should be made. His nephew and son-in-law—"the Bayard of Islam," the lion-hearted Ali—seemed the natural heir of that strangely born sovereignty of the Arab world. But its elders and chiefs were averse to Ali, and the assembly which they convened preferred, instead, the Prophet's faithful friend, the venerable Abu Bekr. This first of the caliphs reigned modestly but two years, and on his death, July, A. D. 634, the stern soldier Omar was raised to the more than royal place. By this time the armies of the crescent were already far advanced beyond the frontiers of Arabia in their fierce career of conquest. No sooner had Abu Bekr, in 632, set his heel on some rebellious movements, which threatened his authority, than he made haste to open fields in which the military spirit and ambitions of his unquiet people might find full exercise. With bold impartiality he challenged, at once, and alike, the two dominant powers of the eastern world, sending armies to invade the soil of Persia, on one hand, and the Syrian provinces of the Roman empire, on the other. The invincible Khaled, or Caled, led the former, at first, but was soon transferred to the more critical field, which the latter proved to be. "One of the fifteen provinces of Syria, the cultivated lands to the eastward of the Jordan, had been decorated by Roman vanity with the name of 'Arabia'; and the first arms of the Saracens were justified by the semblance of a national right." The strong city of Bosra was taken, partly through the treachery of its commander, Romanus, who renounced Christianity and embraced the faith of Islam. From Bosra the Moslems advanced on Damascus, but suspended the siege of the city until they had encountered the army which the Emperor Heraclius sent to its relief. This they did on the field of Aiznadin, in the south of Palestine, July 30, A. D. 634, when 50,000 of the Roman-Greeks and Syrians are said to have perished, while but 470 Arabs fell. Damascus was immediately invested and taken after a protracted siege, which Voltaire has likened to the siege of Troy, on account of the many combats and stratagems—the many incidents of tragedy and romance—which poets and historians have handed down, in some connection with its progress or its end. The ferocity of Khaled was only half restrained by his milder colleague in command, Abu Obeidah, and the wretched inhabitants of Damascus suffered terribly at his hands. The city, itself, was spared and highly favored, becoming the Syrian capital of the Arabs. Heliopolis (Baalbec) was besieged and taken in January, A. D. 636; Emessa surrendered soon after. In November, 636, a great and decisive battle was fought with the forces of Heraclius at Yermuk, or Yermouk, on the borders of Palestine and Arabia. The Christians fought obstinately and well, but they were overwhelmed with fearful slaughter. "After the battle of Yermuk the Roman army no longer appeared in the field; and the Saracens might securely choose, among the fortified towns of Syria, the first object of their attack. They consulted the caliph whether they should march to Cæsarea or Jerusalem; and the advice of Ali determined the immediate siege of the latter. … After Mecca and Medina, it was revered and visited by the devout Moslems as the temple of the Holy Land, which had been sanctified by the revelation of Moses, of Jesus, and of Mahomet himself." The defense of Jerusalem, notwithstanding its great strength, was maintained with less stubbornness than that of Damascus had been. After a siege of four months, in the winter of A. D. 637, the Christian patriarch or bishop of Jerusalem, who seems to have been first in authority, proposed to give up the Holy City, if Omar, the caliph, would come in person from Medina to settle and sign the terms of surrender. Omar deemed the prize worthy of this concession and made the long journey, travelling as simply as the humblest pilgrim and entering Jerusalem on foot. {2069} After this, little remained to make the conquest of all Syria complete. Aleppo was taken, but not easily, after a siege, and Antioch, the splendid seat of eastern luxury and wealth, was abandoned by the emperor and submitted, paying a great ransom for its escape from spoliation and the sword. The year 639 saw Syria at the feet of the Arabs whom it had despised six years before, and the armies of the caliph were ready to advance to new fields, east, northwards, and west.

_E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51._

ALSO IN: _W. Irving, Mahomet and His Successors, volume 2, chapters 3-23._

_S. Ockley, History of the Saracens: Abubeker._

_Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapters 2, 11, 19-21._

See, also, JERUSALEM: A. D. 637; and TYRE: A. D. 638.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-651. Conquest of Persia.

During the invasion of Syria, Abu Bekr, the first of the Caliphs, sent an expedition towards the Euphrates, under command of the redoubtable Khaled (633). The first object of its attack was Hira, a city on the western branch of the Euphrates, not far from modern Kufa. Hira was the seat of a small kingdom of Christian Arabs tributary to Persia and under Persian protection and control. Its domain embraced the northern part of that fertile tract between the desert and the Euphrates which the Arab writers call Sawad; the southern part being a Persian province of which the capital, Obolla, was the great emporium of the Indian trade. Hira and Obolla were speedily taken and this whole region subdued. But, Khaled being then transferred to the army in Syria, the Persians regained courage, while the energy of the Moslems was relaxed. In an encounter called the Battle of the Bridge, A. D. 635, the latter experienced a disastrous check; but the next year found them more victorious than ever. The great battle of Cadesia (Kadisiyeh) ended all hope in Persia of doing more than defend the Euphrates as a western frontier. Within two years even that hope disappeared. The new Arab general, Sa'ad Ibn Abi Wakas, having spent the interval in strengthening his forces, and in founding the city of Busrah, or Bassora, below the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris, as well as that of Kufa, which became the Moslem capital, advanced into Mesopotamia, A. D. 637, crossing the river without opposition. The Persian capital, Ctesiphon, was abandoned to him so precipitately that most of its vast treasures fell into his hands. It was not until six months later that the Persians and Arabs met in battle, at Jalula, and the encounter was fatal to the former, 100,000 having perished on the field. "By the close of the year A. D. 637 the banner of the Prophet waved over the whole tract west of Zagros, from Nineveh almost to Susa." Then a brief pause ensued. In 641 the Persian king Isdigerd—last of the Sassanian house—made a great, heroic effort to recover his lost dominions and save what remained. He staked all and lost, in the final battle of Nehavend, which the Arabs called "Fattah-hul-Futtuh," or "Victory of Victories." "The defeat of Nehavend terminated the Sassanian power. Isdigerd indeed, escaping from Rei, and flying continually from place to place, prolonged an inglorious existence for the space of ten more years—from A. D. 641 to A. D. 651; but he had no longer a kingdom. Persia fell to pieces on the occasion of 'the victory of victories,' and made no other united effort against the Arabs. Province after province was occupied by the fierce invaders; and, at length, in A. D. 651, their arms penetrated to Merv, where the last scion of the house of Babek had for some years found a refuge. … The order of conquest seems to have been the following: Media, Northern Persia, Rhagiana, Azerbijan, Gurgan, Tantrist, and Khorassan in A. D. 642; Southern Persia, Kerman, Seistan, Mekran, and Kurdistan in A. D. 643; Merv, Balkh, Herat, and Kharezm in A. D. 650 or 652."

_G. Rawlinson, Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chapter 26, and foot-notes._

ALSO IN: _W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapters 25-34._

_Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapters 10-18, 25-26._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 640-646. Conquest of Egypt.

"It was in the nineteenth or twentieth year of the Hegira [A. D. 640 or 641] that Amru, having obtained the hesitating consent of the Caliph, set out from Palestine for Egypt. His army, though joined on its march by bands of Bedouins lured by the hope of plunder, did not at the first exceed 4,000 men. Soon after he had left, Omar, concerned at the smallness of his force, would have recalled him; but finding that he had already gone too far to be stopped, he sent heavy reinforcements, under Zobeir, one of the chief Companions, after him. The army of Amru was thus swelled to an imposing array of from 12,000 to 16,000 men, some of them warriors of renown. Amru entered Egypt by Arish, and overcoming the garrison at Faroma [ancient Pelusium], turned to the left and so passed onward through the desert, reaching thus the easternmost of the seven estuaries of the Nile. Along this branch of the river he marched by Bubastis towards Upper Egypt,"—and, so, to Heliopolis, near to the great ancient city of Misr, or Memphis. Here, and throughout their conquest of Egypt, the Moslem invaders appear to have found some goodwill towards them prevailing among the Christians of the Jacobite sect, who had never become reconciled to the Orthodox Greeks. Heliopolis and Memphis were surrendered to their arms after some hard fighting and a siege of no long duration. "Amru lost no time in marching upon Alexandria so as to reach it before the Greek troops, hastily called in from the outlying garrisons, could rally there for its defence. On the way he put to flight several columns which sought to hinder his advance; and at last presented himself before the walls of the great city, which, offering (as it still does) on the land side a narrow and well-fortified front, was capable of an obstinate resistance. Towards the sea also it was open to succour at the pleasure of the Byzantine Court. But during the siege Heraclius died, and the opportunity of relief was supinely allowed to slip away." In the end Alexandria capitulated and was protected from plunder (see LIBRARIES, ANCIENT: ALEXANDRIA), paying tribute to the conquerors. "Amru, it is said, wished to fix his seat of government at Alexandria, but Omar would not allow him to remain so far away from his camp, with so many branches of the Nile between. So he returned to Upper Egypt. A body of the Arabs crossed the Nile and settled in Ghizeh, on the western bank—a movement which Omar permitted only on condition that a strong fortress was constructed there to prevent the possibility of their being surprised and cut off. {2070} The headquarters of the army were pitched near Memphis. Around them grew up a military station, called from its origin Fostat, or 'the Encampment.' It expanded rapidly into the capital of Egypt, the modern Cairo. … This name 'Cahira,' or City of the Victory, is of later date [see below: A. D. 908-1171]. … Zobeir urged Amru to enforce the right of conquest, and divide the land among his followers. But Amru refused; and the Caliph, as might have been expected, confirmed the judgment. 'Leave the land of Egypt,' was his wise reply, 'in the people's hands to nurse and fructify.' As elsewhere, Omar would not allow the Arabs to become proprietors of a single acre. Even Amru was refused ground whereupon to build a mansion for himself. … So the land of Egypt, left in the hands of its ancestral occupants, became a rich granary for the Hejaz, even as in bygone times it had been the granary of Italy and the Byzantine empire. … Amru, with the restless spirit of his faith, soon pushed his conquests westward beyond the limits of Egypt, established himself in Barca, and reached even to Tripoli. … Early in the Caliphate of Othman [A. D. 646] a desperate attempt was made to regain possession of Alexandria. The Moslems, busy with their conquests elsewhere, had left the city insufficiently protected. The Greek inhabitants conspired with the Court; and a fleet of 300 ships was sent under command of Manuel, who drove out the garrison and took possession of the city. Amru hastened to its rescue. A great battle was fought outside the walls: the Greeks were defeated, and the unhappy town was subjected to the miseries of a second and a longer siege. It was at last taken by storm and given up to plunder. … The city, though still maintaining its commercial import, fell now from its high estate. The pomp and circumstance of the Moslem Court were transferred to Fostat, and Alexandria ceased to be the capital of Egypt."

_Sir W. Muir, Annals of the Early Caliphate, chapter 24, with foot-note._

ALSO IN: _E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 51._

_W. Irving, Mahomet and his Successors, volume 2, chapters 24 and 35._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 644. Assassination of Caliph Omar.

The death of Omar, the second of the Caliphs, was a violent one. "It occurred in November, A. D. 644. One day a slave who worked for his master at the carpenter's bench came to see the Commander of the Faithful, and complained to him of being overworked, and badly treated by the citizen that owned him. Omar listened attentively, but arriving at the conclusion that the charges were false, sternly dismissed the carpenter to his bench. The man retired, vowing to be revenged. The following day was Friday, 'the day of the Assembly.' Omar, as usual, went to lead the prayers of the assembly in the great mosque. He opened his mouth to speak. He had just said 'Allah,' when the keen dagger of the offended slave was thrust into his back, and the Commander of the Faithful fell on the sacred floor, fatally wounded. The people, in a perfect frenzy of horror and rage, fell upon the assassin, but with superhuman strength he threw them off, and rushing about in the madness of despair he killed some and wounded others, and finally turning the point of his dagger to his own breast, fell dead. Omar lingered several days in great agony, but he was brave to the end. His dying words were, 'Give to my successor this parting bequest, that he be kind to the men of this city, Medina, which gave a home to us, and to the Faith. Tell him to make much of their virtues, and to pass lightly over their faults. Bid him also treat well the Arab tribes, for verily they are the backbone of Islam. Moreover, let him faithfully fulfil the covenants made with the Christians and the Jews! O Allah! I have finished my course! To him that cometh after me, I leave the kingdom firmly established and at peace!' Thus perished one of the greatest Princes the Mohammedans were ever to know. Omar was truly a great and good man, of whom any country and any creed might be proud."

_J. J. Pool, Studies in Mohammedanism, pages 58-59._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709. Conquest of northern Africa.