Chapter IV: , VII (163)

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.

"While Egypt was won almost without a blow, Latin Africa
[northern Africa beyond Egypt] took sixty years to conquer. It
was first invaded under Othman in 647, but Carthage was not
subdued till 698, nor was the province fully reduced for
eleven years longer. And why? Doubtless because Africa
contained two classes of inhabitants, not over-friendly to
each other, but both of whom had something to lose by a
Saracenic conquest. The citizens of Carthage were Roman in
every sense, their language was Latin, their faith was
orthodox; they had no wrongs beyond those which always afflict
provincials under a despotism; wrongs not likely to be
alleviated by exchanging a Christian despot at Constantinople
for an infidel one at Medina or Damascus. Beyond them, in the
inland provinces, were the native Moors, barbarians, and many
of them pagans; they had fought for their rude liberty against
the Cæsars, and they had no intention of surrendering it to
the Caliphs. Romans and Moors alike long preferred the chances
of the sword to either Koran or tribute; but their ultimate
fate was different. Latin civilization and Latin Christianity
gradually disappeared by the decay and extermination of their
votaries. The Moors, a people not unlike the Arabs in their
unconverted state, were at last content to embrace their
religion, and to share their destinies and their triumphs.
Arabs and Moors intermingled went on to further conquests; and
the name of the barbarian converts was more familiarly used in
Western Europe to denote the united nation than the terrible
name of the original compatriots of the Prophet."

_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._

"In their climate and government, their diet and habitation,
the wandering Moors resembled the Bedoweens of the desert.
With the religion they were proud to adopt the language, name,
and origin of Arabs; the blood of the strangers and natives
was insensibly mingled; and from the Euphrates to the Atlantic
the same nation might seem to be diffused over the sandy
plains of Asia and Africa. Yet I will not deny that 50,000
tents of pure Arabians might be transported over the Nile and
scattered through the Libyan desert; and I am not ignorant
that five of the Moorish tribes still retain their barbarous
idiom, with the appellation and character of 'white'
Africans."

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

"By 647 the Barbary coast was overrun up to the gates of Roman
Carthage; but the wild Berber population was more difficult to
subdue than the luxurious subjects of the Sasanids of Persia
or the Greeks of Syria and Egypt. Kayrawan was founded as the
African capital in 670; Carthage fell in 693, and the Arabs
pushed their arms as far as the Atlantic. From Tangier they
crossed into Spain in 710."

_S. Lane-Poole,
The Mohammadan Dynasties,
page 5._

ALSO IN:
_W. Irving,
Mahomet and his Successors,
volume 2, chapters 35, 44, 54-55._

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

See, also,
CARTHAGE: A. D. 698;
and MOROCCO.

{2071}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 661.
Accession of the Omeyyads.

Abu Bekr, the immediate successor of Mahomet, reigned but two
years, dying August, A. D. 634. By his nomination, Omar was
raised to the Caliphate and ruled Islam until 644, when he was
murdered by a Persian slave. His successor was Othman, who had
been the secretary of the Prophet. The Caliphate of Othman was
troubled by many plots and increasing disaffection, which
ended in his assassination, A. D. 656. It was not until then
that Ali, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, was permitted
to take the Prophet's seat. But the dissensions in the Moslem
world had grown more bitter as the fields of ambitious rivalry
were widened, and the factions opposed to Ali were implacable,
"Now begins the tragic tale of the wrongs and martyrdoms of
the immediate family of the Prophet. The province of Syria was
now ruled by the crafty Moawiyah, whose father was Abu-Sofian,
so long the bitterest enemy of Mahomet, and at last a tardy
and unwilling proselyte. … Such was the parentage of the man
who was to deprive the descendants of the Apostle of their
heritage. Moawiyah gave himself out as the avenger of Othman;
Ali was represented as his murderer, although his sons, the
grandsons of the Prophet, had fought, and one of them received
a wound, in the defence of that Caliph. … Ayesha, too, the
Mother of the Faithful, Telha and Zobeir, the Prophet's old
companions, revolted on their own account, and the whole of
the brief reign of Ali was one constant succession of civil
war." Syria adhered to Moawiyah. Ayesha, Zobeir and Telha
gained possession of Bussorah and made that city their
headquarters of rebellion. They were defeated there by Ali in
a great battle, A. D. 656, called the Battle of the Camel,
because the litter which bore Ayesha on the back of a camel
became the center of the fight. But he gained little from the
success; nor more from a long, indecisive battle fought with
Moawiyah at Siffin, in July, A. D. 657. Amru, the conqueror of
Egypt, had now joined Moawiyah, and his influence enlisted
that great province in the revolt. At last, in 661, the civil
war was ended by the assassination of Ali. His eldest son,
Hassan, who seems to have been a spiritless youth, bargained
away his claims to Moawiyah, and the latter became undisputed
Caliph, founding a dynasty called that of the Ommiades, or
Omeyyads (from Ommiah, or Omeyya, the great grandfather of
Moawiyah), which occupied the throne for almost a century—not
at Medina, but at Damascus, to which city the Caliphate was
now transferred. "In thus converting the Caliphate into an
hereditary monarchy he utterly changed its character. It soon
assumed the character of a common oriental empire. … The
Ommiads were masters of slaves instead of leaders of freemen;
the public will was no longer consulted, and the public good
as little; the Commander of the Faithful sank into an earthly
despot, ruling by force, like any Assyrian conqueror of old.
The early Caliphs dwelt in the sacred city of Medina, and
directed the counsels of the Empire from beside the tomb of
the Prophet. Moawiyah transferred his throne to the conquered
splendours of Damascus; and Mecca and Medina became tributary
cities to the ruler of Syria. At one time a rival Caliph,
Abdallah, established himself in Arabia; twice were the holy
cities taken by storm, and the Kaaba itself was battered down
by the engines of the invaders. … Such a revolution however
did not effect itself without considerable opposition. The
partizans of the house of Ali continued to form a formidable
sect. In their ideas the Vicarship of the Prophet was not to
be, like an earthly kingdom, the mere prize of craft or of
valour. It was the inalienable heritage of the sacred
descendants of the Prophet himself. … This was the origin of
the Shiah sect, the assertors of the rights of Ali and his
house."

_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._

ALSO IN:
_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapters 31-46._

_R. D. Osborn,
Islam Under the Arabs,
part 3._

_S. Lane-Poole,
The Mohammadan Dynasties,
pages 9-11._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 680.
The Tragedy at Kerbela.

When Ali, or Aly, the nephew and son-in-law of Mahomet, had
been slain, A. D. 661, and the Caliphate had been seized by
Moawiyah, the first of the Ommiades, "the followers of 'Aly
proclaimed his elder son, Hasan, Khalif; but this
poor-spirited youth was contented to sell his pretensions to
the throne. … On his death, his brother Hoseyn became the
lawful Khalif in the eyes of the partisans of the House of
'Aly, who ignored the general admission of the authority of
the 'Ommiades.' … For a time Hoseyn remained quietly at
Medina, leading a life of devotion, and declining to push his
claims. But at length an opportunity for striking a blow at
the rival House presented itself, and Hoseyn did not hesitate
to avail himself of it. He was invited to join an insurrection
which had broken out at Kufa [A. D. 680], the most mutinous
and fickle of all the cities of the empire; and he set out
with his family and friends, to the number of 100 souls, and
an escort of 500 horsemen, to join the insurgents. As he drew
nigh to Kufa, he discovered that the rising had been
suppressed by the 'Ommiade' governor of the city, and that
the country round him was hostile instead of loyal to him. And
now there came out from Kufa an army of 4,000 horse, who
surrounded the little body of travellers [on the plain of
Kerbela], and cut them off alike from the city and the river.
… A series of single combats, in which Hoseyn and his
followers displayed heroic courage, ended in the death of the
Imam and the men who were with him, and the enslaving of the
women and children."

_S. Lane-Poole,
Studies in a Mosque,
chapter 7._

"The scene [of the massacre of Hosein and his band] … is
still fresh as yesterday in the mind of every Believer, and is
commemorated with wild grief and frenzy as often as the fatal
day, the Tenth of the first month of the year [tenth of
Moharram—October 10], comes round. … The tragedy of Kerbala
decided not only the fate of the Caliphate, but of Mahometan
kingdoms long after the Caliphate had waned and disappeared.
… The tragedy is yearly represented on the stage as a
religious ceremony"—in the "Passion Play" of the Moharram
Festival.

_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapter 49, with foot-note._

See, also, ISLAM.

{2072}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 668-675.
First repulse from Constantinople.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 668-675.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 710.
Subjugation of the Turks.

"After the fall of the Persian kingdom, the river Oxus divided
the territories of the Saracens and of the Turks: This narrow
boundary was soon overleaped by the spirit of the Arabs; the
governors of Chorassan extended their successive inroads; and
one of their triumphs was adorned with the buskin of a Turkish
queen, which she dropped in her precipitate flight beyond the
hills of Bochara. But the final conquest of Transoxana, as
well as of Spain, was reserved for the glorious reign of the
inactive Walid; and the name of Catibah, the camel-driver,
declares the origin and merit of his successful lieutenant.
While one of his colleagues displayed the first Mahometan
banner on the banks of the Indus, the spacious regions between
the Oxus, the Jaxartes, and the Caspian sea were reduced by
the arms of Catibah to the obedience of the prophet and of the
caliph. A tribute of two millions of pieces of gold was
imposed on the infidels; their idols were burned or broken;
the Mussulman chief pronounced a sermon in the new mosch
[mosque] of Carizme; after several battles the Turkish hordes
were driven back to the desert; and the emperors of China
solicited the friendship of the victorious Arabs. To their
industry the prosperity of the province, the Sogdiana of the
ancients, may in a great measure be ascribed; but the
advantages of the soil and climate had been understood and
cultivated since the reign of the Macedonian kings. Before the
invasion of the Saracens, Carizme, Bochara, and Samarcand were
rich and populous under the yoke of the shepherds of the
North."

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

ALSO IN:
_E. A. Freeman,
History and Conquests of the Saracens,
lecture 3._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 711-713.
Conquest of Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713.

------------------------------------ [Page 2073 and 2074 are placed here to avoid interrupting the next article, "The repulse from Gaul.".]

SEVENTH CENTURY.

CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS.

A.D.
602.
Revolt in Constantinople;
fall and death of Maurice;
accession of Phocas.

604.
Death of Pope Gregory the Great.
Death of St. Augustine of Canterbury. [Uncertain date.]

608.
Invasion of Asia Minor by Chosroes II., king of Persia.

610.
Death of the Eastern Emperor Phocas;
accession of Heraclius.
Venetia ravaged by the Avars.

614.
Invasion of Syria by Chosroes II.;
capture of Damascus.

615.
Capture of Jerusalem by Chosroes;
removal of the supposed True Cross.

616.
First expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
Advance of the Persians to the Bosphorus.

622.
The flight of Mahomet from Mecca (the Hegira).
Romans under Heraclius victorious over the Persians.

626.
Siege of Constantinople by Persians and Avars.

627.
Victory of Heraclius over Chosroes of Persia, at Nineveh.
Conversion of Northumbria to Christianity.

628.
Recovery of Jerusalem and of the supposed True Cross,
from the Persians, by Heraclius.

630.
Submission of Mecca to the Prophet.

632.
Death of Mahomet;
Abu Bekr chosen caliph.

634.
Death of Abu Bekr;
Omar chosen caliph.
Battle of Hieromax or Yermuk;
Battle of the Bridge. [Uncertain date.]
Defeat of Heraclius.
Compilation and arrangement of the Koran. [Uncertain date.]

635.
Siege and capture of Damascus by the Mahometans;
invasion of Persia;
victory at Kadisiyeh. [Uncertain date.]
Defeat of the Welsh by the English
in the battle of the Heavenfield.

636.
Mahometan subjugation of Syria;
retreat of the Romans.

637.
Siege and conquest of Jerusalem by the Moslems;
their victories in Persia.

639.
Publication of the Ecthesis of Heraclius.

640.
Capture of Cæsarea by the Moslems;
invasion of Egypt by Amru.

641.
Death of the Eastern Emperor Heraclius;
three rival emperors;
accession of Constans II.
Victory at Nehavend and final conquest of Persia
by the Mahometans;
end of the Sassanian kingdom;
capture of Alexandria, [Uncertain date.]
founding of Cairo.

643.
Publication of the Lombard Code of Laws.

644.
Assassination of Omar;
Othman chosen caliph.

646.
Alexandria recovered by the Greeks and lost again.

648.
Publication by Constans II. of the edict called "The Type."

649.
Mahometan invasion of Cyprus.

650.
Conquest of Merv, Balkh, and Herat by the Moslems.
[Uncertain date.]

652.
Conversion of the East Saxons in England.

653.
Seizure and banishment of Pope Martin I.
by the Emperor Constans II.

656.
Murder of Caliph Othman;
Ali chosen caliph;
rebellion of Moawiyah;
civil war;
Battle of the Camel.

657.
Ali's transfer of the seat of government to Kufa.

658.
Syria abandoned to Moawiyah;
Egypt in revolt.

661.
Assassination of Ali;
Moawiyah, first of the Omeyyads, made caliph;
Damascus his capital.

663.
Visit of the Emperor Constans to Rome.

668.
Assassination of Constans at Syracuse; [Uncertain date.]
accession of Constantine IV. to the throne of the Eastern Empire.
Beginning of the siege of Constantinople by the Saracens.

670.
The founding of Kairwan, or Kayrawan. [Uncertain date.]

673.
First Council of the Anglo-Saxon Church, at Hereford.
Birth of the Venerable Bede [Uncertain date.] (died 735).

677.
The raising of the siege of Constantinople;
treaty of peace. [Uncertain date.]

680.
Sixth General Council of the Church, at Constantinople;
condemnation of the Monothelite heresy.
Massacre at Kerbela of Hoseyn, son of Ali, and his followers.

685.
Death of the Eastern Emperor, Constantine IV.,
and accession of Justinian II.
The Angles of Northumbria, under King Ecgfrith,
defeated by the Picts at Nectansmere.

687.
Battle of Testri;
victory of Pippin of Heristal over the Neustrians.

695.
Fall and banishment of Justinian II.

696.
Founding of the bishopric of Salzburg.

697.
Election of the first Doge of Venice.

698.
Conquest and destruction of Carthage by the Moslems.
[Uncertain date]

EIGHTH CENTURY.

CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS.

A.D. 704. Recovery of the throne by the Eastern Emperor Justinian II.

705.
Accession of the Caliph Welid.

709.
Accession of Roderick to the Gothic throne in Spain.

711.
Invasion of Spain by the Arab-Moors.
Moslem conquest of Transoxiana and Sardinia.
Final fall and death of the Eastern Emperor Justinian II.

712.
Surrender of Toledo to the Moslem invaders of Spain.

717.
Elevation of Leo the Isaurian to the throne of the Eastern Empire.
Second siege of Constantinople by the Moslems.
Great defeat of the Moslems at the Cave of Covadonga in Spain.

718.
Victory of Charles Martel at Soissons;
his authority acknowledged in both Frankish kingdoms.

719.
Mahometan conquest and occupation of Narbonne.

721.
Siege of Toulouse;
defeat of the Moslems.

725.
Mahometan conquests in Septimania.

726.
Iconoclastic edicts of Leo the Isaurian;
tumult and insurrection in Constantinople.

731.
Death of Pope Gregory II.;
election of Gregory III.;
last confirmation of a Papal election by the Eastern Emperor.

732.
Great defeat of the Moslems by the Franks
under Charles Martel at Poitiers, or Tours.
Council held at Rome by Pope Gregory III.;
edict against the Iconoclasts.

733.
Practical termination of Byzantine imperial authority.

735.
Birth of Alcuin (died 804).

740.
Death of Leo the Isaurian, Emperor in the East;
accession of Constantine V.

741.
Death of Charles Martel.
Death of Pope Gregory III.;
election of Zacharias.

742.
Birth of Charlemagne (died 814).

744.
Defeat of the Saxons by Carloman;
their forced baptism.
Death of Liutprand, king of the Lombards.

747.
The Plague in Constantinople.
Pippin the Short made Mayor in both kingdoms of the Franks.

750.
Fall of the Omeyyad dynasty of caliphs and rise of the Abbassides.

751.
Extinction of the Exarchate of Ravenna by the Lombards.

752.
End of the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings;
assumption of the crown by Pippin the Short.
Death of Pope Zacharias;
election of Stephen II.

754.
First invasion of Italy by Pippin the Short.
Rome assailed by the Lombards.

755.
Subjugation of the Lombards by Pippin;
his donation of temporalities to the Pope.
Martyrdom of Saint Boniface in Germany.

756.
Founding of the caliphate of Cordova by Abderrahman.

757.
Death of Pope Stephen II.;
election of Paul I.

758.
Accession of Offa, king of Mercia.

759.
Loss of Narbonne, the last foothold of the
Mahometans north of the Pyrenees.

763.
Founding of the capital of the Eastern Caliphs at Bagdad.
[Uncertain date.]

767.
Death of Pope Paul I.;
usurpation of the anti-pope, Constantine.

768.
Conquest of Aquitaine by Pippin the Short.
Death of Pippin;
accession of Charlemagne and Carloman.
Deposition of the anti-pope Constantine;
election of Pope Stephen III.

771.
Death of Carloman, leaving Charlemagne sole king of the Franks.

772.
Charlemagne's first wars with the Saxons.
Death of Pope Stephen III.;
election of Hadrian I.

774.
Charlemagne's acquisition of the Lombard kingdom;
his enlargement of the donation of temporalities to the Pope.
Forgery of the "Donation of Constantine." [Uncertain date.]

775.
Death of the Eastern Emperor Constantine V.;
accession of Leo IV.

778.
Charlemagne's invasion of Spain;
the "dolorous rout" of Roncesvalles.

780.
Death of the Eastern Emperor Leo IV.;
accession of Constantine VI.;
regency of Irene.

781.
Italy and Aquitaine formed into separate kingdoms by Charlemagne.

785.
Great struggle of the Saxons against Charlemagne;
submission of Wittikind.

786.
Accession of Haroun al Raschid in the eastern caliphate.

787.
Seventh General Council of the Church (Second Council of Nicæa).
First incursions of the Danes in England.

788.
Subjugation of the Bavarians by Charlemagne.
Death of Abderrahman.

790.
Composition of the Caroline books. [Uncertain date.]

791.
Charlemagne's first campaign against the Avars.

794.
Accession of Cenwulf, king of Mercia.

795.
Death of Pope Hadrian I.;
election of Leo III.

797.
Deposition and blinding of the Eastern Emperor
Constantine VI., by his mother Irene.

800.
Imperial coronation of Charlemagne;
revival of the Empire.
Accession of Ecgberht, king of Wessex,
the first king of all the English.

-------------------------------------

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-732.
The repulse from Gaul.

"The deeds of Musa [in Africa and Spain] had been performed
'in the evening of his life,' but, to borrow the words of
Gibbon, 'his breast was still fired with the ardor of youth,
and the possession of Spain was considered as only the first
step to the monarchy of Europe. With a powerful armament by
sea and land, he was preparing to pass the Pyrenees, to
extinguish in Gaul the declining kingdoms of the Franks and
Lombards, and to preach the unity of God on the altar of the
Vatican. Thence, subduing the barbarians of Germany, he
proposed to follow the course of the Danube from its source to
the Euxine Sea, to overthrow the Greek or Roman empire of
Constantinople, and, returning from Europe to Asia, to unite
his new acquisitions with Antioch and the provinces of Syria.'
This vast enterprise … was freely revolved by the successors
of Musa. In pursuance of it, El Haur, the new lieutenant of
the califs, assailed the fugitive Goths in their retreats in
Septimania (715-718). El Zamah, who succeeded him, crossed the
mountains, and, seizing Narbonne, expelled the inhabitants and
settled there a colony of Saracens (719). The following year
they passed the Rhone, in order to extend their dominion over
Provence, but, repelled by the dukes and the militia of the
country, turned their forces toward Toulouse (721). Eudo, Duke
of Aquitain, bravely defending his capital, brought on a
decisive combat. … El Zamah fell. The carnage among his
retreating men then became so great that the Arabs named the
passage from Toulouse to Carcassone the Road of Martyrs (Balat
al Chouda). Supporting their terrible reverses with the
characteristic resignation of their race and faith, the Arabs
were still able to retain a hold of Narbonne and of other
fortresses of the south, and, after a respite of four years,
spent in recruiting their troops from Spain and Africa, to
resume their projects of invasion and pillage in Gaul (725).
Under the Wali Anbessa, they ascended the Rhone as far as the
city of Lyons, devastating the towns and the fields. … When,
… at the close of his expeditions, Anbessa perished by the
hands of the Infidels, all the fanaticism of the Mussulman
heart was aroused into an eager desire for revenge. His
successor, Abd-el-Rahman, a tried and experienced general,
energetic and heroic as he was just and prudent, … entered
into elaborate preparations for the final conquest of Gaul.
For two years the ports of Syria, Egypt, and Africa swarmed
with departing soldiery, and Spain resounded with the calls
and cries to arms (727-729)." The storm broke first on
Aquitaine, and its valiant Duke Eudes, or Eudo, rashly meeting
the enemy in the open field, in front of Bordeaux, suffered an
irretrievable defeat (May, 731). Bordeaux was stormed and
sacked, and all Aquitaine was given up to the ravages of the
unsparing Moslem host. Eudes fled, a helpless fugitive, to his
enemies the Franks, and besought the aid of the great
palace-mayor, Karl Martel, practical sovereign of the Frankish
kingdoms, and father of the Pippin who would soon become king
in name as well as in fact. But, not for Aquitaine, only, but
for all Gaul, all Germany,—all Christendom in Europe,—Karl
and his Franks were called on to rally and do battle against
the sons of the desert, whose fateful march of conquest seemed
never to end. "'During all the rest of the summer, the Roman
clarions and the German horns sounded and groaned through all
the cities of Neustria and Austrasia, through the rustic
palaces of the Frankish leudes, and in the woody gaus of
western Germany.' … Meanwhile, Abel-el-Rahman, laden with
plunder and satiated with blood, had bent his steps toward the
southwest, where he concentrated his troops on the banks of
the Charente. Enriched and victorious as he was, there was
still an object in Gaul which provoked alike the cupidity and
the zeal of his followers. This was the Basilica of St. Martin
of Tours, the shrine of the Gallic Christians, where the
richest treasures of the Church were collected, and in which
the profoundest veneration of its members centred. He yearned
for the pillage and the overthrow of this illustrious
sanctuary, and, taking the road from Poitiers, he encountered
the giants of the North in the same valley of the Vienne and
Clain where, nearly three hundred years before, the Franks and
the Wisigoths had disputed the supremacy of Gaul. There, on
those autumn fields, the Koran and the Bible—Islamism and
Christianity—Asia and Europe—stood face to face, ready to
grapple in a deadly and decisive conflict. …
{2075}
Trivial skirmishes from time to time kept alive the ardor of
both hosts, till at length, at dawn on Saturday, the 11th of
October [A. D. 732], the signal for a general onset was given.
With one loud shout of Allah-Akbar (God is great), the Arab
horsemen charged like a tempest upon their foe, but the deep
columns of the Franks did not bend before the blast. 'Like a
wall of iron,' says the chronicler, 'like a rampart of ice,
the men of the North stood unmoved by the frightful shock.'
All day long the charges were renewed." Still the stout Franks
held their ground, and still the indomitable warriors of Islam
pressed upon them, until late in the afternoon, when the
latter were thrown into confusion by an attack on their rear.
Then Karl and his men charged on them and their lines were
broken—their rout was bloody and complete. When night put an
end to the slaughter, the Franks slept upon their arms,
expecting that the dreaded Saracens would rally and resume the
fight. But they vanished in the darkness. Their leader, the
brave Abd-el-Rahman had fallen in the wild melée and no
courage was left in their hearts. Abandoning everything but
their horses and their arms, they fled to Narbonne. "Europe
was rescued, Christianity triumphant, Karl the hero forever of
Christian civilization."

_P. Godwin,
History of France: Ancient Gaul,
chapter 14._

The booty found by the Franks in the Moslem camp "was
enormous; hard-money, ingots of the precious metals, melted
from jewels and shrines; precious vases, rich stuffs,
subsistence stores, flocks and herds gathered and parked in
the camp. Most of this booty had been taken by the Moslemah
from the Aquitanians, who now had the sorrow of seeing it
greedily divided among the Franks."

_H. Coppée,
Conquest of Spain by the! Arab-Moors,
book 6, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_E. S. Creasy,
Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World,
chapter 7._

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 715-750.
Omeyyads and Abbassides.
The dividing of the Caliphate.

The tragic death of Hosein and his companions at Kerbela
kindled a passion which time would not extinguish in the
hearts of one great party among the Moslems. The first
ambitious leader to take advantage of the excitement of it, as
a means of overthrowing the Omeyyads, was Abdallah ibn Zobeir,
who, posing first as the "Protector of the Holy House" of Ali,
soon proclaimed himself Caliph and maintained for thirteen
years a rival court at Mecca. In the war which raged during a
great part of those years, Medina was taken by storm and given
over to pillage, while the holy city of Mecca withstood a
siege of forty days, during which the sacred Caaba was
destroyed. Zobeir fell, at last, in a final battle fought
under the walls of Mecca. Meantime, several changes in the
caliphate at Damascus had taken place and the throne was soon
afterwards [A. D. 705] occupied by the Caliph Welid, whose
reign proved more glorious than that of any other prince of
his house. "Elements of disorder still remained, but under the
wise and firm sceptre of Welid they were held in check. The
arts of peace prevailed; schools were founded, learning
cultivated, and poets royally rewarded; public works of every
useful kind were promoted, and even hospitals established for
the aged, lame, and blind. Such, indeed, at this era, was the
glory of the court of Damascus that Weild, of all the Caliphs
both before and after, gives the precedence to Welid. It is
the fashion for the Arabian historians to abuse the Omeyyads
as a dissolute, intemperate, and godless race; but we must not
forget that these all wrote more or less under Abbasside
inspiration. … After Welid, the Omeyyad dynasty lasted
six-and-thirty years. But it began to rest on a precarious
basis. For now the agents of the house of Hashim, descendants
of the Prophet and of his uncle Abbas, commenced to ply
secretly, but with vigour and persistency, their task of
canvass and intrigue in distant cities, and especially in the
provinces of the East. For a long time, the endeavour of these
agitators was directed to the advocacy of the Shiya right;
that is to say, it was based upon the Divine claim of Aly, and
his descendants in the Prophet's line, to the Imamate or
leadership over the empire of Islam. … The discomfiture of
the Shiyas paved the way for the designing advocates of the
other Hashimite branch, namely, that of the house of Abbas,
the uncle of the Prophet. These had all along been plotting in
the background, and watching their opportunity. They now
vaunted the claims of this line, and were barefaced enough to
urge that, being descended from the uncle of Mahomet through
male representatives, they took precedence over the direct
descendants of the Prophet himself, because these came through
Fatima in the female line. About the year 130 of the Hegira,
Abul Abbas, of Abasside descent, was put forward in Persia, as
the candidate of this party, and his claim was supported by
the famous general Abu Muslim. Successful in the East, Abu
Muslim turned his arms to the West. A great battle, one of
those which decide the fate of empires, was fought on the
banks of the Zab [A. D. 750]; and, through the defection of
certain Kharejite and Yemen levies, was lost by the Omeyyad
army. Merwan II., the last of his dynasty, was driven to
Egypt, and there killed in the church of Bussir, whither he
had fled for refuge. At the close of the year 132 [August 5,
A. D. 750], the black flag, emblem of the Abbassides, floated
over the battlements of Damascus. The Omeyyad dynasty, after
ruling the vast Moslem empire for a century, now disappeared
in cruelty and bloodshed. … So perished the royal house of
the Omeyyads. But one escaped. He fled to Spain, which had
never favoured the overweening pretensions of the Prophet's
family, whether in the line of Aly or Abbas. Accepted by the
Arab tribes, whose influence in the West was paramount, Abd al
Rahman now laid the foundation of a new Dynasty and
perpetuated the Omeyyad name at the magnificent court of
Cordova. … Thus, with the rise of the Abbassides, the unity
of the Caliphate came to an end. Never after, either in theory
or in fact, was there a successor to the Prophet, acknowledged
as such over all Islam. Other provinces followed in the wake
of Spain. The Aghlabite dynasty in the east of Africa, and,
west of it, the Edrisites in Fez, both of Alyite descent;
Egypt and Sicily under independent rulers; the Tahirite kings
in Persia, their native soil; these and others, breaking away
from the central government, established kingdoms of their
own. The name of Caliph, however it might survive in the
Abbasside lineage, or be assumed by less legitimate
pretenders, had now altogether lost its virtue and
significance."

_Sir W. Muir,
Annals of the Early Caliphate,
chapter 50._

ALSO IN:
_S. Lane-Poole,
The Mohammadan Dynasties,
pages 12-14._

_R. D. Osborn,
Islam Under the Arabs,
part 3._

{2076}

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 717-718.
Second repulse from Constantinople.

See CONSTANTINOPLE: A. D. 717-718.

MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 752-759.
Final expulsion from southern Gaul.