"Allahu akbar!

Prayer is better than sleep!

There is no God but Allah!

not! . . O thou bountiful!

He giveth life and he dieth Thy mercy ceaseth not! . I extol

.. My sins are great, greater is thy mercy! his perfection! . . . Allahu akbar!"

At the other appointed hours he likewise utters his well-known but peculiar cry, and in whatever place the Moslem may find himself at the moment he drops into the attitude prescribed for worship and repeats the words that his religion directs shall be said:

"La illah il' Allah! The Faithful heed,

With God and the Prophet this hour to plead ;
Whose ear is open to hear their need."

When Mohammed related this vision to his friends, they advised him to keep it to himself, for, said they, men will surely call you a madman or a liar; but he knew that if he could only find some one to believe in it, his prestige would be increased, and he accordingly determined to publish it and face the ridicule that would be excited. The result was that while not a few railed at him and insulted him, his followers were so firmly bound to him that they never hesitated thereafter to give credence to any thing that he said, and he was enabled to establish an oral as well as a written law, indefinitely drawing upon. that which he declared he had seen written in heaven.

At this time Mohammed seems to have changed his plans somewhat; for while he had been, throughout the earlier years of his mission, seeking to establish a religious following only, he now looked for a

CHANGES IN MOHAMMED.

III

temporal kingdom. Perhaps the case is correctly stated thus: Beginning his career filled with an enthusiastic desire to reform his country's religion, he had grown to have a confidence that his aspirations and designs were approved of Allah; then that they emanated directly from him. After years of hard labor in this honest direction, supported by the good Kadija and the strong Abu Talib, he was rejected by many and believed that he had practically failed; then, determined to succeed at whatever sacrifice of principle or consistency, he turned to the pursuit of political advantages. Desperate, indeed, must the outlook have been which caused Mohammed the Faithful One to look to any other than Allah for aid!

XIII.

IN A CAVE.

WHEN Mohammed came back from the land of dreams he must have felt a great shock; his eyes did not open upon walls of gold or silver; no, nor even of steel; there were none of the blazing inscriptions to be seen that his fond imagination had pictured, proclaiming on every wall: "There is no God but Allah; Mohammed is the Apostle of Allah!" No angels filled his apartment with celestial glory; no prophets bowed down to him; scarcely a man showed himself interested in the great mission. He had verily descended from heaven to earth!

He was now confident, but not aggressive; he still preached the unity of Allah, but desisted from very positive onslaughts upon idolatry; he cried out from time to time to 1 opposers:

"Have ye not heard the story of those who were before you? Apostles came unto them with tokens; but they thrust their hands into their mouths in indignation, and said, 'Verily we disbelieve.' . . . And the misbelievers said to the Apostles, 'We will drive you from our land, if ye return not to our faith!' Then Allah spake by revelation to them. Verily we shall destroy the wicked!""Sura xiv.

"Prophets before thee have been mocked; but they who laughed them to scorn were encompassed by the vengeance that they ridiculed."

ANOTHER MEETING ON AKABA.

113

Nay,' say they, a jumble of dreams; nay! he hath forged it; nay! he is a poet; but let him bring us a sign.’”—Sura xxi. "But it shall cause sighing unto the unbelievers,

And it is the TRUTH, the Certain TRUTH;
Wherefore, praise the name of Allah the glorious!"

-Sura Ixix.

'None wrangle concerning the signs of Allah save the misbelievers. . In the fire shall they be baked.”—Sura xl.

Thus the prophet warned unceasingly; thus he threatened unbelievers with punishments that must have seemed to them of the most frightful severity and the utmost indignity; but the Meccans steadfastly refused to listen. Meantime the year was wearing away at the end of which the twelve from Medina were to return with reports of their success or failure. With them, when they left him, Mohammed had sent Mussab, one of the most able of his disciples, to preach Islam in his name. So successful was the zeal and eloquence of this missionary, and so ready were the people to hear him, that before a twelvemonth had passed he was able to boast of converts in every one of the tribes among the people of Medina. When the holy month arrived, he led to Mecca threescore and ten men who met Mohammed on the hill Akaba, eager to invite him to turn his back upon Mecca, and make their city his future dwelling-place.

Had the Koreishites been aware of this meeting they would have come forth in their strength, and the small nucleus of a kingdom would have suddenly been brought to naught. A night was chosen toward the end of the sacred season, and the converts found the place of rendezvous singly, or by

twos or threes, under cover of the darkness; they "waked not the sleeper nor waited for the absent." The spot where they met was in a secluded glen not far from the road used by the pilgrims, beneath the hill, near the valley of Mina; a place much frequented during the holy season. Even the faithful Moslems of Mecca were not informed of the meeting, so necessary was it thought to keep it secret.

Midnight arrived, and the dim light of the hour showed the forms of the seventy slowly finding their way to the spot. When they were seated, Abbas, uncle of the prophet, the wealthiest of the sons of Abd al Muttalib, rose in the gloom and addressed the spectral assemblage :

"Children of the tribes of Yathrib! Ye know the high rank that this my kinsman holdeth among the sons of Hashim. Though opposed to his new faith, we have supported him, and we will support him; but he hath found favor in the eyes of your people, and is ready to become one of you. Wherefore, consider well the matter: if ye are strong to defend him against all who may rise up to harm him; if ye be men of war, willing to sacrifice your lives and your goods in his cause, well; if not, abandon him now, and you will not be tempted to betray him later!"

"We are men of war," they promptly replied, "and we will be faithful to our promises, though it cost us our lives. Our resolution is taken; it is now for thee, O prophet, to speak, and tell us the conditions that thou demandest for thyself and for Allah."